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"We Will Remember": Trump Warns Allies To Help Secure Strait of Hormuz; Senate Investigation: Drugmaker Avoided Fines And Profited After Pulling Kids' Asthma Inhaler; More Than 300 TSA Agents Quit As DHS Shutdown Drags On. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired March 16, 2026 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:30:40]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking this morning the disruption in the Strait of Hormuz is sending oil prices soaring to their highest level since 2022. Rising oil prices also mean soaring prices for Americans at gas stations around the country. The national average is now $3.72 a gallon.

Over the weekend Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, pushed back on concerns that the oil disruption in the Middle East could eventually spark a recession.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN HASSETT, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: We expect that the global economy is going to have a big positive shock as soon as this is over, and we're still being briefed that it would be four to six weeks from the beginning and that we're ahead of schedule.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: CNN Business executive director David Goldman joining me now. Thank you for being here.

First, I'm curious how long can this go on with these spikes in prices and this problem in the Strait of Hormuz where there's a huge disruption. How long can it go on before there is lasting damage economically?

DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN BUSINESS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: We're already seeing lasting damage. I mean, we've got oil prices at their highest point since, you know, 2022. We all remember what happened in 2022. An inflation crisis is very, very damaging and if we continue to have oil prices here for the next few months, we could be back there again, and that isn't anything that anyone is itching to see today.

SIDNER: David Hastert (PH) had a very rosy picture of what he sees happening worldwide because obviously it's not just gas prices -- everything goes up. Because diesel is up, the trucks that go and get food and go and get supplies -- they are going to be paying more as well. What did you make of the way that he talked about this?

GOLDMAN: Well look, I mean, we already know that prices of gas are going up. They're -- today, they're at their highest point since 2023. And diesel is on the verge of hitting $5.00. We're one penny away from that.

And so everything that goes on a truck -- that diesel cost is going to add cost to everything that's getting shipped to you and me. So, you know, perishable food items like dairy, meat, fish, fruits, vegetables -- those are already starting to go up.

But that's not the only problem. The Strait of Hormuz, which we know is closed, a third of fertilizer products get shipped through the Strait of Hormuz and that means that all of those ingredients for farmers -- that's going to get more expensive too.

Aluminum prices are going to go up. Helium prices. About 20 percent of the world's helium comes from -- through the Strait of Hormuz. And that is going to hurt chip production, which means that cars, microchips, computers, smartphones -- all of that is going to get more expensive too.

SIDNER: Yeah. A lot of people -- all the connections that are there we sometimes forget but you certainly notice it when you go to buy a product --

GOLDMAN: Exactly.

SIDNER: -- and that's a problem.

David Goldman, it's always a pleasure. Thank you so much.

GOLDMAN: Thank you.

SIDNER: John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, with us now is former national security adviser in the first Trump administration and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton. Ambassador, thanks so much for being with us.

So last night President Trump called on NATO allies to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz. He said, "It's only appropriate that people who are the beneficiaries of the strait will help to make sure that nothing bad happens there. If there's no response or if it's a negative response, I think it will be very bad for the future of NATO."

That was a statement to The Financial Times.

Now this morning, just a few minutes ago, the foreign minister of Germany said he does not see NATO assuming responsibility for reopening the straits.

So where do you think that leaves things? JOHN BOLTON, FORMER TRUMP NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: Well, I think there's a real problem here. I've been saying for the last two weeks I think that among other mistakes Trump made before undertaking this operation was not consulting adequately with our allies. He also didn't prepare the American people and didn't prepare the Congress.

And I say all this as an advocate of regime change in Iran. I want this mission to succeed. It's just inconceivable to me that the prospect of the Strait of Hormuz being closed wasn't part of the decision-making that led up to the go-ahead.

Back when I was in the White House and vigorously advocated as vigorously as I could overthrowing the regime in Tehran, closure of the Strait of Hormuz was always a subject of discussion.

But here I think not only the political groundwork wasn't laid with the allies, I'm surprised that the military hadn't done more earlier to remove what is clearly one of Iran's most important retaliatory strike capabilities -- not just its ballistic missiles, not just its drones, but closing the Strait of Hormuz, which is what it has accomplished.

