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Quest Means Business
Five Camp Mystic Campers And One Counselor Missing; Trump Insists No Extensions On New August 1 Tariff Deadline; Trump Voices Frustration With Putin As War Enters Fourth Summer; Robinhood CEO Discusses Tokenization; Texas Governor Gives Update On Flood Recovery Efforts. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired July 08, 2025 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:09]
PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: So the Dow didn't really get any traction today. None was expected given Donald Trump continues to really
keep people on insecure footing here with his tariffs. So those are the markets and these are the main events.
Any moment now, Texas Governor Abbott will provide an update on the aftermath of those deadly floods.
Copper prices surge after President Trump floats 50 percent tariffs.
And are tokenized stocks the future of trading or a high risk gamble? My conversation with the CEO of Robinhood.
Live from New York. It is Tuesday, July 8th. I'm Paula Newton in for Richard Quest and this is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.
Tonight, Texas Governor Greg Abbott is set to hold a news conference at any minute now, as the death toll from the catastrophic flooding in his state
climbs to 108. That makes it the deadliest U.S. fresh water flood in nearly 50 years. These are aerial pictures of Kerrville. You can see the
floodwaters that rescuers are contending with. And remember, those have receded in fact.
The search operations have expanded into an international effort with a team from Mexico now helping their U.S. counterparts.
Kerr County officials say five Camp Mystic campers and one counselor do remain unaccounted for. We know at least 27 campers and counselors there
were killed.
Gustavo Valdes is on the ground for us in Hunt, Texas.
And Gustavo, as we were just saying, there is still so much to be done there, and very dangerous conditions for those still on the search and
rescue.
GUSTAVO VALDES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Paula, and it is really amazing. We have actually driven up and down the Guadalupe River for many kilometers
all day long and it seems like this is actually one of the milder scenes that we've gotten. But this is where we have reception so we can transmit.
That's another problem and another challenge you're having.
But you see the meadow is being wrapped, and all of these is erosion. This is part of what the river brought when it overflowed its bank. This is the
Guadalupe, you can see, it is already outside where it usually would be. It is already going -- still going over this road.
Now, typically I would have walked there and showed the audience what it is like, but we know that the water is still dangerous, so we are not going to
risk that. That is the difficult job the rescuers are having to find. They know that it is very unlikely they might find somebody alive, but they want
to make sure that the relatives find their loved ones, that's why they are working really hard to find them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JESUS GOMEZ, RESCUER FROM MEXICO: It is a lot of force. You can see those trees, right, they are all over the way of the river, the Guadalupe River
and we don't know how many miles it could be traveled by this vehicle. Now, imagine a person.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VALDES: So this is the other side of the river. You can see -- we were listening to one of the rescuers that came from Mexico. They say that they
actually had some training just about 30 days ago, so when they heard about the floods, they called up and they said, we are willing to come and they
have been assisting.
You can feel also that unity with the residents. We've seen fire departments, police departments from all over the state, so everybody is
trying to help. But that's why the local authorities are also asking people to coordinate, not to just show up, to try to help on their own, because it
is very dangerous to walk on these grounds.
Now you can see that the solidarity is also reflected in art. We saw this rock somebody already painted "Texas Strong." Kerrville, Ingram and Hunt,
some of the communities most affected, but this is something that everybody acknowledges is not going to be resolved overnight.
Beyond the questions about the warnings, the alert system, what could have been done to save more lives, people here are focused on first finding
those who are still missing. Second, try to recover whatever belongings they can from the damaged property, and third, start rebuilding -- Paula.
NEWTON: Gustavo, grateful to you to be there on the ground.
Now, we did mention that the Governor was surveying from a helicopter right now. What you will see on the ground is areas of devastation, right? This
was not expected to happen and this was a hundred-year flood, remember? It was catastrophic.
[16:05:08]
That is Governor Abbott there. We do expect him to be on the ground soon and he will also get the same questions that some Texas residents want to
know: Why did they receive no warning ahead of the intense flooding?
Now CNN spoke to the former head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That's the federal agency in charge of forecasting weather.
Dr. Richard Spinrad says that funding cuts to the agency may have, in fact, hurt flood response efforts. He says that warning systems were working as
they were supposed to until though the last step of the process. Listen to him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. RICHARD SPINRAD, FORMER NOAA ADMINISTRATOR: The Weather Service did their job, the watches and warnings went out. Clearly, the heartbreak with
respect to this development is that those warnings were not received. We've heard some people got the WEA alerts, some did not. We need to understand
why that last mile is where the problem was in terms of getting alerts out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Kelley Adley is chief of the FirstNet Response Operations Group Section, FirstNet, which was built with AT&T, is on the ground in Texas to
ensure first responders are in fact connected to the internet. And he joins us now from Kerrville, Texas.
