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Iran's Intelligence Chief Killed; Rep. Ami Bera (D-CA) is Interviewed about Iran; Adam Stahl is Interviewed about TSA Shortages; Senate Hearing for Mullin. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired March 18, 2026 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Is taking this posture of wait and see. How long will this war go on? What will it mean for inflation?

We're also getting projections of the economy going forward from the Federal Reserve today. Economic projections that will let us know where the Fed believes unemployment is going, GDP is going, inflation is going. But also, are they pricing in a cut for this year? Many investors and economists believe maybe just one this year, maybe none at all because of what's happening with the war with Iran.

Also worth watching today that 2:30 press conference with Jerome Powell. That will be the first time that we hear from him after a lot of news has come out. We want to hear from him about the war with Iran. Also, this is the first time we're hearing from him after a judge basically blocked the DOJ probe into Jerome Ppowell and whether or not he lied to Congress. Also hearing from him for the first time since Trump nominated Kevin Warsh to replace him in May. And then, does Jerome Powell decide to stay on at the Fed as a board member. But also if there's a holdup with Kevin Warsh's nomination, does he choose to stay? We always have so many questions for Jerome Powell. He's very closed up. He's tight -- he keeps everything close to his chest. Will we get those answers? We don't know. We always ask because these are really insightful answers that we may get into the economy, but also into the mind of Jerome Powell.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, and we -- and we know the president is attacking him and pressuring him again, but he has pretty much stood strong in his opinion, looking at the data and not listening necessarily to the president.

Vanessa Yurkevich, thank you so much.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. orders all diplomatic posts around the world to go on alert, review security measures due to heightened risk with the war on Iran. Overnight, Israel said it killed yet another key Iranian leader. New, long lines in Atlanta and other airports as an increasing number of TSA agents call in sick or quit to make ends meet. This is due to the partial government shutdown. We are tracking the lines around the country.

And a suspected thief crashes an ambulance into a building, then pours gas everywhere and then takes off. This doesn't sound good.

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

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, let's get to the breaking news this hour.

President Trump is now issuing a new threat to Iran and maybe also other U.S. allies. He posting -- posted this. I'll read it for you. "I wonder what would happen if we finished off what's left of the Iranian terror state and let the countries that use it, we don't, be responsible for the so-called straight." You see it right there.

This comes a day after he insisted that the United States doesn't need anyone's help to secure the Strait of Hormuz, this key shipping channel which remains effectively shut down because of the Iranian attacks on commercial ships and, at this point, quite frankly, just the threat of the attacks that could come.

Overnight, the U.S. military made a new and big push, saying that it targeted Iranian missile sites near the strait using powerful 5,000 pound bunker buster bombs that can penetrate deep underground. Also we're learning that just this morning that Israel says it has targeted and killed another top Iranian official, this time Iran's intelligence chief.

CNN's Oren Liebermann is starting us off this hour from Jerusalem.

And, Oren, can we just start right there? What are you learning about Israel's continued focus here on taking out Iran's top officials?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: Well, Israel's leadership had promised they would continue to go after anybody who's viewed as important in the Iranian regime. And we have seen that now day after day. Some 24 hours after Israel assassinated Ali Larijani, considered the top security official in Iran, they now say they have killed Iran's intelligence minister, Esmail Khatib.

Now, we haven't heard any confirmation or any statement about it from the Iranians. But given Israel's track record so far in the first two and a half weeks of this war, it seems very possible that Israel has assassinated another top Iranian leader. And clearly stating the intent to continue working their way down the list.

In fact, Israel's defense minister said they have streamlined the process to carry out these targeted killings, not requiring approval for each name on the list. So, Israel very much pushing forward on this to take out anybody who's considered an official in Iran. But that's not the only target here. Israeli officials tell CNN that

Israel is now targeting natural gas infrastructure, as well as energy infrastructure. They -- and that this is coordinated with the United States. This, so far, has not targeted oil infrastructure. That is -- that is the infrastructure that could most quickly affect gas prices.

[09:05:01]

That appears to be an effort to try to keep the spike from -- gas prices from getting worse too quickly. But Israeli officials telling us they are going after energy infrastructure of the Iranian regime. The IRG -- or rather an affiliate linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says this opens a new phase of the war and crosses all red lines. Iran had previously stated that if anybody targeted their energy infrastructure, they would set energy infrastructure in the gulf, quote, "on fire."

