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CNN's The Arena with Kasie Hunt

Now: U.S. Searching For Crew Member After F-15E Downed In Iran; Trump Says Downing Of U.S. Jet Will Not Affect Iran Talks; Time: Susie Wiles Concerned Aides Are Giving Trump A Rose-Colored View Of How Iran War Is Being Perceived; Exclusive: Alito Taken To Hospital Last Month After Becoming Ill. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired April 03, 2026 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:01]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Well, Jonathan has seen a lot in those 193 years.

To put into context, back in 1832, there were 24 states. Andrew Jackson was president. The city of Buffalo, New York, was incorporated.

He's old. Yeah, he knew all of that stuff.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: But handsome and wise.

KEILAR: And we're going to not miss him because he's alive.

"THE ARENA WITH KASIE HUNT" starts right now.

(MUSIC)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Breaking news, an intense search and rescue operation is underway in Iran after an American fighter jet carrying two crew members was shot down.

Hi, everyone. Welcome to THE ARENA on this Friday. Kasie Hunt is off. I'm Pamela Brown.

And right now sources say that one American service member has been rescued and another is still missing after their fighter jet was shot down in the skies over Iran. This video right here, taken in southwestern Iran, appears to show helicopters refueling as part of the ongoing search and rescue operation. Now, Iranian state media shared this photo of a damaged ejection seat, and CNN did an analysis that found that it appears to be from an American F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet, which carries two crew members. And these images of the wreckage, said to be from the downed aircraft, are also consistent with an F-15E.

Well, this afternoon, Iranian state media announced that any Iranian who captured an American crew member would receive a, quote, "valuable reward and prize," end quote. We have our military expert standing by. But first I want to bring in

CNN national security correspondent Natasha Bertrand, CNN's senior White House correspondent Kristen Holmes, and CNN chief global affairs correspondent Matthew Chance, who is standing by for us in Doha.

Natasha, first to you. What's the latest you're learning?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, we don't know much. We just know that one of these crew members of this F-15 fighter aircraft was recovered by U.S. forces inside Iran. We don't know the condition of that individual other than that they are alive and they are currently being treated and are in U.S. custody.

But the whereabouts of the second crew member who was in that fighter jet are currently unknown. And as you said, an intensive search and rescue operation is underway for that individual. It appears that both of them did eject and they possibly ejected to different locations. And so that search and rescue operation is still underway.

But we have not received any information from the Pentagon directly, nor from U.S. central command, which was expected to release some kind of statement hours ago now, but has yet to say anything about this incident. And it's worth noting as well that the photos that have been released by the Iranians appearing to show the wreckage of this aircraft, they do appear to have a U.S. Air Force's Europe logo on them, which would seem to confirm that this is, of course, an American -- American fighter jet that was hit.

We don't know the circumstances of how it was hit, whether it was hit with an Iranian missile or some other projectile. But still, what we know now is that one has been rescued. One is still yet to be recovered, Pam.

BROWN: We're glad one is rescued. Our hearts go out to the one that is still missing. And as you point out, they could be far apart, right? When you eject from a plane, you might be miles apart depending on the winds and so forth.

Kristen, I want to bring you in. We know the president has been briefed on this. What are you hearing from the White House?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've really been hearing almost nothing from the White House except for moments ago. President Trump did a brief phone interview with NBC News in which he told them that the jet going down would not affect any ongoing negotiations. Now, we have come to believe that we don't actually know what is happening with those negotiations.

I just want to remind you, we originally said that this meeting in person, meeting between the U.S. -- excuse me, there's a bee -- between the U.S. officials and Iranian officials was going to be last weekend. Then it was moved to that week. And then it seems to have completely fizzled out. So, where those negotiations stand, that is still a huge question.

President Trump himself publicly has only done one thing in the last six hours posted on Truth Social, saying, keep the oil, anyone. No actual response to the fact that this ongoing search and rescue mission has happened, that someone was rescued, that this plane was shot down.

Of course, all of this coming as President Trump has definitively said, that the U.S. is almost completely, essentially won the war. At one point he said this, and I want to read this quote, "We literally have planes flying over Tehran and other parts of their country. They can't do anything about it."

Now, I was told originally that the reason the White House wasn't engaging in this, that they wanted everything to be streamlined. They wanted it to go through U.S. Central Command. They were waiting for a press release from them. They kept telling me it was coming. It still has not come.

So, it's unclear what the method is here for getting communication or getting information out to the public. But so far, all we've heard from President Trump is one line about oil and keeping oil, and then this other line about it not impacting negotiations.