So good to have you there. Of course, with your friend, who I am sure is of a great help and we will get to him or her. I am not sure if it is a him or
her in a moment.
But Kelley, I do want to ask you just about what we learned there, right? He is someone who knows what needs to be done and he is saying, it was the
last mile that was a problem.
We have heard from survivors say they did not have cell service. They were in places that never have cell service or do not have service that is
reliable.
Kelley, what needs to happen here? Because there are so many people around the united states who can picture themselves in the same situation one day.
KELLEY ADLEY, CHIEF, FIRSTNET RESPONSE OPERATIONS GROUP SECTION: Yes. I greatly appreciate that question. That's a much bigger answer. You know, I
am here with FirstNet. I am here with AT&T. We are building out this FirstNet network for our first responders nationwide, but we are also
supporting our first responders on the ground.
As far as an overall what can be done? I think that's a greater -- great, great question for bigger minds. But I can tell you, we are on the ground.
We are supporting not only the first responders, but the ones that support first responders out here.
I am in the Mystic Camp facility. I am in the area. It is very hot today. Unfortunately, we are inside the vehicle. So we have Rock the Dog with us.
Our comfort animal that we also use for our first responders and the public.
NEWTON: Yes and I am sure given all the tragedy that we see and the grief that having just a dog to kind of hold and as you said, comfort people
comes in handy.
What have you seen that you've been there on the ground?
ADLEY: Yes, it is just -- you can't describe. It is something that never really happened here. There is just complete devastation. We are just here
-- you know, pleased to be supporting our first responders. We have so many first responders, not only on the ground, but in the water. You know, it is
just incredible. It is just so hard to explain.
But again, you know, FirstNet wants to support our public safety. Everyone is supporting our public safety. Then also, we are supporting the
communities out here, too. And again, this is Chief. He is a male goldendoodle. That's part of our team and he is one that we bring in to
just bring a little bit of comfort, not just to the first responders, but to, you know, to the people out here, just a happy smile and just hanging
out with the people.
NEWTON: Yes, Chief's behavior there is exemplary. I'd like to give him a hug myself right now.
Kelley, I want to ask you, how is -- how important is it that when you do have a disaster like this and all the communication is down and you have
first responders? I know were a few days in here, but it is still crucial, right, that they be able to communicate and coordinate with each other when
they are doing the work that families, survivors are counting on them to do.
ADLEY: Absolutely. And that's why we were on the ground shortly after this disaster. We had equipment here. We have over 180 assets in our pool. We
have probably a little over a dozen assets on the ground right now supporting our first responders.
Again, we were here. I've been here since early, early Saturday. We had other assets here Friday afternoon. We try to get in here early to get that
network, get communications up for first responders so they can do their job and do what they need to do and that's search and rescue.
And as it moves into recovery, we're going to be with them the duration of this event.
NEWTON: You were on the ground quite early there Saturday morning, and I am sure it is a relief to anybody, any of the first responders on the ground
there that, as I said, that they can communicate with each other.
[16:10:10]
Kelley, thank you. Our thanks to Chief, and we certainly wish everyone there much strength for the tough days ahead.
ADLEY: Thank you.
NEWTON: Appreciate it. Bye-bye.
ADLEY: Thank you, and Chief is doing great. Thank you.
NEWTON: Great. Now, copper prices soared to an all-time high following President Trump's announcement of a 50 percent tariff on imports of that
commodity. It is now up about nine percent after jumping as much as 15 percent earlier in the day.
Now, the major U.S. markets closed flat as traders appear to be largely shrugging off the President's latest tariff threats. Mr. Trump announced
the copper tariff at a Cabinet meeting earlier, where he also insisted that his deadline for sweeping reciprocal tariffs hasn't changed. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: It wasn't a change. It was August 1st. We don't change very much. You know, every time
we put out a statement, they say he made a change. I didn't make a change. Clarification, maybe.
No. August 1st, they pay.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Robert Holleyman is a former Deputy U.S. Trade Representative, and he joins me now. It is good to have you on board as we try and parse what
exactly is going on with these negotiations.
You know, I have compared it to having a gun to your head if you're one of these countries. And I've also said before, as I am sure you will agree
with, trade negotiations, is one of the most complicated negotiations you can go through with a country, because it is kind of like chess. You have
to anticipate what one move, one tariff will mean to your businesses, and the actual impact it will have.
Given that, these are tight deadlines, what do you think is going on here? And do you think this is a strategy that is working for the President?
ROBERT HOLLEYMAN, FORMER DEPUTY U.S. TRADE REPRESENTATIVE: Well, I think the President has done two things. One, he has exerted -- exerted the
ultimate level of perceived or actual executive authority to try to impose these new tariffs. Secondly, he has put out a couple of deadlines, the most
recent, which is now August 1st, in an effort to try to get countries to come to the table with the U.S. on the outlines of proposed trade
agreements.
