Return to Transcripts main page

What We Know with Max Foster

At Least 90 Dead In Texas Floods, Dozens More Missing; White House: Trump To Extend Tariff Deadline To August 1; Soon: Netanyahu Sits Down With Trump At The White House; Musk Announces New U.S. Political Party After Trump Fallout; Jury Finds Australian Woman Guilty In Mushroom Murder

Aired July 07, 2025 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:24]

ISA SOARES, CNN HOST: The death toll from devastating floods in Texas continues to rise as rescuers race to find any survivors.

I'm Isa Soares, in for Max Foster. This is WHAT WE KNOW.

We are tracking dramatic rescues across central Texas as emergency teams race against the clock. At least 90 deaths have been confirmed and dozens

are still missing. Flood watches have extended into this evening.

Earlier, the mayor of Kerrville, Texas, spoke about the ongoing search as well as rescue efforts.

Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE HERRING JR., MAYOR OF KERRVILLE, TEXAS: This will be a rough week. Primary search continues and we remain hopeful. Every foot, every mile,

every bend of the river.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: And Camp Mystic, the all-girls summer camp that sits along the Guadalupe River, now says at least 27 campers and counselors died in the

catastrophic floods. Ten campers and one counselor are still missing this hour, and questions are being asked about flood warnings and whether

residents had enough time to evacuate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): Everyone would agree in hindsight, if we could go back and do it again, we would evacuate, particularly those in the most

vulnerable areas the young, the young children in the cabins closest to the water. We would remove them and get them to higher ground. If we could go

back and do it again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Amid these devastating floods, we are hearing some incredible stories of survival from all ages. Have a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED BOY: My brother here, he had to swim out of his cabin.

UNIDENTIFIED BOY: The flood started getting bigger and it was going up to. We had bunk beds in our cabins, and it was going up to the top bunk and we

had one choice and we had to swim out of our cabins.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Open the front door and it sweeps both my dogs different directions. And I'm panicking, thinking, now, what the hell am I

going to do?

I said a prayer when I was standing on my porch. Both my parents are deceased, and I said, mom, dad, God help!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Incredibly brave indeed.

CNN's Isabel Rosales has been out with rescue teams not far from where Camp Mystic is located, and she joins us now from Center Point, Texas.

Isabel, good to see you.

Just give us a sense of where you are and where we are at the moment on the search and rescue, which is I know has been facing complications. Of

course, as the weather continues to play havoc.

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Isa, you can see this line of cars behind me that really this picture doesn't do it justice because it just

keeps going and going and going in that direction. What you're looking at right now is volunteers, people that are coming from town (AUDIO GAP) over

central Texas. And even beyond that are lending their time, their help, their resources. They're coming on horseback, on RVs, using their bare

hands to come here and help search for the people that are missing.

And every day that goes by, we see that death toll getting higher. And still so many people that are missing.

I want to cross the street here carefully. I want to show you something. You can see right over here, kind of the terrain, the rough terrain of this

rural area that they're dealing with. They have been using heavy machinery to kind of put these piles of cypress trees out of the way and check

carefully underneath the roots to make sure rushing flood, bring a victim somewhere here (AUDIO GAP) told days ago that the first search, they found

a victim. Second search, they found someone. Third search they found (AUDIO GAP). Unfortunately, all of them deceased.

So meticulously searching through here, you can see in the background there, that's where they're burning the debris. Because this is a part of

the process. As they're searching for the missing, they're also clearing this out. So saw it right here in this body of water that you're seeing

that it's a tributary of the Guadalupe River. I saw police on rafts carefully combing through the bank of this body of water. And boy, is it

tough work.

Listen to what one volunteer had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL GUYER, VOLUNTEER : What inspired me is the fact that I figured I could be prioritizing myself in an important way, even though I'm not

actively involved as a first responder and everything, I figured I can at least come and help relieve them of some stress and exhaustion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: And, Isa, I want to show you what other conditions these other first responders and volunteers are dealing with, like barbed wire. That's

all over the place.

[15:05:00]

I stepped on it, but luckily I have boots on. I heard instances of people slipping and falling into the water. There are fire ants all over the place

and this blaring Texan sun, too, certainly not making things easy.

And as you mentioned, when those thunderstorms come in, work comes to a pause. So not easy.

I do also want to mention we have video, I believe, of the Texas A&M task force with a cadaver dog named Finn searching underneath of a bridge.

