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Soon: Trump Addresses the Nation on Iran War; Trump: Absolutely Considering Pulling Out of NATO; Interview with Rep. Gregory Meeks (D- NY); President Trump to Address the Nation on Iran War. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired April 01, 2026 - 20:00   ET

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

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REPORTER (VOICE OVER): ... liftoff, Artemis II, now bound for the moon. Humanity's next great --

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JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: All right, tonight, President Trump addresses the nation on the war with Iran. But he has already been talking about it behind closed doors, likely in different tones than he will use shortly from the White House. This is CNN's special coverage. I'm John Berman.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN'S CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT AND THE ANCHOR OF "THE SOURCE": And I'm Katelyn Collins in Washington. We also have breaking news tonight about the President weighing another potential Cabinet shakeup of someone who is actually just in the Presidential motorcade today. We'll have more details on our new reporting here in just a moment.

But first, on this major speech set to play out just one hour from right now, the President, we are told, is expected to emphasize that two to three-week timeline for ending the war in Iran that he noted just yesterday.

BERMAN: But as we said, he just talked about the speech. I want to play you a moment from his luncheon today with faith leaders. This was not supposed to be a public event, but cameras were rolling and the video was briefly posted on the White House YouTube page before it was taken down.

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DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Tonight, I'm making a little speech at 9:00, and basically, I'm going to tell everybody how great I am, what a great job I've done. What a phenomenal job, what a phenomenal job I've done.

But seriously, if you if you didn't have me, if you had some different type of a President, you wouldn't have Israel. I know your big Israel fans, frankly, Evangelicals like and Christians, just Christians. I think they like Israel more than Jewish people like Israel. If you want to know the truth, it's really true.

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BERMAN: That was President Trump earlier today. CNN has reached out to the White House for comment. The President also said he would prefer to take Iran's oil. But as he put it, people in the country sort of say, just when you're winning so big, just win and come home and I'm okay with that too.

Now, we did not say anything about going beyond the air campaign. Two Marine units and elements of the 82nd Airborne are now in or near the region. Will he say anything tonight about their mission? Will there be an announcement that he wants to leave the NATO alliance, which he said again today? He was strongly considering, we just don't know.

What we do know, though, is remarkable. This will be his first formal live address on the war of the war. And believe it or not, it is not what Americans most want to hear about.

COLLINS: And of course, this comes, John, as there's new CNN polling tonight, in terms of what you mentioned there, what Americans do want to hear about. It actually shows that they are far more concerned with the economy, with jobs, with the cost of living. All of that has been going up because of the war and gas prices we saw today, hitting $4.06 a gallon on average. That's up $0.04 since yesterday, and also nearly $1.10 since this war started.

BERMAN: Yes, and as for the war itself, and enjoys just 34 percent approval, 66 percent of Americans oppose it, 66 percent also disapprove of how the President is handling his role as commander-in- chief, and a similar number, 67 percent more than two thirds do not believe he has a clear plan for handling the Iran situation, meaning the war in Iran, which he launched a little more than a month ago, in which he will talk about in less than an hour from now.

Let's begin, though, with what we're learning about this address itself. In less than an hour. Kaitlan, I understand you've got some new details about what we can expect.

COLLINS: Yes, John, the White House is doing something they don't often do, which is giving us a bit of a preview of what the President is expected to say tonight. And one thing they drove home, which is that the President yesterday when he was speaking to reporters about this war, going two or three more weeks, which would extend it beyond the deadline that he initially laid out of four to six weeks, which is about the period were hitting right now.

We'll hit the six-week mark next week. Is that that was not a slip up. That wasn't a one-off when he said that yesterday. That is actually the emphasis and the timeline that they are now looking at when it comes to this war. And so that's something he's going to repeat tonight we are told when he's addressing the nation.

But John, I think what also stands out about this speech tonight is it is the first time the President has formally addressed the nation on why this war is happening and why he believes it is a worthwhile war, that he launched, obviously, just about a month ago. He hasn't actually taken the time to deliver an Oval Office address or this formal address from the White House.

He's spoken about it at length, of course, and almost every event that he has, including in that lunch today with faith leaders on Easter and other events that I've been to White House and Memphis when we've been traveling with him on the road, he brings up the Iran War almost in every conversation that he has to provide an update, which he'll do so tonight, operationally, in terms of what he believes the U.S. has achieved so far.

[20:05:32]

And so, we'll see him lay this out tonight. I think, John, it also is an acknowledgment of the numbers that we just talked about. One, gas prices, something that no American can ignore when they're going and filling their car up. And so, the White House wants to make the case to the American people who are paying more for gas, that they know what's going on. They believe those prices will come down when this war ends. And they want to address that as saying, there's a reason that this is all happening.

And so, that's the question is whether or not he can convince the skeptical public of why this is happening and this new timeline that is going to go on not a ton longer, but a bit longer than he initially had laid out.

BERMAN: Yes, according to the polls, the war is getting less popular, not more popular now. Now, Kaitlan, we said it quickly in passing, but it's a pretty major development. The President is considering a Cabinet shakeup. What are you learning on this front?