BROWN: All right. We'll see if we ever get that statement from U.S. Central Command.

Matthew, I want to bring you in from Doha. What is the reaction been like in Iran?

[16:05:01]

And talk a little bit more about the significance of this escalation, this moment in the war.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Clearly, this is -- this is the first time that a U.S. plane has been shot down over Iran since the war began at the end of February. And so, it's a huge propaganda victory for the Iranians and the Iranian state media has put out an appeal to civilians in the area where it's believed the plane was downed, to do whatever they can to find the missing -- well, missing single crew member now. And they've offered a significant reward for anybody who can come and find that crew member. An award of $76,000 or the local currency equivalent for that to take place.

Also sort of going back to these claims that we've been hearing from President Trump that the airspace over Iran is totally secure and that U.S. planes can do whatever they want in them.

Well, there's been some reference to that as well, with one senior Iranian official essentially ridiculing quite sarcastically, you know, the U.S. president, because of this incident, basically saying this, this is Mohammad Ghalibaf who is the very powerful speaker of the Iranian parliament saying this on X, "After defeating Iran 37 times in a row, this brilliant, no strategy war they started has now been downgraded from regime change to, hey, can anyone find our pilots? Wow." Ghalibaf continues, "What an -- what incredible progress. Absolute geniuses." And so again, you know, that's, you know, a reference to the fact that

despite all the claims to the contrary, Iran does still apparently represent a significant military threat to the region and, of course, to U.S. assets in the region as well.

BROWN: All right. Matthew Chance, Kristen Holmes, Natasha Bertrand, thank you so much for bringing us the latest with your reporting.

Joining us now in THE ARENA is CNN military analyst, retired Lieutenant General Mark Schwartz, and CNN national security analyst and U.S. Army Special Ops veteran Alex Plitsas.

Thank you both for coming on.

Lieutenant General Schwartz, first, if you would, walk us through what pilots are taught to do in the event that they have to eject from their airplane into enemy territory, and how far apart the pilots could be?

LT. GEN. MARK SCHWARTZ (RET.), U.S. ARMY: Well, every pilot and every special operator in the U.S. military goes through what we call survival, evasion, resistance and escape training. Level C, which is the highest level. So, in this situation with -- there's a lot of tactical training as part of that as well as a lot of technical training.

So, once they safely, you know, parachute to the ground, they're taught to, if they can and they have the time to conceal, the parachute and any equipment they're not going to take with them. And then to move out of the area you want to make, get as much distance between, you know, where you went down the incident site, if you will, and where you're going to hold up until such time that you can establish communications and, you know, be in a position to where you can be recovered.

So that's probably happened with this pilot or weapon systems officer that was recovered earlier. That's probably exactly what occurred there. And they got -- they got enough separation, established quick communications. And as soon as that notification happened, Pamela, you know that search and rescue, those Pave Hawk helicopters and the HC- 130J that you're showing there. You know, were launched and to facilitate the recovery.

So, my expectation now is that, you know, if there is communications with the other aircrew member that they're waiting for a time in which they believe they can safely go in and, you know, pick that crew member up and bring them back into friendly territory.

BROWN: Just to follow up with you and, Alex, then I'll get to you. Are you reading anything into the time that has passed since the one crew member was rescued until -- until now, where they're still searching for the other one?

SCHWARTZ: Not really. You know, the fact that these two aircrewmen could have been separated by a significant amount -- I mean, you know, the speed of the aircraft, they're both ejecting and depending on you know, how they ascended back down to the ground, they could -- they could have been miles apart. So, it could be a function of, you know, the second crew member was closer to a populated area.

So, they want to make sure that we've got, you know, proper surveillance of the area. We've got the air cap over -- combat air patrol and everything aligned before they try to facilitate the safe recovery of this individual that's isolated right now.

BROWN: So, Alex, you led a special operations team in combat in Baghdad. Tell us more about the risks involved in the search and rescue effort itself going into Iranian territory, particularly after an American fighter jet was just taken down, was shot down by the Iranians?

ALEX PLITSAS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I think General Schwartz has definitely got the broader set of experience there.

[16:10:02]

And then I will speak to my limited one in comparison. Look at the boss there smiling.

So, between the two of us, I mean, the generals obviously, you know, correct. The danger here obviously is it's, you know, it's behind the lines. This is a -- you know, an air war basically that we're fighting at the moment. There are no ground forces that are there. So, it makes medevac and other capabilities difficult because you have to go in and go get them behind the lines. And so that's what the general was just talking about here.

