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Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) is Interviewed about Iran and Memphis; Trump Speaks with Reporters. Aired 9:30-10a ET
Aired March 23, 2026 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:32:25]
SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening today, as the war with Iran enters its fourth week, President Trump is shifting his focus to law and order he says. The president will head to Memphis to highlight the city's crime fighting efforts. Last year he established a Memphis Safe Task Force aimed at leading a crime crackdown there.
Joining me now is Democratic Congressman Steve Cohen of Tennessee. His district includes Memphis. He is a member also of the House Judiciary Committee.
First, I want to get to what's happened in Iran, because there have been a couple of things that have happened this morning just in the past 30 minutes or so. The president has backtracked on his deadline to obliterate power plants in Iran tonight if they didn't open the Strait of Hormuz. He says that's because the two sides are talking. Iran has responded. Its state media saying there are no talks. How do you know? Who do you believe?
REP. STEVE COHEN (D-TN): Well, it's hard to believe either one of them. Iran has been known to give false information, and the president has also been known to regularly give false information and does it on just -- as normal discourse. So, it's good that he's called off the attacks on the power plants because I think that would be damage against the people of Iran, which could be considered a war crime. And I don't think that during war, which this very limited amounts of humane restrictions, but one of them is stopping the people from getting food and utilities. And that's beyond help. It's beyond the call. And I hope that that's not going to happen.
SIDNER: I want to ask you about what the NATO secretary general said over the weekend. Mark Rutte says that European allies are coming up with a plan to help open the Strait of Hormuz as we see gas prices soaring and the price of oil going up. But he also says the president's move on Iran is well worth it.
Let me let you listen to how he put it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK RUTTE, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: If Iran would have nuclear capability, including together with the missile capability, it will be a direct threat, an existential threat to Israel, to the region, to Europe, to the stability in the world. So, the president doing this is crucial. And I've seen the polling, but I really hope the American people will be with him because he is doing this to make the whole world safer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIDNER: Do you, like Rutte, see any good coming out of this war with Iran?
COHEN: Well, it's a question of whether or not we get those 900 plus enriched uranium that they have. If they -- if we can get -- capture that and destroy it or take it in -- under our custody, then I think we'll have been successful in stopping them from getting a nuclear weapon.
[09:35:10]
Their nuclear efforts were not obliterated. The president lied about that, or he used the wrong word, and both could be true. Hopefully we will get that enriched uranium and stop Ukraine -- Iran from using it, because they'd like to use it and they've got it.
I asked at our annual threat assessment of the Intelligence Committees, which I'm on, Tulsi Gabbard about that, and she said she had high likelihood of knowing where it was. We need to get that enriched uranium out of the hands of the clerics. The clerics are still in charge in Iran. We killed their leaders, but we've got another leader who we probably incapacitated to some extent, to a large extent, who can't communicate, but he's worse than his father. And he's also got the vengeance that he'd have in his mind for having killed his father against us in the western world. So, we may have created a worse enemy, but he doesn't have the military to act on it. And that's good that he doesn't have the military.
The president should have gone to Congress. It's Congress' duty under the Constitution to declare war. He should have come to congress. I suspect he'd have had the votes in Congress at the time. He may not have them now. But he might have had them then.
SIDNER: Let me bring it back home. You've got these extremely long lines at TSA checkpoints in several airports across the country. Some are doing really, really well, and others are having a really hard time, like the world's busiest airport in Atlanta.
You know, Trump has made this demand, tying the DHS funding, which would fund TSA, of course, to forcing Democrats to vote yes for his SAVE America Act, which adds new requirements to be able to register to vote. Does that have any chance of working?
COHEN: I hope not. What he calls SAVE America is really called -- is save Trump. Trump is a loser in the midterms, and he does not want to go through his last two years in office with the Democrats having the power to oversee and see what his administration is doing, in doing oversight, which the Republicans have not done. His bill would make it more difficult for people who generally are not inclined to vote for him to vote. It would make it harder to get -- you have to show identification. And some of that identification is passports or birth certificates that are hard to come up with and most difficult for people who are less likely to vote for Trump.