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes, all right. Let's see what happens today. Oren, thank you so much for your reporting on this and starting us off.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you so much, Kate.

With the president increasingly frustrated with allies refusing to help secure the Strait of Hormuz, he's again saying the U.S. should rethink NATO membership.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm disappointed in NATO, that we spend trillions of dollars on NATO.

When they don't help us, I mean, it's certainly something that we should think about. I don't need Congress for that decision, as you probably know. I can make that decision myself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: All right, joining us now is Democratic Congressman Ami Bera of California. He sits on the House Foreign Affairs and Intelligence Committee.

I mean the president is talking about pulling out of NATO without Congress. Can he do that unilaterally?

REP. AMI BERA (D-CA): I don't believe he can. I would hope that both my Democratic and Republican colleagues push back on him. NATO has been an incredibly successful partnership. It's kept peace and stability across the transatlantic. But also the NATO partners, when we went into Afghanistan, didn't hesitate to stand by our side.

So, this is a president whose rhetoric is extremely reckless right now, pushing folks away, trying this go it alone attitude at a time when the world is a pretty dangerous place.

SIDNER: Look, we had some reporting from sources to CNN just a few days ago that Russia was helping Iran with intelligence against the United States in this war. And now "The Wall Street Journal" says that Russia is sharing satellite imagery and drone technology with Iran to help it fight the United States. At the same time, President Trump has lifted sanctions against Russian oil. What do you make of this?

BERA: Yes. And, again, I can't go into classified information, but I would suggest that, you know, Iran and Russia have been working very closely in the illegal war in Ukraine, with Iran supporting Russia with drone technology. So, it wouldn't be surprising for the Russians to return the favor with intelligence, overhead architecture, satellite imagery and perhaps some of their own technology.

So, again, the president is pushing away our natural allies, friends that share our values of democracy, freedom, rule of law, and starting to cozy up with some of our natural adversaries, autocrats.

SIDNER: As far as what you have learned and gleaned from your position on that committee, is there a sense that boots will go on to the ground, that the president will send soldiers onto Iranian soil?

BERA: Look, you'll see the leading administration and intelligence folks in the Senate today. We will have them on the House side tomorrow. They should expect to get very tough questions. And the first question is going to be, what is the objective here? If the objective is to diminish the nuclear risk, there's only one way to do that, and that is going to require boots on the ground going after the 60 percent enriched uranium, which is very deep underground. That, you know, you've got to talk to the American people about that. You've got to come to Congress and get authorization if you're going to put American troops on the ground.

We've already seen our service members injured and killed in this conflict. So, that won't be an easy operation. On the other hand, if this is about regime change, again, you've got to come to Congress. And that is a long-term operation. And again, the president has failed to do that.

SIDNER: I want to ask you about a resignation from the chief of the counterterrorism -- National Counterterrorism Center, Joe Kent. He went and went on X and said, look, I am resigning. I have supported Donald Trump for many, many years, but I cannot support him in this war on Iran. He did not believe that there was an imminent threat by Iran and could not support it.

Donald Trump responded to him. Let me let you hear what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I always thought he was a nice guy, but I always thought he was weak on security. Very weak on security. I didn't know him well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Does it concern you that the president appointed someone he put as the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, who he says is weak on security?

BERA: I mean, absolutely, that should be concerning.

Look, Joe Kent is a very conservative pro-Trump supporter.

[09:10:02]

You know, President Trump assigned Tulsi Gabbard as the director of national intelligence, also someone who is a noninterventionist.

So, you know, I've not seen anything that suggested Iran was imminently looking to strike the United States to, you know, do anything with their enriched uranium. Again, if the president said there was a imminent threat, he should go on national television, he should come to Congress, his folks should be expected to get asked about what that imminent threat is today in the Senate and tomorrow in the House. They've not shown or demonstrated an imminent threat to our homeland or our assets.

SIDNER: Congressman Ami Bera, thank you so much for coming on this morning. Do appreciate it.

John.