People are wondering why this takes so long, and you're looking at part of the reason why. Why this has to be done so carefully. They need to clear

that area, make sure that there's no missing person, no victim there before they give the thumbs up to construction crews to inspect the bridges and

also to remove the debris.

So, this is a grueling, meticulous process -- Isa.

SOARES: Isabel, really appreciate it. Thank you very much indeed.

Just the challenges there laid out by Isabel Rosales that many face, of course, in the search and recovery. Thank you. Isabel.

Well, the central Texas town of Kerrville was among the places hardest hit by the flash floods. The Kerrville mail got emotional as he talked about

not getting any warning about the devastating wall of water that tore through his community.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HERRING: It all happened upriver at the worst possible place, and I think everyone in Kerrville, everyone in Kerr County, wishes to God we had some

way to warn -- to warn those people. I've lost two friends. We love them. And they're gone. And they're gone. Everyone here, if we could have warned

them, we would have done so. And we didn't even have a warning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Goodness.

Well, U.S. President Donald Trump is now expected to visit Texas on Friday. The president has vowed to give continued federal support to the state

impacted by the deadly flooding. Mr. Trump has also been questioned about his plans for FEMA, which coordinates Americas response to disasters and

has been activated.

Previously, he had said he wanted to cut FEMA after this hurricane season and have states take the lead following disasters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Mr. President, are you still planning to phase out FEMA?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, FEMA is something we can talk about later. But right now, they're busy working, so well leave it

at that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Well, staying with President Trump, he has announced he's imposing a 25 percent tariff on Japan and South Korea, as we mentioned the previous

hour. And tariffs of up to 40 percent on a growing number of countries that trade deal is not reached by his self-imposed deadline, which keeps

shifting, a deadline the White House says will be rolled back from Wednesday to August the 1st.

In the meantime, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt tells us the president still cranking out tariff letters to all trading partners without a deal in

place. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: To the reciprocal tariff rate or these new rates that will be provided in this correspondence to

these foreign leaders will be going out the door within the next month, or deals will be made in those countries, continue to negotiate with the

United States. We've seen a lot of positive developments in the right direction.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Well, U.S. stocks have taken a bit of a hit, as you can see, since President Trump announced the growing number of tariffs on countries, Dow

Jones is down one, just over one, almost a quarter percent, 548 points lower. Of course, you can see in the drop as we've been monitoring these

announcements.

Anna Stewart is keeping an eye on the letters.

And Karoline Leavitt there basically saying he is cranking them out. Suddenly in the last hour, we've seen an increase of letters, right?

ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I haven't even had a chance to print them all out. But in the last hour, five more letters have been sent out,

ranging up to 40 percent for Myanmar, South Africa, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Laos, Japan, South Korea. These are all the new letters that have been sent

out. They're all identical, but with different tariff levels ranging now at the stage from 25 percent all the way up to 40 percent.

SOARES: Stand up for you, Anna. Which one is the stand out for you from what we've seen? I mean, we're talking Japan earlier, which was quite

significant.

STEWART: Japan significant, and we're seeing a lot of movement in terms of Japanese listed auto stocks. I think there was a lot of disappointment that

it looks like it's going to be very difficult to negotiate on cars. Cars already had a 25 percent tariff, and perhaps that's where that's going to

stay.

Interesting to look at the U.S. reaction. The Dow is down. U.S. investors are also selling U.S. treasuries. So, 10-year and 30-year you're seeing the

yields rise which means people are actually selling those assets. This is something that will actually likely put some pressure on the president. It

certainly did in the past when he talked about yippie trades.

SOARES: Yeah.

STEWART: So not only are we having the pressure on all of these different countries, and we're likely to see stock markets open down, for instance,

in Asia.

[15:10:02]

But you're also going to see some pressure I would imagine, in the U.S. as well at this stage, because clearly, investors are actually waking up to

this and thinking, hang on, we're not seeing the trade deals. We were hoping, yes, the deadline has been pushed back, but these tariffs aren't

great and they're not far different from the liberation day. I'd say they were rounder.

SOARES: Yeah. And of course, if we bring up the markets red arrows right across the board like you were saying hinting potentially a lot of the

country were talking about, Asia Pacific will be waking up, will probably be seeing negative also in negative territory. Of course. What just -- just

give us a sense of what the reaction you think may be from some of these countries. I mean, were talking about Japan earlier, one of the U.S.'s

closest allies, and how significant that is.

