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Laura Coates Live
CNN Reports On The Latest In Texas Flooding; MAGA Meltdown As Trump DOJ Backtracks On Epstein Files; Musk-Trump Feud Escalates As Musk Announces Third Party; Trump Moves Goalposts On Tariff Threat, Again. Aired 11p-12a ET
Aired July 07, 2025 - 23:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[23:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Breaking tonight, more than a hundred dead in Texas, several still missing, including young campers, and as the search for survivors continue, so too does the search for accountability.
Plus, we're learning new incredible stories of survival and heroics, like a woman who hung on to a tree for hours and a man who saved a family from rising floodwaters. We're going to talk to them both tonight.
Also, ahead, we're going to take you inside the MAGA meltdown over the Trump DOJ's sudden announcement that Jeffrey Epstein wasn't murdered and that there wasn't any big client list despite months of touting otherwise.
And it's not Tuesday, but some critics might be thinking TACO, the acronym Trump always chickens out, as President Trump moves the goalpost on his tariffs yet again. But what's the strategy here? We're going to talk about it tonight on "Laura Coates Live."
Welcome, everyone. I'm Omar Jimenez, in for Laura Coates tonight, and we're going to start with the breaking news out of Central Texas where the full scope of the catastrophic -- of the catastrophic flooding is now coming into view.
At least 104 people have now been confirmed dead as of this hour, most of them in Kerr County. The search for survivors is soon going to stretch into a fifth day as families, at this point, holding out hope for a miracle.
There are still 10 girls and a counselor missing from the hard-hit Camp Mystic. That's the all-girls summer camp along the banks of the Guadalupe River. Twenty-seven kids and counselors died there. Twenty- seven. You can see some of the damage here. Beds overturned. Clothes, other belongings all over the floor. Everything is caked in mud.
And CNN just obtained this new photo showing young campers and a counselor being evacuated by helicopter from the camp. The girls are covering their ears to block out the helicopter noise. The rainfall that sparked these floods was a one in 100-year event. We're talking four months-worth of rain fell in just a few hours. The Guadalupe River rose 22 feet in just 30 minutes.
This is another area. This is another river in the area. The videos sped up to show how quickly these waters can rise. And look at this. This is just within the span of about a half hour. The water surging from the banks and upper road completely covering the brush in the riverbed.
The speed of what happened is raising a critical question. Did people get enough of a warning? We know warnings were sent out. Several wireless emergency alerts were pushed to mobile devices early Friday morning, a few hours before the worst of the flooding.
For Kerr County, where Camp Mystic is, the first went out at 1:14 a.m., Friday. Another was sent a little more than two hours later at 3:35, and a third at 4:03. It was around 5 a.m. when the Guadalupe River burst its banks.
But did those alerts actually reach the people who needed them most? One Camp Mystic counselor tells Anderson Cooper she didn't have her phone on her because of camp policy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Were there any kind of alerts or warnings that -- that you were aware of?
CAROLINE CUTRONA, CAMP MYSTIC COUNSELOR: No. As camp counselors, we turn in our phone when we don't have our time off. And so, there is no alert or anything that I heard, no signal to know that anything was happening.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JIMENEZ: And that first warning at 1:14 a.m. also didn't include the county seat of Kerrville. The town's mayor says he didn't even know how severe the floods were.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR JOE HERRING, JR., KERVILLE, TEXAS: I've lost two friends. We left. And they're gone. You know, they're gone. Everyone here, if we could have warned them, we would have done so. And we didn't even have a warning.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JIMENEZ: And for so many in the area balancing their professional duties with their personal lives, like the mayor there, local officials, though, are also being pressed on whether they did enough to sound the alarm. The emergency manager of Kerrville was asked why evacuations weren't ordered before the floodwaters swept in. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DALTON RICE, CITY MANAGER, KERRVILLE, TEXAS: It's very tough to make those calls because what we also don't want to do is cry wolf. You know, we don't want to -- we do want to make sure that we -- we activate it at the right time. It's -- it is very difficult, very challenging, especially with this -- we're looking at 100 kilometers. Right? That's a -- that's a big, straight line distance. That's not even along the river. These areas take a lot of time to get out to.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JIMENEZ: Now, another nearby camp says it got no direct information from county officials about the flooding.
[23:05:00]
But staff took matters into their own hands. They moved about 70 kids and adults staying overnight near the Guadalupe River. One camp official says it would have been devastating if they hadn't been looking at weather reports and monitoring the rising waters.
I want to bring in CNN's Ed Lavandera who starts us off tonight in Comfort, Texas. That's just east of Kerr County. Ed, I know you've been out there reporting for us really since -- since this began. What more do we know about -- about what actions local leaders took after the first warnings were issued?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it has been difficult to kind of piece all of this together. But what is clear, as you have kind of clearly laid out there, is that there -- there wasn't a lot.