But what we know is that no full-fledged trade agreement is likely to be negotiated in the short amount of time that the U.S. has given. So I think
at most, what we are going to see are the frameworks for agreements rather than long standing formal trade agreements.
NEWTON: If he gets those frameworks, though, and this works, is that successful? It is incredibly unorthodox. I can't imagine another president
would have even attempted it. But what is your opinion?
HOLLEYMAN: Well, the President is doing two things. One is he is using an authority granted in 1977 under the International Economic Emergencies Act,
which has never before been used by a president to impose tariffs and the vast majority of what he is proposing to do is untested, and in fact, the
statute doesn't even refer to tariffs, nor did the legislative history indicate Congress intended it to be given to the President the tariff
authority.
So this is going to be playing out in the courts. Already, it is being played out. And my guess is that the Supreme Court will likely rule on
this, but it won't be for another six to 12 months.
So the president is using the perceived authority that he has to try to negotiate these agreements.
The second part is he is negotiating agreements that he will never present to Congress. So they are good for the duration of his tenure in office.
They can be changed at his will. They can be upped or reduced in tariffs at his discretion. But Congress, which has the constitutional authority over
foreign commerce, is largely being kept at bay and kept out of the picture so the President can do this through executive authority.
NEWTON: Right. But in terms of if it will work, right? He wants a better deal, we already know that apparently Europe might have a better deal for
the President. At least that's what the Commerce Secretary thinks. What are your predictions here?
HOLLEYMAN: Well, I think we are going to get some progress in this. Clearly, this is an incentive for countries to come to the table with
something for the U.S., and anything that we get that improves the status quo is helpful. But what it is not going to do is it is not going to be
lasting agreements. The agreements may not get to the most sensitive areas where the U.S. has real difficulties accessing foreign markets.
And finally, the big disruptor in all of this is China, whose predatory practices and unfair market practices around trade have had largely
distorting effects for the U.S. and countries around the world. None of this ultimately gets at the China challenge, although the President is
trying to address that around the margins, but it actually has the risk of further dividing the U.S. and our allies when we need to deal with some of
the very real disruptions in trade that are caused by China state led economy.
[16:15:16]
NEWTON: You know, the American economy has been quite resilient. In fact, so has the global economy through all of this.
Do you predict that we will continue, or do you think economies will really start to buckle, including the United States? Because what you're telling
me is that there will still be so much more uncertainty to follow, given this is unorthodox.
HOLLEYMAN: Well, what we are doing is we are building in place until the courts or the Supreme Court finally decides a series of higher taxes on
imported goods into the United States. President Trump is hoping that that will generate a lot of revenue for the U.S. Treasury, which it probably
will. Secondly, it is hoping that it will generate more companies to come and invest and build in the United States. The jury is still out on that.
And third is his hope that it won't yield to higher prices for U.S. consumers and it is unlikely that that result will happen. We probably will
-- we will see those higher prices. So the question is, at the end of the day, do we win more than we lose? And the jury is very much still out on
that.
And countries are watching what happens in the United States for both what happens in the short term with these immediate negotiations, but also in
the medium term in terms of whether or not the tariffs that the President has threatened to impose will actually be upheld by the courts.
And again, I think that's at best a 50/50 proposition, because it is pretty clear from the congressional history that the statute that the President is
primarily relying upon was never intended by Congress to be used to grant tariff authority to the President.
NEWTON: Yes, and it is interesting that even, you know, the countries that Donald Trump is negotiating with, they're not looking for remedy to the
courts, either. They believe that perhaps it will come too late as you point out.
We will leave it there for now. Grateful to you. Appreciate it.
HOLLEYMAN: Thank you.
NEWTON: Now, Donald Trump has some choice words for Vladimir Putin as his push for an end to the war in Ukraine stalls. That's after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NEWTON: U.S. President Donald Trump has voiced his frustration with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, as his efforts to broker peace in
Ukraine stall. Just listen to what Mr. Trump said about President Putin.
[16:20:05]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We get a lot of bull (bleep) thrown at us by Putin if you want to know the truth. He is very nice all the time, but it turns out to be
meaningless.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: President Trump also confirmed he will press U.S. Defense contractors to step up production of Defense equipment for Ukraine.
Kevin Liptak joins me now from Washington.
You know, this is quite a policy change given the strident language there. What more are you learning from the White House in terms of whether this
was intended to happen this way? Because there has been some debate as to whether or not the Defense Secretary agrees with this, or the Vice
President for that matter.
