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Alexander Vindman is Interviewed about Iran and Cuba; Mayor Brandon Johnson is Interviewed about Jesse Jackson. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired March 06, 2026 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

NATASHA SARIN, PROFESSOR OF LAW AND FINANCE, YALE LAW SCHOOL: Things like wind power or solar power. But one of the benefits of a shift to renewables is it actually removes you from being at these types of moments where this incredibly volatile market is exposed to the types of risks that come from this type of geopolitical uncertainty. And the thing is, like, this is an administration who for some time was saying they'd like to see oil prices down to $50 a barrel, and that would be a way to curb inflation.

We're now in a situation where oil prices are edging up towards and analysts think a prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz could mean oil prices around $100 a barrel or more. That is hugely significant. And we, frankly, do not have the capacity in a moment when so much is so unaffordable for so many to be in this type of a situation.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, the trickle down is -- it's going to -- it's a huge blow.

Natasha, it's great to have you here. Thank you for running through some of all that's coming in. I really appreciate it.

SARIN: Thanks so much for having me.

BOLDUAN: Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, ahead, breaking news this morning, President Donald Trump speaking to CNN about the war in Iran, saying, choosing a new leader will work like it did in Venezuela. He also mentions Cuba. We will talk to you about exactly what he told our Dana Bash, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:35:30]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, breaking just a short time ago, President Trump posted on social media, quote, "there will be no deal with Iran except unconditional surrender," and pointing to "the selection of a great and acceptable leader."

Let me read it. He goes, "there will be no deal with Iran except unconditional surrender. After that, and the selection of a great and acceptable leader, we and many of our wonderful and brave allies and partners will work tirelessly to bring Iran back from the brink of destruction."

He also talked with Dana Bash on the phone just moments ago about the idea of having approval over the next supreme leader of Iran.

With us is retired Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, former deputy -- former director of European affairs at the National Security Council. He is running for Senate in Florida.

Colonel, thanks so much for being with us.

Unconditional surrender by Iran, now a demand in this war, and also the selection of what he calls an acceptable leader. Your reaction?

LT. COL. ALEXANDER VINDMAN (RET.), FORMER DIRECTOR FOR EUROPEAN AFFAIRS, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: Complete and total chaos. And I think a president and an administration and a Republican Party completely detached from reality. At the tactical level, the U.S. military is performing exceptionally well. Could have been better if we had chosen to partner with Ukraine in defending the skies better against Iranian drone swarms.

At the operational level, the region is on fire. Iran is lashing out in every direction, bombing different sites, U.S. sites, economic infrastructure.

At the strategic level, utter chaos. We have Iran providing intelligence to -- Russia providing intelligence to Iran. We've sidled up to Russia, Ukraine trying to help us defend the skies in the region.

BERMAN: OK.

VINDMAN: We've we burned bridges with the Ukrainians. U.S. out. This whole thing is -- looks like a bunch of chaos.

BERMAN: Let's take that in parts here. First of all, you said the region's on fire. Missile strikes from Iran down 90 percent in one week. Drone strikes down more than 80 percent. That's on fire? That seems to be getting better over the last seven days.

VINDMAN: Our military is performing exceptionally well, knocking down targets as they see them. But what this tells me is Iran is in this for the long haul. They are not looking to do this in one quick burst, like they try to do over the course of the 12-day war. What they're looking for is a long campaign, a grinding campaign, wearing the U.S. down, not one in which they're going to accept and roll over for regime change, one in which they expect to punish the region. We see that playing out in the economic plane extremely severely.

The Strait of Hormuz has been de facto -- or de facto closed, which is going to create a spike in oil prices. That is supposed to be a point of pain.

I think the fact that there is chaos with regards to Americans and European citizens trying to get out. That's a political point of pain. This is not going to be a campaign that anytime -- ends anytime soon. This is the long haul.

BERMAN: You, as I mentioned, are running for Senate in Florida as a Democrat. Cuba, famously 90 miles from Florida. The president, on the phone with Dana Bash, just said moments ago, Cuba is next. He's going to send Marco. He means Secretary of State Marco Rubio. I don't know exactly what he intended by that. But Cuba is next. Your reaction. Would you like to see the fall of the current Cuban regime?

