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CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip
White House Declares Victory as Ceasefire Details Remain Unclear; Iran Says, Strait of Hormuz Closed Amid Israeli Strikes; White House Says, Trump was to Discuss Leaving NATO in Meeting With Alliance. Trump Considers Pulling Out From NATO; Artemis Astronauts Speak to the Media from Space. Aired 10-11p ET
Aired April 08, 2026 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[22:00:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): Tonight, narrative control.
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This is a victory for the United States of America.
PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Operation Epic Fury was a historic and overwhelming victory.
PHILLIP: After the ceasefire, did the administration's claims match reality?
Plus, face-to-face, Donald Trump sits down with NATO as he threatens to leave the alliance over the war.
Also --
REPORTER: Why is it appropriate for the president of the United States to use that kind of language?
REPORTER: How can the president claim that America can ever have the moral high ground if he's threatening to destroy civilizations?
PHILLIP: -- the White House is confronted about the president's rhetoric and defends the doomsday bluster.
And a pivotal moment for J.D. Vance, will the veep, who was reportedly opposed to the war, be the one to end it?
Live at the table, Ashley Allison, Brad Todd, Xochitl Hinojosa, Shermichael Singleton and Reena Ninan.
Americans with different perspectives aren't talking to each other, but here they do.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIP: Good evening. I'm Abby Philip in New York. A fragile truce, that's what Vice President J.D. Vance is calling the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran. But tonight, there is a lot of confusion and disagreement about what the sides actually agreed to, and already Iran is accusing the U.S. and Israel of violating it. Despite this, the White House is trying to set a narrative and claim victory.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HEGSETH: Operation Epic Fury was a historic and overwhelming victory on the battlefield, a capital V military victory.
LEAVITT: Thanks to the unbelievable capabilities of America's war fighters, the United States has achieved and exceeded those core military objectives in just 38 days.
HEGSETH: Together with our Israeli partners, America's military achieved every single objective on plan, on schedule, exactly is laid out from day one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: But the ceasefire may already be in jeopardy. President Trump made clear in his Truth Social post that the two-week pause was contingent on the, quote, complete, immediate, and safe opening of the Strait of Hormuz. But earlier today, Iran state media said that traffic through the strait has been closed to oil tankers after Israel began launching strikes across Lebanon targeting command centers and military sites of the Iranian-backed militia, Hezbollah. Lebanon's Health Ministry says that at least 182 people were killed and hundreds more were wounded.
The speaker of Iran's parliament says that the Israeli attack violated the ceasefire agreement, but Trump and Vance claimed that the strikes in Lebanon were never part of the agreement in the first place.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
J.D. VANCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: I think this comes from a legitimate misunderstanding. I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon and it just didn't. We never made that promise. We never indicated that was going to be the case. What we said is that the ceasefire would be focused on Iran and the ceasefire would be focused on America's allies, both Israel and the Gulf Arab states.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: It seems that where we are right now, Reena, is that nobody knows exactly what has been agreed to. Because last night, the Pakistanis said that the ceasefire would be everywhere, including Lebanon. So, if the White House had a problem with that, why didn't they say something immediately? Why didn't they correct that last night as opposed to waiting 12 hours?
REENA NINAN, FOREIGN AFFAIRS ANALYST: You know, this is something that has been so different because of the lack of transparency. One of the things that Trump has been remarkable at is being a communicator. He tells you what the win is. He tells you who the enemy is. He tells you where he is going. This has been so murky, so muddled that there's no predictability. And he likes to sort of throw people off their game a little bit. But this is like, Runaway Train Never Coming Back. And when it starts to get like that, it is hard to control the messaging, and that's the point that he's at right now.
PHILLIP: What kind of ceasefire negotiation would result in this kind of confusion? Why would the White House allow that to be the case on something such high-stakes in a moment --
SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, it's not a ceasefire. Yes, I don't think you can trust the Iranian regime now. Two, we can't control what the Israelis do. But I do think the administration needs to put some pressure on Prime Minister Netanyahu, don't get in the way of what the United States is trying to do here.
[22:05:03]
We certainly want to support Israel, I think that's important, but the president wants to open up the strait. There are real economic implications here for the American people. There are global economic implications here. And I think at this point, it's very clear to me that the White House is trying to do everything they can to bring some type of closure to this.
Israel's launching those strikes into Lebanon certainly does not help, one, but, two, what this also indicates to me, which is rather troubling, the Iranian regime appears to recognize they really can control the Strait of Hormuz. And that is problematic. That was never the case in the past. This creates further issues, I think, for the United States of America and many of our allies in that part of the world. Even if we somehow broker a deal with the regime, can Saudi Arabia, can Kuwait, can others in that part of the world, trust the Iranian regime not to close it again when they're unhappy about something? And that's an unpredictability that I'm not comfortable with.
PHILLIP: Yes. And they want to toll it. It's not just that it's -- it's bad enough that it's closed, but they want to charge people money to go through the strait. And President Trump, rather than saying, that's completely unacceptable, we need to go back to the pre-war status quo, he says to Jon Karl, we are thinking of doing it as a joint venture. He's talking about tolling the strait. It's a way of securing it, also securing it from lots of other people. It's a beautiful thing. A joint venture with the IRGC?
BRAD TODD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No. You know, this is just like when Donald Trump said that he was going to maybe put Trump Tower on the Gaza Strip, like that was a way to motivate --
PHILLIP: He did also say that, by the way, about Iran today as well.
TODD: That was his motive, way of motivating the Arab states to get busy about a Gaza ceasefire plan that they could enforce. This is his way of getting the United Kingdom. You know, Keir Starmer, the prime minister of the United Kingdom, is headed to the Gulf region. He is eager to help arrange a plan to keep the strait open once this is over. This is Donald Trump's way of kicking Keir Starmer and the E.U. in the pants and making sure they do that.
PHILLIP: Wait, what is his way of doing that? I'm not sure I understand that. What's the strategy?
TODD: His offhanded saying, we will move -- the United States will be a joint venture for Iran and toll, it's so preposterous that this is just another way to like --
(CROSSTALKS)
TODD: I want to go back to where we were just a second ago with Lebanon, and Hezbollah in Lebanon. You have Iran now basically taking full ownership of Hezbollah, basically saying, these are our troops, this is our projected force. That is a big change. And it tells you, once again, why we had to go to war with Iran. And if the Iranians can't get comfortable with the fact that once this is over with, Hezbollah is out of business, then there is going to be no permanent answer here.
PHILLIP: Well, I just want to make one quick note on the Lebanon piece because I think this is important. Israel is fighting Hezbollah. That's what they say. But we have to acknowledge hundreds of civilians are being killed. And today might have been one of the bloodiest days for civilians so far in this entire conflict. You cannot disentangle that from the military operation in Lebanon.
TODD: But getting rid of Hezbollah will be good for the people of Lebanon.
PHILLIP: Sure. But my point is --
TODD: The people of Lebanon would be better off.
PHILLIP: My point is today, this is the day one of the so-called ceasefire, probably the deadliest day.
SINGLETON: Yes, but not from the United States. This is from not another conflict.
PHILLIP: Absolutely, but here we are.
ASHLEY ALLISON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think there is (INAUDIBLE). So, the first is the clip in from Hegseth is saying all the mandates were met. We don't know what they are. We never knew what we were trying to get from this from the beginning.
Now, I am very clear Iran is our enemy, which is why it is ludicrous for the president to say, we're going to tax together. You can't make a business venture with your enemy, or if you do it's bad business, first of all, and they won't, right.
And so I think the problem is when we started this conflict, sure, everyday Americans, including myself, are not going to know the intimate war plans, or at least we shouldn't, when you don't accidentally send them over Signal. We should not know the war plans of --
TODD: We have to put that in --
ALLISON: I keep my receipts. But you shouldn't know the war plan.
TODD: She could do it again too. He'll deserve it.
ALLISON: Well, I mean, it's a fact.
TODD: He'll deserve it. He'll deserve it.
ALLISON: Okay, right.
TODD: Yes.
ALLISON: But you shouldn't know the war plans of a country, right? But you should know what your desired outcome is, and we never got that from the administration. And if we're just honest, we still don't have that clearly. It continues to move, and that is what feels destabilizing.
I think if the president would have come out and said, Iran is our enemy, I want to accomplish boom, boom, boom, whatever those things are, some people would be concerned, some people weren't. But the target seems like it keeps moving.
Now, you're right, you said it wasn't the most deadly day for Americans. But the question that I think people are starting to question is like, what is the value of a life right now in this conflict? And Hezbollah is an enemy as well, but the Lebanese people deserve to live with dignity and free, and I'm not saying that he, Hezbollah is allowing that, but we don't want to stoop to Hezbollah's level. We don't want to be at the level of the ayatollah.
[22:10:01]
And so when we do not have parameters that we follow and not become a war criminal, it becomes a very slippery slope. And then you start to wonder, like you're saying it's so the united -- or the E.U. comes to the table, but do they want to come to the table with somebody who doesn't value a life, whether or not, and it's an American life or not? And I think that is the murky part --
SINGLETON: See, Ash, I would just say quickly -- I would just say quickly that that is a very valid point and that's a bit a part of the conundrum with Israel. We can't necessarily control what the Israelis decide to do in this conflict that I think the president is trying to find an out here.
XOCHITL HINOJOSA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, hold on. But we negotiated --
(CROSSTALKS) PHILLIP: It's true, but they did back down immediately. They were like, well, Lebanon's not a part of it.
SINGLETON: Well, yes --
PHILLIP: Yes, I don't think they really tried that hard to stand up to --
SINGLETON: -- we're hearing that mixed messaging from the Israeli government before. They'll take an action and then they'll step back. That's not good to what the president's trying to do.
PHILLIP: I'm saying Trump is not standing up to anybody. He conceded the Lebanon point pretty much immediately as soon as they started complaining about it. So, here we are.
HINOJOSA: Well -- and also, I mean, whether -- they were part of the ceasefire deal. I mean, I think the fact that J.D. Vance, who is our chief negotiator in all of this, or now he's becoming, based on like what the negotiations are going to look like moving forward, is now saying that this whole thing on Lebanon and the ceasefire was a misunderstanding. It is amateur hour and you're dealing with a whole bunch of incompetent individuals if you can't negotiate a ceasefire and exactly what that ceasefire means.
The fact that there are so many lives in Lebanon that are now -- people were killed. Don't you think if you were part of the U.S. government, you would be able to have a clear deal, but instead this has only led to chaos? And the victory that Donald Trump and J.D. Vance and Pete Hegseth said yesterday and today that this whole ceasefire was a deal, there's nothing about this deal, this ceasefire, that is actually a victory. At the end of the day, there are people who died and --
PHILLIP: The Strait of Hormuz is still closed.
Let me take one moment to talk about perhaps one of the more important things here, which is the nuclear weapons. Here's what Karoline Leavitt said when she was asked about it today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Has Iran given the administration any indication that it would simply turn over the enriched uranium or is this an expectation that the president has that he would have to send in ground troops in order to do that?
LEAVITT: This is on the top of the priority list for the president and his negotiating team as they head into these next round of discussions. And as I said in my opener, that is a red line that the president is not going to back away from and he's committed to ensuring that takes place. We hope it will be through diplomacy.
REPORTER: Have they given any indication that they would turn it over?
LEAVITT: They have.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: Okay. So, look, maybe what she's saying there is true, but I think where we are is that all the sides do not agree on what they agreed to. Here is the Iran parliament speaker, Ghalibaf, saying in a tweet that one of the violations that they're claiming is that the United States has denied Iran's right to enrichment, which was included in the sixth clause of the framework. Where are -- are we on Earth and Mars? Like are we -- they're not even on the same planet.
TODD: Iran is not the equal and equal partner in these negotiations. They don't have any leverage. We're going to end this with the United States of America having secured the Strait of Hormuz for the free flow of commerce. Iran's going to have given up its nuclear program and it's going to agree to not fund its proxies.
NINAN: How?
TODD: That's how this ends.
NINAN: How?
TODD: That's how this ends. Well, they have to --
NINAN: That is just a dramatic dream that it's not having --
(CROSSTALKS)
NINAN: The Strait of Hormuz (INAUDIBLE), what we ultimately have is easy pass for the Strait of Hormuz. Was that the biggest win that we got from this war is we now have easy pass in the Strait of Hormuz?
When you look at insurers who are shipping, you know, on the shipments, on the cargo shipments, they're not backing down on their pricing and that's what the markets are watching.
SINGLETON: It's gone 5 to 10 percent, yes.
NINAN: But when you look at them, they are -- it's a recalibration of risk in the market right now. It's not a, we believe this is peace. It's how do we recalibrate this moment. And the markets don't buy it. Even though we're seeing relief today, I don't think --
(CROSSTALKS)
TODD: But it's the first day. The markets are waiting first.
ALLISON: Would I worry that -- can I be honest what I worry what happens, is that we're at like week six, seven now of this war. What if in like four more weeks, six more weeks we actually get back to basically the same place we were when we started and we just -- and the strait is open? And I get it, I understand there navy, it has been -- but there are still humans that can rebuild ships and rebuild. And they're not going to just succumb to -- and so I guess I worry is like, have we done any of this for like an actual win for the American people?
[22:15:01]
TODD: Like a ten for the win?
ALLISON: A ten for the win. And I don't know what that is, and I'm not asking it as a political --
SINGLETON: No, I think it's a fair point from my perspective, I think we have got to stop their ability to enrich uranium. That, to me, should be a nonstarter. Now, what does that look like? The facilitation of seizing that, I'm not exactly sure. I am worried that the regime will now feel more emboldened because maybe they'll realize if we get a nuclear missile quicker, then this won't happen again. And so we have to figure out how to stop that.
PHILLIP: And it does -- I mean it does, at the very least, sound like they believe that a core thing -- a core tenet that they want to come out of these negotiations is a recognition of their right to enrich uranium.
SINGLETON: And that has to be nonstarter. That's a nonstarter.
PHILLIP: I mean, it's a problem.
TODD: That has to be a walk away thing and start bombing again. That's a --
SINGLETON: We just can't accept that.
PHILLIP: How long are we going to be willing to just bomb them? I mean, this is the core problem, I think.
TODD: You have to weed the garden every once in a while. And until the Iranians decide that they're going to be nice to their neighbors, they're not going to threaten western civilization, then they're going to be constantly going to threatening --
SINGLETON: They got to stop funding proxy groups across the globe.
TODD: Correct.
PHILLIP: All right, guys, lots more to discuss.
Next for us, he's been threatening to leave NATO for weeks now, ripping allies for not helping with the war. Well, today, Trump met the head of NATO and is reportedly floating punishments.
Plus, just a short time from now, we are expecting to hear live from the Artemis II astronauts while they're out in outer space.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:20:00] PHILLIP: Tonight, President Trump is yet again lashing out at NATO. In a new post on Truth Social, he wrote, NATO wasn't there when we needed them, and they won't be there if we need them again. Earlier, Trump faced NATO's chief for a meeting at the White House as the war with Iran widens rifts in that alliance. Trump has grown frustrated with many allies for not supporting this conflict, and he's threatened to dump NATO all together.
But when he was asked if that came up in their discussions, NATO's secretary general apparently remembered the five dodgeball Ds, dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Did he say he's withdrawing?
MARK RUTTE, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: Well, let me be absolutely clear. He is clearly disappointed and -- with many NATO allies. And I can see his point.
TAPPER: Did the president say he was going to try to withdraw from NATO, or at the very least not support NATO as much as other presidents have?
RUTTE: Well, as I said, there is the disappointment clearly. But at the same time, he was also listening careful to my arguments of what is happening.
TAPPER: On a scale of one to ten, one being not worried at all, ten being terrified, are you one, I'm not worried at all, ten, I'm really worried Trump is going to pull out a NATO?
RUTTE: Well, I'm not going to get into that -- answering that question.
TAPPER: I'm just trying to get an answer.
RUTTE: No, I understand. I understand. But what I felt today this was a meeting between friends, because we like each other, I really admire his leadership.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: Oh, he's good. He knows what he is doing. He's really trying to avoid widening the rift further. But just to reiterate the tweet that I read from -- the Truth Social post I read from President Trump, that came after the meeting, okay? After the meeting, he said that they are no good, useless, and that he's going to get out of it. I mean, it's not looking good.
HINOJOSA: Yes, that was playing to Trump's ego right there. He couldn't say anything bad about him, says he really likes him. A lot of -- everybody knows that they have to do that and to play and to actually keep Trump sane, not doing anything crazy.
Here is the reality. Trump went into this war without briefing our allies. Now, he's criticizing our allies for not getting involved in a war that they had nothing to do with in the first place, and then trying to reverse 80 years of precedent and relationship with NATO.
And at the end of the day, Trump, as much as his motto has been throughout this presidency and the last presidency, that I alone can fix it, he alone cannot fix this. And now he is learning the hard way. And you're going to continue to see the frustration from Trump and from our allies behind closed doors. It looks like that meeting did not go well. And it'll be interesting to see at the end of his presidency where our standing is with NATO.
TODD: NATO's stronger today than it was when Donald Trump came in office, and it's because Donald Trump has prodded the Europeans to step up. All but one country, NATO's now on a pledge to get to 5 percent of their GDP on defense spending. That's a figure we're not even at yet. That is real progress and the alliance is going to be left stronger by Donald Trump.
He's not going to get out. Marco Rubio has championed the law that made it so that the president can't unilaterally pull us out of NATO. That's not going to happen. This is more prodding by the president to try to kick Europe in the butt, and they deserve it.
We also know that the NATO allies that didn't allow us to help here, they're guilty of coddling Iran. They're guilty of letting this country get to a point where it's a terror to the entire world. And they absolutely should do what America says in this.
PHILLIP: How so?
TODD: Because they've continued to let this regime go. They've pushed to relieve sanctions on them. They've sent them cash. They've done -- engaged in commerce with them. They don't support the United States' efforts to isolate them. Europe's on the hook for Iran's continual existence as a threat to the entire world.
ALLISON: But you guys also say that about every other president other than Donald Trump, like you just said that we pushed NATO allies to increase defense spending. But what good does it do if it won't -- they won't do it to support us? They're -- so like -- it's like what are we are -- we are building -- we are pushing people to do things, but we are still alienating them when they do it.
And I just want to say, I don't think this just has to do about the war.
[22:25:00]
I think for the entire presidency of Donald Trump, he has done stuff to agitate people who call us allies, from the tariffs to the war. And I think this is -- they might say, go do it, and then what?
NINAN: You know, what would a win really have been like for him at this point? You know, they know what they're getting when they come to the White House. He played the game. He did it well. What Europe wants is stability and predictability. They know they're not going to get it from President Trump. That's not what he serves up. And so where do they go? They're trying to figure out their way. They've increased in defense spending because they know they've got to figure it out and create their own ecosystem.
But I give him an A-plus for how he handled it today, because what were you going to expect to turn around? Like let's be -- let's --
PHILLIP: Let me play, this is J.D. Vance on Tuesday. He's was in Budapest, Hungary, and he took actually several swipes at NATO while he was there. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VANCE: We want you to make a decision about your future with no outside forces pressuring you or telling you what to do. I'm not telling you exactly who to vote for, but what I am telling you is that the bureaucrats in Brussels, those people should not be listened to.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: I mean, to have an American vice president go -- and, by the way, he's campaigning in a foreign country for a foreign head of state, and then take a swipe at our own allies. What are we doing here?
SINGLETON: Look, I don't -- I'm not necessarily opposed to criticizing some of the inactions from NATO during the conflict. I have some issues with that. But as a conservative, I do think alliances are an inherent duty that we should preserve. I think NATO, which we were the key architect of creating back in the late 1940s in Washington, D.C., is something that's going to be more critical as Russia becomes more aggressive, as we've seen their actions in Ukraine. China has becoming more aggressive across the globe, particularly South China Sea, throughout Africa. They've done some things in the Caribbean, Brazil, et cetera, strengthening relationships there. NATO is going to become even more critical in the future, I predict, than it is in this very moment.
And so being critical, I'm okay with that to an extent, but I certainly don't want to dismantle it because I think it's going to be fundamental to preserving western civilization probably in the next five to ten years.
PHILLIP: It also strikes me that this war in Iran is fundamentally a decision to strike first, to basically say, we're going to take this threat off the table. And NATO is a defensive alliance. And I think part of the problem for the NATO countries is that they weren't -- nobody brought them into the consultation to take this step in the first place. And then on top of that, now they're seeing a conflict that they don't think really has much of an end. I think they're asking, what do you really want us to do here?
NINAN: Yes. And I think part of it is, you know, when you go it alone and you don't have people having your back, this is where you get stuck. And we're in this quagmire really of what is next, what comes next out of this. Nobody knows. And I think that's the problem businesses have. You look at sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East, you look at banks, they don't buy this right now because they don't know where the market is going next because they don't understand what is going to happen in the Middle East next. It is so unpredictable. We don't know what the what next is. It hasn't been articulated to us and it seems like a Wild, Wild West. So, that unpredictability is what's going --
HINOJOSA: The unpredictability part of all of this is what continues to hurt our economy. And I feel like we have been having this conversation since day one of Donald Trump's presidency where the unpredictability is hurting us with not only our allies but here at home and with the economy, with the markets, and with everything that is happening.
And I just think this is a conversation that we continue to have because this man is out of control and he continues to do things and say things and changes things and people don't know whether to believe him or not, or what he's going to do next. It's unstable.
PHILLIP: And, Brad, is NATO even -- let's be honest. I mean, some people have said NATO is already effectively done, that, you know, they're raising their defense spending not because they want to do it to make Trump happy but because they realize that they actually need to be self-reliant, more independent from the United States. Have we already crossed that river?
TODD: No. NATO's, a vital partnership going forward but it's a junior partnership and a senior partnership. The Americans are the senior partner. We put 80,000 American lives in Europe to protect Europe for the last 70 years. They owe it to us to follow and not try to lead. And that's the situation.
You know, we have -- right now, we have Navy personnel in Spain. Spain wouldn't even allow us to overwrite flights. And we're spending money there. We're protecting Spain, we're protecting Germany, we're protecting them from Russian aggression as the frontline. So, NATO does have an essential future.
And I get that European politicians want to posture at home too.
[22:30:00]
Remember, we are assigning some political motives to President Trump here. There are political motives for the European leaders too.
ALLISON: Brad, when have you ever won an argument telling somebody they owe you something?
TODD: You don't have -- it's not an argument. It's a ledger. It's not an argument.
ALLISON: When have you ever won? When have you ever gotten what you want me to say you owe me, you have, that's just not, and a nation is not going to just yield. These are still elected individuals who have constituents that are not us, Americans. So, go talk to the people about --
(CROSSTALK)
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR: You're right. They have their politics, too, and I think that also needs to be respected, and it's clearly not by this administration. Next for us, though, Trump's escalating rhetoric around Iran is still a hotly contested topic here at home, and the White House is now defending it, so we'll debate that. And we are now minutes away from hearing from the four astronauts who are aboard Artemis II as they travel back from their historic mission to the moon.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:35:38]
PHILLIP: Threatening to destroy a whole civilization and accused of mocking an entire religion, Donald Trump's violent and callous rhetoric in Truth Social posts this week has been the subject of international condemnation. Asked by reporters today about the President's posts, Karoline Leavitt, the press secretary, insisted that Trump's threats were real and argued that Trump hasn't ceded the moral high ground.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I understand the questions about the President's rhetoric, but what the President cares most about is results. And in fact, his very tough rhetoric and his tough negotiating style is what has led to the result that you are all witnessing today.
The world should take his word very seriously in understanding that the President is always most interested in results. And it was the Iranians who backed down, not President Trump. The President absolutely has the moral high ground over the Iranian terrorist regime. And for you to even suggest otherwise is frankly consulting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: So, is what she's saying that it's possible to threaten to end a civilization while also having the moral high ground?
TODD: Karoline Leavitt has tough job. You know, I prefer presidents who communicate through official channels with official language. That is not how Donald Trump communicates. Most people who support him don't agree with all his tweets. They wish he'd tweet less. When we do political focus groups, I work on political campaigns, and if you go to a focus group of Trump supporters, that's the first thing they'll tell you. Because I wish he would tweet less. I wish he wouldn't tweet it right. And I wish he wouldn't tweet some mean things.
PHILLIP: They've been saying that for 10 years.
TODD: And that's his supporters that say that, right?
PHILLIP: Yes.
TODD: So -- and Karoline Leavitt has to, of course, communicate to you the fact that he is engaging in some strong leadership. It doesn't always come through in the face of the way he talks on social media.
ALLISON: I mean, you know, Brad, you asked me how my Easter was and I didn't have like an easy answer. And then I was like, well, I couldn't even remember what day it was to be honest. But then I was like, why do that? Why was my Easter troubling? Because like you wake up to nasty tweets from the leader of the free world. That's just not -- I got a lot of calls. I talked to a lot of people that day that were very scared. They were scared.
(CROSSTALK)
REENA NINAN, FOREIGN AFFAIRS ANALYST: And that's -- I'll tell you, 24 hours ago I got a call from the Middle East, from Egypt, saying that the word on the street in Kuwait that a friend told them, you have to stay inside your home from midnight to 6 A.M. This was not random gossip. It was the government essentially telling them, do not leave your home. You know, meanwhile, in Israel, there's like a countdown as to when this deadline was going to be like it's a New Year's Eve special.
So, you see these two different sort of takes on how the seriousness of this moment and the immediacy of it, and how scary it is for people. Remember, Israelis have been in bomb shelters for weeks inside, unable to get out.
ALLISON: But I was talking about Americans.
(CROSSTALK)
NINAN: I'm not even talking about people. I'm talking about --
(CROSSTALK)
NINAN: -- the real psychological fear for both sides --
(CROSSTALK)
ALLISON: We're saying the same, right, but it's the fear is across the globe, right? We're talking about people who are thinking -- and I -- and the conversations that we're having, they actually were not about Democrat and Republican. They were about leadership and they were about where America stands in this moment. And there was -- there was this fear of the disregard for human life and those in those messages. And on Easter Sunday, the day of redemption, the day of salvation. It was unsettling.
TODD: To me it was inappropriate. It was more than unsettling.
PHILLIP: Shermichael, let me show you this because this is interesting. Nine of the top ten best days for the S &P 500, they occurred every time Trump backed down on either a terror threat or a war threat okay? The market is basically saying, thank you, Mr. President, for not following through. The taco trade is extremely profitable. To me, that tells us a couple of things. One, that if you go by the markets, they're saying the action that the President threatened, they thought that would be terrible. Tariffs being one big one.
And then the other thing was that when he backs down, people are betting that he will back down and they are making money off of it.
SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: The betting market is one thing but I think what the market is signalling is that it wants stability and predictability.
[22:40:00]
And the President loves to talk about the stock markets and how great the economy is doing. And if I were advising him, my advice on this would be just step away from a little bit of the chaos. And I think if you're a good advisor to the commander in chief, you would look at the stats you just showcased and say, if you want Republicans to run on a strong economy, on more jobs, on affordability, then let's do the things that create a system where this persists versus one where it ebbs and flows. But I don't think you're seeing a lot of that.
(CROSSTALK)
NINAN: -- what he thrives on. You know, he treats geopolitics like private equity. Find the distressed asset, bring it in, and then rinse and repeat. You know, sell it at a high cost. And so, everything in geopolitics is like some sort of a deal. And that's the price that people are paying now.
XOCHITL HINOJOSA, FORMER DNC SPOKESPERSON: Well, wiping an entire civilization is a war crime. Just the fact that you're saying that you are going to go and kill civilians, that is a war crime in itself. The problem and the reason why Trump feels so emboldened to say something like that and to tweet about it without checking with anyone -- I hope he did not check with the Department of Justice, that's a whole other legal problem.
But without even checking with his advisors is because he -- the Supreme Court was very clear that Donald Trump can do whatever he wants. He can kill whoever he wants. He can -- absolutely has full immunity if he wanted to kill whoever, and the only entity that can hold him accountable is Congress.
PHILLIP: All right, we got to leave it there. Everyone, thank you very much for being here. And next for us, a special treat. Any moment now, we will hear from the Artemis II astronauts live as they make their way home to Earth. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:46:14]
PHILLIP: The Artemis astronauts are speaking to the media from space as they make their return back home. Let's listen. (LIVE COVERAGE BEGINS)
VICTOR GLOVER, ARTEMIS 11 PILOT: From in integrity, we are ready for the event.
UNKNOWN: NASA Public Affairs Office, please call Integrity for a voice check.
COURTNEY BEASLEY, NASA PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICER: Integrity, this is NASA PAO Courtney Beasley. How do you hear me?
GLOVER: Hey Courtney, we hear you, but you are very low.
BEASLEY: Okay, I will try to talk a little bit louder. Reid, Victor, Christina, and Jeremy, it's great to see you today. We have a room filled with media eager to talk to --
UNKNOWN: Courtney, we have you loud and clear. Anytime.
BEASLEY: Wonderful. We have a room full of media ready to talk to you today, and we also have them on our phone bridge. We have a limited amount of time, so we're going to go ahead and hop straight into questions. We'll start here in the room with Marcia Dunn. Go ahead.
MARCIA DUNN, "ASSOCIATED PRESS": Marcia Dunn, Associated Press for you, Reid. Could you please describe your emotions when Jeremy called down to Mission Control to ask permission to name a lunar crater after your late wife, Carroll? It was a pretty emotional, powerful moment down here.
REID WISEMAN, ARTEMIS II COMMANDER: Marsha, it was a powerful moment up here, as well. My crew mates approached me when we were at Kennedy in quarantine and they said, hey, the three of them had talked and they would like to do this. And that was an emotional moment for me. And I just thought that was -- that was just a total treasure that they had thought through this and they had offered this.
And I said, absolutely, I would love that. I think that's just the best. And I said, but I can't give the speech. I can't give the talk. And Jeremy, the kind of guy he is, he said he would do it. And it was getting emotional there and I think when Jeremy spelled Carol's name, C-A-R-R-O-L-L, I think for me that's when I was overwhelmed with emotion.
And I looked over and Christina was crying. I put my hand down on Jeremy's hand as he was still talking. It was right there on that rail and I could just tell he was trembling. And we all pretty much broke down right there. And just for me personally, that was -- that was kind of the pinnacle moment of the mission for me.
That was, I think, where the four of us were the most forged, the most bonded, and we came out of that really focused on that day ahead. I think that was a very caging moment for the four of us. Thank you for that question, and it was a great moment.
BEASLEY: We'll take our next question in the room here from Joey. Go ahead.
JOEY ROULETTE, "REUTERS" SPACE REPORTER: Thanks. Joey Roulette with Reuters. I'm curious, Reid, and for anyone else who wants to answer it, how has the mission changed you guys personally, and your views of the moon?
[22:50:02]
These photos make it look kind of intimidating and beastly, and just curious to hear your thoughts on how you guys have also changed during this mission, personally. Thank you.
JEREMY HANSEN, CANADIAN SPACE AGENCY MISSION SPECIALIST: We -- I had an opportunity earlier to answer this question from my own perspective and we have seen just some extraordinary things. Things that I thought we might see, they looked similar to what I thought they might look like and other things that I just had never even imagined.
And those were different perspectives that we saw these things from. But I have to say it hasn't changed my perspective or the perspective that I launched with. The perspective I launched with was that we live on a fragile planet in the vacuum and in the void of space. We know this from science. We're very fortunate to live on planet Earth.
And the other perspective that I've sort of learned from others through life is that they're, you know, our purpose on the planet as humans is to find joy, to find the joy in lifting each other up by creating solutions together instead of destroying. And when you see it from out here, it doesn't change it. It just absolutely reaffirms that. It's almost like seeing living proof of it.
BEASLEY: Okay, we'll go ahead and take one more question here in the room and then head to our phone bridge. If you are on the phone bridge and have a question, just a reminder to press star one. Jackie, go ahead.
JACKIE WATTLES, CNN SPACE AND SCIENCE WRITER: Hi, Integrity. It's so wonderful to speak with you. This is Jackie Wattles with CNN. Obviously, there is a huge moment coming up with re-entry. Can you describe your feelings, how you're preparing for that moment, mentally and physically? And then as you prepare for the end of the journey, what are some moments that you know that you'll take with you for the rest of your life from this journey? Thank you.
GLOVER: You know, this, it started off sounding like an easy question for me to answer and then it got really big. But I guess the entry thing, I'll be honest and say, I've actually been thinking about entry since April 3rd, 2023 when we got assigned to this mission. And one of the first press conferences we were asked, what are we looking forward to?
And I said splashdown and it's kind of humorous, but it's (inaudible) as well, that we have to get back. There's so much data that you've seen already, but all the good stuff is coming back with us. There's so many more pictures, so many more stories. And gosh, I haven't even begun to process what we've been through. We've still got two more days.
And riding a fireball through the atmosphere is profound, as well. So, I have to answer that question later. I'm not sure, but I can tell you it's a lot and lifelong memories. I'm going to be thinking about and talking about all of these things for the rest of my life for sure.
BEASLEY: All right, we'll head over to our phone bridge. Our first question there is from Kelly Malone with "Canadian Press." Go ahead.
KELLY MALONE, "CANADIAN PRESS": Hi, this is Kelly Malone with the "Canadian Press." There's a lot of excitement about scientific advancements as a result of the mission. You just spoke about the data and I know you've spoken about training on robotics in Montreal.
What are the takeaways from the mission so far that might be applied to robotics or other international tech efforts in the future? And just a quick personal note for Jeremy, I'm told you got a surprise message from your family. Can you share what it was like to hear from them?
[22:55:00]
HANSEN: Well, when I think about the Artemis program in general, you are, I mean we've already seen some investments in pushing robotic technology forward for deep space that we're going to see put to good use in one way or another. And this is the beauty of this program that brings an international collaboration, sets big goals and doesn't just talk about them but goes after them and gets it done.
We're going to need the advances in robotics. It's really hard out here. It's -- we're a long way from home. We've been learning the entire journey. We've been watching mission control, learn. You do a lot of testing on the ground, but your final test is when you get this hardware to space and it's a doozy. And our team has just performed. They've just knocked it out of the park, but it doesn't mean -- it might look easy from the outside.
We can tell they are working so hard on the ground to do this and we really appreciate them. And so, when we get these next generation robotics on the surface of the moon and out in deep space, there's going to be some challenges, there's going to be some failures along the way and there's going to be some learning that happens.
On the personal note, yes, I had some videos from all of my family, my three children, Devin, Ashley and Caitlin and my wife Catherine. And when you're out, in deep space by the moon and you are listening to a video they recorded for you before you launch. That's something.
BEASLEY: Okay, our next question is from Micah Maidenberg with "The Wall Street Journal."
MICAH MAIDENBERG, "THE WALL STREET JOURNAL" REPORTER: Hi, good evening. For anybody who'd like to answer, how do you think the flight has contributed to the broader Artemis program? Of course, it's not over yet, but what do think the crew has already brought to the table for the next couple of missions? Thank you. CHRISTINA KOCH, ARTEMIS II MISSION SPECIALIST: Well, I love this
question because part of our ethos as a crew and our values from the very beginning were this is a relay race. In fact, have batons that we bought to symbolize physically that. We plan to hand them to the next crew and every single thing that we do is with them in mind.
Oftentimes, it's actually easier in human spaceflight, especially on a first mission, to accept some of the things that aren't working quite right or the operational workarounds. And we have actually been diligent to try to fix everything and we're always thinking from the perspective as what is the next crew going to think about this? How will this help them to succeed?
So, manual piloting the vehicle, making sure that the procedures and the processes for making everything work are all as they should be. Then there's the human side of it. How are our provisions? How are our food? How is the human system working in here? Taking the time to do all of the developmental flight test objectives that have been scheduled.
So, both in the vehicle and all in the last three years, we've really just worked to make sure that they are set up for success. And that's all of the teams, not just the crew, but the flight control teams, the mission engineering rooms, the launch teams, everyone.
We've just, hopefully, we've done our best to bring folks together and to make sure that we can be the best that we can be. Obviously, just testing, putting humans in this vehicle is the easy thing to see, and we hope that we've capitalized on that and made it as much as it can be for our time here.
BEASLEY: Our next question is from Alex Wilson with "The Weather Channel."
ALEX WILSON, "THE WEATHER CHANNEL" METEOROLOGIST: Hi guys, thank you so much for your time. You're space experts yet time and time again, we've heard you amazed by things that you've seen on this mission. So, what has been the biggest scientific surprise or discovery for you?
GLOVER: I -- the whole mission, truly the whole mission. But you know, we saw really amazing simulations made by our lunar science team about what the eclipse would look like when the moon was, you know, 30, 35 times bigger than the sun. But seeing that --
[23:00:00]
BEASLEY: Communications, we should be regaining them here.