In this particular case, you know, speculation, there are -- there's an American life on the ground there somewhere. So, we don't want to speculate and cause, you know, concern where it's not due. We really don't know at the moment, as the general said correctly, the pilot or the weapons officer is down somewhere there -- you know, where they happen to be and are they waiting for a pickup location?

You know, we'll find out. I think that's why we haven't heard from central command at this point, which is what was, you know, in the previous block in terms of the negotiations, which was the other thing that was discussed, what I am hearing in relation to that and if this is going to affect it, I'm hearing that the Pakistanis, and that mediation effort, you know, has not been producing fruit as much as we wanted.

The Iranians had originally reached out to the Qataris, and what I heard from the Qatari mediators today in discussions with them was that they will not engage in any efforts or consider it until Iran stops attacking all of the GCC countries, not just Qatar. So, they will not get involved at that point.

I'm hearing that the Turks may actually try to step further into that role, because the new regime in Iran has got a very good relationship with both Turkish and Pakistani intelligence. And so, we'll see if the Turks are able to step into a mediating role. BROWN: You have the president today saying that the downed fighter jet

will not impact Iran talks, but just on the search and rescue, General, it's now almost midnight in Iran. How is the lack of daylight impacting search and rescue in your view?

SCHWARTZ: Well, it certainly isn't -- runs in the favor of the isolated person and any type of rescue attempt, just given our capability to operate at night, certainly. And as important, let's say that the isolated crew member, it was in a position to where they really couldn't move during the day. They were holding up, and now with darkness, they have the ability to move further away from the incident site, potentially move to an area that would be easier to facilitate a rescue.

They have the capability on the ground to know where they're at and to, you know, navigate to a proper location, where they could, you know, potentially draw down the risk of being recovered. So, very highly trained in all these procedures. And, you know, we just pray that everything goes well.

BROWN: But what is your concern about the Iranians trying to find this crew member as well? We know based on an anchor for the Iranian news agency, that they're putting out a reward for this, quote, "enemy pilot" per this anchor in Iran to be found, General?

SCHWARTZ: There's certainly several motivations to try to, you know, recover this airman and turn them over to the IRGC or other Iranian authorities. Certainly. So that's why there'll be no attempt by this, you know, this isolated person to make contact with anyone because you don't know who you can trust, obviously. So, you have to assume any human contact would compromise your ability to be safely recovered.

So, if you can avoid, you know, the populated areas and areas where just kind of what we call natural lines of drift, where people may be moving back and forth roads, things like that. Those isolated individuals are trained in all those things to make sure that they mitigate their own personal risk until such time that they can be recovered.

BROWN: Alex, I want to play some sound of how the administration has described the Iranian air defenses over the past month.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They have no air detection, that's been knocked out. Their radar has been knocked out.

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: In under a week, the two most powerful air forces in the world will have complete control of Iranian skies, uncontested airspace.

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We expect to have complete and total dominance over Iranian airspace in the coming hours.

TRUMP: Their anti-aircraft weapons are gone, so they have no air force. They have no air defense.

HEGSETH: We're hunting and striking death and destruction from above. Iran's air defenses flattened.

TRUMP: They have no anti-aircraft equipment. Their radar is 100 percent annihilated.

BROWN: So, administration officials were so confident in our air supremacy that we started flying B-52 bombers over Iran this week. Do you think the administration underestimated what Iran's capabilities are here, Alex?

PLITSAS: No, I mean, I think the language actually, if we go back through the different clips, is pretty consistent. I mean, the chairman actually gave some qualifying language in the beginning and said we have localized air superiority, so you have air superiority and you have air dominance, right? So, it's taking out the aircraft that could fight in the air like fighter aircraft. And then you also have your anti-aircraft systems on the ground or your integrated air defense systems where you've got your radar dishes and the missiles that people are used to seeing, which is really what they were speaking to.

We don't know what brought this aircraft down, but there's also something called shoulder fired anti-aircraft missiles. The SA-7, which they're known to have, can fire between 5,000 and 7,500 feet.

[16:15:01]

There's other systems that are different variants, between 10,000 to 12,000 feet. And they only have to be right once. I mean, the U.S. has flown something like 13,000 targets, I believe is what the CENTCOM commander said. And now we've seen our first aircraft that's down over the country.

And so, you know, don't want to minimize this because we have a pilot who, you know, he or she is on the on the ground right now. But we've had a lot of successful missions. And I think this this speaks to the training and the equipment and the, you know, the performance of our men and women in uniform.

BROWN: Lieutenant General Schwartz, in his address this week, President Trump said that the U.S. will likely be out of the war in two to three weeks. He kept it a little vague, but that's what he threw out there. How might an incident like this impact that timeline?

