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Trump Claims Intel Reveals Vulnerabilities in U.S. Elections; Catastrophic Flooding Hits Texas Hill Country; Wildfire Smoke Triggers Air Quality Alerts Across Midwest, Great Lakes. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired July 17, 2026 - 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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[10:00:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, President Trump's election claims. We're breaking through the noise and bringing you the facts.

And catastrophic flooding, at least two people have been killed after days of torrential rain hit Southern Texas. We're following all the latest developments.

Plus, very dangerous air quality for 120 million Americans, plumes from Canadian wildfires are pouring across, over the border into the United States, bringing very hazardous smoke levels.

And Taco Bell lettuce linked to parasite outbreak. What you need to know to protect yourself.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. Pamela Brown is off today. You're in The Situation Room.

Happening now, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullen is set to deliver remarks on election security in the next hour. These remarks come just hours after President Trump delivered a primetime address last night touching on potential vulnerabilities in the American election system. The president revealed a series of newly declassified documents which he claims were hidden from the American people, and that show the U.S. election system has major vulnerabilities.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Every American deserves to know that when they cast their vote, that vote will be counted accurately in a system, and that is to make that system secure, one where cheating and interference are not just difficult, but virtually impossible. Unfortunately, the system we have today falls catastrophically short of that standard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: But despite the president's claims, an early review of those documents by CNN has found that these issues were previously known and were included in a 2021 assessment from the U.S. Intelligence Community.

Let's go live right now to CNN Senior White House Reporter Betsy Klein. Betsy, what more did the president say in his prime time address last night?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Wolf, President Trump using that very rare address to the nation in prime time on an issue that he has long fixated over, election integrity. He is now raising the alarms, in his view, about potential vulnerabilities for U.S. election security going forward as he makes a push for the Save America Act. That is that voter I.D. election overhaul legislation currently stalled in Congress.

But to do all of that, he made both hyperbolic and unfounded claims, and largely cited a 2021 declassified intelligence assessment from the U.S. Intelligence Community. Now, the White House did post hundreds of pages of new documents on its website, but I want to take you through some of the president's claims and what we have learned.

The president starkly taking aim at China, who he says illegally acquired 220 million U.S. voter files, and also, he says, worked to undermine both his administration and the 2020 election that he lost. Now, that intelligence report from 2021 says that China considered trying to influence the election, but ultimately decided not to.

Separately, the president saying that there are 278,000 non-citizens on state voter rolls. He cited data that has been uncovered in a program that has been largely documented to inflate those kinds of numbers. We are going to hear moments from now from Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who's expected to address that and with more information.

He also went after members of the so-called deep state, who he said actively suppressed information about China's election meddling, both to him and to the American people.

Now, election law experts have been raising concerns that with this address, the president is actively sowing doubt ahead of those critical midterm elections. The president pushing back on that. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Our purpose in disclosing this information is not to weaken confidence in election, but to earn that confidence by confronting vulnerabilities and correcting them very, very quickly, and that's what we're doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KLEIN: Now, none of this declassified information supports the claim that any U.S. election results were manipulated in a way that would have changed the outcome.

And, Wolf, as we're thinking about this rare address to the country, it's notable that the president barely mentioned this conflict with Iran as he is weighing escalating U.S. military operations there. His only statement about the conflict is that the U.S. is winning, and he expected to see the fruits of that labor, quote, very, very shortly.

BLITZER: Yes, it was amazing. He spoke maybe a minute, if that, about Iran's in a 30 or 35-minute speech.

[10:05:04]

Betsy Klein at the White House, thank you very, very much.

Also happening now, parts of the Texas Hill Country are getting hit with catastrophic flooding, and plumes of Canadian wildfire smoke are drifting across the border, delivering very unhealthy air and hazy skylines across the Midwest and Northeast.