In fact, at one point, we asked them today about whether or not, between those crucial hours of 1 a.m. and 4 a.m., when everything had turned incredibly violent and dangerous with the floodwaters, if local law enforcement had reached out directly to some of these places, including Camp Mystic, which was one of the places which would have been first impacted by the floodwaters coming down the river, and they simply told us they're unable to answer that question at this point.
But as we've heard from many people over the last few days, Omar, they have -- many people tell us they simply didn't get those warnings, the wireless communications or any of those other kinds of warnings to tell them just how much of a life-threatening situation this was turning into.
However, you know, the -- the local officials did say, you know, one of their concerns was -- in ordering evacuation is that it could have been a much dangerous situation if you had people out on the road.
I understand that Highway 39, which is really, really the only -- one of the only ways out, kind of navigates along the river there. A scenario, by close to 4 a.m., where people are driving in those situations could have been even more catastrophic.
But, you know, the concern here is that could there have been something done that would have allowed the local adults at these camps to get their kids to higher ground and not in the harm's way of the floodwaters.
JIMENEZ: And all of this just came so fast. You know, it's hard to even look with -- with eyesight that some might think is -- is clearer in hindsight at this point. But -- but Ed, you've been there reporting. As I understand, it has been raining off and on there since the flood hit, but the weather is expected to improve this week.
Have you gotten a sense of -- of how the weather has impacted search and rescue efforts to this point and whether we're expecting any improvement this week on that front?
LAVANDERA: Right. Outside of a little window yesterday afternoon where there was an evacuation order quickly put out to people and getting people out of the area, the weather has held off pretty well.
We spent the day watching a search and rescue team in the city of Kerrville navigate some areas of the Guadalupe River and really kind of get a sit -- it was interesting to watch this because we saw a crew searching a small area along the river for almost nearly seven hours. They had a boat out in this one -- in one specific area where they were doing their searching.
So, it really kind of speaks to the very intricate and tedious nature of the search at this point because there is so much debris, there is so much -- you know, like everything that has flown downstream. It's very difficult to search through all of this.
We spoke with one of those search and rescue teams. This is Gulf Search and Rescue. They had a team of nine volunteers in one boat. Those are the people we watched today. They said they're not giving up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAKE STOVALL, GULF SEARCH AND RESCUE: There's always hope. I've done this long enough. I've found people four days later and 20 feet up in a tree, clinging to the tree, dehydrated. It's our job never to assume or never presume that somebody is deceased. We're out here trying to find everybody alive. And if we find them deceased, then we respectfully and with dignity recover them, but we never will presume they're dead.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: So, Omar, you know, those volunteers were telling us today that they will stay out here as long as there are still people missing and people that need to be found. They're prepared to be here as long as that takes. Omar?
JIMENEZ: A lot of people holding on to that hope. Ed Lavandera, appreciate the reporting there in Texas.
Kerrville was just one town hit by this catastrophic flooding. Families across the hill country in Texas between San Antonio and Austin are facing what could be years of recovery and rebuilding. That includes a community of Jonestown just north of Austin. Creeks there began to burst their banks early Saturday morning. And for some families, the only way out was through the help of strangers.
Matthew Crowder was one of those strangers. He saved Crissy Eliashar and her kids from the rising water. And both Matthew and Crissy join me now along with Crissy's three kids, you can see them there, Benny, Dove (ph), and Mayan (ph). Good to see all of you. Good to see -- good to see some smiles on some of the kids' faces there.
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Matthew, I want to ask you first because you were going to work, but you realized business would be closed for the day. You were about to leave. What made you turn back and -- and check on Crissy's home?
MATTHEW CROWDER, SAVED ELIASHAR FAMILY IN TEXAS FLOODING: It was just one of those gut feelings. I had seen how much it had risen in just the moments that I was there. And I'd actually, yeah, drove my car to the main road, and then I had parked it there. And I just kind of walked back down. When I had gotten back to where I was, it was -- that's when everything had happened.
JIMENEZ: And so, what did you do? You started yelling at the home? What did you see? Kind of -- walk me through what happened next.
CROWDER: And so, I -- I kind of sat -- sat there for a second and just kind of saw and -- and observed what was happening. And then I'd actually had called 911, and they had sent me to the fire dispatch. And he had explained to me that some people up -- up the creek were calling for the same thing and that they had just told them to stay in their homes. And just even during that phone call, it was just getting worse and worse.
JIMENEZ: Yeah.
CROWDER: And then I had just said, you know, it's not looking good. I'm worried about the house. And in -- in the middle of that phone call, I started just shouting. And then I had taken the phone away from my ear. And that's when one of the boys had come out. And I was upgrading the dispatch as I was kind of having the conversation with the kid and Crissy.
