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The Situation Room

Trump Admin. To Destroy 1M Plus Pounds Of Food; Mother Of Blakely McCrory Speaks To CNN; CBS Ends "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert" Next Year. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired July 18, 2025 - 10:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[10:30:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: More than a million pounds of food paid for by U.S. taxpayers and meant for starving people around the world is getting closer and closer to being destroyed by the day. The nutrient rich food was managed by USAID, the agency the Trump administration dismantled. With no one to keep track of the food or find ways to distribute it, it has been sitting in a warehouse in Dubai, getting closer and closer to the end of the month expiration date.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: And adding to this, it's also going to cost taxpayers, get this, an extra $100,000 to destroy all of it. Joining us now is Jeremy Konyndyk. He is the former head of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance and he's the president of Refugees International.

All right. So, Jeremy, more than a million pounds of food. There are people all over the world, children, who are starving, how many lives could be saved from this food?

JEREMY KONYNDYK, PRESIDENT, REFUGEES INTERNATIONAL: So, this is enough food being destroyed to feed 27,000 men, women, and children for a month. So, in a place like Gaza that's -- or a place like Sudan where people are starving as we speak, that is a really considerable loss. And you know, what this gets to is the chaos that we're seeing really has a cost. When you put a federal agency through a wood chipper, people suffer.

BLITZER: You know, it seems to me, as somebody who's been in the Middle East, all this food is now in a warehouse in Dubai.

KONYNDYK: Yes.

BLITZER: Which is not very far away from Gaza, right?

KONYNDYK: Right.

BLITZER: So, why not get a C-130 U.S. military cargo plane, load it up and send it either right to Gaza, drop it there, or send it to Israel and have this new humanitarian organization that the U.S. and Israel supports bring it into Gaza to feed the young kids, the older people, the starving people in Gaza?

KONYNDYK: I think that the new humanitarian foundation has a lot of problems in its own right. But let's put that aside for a moment. This is expiring food now. It cannot be distributed at this point because the administration took so long to listen to the staff who are trying to ring the alarm bell on this problem.

So, originally, this had been slated to go to Gaza back in January, but after the freeze and the layoffs of USAID staff, there was no one left to push it out the door. And so, it just sat there for months until it became a political problem.

BLITZER: So, it's basically all this food is going to be totally wasted?

KONYNDYK: Yes.

BLITZER: My dad, as I was a kid growing up, he said, don't waste food. It's so precious. And now, the U.S. government just allow all this food to be wasted?

KONYNDYK: Absolutely. And, you know, staff have been trying to ring the alarm bell on this for months, and the DOGE personnel at the State Department have slow rolled a solution to the point that now they were able to get the later expiration stuff. Some of it is expiring in September, that is being donated. The stuff that's expiring in July is what's being destroyed.

BROWN: So, the State Department officials says that this is not unusual and that USAID has had to destroy commodities under similar circumstances. Does that ring true to you?

KONYNDYK: No, it doesn't. You know, there is always a certain amount of natural wastage that you have. You know, there might be an infestation or something like that. This is simply happening because they did not -- they shut down the whole machine at USAID. And they -- when you do that, you know, there was always a lot of food moving through the -- we call them pipelines at USAID, the routes that channel food ate around the world on an ongoing basis.

If you shut that whole machine down, the food stops moving and food expires. It can't be held onto forever, which is why you have to keep it flowing.

BROWN: So, just to follow up on that, I just -- what I'm having a hard time understanding is we're spending all this money to now dispose of it.

KONYNDYK: Yes.

BROWN: Why couldn't it have been distributed before? If you're going to dispose all of it and spend all this money, why couldn't it have been distributed before it expired? I don't understand.

KONYNDYK: And that's where the DOGE chaos comes in. So, there are a lot -- it takes a lot of people, a lot of workers, a lot of contracts to move this food around the world. And all of those people were laid off, all of the USAID programs were suspended. The money that needed to be given to organizations like the World Food Programme to distribute this was blocked. And Jeremy Lewin, at the State Department, the man responsible for this now under Marco Rubio, didn't sign off on a solution until the 2nd of June. And by that point, it was too late to move out the food that was expiring in a few weeks.

BLITZER: This is really a horrible, horrible situation, because that food could save a lot of lives, young lives, older lives. People not only in Gaza, but in Africa and Asia, around the world where people are starving.

KONYNDYK: And it raises some real questions about how the State Department is being run, frankly. Secretary Rubio has said multiple times on record he would preserve lifesaving aid. He said to Congress just a few weeks before all this that he would not allow any food aid to be destroyed. Neither of those things were true.

BLITZER: Terrible, terrible. Jeremy Konyndyk, thank you very much for all you're doing. Appreciate it very much.

KONYNDYK: Thank you.

BLITZER: And let's see if it's not too late to get that food to starving people. Appreciate it very much. Pamela.