This is a save Trump move. It's an authoritarian move. And really, the elections, according to the Constitution, are determined by the state and local governments, really the state governments. And that's the way it should stay. We don't need to be trying to question the Constitution every chance we can. Trump does not want a constitution. He doesn't believe in the Constitution. He took the oath of office, but he probably has his fingers crossed behind his back because he hasn't defended the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. And the domestic enemies oftentimes is Donald Trump.
SIDNER: I just lastly want to ask you, Trump is taking some credit for bringing down the crime in a district that you're well familiar with there in Memphis. Do you give him some credit for that?
COHEN: Give him a little bit of credit. We need -- we need more policemen. We're about a thousand short in our police force. So, having additional FBI agents, having additional DEA agents, having additional Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco people, there are other federal law enforcement groups that have been -- had to increase their enrollment here in Memphis, they have helped. But the crime was going down already before the state task force started in September. It had gone down about 25 or 30 percent with the work of Mary Young and police director Chief Davis. And it's gone down around the country and around the world. I saw Mexico City's homicide rate was down 20 percent.
Trump throws out figures. He threw out a figure the last time he talked about this and said crime was down 70 percent in Memphis. Well, it's better. Memphis is a great city. And everybody ought to come down and visit. Memphis in May is coming up and Memphis is a great city to visit. But it's not down 70 percent. And the mayor's kind of blushing and just say, well, we don't have those figures.
Mark Twain said there was liars, damn liars and statisticians. He never met Donald Trump. And that would have given him a fourth category.
SIDNER: And we'll leave it there.
Congressman Steve Cohen, thank you so much.
We're looking at live pictures of the president leaving Palm Beach, getting onto Air Force One there in just a bit.
Erica.
ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Hawaii's Oahu Island battered by the largest flooding it's seen in some 20 years. Rescues are now underway to move residents to safety. We'll take a closer look at that.
Plus, all eyes on the market this morning. They, of course, opened just about nine minutes ago. And you can see, lots of green there, which is how folks like to start the week. Could the president's comments earlier have had anything to do with that? We'll get you caught up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:44:16]
HILL: President Trump addressing the cameras just a moment ago as he leaves Florida, making his way to Memphis.
Let's listen in.
REPORTER: Today, Iran's foreign ministry says you're not telling the truth when it comes to productive conversations to end the war.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, they're going to have to get themselves better public relations people. We have had very, very strong talks. We'll see where they lead. We have points -- major points of agreement. I would say almost all points of agreement. Perhaps that hasn't been conveyed. The communication, as you know, has been blown to pieces. They're unable to talk to each other. But we've had very strong talks. Mr. Witkoff and Mr. Kushner had them. They went, I would say perfectly.
[09:45:00]
I would say that if they carry through with that, it'll end that problem, that conflict. And I think it will end it very, very substantially.
We have very much in mind our partners in the Middle East. We've had great relationships with a lot of them, as you know. A lot of them were surprisingly hit. And I was surprised to see it, and so was everyone else. But we have -- they're very much in mind in the discussions.
So, the discussions took place yesterday. They went into yesterday evening. They want very much to make a deal. We'd like to make a deal too. We're going to get together today by probably phone because it's very hard to find a country. It's very hard for them to get out, I guess. But we'll, at some point very, very soon meet.
We're doing a five day period. We'll see how that goes. And if it goes well, we're going to end up with settling this. Otherwise, we'll just keep bombing our little hearts out.
REPORTER: Who is Steve Witkoff speaking with, Mr. President?
TRUMP: A top -- a top person. Don't forget, we've wiped out the leadership phase one, phase two, and largely phase three. But we're dealing with the man who I believe is the most respected and the leader. You know, it's a little tough. They've wiped out -- we've wiped out everybody.
REPORTER: Is that the supreme leader? REPORTER: The supreme leader?
TRUMP: No, not the supreme leader. We don't --
REPORTER: So, it's not Mojtaba?
TRUMP: Well, nobody's ever -- nobody heard of the second supreme leader, the son.
REPORTER: Are these direct talks?
TRUMP: Nobody -- we have not heard from the son. Every once in a while you'll see a statement made. But we have not. We don't know if he's living. But the people that seem to be running it, and they seem that based on really fact, because things they've said have taken place.
REPORTER: Can you say who that is?
REPORTER: Mr. President --
TRUMP: I can't. I can't.
REPORTER: Why not?