And then once, you know, the house started groaning and I heard trees falling down, I just told them, hey, send help or not, I got to go to work.
JIMENEZ: Yeah.
CROWDER: And then that's kind of when everything happened.
JIMENEZ: And -- and Crissy, so you were -- you were home with -- with your three kids and one of their friends who was spending the night, all of them under 12 years old, as I can understand. What went through your head when -- when you hear the -- the stranger screaming at your home in the middle of the night?
CRISSY ELIASHAR, MOTHER WHO LOST HER HOME IN TEXAS FLOODS: Hi, Matthew. I'm getting teary-eyed seeing the pictures and seeing you again. It's --
CROWDER: Yeah. It's good to see you, too.
ELIASHAR: It's --
(LAUGHTER)
He saved our life. It was -- even these two days later, it's just short frames in my memory of terror and panic. And it happened so fast. And -- I mean, those pictures just remind me of the absolute panic. Like he said, we just started screaming, where is the police? Where is the fire department? I can't walk through this.
And my kids were so brave. They grabbed the dog under their arm. No shoes, no shirt. And they walked through a raging river that formed under our house and started to carry our house away. We tried to get to our car. And my key thought I had a plan. And as soon as we looked at it, it floated away.
And Matthew just kept screaming at us. And the -- the -- the only sensible things he could say, just keep walking this way, keep walking. And my aunt slipped and fell. My daughter was washed away, and my son grabbed her and saved her by her hair. And he just kept telling us to keep walking and grabbed us and helped us get to just enough high -- high ground to -- to get to the next steps.
JIMENEZ: And I can't imagine that moment. Matthew, I -- I actually read a little bit about that moment where -- where you saw -- where you saw her slipped and fall into the water, into the flood water. What -- what were you thinking in that moment?
CROWDER: So, yeah, I mean, definitely helpless, just because I was on one side of the chain link fence they had in their yard, and -- and kind of watching that happen. And even one of the -- I believe one of the younger other boys had slipped, too, and he had washed up against the car.
And just seeing all this happen and not being able to get in there with them at that moment, I thought I had made the mistake of getting them out of their house and maybe, you know, I had -- I should've just listened and that, you know, yeah, I had just made a mistake.
JIMENEZ: Well, I -- I don't think at this point you -- you made a mistake. Crissy, I mean, you're -- you're living proof with your -- with your kids. And -- and I know -- I know there has been a lot going on, but it sounds like you all haven't had the chance to -- to really connect after this has happened. Crissy, I -- is there anything you just would like to say to him while -- while we've all got the floor here?
ELIASHAR: Matthew, you're our angel on this earth. I -- I hope soon we have a house. We can invite you for dinner and reconnect. You've really saved our lives. You made the right decision. Thank you.
JIMENEZ: And Crissy, I should ask, too, just -- how are your kids doing? ELIASHAR: They are amazing. They are so brave and so strong. And we're just, you know, trying to reach out and ask our community for help and ask the world for help. And we need to get a roof over these kids. We lost everything. We don't have flood insurance. Our car, our house, all the things, it's all gone.
[23:15:00]
So, they're really amazing and brave. They're doing -- they're doing as good as possible.
JIMENEZ: Yeah. Things can be replaced. I'm glad you all at least have each other. And Matthew, man, incredible bravery. Really appreciate you taking the time. I could just say, man to man, thank you for what you did. Appreciate it, man.
CROWDER: Yeah. Absolutely. Thank you.
JIMENEZ: And Crissy's family does have a GoFundMe where anyone can donate as well. So, look that up as well.
Meanwhile, the scope of the disaster in Texas is renewing scrutiny over budget cuts at the National Weather Service. The agency says staffing reductions did not impact forecasting here. And the White House is defending the performance of the National Weather Service.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Flash flood warnings were also issued on the night of July 3rd and in the early morning of July 4th, giving preliminary lead times of more than three hours before flash flooding conditions occurred.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JIMENEZ: AccuWeather meteorologist Geoff Cornish joins me now. So, Jeff, look, I know you've heard the criticism. But can you evaluate the response from the National Weather Service for us? Did they send out the warnings with enough time?
GEOFF CORNISH, METEOROLOGIST, ACCUWEATHER: My opinion is that they did. And Omar, we had a really challenging timing for this event here. The fact that the flash flooding escalated between midnight and 4 a.m., it's no excuse.
We live in the country with the absolute best warning system in the world. And we have redundancies. There is the technology that offers cell phone alerts. Sometimes, that doesn't work because people may not have their cell phone with them. Maybe they're in a rural area.
