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Interview with Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA): Senate Democrats and GOP Split Over Whether There's a Plan to Reopen Strait of Hormuz; Wild Swings in Oil Prices Amid Iran War. Attacks on Tankers; DHS Pushes for Access to Restricted Child Support Database. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired March 12, 2026 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

CHRIS WRIGHT, ENERGY SECRETARY: So yes, American continues to strive ahead for energy independence, certainly from our foes.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'll be looking forward to seeing how that two-and-a-half-year timeline looks and continue to cover your efforts on that front as well. Secretary Chris Wright, thank you for coming in today -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: That was a fascinating discussion, one of the first uses of short-term sacrifice I've heard from an administration official. Also, the idea that oil could reach $200 a barrel, unlikely, he said.

All right, new surveillance video from Florida, as an Amazon driver stepped out of her truck and was hit by a car. The car did not stop. Amazon says their driver is OK and recovering at home. A different camera on the street also had footage of the incident. That's just terrible. Police are searching for the hit-and-run driver.

In Florida, a man in a motorized wheelchair was rescued from the water. He fell in after the ramp he was using to board a boat just collapsed there. They tried to help. Bystanders tying ropes around the wheelchair to keep the man's head above water. It was too heavy.

The whole thing was just too heavy to lift out completely. The chair alone weighed 200 pounds, so a deputy eventually swam him to shore.

And Kansas City would-be thief found out the hard way that he tried to steal from the wrong woman, a former defensive tackle for the Kansas City women's football team.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My first instinct was to tackle him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do you wrap him up?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Like a big bear hug, but more impact.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: She grabbed him by the hoodie and then tackled him to the ground, and then he got a lecture.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Searching for something.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, ma'am.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I work hard for my --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know, ma'am.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: She says the suspect had stolen jewelry that he had taken from someone else or somebody on him, including an engagement ring.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news. New video of flames exploding in the Persian Gulf as Iran attacks more tankers overnight. The flow of oil is being choked off.

Gas and diesel prices are shooting up, and analysts say this is the worst global energy supply disruption ever.

In New Mexico, renewed scrutiny over a ranch once owned by sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. What Epstein's accountant testified to about that ranch.

And a police officer and firefighter saving a life together after a woman is trapped in a burning car.

I'm Sara Sidner with John Berman and Kate Bolduan. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BERMAN: All right, we do have breaking news. Some new video just into CNN. That's one of two oil tankers that was hit off the coast of Iraq.

Iran has claimed responsibility. This is part of the reason why your gas costs more this morning. In all, at least six ships have been struck in just the last two days in that region.

The International Energy Agency calls it the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market. Fuel depots in Bahrain, Oman in flames. Iran really does seem to be stepping up the attacks.

The Strait of Hormuz, where about 20 percent of the world's oil normally passes through, is now paralyzed. And like seconds ago, Kate was speaking with the Energy Secretary Chris Wright, and really for the first time from an administration official, he was talking about the idea of short term pain, that people would need to go through short term pain. But he argued it's worth it.

This is what he had to say about the Strait of Hormuz.

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CHRIS WRIGHT, ENERGY SECRETARY: The Straits of Hormuz needs to be and will be reopened. The U.S. military is there to solve a long term problem, which is Iran's had 47 years and ability to threaten the Straits of Hormuz. And not long from now, Iran would have nuclear arms and a massive missile program surrounding that.

This was a can that could not be kicked down the road one more administration. We need to defang and we are defanging Iran's abilities to threaten American troops in the areas, its allies, its neighbors and global energy markets.

So, yes, you've got to go through short term pain to solve a long term problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: And he also said that U.S. vessels may help escort tankers through, but not now because they're being used elsewhere. You can see behind me oil prices now at $92 a barrel. That's up pretty hefty amount overnight.

They have been over $100 at one point, paired some of those gains. This is despite the Trump administration and the international community pledging to tap strategic petroleum stockpiles. There is more mixed messaging from the president about how long this war will last during once speech in Kentucky.