[10:35:00]

BROWN: All right. Up next, a Situation Room interview. I'll speak to a mother of an eight-year-old victim of a Camp Mystic flooding, and the items that she is holding close to her as she gets ready to say her final goodbyes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back to the Situation Room. It's now been two weeks since catastrophic floods ripped through Central Texas. And this morning, we're getting a new look at the devastating aftermath and the painstaking search and recovery efforts that are still underway.

[10:40:00]

You can see search crews in Kerr County up to their thighs in mud against an unrecognizable backdrop, some on their hands and knees sifting through insurmountable piles of debris. Officials say these efforts could take months as the search continues for the more than 100 people, including a lot of kids who are still missing.

BROWN: And, Wolf, as you know, for so many families, the pain and grief of losing loved ones has been unimaginable, including the parents who lost their children attending Camp Mystic and the terrible disaster.

Here with us now to share her story for the first time on TV is Lindsey McLeod McCrory. She's the mother of eight-year-old Blakely McCory, one of the more than 20 summer campers at Camp Mystic who were tragically taken far too soon. Here's some pictures of Blake we're showing that were shared with us by you, Lindsey. Thank you so much for being here. Your daughter's funeral is later today. So many of her fellow campers have also had their funerals this week. Before we honor sweet Blakely, I just want to first ask how you are coping right now. I'm just in awe of your strength and presence of mind to join us right now.

LINDSEY MCLEOD MCCRORY, MOTHER OF BLAKELY MCCRORY: Thank you for having me. Unfortunately, I did have some other losses in my family. We lost my husband in March and then my brother in June. So, I think that prepared me for Blakely's loss.

I'm coping very well. I have amazing love and support from people I know, from people I don't know. The mothers of the campers that were lost were on a group text and were able to share stories and thoughts and even funny moments like how to get your in-laws out of your house quickly during this time. So, with all of that being said, I have been held up so well.

BROWN: It's amazing. Like I said, I am truly in awe of you and it is unfortunate you had to go through the grief earlier this year to help prepare you for this moment. But clearly, that is helping you, right? That is giving you the strength and the comfort in these days, knowing that your dear daughter, as I was reading, you believe is in heaven with her father right now.

MCCRORY: Absolutely. My faith is so strong. Actually, I was a camper at Camp Mystic. And I felt so close to my faith attending there as a camper. We had lovely devotionals on the waterfront where the Guadalupe River is in the mornings and then in the evenings on Sundays, we went to Chapel Hill. And just the sisterhood, the faith, it just really brought me closer.

BROWN: And you're actually wearing a Camp Mystic necklace right now that you gave Blakely. Tell us more about that.

MCCRORY: Yes. So, I gave this necklace to my daughter right before camp and I advised her that if she didn't want to lose it, because she's eight years old, and of course they lose jewelry, I told her to wear it, you know, during the whole time at camp. So, she wore it when they found her, and that was one of the ways they were able to identify her.

And I just want to thank the Texas ranger that was so lovely and gracious that helped me and just was so professional. My friends, my good friends from high school had it extended so that I could wear it, so I would have a touchstone close to my heart.

BROWN: That is so special. I actually -- I wear this necklace as my mom's who she passed away several years ago, and there is something really special about that. You feel like they're with you all the time, and Blakely is with you all the time through that necklace you wear and through all the memories and through the letters that you've received, which is really a tangible way for you to remember her.

We understand that she wrote you two letters during her first week at Camp Mystic, and you told us you were open to reading those letters to us. Can you share what they say? MCCRORY: Sure, absolutely. The letters were an incentive to get a toy when I picked her up from camp. But the first letter she wrote, it says, hi from camp. Dear mom, how are you? I'm good. Camp is amazing. Today, I will do tennis. Tomorrow I will horseback ride. I'm excited about land sports. A funny thing that happened was I'm a Tonk. Then it has little smiley faces at the bottom to rate the sleeping and the food.

BROWN: She was very happy.

MCCRORY: Very happy. She loved the food, which was a concern of hers. And then, the second letter, hi from camp. Dear Mommy, P.S. Don't give my Barbie Dream House. And then, she scribbled through it.

[10:45:00]

She was always great about deadlines for field trips. You know, mommy, you need to fill out that form and get the money in. And just, she was such a doer. She had places to go and things to do. So, I laughed when I got the second letter because her little mind was saying, oh, I can't call you, but wait, let me write this letter, P.S. It was cute.

BROWN: It was so cute. And I think we actually have a picture of the Barbie Dream House that you gave us, because from what I've read she had initially told you that you could give it away because you all were moving. And then she thought at camp, wait a second, I'm not so sure about that, right?

MCCRORY: Right. And it's just funny how, you know, a little girl's mind works. And that's why I laughed when I got the letter because I could just hear her, you know, writing her thoughts down. And it was just funny. It was so Blakely.

BROWN: So, Blakely. And it's beautiful you have those letters to cherish. I was also in the Tonk Tribe. Help us understand. Why being in the tribe -- there's two tribes, why being in that tribe meant so much to Blakely.

MCCRORY: Well, her two cousins are both Tonks. And one of her cousins, Linley was at the camp on Senior Hill. So, she wanted to be a Tonk so she could compete with her cousin's tribe because what they do is the two tribes compete against each other. So, they instill that sportsmanship and competition amongst the girls, which is so great for later on in life. And it's a fun competition.