The good, old-fashioned NOAA Weather Radio has strong coverage in Kerr County, Texas. There's a transmitter in Kerrville. It covers the county well. And that's old technology. It has been upgraded with what we call SAME technology. If people buy a NOAA Weather Radio, look for that SAME, S-A-M-E, reference. Almost all of them sold now have that. And that will give you a localized alert. And it will wake you up if you have a NOAA Weather Radio on.
We always preach the AccuWeather app. Those notifications get out as fast as possible. Obviously, that does require a cell phone signal. But, also, this is just such a challenging thing in terms of timing.
But keep in mind, there was a flash flood watch issued back the preceding day, on Thursday, the 3rd of July, at 1:14 p.m. -- 1:48 p.m. So that was kind of the heads up, that if you're in the -- if you are responsible for the well-being of other people, it's not the night to -- to disconnect from the weather. We have to stay connected. When there's a watch issued, that's the get ready. And then the warning is the go.
And this is such a challenging story here, partly because of the timing, and I realized this is a difficult, highly inconvenient time to evacuate. Sadly, some people probably just had to travel 50 yards up the hill instead of seven miles down the road and away from the river. There needs to be a better way to do this.
My wife and I, we put our children up from a summer camp in Pennsylvania on Friday, and this is a call to action to anybody responsible for the well-being of other children.
Maybe you run or manage an RV park. Whether you're in a tornado prone area or an area along a flood bank or a place that's flood prone, it's extraordinarily important to stay connected. Whether it be a direct line to local emergency management, whether it be the NOAA Weather Radio, the cell phone, I think the answer is all these things.
JIMENEZ: Yeah.
CORNISH: At AccuWeather, we have clients with many different types of businesses, camps and so forth, that pay to get immediate alerts from our team where there are people awake at AccuWeather monitoring, and they'll make the phone call to speak to somebody and make sure that they're aware as well.
JIMENEZ: And -- and Jeff, just to -- just to go a little deeper here, because some of the scrutiny isn't just on whether the alerts went out, but also about coordination between forecasters and emergency services.
What should coordination look like between meteorologists at the National Weather Service, for example, and local officials in those last mile stages here? And -- and based on what we know, is that a dynamic that -- that concerned you as you sort of evaluate what we're learning?
CORNISH: I don't know all the mechanics of exactly what -- what went on in Kerr County. But I'm -- I've been a meteorologist for 21 years. I'm also a volunteer firefighter. So, somewhere on the lower part of the totem pole within that emergency management hierarchy, I participate and observe in things as among the rank and file as a volunteer firefighter.
JIMENEZ: Yeah. CORNISH: And here in Centre County, Pennsylvania where I'm located, we got 160 some thousand people, and there's an emergency manager for the whole county. And then the more slightly more urbanized area around the state college community, several surrounding townships, we have an emergency manager that specifically handles that area as well. So, it's -- it's manageable.
[23:19:55]
And, you know, if you're trying to run a large organization, you're trying to build a major building or project or whatever it may be, if you delegate, and there are multiple steps where people can kind of triple down and communicate, it would be ideal if people responsible for part of the county could reach out and talk to the count -- the camp --
JIMENEZ: Yeah.
CORNISH: -- the person managing the camp or whatever that may be because this was such a dangerous thing. And this area has had three large scale extraordinarily deadly flash flood disasters in the past 40 years here. Ten years ago, Wimberley, Texas had a 30-feet rise.
JIMENEZ: Yeah. And, you know, even as rare as the speed of this event was, this area has seen flooding many times, in many documented incidents as well.
Geoff Cornish, appreciate the time perspective. Thanks for being here.
CORNISH: Thank you so much.
JIMENEZ: Of course. And much more ahead on the floods tonight. My next guest could have lost her life had it not been for a tree that she and her family hung on to for hours after her truck was swept away. You're going to have to hear this to believe it, next.
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[23:25:00]
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JIMENEZ: Welcome back, everyone. Tonight, the Department of Justice and the FBI officially concluding there is no Jeffrey Epstein client list. Also, no evidence that the disgraced financier was killed while awaiting trial. But that largely known conclusion goes against what Trump officials have been promising big revelations in the case for months.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Seriously, we need to release the Epstein list. That -- that is an important thing.
ALINA HABBA, INTERIM U.S. ATTORNEY, FORMER PERSONAL LAWYER OF PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We have flight logs. We have information, names, that will come out.
UNKNOWN: Is it going to be shocking?
HABBA: I don't see how it's not shocking.
UNKNOWN: The DOJ may be releasing the list of Jeffrey Epstein's clients. Will that really happen?
