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Trump Escalates Pressure to End Filibuster Amid Funding Stalemate; Trump Says Taking Control of Iran's Oil Supply is an Option; Rubio Departs for G7 Meeting Amid Iran War; More Than a Thousand U.S. Paratroopers Expected to Be Deployed to Mideast; No Significant Progress on DHS Funding Deal as Congress Prepares for Recess; Savannah Guthrie Wonders if Her Fame is Behind Her Mom's Disappearance; Judge Says He Doesn't See National Security Interest in Blocking Venezuelan Government From Funding Maduro's Defense. Aired 2- 2:30p ET

Aired March 26, 2026 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": -- Ohio under the new law actually --

SEN. JON HUSTED, (R-OH) HEALTH, EDUCATION, LABOR & PENSIONS COMMITTEE: Well, I can explain to you how it actually worked. I had to go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to get the authority to maintain the voter rolls. Because why? Because many states don't maintain the voter rules properly.

They have people on the voter rules who are not legally allowed to vote in this country. And so if they're not going to maintain the voter rolls then, at the point of voting, we need to know who's actually voting and a photo ID is the best, safe and fairest way to do that.

80 percent of the American people support that. That is the best way to run an election. And Democrats said they didn't oppose that. I offered amendment to give them a chance to do that and they still said no.

KEILAR: No, I hear you on that. But just to be clear, when you were Ohio Secretary of State and you could vote using a utility bill, bank statement, or --

HUSTED: I followed the law.

KEILAR: -- government check, that was a fair, safe and secure election. That's just what you said.

HUSTED: And we had fraud during that time under those provisions, OK. I did audits that showed that there were people on the voter rolls who tried to vote.

KEILAR: You didn't have very much considering that they're talking about some of these SAVE America -- HUSTED: So, I guess, you're arguing that a little bit of crime is OK, but even if we can fix it so that there's no crime. That's what we are trying to do.

KEILAR: No, that's not what I'm arguing at all.

(CROSSTALK)

HUSTED: We are trying to make elections as successful as possible.

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: I understand that's what you want to say. That's not what I am saying.

HUSTED: As secure as possible, so --

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: No, that's not what I am saying. I'm saying there were 29 cases of election fraud in Ohio.

HUSTED: This is exactly what we are doing.

KEILAR: You could say 30 if you included the extra one.

HUSTED: No, there were more than that.

KEILAR: There was one more that was closed.

HUSTED: There were many more cases than that.

KEILAR: No, there were -- Heritage Foundation, this was the actual one that were concluded.

HUSTED: I did my own audit. I know what happened in Ohio. I was in charge of elections. I can tell you exactly what happened. There were numerous cases every election cycle.

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: I have your numbers, but I'm talking about the ones that went through.

HUSTED: There were over 144 cases.

KEILAR: I'm talking about the ones that went through the full process. One single conviction from a case started while you were Secretary of State afterward that you could add to that 29. But when you're -- the concern of course for a lot of people is that you have many people under the SAVE America Act who may not have access to some of these documents.

So when you're talking about broadly, these provisions and instituting these provisions, you might leave a lot of people having difficulty voting because they don't have ready access to some of these documents considering the problem that you're trying to solve for is pretty small and hasn't affected the outcome of an election --

HUSTED: It is an (inaudible).

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: -- compared to those. How is that not true?

HUSTED: So when you go -- this is how the process works. You can register to vote at the BMV when you get your driver's license. We have a motor voter law. That's where most people actually do it. That process is exactly the same for name changes and whatever it is.

When you change your name on your driver's license, you change your name on your voter registration.

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: In Ohio, but the driver's license you would use in Ohio wouldn't actually suffice under the SAVE America Act, you know that, because it's not that enhanced real ID. There's only five states that have that and Ohio isn't one of them.

HUSTED: The proposal that I propose, the photo ID bill has nothing to do with (inaudible).

