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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Trump On War: "Very Complete"; Analysis Suggests U.S. Is Responsible For School Strike; ISIS-Inspired Bomb Throwers At NYC Mayor's Home; Inmate Recounts Morning Epstein Died In Unearthed FBI Report; Newly Released Footage Shows Moments Before March 2025 Fatal Shooting Of American Citizen By DHS Agent. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired March 09, 2026 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

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KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST AND POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: All right, thanks very much to my panel. Really appreciate all of you. Thanks to you at home for watching as well. Don't forget, you can now stream "The Arena" live. Catch up whenever you want. It's all in the CNN app. You can scan the Q.R. code. It's on your screen.

Go straight to it. You can also catch up by listening to "The Arena" podcast. There is a Q.R. code for that, too. You can also follow us on X and on Instagram at "The Arena." CNN Jake Tapper is standing by for "The Lead," so don't go anywhere. He keeps trying to get the Q.R. code. You get it this time, Jake?

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Too late. I'm slow. Thanks, Kasie. We'll look for more tomorrow in "The Arena."

HUNT: See you tomorrow.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): This is "CNN Breaking News."

TAPPER: Welcome to "The Lead." I'm Jake Tapper. We begin today with breaking news in our "World Lead." This hour, we are expecting President Donald Trump to hold a news conference as the war on Iran enters its second week with no clear end in sight. We're going to bring this to you live. It will be a real inflection point for the war and also for President Trump for whom the public might have a lot of questions about the war. It's a public that as of now does not support this war. Can the president turn that around?

It seems increasingly probable in our war headlines that the United States killed at least 192 students and teachers at an Iranian school on the first day of strikes, February 28th. New footage has emerged that appears to show a U.S. missile targeting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval base, which is adjacent to that school. This weekend, President Trump told reporters that he thought Iran was responsible. So, a big question today, will he provide any actual evidence to back up that claim?

More than 1,700 people have died in total in the Middle East since the conflict started. That includes civilians in Iran and civilians in other Middle Eastern countries: Bahrain, Israel, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, ones that Iran has attacked. European countries are now getting more involved. All of this signs that this has clearly turned into a wider regional war.

In terms of U.S. losses, today, the U.S. Military identified 26-year- old Army Sergeant Benjamin Pennington from Glendale, Kentucky. He is officially the seventh U.S. service member killed in this conflict. There are remaining questions about whether the first six U.S. service members killed in Kuwait had at the time, at their TAC, their Tactical Operations Center, appropriate aerial defenses and warnings. We also wonder if President Trump, the commander-in-chief, will address that today.

What about the president's plan for the war going forward? Because right now, Iran has a new leader whom Trump previously said would be unacceptable. His name is Mojtaba Khamenei. He is the hardliner son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The ayatollah was obviously killed in strikes on day one of this war. Will his son be any better, any different?

The president is also being confronted with some political pressure about this war at home. It's only the second week and yet 54 percent of Americans are opposed to this war, which is pretty stark numbers this early. This is according to an NPR-PBS News Marist poll. Those numbers are likely to get worse for the president as oil prices continue to surge. Right now, today, they topped more than $100 a barrel. That was earlier today. These are levels not seen since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Oil tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz remains at a standstill because Iran is threatening to attack oil tankers.

The president told Fox this weekend -- quote -- "These ships should go through the Strait of Hormuz and show some guts" -- unquote. President Trump, whether or not he wants to acknowledge it, is a wartime president and this news conference will be a big moment in that. Will he take the opportunity to own any mistakes? Will he outline a more clear path or goals or an exit plan or to put it in his own words -- quote -- "show some guts?"

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is in Tel Aviv, Israel for us. Nick, just ahead of the news conference, President Trump spoke with a CBS News reporter and said that the war could end soon. He called it very complete. Obviously, there are some mixed messaging here. We were told it was going to take much longer than 10 days. What more did Trump say? What are you hearing from Israeli officials at this hour?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, there have been suggestions from Israeli counterparts that this may be something that goes on a lot longer. In fact, they've been pushing that message, frankly, relentlessly for some time. Indeed, for moments, was President Trump as well. Remember, four to five weeks, we heard that a while back.

But underlying throughout all of this comparatively brief conflict so far were the consistent concrete goals that President Trump and his officials kept going back to: Getting rid of Iran's missiles, its Navy, and its nuclear weapons capability or desire ability to create that.