PAM BONDI, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY GENERAL: It's sitting on my desk right now to review. That has been a directive by President Trump.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JIMENEZ: So, what exactly was on the attorney general's desk? Well, this is how White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt explained it today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEAVITT: She was saying the entirety of all of the paperwork, all of the paper in relation to Jeffrey Epstein's crimes. That's what the attorney general was referring to, and I'll let her speak for that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JIMENEZ: Well, after months of hype, not everyone in the MAGA-verse believes the administration's about face. I want to bring in senior political reporter for Axios, Alex Isenstadt, and senior reporter for "The Verge," Tina Nguyen. Both cover the Trump administration. Thank you both for being here.
Alex, I want to start with you because we just heard what Attorney General Pam Bondi said. We've also heard what FBI Director Kash Patel, Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino alleged before becoming the top two officials at the FBI. They were some of the loudest voices on this issue.
How would you characterize or put into perspective what we're currently seeing in that space after this DOJ release?
ALEX ISENSTADT, SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER, AXIOS: Well, he -- what you sort of see with the Trump administration and the DOJ and the FBI is sort of the MAGA-fication, influencer-fication of these two enormous law enforcement agencies, which is Kash Patel, Dan Bongino.
Before they came to the FBI, they were MAGA influencers, they were MAGA activists. They went out there and they spread some of the loudest conspiracy theories about Jeffrey Epstein.
Now, they go into government and they realize that they have to be a little bit more measured in how they talk about these things. And they've come out now, and they've thrown cold water on the idea -- of the idea of these Epstein-related conspiracies, contradicting what they said in the past.
And so, it's sort of -- it's a problem of their own making to a large extent.
JIMENEZ: And -- and Tina, for some of those MAGA supporters and influencers that are on the outside at this point, they are outraged over the memo. Laura Loomer calling for A.G. Bondi's firing. Take a listen to conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEX JONES, CONSPIRACY THEORIST, RADIO SHOW HOST: Physically, they're going to puke probably right now. My mouth is watering right now. It's because -- because I had integrity. And, you know, I just really need the Trump administration to succeed and to save this country. And they're doing so much good. And then for them to do something like this tears my guts out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JIMENEZ: I mean, literally, on the point of tears there. CNN's Aaron Blake says the Trump administration has itself to blame for the backlash among its supporters. Tina, why do you think they hacked all of this in the first place?
TINA NGUYEN, SENIOR REPORTER, THE VERGE: Epstein as a concept of the elites having devious control over society and doing evil things. And oh, look, here's a couple of political people we don't like, like Bill Clinton, on this plane. It was fodder. It was fuel for the MAGA influencer ecosystem.
So, if you have this conspiracy theory bubbling for years, five, six years at this point, and then all of a sudden, the person that you have pushed back into office who is supposed to have all of this executive power that he didn't have in the first administration, you're hoping that he finally reveals the truth to you, all of a sudden, not only does he not reveal the truth, but all of the people who'd promised that they would help Trump reveal the truth suddenly dial back.
Like, this is a huge blow to the MAGA brand as it were. Like, I remember back in 2020, I once got a hat from Project Veritas that literally said Epstein cover up on it because they were promoting a documentary about some news network trying to cover up the Epstein files. That's how far back this goes.
[23:30:00]
Now, it's gone. And now, you've got people wondering what was this all about. What are we doing here? Why did we put you in office in the first place?
JIMENEZ: And Alex, we saw in the opening days or weeks of the Trump administration, you know, they invited a bunch of influencers and --
ISENSTADT: Yep.
JIMENEZ: -- gave them those binders to hold up the -- the so-called Epstein files. Then they said, oh, that's just -- that's just the beginning, we've got more. And even this conclusion, it's not really a surprise that we got from the DOJ here. This is really what we already knew.
ISENSTADT: Right. Those in law enforcement had known for a long time that there wasn't much there there. And so, what you have is basically people who went to the Trump administration, before they were in the Trump administration, kind of overpromised and underdelivered in the eyes of people like Alex Jones.
And -- and to a large extent, the -- in the eyes of people like Jones, the Epstein scandal really exemplified the notion that the elites are high -- are hiding something from the American people. And this was a major disappointment for them.
JIMENEZ: Yeah. Alex, I just appreciate the reporting. Tina Nguyen, really appreciate you being here as well.
All right, just ahead, we are going to head back to Texas and talk to a woman who managed to survive the catastrophic floods by hanging on to a tree. We'll bring you her story next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[23:35:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JIMENEZ: All right, welcome back, everyone. Picture this: You are home with your five-year-old daughter, your father, your beloved dog, it's the middle of the night, and you see water rising in your front yard. That was the reality for my next guest. She's a Texas elementary school teacher who acted quickly to get her family to safety, surviving by climbing a tree and hanging on for hours, waiting for rescue.
Melissa Higginbotham joins me now. Melissa, good to see you. Thank you for taking the time. You know, you, your -- your five-year-old daughter, your dad, even the family dog, you guys all managed to survive. Thanks to that tree. Can you just tell me what was going through your mind at the time as -- as you were holding on for -- I mean, literally for life?
