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Now, Texas Lawmakers Hold First Hearings on Deadly Floods; Trump Approves Long-Awaited Disaster Aid for Multiple States; Soon, Bryan Kohberger Sentenced for Idaho Student Murders. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired July 23, 2025 - 10:00   ET

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

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PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now preventing another disaster, Texas officials holding their first public hearing to figure out what went wrong during one of the deadliest floods in state history.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Plus sentencing day, the man who admitted to killing four University of Idaho students in their home will soon learn his fate. Today, will the victims' families finally get some answers to a very simple question, why?

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown, and you're in The Situation Room.

And we begin with the breaking news, lawmakers in Texas are holding their first public hearing into this month's deadly floods. Both Democrats and Republicans are promising to look for answers after the disaster killed least 135 people. But divisions are already emerging. Some Democrats claim that more attention is being given to President Trump's efforts to redraw the state's Congressional map. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STATE SEN. MOLLY COOK (D-TX): The first thing that we should do is come back and address the flooding tragedy, absolutely, and yet we have spent the entire day talking about redistricting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have we talked about any flood issues?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not once.

STATE SEN. JOSE MENENDEZ (D-TX): This whole issue's a disgrace. It's a disgrace that we are sitting here taking this up when people are suffering in this state.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: CNN's Shimon Prokupecz is in Austin, Texas, for us. Shimon, what can we expect? From this important hearing today?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, one of the most significant people we're going to hear from is the head of the emergency management here, Chief Nim Kidd, who runs the Texas Division of Emergency Management. They were the people that were responsible for coordinating all the efforts in response to this storm, pre-storm, post-storm, putting together all of the efforts to try and rescue people. So, he should go for about an hour. Then we expect that there will be some questions from members of this committee.

On Monday, Wolf, I had a chance to spend a day here at the Capitol going to different offices, talking to some of the legislators here. Some are not very optimistic anything will come of this. Some say they're just trying to get some answers for people in this community and trying to prevent this from happening again. Take a listen to what some of them told me Wolf.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MENENDEZ: It's 2025. Another county down the road, they have sirens. We can do better. We have to do better. We cannot just say it was a freak of nature. Yes, it was. But can we do a better job? I believe we can. I think we can't just throw our hands up in the air and say there's nothing else we could've done.

STATE REP. WES VIRDELL (R-TX): Outside of Kerr, you see several people trying to point fingers and whatnot. You go talk to the people that live there and they're not blaming people. They're not -- they know it's a flashflood. They've lived in that area for a long time. They know flashfloods. They're called flashfloods for a reason. And they know that this was something that doesn't happen, like it's not a common thing, the size and devastation of this flood.

So, I think even if you had warning systems going, there's so many people have been desensitized to the warning systems that they probably wouldn't have paid attention much to it because thinking this is just going to be a normal flashflood.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PROKUPECZ: And so we're expected only to hear from state officials here, both from the River Authority, other state officials.

Significantly missing from any of this hearing are any of the local officials that will take place next week in Kerrville, in Kerr County. We expect where we will hear from some of the local officials.

There are people here from the community who have a lot of questions about the response, about the preparation. They want answers, and so they have come here demanding those answers. It's a key thing here, because how the local officials prepared for this. That is the big question that have -- questions that have remained unanswered about how well prepared there were. What were they doing in the hours leading up to this storm?

So, we'll see what happens here, Wolf, certainly as things get underway.

BLITZER: All right. Shimon Prokupecz on the scene for us, as always, thank you very, very much.

[10:05:02]

Pamela?

BROWN: And, Wolf, right now, the acting administrator of FEMA is testifying on Capitol Hill, and it comes just days after one of the agency's top officials resigned in frustration over the response to those floods in Texas, according to sources who spoke to our Gabe Cohen.

And Gabe joins us now. So, what more are you learning?

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So, we are expecting David Richardson, who was just appointed into this role by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem a couple months ago to lead FEMA. He's going to face some really heated questions from Democratic lawmakers. It is going to center most likely around the flood response in Texas. Why it is that FEMA saw some of its resources delayed, why they struggled to mobilize certain critical assets in those crucial early hours of the flooding.

But it's also going to be about Richardson's role. Remember, he did not make a public statement or a visit to Texas, to the disaster zone for more than a week after that flooding started. And these lawmakers are most likely going to want to know why.

I've spoken with quite a few sources inside the agency who were really stunned by that, the optics of FEMA's leader not really being out front as this disaster got underway. And then there is the issue of FEMA grant funding, billions of dollars that are in limbo right now. States, local jurisdictions, they're waiting to find out if they're going to get funding for fire departments, for emergency management offices, for Homeland Security initiatives. So, they're going to be asking, is that money coming? There are deadlines that are at play here, and, hopefully, the administrator has some answers.