Look at that. Red arrow. Nasdaq down 1 percent. Similar picture with S&P. But the Dow Industrials down the most at this moment. Quite a change from

the last hour or so.

STEWART: Well, for these countries they have more room to negotiate. The deadline is no longer Wednesday. It is the 1st of August. We thought this

might be the case. And it's being signed by an executive order. So, they have more time to negotiate.

These countries, many of them have already been trying very hard to reach a trade deal. Whether they can split that difference or whether there's

anything that can change the negotiations to bring them to that point is interesting. I think if we're seeing a lot of financial market impact,

particularly stateside, if that increases the cost of borrowing for the U.S. government, for instance, that will also play into many of these

countries favor, because that will put pressure on the White House. So, we're in an interesting area right now.

SOARES: But we've been there before, and he just kept, you know, passing the buck, blaming the Fed, blaming Jerome Powell, hasn't he?

STEWART: And I'm sure there will be more blame to go around for the Fed chair. I'm sure there will. But at the end of the day, the initial

liberation day tariffs were paused because of yippee markets.

SOARES: Anna Stewart, I have a feeling you have a very busy day tomorrow. Thank you very much. Another.

Now, just hours from now, President Trump will host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a private dinner at the White House. The White House

press secretary says Mr. Trump's utmost priority in the Middle East is ending the war in Gaza and ensuring that all hostages, of course, return

home.

U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to travel to Doha later this week, where Israel and Hamas are holding indirect ceasefire talks.

Our Kevin Liptak joins us now from the White House. And, Kevin, I was speaking to Jeremy Diamond, of course, in Jerusalem earlier, and he was

saying they're having now proximity talks, which is a very good sign.

But look, we've been here numerous times before and it hasn't worked. It hasn't succeeded. So, what are the chances this time around?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, I do think at least at the White House, there is a sense that there is more momentum now for

trying to reach this ceasefire deal than at any point, at least in the last several months. And I think that there are a few reasons why that is.

One, President Trump seems to think that he has some leverage over Netanyahu at the moment. He's really tried to pull him close over the last

several weeks, whether it's joining Israels attack on Iran or when President Trump called for Netanyahu's corruption trial to be canceled,

there is a sense that the president is expecting something in return from the Israelis, which is an agreement to end this war in Gaza.

And for that reason, I think you're seeing President Trump really applying some new pressure on Netanyahu to try and bring this to an end. He said

last week that he would be, quote, very firm with the prime minister in these talks today at the White House.

And I think the atmospherics around this meeting are quite interesting. You know, the last two times Netanyahu was here at the White House, it was, you

know, the traditional meeting in the Oval Office. There was a photo op involved. At one point, there was a press conference.

The meeting today is very different. It will be a private dinner in the White House, blue room, which I think kind of underscores these parallel

approach that the president is taking to Netanyahu. One is to pull him very close. But on the other hand, he is also applying this fresh pressure that

you might not want to occur in front of the cameras.

And so, at least from the White House's perspective, they do think that these talks will eventually result in agreement. That's not to say that

there aren't some major sticking points at this point in those discussions in Qatar, those proximity talks, the two sides essentially in the same

building, passing notes between the mediators.

As you mentioned, Steve Witkoff, the president's foreign envoy, will be traveling to Qatar later this week. Which one gives you a sense of the

president trying to put his own stamp on these discussions? But two, the timing, they don't essentially believe that this agreement is going to be

agreed to before Witkoff is there talking with them on the ground, trying to come up with some kind of resolution.

I think all of this is so important for President Trump because ending the conflict in Gaza, one would really kind of burnish his reputation as a

peacemaker. Remember, President Trump has openly pined for a Nobel peace prize, but it would also, in his mind, unlock a lot of his broader

ambitions for the Middle East, the biggest one being this normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel. That won't happen, according to the

Saudis, until the war in Gaza is over.

[15:15:03]

And so you can sense how important this is to President Trump, to his broader vision for the region. And I think in this meeting later today,

this dinner behind closed doors up in the White House blue room, there will be a lot of pressure applied on Netanyahu to get this deal over the finish

line.

SOARES: Yeah. And so far, we're talking about a 60-day ceasefire. It will be interesting to see whether the president has the political will, of

course, to push Netanyahu for more permanent solution to end the war once and for all. And, of course, to bring hostages home.

Thank you very much, Kevin. Appreciate it.