REPORTER: Mr. President, I know you've deployed --
TRUMP: Because I don't want him to be killed, OK? I don't want him to be killed.
REPORTER: Mr. President, you've deployed --
TRUMP: Nobody wants to be that -- nobody wants that job right now, you know? Nobody's exactly looking forward to being the head of that particular country. But perhaps we'll be able to solve that problem.
REPORTER: Mr. President, you've deployed ICE agents to American airports.
TRUMP: Who are you with?
REPORTER: "Newsmax," sir.
You've deployed ICE --
TRUMP: You're not doing a very good job.
REPORTER: You've deployed ICE agents --
TRUMP: You're not doing a good job. Did you hear me? OK, go ahead.
REPORTER: What exactly do you want from these talks?
TRUMP: You believe it, I'm taking CNN over "Newsmax." Do you believe it?
REPORTER: What exactly are you looking for in these talks, Mr. President?
TRUMP: We're looking for all of the things that we've been talking about. We want to see, no nuclear bomb, no nuclear weapon, not even close to it. Low key in the missiles. We want to see peace in the Middle East. We want the nuclear dust. We're going to want that. And I think we're going to get that.
REPORTER: Did you (ph) destroy (ph) them?
TRUMP: Weve agreed to that, yes. We're going to -- we've agreed to that.
REPORTER: You want the enriched uranium before you can end this war?
TRUMP: We want no enrichment. But we also want the enriched uranium. We're -- if this happens, it's a great start for Iran to build itself back. And it's everything that we want. And it's also great for Israel, and it's great for the other middle eastern countries, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, all of them, Kuwait and Bahrain in particular. So, it's great for all of them.
REPORTER: And the war attending (ph), do you still need $200 billion?
REPORTER: Mr. President --
TRUMP: We -- it's always nice to have. It's always nice to have. It's a very inflamed world. And the Democrats inflame it. You know, largely the Democrats inflame it.
Let me just talk about the other.
So, ICE has done very well. I've requested -- now, you know I'm a big believer that they should be able to wear masks when they go and hunt down, you know, murderous criminals and others. But for purposes of the airport, I've requested that they take off the mask. I don't like it for the airport. And I believe they are willing to do that.
REPORTER: Mr. President, ICE --
REPORTER: Why is OK to wear masks not at the airport but they need to do it when they're out in the country?
TRUMP: The people coming into the airport, typically speaking, aren't murderers, killers, drug dealers, et cetera. There may be a few of them, but there aren't many. They are people that want to come into the country or they're people that want to leave the country, going to maybe their home country. So, I didn't think it was an appropriate look for an airport. I think it's a very appropriate look when they're out on the street trying to find one of the 11,888 murderers that sleepy Joe Biden let into our country.
REPORTER: Elon Musk, sir -- Elon --
REPORTER: Sir, last year you gave a $10,000 bonus -- sorry. Last year you gave a $10,000 bonus to TSA workers who kept showing up to work during the shutdown. Will you do that again? TRUMP: Well, it could happen. It's amazing. They're such -- people
that are really, really loyal and great, and it's not easy for them. And this is all caused by the Democrats They said, hey, just so you know, all this money was approved. Everything was approved. This is done. The Democrats went in and they want to have radical left lunatics come into our country. They want to have drug dealers. They want to have murderers come into our country. They want to have open borders.
[09:50:01]
And we're not letting it happen. That's what this is all about.
They don't want voter I.D. They don't want proof of citizenship. They don't want mail-in ballots. They're so corrupt. What they want, the only thing they want is mail-in ballots. So, we also added, as you know, into the -- into the SAVE America Act. And it's called SAVE America. It's not the SAVE Act. But we added no transgender mutilization of our children and no men in women's sports.
REPORTER: Sir, Elon Musk, sir, is --
(CROSS TALK)
REPORTER: If these talks go well and you reach a --
TRUMP: I don't think he's going to be at "Newsmax" long.
REPORTER: If these talks go well and you reach a ceasefire agreement with Iran, do you believe Israel would abide by that agreement?
TRUMP: I think Israel will be -- will be very happy with what we have. We just spoke to Israel a little while ago. I think they'll be very happy. This will be peace for Israel. Long term peace. Guaranteed peace. If this happens, and, you know, I can't guarantee it, but I think it's going to, my life is a deal. That's all I do is deals my whole life. I think this is something that's going to happen. And why wouldn't it happen?