COLLINS: Yes, this is some reporting that we're doing tonight with my colleagues Alayna Treene and Kristen Holmes. We have confirmed from multiple sources, John, that the President has been talking privately recently about replacing the Attorney General, Pam Bondi, firing her from her role running the Justice Department, and actually instead putting the EPA Administrator, Lee Zeldin, in that position.

Now, it's not confirmed yet that he is going to oust her. We have not gotten reporting that he's made a final decision on this. You can see this is her today as she was getting in the motorcade, actually, with the President to go with him to the Supreme Court to listen to those hearings on birthright citizenship. But the President's attitude on her job for the last several months really has been quite sour. And a lot of it has to do with the backlash over the handling of the Epstein investigation.

The President doesn't like the headlines are getting they don't like the negative response they're getting even from Republicans from their base and folks on Capitol Hill and also, John, ahead of this two-week deadline, where Pam Bondi is supposed to go and testify on Capitol Hill because they subpoenaed her, including Republicans on that committee, the House Oversight Committee.

And so, the White House has been eyeing that deadline. It's April 14th, I believe that she's set to go and testify as a as a date. And this is something the President had been talking about back in January. It appeared to subside a bit, John, and then now, has kind of resurrected itself where this is a conversation we started hearing from sources was really heating up in the West Wing on Monday.

But one thing that, you know, I've talked to people, it's not even clear to them if this is actually going to happen. The President talks a lot about this. It's not clear if he'll follow through on it and he did issue a statement tonight calling Pam Bondi a wonderful person and saying that she's doing a good job. And so, we'll see if that shakes out here.

He also similarly stood by Kristi Noem until he didn't, John. And so, we'll have to wait and see what the President himself ultimately decides when it comes to Pam Bondi running the Justice Department.

BERMAN: Stood by Noem until he didn't. Obviously, this bears watching. We will continue to watch it throughout the night with all the other major news. Kaitlan, stand by for just a moment.

I want to bring in now, CNN global affairs analyst, Karim Sadjadpour, former jag lawyer and combat veteran, Margaret Donovan and CNN military analyst, Colonel Cedric Leighton. He's also a former member of the joint chiefs.

And I want to talk about what we might hear from the President, because he's already been giving some hints about how he will say the United States has achieved the goals it set out to at the beginning of this war.

And one of his goals has been he has said for a long time to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. But, colonel, today, he told Reuters that the enriched uranium which is inside Iran and was before the war is still inside Iran, as it was before the war. He just says that so far underground, I don't care about that. That's what he told Reuters. And he said the U.S. will always be watching it by satellite.

So, if it was there before and it's still there now, what's changed in terms of Iran's nuclear capabilities?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: John, not a thing. And that's the problem. You see, when you go to into war and you have war aims, you should at least try to fulfill those. But in this particular case, it seems like the war aim of watching the Iranian nuclear developments and specifically the enriched uranium that could have been done without any conflict at all. And so, that's what's really interesting about this.

It seems in some ways, John, as if the goalposts have shifted a bit in terms of the President's reasoning when it comes to this kind of thing. But the problem is that you have, you know, you've deployed a lot of forces that cost a lot of money. You've put people in harms' way and most importantly, people have died as a result of these deployments and that is a real problem.

That's not even speaking about the people in Iran who have been killed during this excursion, as he calls it. So, there are some real serious issues with this. And when you have war aims that aren't clearly defined and you are basically going back to the status quo ante, the stuff that happened before you got into conflict, you're not advancing anything anywhere.

BERMAN: The uranium, enriched uranium still there.

LEIGHTON: Correct.

BERMAN: Margaret, if, as Kaitlan is reporting, the President basically says today, you know, I was serious when I said there's two to three weeks left in this war. What does that do to those two to three weeks when you announce you're going to end something in three weeks, what does that mean for the nature of the effort?

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MARGARET DONOVAN, FORMER JAG LAWYER AND COMBAT VETERAN: Yes, I mean, I think we have a saying in the military, it's called "train to standard and not to time". And that's a way of saying that you should be really training and planning to end a mission. Once you've reached the objective, you shouldn't just be picking an arbitrary date. So, I think that leaving in two to three weeks, no matter what the objective is, right? Whether it's securing the enriched uranium, whether it's securing the Strait of Hormuz, whether it's ensuring that Iran can't obtain a nuclear weapon. I think that's very aspirational to the point of unrealistic, that it could be done in two to three weeks.

BERMAN: Karim, yesterday, the President flat out said that he didn't need a deal with Iran. It's something he'd been talking about for some time, that a deal was more and more possible. He was talking to more reasonable people inside Iran. The Iranians continue to deny that. What is the possibility? How necessary is a deal and what's the Iranian vote here?

KARIM SADJADPOUR, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: I think, John, that the Iranians are right now feeling very confident that they are, they have the global economy hostage. And the key poll numbers, American public support for the war price of oil. Those are trending in their direction and there is a danger that they want to normalize and formalize their control over the Strait of Hormuz. To say, this is our Panama Canal and this is going to be the new normal. I don't think the President can simply declare victory and exit so long as the Islamic Republic of Iran is controlling this key global artery.

