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Trump Slams NATO Over Iran War, Says U.S. Doesn't Need Help; Bondi, Blanche To Meet With House Oversight Committee; GOP Candidate Wants Women Who Sell Nude Images To Pay "Sin Tax." Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired March 18, 2026 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Iran has also what are called limpet mines. These are smaller and are placed on a vessel by a diver, and they explode after a set amount of time. So the goal is usually to target the underwater gear of a ship.

According to estimates by the Defense Intelligence Agency, Iran has about 5,000 naval mines, which is part of what makes the waterway so extremely dangerous for ships.

CNN senior international correspondent Ivan Watson is at a busy shipping lane in Hong Kong with more on the story.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Sara.

I want to show the viewers some of the kinds of ships that are involved in this war around Iran.

This is an LPG tanker that was in the Gulf in February and actually made it out through the Strait of Hormuz before the war broke out. Many ships like this are trapped in there right now and threatened by Iran if they try to navigate the narrow Strait of Hormuz. A ship like this is longer than a football field. It's worth tens of millions of dollars without its cargo.

And there have been at least 16 suspected attacks on commercial shipping in the Gulf in the Strait of Hormuz since the breakout of the war and Iran has threatened more attacks. The speaker of the Iranian Parliament putting out this statement. "The Strait of Hormuz situation won't return to its pre-war status."

We've seen tankers hit by underwater vehicles off the coast of Iraq claimed -- those attacks claimed by Iran. A cargo ship from Thailand hit last week in the Strait of Hormuz. Three of its Thai crew members still missing. A tanker ship off the coast of the UAE hit Monday while it was anchored. So ships like this have been targets.

And while the Trump administration is talking about possible escorts for them, look how big and vulnerable they are and easy to hit with something like a drone or a sea mine or a missile. Difficult to do in a narrow channel like the Strait of Hormuz where you could only get seconds warning before the launch of one of these weapons.

No country has volunteered to help the U.S. police the Strait of Hormuz. Instead, Iran is trying to impose conditions, suggesting that there are countries negotiating with it to allow safe passage of ships if they paid for their oil with Chinese currency. India and Pakistan have both gotten ships out in the last week. We saw a ship from Hong Kong go in in the last week. So Iran is threatening ships like this and trying to impose conditions.

And as long as ships like this can't go through, expect the prices at the gas tank, the prices for things like plane tickets to stay high because that's 20 percent of the world's oil trapped inside the Gulf right now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, with us now retired U.S. Army Brigadier General Steve Anderson. Also, former U.S. ambassador to NATO, Kurt Volker.

This is a live look at the traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. Really, not much traffic at all. Very few ships going through.

And Ambassador, the president very publicly asked NATO for help. Here's a map of all the NATO countries. All the NATO countries from Canada to every one of the countries in Europe basically said no, they're not going to help the U.S. in the Strait of Hormuz.

So what went wrong here, Ambassador?

KURT VOLKER, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO NATO, FORMER U.S. SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR UKRAINE NEGOTIATIONS, SENIOR ADVISER, ATLANTIC COUNCIL (via Webex by Cisco): Well, there are several things.

First off, the conditions were not set to make this an allied operation or to bring Europeans on board. They were blindsided when the U.S. intervened. They had not done any work to prepare their publics. There was no discussion with them about what a mission would be and what they would do. So they've been flat-footed here. I think they should try to display a little bit more positive attitude.

But then the second factor here is that an escort operation is not going to solve the problem and they know that, and that's what your report just highlighted. It takes a very small effort on the part of Iran to deny access to the Strait of Hormuz through all of those mechanisms that your report described as well as sea drones, which is another one that they're also able to develop and use. So the escort mission is not the thing.

And if I could just add one more point here. The fundamental choice for President Trump is to decide do you want to go forward all the way with regime change and get rid of the Iranian regime and put in place something that we can work with in the future? And frankly, I think that's the stage we're at. That's what we have to do. But he hasn't been clear about that. If he's not prepared to do that -- and there are, of course, a lot of

risks for the United States in pursuing that. If he's not prepared to do it, then we end up in a situation where we negotiate a framework with the existing Iranian government on how should things resume.

[07:35:05]

It's one or the other at this stage and we really need to make a choice. Once we have a strategic position and we are pursuing it, I do think we can get help from our European allies.

BERMAN: When negotiating with the Iranian government, whatever that government is because Israel keeps killing, frankly, so many of the leadership there.

General, let me bring you into this discussion here.