He declared both that the U.S. had won, but also that it's too early to leave. So a lot going on -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Joining us right now to talk more about this is Democratic Congressman Seth Moulton, Massachusetts. He sits on House Armed Services.

[08:05:00]

He's also running for the Senate. Congressman, thanks for coming in. I want to ask you just your reaction to our conversation --

REP. SETH MOULTON (D-MA): Hey, Kate.

BOLDUAN: -- my conversation with the Secretary of Energy just now talking, making very clear, and he said it a couple of different ways that people need to be prepared for short term sacrifice, in his view, to fix a long term problem, but also making clear that the Navy is not yet ready to escort any shipper, tanker, cargo through the Straits of Hormuz.

MOULTON: I mean, Kate, it was a remarkable interview because he was the first administration to say, as you've said, that we need to accept short term pain. But usually that's followed by long term gain. And right now, with no strategy for this war, no plan to end it.

And actually, things are worse than when we began. It's very hard to argue that they're solving any problems. You know, they can destroy a bunch of ballistic missiles.

But what matters is how quickly Iran rebuilds them. They can destroy their nuclear weapons program. But they told us just months ago that it was, quote, obliterated.

That was obviously a lie. And they say that this is meant to open the Strait of Hormuz. But guess what?

The Strait was open before the war. And now Iran has it completely locked down. So this administration is totally lost in the sauce.

They can't justify their war. We're spending a billion dollars a day. Gas prices are going up.

Seven Americans are dead. Hundreds more are wounded. It's really hard to say that this is worth the pain.

BOLDUAN: With the Energy Secretary also just facing the reality of needing to try to get through a crisis, the United States announced they're releasing 172 million barrels through the Strategic Reserve in the United States in coordination with a really unprecedented announcement from the IEA of 400 million barrels to be released from a total of 32 nations. Your reaction to you applaud the effort to at least tackle the problem right now?

MOULTON: No, they're not tackling the problem very effectively because gas prices are up everywhere you look. Heating oil prices in New England are up. They're not effectively tackling this problem.

And the reason we have a strategic petroleum reserve is for emergencies beyond our control so that if there is a natural disaster, if some other country starts a war, we have a reserve to fall back on. But this was a war of choice. You're not supposed to tap into your strategic petroleum reserve to solve a problem that the president created himself.

BOLDUAN: I asked as Iran, put out a statement saying that the world needs to prepare for $200 a barrel oil as this continues. I asked the secretary about that. He said that was unlikely.

But it just kind of speaks to this uncertainty of -- the uncertainty of the moment that we're looking at here. I mean, what do you see as the best next step for the United States when it comes to achieving military objectives and also trying to minimize the economic impact that is unfolding in the United States and around the world?

MOULTON: I mean, Kate, it was remarkable that he said unlikely because what he's actually saying is it's possible oil could double in price and go to $200 a barrel. That just shows that they have absolutely no plan here. And their measures to control oil prices are totally ineffective.

But they also have no plan to even achieve their war aims. And look, we all hate --

BOLDUAN: Do you applaud the --

MOULTON: -- the Iranian regime.

BOLDUAN: Do you? And I was going to ask you that, Congressman, if what is achieved in weeks, not given a timeline here, is taking out their ballistic missile capability, taking out their basically entire Navy and maybe more is does that make America safer?

MOULTON: No, because what matters is what they rebuild and what their intentions are when they do so. We can destroy five thousand of their ballistic missiles or seven thousand. But what matters is how quickly they rebuild them and what they want to do with them next.

And it seems like they've been emboldened by Trump's action. Same with their nuclear weapons program. We used to have a deal.

It wasn't perfect, but it had a deal in place that Trump himself was seeking to restore to have eyes on their program, because an important point is not how much we destroy it, but what they do when they rebuild. And likewise, you know, we never heard talk about the Iranian Navy before this war even began. But then Hegseth introduced that as a new military goal.

