Return to Transcripts main page
One World with Zain Asher
Authorities Say Search and Rescue Operations will Continue Today; Texas Officials Give Update on Deadly Flash Flooding; Search & Rescue Ongoing for Dozens Missing in Texas Flood; At Least 89 People Dead in Texas Flood, Dozens Missing; Netanyahu to Meet Trump Amid Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Talks; Australian Woman Found Guilty on All Counts in Poisoning Case. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired July 07, 2025 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ZAIN ASHER, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Right, we're waiting for a new update on the deadly catastrophic flooding in Central Texas.
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN HOST, ONE WORLD: "One World" starts right now. At least 82 people killed in raging floodwaters in Texas, including dozens at
a summer camp. Rescuers are still desperately searching for survivors from Friday's disaster.
ASHER: Plus, President Trump meeting later today with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House amid ongoing Gaza ceasefire
talks.
GOLODRYGA: And as leaders of the BRICS economies meet in Brazil, Donald Trump threatens to slap extra tariffs on any countries that align with them
against America. All right, hello, everyone, live from New York. I'm Bianna Golodryga.
ASHER: And I'm Zain Asher, you are watching "One World". Any moment now, officials in Central Texas are going to give an update on search and rescue
efforts after catastrophic flood, flash flooding on Friday. We'll bring that to you as and when it happens. Obviously, that's the empty podium that
we are expecting the Texas Governor, Abbott to speak as well.
GOLODRYGA: And the search and rescue, continues now into its fourth day. Texas is bracing for even more rain unfortunately, as the scope of the July
4th tragedy comes into sharper focus. The death toll has been steadily rising since Friday's disaster, and now stands at 82 people dead, with
dozens still missing.
The water rose lightning fast in the early morning hours on Friday with four months' worth of rain falling. Just think about four months' worth of
rain falling in just hours, and then a wall of water moved over the Guadalupe River, taking everything in its path with it, more than a dozen
youth summer camps sit along the banks of that river.
One area resident says that those camps have been -- long been the life blood of the community.
ASHER: It makes you shudder just to think about what's happened, what took place there over the holiday weekend. All girls summer camp confirmed the
loss of at least 27 campers and counselors a short time ago, two brothers from another camp shared how they survived.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PIERS BOYETT, FLOODING SURVIVOR: My brother here, he had to swim out of his cabin.
RUFFIN BOYETT, FLOODING SURVIVOR: The flood started getting bigger, and it was going up to, we had bunk beds in our cabins, and it was going up to the
top bunk, and we had one choice, and we had to swim out of our cabins.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What time --
R. BOYETT: It was like we woke up at --
P. BOYETT: Yeah, we had to wake up at like, 04:00 a.m. on the way here, we saw all of like, the other camps destroyed, like, obliterated.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: OK, we're going to take you now to that press conference in Texas right now where officials are giving an update on the search and
rescue.
LARRY LEITHA, KERR COUNTY SHERIFF: -- bodies here in Kerr County, including 48 adults and 27 children. Of these 48 adults and 27 children, 15 adults
and 9 children are pending identification. At present, there are 10 campers from Camp Mystic, unaccounted for, and one counselor.
We continue to offer our condolences to those affected. Reuniting the families remain our top priority here on this operation. Please note that
highway 39 of an Old Ingram Loop, remains closed to the public, other than those who live in that area would not be allowed out there. I will now turn
it over to Senator Cruz. I'm sorry, City Manager, Dalton Rice.
DALTON RICE, CITY MANAGER OF KERRVILLE: Good morning. I'm Dalton Rice, the City Manager for the City of Kerrville. As everybody knows, we are working
in conjunction with the city under a unified command response and work and again, lot of devastation. Our hearts go out to the families in the
victims.
We want to continue to work together as a community. We love the media support on this to be able to communicate that message, communicate family,
communicate togetherness, and we really appreciate all the support and helping us be able to do that. Search and rescue operation -- as a sheriff
said, search and rescue operations will continue today, from Hunt in North Kerr County all the way to Canyon Lake in Comal County.
Now we're only focused on the Kerr County side, but we wanted to talk about that because for a linear from Hunt all the way to Comal County in a
straight line, distance is over 100 kilometers. This is a massive field that is happening. And again, this is unprecedented flood events.
So, we are still currently in the primary search phase, which is the rapid one, they are running it. You know, we have different segments that are
gridded out. Each one of those segments are taking anywhere between an hour to three hours up to two kilometers for each segment.
[11:05:00]
So, what that means is they're running into a lot of technical challenges with terrain, with water, even potentially, you know, with weather, you
know, in the rising fields. We've talked about this before, volunteers stay out of the way, because if we start getting weather reports and all, you
know, and all the other complications that are out there, we then have to pull off of those search and rescue missions to be able to communicate to
those volunteers to get off to make sure that they don't become victims themselves.