So, tomorrow morning, sometime their time, we were expected to blow up their largest electric generating plants that cost over $10 billion to build. It's a very good one. There was no dearth of money. And one shot, it's gone. It collapses. Why would they want that? So, they called. I didn't call. They called. They want to make a deal. And we are very willing to make a deal. It's got to be a good deal. And it's got to be no more wars, no more nuclear weapons. They're not going to have nuclear weapons anymore. They're agreeing to that. Any of that stuff, there's no deal.
REPORTER: They offered to reopen --
(CROSS TALK)
REPORTER: How are you going to -- you said --
REPORTER: If they do go well, sir, and the target -- REPORTER: You said you want to get the enriched uranium. How are you going to get the enriched uranium? Are you going to send troops in?
TRUMP: Well, it's very easy. If we have a deal with them, we're going down and we'll take it ourselves.
REPORTER: Can I ask you, the Treasury lifted sanctions on Iranian oil that was out to see. You criticized President Obama for giving Iran $1.7 billion.
TRUMP: Well, I just want to have as much oil in the system as possible.
REPORTER: But Iran is leaking (ph) close to --
TRUMP: And we don't even know if Iran gets that money. Frankly, I think it's very hard for them to get it. But you have ships that are out there that are loaded up with oil. Rather than keep it there, I would rather see it go to the system. Any small amount of money that Iran gets is not going to have any difference in this war. But I want to have the system be lubricated.
REPORTER: Even $14 billion you don't think helps them?
TRUMP: Where's the $14 billion?
REPORTER: Because the inflated price, they get $14 billion from the oil.
TRUMP: I don't think they're getting the money. I could tell you, when this is all over, I will tell you who's getting the money.
REPORTER: Mr. President --
REPORTER: Mr. President --
TRUMP: Not them.
REPORTER: The Marines from California, given that it'll take them weeks to arrive, is the intention to police the strait or take part --
TRUMP: Where -- what are you talking about?
REPORTER: Well, it's been reported that there are Marines that left California, left San Diego last week, at the end of the week. Why are they headed there now? And --
TRUMP: Well, let me ask you this. If you were in my position and I asked you that question, do you really believe I'd give you an answer? That's a crazy question.
REPORTER: Mr. President, another young woman was killed by an illegal immigrant.
REPORTER: Mr. President --.
TRUMP: We don't talk about strategy.
Yes.
REPORTER: Another young woman was killed by an illegal immigrant that was let in under the Biden administration.
TRUMP: Yes, let in -- let in by Biden.
REPORTER: Do you have a message for her family?
TRUMP: It's devastating. These people were let in by Biden. We're getting them out. We're getting them out fast. That's why ICE is so important. They're doing such a good job. This animal, I saw the whole thing last night. They gave me a briefing. Came in through Joe Biden with his open door policy and his border czar, Kamala, who never saw the border. Never made one phone call. All the ICE people, you see, they all know me. Everyone knows me. They like me. I speak to them all the time. Didn't make one phone call during four years, she was the border czar, to anybody on the border. Never went there.
This person came in through the open door policy of Joe Biden. And we have others. We're taking them out by the tens of thousands. We're doing a great job. But it's a shame. They - they've hurt our country. Just remember this, Joe Biden and that gang of radical left lunatics, some very smart but radical left and bad ideology, sick people, these people have hurt our country very badly.
REPORTER: Are we directly talking with Iran?
(CROSS TALK)
REPORTER: If you end up -- if you end up hitting those Iranian power plants, how is that different from what Russia has been doing in Ukraine by hitting Ukrainian power?
TRUMP: Well, I think it's a lot different. And if you look at the nuclear weapons that they wanted to have, that they wanted to possess, a lot of things are different. I'm no -- I'm not a fan of what Russia is doing either, just so you understand, all right, but it's a lot different. You're talking about a country that has been evil for 47 years. They've been horrible.
[09:55:01]
Death all over the world. Not just us. Look at the way they attacked unexpectedly all of those countries surrounding them. It was not supposed -- nobody was even thinking about it. But they wanted to take over the Middle East, and they wanted to knock out Israel permanently. And if they had a nuclear weapon, they would have been able to do that.