BERMAN: We'll see what he says about the strait, because he has been saying the United States could end this with Iran still basically in control of the strait. Again, thank you all for being here. We are standing by to see the exact language the President uses.

Next, two live reports from the war zone. Also, we're going to wait to hear from the President as we do. Perspective from the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, what he is looking to hear tonight. That is our special AC360 coverage continues.

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COLLINS: You're listening to air raid sirens today in Israel, as people were scrambling for shelter and Haifa. More than a month into this war, what you're clearly seeing with those sirens is that Iran is still capable of lashing out, even if their supply of missiles and drones has been degraded, as the President has noted multiple times, as we wait for his address to the nation, the first formal one since this war started, that's going to happen at the top of the hour.

My colleague, Jim Sciutto is in Tel Aviv. Matthew Chance is in Qatar.

Jim Sciutto, to you, I mean, obviously, we've seen Israel and their alignment with the United States in this war and the priorities that aren't necessarily aligned with the United States. And one big question, as tonight, the President is going to be laying out that two to three week-timeline is whether or not that's a timeline Israel also agrees with.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN, CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Kaitlan, Israel is going to be hearing for answers from the President to goals still unmet by this world war. First of all, Iran's nuclear program. I've spoken to multiple Israeli officials who say they will not consider the war one until Iran's nuclear program is truly taken care of and that means controlling those 400 kilograms of highly enriched uranium. The President claims, and has claimed that it's taken care of. That is not the Israeli view.

Second, the ballistic missiles. Today, Kaitlan was the busiest, one of the busiest days for air raid warnings in Tel Aviv since the start of the war. We went into the shelter more than a dozen times, multiple explosions over the city. Some of those missiles, some of the munitions get through. They cause casualties on the ground. Israel will want to know, will that program be taken care of and how the President will describe the continuing threat That lays out this possibility going forward. And that is that even if there is a ceasefire declared or reached or the President declares victory, that Israel will retain the right, in its view, to go back and attack Iran again.

Nuclear facilities, missile facilities to protect itself, much like we've seen in Lebanon, even after a cease fire was met there, Israel today continues to attack Lebanon. So, a cease fire may not lead to lasting peace in this region -- Kaitlan.

COLLINS: No, it's a good point. And obviously, one, Israel will be watching very closely tonight. Jim Sciutto on the ground, stay safe for us and well check back in with you. Also, in Doha tonight is where my colleague, Matthew Chance is and Matthew, obviously, we've seen how the Gulf nations have been affected heavily by this war. What are those leaders hoping to hear from the President in this address?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN, CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, you're right, Kaitlan. The economic impact of the Iran war on these Gulf Arab States has been absolutely catastrophic. These are energy producing countries. They're highly dependent on their oil and gas exports. And they've seen that trade because of the blocking of the strait of Hormuz, that strategic waterway through the Persian Gulf, absolutely decimated, dropped from billions of dollars a day in revenue, to virtually zero in some instances.

And so, these states, these countries on the Persian Gulf desperately want to see this conflict come to an end, come to a conclusion.

Now, there's a difference of opinion within the Gulf Arab States about how best to get there, should there be an end to the conflict right now, and to sort of tidy up the mess as best as possible? Or should the United States press ahead and try and make sure that Iran doesn't pose a threat like this in the future? Because remember, Iran has been firing missiles and drones at vulnerable energy infrastructure installations across this region for more than a month now, causing damage, sending shockwaves through the international markets.

[20:20:43]

The big concern, though, right now and an indication of just how much confusion, there is an unpredictability, there is with this White House officials that I've spoken to in the area have no idea whether tonight President Trump is going to announce an end to the war, an escalation in the war or some other sort of idea that's going to be put out there. So, a great deal of apprehension tonight ahead of President Trump's address to the nation.

COLLINS: Yes, only the White House really knows. Matthew Chance, we'll be listening closely. Thank you for that -- John.

BERMAN: All right, I'm joined now by Congressman Gregory Meeks, a Democrat from New York, the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Congressman, I know we don't know for sure because only the President knows at this point. But why do you think he's choosing to address the nation only tonight, after all this time?

REP. GREGORY MEEKS (D-NY): Well, I think we'll find out. I think that he's at his wits end with what to do, quite frankly, I think he's over his head in this war of choice that he's made. Many of the things he's said is not true. And so, I hope he tells the American people the truth. We've been asking for that for a long period of time.

We need to know where we're going to go from here. We need to know how he's going to end the war. And we also need to know how is he going to fix the disruptions that he has made by his war of choice in the region and around the world. We are less safe now. He's talking about pulling out of NATO which would be disastrous. You know, you talk about our National Security, it is because we can talk to one another. Fact of the matter, John, what I'm really worried about is that we may have to -- he may have to get a deal, and that deal will be worse than what the JCPOA was.

I thought the JCPOA was an agreement where we knew about Iran's nuclear capabilities. Now, we don't know and there still will be in the ground, 13 lives were lost, billions of dollars were not spent. How much is this going to cost?