We also know that the president just approved disaster aid to eight states overnight, very interesting timing on that. So, you know, the administrator will be able to say, we are doing things for communities across the country that have been hit by these storms, very interesting. But we'll see.

BROWN: So, in Kentucky, where I'm from, just got approved, right?

COHEN: Correct. They were one of the --

BROWN: A while after the floods there.

COHEN: That's right. They were one of the eight states, Michigan, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Oregon, Kansas, Missouri, and New Mexico.

And some of those requests had been sitting at the White House for weeks, for as long as two months, which is becoming more of a trend during this administration. And now this is the second time that I can recall where we have seen this sort of dump of aid like we saw overnight from the president.

BROWN: And just for context, how quickly is aid usually granted for states like you just listed?

COHEN: Well, it really depends. Is the short answer oftentimes during a severe disaster it may be approved more quickly? There were requests that that sat for weeks during the Biden administration. But from the sources I'm talking to at FEMA, they say this is odd for major disaster requests to essentially sit for weeks at a time for that to be the norm, as we're seeing under this administration.

BROWN: All right. Gabe Cohen, excellent reporting, thank you. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Happening within the next hour, a sentencing for the man who brutally murdered four University of Idaho College students back in 2022. Bryan Kohberger faces four consecutive life sentences after pleading guilty to the murders to avoid the death penalty.

Let's go to CNN Correspondent Veronica Miracle. She's on the scene for us. We could finally hear directly from Kohberger, I take it, about why he decided to kill these people. Is that right?

VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. And that is the single question that hangs over all of this is, why did he do it? Will we get that answer? It's really unclear. But what we know right now is that this courthouse has been very busy since even before the sun came up. There were about 70 people, almost 80 people in line by about 6:00 A.M. They've just slowly been let inside. As we approach the hearing, starting in just about an hour here.

We spoke to some of those people in line, including University of Idaho students who say they wanted to be here because this is personal to them. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RACHEL HAMMACK, UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO STUDENT: We stayed in line all night because we thought it would be important as college students, especially at the University of Idaho, to come support the families and the victims, especially to those close to us that knew the victims to be able to support them and support these families in person instead of just watching a live stream. I think it means more to do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MIRACLE: So, once the hearing begins, what can we expect? While we know that the victims and the victims' families will have an opportunity to speak, if they so choose, they can speak directly to Bryan Kohberger to talk about how these crimes have devastated their families. We did see the family of Xana Kernodle show up today. We haven't seen the other families yet. We understand that the Chapins, Ethan Chapin's family will not be in attendance. But if the families arrive, they do have an opportunity to speak. We also understand that the prosecution will lay out their case as to why this plea agreement and why this sentence is best. The defense will also have an opportunity to speak. Bryan Kohberger, by law, will get a chance to speak to the judge if he would like. And so the question is, is he going to say why he did this. As part of his plea agreement, he doesn't have to. Wolf, back to you.

BLITZER: All right. Veronica Miracle, thank you very, very much. Pamela?

[10:10:00]

BROWN: All right, Wolf. Let's turn to Jacksonville, Florida. A driver who was punched by a police officer during a traffic stop is speaking out for the first time. This happened in February in a video William McNeil Jr. recorded has gone viral. He was pulled over for not wearing his seatbelt and not having his headlights on. As you're about to see in this disturbing video, things escalated after he asked for a supervisor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you call your supervisor?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, go for it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Exit the vehicle now. Exit the vehicle. Show me your hands here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm here. What is your reason, sir?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Step out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is your reason?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Step out now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Here is police body camera, video of the traffic stop and arrest. The arresting officer has been relieved of duty while the sheriff's department does an internal investigation.

McNeil's attorney, Civil Rights Lawyer Benjamin Crump, appeared on CNN this morning calling for the officer's firing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN CRUMP, ATTORNEY FOR WILLIAM MCNEIL JR.: You see, when an African American have the audacity to say, I want my constitutional rights, what that is met with with untrained police officers who believe that they have the right to violate the constitution and civil rights of black people in America.

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BROWN: The Jacksonville sheriff says he could not defend the officer's actions, but says the use of force was ugly but not unlawful. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Happening now as source tells CNN, that Israel and Hamas need to agree how deep into Gaza Israeli troops would be allowed under a ceasefire deal. This as the U.S. special envoy, Steve Witkoff, is heading to Europe this week to discuss a possible ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. Sources now tell CNN that he's also expected to visit Doha, the capital of Qatar, for further talks.