MELISSA HIGGINBOTHAM, SURVIVED TEXAS FLOODS BY HANGING FROM A TREE: Surprisingly, just those first moments getting into the tree after being flooded, because my mom -- so, I live on the same property as my parents.
JIMENEZ: Uh-hmm.
HIGGINBOTHAM: And my mom and the other two family dogs had gotten out. I was right behind her. So, I was not able to get out. It's how quickly the water came up.
My dad is the one that was -- my mom and dad were the true heroes. God, of course, is the one that made us all stay awake. We actually were not asleep. My dad was the only one that was asleep. My dad and my daughter.
JIMENEZ: Wow.
HIGGINBOTHAM: But it just -- we had an amazing -- well, I -- he -- God gave me an amazing sense of peace and just calm in -- in the crazy storm so that my dad could have his wits about him to do what he knew to do. My dad has been -- had -- when I was a kid, had helped during two floods of Lake Travis.
JIMENEZ: Yeah.
HIGGINBOTHAM: So, he knew what to do. He knew what we needed to do and what we needed to watch for. But just the amazing peace that I was given by God to -- to make sure that my -- my daughter was calm and my dad was calm so that we could get through that.
And just being up in the tree and going, okay, you know what, God? If this is it, we're -- we're coming home to you, was the true peace I got after that. And it was -- after that point, it was simply singing the worship songs and doing our prayers, and just thanking God for everything that he had given us this far.
JIMENEZ: Yeah.
HIGGINBOTHAM: And the water went down almost as quickly as it came up, and we were able to walk out.
JIMENEZ: Wow.
HIGGINBOTHAM: And my dad actually went back to our neighbor's house and made sure that he was okay. We sent rescue crews over there, and then to a couple other neighbors that had had also gotten --
JIMENEZ: Yeah.
HIGGINBOTHAM: Well, one was trapped in her home, and then another one was -- their whole trailer -- the whole family was in their trailer, and it floated past us. We watched them float past us in their trailer, trying to figure out what they were going to do. They were saved by some trees. That had stopped their trailer. They walked away from it as well.
Our whole street has been very, very blessed. We've gotten some amazing support from the community here. Sandy Creek has truly been -- truly been blessed.
JIMENEZ: Yeah.
HIGGINBOTHAM: We do have a lot of people in Sandy Creek right now with no water. All of Sandy Creek is still without water, but it's -- it has been amazing to watch the community come --
JIMENEZ: Sorry. I just want to jump in really quickly before we go. You -- you told a member of our team that you're also a survivor of the wildfires in Hawaii that happened a couple of years ago.
HIGGINBOTHAM: We were not there for the wildfires.
JIMENEZ: Okay.
HIGGINBOTHAM: That is actually my hometown.
JIMENEZ: Oh, wow.
HIGGINBOTHAM: I grew up in Texas, and then we moved to Hawaii. I moved back and -- all of the people I grew up with are -- that's my hometown. Like, that's -- that's where I went to middle school. That's where I went to high school. I -- so -- and a lot of that has helped me through this. And knowing what they went through helped me get through this. But yeah, I was right there as much as I could be with them, just trying to get them whatever --
JIMENEZ: Wow.
HIGGINBOTHAM: -- we could from here. But now, we -- they still haven't rebuilt --
JIMENEZ: Yeah. And I know it's going to --
[23:40:00]
HIGGINBOTHAM: -- a lot of things out there.
JIMENEZ: And I know it's going to take a lot of time to rebuild there in in the Central Texas area. Melissa Higginbotham, I really appreciate you taking the time. I'm glad you're safe. Thank you for -- for talking with us tonight.
HIGGINBOTHAM: Thank you so much.
JIMENEZ: Of course. And for more information about how you can help Texas flood victims, you can go to cnn.com/impact or text flood to 707070.
All right, coming up, we're going to talk some politics. And what's harder, sending humans to Mars or building a viable third party in American politics? I will leave you to decide. Elon Musk, though, may be about to find out as the world's richest man vows to use his money to exact revenge on President Trump in the midterms and beyond.
Plus, why Democrats are once again yelling TACO, it's not Tuesday, as Trump issues a new tariff threat and a deadline.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I would say firm. No. I would say firm, but not a 100 percent firm.
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[23:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JIMENEZ: All right, you can call it the one, big, ugly feud. President Trump and Elon Musk are fighting again. After the passage of the president's spending bill, the richest man in the world is revealing he's forming a new political party, the America Party. Musk says he wants to give Americans back their freedom. But the president thinks the billionaire has gone off the rails.
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TRUMP: I think it's ridiculous to start a third party. We have a tremendous success with the Republican Party. The Democrats have lost their way. But it has always been a two-party system. And I think starting a third party just adds to confusion. It really seems to have been developed for two parties. Third parties have never worked. So, he can have fun with it, but I think it's ridiculous.