[07:35:07]

BERMAN: What does it tell you that the president seems to be asking for help now -- you know, two weeks into this conflict?

BOLTON: Well, you know, normally you build a coalition of the willing before you go to war. I mean, that's just a tip from somebody who has been there. Our coalition was the U.S. and Israel. I'm great with that coalition.

But we should have gone to NATO members -- not to tell them the operational details or the timing but to say look, we're going to take serious action here. It's time for this regime to go. You are threatened by Iran's nuclear capabilities and aspirations. You are threatened by Iran's terrorist activities. We want you in this with us.

Now maybe we wouldn't have gotten all of NATO but if we had worked the issue, it's at least possible that we would have gotten some from the outset and as things developed during the last two-plus weeks we could've brought them in later. But none of that preparation was done and we're now seeing the downside.

And I'll tell you, tweeting out or saying in a press release you want China to help you open the strait is not the way to do this. This is what quiet diplomacy may succeed at -- no guarantees. But you don't get it by publicly demanding that they come in.

BERMAN: CENTCOM sending a Marine expeditionary force -- about 2,500 Marines, maybe more to the region.

What difference do you see that potentially making? BOLTON: Well, there are a lot of missions that might be considered for. I've believed for some time that at an appropriate time, which is not now but perhaps when the regime is collapsing, seizing the key nuclear sites -- Fordow, Natanz, Isfahan, and maybe others -- could be critical to prevent enriched uranium, centrifuges, and other materials related to the nuclear program from falling into the wrong hands and getting to terrorists or other rogue states.

It may be they've got something in mind for some of the islands in the Strait of Hormuz as defensive positions there.

And I think, again, this may make sense militarily but why didn't we do it, like, three weeks ago?

BERMAN: Ambassador, you just said before you are a firm supporter of regime change in Iran and you have been for decades. But what does that mean today?

If President Trump today, tomorrow -- you know, Wednesday, said OK, we're done there. The regime has been crippled. They've got no more missiles, no more navies, how close would that be to the regime change that you advocate for?

BOLTON: I think if you don't get regime change now this military activity could be said to make the question worse. We've now got real evidence that closing the Strait of Hormuz can cause economic pain. And if the ayatollahs and the Revolutionary Guard survive in power they will go back to their nuclear weapons program. They will go back to increased international terrorism.

That's the whole point of regime change -- that the behavior of the people running the country now is not going to vary. Their ideology, their fanaticism drives them to do what they've been doing these past 47 years. Now you either live with that, which I think is unacceptable, or you get rid of them.

BERMAN: Does that just mean the new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, whether he is alive or not -- I mean, obviously, he put out that statement before the United States says he's badly injured. Does that mean just him -- get rid of him or get rid of more?

BOLTON: I think you need to get rid of the Islamic Revolution. I think the people of Iran support it. I think there's overwhelming opposition to the regime.

But another failure before the launch of hostilities was, as far as I can tell from the outside, an almost total lack of cooperation and assistance to the opposition inside the country. They're going to have to have a major role in causing cracks and fissures at the top of the regime and leading to its collapsing. And it's not clear to me that we're doing much of anything with the opposition.

BERMAN: Ambassador John Bolton, thank you for your time this morning -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you, John.

As law enforcement in the U.S. is on heightened alert due to the war, we are learning new details about the man who attacked a synagogue in Michigan last week. The FBI says 41-year-old Ayman Ghazali drove a car packed with explosives into Temple Israel outside of Detroit in what the agency called a targeted act of violence against the Jewish community.

The Israeli military now says Ghazali's brother was a Hezbollah commander killed in an Israeli airstrike earlier this month. Ghazali, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Lebanon, was previously flagged by the U.S. for potential connections to Hezbollah, though he was not believed to be a member himself.

CNN senior national security analyst Juliette Kayyem is joining me now.

If Israel is correct here does this appear to be the war coming home -- a revenge antisemitic attack here?

[07:40:05]

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST, FORMER ASSISTANT SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, PROFESSOR, HARVARD UNIVERSITY (via Webex by Cisco): So that's a good question if Israel is correct because obviously there were -- there was reporting last week that another brother and some children were killed in the launch, so we'll -- the FBI will be investigating that.