Overnight, just so you know what we saw here, we did see some action around the Strait of Hormuz. The United States using these so-called bunker buster bombs somewhere in this region here on the Iranian side of the strait, General.

So what's the United States trying to do in the absence, at least now, of sending convoys out of the strait?

BRIG. GEN. STEVE ANDERSON, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Well, thank you, John.

Well, they were absolutely to target these cruise missile launch sites.

Remember four years ago the Russian battleship the Moskva that was hit by a couple of unsophisticated cruise missiles that the Ukrainians were set -- were able to cobble together. They sunk that battleship in a tremendous political and military victory for the -- for the Ukrainians.

So targeting these missile sites is great. Of course, they used 5,000- pound bombs. They're not the GBU-57s that they used to take out the bunker busters that they used to take out the nuclear sites back in June. Those were about seven times larger.

But as the ambassador points out, there's still multiple threats that remain. You've got all those mines, and Sara did a great job of laying those out. Your reporting on that is fantastic. The drones that they could use. Again, remember the Ukrainian success in using drones to take out the Russian Navy in the Black Sea.

And then you've got thousands of speedboats. You've got 1,000 miles of coastline. I mean, that's the entire West Coast from California to Washington State. Think of all the hiding places they have for those speedboats. And remember, it only takes one speedboat to put a big hole in the side of a ship like we did back in -- they did back in 2000 in Yemen when they almost sunk the USS Cole.

So there are -- and as the ambassador points out, it'll only take a couple of strikes a week to probably completely shut down the Strait of Hormuz even with the escorts -- which, by the way, will probably take weeks if not months to cobble together.

BERMAN: Look, this is the very definition of asymmetric warfare, right? If one strike by the Iranians from a speedboat of a drone can have the impact of fighting against the entire armada that you're seeing from the United States and Israel.

Very quickly, Ambassador, I just want to follow up on one thing you said. You said you want the Europeans perhaps to show a more positive attitude toward helping the U.S. in the strait.

The Wall Street Journal, in an editorial yesterday, said on that "Good thing the president hasn't antagonized allies with tariffs or threats to invade Greenland. This is a reminder that treating allies well is wise, so they are more likely to help you when you really need them."

What do you think of that assessment?

VOLKER: Well, I could not agree more.

And I'm in Europe this week and the mood here is very, very negative. You have to remember that all of our European allies are democracies so to engage in some kind of expeditionary military operation they're going to need support from their public. And right now their publics are furious at the United States for these kinds of threats and tariffs, and insults that we've been hurling at them for the past year.

BERMAN: Yeah. And again, we see that in Japan as well with the Japanese prime minister headed to the United States this week.

Listen, Ambassador Kurt Volker, Brig. Gen. Steve Anderson, thank you so much, both, for being with us -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, let's go to -- let's turn to this right now.

Democrats now have their candidate for Senate -- for the Senate race in Illinois. The state's lieutenant governor Juliana Stratton won that primary beating out two veteran members of Congress.

The seat favored for Democrats to win -- a race that though has been closely watched as a test of what direction the Democratic Party is heading into the midterms. But it appears while we wait for that answer a little bit more it appears we already know though one big winner in this contest, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. He gave millions to boost Stratton's campaign.

CNN's Steve Contorno is in Chicago -- is there watching people as they went in to vote yesterday. So what happened? What did we learn?

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: You know, when you talked to these campaigns just a few months ago Kate, the overwhelming sentiment was that U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi was ahead in this race. He had millions of dollars to his advantage. He was virtually the only candidate on the air in all of 2025 through the winter. But Stratton had that key support from JB Pritzker, the state's very

popular and also very wealthy Democratic governor, who not only campaigned overtime for her in recent weeks but he also put upwards of $10 million into a pro-Stratton Super PAC that helped her get her message out.

[07:40:05]

And that message was far more progressive than the other leading contenders in this race. She is the candidate who supported Medicare For All, a $25.00 minimum wage. She was the only one of the top contenders who said that she would abolish ICE. The other ones wouldn't go that far.

She also said that she wouldn't support minority leader Chuck Schumer to lead the caucus going forward. And I have to tell you at one of her events on Saturday that was one of the biggest applause lines that she received.

She also ran a rather notable ad, and it didn't get on TV much, but it generated a ton of buzz, and that was one where it featured voters saying a four-letter expletive Trump.

So that got a lot of attention for her, and you could really feel the ground shifting here in recent weeks and the momentum turning in her favor.