CNN Jerusalem Correspondent Jeremy Diamond is joining us now from Tel Aviv. Jeremy, let's begin with the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza right now. The Palestinian Health Ministry says ten people have died of starvation across Gaza in just the past 24 hours. What can you tell us?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Wolf. And we simply have not seen numbers like this of people dying from malnutrition consecutively throughout the course of the Gaza war. It was ten people who have died in the last 24 hours. The day before, it was 15 people who had died of malnutrition, bringing the total number of people who've died from malnutrition in Gaza since the beginning of the war to 111. And important to note that the overwhelming majority of those are children, 81 children have died in Gaza due to malnutrition.

And this is because, as humanitarian aid organizations have said, they are now running out of ways to help the local population. Food stocks have run out for most of these nonprofit organizations. The World Central Kitchen has stopped providing hot meals. And the director of Oxfam now says that famine is knocking on the door inside of Gaza.

More than a hundred humanitarian aid organizations sent a letter that says that the U.N.-led humanitarian system has not failed, but that it has been prevented from functioning. And they are directly blaming Israeli restrictions, delays for the current humanitarian situation in Gaza, which they say has created, quote, chaos, starvation, and death. They are demanding that all of the land crossings into Gaza be opened.

Now, the Israeli government, for its part, has insisted that it is not restricting the amount of aid trucks that can go into Gaza. They blame the United Nations and other organizations for not picking up some 950 trucks that are sitting inside of Gaza waiting to be picked up. But these aid organizations don't deny that that's the case. What they say is that Israel has failed systematically to coordinate the delivery of that aid inside of Gaza has failed to provide safe routes for those trucks to be able to distribute the aid and prioritize its military operations instead.

What is clear though, Wolf, is that if a ceasefire agreement comes into place, we will see massive amounts of humanitarian aid flowing into the Gaza Strip. The fact that Steve Witkoff, President Trump's special envoy is now headed to Europe, and, potentially after that, to the Qatari capital of Doha, is a positive indication that they are getting closer to an agreement. But as we have been reporting, there are still some disagreements between Israel and Hamas, and a ceasefire deal is far from guarantee. Wolf.

BLITZER: Well, let's hope hope there is a ceasefire and hostage deal in the coming days. Thanks very much, Jeremy Diamond in Tel Aviv. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, Wolf. Happening now the Kremlin says a Russian delegation is headed to Istanbul for the third round of direct peace talks with Ukraine. The talks are set for this evening. But a Kremlin spokesperson says he is expecting a, quote, very difficult discussion.

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This latest round of talks comes just days after Russia launched more than 400 missiles and drones into Ukraine,

CNN Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Matthew Chances in Moscow. Matthew, what are we expecting from this round of talks?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Pamela. Well, I think expectations are pretty low in the sense that, you know, in the last two occasions that they've met in May and in June, these various delegations from Russia and Ukraine, they've spoken about things like prisoner swaps, important things, but things like prisoner swaps, the repatriation of dead bodies from the battlefield as well. But no one on either side is seriously expecting that these two countries with very different views of how the war should end are going to produce anything substantial that might hasten the end of the Ukraine war. The Kremlin itself said, don't expect any miraculous breakthroughs.

Having said that, they are talking, they're going to be talking at least in another couple of hours, just under two hours from now. The talks in Istanbul, that Turkish city where they're expected to go ahead, obviously, we'll know in the hours ahead what progress, if any progress, is being made. Pam?

BROWN: All right. Matthew Chance in Moscow, thank you so much.

BLITZER: That's one of Ozzy Osbourne's many hit songs, Mama, I'm Coming Home. Some generations know him as the Prince of Darkness, while others know him as a reality T.V. star. But Ozzy Osbourne was a trailblazer. The 78-year-old godfather of heavy metal music died yesterday surrounded by family just weeks after his farewell concert. He had this to say to his fans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OZZY OSBOURNE, REALITY T.V. STAR: Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I love you (INAUDIBLE).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: He was 76 years old, let me correct that. CNN's Salma Abdelaziz is joining us from Birmingham, England, right now. That's where Osbourne was born and where he died. Salma, what are you hearing from fans there?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is so hard to walk around this city, Wolf, without feeling the impact of both Ozzy Osbourne's life and death. We're here at a memorial bench. It's called the Black Sabbath Bridge Bench. And this was built right in the middle of the city center of Birmingham, his old stomping grounds. And it's just a few steps away from here, Wolf, where he played that last gig that was built his final bow.

And all day, we've seen people coming. Just look at all of these flowers, laying down these flowers for him. It's been really extraordinary to see, you know, these heavy metal rockers with tattoos and leather jackets coming and laying down, just the most beautiful and delicate flowers and talking of their memories of this man who they say started a genre of music.

I want to show you the fan I met who came from the furthest location, L.A. He put down his blue crew hat right there. I want you to take a listen to what he told us just a short time ago about why he made the journey here.