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JIMENEZ: Joining me now, CNN political commentators Shermichael Singleton and Karen Finney. Good to see you both. So, Shermichael, look, Musk has the financial infrastructure.
SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: No doubt about it.
JIMENEZ: But I guess the question is about the political infrastructure.
SINGLETON: Uh-hmm.
JIMENEZ: Do you see this as a serious alternative or -- it sounds like you already have thought.
SINGLETON: No, but I think a lot of consultants are going to make a lot of money doing this, Karen. I mean, we had Harry Enten on, I believe, a day or two ago saying that only about 4 percent of Americans would likely fall into the camp of potentially being interested in joining such a third party. Yeah, people get frustrated with Republicans and Democrats alike, but I think most consultants will probably agree.
For the most part, people who teeter to the left typically will vote for Democrats, and folks who teeter to the right, I would argue, typically will vote for Republican with the right amount of -- of engagement. So, I think this is a waste of time.
And even if you can't get a candidate to win, my concern as a strategist becomes, who are you pulling votes from, Karen? It's likely not going to be Democrats. It's probably going to be Republicans. And God knows we can't afford to lose any darn votes next year.
JIMENEZ: And -- and so, that's the question for you, Karen. Politico has been reporting that former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang has been in touch with Musk on this third-party potential bid here.
KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Uh-hmm.
JIMENEZ: Could it pose a threat to Democrats, too?
FINNEY: I mean, Andrew Yang is not a serious political figure. I'm sorry to say that. I mean, he's in search of some kind of post somewhere for some sort of relevance.
I'm sort of more interested though in, you know, Trump calling -- saying he's off the rails given that he was perfectly happy to take $277 million from us last year, and he was perfectly willing to let this man he now says is off the rails literally have access to our personal private information when he gave him literally and figuratively the keys to our Social Security information, our tax data, our personal information in the form of DOGE, where he was perfectly happy to let him into all aspects of the federal government.
Many of the minions who worked for Musk are still there in jobs. We've never had a real accounting as to whether, you know, what Musk actually left with in terms of access to that data.
So, now, all of a sudden, he's off the rails, but you're the guy who let him in the door? What does that say about Donald Trump? Sure, go ahead and start a third party. I agree, it's -- I think it's going to be -- I don't -- I think it's going to be salient. Third parties generally have a lot of trouble historically in the country, sort of creating the actual infrastructure and --
JIMENEZ: Yeah.
FINNEY: Because remember, every state has a different set of rules.
JIMENEZ: Yep.
FINNEY: So, how you get on the ballot and figuring that out? But I think the bigger question is -- wait a second, this is the guy you trusted. This is the guy you brought in to our lives quite literally.
JIMENEZ: And so, let's talk about that, Shermichael --
SINGLETON: Uh-hmm.
JIMENEZ: -- because in the context of Senator Thom Tillis, Congressman Don Bacon, two rare Republicans willing to challenge Donald Trump, I guess --
SINGLETON: True.
JIMENEZ: -- they're stepping down. But their retirements, I kind of look at it as -- I guess the question is, do you have any concerns that sort of shrinking the center or molding the party more around Donald Trump's vision --
SINGLETON: Uh-hmm.
JIMENEZ: -- or Donald Trump, the man, hurts the GOP's chances of actually growing its majority in the midterms?
SINGLETON: I think while Trump is at the top, there's clearly some benefit if he decides to go out and actively campaign for candidates. But the data reveals that candidates that have attempted to emulate Donald Trump, they don't do as well as Donald Trump because they're frankly not him.
And so, the question becomes, how much leeway are we going to give candidates who are running in tight districts or trying to contest Democrats who may be more vulnerable? How much room do we give them to run individual races that may be more targeted and specific to the voters that they need to turn out?
And I would imagine that the president, the political shop at the White House is probably going to advise the president, hey, let's be strategic here so that we can maintain our advantage in the House because it's very slim. And Democrats are certainly going to do everything they can to try to make sure that they gain control again.
JIMENEZ: And Karen, quickly, Medicaid, midterms, a lot of the most significant effects won't come into effect until after the midterms. Are you worried that voters might not get that message?
[23:50:00]
FINNEY: No, because, actually, when you talk with people who do health care at the grassroots level, they're saying they already have to get out and start talking to people to make sure they're prepared because so many of these new requirements and the red tape is going to mean people have to be prepared long before the election. So, people will actually have to be made aware.
JIMENEZ: Karen Finney, Shermichael Singleton --
SINGLETON: Thanks so much.
JIMENEZ: -- appreciate you both. Good to see you.
SINGLETON: Good to see you, man.