Now, Tesla's shareholders are not pleased with billionaire Elon Musk's plan to create a new U.S. political party. Shares in the electric carmaker have

slumped more than 7 percent, as you can see there, in today's trading, after CEO Musk announced he's launching the America party amid his ongoing

feud, as you know, with President Trump.

The move prompted an irate response from the president, who posted this on his social media, "I am saddened to watch Elon Musk go completely off the

rails, essentially becoming a train wreck, over the past five weeks. He even wants to start a third political party despite the fact they have

never succeeded in the United States."

Let's get more from Hadas Gold, who's in New York with a closer look at this.

And so, Hadas, good to see you. How realistic is this? Can it be done? Can you have a third political party in the United States?

Explain that to our audience right around the world.

HADAS GOLD, CNN MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Okay. So, the American system is essentially set up. The experts I've spoken to, to really favor this

two-party system, Democrats and Republicans. And it is very difficult for a third political party to really become a party and be successful. There are

both legal hurdles and political hurdles.

When you look at the legal hurdles, there is a limit to how much a single individual can donate to a political party. So as rich as Elon Musk is, he

has a limit about $450,000 that he could donate to a political party. He need to get a lot of other donors to help him really create a political

party that could have an impact nationwide.

Then there are different rules and regulations for each individual state. So, to get on a ballot for a state, including for president, including for

any sort of parties, each state has their own different rules and regulations.

Now, again, Elon Musk is very wealthy. He has a lot of resources. He has a lot of lawyers. He could -- he could hire. But this will take some time as

well as money. And there's going to be a lot of legal complexities.

And I think that's why we're hearing from Elon Musk saying he's not necessarily going to back a new candidate for president, what he plans to

do is really become laser focused on specific races, he said in a post on X that one of the ways he's going to execute this is focusing on two to three

Senate seats and eight to 10 House districts. He says that's because of what he calls razor thin legislative margins.

And he says that those people would be enough to serve as the deciding vote on contentious laws, he's saying, ensuring that that the that they will

serve the true will of the people. Sounds so it sounds like he's going to really be focusing, trying to get on the ballot, trying to bat candidates

in certain states.

One thing that I think will be interesting is to see whether he will really create, because we haven't necessarily seen paperwork or any sort of

indication officially that this party has been formed, whether he will create this party and have candidates be a part of this party officially,

or whether he's going to back independent candidates, it is much easier in a lot of states to get on the ballot as just an independent candidate, and

then they might associate themselves with Elon Musk and the America party versus creating this whole new party and having candidates run on it.

And then politically, voters tend to be hesitant to vote for third party candidates because voters know that when you vote for a third party

candidate, it is very unlikely, especially on the national level, that they will win when they're up against Democrats and Republicans.

SOARES: Hadas laying all out. Thank you very much, Hadas. Appreciate it.

GOLD: Thanks.

SOARES: And still to come right here, the unimaginable power of flash floods will take talk to a rescue worker in Texas about what it's like as a

desperately search for survivors. That story just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:22:01]

SOARES: And returning now to our top story. More than three days after flash floods ravished central Texas, there are still dozens of people

missing. Among them ten campers and one counselor from the girls camp that was overrun by rushing water. Officials talked about the massive area they

are searching.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DALTON RICE, KERRVILLE, TEXAS CITY MANAGER: From Hunt all the way to Comal County, and a straight line distance is over 100 kilometers. This is a

massive field that is happening. And again, this is unprecedented flood events.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: And we understand now the death toll has risen to 94. So, what we want to know this hour is what do people on the ground in Texas need right

now?

Joining me now is Nick Sortor from the United Cajun Navy, a volunteer group that responds to natural disasters in the U.S., is in Kerr County in Texas.

Nick, thank you very much for taking the time to speak to us. I know how incredibly you and your team must be.

Can you give us a sense on that first question of the needs of so many on the ground right now that you have seen firsthand?

NICK SORTOR, UNITED CAJUN NAVY: So, luckily, there are a ton of, you know, people have really stepped up these past several days bringing in supplies

from, you know, all over the state and sometimes even all over the country, flying in, driving them in, you know, in trucks. So, in terms of needs

right now, it's actually pretty well -- it's pretty well-stocked over here, which is, you know, fantastic news. Nobody -- there aren't really huge

needs for water or food or anything anymore because you have restaurants that are brought in food trucks and everything, too, to keep first

responders eating and victims families and such. So, that's great news.