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DEWAIN REYNA, OZZY OSBOURNE FAN WHO TRAVELED FROM LOS ANGELES: It's pretty powerful and it's pretty moving. I feel very happy to be here. I feel very sad by the occasion, but, you know, it's -- you know, it's bittersweet, I guess, because he brought me here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: What's extraordinary is to see that Ozzy Osbourne's impact for generations, Wolf. I want you to take a look at this young fan who left him with this drawing here, RIP Ozzy, just a reminder again that his music and his legacy will go far beyond his life. Wolf?

BLITZER: Good point. Salma Abdelaziz, thank you very, very much. Pamela?

BROWN: And still ahead right here in The Situation Room, President Trump floating the idea of eliminating attacks on the money you make when you sell a home, but who would really benefit from it?

BLITZER: And later, new concerns about the FDA's A.I. tool designed to speed up drug approvals. It's hallucinating and citing medical studies that don't necessarily exist.

Stay with us. You're in The Situation Room.

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BLITZER: New this morning, chaos and confusion within the New Jersey U.S. Attorney's Office. The interim U.S. attorney, Alina Habba, was removed on Tuesday after federal judges declined to extend her interim appointment. Then the U.S. Justice Department fired her successor.

CNN Senior Justice Correspondent Evan Perez is here with me in The Situation Room. Tell us more about the Justice Department's response.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is all because Alina Habba's interim appointment, which was for 120 days, was expiring this week, Wolf, and the judges there under federal law are required to either reappoint her or they can find someone else to serve in that position. In this case, they appointed Desiree Grace, who's the first assistant in the office. She's someone that Alina Habba actually elevated to that position.

And once the judges did that, the Justice Department reacted very swiftly. Just within, really, minutes, the attorney general, Pam Bondi, fired Grace, and she put out this statement. She said, politically-minded judges refused to allow Alina Habba to continue in her position replacing Alina with her assistant. The Department of Justice does not tolerate rogue judges, especially when they threaten the president's core Article 2 powers.

Now, to be clear, this is not a usurpation of the president's Article 2 powers. He still has those powers. He just needs Congress to approve Alina Habba, which hasn't happened. The Senate, which Republicans control, has not approved Alina Habba or really any other U.S. attorney in the United States.

[10:25:04]

And so that's what the problem is. For some reason, the Justice Department has decided to make this a clash with rogue judges. But, really, it's more about the administration not being able to work with Congressional Republicans to get their picks approved by the Senate, which is what is constitutionally required.

BLITZER: Alina Habba was a former personal attorney for president -- for then-candidate Trump, for private citizen Trump, I should say.

PEREZ: Right, she was. She was a spoke person.

BLITZER: And the thought was she couldn't get confirmed by the Republican-led Senate.

PEREZ: they haven't been able to confirm her yet. And there is a very slow growing process for all of these U.S. attorney picks that the president appointed or nominated rather.

BLITZER: All right. Thanks very much, Evan Perez. I appreciate it very much. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, Wolf. Happening now, a warning sign for the economy, existing home sales for June decreased 2.7 percent. Homeowners are staying put amid high interest rates, lack of supply and challenging market conditions. But in what could be a boon for the real estate market, President Trump has floated the idea of eliminating capital gains taxes on home sales.

Let's go live to CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich in New York to put this all into context for us. Vanessa, who stands to benefit from this?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pamela, homeowners certainly will benefit, but at a cost. But I just want to remind our viewers exactly what a capital gains tax is when it relates to the housing market. So, this is a tax on the profit that you make from your home sale. There is a portion that can be excluded from this tax, about $250,000 for singles, and about half a million dollars for couples.

The longer you hold onto your home, the tax actually falls. However, you have homeowners who are sitting tight because they don't want to get stuck with this capital gains tax because, obviously, the longer you hold onto your home, your home appreciates.

However, homeowners will stand to benefit with a caveat, and I'll explain it right now. Inventory will likely increase if this capital gains tax goes away because people will be more willing to sell their home. At the same time, you'll have increased demand as more inventory comes onto the market. And then, of course, there will be an increase in sales because of all this.

But at the same time, this will likely raise home prices because of that increase in demand. So, while homeowners will basically be able to have more of a selection in the home buying market, they will likely have to pay higher prices.

But this certainly is a big move in the housing market if this were to happen. It's almost like the equivalent of mortgage rates falling. But there's a lot that happens in this process for homeowners that, yes, they may win on the side of this capital gains tax going away, but they'll probably have to make up for that, Pamela, with higher home prices eventually.

BROWN: All right. Vanessa Yurkevich, thank you so much. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Thanks, Pamela.

Coming up bring them home now, families of October 7th hostages are meeting with leaders here in Washington this week demanding action. Two of those families standing by to join me live right here in The Situation Room.

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