The most important thing though is whether correct or not is whether Ayman Ghazali, the man here who launched the antisemitic attack in Michigan -- whether he had any ties to his brother, to Hezbollah, when were those ties, and then were they directed in any way? We have no evidence now that is true.

But if you are investigating this case in the atmospherics that we're in -- which is, of course, not just the war in Iran -- or against Iran but Israel's war in Lebanon, which may have been the trigger in this case because he's Lebanese. In any of those instances the most important thing is, is there any tie between the terrorist groups there and the perpetrator here.

SIDNER: Yeah. I mean, I guess the next question is because this is going on and this has become a regional war if you will --

KAYYEM: Yeah.

SIDNER: -- how likely is it that you're going to see more of these kinds of asymmetrical responses where people are going out to or inspired by what is going on abroad and then they look for sort of soft targets here? I mean, what can be done about that?

KAYYEM: Well, it's a -- it's a great point.

And I don't agree with John Bolton, who you just had on, about the war itself. I will agree with him on sort of his shock at the lack of preparation from the homeland security front. I feel the same way that the president has not addressed the American public in a formal manner. He has not prepared us for what is the most obvious consequence.

It is not just Iranian state sponsored terrorism; they've been in that for decades. Like, we knew that. It's just like -- you know, that is not a surprise. It is also the elevated threat environment in terms of radicalization. These environments are ones in which terrorist groups -- many who may have sympathy to those terrorist groups become radicalized.

And everyone in my field knows it. There has been almost no discussion about it. The FBI has not issued any bulletins about what the threat environment is.

And, of course, as we know, both because of DOGE and some of the firings that have happened at the FBI, in particular -- the FBI and their focus on immigration, I can't say that we're in a strong position for the threat environment that we're in right now. It really just has not been addressed by the United States right now. There's been lots of talks about fears of sleeper cells.

The bigger concern is exactly what you said, which is a radicalized environment when men unjustifiably, of course, and illegally attack communities, soft targets, the Jewish community simply to cause harm.

SIDNER: Juliette Kayyem, it is a pleasure to talk through this with you. Thank you so much -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: So a CNN exclusive report for you now. A CNN -- a Senate investigation has found that a major drug company used a legal loophole to dodge hundreds of millions of dollars in government penalties and fines they have found, all while families struggle to find a specific type of asthma inhaler for their kids. And lawmakers are now accusing GlaxoSmithKline of making even more money than off a generic version of this exact same thing.

CNN's Meg Tirrell has much more of the detail on this -- on this report. What are you learning, Meg?

MEG TIRRELL CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Kate. Well, this is about a drug called Flovent, which was one of the most commonly used asthma inhalers for kids.

And early in 2024, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), the maker of this drug, pulled it off the market and replaced it with an ostensibly identical -- what's known as an authorized generic version of this drug. But it turned out that thousands of families didn't have the same insurance coverage for that version of Flovent and for some families their cost went up $200 for one inhaler for their kids.

And so Sen. Maggie Hassan's office started investigating what happened here and her report, which we got to see exclusively, showed that there were impacts on families.

In one instance, a pharmacy benefit manager's data cited in this investigation showed that use of these drugs in general, known as inhaled corticoid steroids, went down by 20 percent after this drug came off the market and was replaced. And hospitalizations related to asthma went up by 17 1/2 percent in the months after this all happened.

[07:45:00]

Now she notes that -- Sen. Maggie Hassan notes that this happened after a law change that would have increased the penalties that drug companies have to pay to Medicaid tied to increases on drug prices. And the price of Flovent -- GSK raised it by almost 50 percent between 2014 and 2023.

And the investigation cites estimates showing that if GSK had kept Flovent on the market it could have had to pay rebates to Medicaid of more than $300 million on that drug. Instead, for the replacement version, which GSK partnered with another drug company on, Medicaid ended up paying more than $500 million for that drug.