[17:05:09]

They stayed at the kernel of what the U.S. kept going back to while, at times, we would have President Trump talking about wanting to have an influence over who the next supreme leader was, demanding unconditional surrender, although his officials then swiftly said he would choose what indeed that actually meant. So, he has really always left plenty of room to define the moment in which he wanted to call this quits.

And I think, from the beginning, many perceive this as something that economic pressure would put toll upon. Of course, also, the pressure now that key U.S. Gulf allies are facing with their infrastructure potentially under attack, their economies enormously disrupted. And I think the potential really as people see this continue to get more protracted for more unintended consequences to drag in other countries around the globe.

Israel's goals always more expansive than the United States. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu clear he wanted democracy. His officials are saying they will target the successor of Ali Khamenei, his son, Mojtaba Khamenei. Neither those two men particularly from the clerical tradition but still hardliners indeed.

And ultimately, Iran, through this appointment, has done the one thing that President Trump said he wanted them not to do, which is appoint Mojtaba Khamenei. Is he ultimately going to make that some kind of deal breaker with himself or Iran to slow this down? We'll have to wait and see.

But I think there are many potentially who assess the White House viewing this as perhaps as sort of slightly more complex version of Venezuela. They've found, obviously, that Iran is to its core in the theocracy anti-American. But ultimately, there will be issues weighing on all sides here, their inventory, the economic pressures upon them, the damage done to Iran's own commanders.

And so, it is interesting to now on, I think, the third day, really, see President Trump talk about the end here. He talked about unconditional surrender. He talked about the idea of having an influence over the next supreme leader might indeed be. And today, saying something is very complete begins to sow the narrative that he feels their goals have been achieved.

This could all change in a matter of hours. And there are so many factors on the move here that we could see events remove whatever thought is currently in the president's head. But it is key, I think, to see this consistent reference to how this comes to an end. Jake?

TAPPER: Yes. Speaking of consistent, there has not been a consistent message from the White House in terms of what they're looking for in terms of the next leader of Iran. President Trump said he wants to play a role. He also told Dana Bash on Friday that all that he really cares about is that whoever is in charge is nice to Israel and the United States. No mention of the Iranian people. What do we know about the new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, and what role will he play in all of this?

PATON WALSH: I mean, ultimately, he stepped into a position which has clearly had a lot of infighting occurring around it. He was publicly thought to have been a potential successor to his father. I think many analysts have perceived Iran's form of governance and the corruption around there as likely having enriched Mojtaba Khamenei himself. But clearly a hardliner, absolutely.

And this is a figure, obviously now, after the damage done by the United States and Israel and after the damage done, frankly, to Iranian society, after the brutal suppression of protests just as recently as January. We'll have to find a way of portraying himself as hardline enough to retain grip across the country's fractured security apparatus.

That will be exceptionally hard because there'll be much of the administration or apparatus that is hostile to this sort of essentially quite nepotistic practice of turning this into a hereditary theocracy. That has not been part of the Islamic revolution up until this particular moment. So, that is a very awkward moment indeed for Iran.

And then, of course, there is the simple fact that Israel was able to kill his father with not ease, but, you know, they managed to do it, and they pledged to kill Mojtaba as well. I think that serious issue will be hanging over his time in power. Jake?

TAPPER: All right, Nick Paton Walsh in Tel Aviv, Israel, thank you so much, my old friend. Despite early analysis, President Trump is blaming Iran for last month's deadly strike on an elementary school in the country's southern city of Minab. Yesterday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Major Garrett of CBS that the strike is still being investigated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJOR GARRETT, CBS NEWS CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: If you could tell the American public it definitively was not us, you would tell us, wouldn't you?

PETE HEGSETH, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: I would say that it's being investigated, which is the only answer I'm prepared to give.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Drone video shows the new grave sites for those killed, at least 192 students and teachers. That's according to Iranian state media.

[17:09:58]

CNN's Isobel Yeung has the new video evidence now that further suggests that the U.S. may actually have been to blame.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ISOBEL YEUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the moment a missile slammed into an Iranian base in Minhab, a city in Southern Iran, just over a week ago. In this freeze frame, you can see it clearly. Weapons experts tell CNN the wings and tail are consistent with a Tomahawk missile. This new video is the clearest evidence yet that suggests it was the United States that struck an elementary school next to that Revolutionary Guards base, killing scores of students.