VINDMAN: John, this is an administration that's picked seven fights, including with three countries that we never had a really -- a bone to pick with. He's looking for an eighth. This is not where the priorities of the people of Florida are. They're concerned about the fact that there is reporting now, including credible reporting, that a barrel -- per barrel price could reach $150. We're talking about a massive surge in oil prices for a population that's already struggling under the weight of affordability crisis. With regards to housing, the most expensive insurance in this country. Health care. He's looking to pick another fight.

And this -- he's not looking for regime change in any real sense. He's looking to be able to put in his own leadership. But the Castro regime would remain, just like the Maduro regime would remain. And the ayatollah regime would remain, just with potentially different leadership.

So, this is not regime change in any traditional sense with democracy taking hold. The Cuban American population is not interested in that. We're not interested in the chaos, the corruption or the costs.

[09:40:01]

So, if you're with me in this fight, I'm running for U.S. Senate. Join me at alexvindman.com and help me end this chaos.

BERMAN: You're not -- are you for regime change in Cuba or not?

VINDMAN: I'm not. Well, so, this is not -- again, this is not what the administration is for. They have not actually pursued regime change anywhere. They've just tried to put their own players in there, folks that they think they could puppeteer. The Castro regime, based on what -- everything that we've seen, the Castro regime would likely stay in place and there would be no change towards democracy, which is completely misaligned with the Cuban American population and certainly completely misaligned with the focus on just living our lives here in Florida and not having massive surge in gas prices or any costs and any other corners.

BERMAN: So, the president's threatening action of some kind against Cuba. Iran, obviously. Venezuela. All Russian allies. Is Russia weaker this morning than it was a week ago?

VINDMAN: I think that's a -- that's an interesting question. Russia is weaker pretty much every day. And part of that is the fact that the Irani -- the Ukrainians have been extremely effective on the battlefield, weakening Russia kind of at its core. Certainly, its allies are being picked off one by one around the world. But that's because those were all mirages anyway. Russia didn't have muscles to flex. They couldn't bolster a Maduro regime. They can't bolster Castro. They can't support Iran, except with regards to intelligence exchanges and helping the U.S. target Russia.

But this is also a Trump administration that is happy to sidle up to Putin and cast aside our traditional NATO allies and Ukraine. Again, completely unrecognizable with the way we conduct ourselves and sheer chaos.

BERMAN: Colonel Alexander Vindman, we appreciate your time this morning. Thank you very much.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, soon the doors will open for the homecoming celebrations to the late Reverend Jesse Jackson. Coming up, I'll speak with the mayor of Chicago about the civil rights leaders legacy.

And we're learning new details this morning about the traffic stop that landed Britney Spears in jail. The pop superstar was arrested and accused of driving under the influence.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:45:41]

SIDNER: This morning, in Chicago, you're looking at live pictures where former presidents and residents are gathering to celebrate the life of Reverend Jesse Jackson. Reverend Jackson spent his entire life fighting for civil rights. In the '60s, he marched with Dr. Martin Luther King and was there in Memphis at the horrible moment when he was assassinated.

In the decades after that terrible moment, Jackson formed the Rainbow Coalition. Here he is talking about it in 1984 in Philadelphia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REV. JESSE JACKSON, CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER: It's time for a new course. A new coalition. A new leadership. Somebody got to rise above race, rise above sex. A new leadership. A choice. A chance. Don't cry about what you don't have. Use what you got.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Those fiery speeches got people going. Jackson passed away last month at 84.

Joining me now is a man inspired and encouraged by Reverend Jackson, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.

Thank you so much for being here. I know it's wild just hearing his words and his fervor back in the day, which continued throughout his life.

What did Reverend Jackson mean to your life? MAYOR BRANDON JOHNSON (D), CHICAGO: Yes. Well, thank you for giving us

the opportunity to celebrate the life and the legacy of Reverend Jesse Jackson Senior.

He was a friend. He was a mentor. He was an advisor. I had a chance to meet Reverend several years ago while organizing for the Chicago teacher's union and organizing for public accommodations. And I gained so much strength and confidence from his example. And from a public school teacher to an organizer and now mayor of the city of Chicago, my life certainly is definitely indebted to the great work and the inspiration of Reverend Jackson.

SIDNER: I do want to ask you about his ties to Chicago, because he was born in Greenville, South Carolina, during segregation, but he has some really deep and long ties with Chicago. Explain to us what those are. I mean at one point he was given the key to the city.

JOHNSON: He was. We honored him a little bit over a year ago. You know, we don't just hand out keys in Chicago to anyone. And the only other person of his stature that received a key from the city of Chicago was President Nelson Mandela. That's how sacred that that ceremony is.