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes and even President Trump in that meeting today voiced not some confusion, but said he didn't know
necessarily why last week, the administration announced this pause on defensive weapons to Ukraine, which I do think gives you a sense of the
confusion that did exist. When the pause was announced, it caught many people off guard, including inside the White House and inside the State
Department, and the President saying today that at least for now, those weapons would continue going to Ukraine to help to protect itself, which is
important.
You know, some of the missiles and drones that Russia has been firing at an increasing rate into Ukraine over the last few weeks can only be
intercepted by those U.S. Patriot systems, which were among the weapons in the shipment that was paused. And so when President Trump is now saying
that those shipments will go forward, it is significant. And when he says that he is going to ask U.S. contractors to start ramping up their
production, it is a sign that he recognizes that Ukraine still needs the support from the U.S. if it is to defend itself going forward.
We have also learned that there are conversations underway between the U.S. and its European partners, including in Germany, about potentially those
countries purchasing Patriot systems from the U.S. or taking their own systems that are already in place and transferring them to Ukraine. And so
you can see how all of these efforts now underway to try and help Kyiv withstand some of these assaults from Russia.
But it was that language that the President used about Putin that I think was so notable, particularly for a President who more often than not over
really the last 10 years has adopted a more conciliatory approach to the Russian leader. Clearly, the President, frustrated that Putin is not open
to these overtures to try and reach a peace agreement. We've seen this language kind of ramping up over the last several days. President Trump
saying that his phone call with Putin last week was disappointing, that he essentially made no progress with the Russian leader to try and end the war
in Ukraine.
And I think for a President who really thought he had an understanding of Putin, particularly going back to his first term, thought maybe he had even
a friend in the Russian leader. This has been so, I think, disappointing for him.
And, you know, I don't think it is going to be a revelation to many other world leaders that Putin is duplicitous, that he doesn't mean what he says,
that he goes and does something different than what he told the President on the phone. But for President Trump, who had always kind of accepted
Putin at his word, it is a notable shift and I think it just tells you the enormous amount of aggravation that he is feeling, that this war continues
to rage on despite his efforts to bring it to an end.
NEWTON: He wouldn't be the first American president who thought he knew something about Vladimir Putin, that is for sure.
So just in the next few minutes as well, we have Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again arriving at the White House. What more are we expecting
there, especially given the fact that it is still the 60-day cease fire between Gaza -- between Hamas, pardon me, and Israel still seems to be in
flux.
LIPTAK: Yes and those negotiators are still in Qatar having what they are calling proximity talks, trying to hammer out some of the final details.
You know, we didn't actually expect Netanyahu to be back at the White House this week. He is staying across the street at Blair House, meeting with
members of Congress, other U.S. officials, but he had not been expected to meet again with President Trump at the White House.
Trump today said that this discussion, the second discussion this evening, would focus squarely on this issue of Gaza, which I think gives you a sense
that the President still thinks he has some unfinished business with the Prime Minister after their dinner last evening.
President Trump, from what we understand, has been applying very intense pressure on Netanyahu to come to an agreement to end the war there.
President Trump thinks he has a new opening after joining the Israeli strikes on Iran, after calling for Netanyahu's corruption trial to be
canceled. I think there is an expectation that now, Netanyahu will do something for him, which is to agree to end this war.
And to that end, the President is dispatching his envoy, Steve Witkoff, to Qatar later this week to try and bring this deal across the finish line.
But all of these things, I think, indicate that there are still some outstanding issues.
[16:25:10 ]
NEWTON: Yes, just Witkoff going at all will be progress at this point in time. Kevin Liptak for us in Washington. Appreciate it.
Now in the U.K., French President Emmanuel Macron's three-day state visit is underway, the first by a European leader since Brexit.
King Charles has rolled out that red carpet as the U.K. hopes to reignite closer ties with its ally. Mr. Macron also addressed Parliament.
Melissa Bell has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A Royal welcome for French President Emmanuel Macron. The first state visit by a
European leader since Brexit, with no pomp and circumstance spared, welcomed first by the Prince and Princess of Wales, then greeted by King
Charles and Queen Camilla, onto a procession through the streets of Windsor, along with the French First Lady Brigitte Macron.
The pageantry and the tone are stark contrast from the Brexit fallout that so tested the U.K.'s relations with its European neighbors.
EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT: Amid these upheavals, the alliance between France and the United Kingdom has not faltered. It has even become
stronger.
Yes, during the past few years, this Alliance became stronger.
BELL (voice over): Speaking to Parliament at the Palace of Westminster's Royal Gallery, the French President vowed that together they would bring an
end to the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
Over the three-day visit, President Macron and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer are also expected to address U.S. tariff wars, post-Brexit trade
and migration.
MACRON: We love monarchy, but especially when it is not at home.
BELL (voice over): Whilst much still divides them, there was also a reminder of their shared past and the suggestion from the French President
that it might just be time to lay their differences to rest.
Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: Robinhood is moving forward with a new offering called stock tokens. Its CEO says it could open up all types of possibilities for
investors. You'll want to hear from him. Vlad Tenev, he is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:30:31]
NEWTON: The CEO of Robinhood says he believes his platform's stock tokens will change how investing is done. Now the trading app is giving away
tokenized equities to eligible European users. Robinhood says they're basically shares of a company in the form of blockchain based tokens. The
platform even has them for private firms like OpenAI and SpaceX.
Now, the Lithuanian Central Bank, which does regulate Robinhood in Europe, has asked it for clarification about how the product is structured. I spoke
with Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev earlier today. He told me that stock tokens will open up immense opportunities for investors.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VLADIMIR TENEV, CEO, ROBINHOOD: I think tokenization is perhaps the biggest innovation in capital markets since the central limit order book. So what
it allows is for any asset, public or private, liquid or illiquid, to be put on crypto technology and be tradable around the clock.
And at our event to catch a token in the south of France last week, we unveiled a few features that I think were extremely meaningful, not just
for our E.U. customers, but for the industry. One is stock tokens of over 200 public names, including, you know, all the popular ones like Nvidia,
Amazon, Tesla and so forth. We also did a giveaway of private stock tokens. As you mentioned, OpenAI and SpaceX, and I believe those were the first
stock tokens of those companies issued on a public blockchain.
NEWTON: If this operates like a derivative, right, how do you actually adhere to any kind of value? Because companies like OpenAI, they don't
disclose anything publicly about what goes on with their finances.
TENEV: Yes. So the way these work is the company obtains exposure to an underlying asset in the, in the case of private stock tokens, we do make
every effort to make sure that the exposure that we offer to customers is backed one for one. And, you know, I believe that this can be scalable to
many private companies. Many have reached out expressing interest to be, to be part of the tokenization revolution.
It could also be extended to many types of assets. You can imagine art, real estate, all kinds of illiquid names can be tokenized in this form and
made available to investors on chain.
NEWTON: And Vlad, once again, I'm not disputing that maybe this is a revolutionary platform that a lot of investors want to get involved in, but
it is basically betting. And to that point, E.U. regulation, you know, they've already stepped in. Lithuania, who happens to be your E.U.
regulator, has asked for clarification, right? What are you telling them?
TENEV: Well, first of all, I think it's very, very different from betting. This is real exposure. And the assets backing this are exposure to the
underlying private companies. Now it is a little tricky because OpenAI in particular are nonprofit. The equity or equity like instruments that
they're distributing to institutional investors are also complex. That said, having exposure to retail, to the transformative companies of our
era, particular -- particularly companies dealing with frontier technologies like artificial intelligence I think is extremely important.
NEWTON: And to get back to that issue of regulation, do you see it being a concern for you going forward, and are you engaging with the -- with
Lithuania at this point about what you're doing with these tokens? Because they've expressed concern.
TENEV: Absolutely. And look, every time there's something new and innovative, I think our regulators should have questions. Robinhood needs
to be a company that withstands scrutiny to the highest degrees. So we're excited about that. We believe that these products will withstand scrutiny,
and we will be able to make them available. And many companies have reached out expressing interest in this.
NEWTON: You know, given a lot of the innovations that you guys have come up with in the last year, you have an enviable stock run at this point in
time. I mean, the one year chart, more than 300 percent.
[16:35:02]
Much of it, though, is on the back of crypto. And you've already said that you really believe this tokenization is just one part of bringing the
blockchain and tokenization and crypto to the marketplace. Is that where you see most of your revenue growth coming from in the next, let's say,
year or two?
TENEV: I think there's two ways to look at crypto. One is as a tradable asset where it kind of sits alongside options and futures and stocks to
some degree. But the other is as a fundamental technology layer where it's next in line in a long procession of fundamental technologies that underpin
financial services, starting with, you know, filing cabinet, pen and paper, going to mainframe, where a lot of the incumbents still operate in, on
premise cloud and crypto is sort of the next step.
So I don't think it's as much of a question of what percentage of our business is crypto. I think in the future, crypto and traditional financial
services will merge and crypto will become akin to the underlying technology layer behind.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: OK, we do now go to Texas. You can see him there. Governor Greg Abbott is holding a news conference. Let's listen in.
GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R), TEXAS: On our hearts and minds than the people of this community, especially those who are still lost. I told them what we
were doing not just today, but what we are going to be doing for the days, weeks and months to come. This is what they needed to hear. They need to
know Texas is in this with the people in the Hill Country right here. We are not leaving until this job is finished.
The job right now, the primary job right now continues to be locating everybody who is affected by this flood. There still remain those who are
missing. We have to find every single person who's missing. And that's job number one. While we are doing that job, it's important that we also be
conducting other business affecting the storm. We did several things in that regard today. One is to get a better assessment about what exactly
needed to be provided for the community.