You know what's really needed out here at this point is the continued media attention to really support these families and the rescue workers, because

this is still a rescue mission out here. This is not recovery. They are still in full rescue mode out here trying to find these girls, the

counselors and other missing people. So that that's -- at this point, that's what's really needed.

And, you know, we're feeling the support, which is fantastic. Morale is just about as high as it's going to be able to get in a situation like

this. It's really, really hard on these first responders to, you know, come across the body of a young child and have to then go inform their parents.

I mean, I can\t even describe to you how that feels for these first responders out here.

SOARES: And can you give us a sense on that point that you just mentioned, Nick, you know, of the conversations that you're having either with

families or those first responders who are going through clearly, an incredibly traumatic moment as, of course, the search for so many

continues.

SORTOR: Yeah. I mean -- so there there's still hope.

SOARES: Yeah.

SORTOR: Parents are still hopeful. It's -- you imagine just how difficult it is with each passing minute to be one of the parents of these missing

children.

[15:25:01]

You know, they want - obviously, they want to find their child. But, you know, at a very at a bare minimum, they need closure. I mean, because

they're in a state of limbo at this point. And it's very different than many natural disasters, especially ones that that I've been to personally,

that the death toll of children is so high, that is, you know, that really sticks in the mind of so many rescue workers and it feels different. It

just -- it hits different when, you know, we're talking about 7, 8, 10- year-old girls.

SOARES: Yeah. And all of them, so many of them, of course, at camp having the most wonderful times. Of course, of their summer break with their

friends out in -- out in the wild. And I understand Nick from my team, that you are actually visited Camp Mystic. We're looking at some of the footage,

really. So much of that camp has been washed away by the deluge.

Can you speak to what you and your team saw?

SORTOR: Yeah. And so Camp Mystic, you know, when you're looking at it on a map, you can't really tell, but when it's where it is situated is between

the river and a cliff. So Camp Mystic sits right in the middle of the two of those things. So once that water starts rising, there's nowhere for them

to go.

They couldn't run. They can't run up the cliff. It's steep rock that was going to happen. It was 4:00 in the morning. Obviously, they were -- most

of them were asleep. And one of the main buildings that's right there at Camp Mystic, it just got situated close to the water and it got totally run

through everything. And everybody that was in that building was swept out. There is nothing left inside, and it is terrifying to think about.

There was nowhere for them to go even if they wanted to. There was no escape. Once that water got over a certain level and that bridge was

covered, that was it.

You know, the ones that that got lucky, fortunately, were on just a little bit of higher ground, just feet from where the water level ended up. And

they -- they came very close. They came close to being even worse than it is.

SOARES: Goodness. It's just utterly devastating, Nick. And I know that you and your team are seeing this firsthand. A new and the Cajun Navy have been

using I understand airboats to try and rescue in terms of rescue operations, and you're using, I think, Starlink to help with connectivity.

Talk to us about what you are doing you and your team are doing on the ground.

SORTOR: So, obviously, still using airboats on the river, helicopters at times, depending on there is a lot of helicopter traffic, so we typically

try to leave that for, you know, coast guard Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Game Wardens that are out here flying around, you

probably hear some helicopters in the background right now.

But, you know, one of the biggest operations that that we're working on have been rejecting these, like the Kerr County sheriff's office, we got

them fully connected. We got their radios reconnected again so they can finally speak on their radios out in the -- out in the county because they

lost some towers and they haven't been able to -- they've been crews out that haven't been able to communicate back with base near each other in the

field.

So, they go out there totally in the dark and luckily, we have solved that issue for them completely today. They no longer have that. They can

communicate back in real time with their phones, radios and computers in the cars.

So, that's helping them a tremendous amount and that's all done just via Starlink, that we that -- we've mounted for them that we brought in. You

know, we've just told space we needed a certain amount of them. They brought them in and (INAUDIBLE).

SOARES: Nick, thank you so much, and your team, for all the work you are doing. Such an important time for so many. Thank you, Nick. Nick Sortor

there, thank you.

And still ahead right here, high stakes talks behind closed doors. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump will meet

soon amid a renewed push for a Gaza ceasefire. We'll bring you the very latest on that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:32:27]

SOARES: Returning now to our top story with a death toll following a flooding in Texas has now risen to 94. The rain that wrenched the area on

Friday was nothing short, really, as you can see. They have torrential multiple locations received entire summers worth of rain in just a single

day.