And this is what she had to say last night as she addressed her supporters at her victory party.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULIANA STRATTON, (D) ILLINOIS SENATE CANDIDATE: Together we confronted one of the most frightening moments of our lifetimes. But despite the fear, we never lost sight of what's most important, and that is courage. Courage inspired me to run, courage powered this campaign, and courage will bring this fight straight to Donald Trump's goal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CONTORNO: He not only -- now this was not only a big win for Stratton, but it was a big win for Pritzker. It would have been a little bit of a blow to the Illinois governor if his handpicked candidate would have lost. There have been some questions about his political operation and, of course, he is someone who is considering a run for president in 2028. Instead, he gets a close ally, a Black woman, in the U.S. Senate -- something, Kate, he could potentially point to if he does decide to run.

BOLDUAN: All right, let's see what happens. It's great -- thanks for covering it for us, Steve. I really appreciate it -- Sara.

SIDNER: OK, decisions been made there in that primary, but it's decision day for the Federal Reserve. Jerome Powell and the Fed are widely expected to leave interest rates where they are whether the president likes it or not. And he's been clear he doesn't like it, repeatedly demanding a rate cut from the Fed and trying everything from issuing Powell a subpoena to nominating a new Fed chair entirely. So far, Powell and the Fed have not budged.

Still, the president repeated some of those same tactics to try to get a rate cut just earlier this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Jerome "too late" Powell. I call him "too late" because he's always too late with interest. He should cut interest rates. He should cut them right now. They should have a special meeting. What's a better time to cut interest rates than now? A third-grade student would know that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: CNN senior business reporter David Goldman is here with me now. David, you hear a lot from the president going after Powell and a lot of people might look at this as a personal tit-for-tat, but this is based on data, correct? That's what Powell is looking at.

DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS REPORTER: Yeah. I mean, the Fed has to be data dependent because they have a huge, awesome responsibility and that's to set interest rates that affect you and me -- our mortgage rates, our credit card rates. You know, this is real serious stuff, and the Fed isn't budging on this because they're not getting into the personal tit-for-tat. They need to focus on the economy.

And that's the problem right now is that the three things that Donald Trump has done to try to get rates lower aren't working, right?

And so he's only hurting his chances of getting things lower because he's got tariffs. That's raising prices. He's got this subpoena. That's angering the Republicans and the Democrats. He might not be able to get his new Fed chair in place. And now he's got this war in Iran and that is raising prices, as we know, at the gas pump too.

SIDNER: What is the state of the economy that the Fed chair would say you know what, we're just going to -- we're going to leave them where they are right now?

GOLDMAN: Well, there's a real question right now about jobs and inflation. Those are the two things that they need to balance. We've lost 19,000 jobs in the United States going back to May of 2025. And with inflation it's pretty healthy right now but we don't have all of the data baked in from the gas price spike. That could make it not so healthy.

SIDNER: Yeah. We will have to wait and see because this knock-on effect hasn't shown up in the data yet --

GOLDMAN: Exactly.

SIDNER: -- so we will have to see what that looks like going forward and again, how long this war goes on. GOLDMAN: See?

SIDNER: David, it is always a pleasure.

GOLDMAN: Thank you.

SIDNER: Thank you so much for being here -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: A longshot Republican candidate running to replace Florida Governor Ron DeSantis now pushing his so-called syntax as part of his campaign pitch, targeting OnlyFans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SOPHIE RAIN, ONLYFANS CREATOR: I think that there are bigger problems in this world that we need to be focused on instead of trying to regulate women's bodies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[07:45:00]

BOLDUAN: See? Clearly getting -- that's some of the pushback that he is getting.

And also this. A boom so loud it was heard the next state over. New details on the meteor that it up the sky in Ohio.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:50:00]

BOLDUAN: Today, Attorney General Pam Bondi and her deputy Todd Blanche are set to meet with the House Oversight Committee for a closed-door briefing on the Epstein files. That's not even 24 hours after the committee slapped her with a new subpoena. The committee wants the attorney general to appear next month to testify about DOJ's handling of the Epstein investigation.

Republican committee chairman James Comer wrote in the cover letter for the subpoena that the committee thinks Bondi has "valuable insight into the Epstein investigation" and that they want a chance "to improve federal efforts to combat sex trafficking."

Ahead of all of this, her deputy, Todd Blanche, is defending the department's moves.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD BLANCHE, DEPUTY U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: I am not trying to defend Epstein -- I'm not. And I do defend the work that this department is doing today, right now, which is going after every single perpetrator anywhere. And if there's a narrative that exists that we're ignoring Epstein victims, that is false.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BOLDUAN: And joining me right now is CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig to talk more about this.