We took a flyover to get that assessment. I've been here for multiple times over the course of the past two decades, but multiple times over the course
of just this one flooding episode, and I have a good feel on the ground of what is needed. But when you're in the air, you get a fuller perspective of
how widespread, how catastrophic the damage is, and what must be done to fully address it.
We were able to process that better day today when we flew around. And on that fly around today, I had with me the speaker of the House, Dustin
Burrows, who's going to speak after myself.
I want to provide you with some information, some of which is just now updated. First, the numbers that I have is that there are 94 fatalities, 94
fatalities associated with this flooding event in this area. Separate from that in other flooding events in other parts of the state of Texas, there's
another 15 fatalities, for a total of 109. To put this into perspective, just in the current Kendall Counties alone, there are far more fatalities
than there were in Hurricane Harvey. That's how catastrophic this is.
I also have some updated numbers on those who are missing. First, from Camp Mystic, my information is those are missing is down to now five campers and
one counselor. Five campers and one counselor missing. In addition to that, there is another child not associated with the camp who is missing. So for
Kerr County, that would be a total of seven who are missing.
In other parts of the state, there are 12 who are missing. I have a new number, however, so one thing we've been reaching out to the public about
is to get better information about those who are not registered at a camp, those who were not registered at a hotel, those who may have been down here
who no one really had any accounting of, and through law enforcement agencies working together, they provided me this number.
[16:40:06]
Just in the Kerr County area alone, there are 161 people who are known to be missing. And again, that comes from combined law enforcement efforts.
161 known people who are missing. Know this, we will not stop until every missing person is accounted for. Know this also, there very likely could be
more added to that list. One way that we were able to expand the list of those who are missing is because family members, friends, neighbors, et
cetera, began calling in and reporting them as missing.
What I want to do is once again provide a reminder to anybody watching this that if you have a friend, a family member, somebody that you think may be
missing because of this storm, we need you to call the number that I'm about to give you. It is 830-258-1111. That's 830-258-1111. If you want to
go to a Web site address, you can go to KerrvilleMissing at DPS.Texas.gov. I'm going to repeat it twice more. That's Kerrville, spelled K-E-R-R-V-I-L-
L-E, no space, then the word missing, M-I-S-S-I-N-G. So KerrvilleMissing at DPS.Texas.gov.
So either call that phone number, go to that Web site and provide the name and the best identification you can and the last known location of anybody
that you think is missing. Know this also, if you make a prank call or provide false information, that's a crime. Do not provide false information
because you're hindering our ability to undertake this investigation, hindering our ability to actually rescue and find those who truly are
missing. So you better be correct when you're calling in and let us know that there is somebody who is missing.
Importantly, we know that so many families are going through grief that's beyond anyone's comprehension right now, beyond any of us being able to
walk up to them and give them the magic words that will make them suddenly feel healed. We know that they need grief counselors. We have five
organizations that together are providing dozens of grief counselors for all of the affected family members around here.
It's so important at times like this for family members to access that grief counseling so they can have their mental and emotional health needs
addressed in what may be the most challenging time of their lives.
Something else that's a help. As we begin the process of helping places like the Hunt Store, the local community, Hunt, Texas, be able to rebuild.
One thing that is speeding that recovery was the immediate granting of the Major Master Declaration that was granted by President Trump. It
immediately opened not only access to more funding, but also access to more resources to be able to more quickly and more effectively respond to this
storm.
That includes debris removal, which has already begun. It includes assistance for individuals who are eligible to apply, and the director of
Texas Division of Emergency Management will explain more about that in a second. But there are two categories of people or entities that there is
money available to assist. One are individuals affected by the storm, another are public entities like the town of Hunt, like the town of
Kerrville, like the county of Kerr, et cetera.
They may have needs with regard to roads or utilities, whatever the case may be, now the assistance is available for them to more effectively and
more quickly address that. With regard to roads, anybody who's driven around here knows that there are some roads that need repairs. The Texas
Department of Public Safety is working 24-seven to make sure they're going to be getting these roads repaired and passable as quickly as possible.
Going back to President Trump, he and I spoke again this morning and he could not stop talking about how sad he was for all the little girls who
have lost their life.
[16:45:03]
He recounted his own understanding of what happened with what was really a tsunami wave of wall of water that swept too many of them away. And he
cares a lot about those young ladies, and he wants to step up and make sure that any need that we have here in Texas is going to be met very quickly.
And he's already done that by helping to provide the quick assistance, by sending down Secretary Kristi Noem, who, listen, I've been dealing with
events like this for 10 years.