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz spoke about the devastating impact of the floods earlier today. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CRUZ: Texas is grieving right now. The pain, the shock of what has transpired these last few days has broken the heart of our state. As of

yesterday, the confirmed death toll was 82. And those numbers are continuing to go up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: And that number has continued, unfortunately, to go up now at 94.

I want to go to Chris Warren, who's tracking the looming flood threat.

So, Chris, any positive sign that this water, this rain is stopping anytime soon? Just give us a sense of the forecast here.

CHRIS WARREN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah. For some areas, but it's really just about getting through today and tonight before an extended dry period

comes along. But before that, there's that three out of four there is that risk still for some flash flooding. And with that, the showers and

thunderstorms that we have been watching have been enough to create more flash flooding.

So, what this is this is the green, which is a flash or a flood watch. The red are flash flood warning.

So, watches say conditions are favorable for the development of that type of weather. In this case flooding. The red says flash flooding is happening

or it's about to happen.

And with the ground so wet, it doesn't take a lot of rain to cause that. And here is the rain that we have been seeing. Now, when you look at the

subtleties of this, you can kind of -- kind of stare at it and look for trends.

The less yellow, orange and red we see is good. So if you see a lot of red then it starts to get smaller. That trend would be for weakening. So, we

are getting that way in some areas. Future radar does show that most of the showers and storms in earnest are out of here tonight in the Kerrville

area, some spotty areas.

So very hit and miss. Still a possibility into tomorrow. But we look at what happened to get this amount of rain to get one spot on this map. More

than a foot of rain is extremely impressive and rare, very rare.

And to see widespread areas in the orange and red that 4 to 6, 6 to 10 over several counties here in Texas is really unimaginable. And when that water

falls on dry ground, initially, the ground doesn't absorb it very well because it's so hard, it's kind of like baked earth.

[15:35:05]

There's also a lot of rock in the stream bed. So, there's not a lot of absorption of the water into the ground. So, there's going to be a ton of

runoff.

Now, some of the ingredients that go into this also is the moisture that's available to be rained out. How the rain comes down also makes a big

difference. But with a couple of tropical systems adding a little bit extra juice to what's already a warm and humid environment here in Texas, it

spells disaster. When this set up here over several hours during the overnight hours, all of this rain falling, the Guadalupe River right here

and the north fork and south fork, all of that leading into the river, causing the disaster that we did see.

And a matter of a couple of hours, really very little time. Even if you knew this was coming, very little time to react when you go from about less

than a foot of water in the stream bed to two stories tall worth of water, Isa.

SOARES: Wow, that is quite striking when you put it into perspective like that, just how quickly it all unfolded. Just truly devastating.

Chris, thank you very much indeed.

I want to return now to the Israeli prime ministers visit to Washington. Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump expected to sit down soon for

a private dinner. The White House says ending the Gaza war is an utmost priority for Mr. Trump, as we've heard here on the show. He's expected to

send a special envoy to Qatar later this week to join renewed ceasefire talks.

Israel is keeping up, meantime, deadly strikes in Gaza amid these negotiations. A clinic that was sheltering families in Gaza city was hit.

As you can see, devastating effects on Sunday night there. What we want, we don't know at the moment is, will Trump and Netanyahu announce a Gaza

ceasefire deal?

Well, joining me now is Gideon Levy.

Gideon, good to have you back on the show. Good to see you. Let me pick up with that question then. I think viewers will want to know right now, are

we -- do you see promising signs of a deal this week?

GIDEON LEVY, FORMER ADVISER TO SHIMON PERES: I see promising signs, but we have to be patient because it seems it will not be tonight for sure, not

the declaration. The whole framing, the whole scenery of this meeting is rather bizarre.

I must tell you, there's no one who likes more media than those two gentlemen, Donald Trump and Netanyahu. And all of a sudden, they are

meeting privately. This is more than suspicious, and my suspicion is that they are still things to be solved. And there will be no declaration

tonight.

But I truly believe that by the end of the week, there will be a ceasefire. But not an ending of the war. And that's the core issue.

SOARES: Yeah. And you and I remember you and I, I think it was last week we spoke about this. And, you know, it was interesting because I heard from

Jeremy Diamond, a correspondent, and he was saying, look, they're holding proximity talks, which is a very good sign. But -- and it's a big but there

are major sticking points here.

Prime minister Netanyahu, we're talking about 60-day ceasefire potentially being discussed. What President Trump wants was an end to the war. Talk us

through these major sticking points. And what you think, if anything, Gideon, Prime Minister Netanyahu will be prepared to compromise on.