In Texas, the governor, Greg Abbott, says at least two people have died in this latest flooding. First responders have conducted hundreds of rescues so far, like the one we're showing you now. This was in Uvalde, Texas. According to the governor's office, a little girl, her family, and their two dogs were rescued here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R-TX): Protecting life remains our top priority as we work our way through extraordinarily and, and in many ways, record- breaking rain.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: This is the same region in Texas that was hit by deadly flooding a year ago. You probably remember some areas have experienced about a year's worth of rain just this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKOBE RUDOLPH, TEXAS RESIDENT: We're having twins in two months, less than two months, and we got to start over.

I can't put my kids in this, you know? Little mini-me sharks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, that's adorable.

RUDOLPH: Got matchings, you know? And it's scary how crazy and fast it happened. It was like less than an hour, you know? It was probably ankle-deep, and then it got to my shin, and I told her, I was like, we got to get out of here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: And in the northern part of the United States, millions of Americans are now experiencing dangerous air quality from Canadian wildfire smoke.

We're covering all these stories from all angles right now. Joining us now, CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam and CNN Senior National Correspondent Ed Lavandera. Ed, you're there. You're reporting from Texas. Residents seem to be more prepared compared to last year's devastating floods. All of us remember what happened at Camp Mystic, for example.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's surreal, Wolf, being here. We were here just over a year ago covering those devastating floodings where nearly 140 people lost their lives. And back again, a lot of people wondering, is this going to be something that continues to happen in this region of Texas?

Where we're standing, Wolf, 24 hours ago was completely underwater. That bridge where you see cars driving down, the bank over there, all of this completely underwater, and it stretched probably close to a quarter mile wide here at this particular point where we're at, all of this underwater.

The Guadalupe River, where we're standing over, reached levels in some places that were higher than the flood levels that were seen in last summer's catastrophic flooding. So, a significant rainfall fell and many of the residents tell us that the water levels here were just rising incredibly fast. In some places, within a half-hour the river had dramatically changed.

And residents talked about the warning systems, the alerts on the phones, all of that playing a role in helping get people evacuated into higher ground much faster. But in the back of everyone's mind, what happened here just over a year ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE LAMB, KERR COUNTY, TEXAS, RESIDENT: This year I think everybody kind of -- we got a lot of phone warnings I think that was helpful. After last year, I mean, you always got like the flashflood warning. Nobody took it into consideration. It was like, oh, it's a sprinkle right now. I think this year people actually -- like the R.V. park, we were right beside it yesterday evening, that, they fully evacuated. I mean, everybody kind of got to higher ground.

LAVANDERA: Oh, before, even before midnight?

LAMB: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: So, you know, these, this river moving incredibly fast. Also, very widespread, Wolf. It wasn't just here along the Guadalupe River, but north to the city of Kerrville, and the creeks and the tributaries of rivers running through there, south to Uvalde, where homes have been flooded out, and there was one person who lost their life there.

So, the good news so far this morning is that we've had a respite from the rain. It has not been raining dramatically in any kind of real way, and that's given the Guadalupe River, as well as other creeks and tributaries, a chance to recede a little bit. And that's giving authorities and first responders, emergency officials a chance, and residents, to assess the damage, which is extensive throughout much of this region. Wolf?

BLITZER: Ed Lavandera on the scene for us, Ed, thank you very, very much.

I want to go to our Meteorologist Derek Van Dam right now. Derek, a new flashflood emergency was just issued, right?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, that's correct, Wolf. And there's actually two at the moment. But just pointing out where Ed is located in Kerr County the slug of heaviest rain is to his north and west. So, the area that's severely compromised by the heavy rainfall over the past couple of days is to the south of where the heaviest rain is now.

So, let's focus in on those flashflood emergencies. There's currently two of them. This is along the Interstate 10 corridor, so we're stretching from Sonora to about the Ozone location. So, if you're familiar with this part of West Central Texas, this is where the flashflood emergencies are ongoing, and will last for the next couple of hours as heavy rain continues to fall.

[10:10:04]

But that's here, right? This is the radar-estimated rainfall total since the beginning of the week. Notice that the heaviest of rainfall, again, across Kerr County into Medina and Uvalde counties, this is where over a year's worth of rain fell, and that's where the most catastrophic flash flooding has taken place over the past 24 hours.