BERMAN: This morning, security lines at some of the nation's busiest airports, Atlanta, Houston, JFK here in New York, they're already over an hour long. In Atlanta, CNN has learned that 34 percent of TSA workers called in sick today alone. Others are quitting altogether. TSA employees are working without pay due to the partial government shutdown. In Houston, the Department of Homeland Security said more than 50 percent of TSA officers called in sick so far this week.

With us now, Adam Stahl, the acting deputy administrator of TSA.

Adam, thanks so much for being with us.

You've got better vision than we do this morning. Can you give us an update on what you're seeing at airports right now?

ADAM STAHL, TSA ACTING DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR: Yes, sure. So, were continuing to see impacts airports across the United States. Last week, of course, three to four hour wait times. And so, if Senate Democrats don't come back to the table, we're going to continue to see these wait times continue to uptick.

BERMAN: I'm going to come back to the politics of this in just a second. But first, I just want to get to what we're seeing.

STAHL: OK (ph).

BERMAN: So, the wait times, an hour or more around the country. You suggested that if there is no political solution soon, that you might have to shut airports down all together. What's the time frame on that? When?

STAHL: Well, I was very specific. I said "may." And for particular airports. Particularly small ones. And I don't want to get into particular hypotheticals. We make these determinations on an airport by airport basis. But the reality is right now, like majority of Americans that are paycheck to paycheck, as the weeks continue, you know, our TSA officers, as long as they don't get paid, they're going to continue to call out. They can't afford to come in. And they're going to quit altogether. And that's a serious concern. And that's going to continue to impact staffing airports across the United States.

We saw this morning, of course, Philadelphia had to collapse lanes because of call outs. So, the reality of the situation is, this is going to get worse before it gets better if we don't see any sort of action from Congress.

BERMAN: Just wanted to follow up, because you were the one who said that airports may need to shut down. So, you were the one raising the hypothetical. What would be the trigger to shut down an airport?

STAHL: So, we will make a variety -- there are a variety of factors that will make a -- help us make a determination. But staffing, of course, is a huge component of that. But again, we make those determinations on a case by case basis. But again, the reality is, is the longer these individuals don't get paid, the more difficult it will be for them to afford to come in to the -- to the airport. And they will also look for another job to make ends meet. And that's the reality of the situation.

BERMAN: So, Democrats in the Senate have tried to force votes that would fund TSA without providing funding to DHS for certain immigration services. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is pushing a discharge petition that would do just the same in the House. Aren't those solutions that would get TSA workers paid?

STAHL: Well, just because the Democrats have concerns, a particular policy concern, doesn't mean they can hold the entire department hostage. They can hold, you know, the financial livelihood of our TSA officers and, more broadly, DHS personnel, you know, hostage as well. If they have legitimate policy concerns, they should have those concerns during normal congressional order, not in spite of normal congressional order.

And so it's, frankly, reckless. And particularly during a time when we have heightened security and heightened threat alert level, this is a concern. And we need to continue again to fund our folks and not only TSA, but across the department. And we need to stop allowing Democrats, frankly, to hold their financial livelihood hostage, both at TSA but across the entire department.

BERMAN: But just as a factual matter, wouldn't a congressional vote to fund TSA and TSA workers get them paid even if they didn't also fund immigration aspects of Homeland Security at the same time?

STAHL: That's fine (ph). This is -- this is about the precedent of, frankly, just because you don't like a particular policy of a department, to hold the entire department hostage, it, frankly, is reckless. And that's the position. And I think -- again, they're continuing, because of policy issues and policy differences, they're continuing to hold our individual's livelihoods at stake and hostage as well as the entire (ph) department. And frankly, for us, that's unacceptable.

BERMAN: Well, look, I don't think there's any argument right now that the partial funding of Homeland Security is what's causing TSA workers not to get paid.

[09:15:03]

It is what's causing them not to get paid. And we are seeing so many of them quit or call in sick. It's just an issue of what the possible solutions are. Republicans want Democrats to fund Homeland Security fully right now. Democrats are saying, we will fund parts of it. I'm just saying, aren't both of those ways to get TSA workers paid?

STAHL: Sure. But those policy differences of opinion, again, should be had during normal congressional order. They shouldn't be had at -- being -- holding an entire department, including our TSA officers, hostage. That's not how Congress works. That's not how the department works. A fundamental and foundational responsibility for Congress is the fire (ph) department, and they are doing so and refusing to do so, excuse me, because of policy differences of opinion. And that's, frankly, not acceptable for us given the current state of security we're in right now.