LEVY: So let me just one small remark is we are moving. You are moving. CNN is moving. The United States is moving now for a few days. The deaths

of 94 innocent people in Texas, that's the daily death toll in Gaza.

In both cases, those are innocent people. In both cases, they are children. Among them. So, just get a proportion what is happening in Gaza whenever

when diplomacy takes its time to find the solution.

Now, what are the sticking points, the sticking points, if you look at it from a distance, are two. Benjamin Netanyahu is not ready to put an end to

the war or to guarantee an end to the war, and Israel is not ready to withdraw from the Gaza Strip without those two elements, there will be no

ending of the war and no agreement.

And I don't know how you bridge over those two points, but maybe Donald Trump will be decisive enough, because it really depends on him if he will

want to see an ending of the war, there will be an ending of the war like there was an ending of the war with Iran. It all depends on one man, Donald

Trump.

SOARES: But there are political calculations if you're Prime Minister Netanyahu and you can -- you can flesh this out for us here, Gideon,

because of course, there are many within his party. The more right-wing voices of his party who do not want to see an end to the war, who want to

see the continue to pursue Hamas in Gaza.

How then, does he balance those two, those two pressures from within his political party, of course, in sustaining the survival of the party in his

own skin, of course, in the game and indeed keeping that relationship with President Trump?

[15:40:14]

LEVY: Within his party, he can do whatever he wants. The Likud is non- existing. It's only him to decide.

The problem is, outside his party, with his partners, in his coalition, and even with them, he will find it easier now than before the war with Iran,

because the war with Iran was a certain turning point in the image and in the power and the popularity of Netanyahu in Israel, not that he can win

the elections right now. Not at all. But he is in a better position, and he might decide that he's going for elections.

Apparently, there will be elections, if not this year or next year. Also, his partners, at least one of them, has no alternative. Bezalel Smotrich.

It's shameful that we have even mentioned his name in an American TV station, international network.

But Bezalel Smotrich, who became world famous, will not be reelected. The polls show that he doesn't have it.

So, by the end of the day, it's really a question of leadership. And before leadership, what Netanyahu wants and nobody knows what he wants. Does he

want to end the war? What is the end game? What is about the day after? What does he plan for Gaza? Who is going to run Gaza?

Now, they have a new idea to establish a humanitarian city in the south of Gaza, namely to take 2.3 million people and to put them in a small piece of

land, as if the Gaza strip was not enough of a cage. The biggest cage in the world. Now, will make the we eliminate the cage into smaller.

And I can't help but asking, is this not a concentration camp? So, what is a concentration camp?

So those are the issues at stake. And really depends on Donald Trump. If he wants to change this reality or not.

SOARES: On that, on the question of leadership that you're mentioning here, Gideon, do you think that President Trump has the political will to

push Prime Minister Netanyahu for a more permanent solution, to put an end to this, despite of all the political pressures in places internally?

Because, of course, you know, he did have the 12-day strikes against Iran. I don't know how domestically, how beneficial that was to Prime Minister

Netanyahu or whether he has more leverage.

Does he have the wind in his sails here following from that? Your thoughts?

LEVY: Likely with Iran, Donald Trump's interest in Gaza is much smaller. Obviously, he's the last one on earth who cares about the people of Gaza,

about the starvation in Gaza. I mean, minorities never interested in human rights, never interested in international law, does not interest him. So,

we can't see it from this perspective.

The only question is, as usual, interest and the interest of Donald Trump should be now to end all the wars as he as he declared he promised, as he

is committed and Gaza is now a main obstacle for any kind of change in the Middle East.

But it must be a radical solution. And not only a ceasefire. How devoted is he? I guess your guess is as good as mine.

I really don't know how -- one thing must be very clear. If Donald Trump will be devoted. The war in Gaza will end within days.

SOARES: Well, he does want the Nobel peace prize. So that is devotion may be enough, right, Gideon? We shall see.

But look, in terms of your question, the fundamental issues, who governs Gaza the day after the war, no one has absolutely touched on that. You

know, given us any thoughts on the question that we've all been asking for some time?

Gideon, as always, always appreciate your insight. Gideon Levy, there.

LEVY: Thank you, Isa, for having me.

SOARES: You're very welcome.

And still to come, a verdict has been reached in Australia's mushroom murder trial. The latest on the case that has captivated the world. That's

just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:47:33]

SOARES: After a ten-week trial on six days of jury deliberation, there is a verdict in Australia's mushroom murder trial. The jury found Erin

Patterson guilty of poisoning her in-laws at a lunch containing poisonous death cap mushrooms.