And the Tribe Hills are both secret from each other. So, they go to Tribe Hills once a week. And you're not supposed to tell the other tribe where it is. It's to remain a secret. So, that was very special. She was excited. She wanted to be a Tonk really badly. And just when she found out she was one, she was just ecstatic.

BROWN: And tell us more about, you know, camp leading up to it. It was her first year, you're an alum. Her excitement about it, what you had heard from counselors during her first week, and then when you learned that Blakely was unaccounted for at Camp Mystic after the catastrophic flooding. MCCRORY: So, she was not nervous about going to camp. She loves the outdoors. She loves to fish, horseback ride. So, if you can imagine a camp where you can do all of these outdoor activities and be in the hill country, we live in Houston where it's flat, that was -- she just couldn't wait. She was so excited. And it came at such a good time since she lost her daddy. It was a way for her to just heal with that sisterhood and her faith and just all of the fun activities.

It was kind of sad when I pulled away from the Houston bus to Kerrville. I realized that my house was going to be a little bit more quiet. But I knew she would have the best time. Leading up to that phone call, I was actually in Europe. And we were -- and of course Europe is seven hours ahead of central time in Texas.

So, when we were on a boat and when we docked for lunch, we received some text messages from friends that had their campers at Camp Mystic and they reached out to us, my little sister actually, and told them, I'm sure you've heard the news that there's been some flooding at Camp Mystic.

And so, what popped in my mind, because we didn't have all of the full reports of the 30-foot surge, that it was like the flood in 1987 when I was a camper that, you know, you had to stay in your cabin for safety. They didn't want people walking in the mud and sliding around since there's so many hills and they would bring food to us. And so, that was what I first imagined what it was.

And then we received e-mails. And I could have sworn I received an e- mail that said, the girls are at Walmart and they're OK. And so, we really didn't worry or think about it because we didn't have all the reports about how catastrophic it was. So, that was 1:00 in Europe.

[10:50:00]

And then, we went back out on our boat. And then we -- when we docked for the evening at 8:00 p.m., which would've been 1:00 p.m. Central Time, I received a text message from a friend of mine and she said, did you receive a call from Mystic that your daughter is unaccounted for? Because she mentioned our mutual friend who was a bestie with Blakely in her cabin that she was missing.

And so, I thought, no. I received e-mails that they were at Walmart. And so, I was completely unaware. And then, another friend called me on the boat and her phone number registered as no caller I.D. just because of the service since we were out on the sea. And she said, I can go and pick up Blakely. Because I told her I haven't received a call from Mystic. I think she's OK. She offered to pick up Blakely knowing I was in Europe and take her back home with them.

Then I realized after talking to her, I had another missed call that registered as no caller I.D. and the voice-mail didn't pop up. So, I just thought, oh, it's someone from Houston. You know, I'm busy moving and I have a large family and friends.

I manually went through the voice-mails though since I did learn that Blakely's cabin mate was missing, and that's when the dreaded call came. They left me a voice-mail. And so, we were inside the boat. I just dropped the phone on the table shaking, and I told my little sister she would have to call Camp Mystic. So, we put the phone on speaker so I could listen in, but I just -- I was frozen when I heard that voice-mail.

BROWN: Of course. And then I know her body was found days later. And you know, you have just honored her so beautifully. As we wrap this up, is there anything else you want the world to know about your sweet Blakely before you say your final goodbyes later today?

MCCRORY: She had the best time at camp. She went out on a happy note. She probably looked at that flooding, you know, going out in the night, you know, as an adventure, because you're not supposed to do that as a kid. And the counselor said that Blakely was encouraging her cabin mates to not be afraid. She was always a leader, encouraging others. So, I -- in my heart, I know it happened fast and I'm just so grateful the life that she lived was so happy.

BROWN: Wow. During all of that, she was telling her cabin mates to not be afraid. Wow. That says so much. Let her personality, her spirit, her love of life inspire all of us. May her memory be a blessing. Lindsey McLeod McCrory, thank you so much.

MCCRORY: Thank you, Pamela.

BROWN: We'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:55:00]

BLITZER: A stunning announcement. One of late night's mainstays, Stephen Colbert, told his audience that starting next year there will be no more "Late Show."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT": The network will be ending the "Late show" in May. And -- yes, I share your feelings. It's not just the end of our show, but it's the end of "The Late Show" on CBS. I'm not being replaced. This is all just going away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The announcement, a very dramatic announcement indeed comes after days after the host took aim at CBS's Parent Company, Paramount. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLBERT: Now, I believe that this kind of complicated financial settlement with a sitting government official has a technical name in legal circles, it's big fat bribe. Because this all comes as Paramount's owners are trying to get the Trump administration to approve the sale of our network to a new owner, Skydance. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: CBS says the decision to cancel the program was, quote, "purely a financial decision."

BROWN: Coming up after the break, we're going to speak to two radio hosts from opposite sides of the aisle about the issues their listeners care about. That's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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