SCHWARTZ: Well, depending on how long it takes to recover this, it could impact it, certainly. But if you know, the decision is made by the commander in chief and, you know, on the advice of the secretary and the chairman and commander CENTCOM, that we've achieved the military objectives, even though we may not have achieved the political end state that we want, you know, these ongoing negotiations, we could potentially move out.

We will not do that. Certainly, if we still have an isolated crew member, particularly if that crew member ends up falling into the hands -- in the -- into the hands of the IRGC. So, I don't see -- I think that is significant, right? That is a game changer in terms of our approach to where -- where we've taken this conflict so far. So I think that's certainly we got to wait and see what, what plays out here in the next several hours and days.

BROWN: Yeah, we hope that crew member is rescued very soon.

Retired Lieutenant General Mark Schwartz, Alex Plitsas, thank you both for bringing your expertise to the conversation. We appreciate it.

And coming up here in THE ARENA, we're going to go back live to the Middle East with new reporting on U.S. and Israeli airstrikes following the downing of that U.S. fighter jet by Iran.

Plus, a key member of the judiciary committee is here live. We're going to talk with Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell about what's next at the DOJ after the firing of Pam Bondi.

We'll be right back. Stay with us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD BLANCHE, ACTING U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: Look, I think the president is frustrated. Everybody is frustrated because what we -- what we saw happen for the past four years is unforgivable and can never happen again. And so, certainly, I don't mind the frustration.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:21:39]

BROWN: And we're back with our breaking news on the U.S. fighter jet that was shot down over Iran. The U.S. has already rescued the pilot of the F-15 aircraft, but the search for the second crew member is ongoing.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond joins us now from Tel Aviv.

Jeremy, what are you hearing from your sources about how Israel is assisting right now?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen, Israel has obviously long prepared for this kind of scenario. A pilot downed over Iranian territory, a rescue mission then set to take place. But this time, Israel is not directly participating in the search and rescue effort.

My sources tell me that the United States hasn't asked for that kind of assistance, and Israel isn't providing it, but Israel is trying to support the search and rescue effort by providing intelligence to the United States that might help in locating this second airman who was aboard that F-15 fighter jet that was downed by Iran. Israel also postponed some of its planned strikes in Iran today in order not to interfere with that search and rescue effort. But make no mistake, the Israeli military campaign in Iran is still continuing, even as we learned this news that this fighter jet had been downed, Israeli jets carried out strikes in the Iranian capital of Tehran today.

And really, this incident of the downing of this F-15 fighter jet is the latest indication we've seen this week, both that Iran still retains quite significant military capabilities, even though the United States and Israel have destroyed so much of Iran's military assets in the country.

And secondly, it's also an indication that this conflict is nowhere close to winding down, that Iran is going to continue to use its asymmetric warfare capabilities, where even as long as it retains some of those capabilities, it's going to show that it can exact costs on the United States, Israel and their allies, whether that's through the downing of one F-15 fighter jet or through its continued efforts to close the Strait of Hormuz, its ballistic missile fire aimed here at Israel. We are seeing multiple ways in which Iran is showing that it is going to stay in this fight and is not going to agree to a ceasefire that would see this conflict resume once again in several months.

And so this is an indication that the United States and Israel are going to have to think clearly about what to do in the coming weeks in order to achieve their military objectives, but more broadly, to achieve their strategic objectives, because so far, we've seen that there's no indication that the kind of diplomatic off ramp that President Trump was pursuing last week, no indication that it is bearing any fruit. Yet instead, it seems this conflict is very likely to continue on for at least several more weeks -- Pam.

BROWN: All right, Jeremy Diamond, thank you so much.

And I just got this breaking news from team member that Iran's military is now claiming to have struck a second U.S. combat plane on Friday. The A-10 Thunderbolt, nicknamed Warthog, crashed into the waters of the Persian Gulf after Iran's air defense system intercepted and targeted near the Strait of Hormuz. CNN has reached out to the U.S. Department of Defense for comment.

Of course, this comes hours after this, what we believe to be an F-15 was struck, it -- hit in Iran, taken down. One crew member rescued, the other one, there's still a search and rescue mission for.

So, on that note, I want to bring in Democratic congressman of California, Eric Swalwell.

[16:25:02]

Congressman, first, just your reaction to this, the claim -- Iran's claim to have struck a second U.S. combat plane and the fact that there is this search and rescue that's ongoing right now for a U.S. service member in Iran, enemy territory.