JIMENEZ: Up next, President Trump's tariff crusade enters the letter writing stage with new percentages, new threats, and even new deadlines all announced. So, what does it all mean? One of our favorite economists, Justin Wolfers, standing by with his perspective.
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[23:55:00]
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JIMENEZ: All right, just two days away from President Trump's July 9 tariff deadline, and he's moving the goalposts yet again. Trump announcing countries now have until August 1st to make a deal if they want to avoid facing reciprocal tariffs. But even this new deadline doesn't appear to be set in stone. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Is the August 1 deadline firm now? Is that it? Or could you move it again?
TRUMP: I would say firm. No. I would say firm, but not a 100 percent firm. If they call up and they say, we'd like to do something a different way, we're going to be open to that. But, essentially, that's the way it is right now.
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JIMENEZ: So, Trump has posted a lot of letters online, addressed to more than a dozen countries, we're showing some of them here, including close trading partners like Japan and South Korea. He says they're going to face anywhere between 25% to 40% tariffs if they fail to make a deal. And if they retaliate, Trump says, prepare to face even higher tariffs.
So, let's talk about it. Professor of economics and public policy at the University of Michigan, Justin Wolfers, appreciate you being here. So, Justin, let's just start. As an economist, when you -- when you see the deadline for these deals moved yet again, is it possible that this can happen by August? What is your initial assessment here?
JUSTIN WOLFERS, PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS AND PUBLIC POLICY, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: I don't let my freshmen, when I teach them, move their deadlines like this. I keep my word. I expect them to keep their word. I expect them to do their homework. Now, enough about how I teach. How should we do international trade? Look, the whole thing, honestly, is just a laughable cluster. It's ridiculous.
We -- the new tariffs that President Trump announced today are literally the old tariffs from April to Liberation Day that caused markets to explode. But they took those old tariffs and added or subtracted a couple of percentage points, depending on which country you happen to be.
The whole problem was he has promised 90 deals in 90 days, and instead got to two frameworks in 88 days. And now, he has extended the deadline. So, now, it'll be 114 days instead.
But the real problem, as anyone knows, is negotiating a single trade agreement with a single country with a dedicated team usually takes one or two years. This just isn't a serious approach.
JIMENEZ: And, you know, part of -- part of Trump's announced strategy, it seems, is to balance out trade deficits with countries or at least one aspect of this, a debt -- balance out deficits with countries where we have one.
But -- but is there a legitimate economic future to negotiating through tariffs here, whether it's by the August deadline or -- or if that one ends up moving, too?
WOLFERS: Yeah. So, the underlying rationale for this is really quite extraordinary. The -- the large tariffs are going on nations from whom the United States buys a lot, and they don't buy a lot of our stuff. In Trump's mind, that's being ripped off.
But here's the thing to understand. In my local economy, I go to my local Trader Joe's all the time. I buy a lot from them. And on the way out, I say, hey, would you like to buy some economics lectures from me? Trader Joe's never says yes. So, I buy a lot from them, they buy nothing from me.
I have a massive trade deficit with Trader Joe's. But I guarantee you, what won't help it is if I impose an extra tax on myself every time I go to Trader Joe's, and that's what a tariff is.
JIMENEZ: Markets are down following today's announcement, but by nowhere near as much as they declined following Trump's initial announcement in April. What does that signal to you? Is it that investors in the countries Trump wants to make deals with are starting to call his bluff? I mean, what do you see in these numbers here?
WOLFERS: So, what's hard is -- there are two ways of interpreting today's news. Let's fast forward to tomorrow, which is Tuesday. Was today TACO Tuesday? Remember, Trump always chickens out, in which he took what got to the July 7 deadline and said, just kidding, pushed it out again to August 1st, and maybe he's going to TACO again, and that's going to be the story of this presidency.
Just like infrastructure week never came the first time, maybe tariff day never comes. Or is today tariff Tuesday? What he really does get serious about imposing these exorbitantly high tariffs on all of these countries? So, it could be that people are betting that this is more TACO Tuesday than tariff Tuesday.
But I think there's something else going on. If everyone becomes convinced that Trump is a TACO, that he'll chicken out, then they won't react when he actually imposes tariffs, and that's what he did today.
And there's the possibility he actually means it this time. And so, the normal indicator is markets go haywire. Every big business calls the White House and says back off.
[23:59:57]
But if they believe he's going to back off anyway, they're not going to bother calling, in which case the TACO might end up being a tariff. Who the heck knows?
JIMENEZ: If a TACO ends up becoming a tariff, you have worked magic at Trader Joe's, my friend. Justin Wolfers, appreciate your perspective and insight as always. Thanks for being here.
WOLFERS: Pleasure, Omar.
JIMENEZ: All right. And thank you all for watching. "Anderson Cooper 360" up next.