BERMAN: What's your message to TSA workers, some of whom may be quitting or calling in sick?

STAHL: Yes. So, the overwhelming majority are coming in every single day, and we are incredibly grateful for them. They are patriots. They are dedicated servants. You know, I just wanted to say thank you for them. Please do continue to come in. But we appreciate the president's continued support as well. And so, they are doing a thankless task, oftentimes right now particularly during incredibly difficult circumstances.

BERMAN: TSA Acting Deputy Director Adam Stahl, we do appreciate you coming in this morning. Thank you very much.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right we're going to show you live pictures of Capitol Hill, where the hearing to confirm Senator Markwayne Mullin as the next DHS secretary is minutes away from beginning, after Kristi Noem is fired. What now is Markwayne Mullin going to face?

And gas prices have hit a new high for the year, up $0.86 since the start of the war with Iran. How those high prices are having a ripple effect -- a further ripple effect across the economy. And that famous number 867-5309, now a new hotline to help cancer patients.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TOMMY TUTONE, MUSICIAN (singing): Don't change your number, 867-5309.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:21:44]

BOLDUAN: Let's take you to Capitol Hill now where Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin is about to face his own Senate colleagues. Mullin is President Trump's pick to be the next secretary of homeland security. And this hearing that will be getting underway shortly is his first step to confirmation. President Trump, you'll remember, announced earlier this month that he would replace the now -- the now former DHS secretary, Kristi Noem, after months of her facing criticism over her handling of lots of things, including the department's immigration enforcement operation.

CNN's Lauren Fox is on Capitol Hill for us ahead of all of this.

Lauren -- we do not have Lauren. We're having a bit of a technical issue. We're going to count to one and to two and to three. And I think we do have Lauren Fox.

OK, Lauren, the technology gods are working in our favor now. Tell us what is going to -- about to happen.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, obviously, Markwayne Mullen is one of the senate's own. And traditionally, in the United States Senate, when one of their colleagues is nominated for a cabinet post, they overwhelmingly get bipartisan support. This could be a different story today. And the reason for that isn't because colleagues don't like Markwayne Mullin, isn't because he doesn't have good relationships across the aisle, but is because this is a department that is so wrought with politicalization over the course of the last several weeks and months, including the fact that the Department of Homeland Security right now is shut down because Democrats are trying to force the White House to make comprehensive changes to immigration enforcement around the country.

You can expect that Markwayne Mullin is going to be facing several tough questions from his Democratic colleagues about what will make him different. What is he going to do to change the agency, not just be a change at the head of the agency, but actually change the policies on the ground?

And the reality is that Markwayne Mullin is a very close ally of Donald Trump. He is someone who has time and time again agreed with the president when it came to immigration enforcement tactics across the country. And so that is going to be the challenge for Markwayne Mullin in the hours ahead, can he convince some of his Democratic colleagues that he actually is going to make substantive changes over the next several months that convince his Democratic colleagues to vote for him?

We should note that he may not need any Democratic votes to get through the United States Senate. It only takes a simple majority. He's likely to get that. But it is just a remarkable moment, given the tradition in the United States Senate, that you would usually have one of the senate's own get a broad, bipartisan vote for their nomination to a cabinet post.

Kate

BOLDUAN: Lauren Fox, it's about to kick off in just a few minutes. We'll be watching that very closely.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you so much, Kate.

Also, we just got new inflation data in. It's not good. We will go over the numbers. Doesn't even include the war in Iran.

Plus, plane ticket prices going sky high as oil from the war gets more expensive.

[09:25:04]

Do you buy now or do you take your chances and wait? I'll talk with the points guy about the best times to book your trip.

And we're just minutes away from the opening bell on Wall Street, and you can see the trend there for futures where investors are watching the Federal Reserve for a decision on interest rates. But we have just seen this new inflation number. Jerome Powell and the Fed widely expected to leave interest rates alone, whether the president likes it or not. Those stories and more ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:30:03]

SIDNER: We've got some new developments out of Iran. Central Command says it dropped 5,000-pound guided bombs along the coast of the Strait of Hormuz