But, again, now we still have those newly issued flashflood emergencies. Flashflood watches, though, blanket much of West Central Texas at the moment. The Hill Country still included in that. But we do not have that high risk of flash flooding as, really, we start to see an end to the heaviest rainfall through this weekend, shifting a little further to the west, impacting places like Arizona, for instance. Wolf?

BLITZER: Yes, terrible flooding in Texas and elsewhere in the South. I also want to ask you about the Canadian wildfire smoke that's affecting millions of Americans right now, including in major cities like Chicago and in New York, and here in Washington, D.C., as well. What do people need to know about this very dangerous air quality?

VAN DAM: Well, that it's hazardous for so many people, not just vulnerable communities. You spend any considerable amount of time out in this hazardous of smoke, it's like smoking a pack of cigarettes. That's how hazardous it is.

And you can see it on the satellite loop there. It is significant. All of these locations, they're indicators of the quality of the air, stretching from Detroit all the way to the nation's capital. We have very unhealthy to hazardous air quality indexes. We're talking about 250 to 300 levels or higher.

It's seen some improvement for places like New York and Boston, but when we hone in on things, Philadelphia into the Baltimore region, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit, if you're outdoors, you see the thick hazy smoke overhead.

This is a live look of Detroit, WDIV, our partner there. This is just telling as well. We still have over 100 million Americans, over 18 states, including the District of Columbia, under the air quality alerts.

But there's going to be some changes here. So remember the wildfires emanating the smoke near the border of the U.S. and Canada border there. But it is raining within that location, and a cold front will sweep in. That's going to change the direction of the winds going forward.

So, we'll see a gradual lessening of this smoke along the I-95 corridor as this cold front sweeps through and then helps clear out the air, and, again, bringing some much needed rainfall to help extinguish some of those wildfires that are still ongoing across Southern Ontario. Wolf?

BLITZER: So, what should folks who are in these affected areas with this air quality really getting bad, for example, those of us here in Washington, D.C.? Should we just stay indoors, avoid going outside? What's the advice?

VAN DAM: Well, the N95 mask, if we've learned anything from our COVID days, that is critical at this moment in time, especially if you're located within these locations that have the most hazardous air quality, as we speak, so Detroit, Cleveland to D.C. If you're spending considerable amount time outdoors, considering putting on a mask. Otherwise, limit your time outdoors. Spend it inside. Keep those windows shut.

BLITZER: Yes, good advice.

All right, Derek Van Dam, thank you very, very much.

Still ahead, suspicious trades, why regulators are now investigating President Trump's longtime teleprompter operator for possible insider trading.

And new details emerging on what may be the source of the parasite causing severe stomach illness for so many people across the country.

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

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[10:15:00]

BLITZER: Happening now, we're monitoring the fallout from President Trump's primetime address last night in which he alleged that weaknesses exist in the American election systems. Declassified documents released by his administration, however, largely discuss vulnerabilities that have been known for years and that election officials nationwide have tried to address.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: This evidence shows that the election system we have dangerously exposes, and really exposes like levels never thought possible, to hacking, exploitation, and foreign interference. Just as disturbingly, this vital information has, for many years, been covered up and hidden from you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: And joining us now to discuss what's going on, The New York Times White House reporter, Jonathan Swan. He's also the co-author of the new bestselling book, "Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump". It's written alongside his colleague, Maggie Haberman, and it's now The New York Times number one bestseller. Congratulations, Jonathan, to you and Maggie.

Based on everything you know about President Trump, and you know a lot from writing your book and more than covering him for a decade or so, what do you think was the most notable part of his speech last night?

JONATHAN SWAN, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Well, the notable part was the lack of the single thing that he wanted to show last night, which was evidence that the 2020 election was stolen. This is the culmination -- last night's speech was the culmination actually really of six, almost six years of effort by Donald Trump. We have reporting in the book that in early 2021, Donald Trump was telling people that he thought he could be reinstated as president that summer in August. He had people around him encouraging that.

And now in his second term, for the last sort of 14, 15 months, he's been putting enormous pressure on the intelligence community to come up with evidence to prove that the 2020 election was stolen.