First, what do you -- what do you think of what Todd Blanche is saying there?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR, FORMER ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK: Well Kate, it's interesting to hear DOJ congratulate itself on its commitment to protecting victims when the fact is first of all, dozens of victims have said publicly that they've asked for meetings with DOJ leadership and been denied.

Yet at the same time, the same deputy AG, Todd Blanche, who we just saw, spent two days meeting face-to-face in prison with Ghislaine Maxwell who then promptly was moved to a lower-security prison. Many of the victims have expressed objections to that.

Also, let's remember DOJ, in its release of the Epstein files over the last several months, has -- perhaps inadvertently but has released inexcusably victim-identifying information, which has compromised the safety and privacy of those victims.

So that's something that I think the attorney general and deputy attorney general will need to answer for, as well in front of the committee behind closed doors today and when Pam Bondi, if she testifies, in a few weeks.

BOLDUAN: So if she testifies -- let's put it -- let's play it out as if she will -- what is the committee hoping to get, do you think, from the attorney general at this point? I mean, what questions does she still have to answer?

HONIG: So there will definitely be focus on the way that DOJ has handled the Epstein files under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Have you, in fact, turned over all the files? We keep being told well, we're done. No, actually, there's more. Well now we're done. So are you done or not?

There also will be questions about the failure to redact victim information that I mentioned earlier. There also will be questions about the over-redaction of the names of some potential wrongdoers.

And then separately, I think you'll see questions about whether DOJ is, in fact, investigating anyone criminally right now. We just heard Todd Blanche say something along the lines of well, we're investigating to the ends of the earth. But later in that interview he said as it stands right now, we don't think we have anything on anybody and we're just waiting for somebody to come forward and contact us.

So I think those are two areas of focus in the questioning.

BOLDUAN: We've seen the lengths that this committee has gone when someone fights a subpoena, but what if the attorney general herself tries to fight it? HONIG: So I thought it was really noteworthy yesterday, Kate. After this subpoena was issued the official statement by the Justice Department was not we are all in favor of transparency, as they say sometimes. The official statement from DOJ was that the subpoena was "completely unnecessary."

So what will Pam Bondi do?

Well, option A is she can comply. She can go in, answer questions, testify.

Option B, she can try to work out some midrange accommodation. She can say to the committee perhaps I'll testify on some narrow issue. Maybe you'll take written testimony. But the committee has rejected that when others have suggested it, including Bill and Hillary Clinton who suggested those half-measures and the committee said no, we want you in here to answer questions.

I suppose there is the possibility they may challenge the subpoena in court. I think they'd lose. I think there's clearly a valid legislative purpose. Or perhaps Pam Bondi may just refuse to testify. We don't know that. But if she does that then the committee is going to have a very difficult decision, which is do they vote to hold her in contempt.

But again, I thought that reaction of saying that this subpoena is unnecessary -- I've got my alarm bells raised on that one.

BOLDUAN: Yeah. And well, the process then becomes kind of an interesting one, right? If they would vote to hold her in contempt, then that goes to a recommendation to the -- to the House floor. And then that -- if that would be successful then it goes to a recommendation to the Justice Department to be held in criminal contempt, right --

Elie --

HONIG: Right.

BOLDUAN: To Pam Bondi.

It's good to see you, Elie. Thanks, friend -- John.

BERMAN: She could charge herself for contempt.

BOLDUAN: I charge you with yourself.

BERMAN: I charge myself with contempt.

All right, this morning officials in Pennsylvania searching for a suspect who attacked a crossing guard. Video shows the person approaching the guard and punching her. Right there you can see that. That's just horrible. This was outside an elementary school outside Philadelphia. Police are asking for help identifying the suspect. The guard was taken to a hospital and is recovering.

[07:55:05]

New video shows a meteor exploding over Cleveland in broad daylight. I'm happy to report Cleveland was not hurt. The American Meteor Society says it receive hundreds of reports from people across several states. Officials said the meteor was bright enough to be seen for a full five seconds. I'm glad the Meteor Society was able to count.

In Florida, forget the patrol car or motorcycles. Police are using paddleboards to chase down suspects -- not here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POLICE OFFICER: You have the right to talk to a lawyer for advice before we ask you any questions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: The sheriff's office released video showing -- there they are -- there they are. Paddleboards, as far as I know, are in the water.