The U.S. has been firing those Tomahawk missiles at Iran from ships and submarines for more than a week now. Israel doesn't use them, experts tell us.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Mr. President, did the United States bomb a girls' elementary school in southern Iran on the first day of the war, killing hundreds --

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: No. In my opinion, based on what I've seen, that was done by Iran.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Is that true, Mr. Hegseth? It was Iran who did that?

HEGSETH: We're certainly investigating it.

YEUNG (voice-over): Iran also doesn't use Tomahawk missiles. And using satellite images, it's clear the school was struck nearly simultaneously with strikes on an adjacent Revolutionary Guards base. That suggests precision targeting. CNN geolocated this video. We think this missile struck the military base, not the school. You can see that other buildings in the direction of the school had just been struck when this was filmed.

YEUNG: CNN is still trying to gather visual evidence from the ground. And until we see actual remnants from the munitions itself, it's impossible to be definitive. But this is the clearest evidence to date. U.S. Central Command says they're still investigating.

Isobel Yeung, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: And our thanks to Isobel Yeung for that report. Let's discuss now with Republican Congressman Don Bacon, who's a retired Air Force brigadier general, who's on the House Armed Services Committee. Congressman, always good to see you.

So, video evidence and expert analysis appear to show that it was, in fact, a U.S. missile that hit the school. Even some stalwart allies of President Trump like Fox's Laura Ingraham tweeted -- quote -- "re- upping what I said last week: The administration must wrap its investigation and address head-on. Horrible unintended tragedy of this war" -- unquote. But despite the evidence, President Trump, so far, at least, is blaming Iran. Do you buy that and what do you make of all this? REP. DON BACON (R-NE): Well, initially, I thought it was probably Iranian missile that was aimed at our aircraft that hit a target and accidentally hit the school. But as we look at more of this evidence, it is possible it's a United States.

So, here's the bottom line: Let's investigate it, let's be honest, let's be transparent. We know America didn't intentionally do this. If it was us, could have been an equipment malfunction, maybe got damaged by some antiaircraft fire or like we saw in Serbia.

One time, you know, our targeters identified a Chinese embassy as belonging to the Serbian government. We bombed it. Things happen in war. We should be -- we should investigate this fully, be transparent, and if it was us, own up to it. I know it wasn't intentional, but transparency is best in this situation.

TAPPER: Iran has a new supreme leader. I want you to take a listen to what Israel's foreign minister told CNN's Bianna Golodryga about Iran's new supreme leader.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR AND SENIOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Is Mojtaba Khamenei now a target for Israel?

GIDEON SA'AR, ISRAEL FOREIGN MINISTER: Well, you'll have to wait and see. But it is clear that he continues the very extremist and mad policies of his father. He's a hardliner. He is anti-American. He's anti-Western. Frankly, with these people, you cannot do anything serious if you want to solve conflict.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: What's your reaction to that? Obviously, Ali Khamenei, the now dead ayatollah, had decades of funding terrorist attacks and killing Americans and the like under his belt. Do you think it's acceptable? I mean, I'm not saying I like the guy they picked, but do you think it's acceptable for the U.S. or Israel to assassinate him immediately because they think he will be bad?

BACON: Sure, it looks like he's a hardliner. I don't think he's going to be any different than his father. And as you mentioned, Iran has been targeting us since 1979. So, I think unless we see clear indications that he's willing to change policy with this nuclear weapons program, they want to have peace with its neighbors, then he becomes a legitimate target because he's leading the military of all of Iran.

I hope -- my goal is to get a government that is responsive to the people, that wants to restore their freedoms back, that wants to have peace with its neighbors, that does not want to have a nuclear weapon. That should be our goal. And I think this new ayatollah, Khamenei, is -- what I'm reading is just as bad as his father.

[17:15:02]

And so, this means that this war is going to continue for a while until we see a change.

TAPPER: I'm sure you're hearing a lot from your constituents about gas prices. Oil prices surging to levels we haven't seen for four years since the Russians invaded Ukraine. President Trump described rising prices as a little glitch and a detour. Those are his words. He also said ships should go right through the Strait of Hormuz and show some guts. What do you think of the president's comments?