So, all of those things, it just seems as though it is terrible. He ripped up the JCPOA and so, it is dangerous what he, where he's going. So, I'm interested to hearing also, I hope he tells the truth.

BERMAN: He talked about the uranium with Reuters today. He said that, you know, he said that, the enrich uranium 400 kilograms, as far as we know, is buried deep into the ground. He says it's so far underground. I don't care about that. If it's still buried in Isfahan, is it a threat?

MEEKS: Yes, it is a threat. I mean, look, it's still there. And what I hear him saying, again, that they will not be able to have a nuclear weapon for ten years? Say, if that's correct, 10 or 15 years. The JCPOA, without doing all this, what people were talking about was that it's sunsetted in 10 or 15 years, and then they would be able to get one.

The removal of sanctions on Iran, where they now have billions of additional dollars, much more money than what President Obama released when he had a deal. And when we had others with us. We had Russia, we had China, we had the NATO allies.

BERMAN: Would you like to see us negotiate? Would you like to see the United States negotiate with Iran right now, diplomacy?

MEEKS: I think that's the only way out. You're not going to be able to bomb your way out of this. You know, I think that it was too simplistic to think. And I think that that's what he thought. I think, quite frankly, that's what Prime Minister Netanyahu thought that they would get all of the Iranian officials, the Ayatollah, et cetera., bomb them, and then it's all over.

I mean, we tried to tell him and he was warned that Iran was not Venezuela. And I think that got into his head. But Iran, 90 million people, much more complicated as we see. They still have weapons that they're utilizing. They are hurting our friends in the Gulf who were good to us to allow us to put bases and other things on their territory, which is destroying their economy. And then gas prices at home, soaring food prices, soaring, health care soaring. And this President is doing nothing about it.

BERMAN: We will stand by, obviously, to hear what he has to say tonight on all this. Congressman Gregory Meeks, thank you so much for being with us, appreciate it. As we wait to hear from the President, we're going to check in with our White House correspondent, Alayna Treene, who has new reporting about what to expect when we come back.

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BERMAN: Right, that's a live look at the White House. In just about 30 minutes, President Trump will address the nation on the Iran war. He is expected to reiterate his intention to end the war within the next three weeks. CNN's Alayna Treene is there with a preview of what we can expect. What are you hearing?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, look, I think a lot of this, you know, I've gotten many questions from people in the last 24 hours about whether or not this would be some major announcement from all indications. Of course, it's unclear if there will be one, but all indications I'm getting from my conversations with people in the White House is that essentially the President is going to declare what we've heard him say repeatedly now in recent days.

Try to make clear to many Americans who this White House recognizes are losing patience with this war to make clear that it's going to end soon, that he expects to wind it down in the next two or three weeks, which would actually bring us a little bit longer beyond that four-to- six-week timeline they laid out at the start of this war but then also try to sell the public on why he believes that the military operations have been successful and why he believes this war matters.

This is really a big moment for the President, really, the first time he's substantially addressing the nation in this way since this war broke out, to try and keep them on side while this is all happening at a time when we know many people are very wary. We have new CNN polling today showing this, that many people are wary about this war, about the long-term impacts. And of course, the spike in gas prices were seeing here in the States.

[20:30:46]

We also heard the president, John, talk a little bit about this today at an Easter brunch he had. I should note that this video was posted to the White House's YouTube page, later taken down, but then shared widely by a reporter. And essentially he said, tonight, I'm making a little speech at nine o'clock, basically I'm going to tell everybody how great I am. That's me quoting the president there.

But then he went on to say, seriously, if you didn't have me, you'd have a different president and Israel would be gone. I think that's kind of in keeping with what we should expect the rhetoric to be from him tonight.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT & ANCHOR: Yeah, Alayna Treene at the White House. We'll check back in with you. And speaking of Israel's view of this, I should note, we just heard from Jim Sciutto on the ground. Our crew in Israel says that right now air raid sirens are going off again in Tel Aviv. Obviously, we're monitoring that closely as the president is set to address the nation in just half an hour from now.

Joining us now is New York Times White House and National Security Correspondent, David Sanger; our CNN Global Affairs Analyst, Brett McGurk, who I should note has held national security post under the last four presidents, including President Trump; also our commentators here, CNN Political Commentator and Democratic Consultant, Karen Finney; and our Republican Strategist, Brad Todd, who is also a CNN Political Commentator.

And David Sanger, obviously, a big question that basically everyone has asked tonight is why is the president making this speech now? Because he chose not to do so at the beginning of the war. Now they're floating a longer timeline. What have you been hearing from inside the administration?

DAVID SANGER, WHITE HOUSE & NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT, NEW YORK TIMES: Well, Kaitlan, first, the time to give this speech would have been at the start, right? And to lay out the reasons he's doing it. Instead, he released a video at that time and he laid out a series of things he wanted to accomplish, some of which he's backed away from in the following weeks.