REP. ERIC SWALWELL (D-CA): Yeah. Well, my wife was the first person to tell me about this this morning. She called me, you know, concerned. And we -- just like all Californians, hope that we find this pilot and hope to find out what happened, if anything, in the Gulf.

But we were told just a couple nights ago in the president's 20-minute address to the country that we owned the skies of Iran, and it looks like we don't if this is happening, and this is the concern with this conflict, is that we have a president who is completely unprepared for what's next, has no justification as to why we are. There seems to have more plans for a ballroom in the East Wing of the White House than a conflict in the Middle East, as it plays out right now.

And by the way, gas prices in California are soaring and people are wondering, when are we going to get back to just bringing down the costs. And so, a lot of frustration here, but more than anything, Pam, I hope we find this pilot and I hope we find out whether the Iranians are telling the truth or not, as to what happened over the weekend.

BROWN: Yeah, we need to learn more about that for sure.

President Trump also told NBC that this downing of the U.S. fighter jet in Iran won't impact negotiations, telling them, quote, "No, not at all. No, it's war. We're in war," end quote.

Should it impact those negotiations in your view?

SWALWELL: Who the hell knows if there are any negotiations or not? Again, the story as to why we went to Iran has ten different explanations from the president and his team. What we do next and who we need to do it next is also confusing.

We have one of the largest Iranian diasporas in this -- in California. And this conflict started with, you know, big hopes that they could take the president at his word that, you know, this would bring a new Iran that Iranians could build brick by brick on their own. And instead, this has just been chaos and disaster.

And I just go back to -- from Chino Hills to Chico in California, I can't speak for the rest of the country, but across the state, people just want to see the costs lowered. They don't want to see more conflicts on the map.

BROWN: President Trump has said that when this war is over and he is saying two to three more weeks, there's been a lot of skepticism of that timeline. But he said that the prices at the pump will plummet. Do you believe that will happen?

SWALWELL: No, no, no, I certainly don't. And this is the president who told us on health care, we should wait two to three more weeks because he has concepts of a plan and we have never seen that plan. There is still no plan. And he doesn't even have concepts of a plan here.

And what this is doing, you know, to our military, its degrading their confidence in the commander in chief that he would use them, you know, in a way to advance our national interest when again, were seeing the support for this war is dipped, you know, into the high teens in a recent poll that I just saw.

So, Americans want the president of the United States to focus on bringing down the cost of housing, bringing down the cost of gas and groceries, not to add more conflicts to the map, he said on day one, day one, he would lower the costs.

We're like day 450, costs continue to go up. He's done the opposite of what he promised. He would be well served to just focus on people's kitchen table issues.

BROWN: He has made clear that the war and funding it is a big priority for him right now. In fact, the White House just asked Congress to approve about $1.5 trillion for defense in the 2027 fiscal year. Proponents of this request would argue that by not voting for funding, you would be potentially putting U.S. troops in the Middle East in danger by not providing them the supplies and resources they need.

What is your response to that argument?

SWALWELL: Yeah, the commander in chief put them in danger. We've lost at least 13 brave Americans so far, and, you know, I am -- my heart beats for those families. And this is not a situation where we've sent them over there and they're stranded unless we send more taxpayer dollars to them, the president can end this conflict today. That's the right thing to do. The worst thing that we could do in congress for these service members is to continue to fund a president who doesn't have a plan.

[16:30:01]

I don't plan on doing that, and I don't believe he's going to find many votes on the Democratic side. And we've heard from more and more Republicans that they're quite skeptical as well.

BROWN: I do want to ask you, before we let you go about the firing of Pam Bondi.

SWALWELL: Yeah.

BROWN: There have been reports claiming that one of the reasons President Trump was frustrated with her was because he believes she may have alerted you to an investigation into this alleged relationship with an alleged Chinese spy. You have since denied that Bondi or anyone in her orbit gave you a heads up.

But did you ever have any direct conversations with either Pam Bondi or Todd Blanche about that investigation?

SWALWELL: No, absolutely not. In fact, it's laughable. And the president was tweeting about this at 4:45 in the morning yesterday. Again, we're at war.

And the FBI is focused on interfering in a California governor's race where I am leading, when they should just be focused on the homeland. And it looks like from "The Washington Post" and "New York Times"| reporting that they were tipped off by FBI agents who were alarmed that the president and the FBI director would use the FBI to try and interfere in an election 30 days before Californians start voting. They should just focus on bringing down the gas prices and protecting

the homeland. That's what I'm focused on in my job in Congress and my candidacy to be governor of California. They should do the same.