BACON: I did anticipate before this happened that this would raise gas prices, that the stock market would reflect it. It happens every time we have a crisis in the Middle East, whether it's Iran or Iraq before this or even the invasion of Ukraine. This is sort of -- this is normal. Our goal should be to try to get this stabilized as soon as we can. And so -- because once we do that, I think the prices start going back down again. Now, U.S. oil production and energy production are up. We're leading the world right now in this. And so, just with some time, these prices will go back down.

Now, with the Strait of Hormuz, we should be doing everything we can with our own Navy to ensure that ships feel safe through there. So, we should be doing a lot of overhead with our aircraft in that area to ensure there's no anti-shipping missiles that could target these oil ships. We also should have our ships nearby there to help protect the ships. We should want to open up shipping as fast as we can so it would also reduce the prices more quickly.

TAPPER: Republican Congressman Don Bacon of Nebraska, thank you so much, sir. Appreciate it.

Right now, President Trump is addressing a conference of House Republicans in Florida. He just called the war with Iran a -- quote -- "short-term extortion" -- unquote. The president is set to take questions from reporters in just a few minutes. We're going to be looking out for any clarification or news about the situation overseas. We'll take those comments live.

Another story we're following, of course, the Epstein files. New reporting about the pedophile's death at a New York jail. What a handwritten note found in the Epstein files reveals about the guards at the jail. The Miami Herald journalists digging up this new reporting will join us live.

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TAPPER: We're standing by to hear from President Trump. He said he's going to speak from the ballroom of his Doral golf course in Florida to reporters when he holds a news conference. We're going to turn to that when he starts speaking. Right now, he's talking to Republicans in Congress.

In our "Law and Justice Lead," we talk about the "World Lead," too, because New York authorities today said ISIS-inspired two men whom they say tried to set off homemade bombs during a protest Saturday outside Mayor Mamdani's mansion, Gracie Mansion in New York. The bombs, thankfully, did not explode.

Cellphone video shows one of the suspects throwing a bomb canister into the street. There's also a picture showing a smoking canister at the feet of police officers as a suspect on the left of your screen attempts to run away. Both men were quickly captured. And a third device was found in their car on Sunday.

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani was not home at the time. Today, the mayor gave a bit of background on the two men arrested.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI, NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Two men, Emir Balat and Ibrahim Kayumi, traveled from Pennsylvania and attempted to bring violence to New York City. The police department has determined that these were improvised explosive devices made to injure, maim or worse.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: We're joined now by CNN national security analyst Alex Plitsas who just vanished there. Did his feed disappear or is -- we lost him. So, we are going to take a very quick break, and then we'll bring you Alex when we get the signal back up.

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[17:25:00]

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TAPPER: Any minute now, we expect President Trump to hold a press conference at his Doral golf course in Florida as the U.S. launches new strikes on Iran right after he finishes speaking to congressional Republicans.

Before we had that glitch, we were talking in our "Law and Justice Lead" about the fact that New York authorities today said that ISIS- inspired two men whom they say tried to set off homemade bombs during Saturday's counter protests outside the mayor's mansion. The bombs did not explode.

We are joined now by CNN national security analyst Alex Plitsas. So, Alex, this happened during dueling protests. Mayor Mamdani says the first was called "Stop the Muslim takeover of New York City." It was rooted in white supremacist groups to provoke the second and larger counter protest, and the alleged bomb throwers were part of that group. The criminal complaint released just this afternoon has shots from two angles of one suspect holding the first bomb. Notice in the picture on the left, the fuse is lit. Another picture shows the second suspect handing him one of the bombs. Is this a situation =unique to New York? Is this related at all, theoretically, you suspect, to what's going on in Iran?

ALEX PLITSAS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: It's certainly not unique to New York. I mean, we saw a shooting not that long ago in Texas, in Austin, where an individual was wearing a shirt that's (INAUDIBLE). Underneath it, he was wearing a t-shirt, I believe, with the Iranian flag on it. The JTTF immediately initiated an investigation, trying to make the connection to terrorism based on evidence presented at the scene.

And now, we're seeing this weeks later. But in this case, there doesn't appear to be a direct connection to Iran. ISIS has actually conducted bombings inside of Iran not that long ago. They blame the Iranians for in part for their defeat from the caliphate because the Iranians, for the fighting that we're having right now, the militias they backed in Iraq actually serve as a ground force to help fight ISIS may actually dispatch Hezbollah on the ground inside Syria, which in part fought ISIS as well. So, ISIS bombed the memorial or the grave rather of Qasem Soleimani on the anniversary at one point. And so, there's no love lost between the two.