The suspect jumped into the water and then the officers chased down the suspect in the paddleboards. The suspect charged with loitering, prowling, and resisting arrest -- and suffering the shame of being caught by paddleboarding -- Sara.

SIDNER: Your keen eye there. You're like wait --

BERMAN: I was -- Sara, I was assured this was a story about paddleboards, and we were on land there, so I was waiting for the paddleboarding.

SIDNER: Fair enough. It all worked out in the end.

BERMAN: Yeah.

SIDNER: All right. In Florida, a Republican gubernatorial candidate is trying to win over voters by proposing a 50 percent sin tax for Florida content creators on OnlyFans, a site known for its sexually explicit content.

CNN's Donie O'Sullivan spoke to the man behind the tax and the women who stand to lose their livelihoods if he wins.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): OnlyFans has made some women millionaires.

RAIN: I have just hit $100 million.

SULLIVAN: A hundred million dollars?

RAIN: Um-hum.

O'SULLIVAN (voiceover): But in Florida, a Republican candidate for governor wants to bring in what he calls a 50 percent sin tax. JAMES FISHBACK, (R) FLORIDA GOVERNOR CANDIDATE: On whatever you so- called earn via that online degeneracy platform.

SULLIVAN (voiceover): Now a political target, OnlyFans women are speaking out.

ANYA LACEY, ONLYFANS CREATOR: Before you want to tax thousands of women just because we actually took this into our own hands, start taxing the companies that are flooding into here.

RAIN: A Florida politician trying to start a beef with me for clout.

O'SULLIVAN (voiceover): So I'm driving across the Sunshine State to meet the OnlyFans creators and the candidate for governor who are in the middle of a very public debate about the adult entertainment industry.

FISHBACK: I don't want to catfish any of you even though I was on Tinder last week. And I joined and I said I want to meet young female voters where they are, I said.

O'SULLIVAN (voiceover): James Fishback wants to be the next governor of Florida. He's running in the Republican primary against Trump- endorsed and heavy favorite, Congressman Byron Donalds.

O'SULLIVAN: Do you think for the voters of Florida that OnlyFans is really a major issue?

FISHBACK: We don't want our women in Florida to feel as if the only way they can make a living is by selling nude images or videos on the internet to complete strangers.

And the men who spend their money, their time, and their resources, I'm not letting them off the hook either. I think they are just as complicit by handing over money to see these nude images.

My view is really simple. If OnlyFans did not exist in Florida, we would be better off for it. I will not tolerate cultural filth and moral degeneracy in my state.

O'SULLIVAN (voiceover): OnlyFans is an online subscription platform for creators, but it's especially popular for women who make pornographic content, like Anya Lacey.

LACEY: You guys are going to get a kick out of this one -- Make American Great Again.

O'SULLIVAN (voiceover): Anya is 20 years old and calls herself a red- blooded conservative.

O'SULLIVAN: How quickly did your OnlyFans grow?

LACEY: Oh, it was pretty big. Even that first day, I made -- I made like more money than I thought I would.

O'SULLIVAN: When did you first hear about James Fishback, and how about his sin tax?

LACEY: I think it's grandstanding. I think it's publicity thing, which has worked. I mean, you guys are here. I mean, this state is covered in strip clubs. It's silly to say, like, oh, we're going to have morals now.

O'SULLIVAN: A lot of your volunteers here are young men, especially. What is it about you that has drawn interest from them?

FISHBACK: I'm speaking the truth -- singular, not plural. Masculinity is not toxic. There's nothing toxic about hanging out with your guy friends. Nothing toxic about watching football. What's toxic is telling young men that they are responsible for the sins and the ills of society.

O'SULLIVAN (voiceover): Fishback has also gained support from influencers in the online manosphere, like SNEAKO and Nick Fuentes, figures known for antisemitism and misogyny.

One of the world's most famous OnlyFans creators also lives in Florida.

O'SULLIVAN: You're going to stay a Florida girl?

RAIN: We'll see. If James Fishback becomes governor, he might push me out.

O'SULLIVAN (voiceover): Sophie Rain has been singled out by Fishback, who says she would owe $42 million if he becomes governor.

O'SULLIVAN: And so you know there is a thriving space online that, like, actively despises women, right?

RAIN: Um-hum.

O'SULLIVAN: I mean, what do you have to say about toxic masculinity?

RAIN: It's sad. That word just sends chills down my spine if I'm being honest. I think it's in the same kind of boat as weaponized incompetence.