Those operations involve 19 different local and state agencies. In addition to conducting primary and secondary searches, they will be conducting
welfare checks on areas in north Kerr County impacted by power outages. And when we say search and rescue operations, that is boat, walking on the
ground, dogs, drones, again, keep personal drones out of the air, helicopters, we do have other assets that are continuing the search as
well.
As of present KPUB, which is the Kerrville Public Utility Board, is reporting continued power outages between Hunt and Ingram along the South
Fork of the Guadalupe River in Hunt. In the South Fork area, there are approximately 40 down power lines and significant infrastructure damage.
KPUB has brought in additional utility personnel to help with restoration, but it's not possible at this time when the power is going to be restored.
There are some substations along with those power lines that we are still trying to get access to, just from debris build up or them being completely
wiped out.
So, we do not again. We do not have an estimated time on when those are going to be fixed. We continue to have substantial number of requests for
volunteers, as I said before, and donation opportunities. We are asking those who want to volunteer to contact the Salvation Army in Kerrville by
phone at 830-465-4797, or in person at 855, Hayes Street in Kerrville.
Monetary donations can be made on the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill country's website at www.communityfoundation.net. They have a Kerr
County relief fund set up on that site, and I will now turn it over to the Mayor Joe Herring.
JOE HERRING JR., KERRVILLE, TEXAS MAYOR: Thank you for being here. I need to tell my community and those families who are waiting. This will be a
rough week. Primary search continues, and we remain hopeful. Every foot, every mile, every bend of the river, our work continues.
We need to know that we have been blessed with help from the community, from the state and the nation. We have trained experts who are helping in
this effort. If you want to volunteer, it is important that you contact Kerrville Salvation Army and register. Dalton gave that number, but I'm
going to give it again, 830-465-4797.
We need focused and coordinated volunteers, not random people, just showing up and doing what they do. We need to work together. As Dalton said,
donations have been flowing in from around the world to the Community Foundation. Again, that website is communityfoundation.net.
And please follow Kerrville -- a City of Kerrville Facebook page for updates. They're accurate. We take a lot of time to make sure we send out
information that will be helpful, not only to residents, but those who are visiting. I have said this 100 times, and I will say it again, we need your
prayers. We need your prayers. Thank you. And now Senator Ted Cruz.
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): Texas is grieving right now, the pain, the shock of what has transpired these last few days has broken the heart of our state.
As of yesterday, the confirmed death toll was 82 and those numbers are continuing to go up. The children and little girls who were lost at Camp
Mystic.
That's every parent's nightmare. Every mom and dad. Last week, we were picking up our daughter from camp here in Hunt. Our girls have gone to camp
here for a decade.
[11:10:00]
The Hill country is an incredible part of Texas, part of the country. The natural beauty here is incredible. The camps that have raised generations
of little girls and little boys and instilled character and love and faith are extraordinary institutions. And I'll tell you the pain in our state,
and it's every part of the state.
You've got Texans from all over the state who were here celebrating the Fourth of July. A week ago, this was a time of great celebration. You're
dropping your little girl off at camp, your little boy off at camp. You're celebrating Independence Day. You know that your child is going to be
swimming and canoes and horseback riding and doing archery and making lifetime friends.
And then suddenly it turns to tragedy. With the last several days, I've spoken to multiple parents scared out of their mind. Do you know anything?
Where is my daughter? There's still 10 girls and one counselor from Camp Mystic that are not accounted for. And the pain and agony of not knowing
your child's whereabouts, it's the worst thing imaginable.
But I want to say, in the face of all of this, it is simultaneously inspiring. Every time there's a tragedy, every time there's a natural
disaster in Texas, Texans come together. Texas is a big state. We've got 31 million people, and we have hurricanes, we have tornadoes, we have
wildfires.
Tragedies hit this state. Natural disasters hit this state, and without fail, 100 out of 100 times when that happens. We see Texans coming
together, helping each other, engaging in acts of heroism, there have been over 850 high water rescues since this flooding began. 850, you look at
extraordinary stories, stories of Eagle Scouts pulling campers out of harm's way.
I was just hearing a story of one counselor whose head was right at the water, holding up two mattresses with campers on those mattresses, that
kind of courage, that kind of selflessness, and then they're the first responders, the local first responders. I want to thank every one of the
first responders at the local level, at the city level, at the county level, at the state level, at the at the federal level.
In the first few hours of this flood, I was on the phone with Governor Abbott was on the phone with Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, was on the
phone with Nim Kidd, the Head of the Texas Department of Emergency Management. And then I called President Trump. I called President Trump.
He was having dinner at the time. It was still early in what was transpiring. And I wanted him to know, I said, Mr. President, everything
we're hearing right now this appears to be bad, really bad. There may be a very significant loss of life unfolding right now in Texas.
And I will tell you the president said, Ted, anything Texas needs, the answer is yes. Whatever assets you need, whatever resources you need. Yes,
let us know, and we will provide everything. Within hours, we had helicopters, over a dozen helicopters in the air, National Guard, DPS, game
wardens, Coast Guard, doing search and rescue, reaching down.