So, I don't know that would necessarily be connected based on ideology, but this is what happens when you've got, you know, wolves, potentially folks that are self-radicalized by material online. And what looked like very rudimentary devices ended up being pretty significant in terms of the presence of TATp, an explosive compound, and then it was taken and sort of rendered safe the other devices. So, you know, this was a lucky one, you know, with great law enforcement that were able to take care of this quickly, but this could have been a significant tragedy.

TAPPER: You're a national security expert and analyst. How worried are you about more attacks like this, and like the one in Texas, whether tied to the war in Iran or not?

PLITSAS: I'm significantly concerned. I mean, not that there's a particular plot that I'm aware of and not to be alarmist for folks who are listening, but let's kind of walk through some of the facts that have come out and come to light recently about why I would make that comment.

[17:30:00]

So, there have been three cells that have been arrested in Qatar, in the U.K., and in Azerbaijan over the last week that were affiliated with the IRGC, the Quds Force, that's Iran Special Operations folks that have an external cell, that were engaged in either intelligence collection or surveillance in preparation likely for sabotage or terrorist operations.

We saw a bombing outside of the U.S. Embassy in Oslo. We still don't know who was responsible for that. And then there was a reporting that came out earlier today that code words appeared to have been intercepted where the Iranians may have activated sleeper cells globally amongst their IRGC folks or potentially Hezbollah.

And so, they've been known to have folks slipping out of the United States, intelligence officers from Iran in covert status, who have been in the United States conducting surveillance on targets, who have also attempted to contract hitmen in some cases. You know, there was a plot against President Trump himself.

There's a very famous female dissident who lives in Brooklyn. They were attempting to assassinate her as well. They've become exceptionally bold in recent years. And this all sort of came to light during the Obama administration when it was revealed and disrupted that they were looking at actually bombing a restaurant in Washington at one point where the Saudi ambassador was said to have been eating.

So, the threat is real. And as Iran gets further backed into a corner and its military capabilities are further degraded, there's a possibility it could turn to asymmetric threats. And as we like to say in the business, you know, one time is an instance, two times a coincidence, three times is hostile enemy action. We had three cells arrested this week, a bombing outside Oslo and then potential chatter now about sleeper cells being activated.

So, the JTTF, and speaking to contacts within the FBI and law enforcement community, are actively monitoring and aggressively pursuing any leads that are out there right now, including with international partners. So, confidence in the efforts of our federal law enforcement along with their local partners have. But they only have to be right once and we have to be right every time.

TAPPER: Yes. Alex Plitsas, thank you so much for your expertise. Appreciate it.

Let's turn to another story in our Law and Justice Lead, a report discovered by "The Miami Herald." Details how one inmate recounted the morning Jeffrey Epstein died at a New York jail, that that inmate at the Metropolitan Correction Center told the FBI that he overheard guards discussing a cover-up plan.

Julie K. Brown unearthed this five-page handwritten report from the government's Epstein library. You'll recall it's Julie K. Brown's reporting with her colleagues at "The Miami Herald" that exposed Epstein's crime and brought the story back to the fore. She is the author of the book, "Perversion of Justice," and the in-depth Substack called "The Epstein Files by Julie K. Brown." I recommend them both.

So, Julie, in this FBI report that you found, the inmate claims he heard an officer say, dudes, you killed that dude. Then a female guard replied, if he is dead, we're going to cover it up and he's going to have an alibi, my officers. Is this a credible testimony, do you think? What more can you tell us?

JULIE K. BROWN, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, THE MIAMI HERALD: Well, since I wrote that report, we did get some more information. It turns out that this particular inmate had 18 months to serve on his sentence. And because of his cooperation, he was released. He got a sentence cut and he is no longer. It's odd because when you look him up in the BOP's database, it just says unknown.

So he has virtually disappeared. So we wonder whether he did either provide them. He must have provided them with some information that was credible or else he wouldn't have gotten a get out of jail free card the way he did. TAPPER: Let's talk about Tova Noel, one of the two correctional officers that was charged with falsifying records about the rounds that night. Those charges were later dropped, but the FBI reports, as inmates said, Miss Noel killed Jeffrey. Tell us more about this guard.