And, you know, Reverend Jackson came to the city of Chicago because the movement for civil rights needed a northern strategy. Dr. King came to the city of Chicago, faced power and said, you know, he had never experienced the type of visceral that he experienced in Chicago. And that included the deep south. And then he said, Jesse, you're in charge of it now.

And when Reverend Jackson took the helm of the civil rights in the city of Chicago, he led a community based organization, the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization, as their first executive director, Operation Breadbasket, to feed the needy. Then, of course, he formed this Rainbow Coalition that still stands strong today, whether fighting -- whether he was fighting for civil rights, labor rights or fighting to make sure that we were ending endless wars, Reverend Jackson's ties to the city of Chicago and how we've come to love him and to adore him and to admire him is because he understood that everybody was somebody. And whether you were a child care worker or whether you were a global king, he recognized that our connectedness to one another is what ultimately is going to save our humanity.

Chicago is his place. You know, we know that. You know, Greenville claims him. But, you know, he developed and built his chops right here in what I described as the greatest city in the world, the city of Chicago.

SIDNER: I do have to ask you, you talked about, you know, him protesting against wars. On the streets of Chicago it looked like war for a while when the immigration crackdown was happening there. I just wanted to get your sentiment on the fact that Kristi Noem, the DHS secretary, has been fired and is being replaced. What do you make of that? And do you think that was absolutely the thing that needed to happen?

JOHNSON: It was necessary. And this is really -- should just to be the beginning of a shift in our politics.

[09:50:01]

You know, I remember a time in which we had presidents that declared war on poverty, and now we have an administration that has declared war on poor people, the most vulnerable of us all. And, you know, Kristi Noem and the Trump administration have left a trail of tears. Individuals have been murdered and shot. Tear gas indiscriminately released on residents across the city of Chicago. Using the advice of Reverend Jackson and his legacy. I signed multiple executive orders to protect Chicagoans to ensure that our humanity can remain intact. It is well past time that this country uses the example of the model that Reverend Jackson led, as they crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge. They knew that they would experience hatred on the other side of that bridge. But what they were also confident in was that America could reach its full potential if we all understand our connectedness one to another.

And so whether it's a bridge or whether it's a border, Reverend Jackson understood that we're all connected to one another. Suffering anywhere by anyone is suffering for all of us. And until we're all healed, none of us really are. And so, this is a step in the right direction. The city of Chicago is going to continue to lead the way. The example that Reverend Jackson set, he built presidents, he's built movements and, of course, what an incredible just display of honor to be able to speak and serve the city that he served.

SIDNER: Yes. He leaves behind a huge legacy. Mayor Brandon Johnson, thank you so much. I do appreciate you taking the time with us this morning.

John.

BERMAN: All right, rescue crews raced to save a fisherman pinned between two boats in frigid waters.

And the man who was unlocking the world of Legos for the visually impaired.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:56:08]

BOLDUAN: Britney Spears was arrested yesterday on suspicion of driving under the influence. This happened near her home in California. The pop star has since been released from jail. Police say that she was driving erratically when they pulled her over. She now has a court date set for May.

A fisherman got trapped in frigid waters in Massachusetts. He's alive today, though, thanks to the officers who jumped in to action to rescue him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on. Let's go now. (CROSS TALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, we got him. We got him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: So, this isn't just your typical, as we covered during the winter, like someone fell into icy waters. You can see the officer kind of holding that man. What happened is he fell, it appears, between two docked boats or between two big docks into the water. Officers, they first lowered a buoy and eventually were able to pull the man to safety. This morning he is reportedly OK, being treated at the hospital.

Building with Legos is a rite of passage for, well, kids and adults. Now, a man in Massachusetts is making Legos more accessible for people who are blind. Most Lego instructions are images. So, this man, Matthew Schifrin, started the charity Bricks for the Blind. The organization translate those diagrams into braille instructions that can be read. The nonprofit has translated instructions for more than 500 sets so far.

SIDNER: I love Legos.

BERMAN: That is awesome.

SIDNER: So cool.

BOLDUAN: And that is a great idea.

SIDNER: Wasn't it cool?

BOLDUAN: Yes.

SIDNER: I love it.

BERMAN: That's fantastic.

All right, that is all for us on CNN NEWS CENTRAL. In the mortal words of Barry Manilow, looks like we made it.

"THE SITUATION ROOM," up next.

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