We've all seen the videos of little girls being pulled up, hoisted out of harm's way. Incredible courage and heroism. Search and Rescue is the first
stage, but the process of coming together and rebuilding is going to take longer. And I will say to all the grieving families, to all of those who
have gotten the worst news imaginable that your little girl, she's gone.
I will say for many of us, those are friends and neighbors who have lost children. Got multiple kids who go to school with my girls. The mayor asked
for prayers, and I want to say thank you to the millions of Texans, to the millions of Americans, to the millions of people all over the world right
now who are praying, praying for Texas and praying for those parents.
Going through this grief, it is going to take love, it is going to take friends and family embracing and hugging and holding them while they weep.
And it's going to take the church with every disaster, one of the things we see here in Texas is the church steps up and the church helps, and the
church feeds and clothes and comforts.
[11:15:00]
This morning, I met with a group of chaplains who have been going through the incredibly difficult process of talking to mom and dad after mom and
dad who just lost the most precious person they ever knew, and those chaplains are just trying to love them and show God's love.
So, I want to say, we will come through this. To those in the midst of grief right now that might seem hard to fathom, but Texas will come through
this. And I just want to say thank you. I want to say thank you to these gentlemen here who are working. They are not sleeping.
They are working every day. Thank you to the families. Thank you to the salvation army. Thank you to everyone who is just reaching out and saying,
how can I help? We will come through this, and we'll come through this together. Thank you. And now we'll take questions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator, you talked about -- little kids here.
CRUZ: Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you taking your own kids to camp? Was it ever communicated to you that there was a need, that it was a priority to have a
warning system, so people have a chance to escape something like this.
CRUZ: Well, listen, I think any time you're dealing with major rivers, there's a risk of flooding, and there's always been a risk of flooding,
particularly on the Guadalupe River. I will say, in the wake of every tragedy, there are things that are predictable. One of the things that's
predictable is that you see some people engaging in, I think, partisan games, and trying to blame their political opponents for a natural
disaster.
And you see that with a hurricane, with a tornado, with a wildfire, with this flooding, where people immediately say, well, the hurricane is Donald
Trump's fault. You know, look that I think most normal Americans know that's ridiculous, and I think this is not a time for partisan finger
pointing and attacks.
Now, after we come through search and rescue, after we come through the process of rebuilding, there will naturally be a period of retrospection,
where you look back and say, OK, what exactly transpired, what was the timeline, and what could have been done differently to prevent this loss of
life?
And that's a natural process. I think it should not happen in a bitter and partisan sense, but it should happen in a reasonable sense of saying, what
lessons can we learn? And I will give an example. You know, Houston is my hometown. If you live on the Gulf Coast, we get hurricanes.
That's part of living on the Gulf Coast as hurricanes hit. And I do think Texas as a whole has learned over time how to deal more effectively with
hurricanes. And so, you look here, we know the National Weather Service put out an emergency warning just after 01:00 a.m. and a second emergency
warning just after 04:00 a.m.
Now obviously most people at 01:00 a.m. and 04:00 a.m. are asleep. And so, I think we will have a reasonable conversation about a Are there any ways
to have earlier detection and some of that the limits of a flash flood, they're very difficult because they can arise so quickly.
But everyone would agree, in hindsight, if we could go back and do it again, we would evacuate particularly those in the most vulnerable areas,
the young children in the cabins closest to the water. We would remove them and get them to higher ground, if we could go back and do it again.
Obviously, everyone would -- the people in RVs by the river's edge. We know, in disasters like this, RVs and mobile homes are particularly
susceptible, whether a flood or a hurricane or a tornado, they're particularly susceptible to that. And so, my hope is, in time, we will
learn some lessons to implement to next time.
And there will be another flood, there will be another disaster, but next time there's a flood, I hope we have in place processes to remove,
especially the most vulnerable from harm's way, but I think that's going to be a process that will take a careful examination of what happened, and how
can we, how can we implement processes better in the future to prevent the same loss of life?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator, there were claims that the National Weather Service sent that first flash flood warning that should have lurched phones
at 01:14 in the morning. But we have a federal public database maintained by PBS, PBS warrant that says the first emergency alert wirelessly here in
this area, to Kerr County, was not until after 09:00 a.m.
I was more than four hours after the severe flooding had come to this area. Did you know that? Have you seen that? What's your response knowing the
state and cuts to the NWS in recent months by this administration?
[11:20:00]
CRUZ: So, I don't know the source for what you're saying. All of the public reporting I've seen is that there were, there were two alerts that went
out, one just after 01:00 a.m. one after 04:00 a.m. You know, I can tell you I talked about the partisan finger pointing. I think there have been
some eager to point at the National Weather Service and say cuts there led to a lack of warning.
I think that's contradicted by the facts, and if you look at the facts in particular, number one, that these warnings went out hours before the flood
became a true emergency level. But number two, the National Weather Service here, new Braunfels is where they were headquartered.