BROWN: Well, she wasn't working for the Bureau of Prisons very long, but she was working there for many months before Jeffrey Epstein was arrested. And you can see that she was having regular cash apps in her banking account. It appears that her bank flagged some of these cash transactions and that the BOP, the Bureau of Prisons and the Department of Justice did get those records.

What they did with them, we don't know because she and her fellow guard that was working the night Epstein was killed, they were both initially charged. And then those charges were basically null prost. So she hasn't been charged with any kind of a crime. But again, she had this $5,000 deposit on July 30th, which was roughly a week after Epstein. He said he was assaulted by his cellmate in the shoe and in the special unit that he was in. And it was also approximately a week before he was actually found dead.

TAPPER: So obviously, a lot of people think that anybody who talks about whether or not Epstein committed suicide or was murdered as a conspiracy theorist. The Justice Department did conclude that Epstein died by suicide. But the forensic pathologist hired by Epstein's estate believed that the injuries were more similar to strangulation than they were to suicide. Where do you see this all going from here?

[17:35:15]

BROWN: I really think that the Congress needs to take a look at all these records that I'm reading. I was up until about 2 o'clock this morning reading some of these interviews with the warden and with some of the correctional officers. And they raise a lot of questions, even the way that the investigators are asking the questions sound like they are skeptical of some of the stories.

I mean, there were so many things that went wrong. I mean, you have Epstein first being put in with a quadruple killer. And then after that, then he's supposed to be with a roommate because he allegedly tried to commit suicide and they don't give him a roommate. His cell number was wrong in the system. They didn't do the counts that night. I mean, the list goes on and on of all the mistakes that were made.

And the investigators themselves, the way that they pose these questions sound like they're a little skeptical that there could have been that many things that went wrong.

TAPPER: All right, Julie K. Brown, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Moments ago, President Trump seemed to offer a new timeline on his war with Iran. He called it a short term excursion. He said that to a House Republican conference in Florida. But his Pentagon just retweeted a quite different message saying we've only just begun. Well, the President elaborate when he addresses reporters in just a few minutes. Stay tuned. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:40:58]

TAPPER: And we're back with more in our World Lead as we wait for President Trump to begin a press conference. He told "CBS News" just minutes ago that he thinks the Iran war could be over soon. He called it very complete. Let's get to CNN's Kristen Holmes at the White House. Kristen, the Pentagon says we've only just begun. President Trump says it's very complete. What's going on?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, actually, we saw Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense, just moments after President Trump said this to "CBS," reposting this tweet that said this is just the beginning. So clearly not on message.

Now, I would say that President Trump was dialing it back. This is what he just said to Republicans. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We took a little excursion because we felt we had to do that to get rid of some evil. And I think you'll see it's going to be a short term excursion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: So you have those two things, what he said to "CBS" and that excursion, short term excursion coupled together, sounds like he's dialing back. But then just a few minutes later, he said this. We've already won in many ways, but we haven't won enough. We go forward more determined than ever to achieve ultimate victory that will end this long running danger once and for all.

There is so much messaging here that is all over the place. And President Trump, part of his strategy has been this -- having these kind of three minute to five minute phone calls with various reporters talking to them about what the strategy is for the war and then contradicting himself in the next interview.

So what we are going to see in a few moments is President Trump actually taking questions from a full press corps, giving remarks that are just supposed to be about Iran, although, of course, it is President Trump. And perhaps we'll get a more fulsome answer on where exactly all of this stands, because right now there is a lot of mixed messaging here.

TAPPER: Indeed. Kristen Holmes at the White House, thanks so much.

Continuing with our World Lead, Iranian leadership opted for more of the same over the weekend. They selected Mojtaba Khamenei, who's the son of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as the country's new supreme leader. Let's get some perspective now from Kian Tajbakhsh. He's an Iranian-American and former political prisoner of the Iranian regime because of his work as a democracy and human rights activist -- advocate. He is now a professor at New York University. Kian, thanks for joining us. So the first wave of U.S. Israeli strikes killed Mojtaba Khamenei's father and his mother and his sister and his brother-in-law. Do you think that would make him more willing to want revenge and not agree to any settlement with the U.S.?

KIAN TAJBAKHSH, PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AT NYU: Well, I think it will certainly harden his already hardened attitude against the United States. So as you mentioned in The Lead, I think that the selection of this this person, Mojtaba, signals continuity on two fronts, both of which worry me and are very close to me as a former political prisoner.