Never have I seen someone respond as quickly and as effectively as what Secretary Noem did. Also, while coming over here, I received this text from
Secretary Kennedy. It says the following, says, "Governor Abbott, it's Secretary Robert Kennedy." It says, "We are set to declare a public health
emergency for the Texas Hill Country flash floods. This will make it easier for a health care and mental health providers from out of state to help
both by traveling to the area and by telemedicine. Please, please let us know where we can be most helpful," which I will let him know. But I just
wanted you to know about that new update.
Now, I would like to turn things over to the speaker of the Texas House, Dustin Burrows.
DUSTIN BURROWS, SPEAKER, TEXAS STATE HOUSE: Thank you, Governor. First to the members of the community and to all those who've been impacted, the
survivors, those who've lost loved ones, I know there's not any adequate words any of us can express to share our care and concern, but I want to
promise you, every person in this state, every tip of it, we have held you in our thoughts and our prayers, and we will continue to do so as you go
through this and you take care of what I know all Texans can endure.
I had the opportunity to fly with Governor Abbott today over the damaged area. It is hard to comprehend the amount of water that came through in
such a short period of time. It is unimaginable what the victims and survivors went through as they were faced with that. And we heard the
stories about that and looking at the debris. And looking at the problems and all of the damage that's been done, I know there's a long road to
recovery.
But through that we saw some silver linings. We saw Texas flags being flown proudly because we know people of this state are resilient. We saw people
from all over the state coming together and working and volunteering and trying to begin helping rebuild and continuing with the search and recovery
efforts. I have had members of the Texas House from all over the state looking for ways to help.
You have a great local representative with Wes Virdell, but I promise you, every Texan, all 150 members of the Texas House have been looking for ways
to help, whether it's helping to raise money or wanting to do things, they are committed to it. I want to thank Governor Abbott for saying that we
will address these issues in a special session in two weeks, and I want to assure you, the Texas House will be organized. We will be ready, and we
stand willing and able to listen to the community and experts and do all that we can to help address it from this perspective.
So thank you all very much for the opportunity. I'll turn over the microphone.
ABBOTT: This is the kind of event that the speaker of the House would have come to in an ordinary situation. When you consider the fact that we're
going to start a special session two Mondays from now, a special session that will have at the top of its agenda helping communities like in Kerr
County, Kendall County, as well as in central Texas and the big country, all areas affected by the floods of the past week.
Those issues are going to be on the agenda for the state to address from top to bottom. We want to make sure that when we're in that session, we end
it by making sure these communities are better, more resilient and have the resources that they need for the next chapter of their lives. Now we have
the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, Freeman Martin.
FREEMAN MARTIN, DIRECTOR, TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY: Governor, thank you. The governor said it. We have 109 fatalities and 161 missing.
[16:50:03]
Every asset and resource that the Department of Public Safety has is being used on this response. We have 258 people just from DPS assigned here in
Kerrville. They're from the Highway Patrol, the Tactical Marine Unit, criminal investigators, Texas Rangers, SWAT, Audi and ICT, and victim
services. And you ask, well, what are all these do? Everybody does something different. Everybody understands search and rescue.
When the governor mentioned 161 missing, the city of Kerrville stood up a line that if you can't get a hold of a loved one, if they're missing in the
Kerrville area, call this number. That number grew to several hundred. These analysts work with Kerr County Sheriff's Department and the Kerrville
Police Department to narrow that down. People that have been identified as deceased, people who have been found alive, deconflicted the numbers that
have been reported twice. And we are still down to 161 missing.
All I can tell you is there's nothing to celebrate about how well we've done this far, but there's a lot of work to be done. And we're thankful
that the speaker standing behind us and the governor, the Texas legislature, has funded us, and we're properly staffed and equipped to
respond to this. Just this last session a few weeks ago, we were given six replacement helicopters and one fixed wing. That is exactly what we use to
respond to these.
I'll tell you another thing. We're not, we have plenty of resources but at the same time, we're not turning down one resource until we recover every
last person on this list of 161. So we have FBI, DEA, HSI, the United States Border Patrol, the United States Coast Guard, everybody working
together under a unified command. And we won't stop until we finish. A couple of things, right now in Burnet County, we have three zodiac boats
and 26 DPS personnel from the Tactical Marine Unit and the Texas Highway Patrol continuing searching.
I'm in constant communication with the Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez. They are helping us at the medical examiner's office, at the
same time, they have as many as 10 people that are missing from Travis County. As we pulled in the parking lot, I got off the phone with the
Williamson County. They recover their three people that were swept away and just minutes ago they recovered their last victim in Williamson County.
There's a lot to be worked -- work to be done in Kerr County and Kendall County. We will continue to grow this and add additional agencies as we go
forward. But we want -- the governor is right. We won't stop until every last body is recovered, alive or not. So thank you very much. Thank you,
Governor.
ABBOTT: Thank you. Now, General Suelzer with the Texas National Guard.