BROWN: What about the Epstein investigation? Because the acting A.G. Todd Blanche says the DOJ is essentially done with the Epstein investigation and that they're moving on. What is your reaction to that?

SWALWELL: The victims aren't done. Democratic, and some Republican members of Congress aren't done. And what we can do, as Democrats and I know Leader Jeffries, to-be Speaker Jeffries has telegraphed that it's all going to come out. And so, we can do it now and do it in a bipartisan way, or we can do it in about nine months when we are in the majority.

And it's not just all that's going to come out on Epstein, it's all going to come out. On how they've weaponized the Department of Justice against the president's political opponents.

And so, to the FBI agents who are being asked to break the law every single day, what we want to make clear, and I know this comes from Jamie Raskin and Robert Garcia, who will have the subpoena power next Congress. You will be protected if you come forward right now. If you do not come forward right now and you enable more corruption on Epstein or the weaponization, you will be before Congress, and it will all come out.

BROWN: What evidence do you have that the FBI agents are being asked to break the law every single day?

SWALWELL: Well, this "Washington Post" reporting and "The New York Times" reporting that they are being asked to essentially collude with the Chinese government to interfere in the California governor's race. Weve heard about the efforts to pull FBI -- to fire FBI agents who do not want to see them doing immigration raids or scrubbing, you know, the Epstein files to protect Donald Trump. They're being moved, you know, over to do that.

The investigations that they've launched into Adam Schiff, Tish James, Lisa Cook, where judges are throwing out these investigations, and apparently, Pam Bondi, who was 90 percent loyal to Donald Trump, that's not enough. You know, it's all going to come out, pam. And you know, we are open to whistleblowers who want to come forward because those are the ones who will be protected.

BROWN: All right. Congressman Eric Swalwell, thank you so much. I hope you enjoy your holiday.

SWALWELL: My pleasure.

BROWN: And up next in THE ARENA inside the White House, as the war in Iran prepares to enter another week, including what chief of staff, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles has reportedly told the president about the war and how it could impact the outcome of this year's midterm elections. We'll be right back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We have to take care of one thing military protection. We have to guard the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:38:24]

BROWN: And welcome back.

We're continuing to wait for any update on the U.S. fighter jet downed over Iran today and the ongoing search for the second crew member. The incident comes as President Trump attempts to sell the Iraq war to a skeptical American public, and "Time Magazine" is now reporting that White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles has told the president that the longer the war drags on, the dimmer Republicans prospects will be in the midterm elections.

"Time" writes that Wiles, quote, was concerned aides were giving the president a rose colored view of how the war was being perceived domestically, telling Trump what he wanted to hear instead of what he needed to hear. She had urged colleagues, the officials say, to be more forthright with the boss about the political and economic risks.

My panel is here to discuss in THE ARENA. The congressional correspondent for "The New York Times", Annie Karni; CNN political analyst and investigative reporter at "The New York Times", David Fahrenthold; and CNN global affairs commentator and former deputy Pentagon press secretary, Sabrina Singh.

Also with us is CNN political commentator and Republican strategist, Shermichael Singleton.

Always a mouthful to get through all those titles, names.

But, David, I want to start with you on this reporting at times about Susie Wiles warning, apparently, to the president, what are you hearing from your Republican sources? Are they echoing that same sentiment?

DAVID FAHRENTHOLD, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I think a lot of people are worried because the Republicans are going to be the first ones to face the voters, right? And if gas keeps going up and there's all these sort of knock-on effects in the economy, they're going to be the ones to feel this first.

The problem is they have spent a long time fueling the echo chamber around Trump. Trump wants an echo chamber. Republicans like Mike Johnson have risen to where they were by only telling Trump what he wanted to hear.

[16:40:00]

So, you can't have that be the way of advancing the Republican Party for years and years is just tell Trump he's great and everything is going well, and then try to turn that on a dime and say, okay, now's the time to be honest.

You can see how people will say like, I don't want to be the first one, to be honest.

BROWN: Yeah. And Wiles is apparently warning that the longer this war goes on, the blinker the Republican -- bleaker the Republicans chances are of winning in the midterms.

And there's also, of course, the risk, Shermichael, of more incidents like what we saw today with a downing of aircraft.

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah, which I would imagine the president is probably going to dig in, right? At this point, we're there. The idea of pulling out immediately just doesn't seem necessarily sensible to me in terms of the military components of this.

Then you do have the question of regime change. Is that still a part of the president's calculus? And if it is, I think you have to make a case to the American people as it pertains to the politics of this. It should have already been factored in months ago with the economic toll would have been and with the political toll would have been.