I was arrested for being an Iranian-American and representing American interests when I was trying to create warmer relations between the U.S. and Iran. Mojtaba is going to represent that continuous animosity against the United States. So I don't see that it indicates a willingness on the part of the regime to put somebody forward who might compromise, who might capitulate, who might suggest a new kind of settlement with President Trump.

And on the other side, when I was arrested as a democracy activist, Mojtaba also represents worrying continuity. It's the same antagonism and brutal repression of the society that we've seen for 47 years. He's going to continue that. And so on both those counts, external behavior and internal behavior, I think he represents more of the same, as you mentioned. And that's not good for the Iranian people inside, those who want greater freedom. And it's not great for those who are looking for, let's say a quicker settlement to this conflict.

[17:45:17]

TAPPER: And you and I are old enough to remember that one of the things the Iranian revolutionaries were revolting against in 1979 was the notion of inheriting leadership, the Shah. The new leader was selected not by an election, but by Iran's assembly of experts. It's an 88 member body of elected senior clerks. President Trump today called Khamenei's election a big mistake.

And we heard from the Israeli foreign minister talking to Bianna Golodryga. That Mojtaba Khamenei, he suggested perhaps he could be killed as well. Will they just keep on electing hardliners over and over, this council of experts?

TAJBAKHSH: Yes, they will but I think it's important to understand that the news coming out of Tehran as much as we can verify it, showed that the IRGC officers played a very strong and unprecedented role in strong arming the members of this assembly of experts and something we haven't really heard before. Not that there's much daylight between them but the fact that they actually went out of their way.

And by all reports a few maybe two or three of the members of the assemblies of experts did not attend the meeting. And that is also a kind of show of the lack of unity which we haven't seen before. So it shows that he is very much IRGC's man. He -- they've selected someone who will be relatively weak, relatively pliant and will continue the war. I think that's one of the big messages that we should take away. TAPPER: Professor Kian Tajbakhsh, thank you so much. Really appreciate your insights.

President Trump just wrapped up his comments to the Republican Conference in Florida. The House Republicans coming up next. He's going to have a news conference with reporters. We will bring that to you live. Obviously, we're in the middle of a war. But first a U.S. citizen killed by an ICE agent, but this isn't Renee Good. This isn't Alex Pretti. This was last year in Texas. Why this case is only emerging now? Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:51:49]

TAPPER: In our National Lead, since the start of President Trump's second term, the U.S. government has posted more than 1,400 X or Twitter posts claiming that ICE agents are under attack by terrorists or rioters or agitators. According to a new "Wall Street Journal" investigation, most of those accused were American citizens, including Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both killed by federal agents in January in Minnesota.

This all comes as documents reveal. Another U.S. citizen had been killed, 23-year-old Ruben Ray Martinez. This was in March of last year. This was during a traffic stop on South Padre Island, Texas. CNN's Brian Todd reports on how this incident went unnoticed for months.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A blue Ford sedan drives slowly past the scene of an accident. Within seconds, officers are yelling with one officer calling to others to stop the vehicle.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop him. Stop him. Stop him. Stop him.

TODD (voice-over): The situation escalates as the officer wearing the body camera runs after the car.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get him out. Get him out. Get him out.

TODD (voice-over): Three gunshots are heard.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop the -- vehicle.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shots fired. Shots fired. Shots fired here at 2300. Shots fired. Out of the vehicle now. Out of the vehicle now.

TODD (voice-over): This body camera footage recently obtained by CNN is from an incident in South Padre Island, Texas on March 15th of last year. The driver of the vehicle, 23-year-old Ruben Ray Martinez, died as a result of his gunshot wounds. The agent who shot him was from Homeland Security Investigations, an investigative unit which falls under ICE's umbrella.

This was the earliest of at least six deadly shootings by federal officers during an immigration crackdown launched by President Trump in his second term. It came roughly 10 months before the shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by ICE agents in Minneapolis. But this shooting in Texas wasn't publicly disclosed by the Department of Homeland Security until the Associated Press and other media outlets reported it in late February of this year.

AREVA MARTIN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY AND LEGAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: It's very disturbing that this is coming out a year after this young man was shot and killed by DHS.

TODD (voice-over): We reached out to the Department of Homeland Security to ask why it took so long for this shooting to be disclosed. We haven't heard back on that. The Department issued a statement to CNN in late February saying the driver, Ruben Martinez, intentionally ran over a Homeland Security Investigations agent, resulting in the agent being on the hood of the vehicle.