So he destroyed the Navy. And guess what? They still closed the Strait of Hormuz, and they seem to be doing it pretty effectively.

In fact, we've heard one report that to reopen the Strait, we might even have to put ground troops into Iran. I mean, this is an unmitigated disaster of the Trump, Hegseth making.

[08:10:00]

And I don't see any benefit coming out of it, even though I would love to see a better Iranian regime that was not threatening us and our allies all around the globe.

BOLDUAN: Seems an important day today amongst many with as this war unfolds. Congressman, thank you so much for coming in. I appreciate your time -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Thank you, Kate. We had new CNN reporting this morning on how the DHS is trying to access a child support payment database to use for immigration enforcement.

Also, President Trump has promised to endorse a candidate in a key primary runoff race. So what's stopping him? And what are those candidates doing about it?

And the Coast Guard stopped suspected drug smugglers in a submarine filled with thousands of pounds of cocaine.

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SIDNER: New this morning, a data sharing debate.

[08:15:00]

CNN has learned the Department of Homeland Security wants access to a sensitive federal database used to track child support payments. According to sources, DHS officials claim the information could help track down undocumented immigrants. But critics say it was never meant to be used for that. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez has this new reporting. What is the response from DHS?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, there's really a lot of concern within the Health and Human Services Department because this database lives with them. Look, this is yet another attempt by the Trump administration to find data across various federal agencies to potentially find undocumented immigrants. And what we're talking about here is the Federal Parent Locator Service.

This is a set of databases for the purpose of child support payment collection. So it includes, for example, information on people who are paying child support. But it also houses another database that is even more comprehensive.

And that is employment information of millions of Americans. The reason for that is employers will report to the federal government new hires. And it creates this directory for the Health and Human Services Department to cross-check and use for the child support payment collection.

Now, if you are not paying child support and you're not involved in child support in any way, then your information eventually gets deleted. But ultimately, you're looking at a trove of information that is held within the Health and Human Services Department. Now, because of that, this has been legally restricted information.

The federal law states who is authorized to use it and handle it. And the various authorized uses for the database. And so for that reason, former HHS officials I've been speaking with say, the Department of Homeland Security is not an authorized user, nor is Immigration Enforcement an authorized user.

So for that reason, they are concerned about this ask at all. Now, again, it's unclear whether the Department of Homeland Security would have success in accessing this information. And in a statement, the Health and Human Services Department said this quote, "ACF," an internal agency, "has not received a request by DHS to access the federal parent locator service. We remain committed to look for ways to take a whole-of-government approach and break down information silos within the bounds of existing law."

Now, attempts by DHS to access information has come in various forms. Over the last year, it could be talks with high-level officials, or it could be what we call memorandums of understanding between the two agencies. We actually saw this with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Internal Revenue Service when they were trying to use taxpayer data to try to find undocumented immigrants.

So this is part of a string of attempts to, again, use for the purpose of, or potentially use for the purpose of, Immigration Enforcement. I should also note, Sara, that immigration status is not included in this database, but you can discern who is or isn't an immigrant by their Social Security number. And one other thing on this, undocumented immigrants can sign up for child support. This is not a public benefit nor paid by taxpayers. So for all of these reasons, officials are concerned that any attempt to use this for immigration could sow distrust in a critical program in the U.S.

SIDNER: All right, great reporting from you as always. Priscilla, thank you so much --John.

BERMAN: All right, U.S. veterans seeking medical care, struggling to even get an appointment. A new report finds nearly a million calls going unanswered and untracked.

And war robots are here. A look at the human-like AI-powered robot soldiers that could soon identify targets and use weapons. What could possibly go wrong?

[08:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Just moments ago, Kate had a really informative interview with the Secretary of Energy, Chris Wright, as the war with Iran is creating what are being called historic disruptions in global oil supply.