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: Which is an amendment to a broader bill, the SAVE America Act. You're talking about registration, which is under the SAVE America Act, not under your amendment.

(CROSSTALK)

HUSTED: What I propose is photo ID is what I propose.

KEILAR: For voting, not for registration.

HUSTED: The SAVE America Act is not my legislation. I'm talking about my legislation.

KEILAR: Which is for voting.

HUSTED: And what I propose.

KEILAR: For when you vote, when you go to vote.

HUSTED: There are many ways --

KEILAR: Not for registering.

HUSTED: Yeah. When you go to vote, photo ID. It's simple (ph).

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: You're talking about registering.

HUSTED: On registration.

KEILAR: That's under the SAVE America Act.

HUSTED: Yes, you can use registration that would include your birth certificate, your naturalization papers, all the kinds of things that you do because, in Ohio, when you go get your driver's license, you have to have your birth certificate.

Then your driver's license then would qualify as a document that you could use to verify your citizenship. That's how it would work.

KEILAR: Senator Jon Husted, we do appreciate you being with us. Thank you so much.

HUSTED: Thank you.

KEILAR: New Hour of "CNN News Central" starts right now.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Make him a deal. President Trump says it's up to Iran to convince him to stop the war and he made it clear that it will go on unless Tehran agrees to one thing. We'll explain.

Plus, long lines, long waits, and soon a long recess. Lawmakers are about to leave D.C. for two weeks and leave behind the fight over funding the Department of Homeland Security. Unpaid TSA agents and air passengers caught in the middle.

And speaking out, Savannah Guthrie talks about the disappearance of her mother and why she believes she may have been kidnapped for ransom. We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

KEILAR: We have Breaking News on the war with Iran. President Trump in his first cabinet meeting since the war began vowing to be Iran's worst nightmare if Tehran doesn't agree to his terms and give up their nuclear ambitions.

[14:05:00]

At one point, the president saying it is now up to Iran to convince the U.S. to end the war and he said this about Iran's oil.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you thinking of taking control of Iran's oil?

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: It's an option. I mean, I wouldn't talk about it, but it's an option.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: In the meantime, Iranian media is reporting that officials there are in complete doubt about Washington's willingness to negotiate. CNN's Natasha Bertrand is with us now on this story. And Natasha, we learned a lot here in the last few hours about the administration's assessment of where Iran's military and nuclear capabilities stand right now.

Just moments ago, we heard more from Secretary of State, Marco Rubio. Tell us who was in this cabinet -- or Rubio was in the cabinet meeting. Tell us about what we learned from him.

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. So, Secretary Rubio, he is headed to a G7 ministerial in France, and he spoke a little bit on his way there to reporters about the Strait of Hormuz which, of course, has become a serious problem for this administration and for global energy markets.

And he said that he believes that the U.S.' allies, particularly in the G7 and NATO, should be doing more to help the U.S. and to reopen that strait.

Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you going to ask G7 to help with the Strait of Hormuz?

MARCO RUBIO, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, it's in their interest to help. I mean, the other countries get far more of their fuel from there than we do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERTRAND: Now, according to the French foreign ministry, G7 partners, they are going to discuss during these meetings potential avenues for negotiations on the war, including, "The reopening of maritime and trade routes" and the "cessation of Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs." And that is where we got a little bit more information earlier today during that cabinet meeting about just what the U.S. military has achieved. And we got that from Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth.

He said that more than 10,000 enemy targets have been hit so far during the war, along with about 150 Iranian naval vessels and underground facilities. He also said Iran no longer has a navy at this point and that their naval commander has been killed, echoing what the U.S. Central Command commander had said earlier today, which is that roughly 92 percent of Iran's large navy ships have been destroyed.

But, you know, he and others during this cabinet meeting, they also said that -- repeatedly, that the objective is to basically completely dismantle Iran's nuclear program and nuclear ambitions. He said that Iran had a modern military and never in recorded history has a nation's military been so quickly and effectively neutralized.