Then DHS said another agent fired, "Defensive shots to protect himself, his fellow agents and the general public." A report from the Texas Department of Public Safety, citing an account from one of the agents, said Martinez bumped the agent's legs with his car, then made a turn which pushed the agent back, causing him to fall over the hood. But the passenger in Martinez's vehicle, Joshua Orta, in an unsigned witness statement obtained by CNN contradicted that account.

In that statement, Orta said the agent walked up to the car, slapped the hood and, "Seemed to be trying to get in front of the car." Orta said, "Ruben did not hit anyone." A Texas grand jury declined to issue indictments in this case. And Joshua Orta, a crucial witness, died last month in a car crash, according to "The Associated Press."

[17:55:01]

MARTIN: We will not have the benefit of that eyewitness testimony that's going to make again recreating what happened, getting a clear and transparent and accurate accounting of this shooting very difficult.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: Our thanks to Brian Todd for that report.

President Trump speaking now at the press conference. Let's listen in.

TRUMP: We are waiting to see what happens before we hit them. We could take them all out in one day, but it's all resulting in a 90 percent decline in various things, but in particular Iranian missile launchers and 83 percent drop in drone launches. As you know, the drone launches are pretty well shot, but we're at over 90 percent decline in the Iranian missile launchers, which is very hard to reproduce and very hard to get.

And usually what were able to do through great equipment, a lot of smart people, as soon as they sent a missile up from a launcher, were able to knock out that launcher within a period of five minutes or less accurately right on the noggin. So now we have low cost interceptors effectively combating Iranian drones. And our B2 bombers recently dropped dozens of 2,000 pound bombs to destroy missile launchers all over Iran and buried deep under Iranian soil.

In many cases, the soil was no match. And we're also annihilating the manufacturing base that the regime uses to build drones and missiles at a rate that nobody thought was possible. We're knocking them out. We know where they all are. We're knocking them out very quickly. We're ahead of our initial timeline by a lot. I would say that we probably would not have thought after a month we'd be here.

In addition to the fact that we've taken out the leadership twice and maybe three times. And we, as you know, we want to be involved. We don't want another president that maybe wouldn't be willing to do what I'm willing to do for the good of the world, for the good of our nation to be stuck with this situation in five years or 10 years from now. So we think they should put a president in or the head of the country in that's going to be able to do something peacefully for a change.

They've been doing this for 47 years, killing people for 47 years, whether it's the barracks or even the SS Cole, where they were involved very strongly. They always denied it, but they were very strongly involved. And all of the people that died through the roadside bombs died and are right now walking around with no legs, no arms, a face that's been so badly damaged.

The Iranian regime has been attacking Americans and spreading terror for 47 years. And despite these countless opportunities to renounce their nuclear ambitions, which they had just a short while ago, they told Mr. Witkoff, who is standing right over here, they said. They actually said, we want to keep building. Essentially, in a real nutshell, we want to continue to build nuclear weapons.

If we didn't knock out Midnight Hammer, if we didn't knock out their Iranian potential, if we didn't do that with Midnight Hammer, they would have had a nuclear weapon. They would have used it long before now, and at a minimum, Israel would have been annihilated. I was very lucky that we had the courage to do that we had the talented pilots and the great equipment. The B2 bombers are unbelievable.

We ordered 25 more, by the way, the newer, better version. It's -- we have the greatest military in the world. We have the greatest equipment in the world by far. You see that no matter where we go, you still need the people, though, to operate it and to use it. And those are the people that we cherish. Even after we obliterated their key nuclear sites in Operation Midnight Hammer, they never negotiated into good faith.

They still continued to say, we want to build nuclear. We want enrichment at levels that were unacceptable. And they even turned down an offer for unlimited free nuclear fuel forever for civilian purposes. We had people offering them free nuclear fuel. They weren't interested in that because they wanted to build a nuclear weapon. So instead, the regime was trying to reconstitute its weapons program at a different site. They couldn't go back to where they were, the three sites that we obliterated, but they were starting work at another site, a different site, different kind of a site. And that was protected by granite. They wanted it protected. Granite's pretty good. But they wanted it protected by a lot deeper. They wanted to go a lot deeper.

[18:00:03]

And they started the process while rapidly building conventional ballistic missiles.