REPORTER: Are we talking to Iran?
(CROSS TALK)
REPORTER: Mr. President -- TRUMP: What?
REPORTER: Do you know whether Joe Kent was leaking?
TRUMP: Look, I'm not a fan of the guy. If you look at -- and you never cover this. If you look at his Truths, or whatever he went on, if it's X or Truth, if you look at his Truths or his statements, he was all for everything. All of a sudden, he wasn't.
He was a man that I met at Dover. He came when his wife was killed. He remarried fairly quickly. His wife was killed. And I felt badly for him. He ran for Congress. He lost. He ran for Congress again and he lost. I said, you know, he's a guy, nice guy. He seemed like a very nice guy. I met him. He was pretty heartbroken. Pretty. But I said, you know, it's a shame. He ran for Congress twice. Call him up, give him a job in the White House. Smart. They gave him a job in the White House. And this is what he does to me. You know, being a nice guy doesn't pay off too much.
REPORTER: Mr. President --
TRUMP: Think of it. He loses twice in Congress. Ran not very good campaigns. He should have won. But he loses twice. How do I get him? I have my people call him, because I didn't deal with him for the most part. I saw him a couple of times, but I never dealt with him at all. I had no idea his ideology was left or right. Whatever it is.
I can say this, he said very strongly that Iran is not a threat. Iran has been a threat for 47 years. And there's not a country in the world that doesn't agree with me on that. Who lost twice for congress, pretty badly. And tough. And was devastated. And I know that he lost his wife.
So, instead of letting him live out his life, I brilliantly have my people call him and offer him a job in security, essentially, in the White House. And what does he do? He goes out and he says that Iran is not a threat to get publicity.
Now, he probably signed up with CNN or maybe signed up with your division of Newsmax. I don't know, but probably signed up with CNN or somebody. But if you look at his tweets, X's or whatever Truths, whatever he uses, I don't know because I don't follow him, what he said is 100 percent he agrees with me. All of a sudden he leaves. I never knew he had a problem.
Now, I hear they're looking at him for leaking. That's possible. But just so you understand, just to put it to rest, he lost twice badly. He also lost his wife. He's remarried since. He lost his wife. I felt badly for him. So, I told my people, reach out to him, give him a job at the White House. This is the thanks I get. Any other questions?
REPORTER: Overall crime in Memphis, sir?
REPORTER: He said Iran -- he said Iran was not an imminent threat, that that's what the intelligence showed. TRUMP: I think it was an imminent threat. I think that Iran, if they
-- if we didn't bomb them with the B-2 bombers, now, that set them back. But if we didn't hit them with the B-2 bombers, they would have had a nuclear weapon within two weeks to a month. And if they had a nuclear weapon, they would have used it as soon as they got it.
REPORTER: If you obliterated their nuclear sites last summer with your strikes, then how can you argue it was an imminent threat now?
TRUMP: Oh, we hit them so hard we oblited (ph) them, but -- obliterate them. But that doesn't mean with the right equipment you can't dig down and go get it. We don't want that. And we don't -- we won't have that. But we obliterated that site. They still haven't been able to get it. That was a complete success.
But if it wasn't, they would have had -- if we didn't hit them, if we didn't use the B-2 bombers, its -- were -- which are unbelievable, we just ordered 22 more of them, modern version, by the way, super modern version. If we didn't hit them with the B-2 bombers, they would have had, within two weeks of that attack, that's why we hit them, because we knew they would have had a nuclear weapon. They would have used it on Israel and the entire Middle East.
REPORTER: Overall, crime in Memphis is down 43 percent since you began this task force. Is this a template you think is working --
TRUMP: Well, what I'm doing -- what I'm doing today, really, this was supposed to be -- this was a little bit before, set up a couple of weeks ago. This was before we had this situation with Iran take place last night. And by the way, they're just not commuting -- when they say, I'm sure they don't mean that when somebody says, oh, I didn't know you were talking -- we were talking last night. And I'm sure they have a lack of communication, which is appropriate considering we blew up, in addition to their navy, air force, every division, their radar.
[10:00:02]
We also blew up all of their anti-aircraft and communications. So, they have no telecommunication. So, there is a lack of