But he said one of the clear objectives, according to Hegseth, is to ensure they never obtain a nuclear weapon. Now, it's unclear how they are going about that, since the military targets have largely been ballistic missile sites, drone production facilities, as well as the Navy and Air Force. When President Trump got a question about whether the U.S. military is actually going to go in on the ground to get Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which they would need to create a nuclear weapon, he said that he would never tell the press his plans for that, Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, Natasha, thank you for the report. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Let's discuss with Democratic Congressman, Jason Crow of Colorado. He's a member of the Armed Services and Intelligence Committees. Congressman, thanks so much for sharing part of your afternoon with us. I want to start with something that Special Envoy, Steve Witkoff said during today's Cabinet meeting.

He said that there were strong signs pointing to Tehran being convinced that they're at an inflection point in which a deal with the United States is their best option. Given what we know about the Iranian leadership, do you believe, Steve Witkoff?

REP. JASON CROW, (D-CO) ARMED SERVICES AND INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEES. CONGRESSMAN: I would love to see or hear what Steve Witkoff is referencing, because I sit on the Intelligence Committee. I sit on the Armed Services Committee. I have spent the last three weeks poring over all the reports, all of our intelligence, talking directly with the senior intelligence and military leaders, and I have seen no such sign.

So if it exists, would it please stand up and make itself present? Because right now, what I am seeing is an Iran that's dug in, a new supreme leader who's more extreme and hardline than the old extreme leader, large stockpiles of drones and missiles still available, and an Iran that seems determined to make sure that they hold on to Kharg Island and the Straits of Hormuz, while the United States is surging forces into the region with, I believe, without adequate plans and force protection measures in place.

So from my perspective, as a former Army Ranger, now a member of Congress with oversight of this stuff, this seems to be getting riskier, not less risky.

SANCHEZ: Given everything that you just laid out, what do you think it would actually take for the regime to meet U.S. demands, whether this 15-point plan that's been reported on or similar?

CROW: Well, can we actually look at the chronology of this 15-point plan? I actually looked at that plan, and almost all of it was stuff that Barack Obama achieved via the JCPOA over a decade ago, right? So we had a plan, we had IAEA monitoring, we had limits on ballistic missiles, we had civil nuclear cooperation, we had other guardrails put in place.

[14:10:00]

Donald Trump comes in, in his first administration, tears it up, destroys it, then spends a bunch of time saber rattling. Now we're at war with Iran, spending $2 billion a day, $400 million a day in increased energy prices for Americans, service members dead, hundreds wounded, more surging into the region. And now, Donald Trump wants to say, hey, we want this peace plan that goes back to what Barack Obama actually achieved over a decade ago. So this is pretty wild to me.

SANCHEZ: The argument from the administration is that Iran had violated the spirit of the JCPOA through funding terror groups, through belligerence against U.S. allies in the region. You mentioned that forces are getting deployed there.

We learned an additional 1,000 soldiers in the Army's 82nd Airborne Division are set to deploy, joining already 4,500 Marines and sailors in the region. I know that that's of importance to you in particular because you were a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne. Are you reading this deployment as a clear sign that there will be American boots on the ground, whether in Kharg Island or somewhere in the Persian Gulf or in Iran, in the mainland of Iran?

CROW: You're right, Boris. My career in public service started as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division. I deployed. I led a platoon of paratroopers in the invasion of Iraq. I know what it felt like to have the weeks slip by, the months slip by, the years slip by, and to have no strategy, no endgame, to be able to achieve every single mission and to win every single battle.

There's a difference between tactical success, which we almost always have with the best military in the world, and strategic success and winning, right? We never lost a single battle during our 20 years in Iraq and Afghanistan, but both of those conflicts ended poorly after spending over $5 trillion and 7,000 American lives fighting them. Right?

So what I'm thinking about is, why are we sending these paratroopers into battle or potentially into battle? What guardrails are being put in place? How are we going to protect them and the 50,000 service members who are already there if we're running low on interceptors, if we don't have a plan or an alliance or a coalition to protect ourselves like we had in Iraq and Afghanistan?