We already know historically that Democrats are entering this midterm with an advantage. That's just the nature of this for the past 20-plus years now. Then you look at the Senate, where there are some pretty hotly contested seats. We're trying our best to maybe win one or two, pick up some seats.

This becomes more challenging electorally when those swing voters that most Republicans, Democrats alike, look for to give them that additional two to three point bump to win, are looking at our party saying, look, we gave you the keys to the to the Congress, the House and Senate. We gave you the keys to the White House because we were not happy with the economic conditioning from the last administration, and you guaranteed an improvement. Where is that tangible improvement? We have not delivered it.

So, Susie Wiles is correct. If you're advising the president, you've got to be forthright with him about what we're preparing to enter into as we head into early voting come September, which is only, what, three and a half months away from now. And you look at end of August, some states, California, Texas, you can begin requesting an early ballot. We have got to figure this out, ASAP, or the projections don't look very great for my party.

BROWN: And yet it does seem like President Trump is digging in his heels. He said the downed fighter jet wouldn't impact talks. He is talking about going after Iranian infrastructure.

And, Sabrina, I spoke to an Iranian today who fled the last couple of weeks, who said in the beginning of the bombing campaign, there was a lot of hope in Iran. Even excitement, that perhaps this is their moment where there will be actual regime change and things will get better.

Now, all these weeks end, there's a lot of fear that actually it's going to be even more of a nightmare than it was before the bombing campaign. With the IRGC still in control, more bloodthirsty than ever before on a revenge campaign, and perhaps our infrastructure gone if President Trump follows through on those threats.

SABRINA SINGH, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: You have a hardline regime that has remained basically intact. Theres been a change of leadership, but the regime has not changed. And so, because of that, of course, the people that rose up during those protests that we saw starting in December all the way till now, you know, of course people are upset about the economic conditions, but now they have to worry legitimately about their own safety and security.

And there's no guarantee that when the United States stops their bombing campaign that, one, the Israelis are going to stop their campaign right now. And two, the long-term damage. I mean, this, like you said, this regime is going to be dug in. They're not going to be saying like, okay, now we can have free and fair elections. It's just not in the DNA of, you know, this regime.

So, I think, for those protesters that, that, you know, at first came out in the streets, it's really disheartening because the only way you're going to have effective regime change is going to have some type of U.S. military boots on the ground. And I think to Shermichael's point, if the president digs in even further, those polling numbers, particularly for Republicans, are going to continue to drop. And then you head into midterms, you head into the fact that costs are going to keep going up at the gas pump, and that is going to be reflected in what voters choose in November.

BROWN: What are you hearing from your sources on that concern, Annie?

ANNIE KARNI, CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: I mean, I'm hearing Democrats can't believe what they're hearing from this White House like a budget request that has is requesting more money to build up defense than ever before.

BROWN: One point five trillion --

KARNI: Like a record for defense spending. While Trump is saying out loud, we can't pay for daycare, we can't pay for health care, the states should do that.

I mean, this is -- I mean, they are sort of agog at how much of a gift this is politically, like this is a war. No one asked for this -- the president's supporters are -- were like America first didn't want involvement in foreign wars. And now, he's saying -- and then his voters are on Medicaid. So, they are thinking that, this is a political gift, even though it's harming the country and gas prices are going up. But Democrats just could not believe just that he's kind of saying the quiet part out loud and giving them a political gift for the midterms.

BROWN: Yeah. And they're still -- I mean, Democrats are very unpopular according to the polls, but there's a difference between them having a branding problem, right?

KARNI: Yes.

BROWN: They don't have their priorities right. And how they're going to do electorally.

[16:45:00]

KARNI: I mean, I don't -- I'm not -- I don't see a lot of evidence that Democrats have figured out how to make themselves more popular. They are -- they're just coasting on the self-inflicted errors of the White House right now.

SINGH: I do think you do see candidates, though, really taking the reins and saying, you know, there are ways to address affordability. And I think affordability has now sort of become the issue that Democrats are taking up as their mantle. And they're running on that.

And, you know, just look at the special elections that we've been able to flip. You're seeing Democrats really take that momentum on the message.

BROWN: Yeah. We'll see how it plays out many months -- not -- many months to go until the midterms. And a lot can happen, that's for sure.

Ahead in THE ARENA, new reporting on the Supreme Court justice, who was taken to the hospital last month. And why we're just now finding out about it.

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BROWN: Welcome back.

We're following exclusive CNN reporting on Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. The 76-year-old justice, we're now just learning, was taken to the hospital last month. This happened after he attended a Federalist Society dinner in Philadelphia.