[10:20:10]

Last night represented their best efforts, and, of course, there was no evidence that the 2020 election was stolen. Even with Trump's spin on things, he still didn't manage to make that claim.

BLITZER: You and Maggie write in your really important book, "Regime Change", about how the former Venezuelan dictator, Nicolas Maduro, understood that President Trump was fixated on the debunked claims that voting machines were manipulated in the 2020 election and attempted to exploit that obsession. Talk a little bit more about that and how it might overlap with what we heard from the president last night.

SWAN: So, one episode that we explore in the book, which, well, I sort of didn't believe it when I first heard about it, but actually turned out to be true, is that Maduro was in contact with Tucker Carlson who is, of course, has fallen out with Donald Trump but was very close to him throughout his interregnum period, campaigned for him. And Maduro made it known to Tucker Carlson that he could furnish evidence that the 2020 election was manipulated or stolen through these voting machines.

Remember when Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani did that famous press conference with the hair dye dripping down Giuliani's face, these are some of the claims that Sidney Powell was making about, you know, foreign interference, Hugo Chavez, election machines being manipulated. No evidence has ever been presented, but this is something that Maduro was trying to communicate presumably to get on Trump's good side.

BLITZER: As we've discussed, Jonathan, the president claimed last night that China tried to meddle in the U.S. elections, which China, of course, denies. The whole theme of your book is that President Trump's fascination with leaders who have centralized power was excessive, including the Chinese president, Xi Jinping.

Considering that, did this accusation last night surprise you at all?

SWAN: It did in one sense because -- so the story of Trump and China is one of the most fascinating elements of Trump's second term. He started out pretty tough on them with his trade war, and then very quickly the trade -- the tariff level got so high that Trump basically empowered his team to try to come up with an off-ramp. He sent Scott Bessent, his treasury secretary, to Geneva and to cool things down.

And ever since then, it's been, you know, peace, love, and harmony with Xi Jinping trying to come up with a deal, a way of working. He watered down his national defense strategy late last year, which had more hawkish language on China.

So, in one sense, it was surprising. You had two competing impulses. You had Trump's impulse to want to prove that the 2020 election was stolen colliding with his impulse to have a good relationship with Xi Jinping and keep things cool with China.

What was very notable was that even as he laid out this case that China had interfered, he didn't actually announce any hardline policy against China, which presumably you would think would be the natural next step if you're saying China did this massive incursion.

BLITZER: He often speaks very positively about China, including discussing what he describes as a very positive, personal relationship with Xi Jinping, the leader in China.

In his address last night he spoke about the war with Iran for less than 30 seconds, even though he spoke for nearly a half an hour, mostly on election interference and all of that. What do you think?

SWAN: Well, it's very clear he wants to get out of this war. It did not turn out the way he thought it would, which was a quick collapse of the Iranian regime. He's been looking for a way to get out. And we've had these endless cycles of a deal is imminent, a deal happens, there's dispute over the deal, bombing resumes, and rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat. I've spoken to a number of his advisers, and no one seems to have a clear idea of the way out of this war.

BLITZER: Jonathan Swan with Maggie Haberman, have a terrific number one New York Times bestseller out right now, "Regime Change". I recommend it highly to everyone who wants to learn about this presidency. Jonathan, thanks very much for writing the book. Thanks very much for joining us.

SWAN: Thank you for having me, Wolf. I appreciate it.

BLITZER: And coming up, what caused this massive sinkhole on one of America's most famous streets? Stand by.

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[07:25:00]

BLITZER: New this morning, shredded lettuce served at some Taco Bell locations has now been linked to a five-state outbreak caused by the cyclospora parasite. The severe stomach illness has surged to 7,000 cases nationwide.

Let's go live right now to CNN Health Reporter Jacqueline Howard. Jacqueline, the lettuce is linked to a regional outbreak, but the CDC is investigating cases outside of the Midwest right now. So, what more are you learning?

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: That's right, Wolf. So, across the country, we do know that several states have reported increases in cyclosporiasis cases, but what the CDC has recently -- Taco Bell locations in five states in the Midwest have been tied to the regional outbreak in that area.

[10:30:06]