Our Ivan Watson takes a look at the case that has captivated the country, and indeed the world.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Australian mother of two, Erin Patterson, killed her estranged husband's

parents and his aunt and hospitalized his uncle, all with a meal of beef wellington containing toxic death cap mushrooms. And now, after a ten-week

trial that captivated Australia and the world, a jury has decided she poisoned them on purpose. In July 2023, Patterson hosted four people for

lunch at her home in the Australian town of Leongatha. Don and Gail Patterson, her former in-laws died in the days after.

Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson also died. Heather's husband, Ian Wilkinson, spent weeks in a hospital fighting the poison and survived.

Patterson's estranged husband, Simon, had turned down the invitation. Erin Patterson took herself to the hospital after the meal, but was never as

sick as the others. In court, she said it was because she didn't eat much of the lunch and threw up afterwards because she binged on dessert.

Lunch that day was individually portioned beef wellingtons, steak and mushroom pate wrapped in pastry. Patterson says she flavored the food with

dried mushrooms, which she thought had come from a grocer, but might have collected and dehydrated herself as part of her hobby of picking wild

mushrooms. The dehydrator machine was later found in a dumpster with Patterson's fingerprints and traces of the death caps inside.

Patterson admitted she had disposed of it in a panic and lied to police about ever owning it. The court heard evidence that in the months before

the meal, Patterson may have been in a location where death caps grow. The defense argued the poisoned meal was a terrible accident and that Patterson

had no motive to kill the victims on purpose.

Ultimately, prosecutors were able to convince the jury with their argument that Patterson purposely hunted for death caps and then cooked them with

the intention to kill her children's only grandparents and her ex-husband's aunt and uncle.

[15:50:05]

Ivan Watson, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOARES: I think if I could get my hands --

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOARES: An iconic river in France is opening up for swimming for the first time in over a century. Parisians and tourists are rushing in to take a

plunge in the River Seine after it was cleaned up in time, if you remember, for last year's Olympics.

Our Lynda Kinkade has this story for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LYNDA KINKADE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Swimming is once again making a splash in the River Seine for the first time in more than a

century, residents and tourists can take a dip in the iconic Parisian river at three official sites. The long-polluted waterway underwent a $1.5

billion deep clean for the 2024 Olympics. And so far, the public opening seems to be going swimmingly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's fantastic. It feels like being in a lake. It's wonderful.

KINKADE: For decades, swimming in the Seine was illegal, mainly because of health risks due to water pollution. So, in order to make it ready for

Olympic swimming competitions, the city upgraded its sewerage system, opened new disinfection units and created a huge storage basin to prevent

wastewater from spilling into the river.

It was a milestone for the city when Olympic swimmers competed in the Seine, though some training sessions and events had to be postponed after

water testing showed elevated contaminants on some rainy days. But just like during the Olympics, officials say the water at the public sites will

be tested daily to make sure it's safe to swim.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But honestly, I'm impressed. It's very clean, very organized. We have the lockers. The water doesn't smell or anything. For

me, it's a -- it's a good experience.

KINKADE: And during the sweltering summer months, some people say it will be a welcome break from the hot weather with a view that can't be beat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I find it truly extraordinary and magical. We even took a photo with the friends I came with to keep forever. And at the foot of

the Eiffel Tower, there aren't many places where it's as magical.

KINKADE: The swimming sites will be open for free at scheduled times until the end of August, with officials saying sanitation work will continue and

hopefully more sites will open next year.

Lynda Kinkade CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOARES: Pretty beautiful backdrop. And finally, tonight, three people have been arrested in Pakistan after a pet lion escaped a farmhouse and entered

the city of Lahore.

[15:55:04]

You heard right, a pet lion. It jumped over a wall into an alleyway below. The lion attacked a woman and two children, sending them to the hospital.

Law enforcement has since recaptured the animal and turned it over to wildlife authorities.

Local media report the owner did not have a license to keep the lion, and could face up to seven years in prison if convicted.

And that does it for two hours. A very busy news hour of news. Do stay right here. I'm Isa Soares.

"QUEST MEANS BUSINESS" with Paula Newton is up next. Have a wonderful day. I shall see you tomorrow. Bye-bye.

END

TO ORDER VIDEOTAPES AND TRANSCRIPTS OF CNN INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMMING, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS