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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Rep. Scott Franklin (R-FL) Is Interviewed About U.S. Searching For Crew Member After F-15 Downed In Iran; Sen. Tim Kaine, (D-VA) Is Interviewed About Searching Of Crew Member, F-15, War Powers Resolution, NATO; Wide-Ranging New Interview With OpenAI CEO Sam Altman; Iran Claims It Struck A Second U.S. Combat Plane; Doctors Studying Long-Term Use Of Beta-Blockers. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired April 03, 2026 - 17:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: 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. You can also stream the arena live or catch up whenever you want in the CNN app.

Just scan the QR code below. "The Lead" with Jake Tapper starts right now.

[17:00:31]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. And we're going to begin with breaking news on our world lead. Iran's military is now claiming that it has struck a second U.S. combat plane today.

Claiming that an A10 Thunderbolt 2, nicknamed a Warthog, crashed into the waters of the Persian Gulf. CNN has reached out to the Pentagon for comment. This report coming amid the ongoing search for one of the two crew members of a U.S. F-15 fighter jet shot down over Iran. Sources telling CNN that U.S. forces rescued the second crew member in that first plane. Iran state media published an image that appears to show a damaged fighter jet ejection seat on the ground.

Video from inside Iran appearing to show U.S. military search operations. But they're not the only ones looking for this crew member. An Iranian state news anchor also said, quote, "If you capture and hand over a pilot or pilots of the enemy alive to the law enforcement and military forces, you will receive a valuable reward and prize." That offer is reportedly $76,000.

This video reportedly shows Iranians on the ground looking for that American crew member. As for the condition of that one rescued crew member, sources say he is alive in American custody and getting medical treatment. That is all we know. This is the first time that a U.S. fighter jet has been downed over Iran in this war.

In a phone call with NBC, President Trump said that the downing of this fighter jet would not affect any negotiations with Iran. And in a phone call with the Independent newspaper, President Trump was asked what he would do if the crew member is captured or harmed by Iran. President Trump said he cannot comment and he hoped that would not happen.

Remember, it was only two days ago that President Trump said this about Iran's weakened capabilities.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Their ability to launch missiles and drones is dramatically curtailed and their weapons factories and rocket launchers are being blown to pieces. They have no anti-aircraft equipment. Their radar is 100 percent annihilated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Despite that claim, yesterday evening CNN released exclusive reporting suggesting that roughly half of Iran's missile launchers are still intact and thousands, thousands of one way attack drones remain in Iran's arsenal despite the daily pounding by U.S. and Israeli strikes against Iranian military targets over the past five weeks. That's according to three sources familiar with recent U.S. intelligence assessments. CNN's Jim Sciutto is in Tel Aviv.

Jim, what more are we learning about these incidents and the search for this missing U.S. crew member and information about the second downed U.S. jet?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes. Well, Jake, it's been a dangerous day for U.S. flight crews over Iran and it's quite clear that claims by the president and others that the U.S. controls the skies over Iran were premature. The day began with Iranian state T.V. claiming to have shot down a U.S. fighter jet. There were pictures of wreckage that began to appear on Iranian state T.V. and then videos of what seemed to be search and rescue operations. CNN was able to confirm that a F-15, a two person crewed fighter jet was indeed shot down.

And then we learned that the search and rescue operations were underway. Soon we'd be able to report that one of the pilots was found extracted, taken out of Iran and is now receiving medical treatment. To our knowledge at this point, the search and rescue operations for the second member of that two person crew in the F-15 are ongoing. Now, adding to that, Iranian state media is reporting or claiming that they also shot down another jet, as you mentioned in the introduction, Jake, this one going down in the waters of the Persian Gulf. CNN has reached out to Central Command for comment and confirmation.

But what is clear when you combine that with our reporting last night that Iran maintains ballistic missile capabilities, that as we reported, that some 50 percent of its mobile missile launchers, that 50 percent of its one way attack drones remain intact, as well as a large percentage of its coastal defense missiles. It makes quite clear that it maintains a capability not just to strike its neighbors, as we've certainly been experiencing here in Israel and Gulf nations have experienced with missile strikes earlier today, but also to threaten U.S. aircraft over Iran. Of course, the question going forward is what does this -- how does this enter into U.S. calculus about ongoing operations? Those operations have continued. Clearly, Iranian air defenses have been greatly curtailed but not entirely eliminated.

[17:05:12]

The final point I will make is this, Jake, that those search and rescue operations, as you know, are highly intricate, highly trained operations. But they also then put the flight crews of those fixed wing and helicopters that are involved in the operation in danger as well. So it's a multi layered threat and something that you have to imagine military officials are considering quite closely right now.

TAPPER: Jim Sciutto in Tel Aviv, thank you so much.

Let's bring in Republican Congressman Scott Franklin of Florida. He served as a naval aviator for 26 years, deploying on multiple missions including to the Mediterranean, the Persian Gulf.

Congressman, thanks for joining us. As someone who has flown missions before, what do you think happened here? What sort of training might have kicked in for the crew members?

REP. SCOTT FRANKLIN (R-FL): Well, it's early to speculate exactly on the shoot down. I guess it's confirmed now that is a shoot down, not a mechanical malfunction. But you know, whether that was taken out by U.S. surface air missile, most likely and my guess would be a man pads stinger type weapon, probably something passive, but we don't know. We'll find that out later and then, you know, the challenge will be, you know, what was the condition of the crew coming out? Was it a successful ejection?

Were there any injuries sustained in the ejection? I know there's been talk about, you know, have that -- why weren't they communicating? You know, I've seen a number of occasions in the past in high speed ejections. It's common to lose some of your equipment. But also, you know, all these tactical air crews go through survival, evasion, resistance and escape training.

First thing they're going to do is try to get to cover and basically hide and wait for the mission. Usually these combat search and rescue missions are done at night because that's where we have a greater advantage. So it's not surprising to me that those missions are going on at night and hopefully I'm praying that this second crewman is safe and just waiting to be picked up.

TAPPER: Sources who have seen recent U.S. intelligence assessments tell CNN that about half of Iran's missile launchers are still intact and thousands of one way attack drones remain. Now we see this U.S. fighter jet and there's reports of another one. Wednesday, President Trump said Iran's ability to launch missiles and drones is dramatically curtailed and they have very few rocket launchers left. There has been the suggestion that U.S. air superiority in the skies over Iran was just the ultimate. How do you make sense of that? FRANKLIN: Well, tactical aviation is always dangerous. I'd say it's not necessarily unsafe, but always dangerous, even in peacetime. So anytime that we're conducting combat operations, you know, the risks are somewhere north of zero. So I would say -- you know, I think, I believe the president's accurate in that. We have done a lot to degrade their capabilities. But you know, one guy there with a surface -- a shoulder surface to air missile is enough to take someone out.

As we've seen in the past, we lost an F-16 over Bosnia in the mid-90s the same way, even though we had air superiority for the most point over that. So there's always going to be risk. And in the same way that, you know, we lose aircraft and even in peacetime missions, it's a dangerous environment to operate in.

TAPPER: So this is your area of expertise. So help me understand because the Pentagon on Tuesday announced that the U.S. military had begun flying B-52 bombers over Iran for the first time since the war began. And normally that wouldn't happen unless Iran's air defenses were significantly degraded because B-52s are far easier to detect and to hit than jets, right?

FRANKLIN: Well, yes. And then again, I don't know the circumstances of this particular shoot down. A lot of those shoulder fired surface air missiles don't have the altitude range to get up to high altitude where those B-52s would be flying. I don't know anything about the F- 15 and what its flight profile was, but, you know, there's always a risk. And then certainly the A-10, the reports of that going down, I don't know again if that's a mechanical malfunction or if it was a shoot down.

But an A-10 operates in a low altitude environment.

TAPPER: A person who fled Iran for safety reasons told CNN that Iranians, the Iranian people who hate the regime, are starting to lose hope that this war will ultimately be beneficial to them, especially if President Trump decides to give the go ahead to target civilian infrastructure. This person was present for the recent protests, the deadly protests where the Iranian regime was killing its own citizens. This person predicts the new regime will probably be 100 times worse. How concerned are you about the fate of the Iranian people after this U.S. mission is concluded?

FRANKLIN: Well, I am concerned. And from the very beginning, I know we laid out our objectives. Regime change was not one of our specified, but obviously it's very critical and important for the Iranian people. They deserve better leadership than they have. And that's why I think it's important that we do finish the mission.

And I know there'll be a lot of time for postmortems on how and when we conducted all that. We'll get that information out in time. But I think the worst thing we could do now would be to leave the Iranian people hanging in the current state that they're in. And the same for the families that I spoke to when I was at Dover several weeks ago. One of the original soldiers from Kuwait was from my hometown.

[17:10:06] Unsolicited, I had a number of the families tell me that their greatest fear was that their sons and daughters losses would have been a sacrifice in vain if we don't finish the mission. So they said, please, whatever you guys do, finish this mission once and for all.

TAPPER: All right. Former naval aviator and current Republican congressman, Scott Franklin, of Florida, thank you so much for joining us today, sir, and thank you for your service.

FRANKLIN: Thank you, Jake.

TAPPER: The breaking news, Iran claiming to strike a second U.S. combat plane. We're going to go to the Senate side now and get a Democrat's take on this very busy day in Trump's war in Iran.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Back with the breaking news in our world lead. One of two crew members, U.S. crew members unaccounted for after Iran shot down a U.S. fighter jet. Source is telling CNN that the U.S. rescued the other crew member who was alive and getting medical treatment. No other word on his condition.

Democratic Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia joins me now. He's on the Senate Armed Services and Senate Foreign Relations Committees.

Senator, what is your reaction to this news? Have you been able to get any other information on the status of the search or the status of this other a 10 warthog that apparently has been shot down as well, at least according to the Iranians?

[17:15:09]

SEN. TIM KAINE (D-VA): Yes, Jake, I pretty much know what you are reporting. It is good news that one of the pilots on the F-15 has been recovered. Thank God. And look, the message that I want to deliver here, because the Iranians monitor U.S. media pretty darn carefully, is if this second pilot is rescued, treat him or her in accord with international humanitarian law about prisoners. Many are making the case that the U.S. actions to strike, you know, downed survivors of attacks in the Caribbean or Pacific or the striking of civilian infrastructure in Iran, many are making the case that is a violation of international law.

And if Iran shows that it will follow international humanitarian law in the treatment of this pilot, should they -- should they seize him, that would be a very strong statement that we ought to -- we ought to always follow rules, especially with respect to survivors of attacks like this. And I'm praying for this individual and their family.

The news about the second downing of an A-10, at least the early news is that the pilot was recovered. And I pray that's the case. And I pray for the safety of the search and rescue teams that are looking for the second F-15 staffer.

TAPPER: Yes, we join you in the hopes and the prayers there. Senator, this show has now been on, The Lead has now been on from -- for more than 13 years. And I feel like it's -- for 13 years you've been coming on the show and talking about the need for presidents to come to Congress anytime they send military force in any serious, robust way. Earlier this year, you sponsored a War Powers Resolution aiming to restrict President Trump's ability to use military actions against Iran without congressional approval. That failed.

If the president ends up approving a ground operation in Iran of any sort, including trying to secure nuclear material, do you think more lawmakers will be able to get on board? Do you think Republicans would join you?

KAINE: Jake, I believe so. We have been able to get one Republican to join us. I have been essentially helping lead an effort to bring up a War Powers Resolution every week since this war started in February because we shouldn't be at war without a vote of Congress. The framers of the Constitution believed even George Washington wasn't wise enough to make the decision on his own. And we're bringing up these votes every week.

We see, frankly, a war with no clear rationale. There was not an imminent threat from Iran. There's been no clear plan. There was no effort to get allies to support or even consult with them. And the American public is deeply opposed to it.

This is exactly why the decision was made that we shouldn't be at war without debate and vote in Congress. And so, yes, I'm going to -- I'm going to continue to bring these motions forward together with other colleagues. And I believe as my colleagues on the Republican side are hearing more and more from their constituents, just like I'm hearing from mine. As you know, Virginia is a very military state. People want to know whether their spouses are going to be deployed and for how long, whether their kids are going to be deployed and for how long.

I'm going to continue to force Congress to grapple with this because whatever the party of the president and whatever the party of Congress, we should not be in a war unless Congress has -- had the guts to have a debate and have a vote.

TAPPER: So let's talk about allies, because back in 2023, you teamed up with then senator, now Secretary of State Marco Rubio, to pass a law that would prevent any U.S. president from leaving NATO without explicit Senate approval or an act of Congress. President Trump has made it very clear for some time, but more explicitly recently that he is going to consider withdrawing from NATO. Rubio, as Secretary of State says the U.S. is going to have to reexamine membership in NATO. What's your response?

KAINE: Well, look, if the president were to say tomorrow we're withdrawing from NATO, it would be a complete legal irrelevance. It would be like the president saying the sun will rise in the west tomorrow. American law is now rock solid because of the bill that Senator Rubio and I got passed. No president can withdraw from NATO, as you point out, without a 2/3 vote of the Senate or an act of Congress. And Congress will stand up for that law against the president. But Jake, the problem is the president can really harm the relationship, even if it's not a successful withdrawal. The statements that he makes against NATO make our allies question us. The president is mad that NATO allies aren't coming to our aid in Iran. But get this, the president put punishing tariffs on all these allies' economies without consulting with them. And then he launched this war against Iran, which is hurting their economies without consulting with them.

[17:20:05]

And then he's like, well, how come you won't, you know, join in and help out? If you want allies to be allies, then you communicate with them and make the case to them. The president didn't do that. So my hope is, and my expectation is that Congress understands that NATO is the strongest military alliance in the history of the planet. It's good not only for the United States, but for the world.

President Trump has been effective. He should celebrate the fact that he has encouraged NATO allies to spend more on their defense. When he started as president, only five of the 32 NATO allies were meeting their defense commitments. Now all 32 are. And we've agreed that all nations should go even further.

So he's had some positive effect on NATO. He should celebrate that instead of kicking our allies around.

TAPPER: Democratic Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, thank you so much, sir. Appreciate it as always.

New information on Iran --

KAINE: Absolutely.

TAPPER: -- keeps coming in. Much more in that space. We're also of following a compelling immigration case. A man's murder conviction was overturned. Then after the prosecutors dropped the charges, ICE agents picked him up the very next day.

CNN just spoke with his family after a judge stepped in. We're going to bring you that story next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:25:21]

TAPPER: In our national lead, a man who faced deportation after his murder conviction was overturned, that man can stay in the United States. Subramanyam Vedam spent more than 40 years in a prison in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The day after his charges were dropped, ICE agents came calling, picked him up for a decades old deportation order. CNN's Omar Jimenez just spoke with his family and brings us to the moment they learned he would in fact be coming home.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They could only watch through a screen in State College, Pennsylvania from for what became a moment more than 40 years in the making for 64-year-old Subramanyam Vedam and his family.

SARASWATHI VEDAM, SUBRAMANYAM VEDAM'S SISTER: Before the judge read his decision, he wasn't allowing himself to be hopeful. He has had so many disappointments.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): Subu, as he's known, was convicted of murder in the early 1980s and sentenced to life without parole. He also pleaded no contest to charges of possessing LSD with intent to distribute it. In 2025, a judge overturned his murder conviction based on key evidence prosecutors withheld during his original trials. But his drug conviction stayed. So right when he was set to be released after 40 plus years, ICE took him into custody for deportation proceedings.

His family says Subu was a legal resident but not a citizen. And DHS claims because of his drug conviction and his status, he can be deported. He came to the U.S. to State College from India as an infant with his parents. They would visit him weekly when he was incarcerated. His parents died in recent years.

VEDAM: I feel mournful and sad that my parents are not here to see this day and I feel like they're with us somehow. But that's the hardest part.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): After the hearing, Subu put out a statement writing in part, I have a really, really special family. I'd also like to thank the many, many friends that have supported and believed in me over the past 44 years. Without their belief in justice, I don't think my success would have been possible.

After his murder conviction was overturned, the Board of Immigration Appeals determined he was an exceptional situation and reopened his immigration case, which came to a resolution this day. The judge weighed a few factors in his decision. He said "Subu was admitted as a lawful permanent resident as an infant and has been one over 60 years." On the drug related charge, the judge said, "He showed genuine rehabilitation in prison from his teen years to his 60s now. And "Strong family ties here in the U.S. with plans to further his own education."

The judge concluded Subu's release would be in the best interests of the United States.

JIMENEZ: The family gathered here in the State college neighborhood about 30 minutes or so from the detention facility, from really all over the country and beyond, expecting that with this decision, which is what they wanted, they would be able to bring him home. But now they've got to wait just a little bit longer.

VEDAM: We don't have that much more time.

JIMENEZ: How are you going to remember this day?

VEDAM: It's the beginning of the beginning. I'm waiting for the time when I can actually give him a hug.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ (on camera): So a few things here. The Department of Homeland Security has the ability to appeal, and so that's part of why Vedam isn't out just yet. And DHS emphasized his drug related conviction as part of a statement where they also went on to say, having a single conviction vacated will not stop ICE's enforcement of the federal immigration law. And it went on to say, if you break the law, you will face the consequences. Now Vedam's lawyers say they are going to be trying to file for bond to see if he can get released while this process plays out. An opportunity, though, that now Vedam has been waiting for for more than four decades. Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Omar Jimenez, thank you so much.

[17:29:05]

Given the potential of artificial intelligence, which should have more power, AI or the government? You might be surprised at the answer from the CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman. You can hear that in a brand new interview we're going to bring to you next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: We're back with our Tech Lead in a revealing new interview with arguably one of the most important humans in your future. Tech journalist Laurie Segall sat down with Sam Altman. Sam Altman is the CEO of OpenAI. That's the company behind ChatGPT and platforms still to come that will likely continue to shape our lives.

And one key part of their discussion, Altman raised what he says is one of the most critical dilemmas of our time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAM ALTMAN, CEO, OPENAI: One of the most important questions the world will have to answer in the next year is are A.I. companies or are governments more powerful? And I think it's very important that the governments are more powerful. Like the future of the world and the decisions about the most important elements of national security should be made through a democratically elected process.

I think we have to work with the government but the intensity of the current mood of mistrust, I was miscalibrated on and I understand something there now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: That interview just dropped on Mostly Human with Laurie Segall. It's a podcast on YouTube or you can listen to it on iHeart. Let's bring in Laurie Segall who we should know once covered tech here at CNN. Laurie, that question of what's more powerful, what should be more powerful, A.I. companies or government, did you expect that he would say government? LAURIE SEGALL, CEO, MOSTLY HUMAN MEDIA: It's such an interesting point. As long as I've covered Silicon Valley and technology and Jake, just to give you a sense, I've interviewed Sam Altman for the last 15 years of his career and he's had many different seats. This is by far the most powerful seat he has sat in.

[17:35:02]

And there was for so long this tension between Silicon Valley and the government. That's just not the case anymore. And now oftentimes it feels like the Silicon Valley is the government to some degree. So I wasn't shocked by that answer.

But what I will say is he really stood his ground. You know, if you recall, there was really a back and forth between Anthropic, which is OpenAI's rival, and the Trump administration over these red lines of how far is too far when it comes to using this technology and when can we pull it back. And Sam Altman came in and said, we're going to do a deal with the government.

He admitted to me the timing wasn't great, but he said it is, you know, essentially a patriotic duty to do business with the government, especially with how powerful he sees this technology and what's coming.

TAPPER: You also asked Altman about last week's landmark jury verdict that found Meta and YouTube liable for harmful and addictive platforms for younger users. I want to play that moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEGALL: I'm curious what the outcome of this case means for A.I. companies like OpenAI.

ALTMAN: I mean, I think society is going to decide that creators of A.I. products bear a tremendous amount of responsibility to the products we put out in the world. But I kind of thought that before this case, and I haven't reviewed this enough to say if there's like a specific thing that will apply to us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: How much do you think he's thinking about the lack of guardrails on social media, and if any could be put onto A.I.?

SEGALL: You know, I think that one of the things in this interview is we go incredibly in depth in a way that I haven't heard a tech founder speak in depth about the guardrails for our children. And my question to him was, how do you make sure that artificial intelligence, now this is, OpenAI used to be a nonprofit company. Now it is a profit, for-profit company worth nearly a trillion dollars.

And the implications of that are how do we build a business model that actually is good for humanity? And I said, how do you make sure that A.I. doesn't become the next form of social media where you had these incentives that addicted a generation to social media and it wasn't healthy? And we really get into the specifics of it.

And I said to Sam, you know, we both have one-year-old boys. And I said to him, we're both raising sons, but to a degree, you're raising my child as well, because the world that my son grows up in, your technology will impact every facet of his life. And do you feel the weight of that?

And you know, he said, you know, my highest order of it is to not destroy the world with A.I. And he's thinking a lot about those guardrails. And so I think that's something we need to continue to push our tech leaders on.

TAPPER: So the big issue, or perhaps one of the biggest issues in all of this is that people are terrified that A.I. is just going to get rid of the need for workers, that jobs are going to be destroyed because A.I. will do it all. Altman conceded to you that A.I. could be disruptive in that way. Here's more of what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALTMAN: I'm not like a long-term jobs doomer. I think we'll figure out new things to do. I think we always do. Yes, clearly there will be a lot, a huge amount of short-term demand for electricians and skilled tradespeople. Eventually, I think the robots will do some of those things, but, you know, all of these things are just sort of like periods of time. If you just look at how much jobs have shifted every last decade, that will keep going.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: What was your takeaway on that? I think it's going to get a lot of criticism for what he said there.

SEGALL: You know, I think that we are entering a period where there, to his point, there will be a lot of disruption. He talked about his philosophy. I think if you watch this interview, and we speak for over an hour, you really understand the mind of Sam Altman. He talks about how the one word he would define of his career would be abundance and trying to create abundance with artificial intelligence for everyone.

The hard -- there are so many hard questions that allow us to get to that point, especially with what we're about to see with the amount of job loss with artificial intelligence. And so he did talk about a world where A.I. helps people create value and where automated research helps to, you know, 10 years of scientific research in a year. And he's excited for that world. But you know, there are a lot of questions, Jake.

TAPPER: The podcast is called Mostly Human with Laurie Segall. You can find it on YouTube. You can find it on iHeart. Laurie, always great to see you. Thank you so much.

SEGALL: Great to see you.

[17:39:05] TAPPER: Breaking news in our World Lead, Iran is claiming it struck a second U.S. combat plane today, an A-10 Thunderbolt near the Strait of Hormuz. Coming up, insight on the type of intelligence President Trump is likely reviewing. My next guest once served as President Trump's intelligence briefer. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Our World Lead continues, the breaking news in Iran. Iran's military says it has struck a second U.S. combat plane today, claiming an A-10 Thunderbolt II, called a Warthog, crashing into the waters of the Persian Gulf. This as the search continues for a second crew member of a different downed U.S. fighter jet.

Just two days ago in his primetime address, President Trump told the country that Iran's military prowess had been decimated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Tonight, Iran's navy is gone. Their air force is in ruins. Their leaders, most of them, terrorist regime they led are now dead. Their command and control of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is being decimated as we speak. We've beaten and completely decimated Iran. They are decimated, both militarily and economically and every other way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: One of the most basic rules of military strategy is don't forget the enemy gets a vote. Today's developments raise questions about what President Trump just asserted there, as does some new and exclusive CNN reporting according to recent U.S. intelligence assessments.

And three sources familiar with that intelligence, "Roughly half of Iran's missile launchers are still intact and thousands of one-way attack drones remain in Iran's arsenal." CNN's national security analyst Beth Sanner and David Sanger join me now. David, of course, is the author of the book "New Cold Wars," which will be out in paperback next week. And he writes for The New York Times.

[17:44:59]

Look, obviously I don't want to downplay the fact that the U.S. military has done a tremendous amount of damage to the Iranian military and no one's questioning that. But at this juncture of the war, especially when the President's claiming we're two or three weeks away from ending the whole thing, at least one U.S. fighter jet has been shot down, if not two, including the Warthog. What does that tell you about where the war really stands?

BETH SANNER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I think it stands in a country that is as vast and as mountainous and has caves and, you know, it is big.

TAPPER: And 90 million people. SANNER: Ninety-two million people. I mean, it's just impossible to completely eliminate what Iran has because they've designed their military to withstand these kind of strikes. These facilities for drones and missiles are underground in caves, hidden.

And so, you know, this is going to happen. And I think that this is one reason why the President didn't actually say our goal is eliminating it anymore. His most recent goal is significantly degrading it.

But where does that leave the Gulf and where does that leave transit in the Strait? I mean, I think this is a problem we just continually make in history. We underestimate weaker powers and don't understand that they have cards.

TAPPER: David Sanger, when the -- what danger does the President put the United States in when he claims Iran's air force is in ruins and the Navy's gone? I mean, that's obviously not -- what he's saying is obviously either not true entirely or that doesn't mean that the threat to American service members is gone.

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL & NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: So it can be true and it can be less relevant than the President would have you believe.

TAPPER: Right.

SANGER: Right? So have we sunk their Navy? Absolutely. Did the Navy have a lot to do with their power projection? Not very much. Their air force is certainly down. But that doesn't mean that they can't shoot airplanes out of the sky as we have seen today. At least one, maybe two.

We think there may have been a helicopter or so that got hit perhaps in the rescue efforts. So they are not toothless. That's not the big risk the President faces. The big risk the President faces here is that he set himself a two weeks, maybe a little more limit for beginning to get out of this.

Well, first of all, the war may not be over then. He may be done with it, but it may not be done completely with him, right?

TAPPER: Yes.

SANGER: The second big risk I think that he runs is that if the war ended or the U.S. participation ended with things where they are roughly today, what would you have, as Beth was suggesting there? A Strait that is still closed or at least under Iranian control, 970 pounds of highly enriched uranium, which was supposed to be the reason for this, exactly where it was before the war happened. And of course, a regime that the President says has changed, but just the personnel changed.

Now, was there regime change in Iran, Jake, when Ayatollah Khomeini died in 1989 and another Ayatollah came in? Not exactly. TAPPER: Yes, a regime change the way that there was a regime change in Maduro. Maduro was gone, but his entire regime was there and his vice president took over. Today, the President posted on Truth Social, with a little more time, we can easily open the Hormuz Strait, take the oil and make a fortune. It would be a gusher for the world. What? Beth, is it that simple? I mean, he also said, by the way, the other night, that the Strait of Hormuz was going to open, "Naturally."

SANNER: Naturally. It would be nice if it opened naturally, but I don't think it will. And the reason for that is a couple. Like, one is that Iran doesn't want it to be open to everyone. Right now, it's open to Iranian ships and they are raking in the dough. They're producing twice as much, exporting twice as much as they did before the war, and they're taking tolls.

And in their parliament, they passed a bill. So, obviously, it's kind of a functioning government. They passed a bill in their parliament saying that they were going to install a toll system. And so, we are going to be seeing them having this vote and deciding that this is how they want it to be.

TAPPER: A new CNN poll asks voters how the President is handling the situation in Iran, whether they approve of military action, 66 percent disapprove. That's as of March 30th. That number's jumped seven points since the start of the war. David, the President is well aware of the approval ratings. Look, approve is down to 34 percent. What do you think would need to happen in the coming days and weeks to turn American public sentiment around?

SANGER: It's a really good question because the speech on Wednesday night was intended to do that. And what did the markets do? The price of oil went up, which meant that they believed that, in fact, the Strait would remain closed.

And all the other indicators suggested that no one was really persuaded. He had a plan to get out. So, at this point, he's basically teetering each day between, I'm leaving in two and a half weeks and I'm escalating in the interim. And he may well. I suspect you probably will see him escalate. The destruction of that bridge the other day seemed to be an escalation.

[17:50:14]

He's got to decide in coming days whether to go after Kharg Island, which is where the oil shipped from, whether to go after the nuclear material, whether to go put people on the Strait. But if you do that, particularly Kharg Island and the Strait, you are there for a while. Because taking it's one thing, holding it is another. And the history suggests numbers go down as these wars continue.

TAPPER: And this is an interesting war in the sense that it's one of the few in our lifetimes that there wasn't initially, at least, a rally-around-the-flag effect. There really wasn't one at all. Thanks, everyone. Appreciate it.

More analysis ahead from a unique guest who served in various capacities including Secretary of Defense, CIA Director, White House Chief of Staff. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:55:07]

TAPPER: In our Sports Lead, ESPN, brought back a fan favorite to note and celebrate World Autism Awareness Day. This is yesterday. Fourteen- year-old Madden Orlovsky, son of host Dan Orlovsky. He returned to his studio covered wall-to-wall with Madden's art.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MADDEN ORLOVSKY, ARTIST: I have great autism. Thank you all for supporting me.

DAN ORLOVSKY, MADDEN ORLOVSKY'S FATHER: Good job, bud.

M. ORLOVSKY: And I love you, Mom, Hunter, Noah, and Lennon.

D. ORLOVSKY: Love you. All right, how about Jalen Hurts and the Eagles?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: How about Jalen Hurts and the Eagles? From one Eagles fan to another, keep up the great work, Madden. Your talent, your courage inspires us all. And on behalf of everybody here at The Lead and CNN, we love you.

In our Health Lead, we're paging Dr. Sanjay Gupta, taking your questions on beta blockers and whether long-term use of the medication is necessary for heart attack survivors. Sanjay?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, we got so many questions about this topic. A big news, obviously, in the world of medicine, but also in the country as a whole. I mean, 10 percent of adults in the United States take beta blockers. So a lot of people paying attention to this try and get to as many questions as possible.

This one is from Paul in New Westminster, British Columbia. He says, I had a heart attack in 2007. I have since been on beta blockers. Should I continue them? We got a lot of questions similar to this one. First of all, let me be absolutely clear. You should talk to your doctor about this. Absolutely.

And let me put an exclamation mark on this. There are black box warnings about abruptly discontinuing beta blockers. You could get a spike in heart rate. You could get a spike in your blood pressure. That could be a problem.

If you are advised by your doctor to discontinue them, typically you will titrate off the beta blockers as opposed to suddenly stopping them. So that's the headline there. But I think what Paul is really reacting to are these new studies which have shown that people who had stable heart function, had good heart function a year after a heart attack and either continued the beta blockers or didn't continue the beta blockers found that there wasn't a huge difference in the likelihood of having another heart problem.

I mean, if you take a look at the numbers there, the numbers were actually slightly higher for those who continued beta blockers. But point being, there wasn't really additional benefit if you had good heart function and you continued the beta blockers. So I think that's what Paul is asking about.

Another question from Joanna. Why are beta blockers recommended after a heart attack? Yes, this is really fascinating. So here's the scenario. Someone's had a heart attack. Part of their heart muscle has died. The rest of the heart is under stress as a result of that.

Beta blockers lower the heart rate, decrease the blood pressure, and that can take some of the stress off the heart. And the idea was that that could help prevent a second heart attack or a second heart problem. And this goes back to trials from the 1960s.

But Jake, a lot has changed since then. If someone has had a heart attack, we can open the blood vessels to the heart much more quickly using things like angioplasty. There are things like blood thinners and statin medications which also improve the likelihood that someone won't have as much heart muscle death after a heart attack.

In fact, if you look at the numbers overall, in 1970, if a 65-year-old person had a heart attack, they had about a 60 percent chance of leaving the hospital alive. Nowadays, it's closer to 90 percent. So a lot has changed and that has made the need for beta blockers in some situations not as necessary.

I think we've got time for one more question. This is coming from Larry who asks, what are the long term side effects of beta blockers? Well, again, keep in mind they lower your blood pressure, they slow your heart rate, so you're not getting as much blood flow to the rest of your body. That's part of the problem here.

People will get cold hands and feet, which can be significant enough to the point where they're not doing some of their regular activities, extreme tiredness, weight gain and feeling dizzy or lightheaded. These are all potential side effects. And also the cost. I mean, it's a $20 a month drug. Typically, on average, it's a medication that's been around for a long time.

But 10 percent of the U.S. adult population, Jake, taking it for the rest of their lives, those costs add up. And that's been part of the problem as well. So new studies about beta blockers suggesting that maybe for about half the people out there, Jake, who've had heart attacks in the past, they may not need to continue taking beta blockers. But again, talk to your doctor. Jake?

[18:00:05]

TAPPER: All right, Sanjay, thanks so much.