But here's his problem. He wants to end the war in the next two to three weeks, as we just heard from Alayna. That doesn't mean the war will be over in the next two or three weeks. It just means he may have pulled back. If he pulls back and the Strait of Hormuz is still closed down, if the Iranians still have the same nuclear material, near-bomb- grade that they had at beginning of the war, and if the regime is more solidly in place, as they look like they are increasingly, then people are going to reasonably ask the question, what has he accomplished here?

And that's really his burden today. It's not to give us a list of how many things they blew up. It's how many of the goals he set out have been achieved.

COLLINS: Brett, what are you going to be listening for?

BRETT MCGURK, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: I think I agree with David, this should have been done early on. I think giving an address from the Resolute Desk is very important for the American people in war and peace. But what makes addresses like this difficult, and I felt prepared for some of them, are all the multiple audience.

Obviously, you're speaking to the American people. You're speaking to military personnel and their families. You're speaking to our allies, particularly the Middle East, who have been under fire. You're speaking to the Israelis. First night of Passover, they'll all be watching. And you're to the Iranians. And so to get all that right is very hard. I think you have to be very clear and be very careful.

This is where presidents get themselves in trouble in a war and peace- like address. It's a credibility gap. And if the president says everything is going great, and we're going to wrap this up in a couple of weeks, and then, as David said, I mean, many actors here have a vote, including the Iranians.

I think we are in a difficult situation. He can make a case that some things have gone very well, but it's hard to put a time frame on it. And if you say everything is going fine, here's what we're going to be, and it doesn't work out that way, you start to lose credibility. And I think that's how presidents can actually get themselves in some trouble.

So I would just be honest, tell it straight. Some things are going well. Some things have not gone as well. And here's what we hope to see over the next few weeks.

COLLINS: Well, and Karen, Alayna mentioned that video that was posted today by the White House and then taken down. It was an event that the press was not actually in for this event, but the White House had recorded it. And the president was talking to J.D. Vance, who has taken on a newly prominent role with all of this, and he said this to him.

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DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: He's doing a great job, and he's working on the deal, right? How's that moving? Is it OK? The big deal?

J.D. VANCE, (R) VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: (Inaudible).

TRUMP: You see it happening?

VANCE: (Inaudible) brief you too.

TRUMP: So if it doesn't happen, I'm blaming J.D. Vance.

(LAUGH)

TRUMP: If it does happen, I'm taking full credit.

(LAUGH)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: He does still sound hopeful that they can reach a peace agreement here.

[20:35:00]

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR & DEMOCRATIC CONSULTANT: Well, but the problem is he's been all over the map, as these two were just saying, since the beginning. And he never really set the frame from the beginning. Look, the other danger for the president here is, I would say, there's at least a 50/50 chance he does not stay on prompter, because he is not -- even though his team has really worked hard to get this time from the networks during primetime on a Wednesday night, he should recognize the stakes are very high.

I took a look at what some of the searches are, top things Americans have been searching in the last few days, Iran war updates, gas prices, oil prices, draft risk. So that, to my mind, in conjunction with what we're seeing in our own polls, is part of why right now. They recognize that it's not working. The rhetoric isn't working. People are not buying what the president is selling.

They're not necessarily being reassured or hearing from Republican leadership anything to make them feel more comfortable. And we know this country is already in pretty intense economic anxiety, and this war is only adding to that. And he's never even said, call us to action and say, here's why I'm doing this, and we're going to have to make a little bit of sacrifice. I think Americans would have actually appreciated that.

Instead, we keep getting obfuscations and -- you know, what is he saying? Like, I don't care about the nuclear material. I mean, this -- I thought that was the whole reason we were going. So you know, the task tonight -- it would be great if he would be honest, and it would be great if he would acknowledge successes and failures, but I just don't think we're going to hear that.

COLLINS: Brad, what do the Republicans listening tonight, the president's base, what do they want to hear?

BRAD TODD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR & REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, I think they want to hear that every line of effort that was in this war plan is proceeding ahead of schedule or on schedule, and I think that's what the president is going to tell us. You know, they're also going to want to hear the president put this in terms of historic measures. You know, it is a little unconventional that he didn't give that speech Brett's talking about early on in the campaign.

A more conventional president would have. But a more conventional president would have never done this, and he's -- and I'm glad he's unconventional in this way. I'm glad that he's done what seven presidents didn't do. He has spared the world the horrors of what Iran wants to project on its enemies abroad and on neutral countries.

You know, just this weekend, the French Interior Ministry says that there was a foil bomb plot at a bank, and they linked that back to Iran. Iran wants the end of the West. They have vowed it. They are working on it every day, and the president has degraded their ability to do it. And I hope he puts it in that context.

COLLINS: Yeah. We'll be listening to that very closely. Everyone's going to stay with me, all of our experts here and reporters. As we're watching this speech, as the president is finalizing it right now, we're going to hear from him at the top of the hour tonight, more in just a moment as our special live coverage continues.

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[20:41:53] JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST OF "ANDERSON COOPER 360": Less than 20 minutes away now, from President Trump's primetime address to the nation on the war in Iran, his first live primetime address of the war on the war. A new CNN poll shows a clear majority of Americans disapprove of this military action. And that disapproval is growing.