CNN chief Supreme Court analyst Joan Biskupic is breaking this news.

What more can you tell us, Joan?

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN CHIEF SUPREME COURT ANALYST: Good to see you, Pamela.

Yes, he felt ill at this dinner, was taken by his security detail to a hospital there in Philadelphia, treated with fluids for dehydration, checked with other tests, and then eventually let go that night and driven back to Virginia by his security team. It's the kind of thing that, you know, raises questions when you're

talking about someone who, you know, has considered retirement and, you know, the health of any of these justices could be an issue. So, the Supreme Court at first didn't want to confirm it in any way. But once we started reporting it and put the story online, they did confirm that, yes, he was treated for dehydration, and they added that he had been checked out by his own personal doctor a few days later, and that everything was fine.

Pamela, he has been on the bench during the two intervening weeks since this incident. He seemed healthy. He was engaged in his usual back and forth with the lawyers at the lectern.

But let me tell you why this matters -- this matters because each justice, the nine, are appointed for life, and you know they have so much power over how we live our lives and what the Constitution says. And, Sam Alito, as I said, turned 76 on Wednesday. He's been there 20 years.

We know through close friends that he has thought about retirement. And if he were to decide to retire, that would give President Donald Trump a fourth appointment to the nine-member bench. He had three appointees from his first term, and that would just create such a -- such a big political firestorm here in Washington, D.C. And I think, you know, just paying attention to his health really matters here, Pamela.

BROWN: Yeah. And it's interesting that the Supreme Court only confirmed it once you put the story out.

Joan, excellent reporting, important reporting.

BISKUPIC: Thank you.

BROWN: We appreciate it.

All right. So, let's go back to our panel.

Shermichael, I want to start with you. When you -- you look at the ages of the members of the Supreme Court, Justice Alito is the second oldest justice at 76, the average age of someone on the high court is 65.

What do you think he should do? What do you think Justice Thomas should do? The oldest ones?

SINGLETON: Well, first, I'm glad that the justice is okay. I mean, when we get older, you have more ailments, become more frequent. I think a lot of Americans can understand that.

I certainly understand the need for caution. I remember when Lloyd Austin, the former secretary of defense, was going through cancer treatment. A lot of people on my side criticized him because of the role, but I understood why he wanted to be very private about that. I think most people would understand that. And so, in this particular instance, I'm not angry or bothered by it.

The reporting is out there. We're covering it, we're talking about it. But I do think reflectively, we have to think about many of our leaders and jurists aging and what comes with that.

BROWN: Yeah.

SINGLETON: But, God, I'll say, Pamela, quickly, I hope that when I get to my 70s, I can still do this because I love it. So, I have to acknowledge that.

BROWN: There you go. And I was listening to the birthright citizenship arguments, and he was very engaged, asking questions and so forth. But at the same time, you know, it's important to know about the health of the Supreme Court justices. And it is often hard to get information from the Supreme Court on the health of them.

What do you make of how this has played out on that front, David?

FAHRENTHOLD: Well, you're right, this is how the Supreme Court has been treated for years as sort of this like, you know, this sort of bastion that they come out and talk when they want to, and you're not allowed to ask any questions about what happens behind the curtain. So that is changing, and there's been some great investigative reporting about the court in the last few years, but I think they have to acknowledge that as this becomes this very important body, these people are very important leaders in the country.

The idea that they're somehow immune from questions about their health or their lives, it seems a little ridiculous now. It seems a little ridiculous. It was ever that way.

BROWN: Right. And -- go ahead.

KARNI: I was just going to say health reporting is the hardest reporting, not just for the court, but for the president. He's not required to tell us much for members of Congress, like reporting on the health of people in power is very difficult unless they want to volunteer it to you.

BROWN: Which they rarely ever want to do it, unless it's like a good thing.

KARNI: Yeah, right. I mean, I was just going to say on -- on Alito, even before this incident, there's been much talk of will he retire at the end of the session in June? One thing that people have been talking about is he has a book coming out in October, usually when Supreme Court justices put out a book, its during their break during the summer.

So, the thinking is either he's not planning to be on the bench, then and or that he wouldn't be promoting his own book. So that's like a signal --

BROWN: Reading the tea leaves there with that one.

KARNI: Yeah.

BROWN: All right. Interesting detail, Annie.

We shall wait and see.

And with that intrigue, we're going to take a quick break and we'll be right back. Stay with us.

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BROWN: All right, thanks to my panel, and you can watch more of THE ARENA tomorrow. THE ARENA Saturday airs at noon eastern and again at 4:00 p.m. right here on CNN. So be sure to join us for that.

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