This is what he just told Kate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WRIGHT: President Trump's thinking long term. He's not thinking about next month. He's thinking about what's best for the American people, what's best for the American economy, and what brings safety to our troops in the region and brings prosperity to the Middle East.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, with us now is CNN Washington Bureau Chief and Political Director David Chalian. What struck me there is when he said President Trump's not thinking about the next month. Oil prices are at $93 a barrel.

He said it's unlikely but not impossible they'd go to $200. I was thinking about what Republicans, elected Republicans around the country, might be thinking when they heard that President Trump's not thinking about the next month.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF AND POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes, let me tell you, Republicans on Capitol Hill, whose names are on the ballot this year, John, they're thinking about this on a day-by- day, if not hour-by-hour kind of timeline because they were already entering a very tough political environment. And we are not that long before a political environment tends to settle. And Republicans are keenly aware of that.

So what you're hearing, what we're hearing from Republicans on Capitol Hill, is not that they are not supportive of the president's efforts here in Iran. Most of them are. But what we are hearing a lot of is looking for some kind of endgame plan, how the U.S. gets out of this successfully, and the president turns the attention back to the number one issue for American voters, which is their economic situation.

BERMAN: OK. Obviously, when he's focused so much on Iran, that's not focused on the economic situation. But if he is focused on something domestically, it doesn't really appear to be the economic situation either.

He's obsessed with this battle right now inside the Republican Party, in the Senate mostly, over the Save America Act. This has consequences not just in the Senate, but also in Texas. Explain.

CHALIAN: Yes, so this, Donald Trump has now said, as you know, the Save America Act, which is sort of putting in measures for photo ID for voters, proof of citizenship, also has some transgender policy restrictions on surgeries and the like that Donald Trump has introduced into it.

[08:25:00]

He says this is the piece of legislation he wants on his desk to sign, and he doesn't want to sign anything else or do anything else until that happens. How does that happen, given that John Thune, the majority leader in the United States Senate, has says there are not the votes to do that? They don't have the votes to break a Democratic filibuster. Well, Donald Trump says, get rid of the filibuster.

John Thune says we don't have the votes in the Republican conference here to get rid of the filibuster, which, you know, protects the minority right in the Senate and sort of sets a threshold on legislation at 60 votes. So there's a total logjam right now. And what we saw, you mentioned Texas, is there's that runoff between John Cornyn and Ken Paxton.

Ken Paxton, the scandal-plagued attorney general, and John Cornyn, the establishment, not necessarily a MAGA-aligned Republican senator, the incumbent. They're in the midst of a 12-week runoff now. And many Republicans in the establishment think Cornyn is a much safer bet so that you don't have to spend a ton of money in Texas to try to hold a red state. They're not sure Paxton can do that as the nominee in Texas.

Donald Trump has promised an endorsement in this race. And guess what the price is for his endorsement, John? He wants the SAVE Act. And so Cornyn has totally flipped now on the filibuster. He says he is for getting rid of the filibuster and passing the SAVE America Act.

And Paxton has said if indeed that happens and if indeed Donald Trump endorses Cornyn, Paxton may consider dropping out of the race. It is all tied up in this overall piece of legislation, John, that Donald Trump believes will give Republicans a better chance at mitigating this tough political environment come the fall.

BERMAN: You did a great job explaining something that's happening right now at about six different levels in several different geographic locations. David Chalian, a pleasure to see you this morning. Thank you very much -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: This morning, oil price whiplash continues. Oil prices topping $100 overnight, then dipping as Iran continues its attacks on fuel, oil and infrastructure. The Secretary of Energy just now telling us the idea of oil reaching $200 a barrel, unlikely.

Plus, responders, first responders.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WRIGHT: We are focused on the military operation and solving a problem. I'm not going to guess on short term trading.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Much more on our conversation with the Secretary of Energy coming up. Also this, first responders reuniting with a woman that they helped save from this burning car. You have to see this.

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