They had additional manpower. In fact, they had three additional people working that night, anticipating that it was going to be a very dangerous
weather situation. I also think it's worth noting that the National Weather Service union, which has been very critical of the DOGE cuts, has publicly
said that they don't believe that the reduction in staffing had any impact whatsoever on their ability to warn of this event.
And so, look, I think it is reasonable, over time, to engage in a retrospective and say at every level what could have been done better,
because all of us would want to prevent this horrific loss of life, but I think just immediately trying to use it for either side to attack their
political opponents.
I think that's cynical and not the right approach, particularly at a time when we're dealing with a crisis and we're dealing with grief.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- whether there should be cuts at the National Weather Service and FEMA. I know you've been supportive of FEMA.
CRUZ: Look, I am very supportive of FEMA. I'm very supportive of the National Weather Service. They both perform essential roles, and I think it
is critical in every federal agency, particularly when you're dealing with public safety, that we make sure that critical roles are maintained.
That's a longer and broader discussion, but as I said, everything from the public evidence indicates that, that was not a contributing factor to what
occurred here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- just to talk about that in those national weather service alerts, because there were escalating forecasts throughout the day
from the National Weather Service, what did the emergency managers of the county and other local officials do with that information, starting at 115
and onward, where you had the dire river forecast at 630 or emergency managers doing anything to put any processes in place for more people on
the river?
RICE: So overall, you know, we were preparing for the July 4th, you know, you know, weekend. So, we had National EMR on site. We were sitting, you
know, basically stood up, kind of an incident command post, if you will, to prepare for that event. So most everybody was kind of up looking at
weather.
We looked at the weather before, when you looked at the National Weather Service, excuse me, flood map, it spanned all the way from the west side of
Texas, with Kerr County, kind of being in that upper northeast corner of it. And so, everybody, including the National Weather Service, was looking
at, where's the rain going to hit?
We know it's somewhere in here, but with rain, especially when you're dealing with terrain, you got to figure out, sometimes you don't know until
it falls, so once it starts falling, then you got to figure out, OK, how's the watershed going to do this? How's the science going to work?
And when you had those that north and south fork that we had talked about before, it all converged into one. We do know that a lot of the camps,
we're looking at this just as much as, you know, as everybody was. With, you know, with the rainfall percentages, even the National Weather Service
had looked at, and don't quote me on the numbers, but is anywhere between, you know, one to seven, you know, seven inches, we got significantly over
that.
And again, when it goes into very congregated areas, and how that watershed shifts into the to the rivers, that impacts things. And so, the camps,
obviously, we've heard stories where campers were getting up. They were up at, you know, 03:30 in the morning. They were trying to move to higher
ground.
That's the head and the other interesting part of the terrain. And we've talked to UGRA folks as well. This is the headwaters of the Guadalupe. This
is the beginning. This is where everything forms when, you know, when it comes in to the north and south fork and so, as those things develop, it
develops very rapidly, very quickly and this rose very quickly in a very short amount of time.
And so, those campers that were able to do that, it worked. You know, there's been the other question. I'll just give this one out, evacuations.
Well, why don't we evacuate? Well, evacuation is a delicate balance, because if you evacuate too late, you then risk putting busses, you know,
or cars or vehicles or campers on roads into low water areas, trying to get them out, which then can make it even more challenging, because these flash
floods happen very quickly, that's what --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- 1987 but was there -- earlier, but when it wasn't too late? Was there any discussion about that on the officials.
RICE: Sorry, repeat your question.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was there any discussion to evacuate or activate any emergency plans before it was too late, where it would be very dangerous,
like that?
[11:25:00]
RICE: Well, so again, just like disasters in Texas everywhere. You know, 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 make sure that we activated at the right time. It is very difficult, very challenging, especially with this.
We're looking at 100 kilometers, right? 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. So even when first responders were on the ground at 03:30 in the morning and we had reports, we had first responders that were getting swept
away actually responding to the first areas of rainfall.
That's how quick it happened, first responders who have experience, who are swift water qualified, we're driving to the once, as soon as the rain
started falling, we're driving to these areas, and one of them got swept off the road.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- 01:00 and 04:00 a.m. --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- 01:00 and 04:00 a.m. from local law enforcement to the camp, saying, I know you can't get busses in an hour, but was there
anyone coming the camp between 01:00 and 04:00 a.m. you need to get the girls to higher ground. At the very least, they have to walk up there in
the rain, as many of them actually doing. Was there any from local law enforcement, anyone in that --
RICE: That I don't know off the top of my head. What I do know, though, is, you know, there's 55,000 people in Kerr County. Kerr County is a massive,
massive area from here to those camps, is 45 minutes on a good day. And so, you know, obviously, one of the big challenges that we have, even when you
have cell service, a lot of those areas don't even have cell service radio communications towers.
You know, radio towers within the Hill country becomes very challenging. So, there's a lot of areas, especially when weather comes in, where
cellular towers are down or you already have bad service. So, there's a lot of a lot of factors that play in a lot of variables in there, on
communication that again.