We talked with Sen. Hassan about her warning that this could happen again unless Congress acts. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MAGGIE HASSAN (D-NH): Well, we are working in a bipartisan way to close this loophole. I think one of the things that Congress has to acknowledge is that if we don't make sure that pharmaceutical companies can't do this kind of maneuver even though the maneuver is wrong, even though it really hurts people, that alone won't necessarily stop big pharma from gaming the system in this way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TIRRELL: So guys, it sounds like stay tuned for some bipartisan potentially legislation getting introduced from Sen. Hassan and others to try to close this kind of loophole.

BOLDUAN: Meg, how is GSK responding to this?

TIRELL: Yeah. GSK told us that it's going to continue to engage with Sen. Hassan's office and said in a statement the company "?as always been and will continue to be strongly committed to ensuring patients, especially children, have access to the medicines they need, including to our wide portfolio of treatments for respiratory disease."

And Kate, we should note that a true generic version of this medicine has just been approved so hopefully, access will continue to improve to it. But it was a real ordeal for many families who went through this in 2024.

BOLDUAN: No. I mean, my jaw dropped when you said for some families it went up by $200 for one treatment. I mean, that is a barrier to entry, a barrier to medication for many families. That is wild and so sad.

Meg, thank you so much for this -- bringing this to us. I really appreciate it -- John. Oh! Ahead for us -- sorry about that. Ahead for us, the spring break travel season is off to a rough start. We're going to take a look at this video that we're showing you. This is -- we have to speed it up because the line is so long. That's the security line winding outside of Austin's airport and around the block.

Now the CEOs of the biggest airlines are calling out Congress and telling them to essentially do your job and fund the Department of Homeland Security to stop this dangerous mess.

Also the Oscar goes to -- the night of historic firsts at the Academy Awards.

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[07:52:22]

SIDNER: Historic firsts, memorable tributes, and a very big night for two films. At last night's Oscars, "One Battle After Another" and "Sinners" collected an armful of gold statuettes, including best picture for "One Battle After Another" and best actor for the star of "Sinners."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADRIEN BRODY, ACTOR: And the Oscar goes to Michael B. Jordan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Why'd we cut it off? It was so -- oh, there is goes -- OK.

Joining me now is CNN entertainment reporter Lisa Respers France.

Michael B. Jordan playing both twins in that film. It had to go to him, but it doesn't always go that way and this time it did, and there's a standing ovation. Tell us about that moment.

LISA RESPERS FRANCE, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: Yes, that moment where we see Michael B. Jordan winning and he's there with his mom Donna and he just kind of puts his head against hers, it was so sweet. And just to see the joy. I mean, look at Teyana Taylor jumping up and down. Everyone was so thrilled.

The thing about Michael B. Jordan is he is loved. He's beloved, Sara, in Hollywood. And, you know, he got up and he gave a great speech. I think we have some of that. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL B. JORDAN, OSCAR WINNER FOR BEST ACTOR, "SINNERS": I stand here for -- because of the people that came before me -- Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Jamie Foxx, Forest Whitaker, Will Smith. And to be amongst those giants, amongst those greats, amongst my ancestors, amongst my guys -- thank you everybody in this room and everybody at home for supporting me over my career.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANCE: So, you know, him, you know, mentioning his ancestors is so important Sara because that movie "Sinners" -- you can feel the ancestral tie and pull and power in that film. So it was just great. And, you know, again, look at the audience. They just -- they love Michael B. Jordan.

And, you know, the speeches last night, some of them were really moving and I especially loved Jessie Buckley when she won for her incredible performance as Shakespeare's wife in "Hamnet." And she reportedly is the first Irish actress to win best actress. And she got up and she really moved the crowd with what she had to say. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JESSIE BUCKLEY, OSCAR WINNER FOR BEST ACTRESS, "HAMNET": This incandescent woman and journey to understand the capacity of a mother's love is the greatest collision of my life. It's Mother's Day in the U.K. today --

(Applause)

BUCKLEY: -- so I would like to dedicate this to the beautiful chaos of a mother's heart.

(Applause)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[07:55:00]

FRANCE: Ahh, the beautiful chaos of a mother's love. I mean, so perfectly said, Sara. And, I mean, I want to get that on a tattoo. It's just great. It's just great.

SIDNER: Yeah, it really, really is.