We're joined now by Adam Kinzinger, former Republican Congressman from Illinois and retired Lieutenant Colonel in the Air National Guard. Here also Van Jones, former Special Adviser to President Obama and former Trump Campaign Adviser, David Urban.

And Van, let me just start with you. Why do you think the president is doing this now, a month into this?

VAN JONES, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, because he's lost control of the narrative. He's lost control of his party. He's lost control of the independents that gave him a chance. And he's lost control of the situation on the ground. And so tonight, he's got a big job. Because he's got to reassure the world that he has some idea what he's doing here.

And I remember, after 9/11, when George W. Bush came out and addressed the public and explained who al-Qaeda was, he explained what they had done and what he was going to do about it. There's been no such speech from this president of any substance to let people understand.

Listen, this is the right enemy. I mean, the Islamic Republic of Iran is the right enemy. It's chanting 'Death to America' every day. But this is not the right strategy either militarily or from a political point of view yet. And he's got to turn it around.

BERMAN: The messaging he has been delivering, David, has been two to three more weeks in this conflict. If that is what he reiterates tonight, and our reporting is that is what he will say, is that enough to assuage the public here? Because the approval for the war is dwindling, just 34 percent and sinking.

DAVID URBAN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR & REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Yeah, John, you know, I see those numbers and I shake my head. I wish the president, somebody in the earlier segment, I think it was McGurk mentioned, that he wished the president would have given this address at the beginning of this endeavor.

I think that Van points out correctly, I wish the president would have laid out the things that he's been doing and this administration has been doing, and our brave men and women in uniform have been undertaking on a daily basis in denigrating this regime's ability to spread terror amongst its neighbors or even internally. They've been incredibly successful.

And I wish he would have laid that out and said, here are the things we're going to achieve. We're going to wipe out their missile ability. We're going to sink their navy. We're going to keep -- we're going to, you know, top, we're going to decapitate the regime. We're going to do these things and then we'll see how it goes. If he would have laid that out at the beginning, I think the numbers would be different than they are today. I think that we are in a better place we are today than we would have been if no action would have been taken. I think the alternative, John, of waiting for the Iranian, the IRGC or one of its proxies to do something bad, I don't know what bad would be, but, you know, worse than we've seen before and on the homeland or amongst some of our allies, it's just untenable.

So waiting is not an option in this case. And I think that the administration has done a good job to date of doing something that hasn't been done for 47 years and seven presidents.

[20:45:00]

BERMAN: So congressman, if it does end in two to three weeks, and the Strait of Hormuz is all but closed still, and the president has indicated at times that he's willing to end this war without the Strait being open, how problematic would that be?

ADAM KINZINGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR & FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE, (R-IL): I think it's hugely problematic and I think tonight, hopefully he says nothing about NATO because I'm worried that he's going to, you know, go after NATO and that's really bad and dangerous. But like, the problem is if the Strait is closed and we cease operations and go home, and Iran has not indicated that they will reopen the Strait, and I think people need to keep in mind, it's not like there's a gate out in the Strait.

It's just as long as Iran shows the intention of striking in the Strait, then you have insurance issues and that basically shuts it down by default. But if we leave and it's not reopened, I think that's when you potentially see oil go to $200 a barrel because, right now, what's being priced in is the U.S. is working to reopen the Strait and so that is in some of this future pricing.

And so I think, I agree with everybody, hundred percent. He should have done this on day one. It's not his military, by the way. This is the American people's military and we have a right to know why it's being used and he can help assuage some of that tonight, maybe, but ultimately, I think he's going to be judged by the outcome now.

BERMAN: Van, the president has not given an address on this subject in primetime. However, he talks a lot. I mean, several times a day to a lot of different reporters. How would you assess how he has communicated about the war and the things that he has said? And sometimes they're in direct contradiction. I mean, yesterday he flat out said the Strait didn't need to be open. Today, he said we can't have a ceasefire until the Strait is open.

JONES: Well, I mean, he seems to be negotiating with himself, which is the worst thing you can do and floating all kinds of different trial balloons on Truth Social, on Air Force One. It's really not in the tradition of a commander-in-chief of the United States to conduct himself in this way. This is a very serious war. This is a very serious enemy. They have capabilities and intentions that are murderous toward Americans and toward the West. They have been waging a gray war, an information war. They've engaged in cyber war. They have killed Americans and they intend to continue doing so.

When you have a grave and growing threat like that, there's a way to talk about that, that gets people's attention. He's doing the opposite. Tonight is a chance for him to turn the page on that and get serious about a very serious threat and a very serious war.

BERMAN: David, Van calls this a very serious threat.

URBAN: Yeah.

BERMAN: Part of that serious threat is in enriched uranium, 400 kilograms that seems to still be buried under Isfahan. That was a stated goal of this mission from the very beginning, to destroy Iran's nuclear capabilities. But now, on the subject of mixed messaging, the president tells Reuters that he doesn't need to get the enriched uranium buried in Isfahan, that it can be left there, buried deep underground, and we can just keep watching it by satellite. Is that satisfactory to you?