I think as we work through this process, we know everybody has a lot of questions regarding what are the next steps and what's next, and I think
all of these things, these are all great questions. And as we continue search and rescue, and as we continue to move to the next step, we
definitely want to dive in and look at all those things, from cell service tower to, you know, to radio communications, you know, or emergency
alerting, any of those things.
I think we all really need to take a look, you know, look at and review, and we're looking forward to doing that once we can get the search and
rescue and stuff complete.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- in regards to the total number, of course, anything else, I just want to say thank you to you all the first responders, to
everyone involved, we've been praying.
RICE: Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've been praying. The media has been praying. Thank you, guys, for doing that. I've got two questions. One, are you trying to
get an accurate count on number of missing? I know you can't. I know we don't know the -- No, we don't know what we don't know.
RICE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But do we know a rough idea on total estimates that we're still missing overall throughout the county? And then one other
follows up. This may be for Senator Cruz. A lot of speculation is being made about this being somehow man involved with the weather modification,
with some of the rain maker technology, working with farmland.
Do you think any of that? Is there going to be any investigations into that? Or can you communicate anything on that?
RICE: Let me ask answer your first question. Definitely turn that second one over to him. So, on the first question with missing persons. So
obviously we have the knowns, they can't miss the kids, which is the numbers coming down, as the sheriff has stated. And then we have the
unknowns, but we don't know what we don't know we are taking we actually have a five-hotline line.
It fluctuates between three and five, but we're working on it. We get calls 24 hours, 7 days a week. We haven't hit the weeks yet, but we're still, you
know, taking in calls. We are collecting all that information. So, we don't have a solid number that we're willing to talk about right now.
We do know that it is a lot, because we also are getting a lot of fake calls. You know, you're looking this is a worldwide discussion, and we're
dealing with scammers. Victims' families are being reached out to saying that they have their kids pay me money. It's heartbreaking, is absolutely
heartbreaking.
We're dealing with, you know, you know, with mental health issues, where people are calling saying they have visions, you know, all of these things
we're dealing with on a day-to-day basis, and we're having to vet this information, and it becomes very taxing on our people.
Again, this is an extremely heartbreaking this is, if not the worst you know, one of the worst you know, disasters in this region in a very, very
long time, even beyond 1987 and so. But we're --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- like, dozens or hundreds or just give people --
RICE: A lot. So, yeah, let me --
CRUZ: Yeah, there --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: people are asking lots of questions. And where should we start the investigation?
CRUZ: To the best of my knowledge, there is zero evidence of anything related to anything like weather modification. And look, the internet can
be a strange place. People can come up with all sorts of crazy theories. What I know is a reality is that a whole lot of Texans are grieving right
now.
I will tell you I was visiting with one parent who was talking about online being harassed online because their information was public, that they had a
little girl who was missing at Mystic.
[11:30:00]
And look, there are a lot of people who are messed up. And my call for everyone, there's a time to have political fights. There's a time to
disagree. This is not that time. This is a time just to reach out, support each other, go, go volunteer at the Salvation Army. Give them money.
Go, go volunteer at your church. Go, you know what I did when this happened, just go hug your kids. Because I got to tell you, I hug my girls
with tears in my eyes. Because every one of us who's a parent there, but for the grace of God, go I. And nothing will fill the void in these moms
and dad's hearts, but they'll make it through it.
And every one of us, we have an obligation to come through and help them make it, make it through it. And look, Texas will come through. And let me
say, Kerr County, the Hill country, is incredible. It is beautiful. And these summer camps, Camp Mystic is an incredible Texas institution.
For a century, it has made a profound difference helping young girls become strong women in Texas and across the country. And so, for me, at least, I'm
praying for these camps. I'm praying for all the campers, everyone implicated, everyone impacted. And I hope we come together and stand as one
doing that.
GOLODRYGA: All right, we've been listening to a press conference with local officials in Kerrville County there. I'm giving an update on the search and
rescue as we are now in day four, following these torrential rains and flooding unprecedented really, for the Texas Hill country, which has its
own history of devastating, life threatening floods.
So far, we know that 75 bodies have been recovered, 48 adults, 27 children, 15 of the adults and 9 of the children are still pending identification. We
also know that 10 young campers are still missing right now as the search and rescue effort continues, and sadly, we know that this number will only
grow in the days and hours to come.
The weather still a factor here, as more rain is expected in the region, and that is creating a situation where these first responders are not
permitted right now to do their work as effectively as possible.
ASHER: And just to add, I mean, you and I were listening to that press conference, and as some of the officials were speaking, you and I both had
tears in our eyes, because we are both parents. And just this idea you were saying to me, Bianna, just the idea of dropping your kids off to sleep away
camp for the weekend, is something that Ted Cruz, Senator Ted Cruz brought up as well, because he had just picked up his children from sleepaway camp
in Hunt, Texas as well.
His idea of hugging your children at night when you see a story like this, because sleepaway camp is supposed to be this really sort of magical,
adventurous place. Texas Senator Ted Cruz talked about just the fact that you send your young girls to these sorts of camps, and they're supposed to
have these lifelong memories.
They're supposed to bond and make lifelong friendships, and then you end up getting a phone call that's pretty much every parent's worst nightmare. You
end up having what is, you know, undoubtedly pretty much the worst weekend of your life. And just, you know, just having that kind of compassion and
deep empathy for what these parents are doing, God knows what they're experiencing right now with these floods.
GOLODRYGA: As someone who grew up in Texas and Houston, I didn't go to sleep away camp, but Hill country. If you were to stay in Texas, that is
where you went. And I had so many friends, and I knew of so many families that for decades, for generations, had been sending their children to Camp
Mystic, which was an amazing, amazing organization and camp for young girls to gather there along the beautiful Guadalupe River.
But also, as this has proven, with this tragedy, a devastating, devastating area there right now as families are still grieving, knowing that either
their loved ones are unaccounted for, or that thankfully, if they are reunited with their children, just the harrowing experience that must have
been for them.
Let's bring in Deanne Criswell. She's the Former Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency or FEMA. Deanne, thank you so much for
joining us. It is so difficult seeing the split screen as I'm sure you were listening as well to this press conference. You see these empty cabins.
You see the stuffed animals that have been left behind out of this devastation, clothes belonging to young children just ravished by these
torrential floods.
[11:35:00]
If we could get to the how and why in a moment, I do want to just ask you, logistically, as somebody who ran FEMA, we know there are seven shelters
that FEMA has already set up in the area right now. What is the most important work that FEMA officials are doing on the ground right now?
DEANNE CRISWELL, FORMER ADMINISTRATOR OF THE FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY: Well, I really appreciate you bringing me on, and I did listen to
that news conference, and it is heartbreaking just to hear the stories and see the images of such an incredible tragedy that this community has gone
through.
And I think you know, when you listen to the local officials and the senator speak, you know this sense of community coming together honestly is
the most important thing that can happen right now. Right that the community really needs to rely on each other and come together to help each
other through that.
And with the presidential disaster declaration, FEMA now can bring resources in to assist and they can do that in a number of ways. There's
staff, as I understand, that are embedded at the state emergency operations center. They're working side by side with those state officials to
understand what their current needs are, but also starting to anticipate what their potential future needs are going to be.
As you heard, they're still in search and rescue, and so there are additional federal resources that can be brought in. The Coast Guard has
done an amazing job, but there's other federal resources that can be brought in, and they're going to coordinate with that state director to
make sure they get the right resources for this stage, but they're also going to anticipate what's going to be needed in the future.
And I mean, you saw from those images, debris removal is just going to be such an incredible operation. And then the last thing real fast is then
that individual, right? They can register now for assistance. So many people lost so much. They lost family members, they lost homes, they lost
community, and so they need to start by getting registered for assistance, but also contacting their insurance company to begin that recovery process.
ASHER: You know, I think one of the saddest parts, I mean, there are so many horrific elements this story, one of the saddest things is that, you
know, a lot of these kids, especially at this camp, just didn't stand a chance when you think about the factors working against them.
I mean, it happened in the middle of the night. A lot of these kids were fast asleep. You know, also the fact that just the sheer volume of rainfall
we're talking about, you know, four months. I mean, imagine that four months' worth of rain in just a few hours, and the ones that did survive.
I mean, some of these stories of having to crawl out of windows and clinging to trees and then floating away on mattresses. Just talk to us
about the sort of convergence of events right, that led to this kind of disaster happening, and how hard it is, just in terms of the even the quick
thinking when you're confronted with these kinds of rapidly rising floodwaters to be able to escape?
GOLODRYGA: In the middle of the night, no less.
CRISWELL: Yeah, well, I mean flooding in the middle of the night is like the most dangerous scenario that you can have this kind of flash flooding.
You know, when you see a hurricane and you're preparing and you watch it for days, sometimes as it's approaching landfall, you know, families can
make plans.
They can put things in place, and they put their emergency plan in action, and they go to a safe place, but this kind of flash flooding, you just
don't have a lot of time. And you know, during my time as the FEMA Administrator, we continue to see these kinds of rain events just baffle us
as to how quickly they intensify, but then also how they stall, and are leaving this incredible historic amount of rainfall in certain areas that
are causing rivers to swell to historic levels.
I mean, every year we saw a flash flood event that broke historical records from years, if not decades prior, and we're seeing that again with Texas.
And so, the best thing that people can do, and families can do when you see something that even has a potential anymore is really start to think
through what is the worst-case scenario that could possibly happen as a result of this, and what steps do I need to take to protect my family in
case it does reach that level.
GOLODRYGA: What additional warning systems need to be in place now? Again, so many of these questions, as the senator, as the officials stated there
at the press conference, will be asked and hopefully answered in the days and weeks to come. What any of these potential DOGE cutbacks, what role
that may have had in preventing possibly more alerts?
[11:40:00]
No one is identifying that as the culprit right now, but so much clearly went wrong here, even as we said, just the factors in place were all
against survival for so many families in the middle of the night, torrential flooding, the speed at which the banks just overwhelmed --
ASHER: -- dealing with communities --
GOLODRYGA: That don't even have cell phones on them for any kind of alerts, that's another factor. Deanne Criswell, thank you so much for your time.
Thank you for your compassion, too.
CRISWELL: Yeah, thank you for having me.
ASHER: Right. If you'd like to help those affected by the flooding in Texas, you can go to cnn.com/impact, also you can find resources for
donations, and you'll be connected to charities that are on the ground there now. So, we do encourage you to donate if you are moved to do so.
We'll be right back after this short break with more.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: All right, welcome back to "One World". I'm Zain Asher.
GOLODRYGA: And I'm Bianna Golodryga.
ASHER: In just a few hours from now, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is set to visit the White House for the third time since Donald
Trump returned to the Oval Office.
GOLODRYGA: Now the discussions are expected to center around pausing the war in Gaza and securing the release of the remaining hostages. President
Trump says there's a good chance that a deal will be reached this week.
ASHER: It comes as a second round of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas take place in Doha. But while Netanyahu is supporting a ceasefire
proposal drawn up by the U.S., he says amendments requested by Hamas are unacceptable.
GOLODRYGA: That's all happening against the backdrop of continued Israeli attacks in Gaza. The Palestinian Health Ministry says at least 57 people
were killed on Sunday.
ASHER: Right. Neria Kraus is the Foreign Policy and Middle East Correspondent for Israel's Channel 13. And she joins us live now from
Washington. Neria, thank you so much for being with us. I just want to talk about the conversations that are set to take place between Netanyahu and
Trump today.
I mean, one thing that stood out to me when the U.S. got involved in the war, the 12-day war between Israel and Iran, is that Trump is very good at
making all sides nervous. I mean, we've seen him do this with Russia and Ukraine. He might be on your side today and he might not be on your side
tomorrow.
NERIA KRAUS, FOREIGN POLICY & MIDDLE EAST CORRESPONDENT FOR CHANNEL 13: Yeah.
ASHER: I mean, he is, you know, it's sort of a no man's land situation with Donald Trump. Based on that, how do you go about -- how does Netanyahu go
about negotiating with somebody like that and addressing his needs versus Donald Trump's needs versus what Donald Trump wants, knowing that what he
wants and what he needs could change tomorrow?
[11:45:00]
KRAUS: First of all, thank you for having me Bianna and Zain. Yeah, it is true. Prime Minister Netanyahu knows when he comes to the White House while
President Trump is the President of the United States. He knows that there may be surprises, but we do know that there are a few issues that are
really important for Trump.
And that is, first of all, getting the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. A hostage ceasefire deal that he would like to make it happen this
week. He would like to announce it this week. It is too soon to tell how the negotiations in Qatar will go during this week, but it will take a few
days to get the details settled.
There are a few gaps between Israel and Hamas, but they're working on it. And of course, Trump would like to celebrate the Iranian attack and his
success in the Iranian attack. And of course, he'd like to celebrate that with Prime Minister Netanyahu during their dinner tonight.
And there's the issue of the day after in Gaza, the issue of what will happen with Gaza in the day after the war, when the war ends, if it ends.
And that issue is an issue of maybe moving Palestinians. We've heard Trump. I was here at the White House when Trump talked about it, about a
possibility of moving Gazans away from Gaza to different countries.
So that's also a possibility that Trump is looking into, and of course, Arab countries that will get involved in that matter.
GOLODRYGA: And Neria, the landscape there, it's safe to say, has completely changed over the last three weeks in the region there, following Israel's
success with the United States, of course, at least temporarily setting back Iran's nuclear program, its ballistic program, it's all -- and also
its proxies.
Iran is much weakened today than it was even a few weeks ago. Given that is there more of an opportunity for Prime Minister Netanyahu to push for -- to
push, when I'm speaking of pushing, I'm talking about some of the far-right members of his coalition to green light this deal, because this deal, we
know has been on the table now for many months in a way that he wasn't able to, let's say, back in March.
KRAUS: So, what we've been hearing from the Israeli side of the deal in the past few days is that, of course, as you're saying. Bianna, Netanyahu's far
right members of the coalition, they would not like to have this deal done and to see this deal come to life, but they will not, probably resign from
the government at this point, this is not what they're saying at this point.
They're saying that they're truly against it, and they're trying to convince Prime Minister Netanyahu not to go through with that deal. But
there are still negotiations between the members of Netanyahu's coalition regarding that. But I can tell you that Netanyahu is much stronger in
Israel as well.
And he knows that if he goes to a hostage deal, and that goes wrong with his coalition, he can also find other members that will support the hostage
deal. So that's one thing that he can consider while he's considering the hostage deal. And also, we're talking about a 60 days hostage deal.
This is not a complete hostage deal that is ending the war. This is a partial deal, and this is why Prime Minister Netanyahu can try to tell his
coalition members we're not going all the way with that deal. We're not ending the war immediately. This is just 60 days. Let's get 10 hostages
that are still alive back home.
Let's get more -- hostages back home. Let's give the army some time to rest, and then we can go back to fighting. This is what Prime Minister
Netanyahu tells his coalition members, and of course, for them that is something that they would like to hear but President Trump would like the
war to end. So that's colliding in a way.
ASHER: Neria, I want to compare this meeting between Trump and Netanyahu's the last one. I'm sure you remember that the last time the two leaders met,
Donald Trump was talking about turning Gaza into the Riviera of the Middle East. I mean, it became headline news around the world, and actually also
displacing essentially 2 million Palestinians.
This time around, he's talking about something completely different, and that is getting the war in Gaza to finally end. I'm just curious what
Israelis and I guess, specifically Netanyahu, what do they make of this dramatic sort of 180 by the U.S. President.
KRAUS: So, Israelis, they have different opinions about that. They do -- there is a large population in Israel that supports Donald Trump, but when
it comes to specific actions, of course, Israelis, they're very opinionated, and they think differently. So, some are supporting that, but
a lot of people are not supporting that.
They're saying that it's possible to rebuild Gaza while the while the Gazans are still living there, and a lot of Israelis oppose that idea. I
can also tell you that I spoke to the mother of Alon Ohel, a few days ago, Idit Ohel her son is a hostage. He's still in Hamas captivity. He's alive.
[11:50:00]
He's severely injured, and she told me, we need to rebuild Gaza. And she's not talking about mobilizing Gazans away from Gaza. She's talking about the
actual thing of rebuilding Gaza while the Gazans are still there, making it easier for them to live there. I found it noble to say that, but also, as a
mother of a hostage, but also, this is an opinion that a lot of Israelis have these days, they don't want to see the Gazans move away.
But of course, there are some far right coalition members that are very much pro this idea. And also, I can tell you that Ron Dermer, the minister
that is very close to Prime Minister Netanyahu, also took part in those talks about finding countries that the Gazans can move to.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah, these hostage families among the most noble people -- so important to constantly hear --
KRAUS: -- Bianna.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah, they have been resilient about fighting for their loved ones to come home. Perhaps we'll hear about some other surprising news in
this meeting, normalization, perhaps even between Syria on the horizon in Lebanon, things that would have been unheard of just a few months ago.
Neria Kraus, we know you'll be asking the president, prime minister, all the tough and all the right questions. We'll be following you. Thank you so
much.
ASHER: Thank you, Neria. I appreciate it.
KRAUS: Thank you so much. Bianna and Zain and yeah, we'll be here throughout this day.
ASHER: We'll be right back. We will have more after the short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GOLODRYGA: In Australia, the verdict in the so-called mushroom murder trial is in.
ASHER: Erin Patterson accused of killing three family members by serving them death cap mushrooms baked in Beef Wellington has been found guilty of
three counts of murder and the attempted murder of a fourth person. The lethal lunch was served two years ago in the State of Victoria. Seven
Network Australia Reporter Chris Reason has more.
CHRIS REASON, REPORTER OF SEVEN NETWORK AUSTRALIA: Well, it's a case that's gripped the country and gone global. Erin Trudi Patterson today found
guilty of all charges, three of murder, one of attempted murder, the woman who effectively served murder for main course and managing to lace her Beef
Wellington recipe with death cap mushrooms.
Killing three of her family members and leaving one fighting for life for some two months in hospital. The jury took some six days to reach their
decision. There had been concerns that they were gridlocked. There was a lot of information to play out through.
[11:55:00]
A 10-week case, 8 weeks of evidence, 53 witnesses, 125 different exhibits, but they came together this afternoon, indicating they'd reached a verdict.
Sent a note to the judge the court was recalled the 12-person jury came back into court and in front of Erin Patterson, delivered guilty verdicts
to each of the charges as they were read aloud.
Now the 50-year-old mother of two, sat in passive as each of those guilty verdicts was delivered, she was reactionless, emotionless. Finally, she was
led out of court into the police center here and this afternoon, hustled into a prison van and sent back to Victoria's largest female prison
facility, where she spent much of the last two years since that crime in custody anyway.
There is talk now that she will lodge an appeal. We're waiting to see confirmation on that, until that happens, the court process will roll on.
She's next due to be sentenced at a date. We're thinking sometime around August. There will be victim impact statements delivered, and then the
judge will make his decision.
The prosecution, we know, will be applying for multiple life sentences. She served a meal of death, and the talk is that she will next be serving a
sentence of life. Back to you.
ASHER: All right, thanks to Seven Network Australia Reporter Chris Reason for that report.
GOLODRYGA: Really a master on awards --
ASHER: Yes --
GOLODRYGA: -- reporting --
ASHER: Stay with --
GOLODRYGA: Yep, all right. Stay with us. We'll have more "One World" after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