FRANCE: There were also -- yeah. I'm sorry, go ahead.

SIDNER: No, go ahead, go ahead.

FRANCE: I was going to say there was also, you know, a moment of sadness because we had Billy Crystal intro -- you know, paying tribute to Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner. Of course, we tragically lost them.

And they -- just Billy Crystal came out to speak about just the love of Rob Reiner for films and the love that people have for Rob Reiner. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILLY CRYSTAL, ACTOR, COMEDIAN: I want you to know here and around the world how many times Rob told me that it meant everything to him that his work meant something to you. And for us who had the privilege of working with and knowing him, and loving him, all we can say is buddy, what fun we had storming the castle.

(Applause)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANCE: How incredibly touching that was, Sara. It was such a moment. It was a sad moment but to see all of these stars who had worked in his various films come forward to honor him, it just -- it really did something to our hearts last night, Sara.

SIDNER: It did, and the audience too. Another standing ovation.

Lisa Respers France, thank you so much for that wrap-up. Really, really cool -- John.

BERMAN: Those were the casts of some of my favorite movies right there.

All right, disturbing new video this morning. A New York taxi slammed into two women standing on the sidewalk outside a deli. We froze the moment just before impact there but it's horrifying. Both of the women and the driver were taken to the hospital. It's not clear what led to the crash.

A skier in Washington State rescued a fellow skier who was buried, seemingly head first under deep powder. You can see it there. The rescuer said he stopped when he saw the legs flailing. He was able obviously to clear him out and make sure the guy who fell was breathing. Luckily, everything ended up OK.

And California, do not try to cheat yourself into the carpool lane. Highway patrol busted a man who propped up a jacket to make it look like he had a passenger in the front seat. Highway patrol pulled him over and cited him for a violation that could cost about $500.

Aren't mannequins -- I actually think a lot of people use mannequins to try to scam the carpool lane. Don't do it. It's not cool, Kate.

BOLDUAN: I mean, I -- this is one area that you and I agree, J.B.

BERMAN: The only.

BERMAN: It's a wonderful thing. Let's end the show on a high note like that today.

Here we go. Let's turn to this. The partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security has dragged on now for a month and this weekend that reality hit hard, hitting thousands of TSA workers across the country as they missed their first full paycheck. The fallout this time almost immediate as we've now learned that more than 300 TSA agents have quit and call-outs have tripled.

Here is the transportation secretary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEAN DUFFY, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: These are men and women who don't make a lot of money. And so some of them are making choices to go, you know -- whether they're driving Uber or, you know, waiting tables, they have to put food on their family's table. And these places where this is happening, you're seeing really long lines.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Really long lines. The lines at security at some of the major airports in the U.S. have just been bonkers. This is video of the security line outside Austin-Bergstrom Airport just this morning, stretching outside the airport by a long, long way -- unacceptable.

Joining us right now is CNN transportation analyst Mary Schiavo. Mary, just first and foremost, I mean, what do you think when you see those lines?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN TRANSPORTATION ANALYST, FORMER INSPECTOR GENERAL, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (via Webex by Cisco): Well, I'm outraged because Washington seems to have total amnesia -- complete memory loss.

Because we created the TSA after September 11 to be our last line of defense against real and immediate danger. If terrorists get through the security checkpoints, they will take over the plane. On September 11, 2001, 19 for 19 got through. And we created the TSA, so we'd have a professional-trained, background-checked force to stop terrorists and other criminals who want to attack aviation.

And to have them serve without pay -- and by the way, airports across the country right now are collecting nonperishable food items and gift cards so TSA agents can eat.

I mean, it's outrageous because the danger is real. It's immediate, particularly now. If you get through security the danger is there. And last year alone, the TSA took 6,678 guns off of passengers, 94 percent loaded.

So I'm outraged that Washington has forgotten why we have this professional force and that they don't respect them enough to pay them. And we've seen this before. I went through many shutdowns as IG and after the first full paycheck is missed that's when people start quitting. You can't blame them.

BOLDUAN: Yeah, you can't. Truly, you can't.

And now major U.S. airlines are calling out Congress as well, essentially saying do your job.