URBAN: Well, you know, John, it may have to be the satisfactory answer that we all accept, because unless Americans -- listen, we're four, six weeks into this thing. Americans don't have the stomach for it, right? We as the people have no national will to continue on this. And so, to enable us to go get that, to get it from 1,500 meters below the earth, would require an incredible amount of boots on the ground, you know, fighting its way through, you know, a very fortified area to go get this.

And Americans aren't willing to sacrifice that, and so that might have to be the answer here, John. And the answer may be we continue to pound this regime over and over and over until they give up, until they don't give up. But we don't know who's in charge, John. That's the other problem, right? Who are we negotiating with? We haven't seen a leader come out and speak to the media on behalf of the, you know, the current Iranian regime.

So question is, even who we're negotiating with. But, you know, to Congressman Kinzinger's point earlier, it's not whether you control the Straits militarily. I mean, we've been -- the military victories here have been piling up one on top of the other, but all it takes is one infantryman with a rocket on the side. This is 13 miles. The navigable straits there are two miles wide, 26 miles from one point to the other point.

You could stand on the beach with binoculars and see a very large crude carrier and shoot a shoulder-fired missile at it. So you don't have to be the most technologically advanced people to close the Straits or threaten a billion-dollar oil tanker. And that's why this is not going to continue on.

And so, you know, there's a lot to unpack here. We can't do it alone. And I don't think Congressman Kinzinger has anything to worry about.

[20:50:00]

You know, the president can't take us out of NATO. He's probably going to talk a little bit of smack about our NATO allies not sending minesweepers, but the president can't unilaterally take us out of NATO, so everyone needs to exhale on that point.

BERMAN: Let me, I will ask the Congressman, (inaudible) one point I want to make on the Strait of Hormuz is that it wasn't closed before the war. People weren't shooting, you know, the drones and missiles from the shores there and keeping it closed. It is a new thing since the United States and Israeli war effort on Iran, so obviously that is something that is developing and may continue to develop.

Congressman, on the point of NATO, how important is the alliance? What is the impact of the president going after the NATO alliance as we expect he will tonight? He's called them a paper tiger over the last few days.

KINZINGER: Yeah, it's essential. I mean, it's essential for preventing war in Europe. At a time when we're asking Europeans, and this is not a bad ask, we're asking Europeans to take more assurance of their own defense, to build up their arms. They have a massive war raging on the European continent. At the same time, we're taking away, in theory, Article 5, and I want to address that very quickly in a second, and then asking them now to contribute to a war that they didn't agree to or were even advised on.

It's tough to get them to see that when they have a massive war raging on their shores, basically, right there on the continent. The thing on Article 5, yes, the president can't legally take us out of NATO, but all he has to do is announce that he is out of NATO, or he does not intend to follow Article 5, and then NATO exists only in paper, and then it is a paper tiger. And let's just keep in mind, Kosovo, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Libya, anti-piracy operations, all of those have been NATO operations, so it's not like we haven't gotten anything out of it. We really have. But they do need to contribute more to their own defense. I fully agree on that.

BERMAN: All right. Congressman Kinzinger, Van Jones, David Urban, don't go far. Stand by. Obviously, we're all watching this very, very closely. In the meantime, let's go back to Kaitlan.

COLLINS: Yeah. We will hear from the president in about 10 minutes, less than 10 minutes from now, when he's expected to walk out of the White House and deliver this address that we are told he's been putting the final touches on today, as he's set to have his first formal address since this war started. And Brad, obviously, when we have heard about this, a huge audience for this will be a domestic audience, not just to the president's base, but also really anyone who's going to be going to the polls in November ahead of the midterm elections, which the White House is already watching.

They thought low gas prices was one of the best things they had going for them before this war started. And something that the president said today during those remarks, again, he did not believe the media was there. It was just a White House camera. And this video was accidentally put up on YouTube. Something that he said about spending here in the United States stood out to me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We're already substantially ahead of our time projections. We have, right from the beginning, we projected four to five weeks.

A couple of weeks, and it won't be much longer. It's moving along fast. We're way ahead of schedule.

We are, I would say, we are substantially ahead of schedule. And I had to do this. I call it an excursion.

We estimated it would take approximately four to six weeks to achieve our mission. And we're way ahead of schedule.

I guess we're two weeks ahead of schedule.

We're ahead of schedule with Iran. And we're weeks ahead of schedule.

I would say that within two weeks, maybe, two weeks, maybe three. I think we're two or three weeks, yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Three weeks (inaudible).

TRUMP: We'll leave.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: That's what the president has said about the timing of this war. As you're going to listen to him tonight talk about two to three more weeks, it's good to keep that in mind. Here's what he said today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We can't take care of daycare. We're a big country. We have 50 states. We have all these other people. We're fighting wars. We can't take care of daycare. You got to let the state take care of daycare and they should pay for it, too. They should pay. They have to raise their taxes. But they should pay for it. And we could lower our taxes a little bit to them to make up for it.

But it's not possible for us to take care of daycare. Medicaid, Medicare, all these individual things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: I do wonder how voters hear that when the president is saying, well, in the United States, we can't take care of this, but we're fighting all these wars. I mean, when they ask about why the United States is at war in Iran.

TODD: Well, among the Republican coalition, the cost of war is not measured in dollars. It's measured in weakness and strength. I don't think the president and his coalition, he's going to have a problem with the cost of this war. There will be a few green eyeshade (ph) people like Rand Paul talk about it, but not the bulk of his voters.

And I think the task for the president is to get to strength. Strength is his superpower. Chaos is his kryptonite. He has to tonight refocus the objective of this war to strength. He has to convey that he has a plan and that he has achieved his objectives and we're going to achieve the last ones on the table. If he does that successfully, then he's going to turn the war from a problem politically to an asset for Republicans. And I think that's what Republican Senate candidates and House candidates want to see.

[20:55:00]

FINNEY: I certainly think one of the other costs, though, always is love and treasure. It is lives. I mean, we've already seen Americans who have lost their lives. We've already seen Americans who have been injured. And, you know, if you're a member of a military family, that is a high price to pay, is the ultimate price, obviously.

But it's not comforting to hear the president, again, there's so much economic anxiety already in the system. Earlier this week, we heard reports that Republicans were considering more cuts to Medicaid to help to pay for this war. That is not what you want people hearing, just pure politics.

You don't want people thinking about that heading to the polls, when they're already seeing higher gas prices, higher grocery prices. I have family members who are already living with the current Medicaid cuts from the big ugly bill, and I can tell you, they're not able to make ends meet.

COLLINS: Well, and also, I mean, one thing to listen for tonight is, as the president is speaking, there are a ton of U.S. forces in the region. We have seen this deployment building up and building up. I mean, one thing to Karen's point about, you know, American lives being in harm's way is, does the president mention boots on the ground tonight?

MCGURK: Well, first, you're speaking to the military families, you're speaking to the personnel. But in building off something that both Karen and Brad said, I think Brad made a good point. I think the president should demonstrate why this is necessary in reminding the American people about Iran, and he can make a very strong case there. But then you have to be the leader and say, this is where we're going.

And this gets to your point, Kaitlan. We have a lot of military forces being deployed, a lot. And so what is, he is not going to lay out the plan, but he might have to -- I hope he says and leaves options open, that we are prepared to accomplish the following objectives. I can't promise exactly how long it's going to take, but we are going to do what it takes to get this done, because this is why it's so important.

And I think leaving open the possibility that we might see ground operation in the Strait or somewhere else, I don't know, but we're clearly providing the forces to do it. And that might be where -- now, if that happens, the American people have to have heard why it's important, why we're risking blood and treasure. I mean, that's a hugely high-risk operation.

I mean, I'm very concerned about that course of action. But it's incumbent upon the commander-in-chief to lay out why he's deployed these forces and what they might be prepared to do.

SANGER: There are three major ground operations the president has been considering. Two of them would require significant forces on the ground that stayed there. Kharg Island, which is where the Iranians moved their oil onto, it's about 15 miles into the Gulf. If he could take it, there are not many defenses around it, but holding it would be quite a nightmare.

If he decides to reopen the Strait, he's going to have to have forces who are all around that area. And if he decides to go for the uranium, the biggest and hardest of these missions, they wouldn't stay there that long, but boy, that could be quite a fight going in. And so far, the casualties, while tragic, have been relatively light.

COLLINS: Yeah. And it's not clear what option he's pursuing yet. We know that he has all of these at his availability.

SANGER: Yeah.

COLLINS: We'll see if he mentions them tonight. Obviously, we're all going to be watching this speech incredibly closely. You've heard what we're going to be listening for as the president addresses the nation in just a few moments.

And we are minutes away from President Trump's first primetime address to the nation since he launched this war against Iran 33 days ago. We're told the president will focus on his endgame and reiterate his new timeline to wrap up this war within the next two to three weeks.

Questions still remain about how the president plans to do that, as thousands more U.S. troops are arriving in the Middle East, and in case he changes his mind as those options are still there before him. I want to go straight to our -- my colleague, Alayna Treene, who's at the White House.

And obviously, Alayna, the president's been putting the final touches on this speech today. He's coming out. It's expected to be a speech that is largely delivered off the teleprompter, though, with this president, that doesn't always mean that that will be the case. What have you been hearing from officials tonight?

TREENE: Yeah. And to your point, Kaitlan, it's also expected to be quite short with these types of speeches. You know, unlike his different rally speeches, he's expected to stick to the 20 minutes or so that he is given. So we're going to have to see whether he does actually follow suit there. But look, I think so much about tonight is really the message that he needs to deliver to the American people.

This speech is more than anything about trying to sell them on this war. He's seeing, as are his advisers, they are showing him the same type of polling that we've been seeing in recent days, just about how many Americans are losing patience with this war. And so that's really part of this.

In addition to him laying out this timeline which is, of course, very key to keeping Americans on side, you know, convincing them that this is not going to be a forever war, a protracted military engagement, it's also --