MAJOR GEN. THOMAS SUELZER, ADJUTANT GENERAL OF TEXAS: Thank you, Governor. I just got off a helicopter -- about an hour long helicopter trip with the
governor. And I can tell you what I saw was miles and miles of massive devastation. The Texas National Guard will stay here working with our
federal state and local partners to search for the missing and help our communities recover. I can't hear.
ABBOTT: Just the trucks.
SUELZER: We will continue using assets such as search crews on the ground, high profile military vehicles, Blackhawk helicopters with rescue hoists
and heavy Chinook helicopters in order to conduct search and rescue, evacuation and insert critical safety teams into austere areas to help
life-saving. Aiding us in the effort today is the arrival of four Blackhawk helicopters from the state of Arkansas. That grows our agency count to 13
helicopters in support of this effort.
Additionally, overhead for the last three days, we have had MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft conducting search and rescue operations. We are
working with other states to get additional crews to support so that we can expand the coverage of that search and rescue operation. And lastly, we
have shelter management crews that are working within the community to help those in need.
I would like to close by saying something that the governor has said many times before. He said it many times today, but I'll emphasize it. Your
National Guard will not leave until every person is found, and we will not leave until our communities are recovered. Thank you.
[16:55:05]
ABBOTT: Thank you.
General Suelzer rightfully mentioned and thanked the state of Arkansas for helping out with those Blackhawks, as well as other resources. I jotted
down from memory what I think is every state that I know has either provided help or offered it, or so on its way. I say that I'm hoping I'm
not leaving anybody out, but our fellow governors and fellow states are helping out from Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio, South
Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts.
And I regret if I missed your state. I'll try to come back to it here in a second. But next is Chief Nim Kidd with the Texas Division of Emergency
Management.
CHIEF NIM KIDD, TEXAS DIVISION OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: Thank you, Governor.
I want to start by thanking all of you for standing out here in this heat and experiencing a little bit of what the volunteers and first responders
are dealing with around the clock as we continue our search.
We have four priorities. They are the continuation of the search. They are debris cleanup and removal. They are supporting individual assistance
programs and public assistance programs. I'm going to dive into some of the details of those. We continue our search operations, not just here in Kerr
County, but in the other five counties. We have people that are reported missing. As you can see and hear by the trucks passing by, debris cleanup
is well underway.
I want to thank the volunteers and all of the private sector partners that are out there working on debris operations right now. This will aid in the
continuation of our search. We are pushing forward to help those whose homes and businesses have been impacted through the FEMA Individual
Assistance Program. The president's program has people here on the ground today that are working to get people registered through our Web site and
start opening disaster recovery centers today and tomorrow.
Damage assessments for those locals are still underway, and we've had over 1,000 submissions into the I-STAT program. Please if you have not submitted
into the I-STAT program yet and your home or business was impacted, you send that information to us.
Next -- well, that didn't work out. Continue to work on our public assistance for our communities, working to get our roads repaired, our
debris cleaned up, our water, wastewater and utilities back up online. Finally I need your help in getting the message out to help keep the roads
cleared. You've seen a lot of damage in these roads as our TxDOT crews are out trying to repair those roads right now, while we still have a lot of
traffic in our emergency operations.
I want to thank you again for your time and your patience and helping us get this message out.
ABBOTT: Thank you, Chief.
Yesterday I met with families at Camp Mystic. I made a commitment to them. Day before I met with residents of Kerrville. Today, I met with residents
of Hunt. I made a promise to all of them. Texas will not stop until we finish the job. We will not stop until we identify, recover every single
body. We'll not stop until every road is rebuilt. Every inch of debris is removed. We'll not stop. Because we are a state that cares about our
people, cares about our communities, and we'll be with them every step of the way.
We'll take a few questions.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE) said they didn't receive any emergency alerts (INAUDIBLE). Are you going to have that conversation with the city
manager? I asked this because earlier today in the conference, he really didn't respond to our questions related to how long it took him to
evacuate. Can you speak on that?
ABBOTT: So obviously, the local officials who were on the ground at the time, we know the most about that, but let's talk about it in this way.
That's going to be one of the issues that we begin to address in less than two weeks in the state legislature. We're going to address every aspect of
this storm to make sure that we're going to have in place the systems that are needed to prevent deadly flooding events like this in the future.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Governor, when (INAUDIBLE) happened, you led an investigation (INAUDIBLE). Are you going to do -- ask for the resignation
in this case?
ABBOTT: So we said when Harvey happened?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: No. Uvalde. Uvalde happened.
ABBOTT: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And it was gross negligence back then. Now this happened in the death, enormous. Are you going to ask for a resignation?
Who to blame here?
ABBOTT: Right. So I'm going to talk about two different things. The first part of your question, and that is an investigation.
END