Let's remember, we had over 40 nations that went to war with us in Iraq and also Afghanistan. We don't have that here, right? So I am deeply troubled for the trajectory. I'm deeply troubled for those paratroopers that I love, that I think about every day. I want to make sure that we can bring them home to their families.

SANCHEZ: If the U.S. were to capture Kharg Island or perhaps another island or area of strategic importance in the goal for the Strait of Hormuz, what would that mean for the broader conflict? Can the U.S., at this point, end hostilities without doing that?

CROW: This goes back to your original question, Boris, about Steve Witkoff and what he has purportedly seen about the Iranian regime. The Iranian regime has built itself over two decades for this moment. They have distributed their command and control. They have a deep bench. They have decentralized decision making. They have dug in. They have stockpiles and reserves. They view this as existential, and I'm seeing no indication that they're going to strike a deal or capitulate or surrender any time soon, right?

So again, we can have tactical success and we will take casualties, I think, in the process of that, which is what I'm very concerned about, but without a strategic endgame. So where is this all leading? I can tell you that the American people are pretty sick and tired of endless conflict in the Middle East after $5 trillion to $8 trillion in two decades, thousands of American lives. They can't buy their groceries. They can't pay their rent or their mortgages.

Our schools are crumbling and don't have adequate funding. And now, the White House is saying we're going to spend at least $200 billion on this. The appetite for this is very low in America, in Colorado, I can tell you that. So we have to make sure that we are ending this, because this is not what Americans want and deserve right now. And in the short term, let's protect those Marines and paratroopers who we're sending into harm's way.

SANCHEZ: While we have you, Congressman, I wanted to ask about the partial government shutdown. The Department of Homeland Security has been unfunded for more than 40 days, and lawmakers are set to go on a two-week recess now. With these huge TSA lines, not only TSA officials, but also members of the U.S. Coast Guard, other federal agents that are critical to the nation's security have gone unpaid now for a significant amount of time.

Are you planning to stay in Washington? Do you urge others to? Do you think it's fair for leaders in Congress to leave town and go on this two-week hiatus while so many are facing these circumstances?

CROW: I will vote any time, day or night. I will come to Washington or stay in Washington if that's what is necessary. We have to pay these agents, and we have to open this up. And that's not just TSA. That's FEMA.

[14:15:00]

That's Coast Guard. This should be easy, actually. And we have proposed now nine different times in Congress, Democrats, to fully fund every non-controversial portion of this bill. That's FEMA, that's Coast Guard, that is TSA. Let's get that off the table. Let's fund these folks and pay these folks who are doing really tough, important work.

And then we can have our debate about how we reign in a lawless, unconstitutionally acting agency like ICE who's terrorizing my district, my community, my constituents, and many others throughout the country. But let's pay all these others. And again, we have forced in Congress, Democrats, nine times, tried to force a vote.

I have signed on to a bill, a discharge petition is what it's called, that would force a vote in the House of Representatives. I encourage all of my colleagues, Republicans and Democrats alike, to sign on to that discharge petition so we can dispense with all those non- controversial elements. But right now, Mike Johnson is preventing that from moving forward.

SANCHEZ: Congressman Jason Crow, we have to leave the conversation there. Thanks so much for the time.

CROW: Thanks, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Still to come, anti-Maduro demonstrators gathering outside a New York federal courthouse as Venezuela's ousted leader, Nicolas Maduro, faces a judge. We're live with new details.

Plus, "Today" Show host Savannah Guthrie opening up in her first interview since tragedy struck her family. We have that and much more coming your way in just moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:20:40]

KEILAR: For the first time since Savannah Guthrie's mother, Nancy, disappeared from her Tucson, Arizona home 54 days ago, the NBC "Today" show host spoke out. She talked to her NBC colleague, Hoda Kotb, and Guthrie described what life has been like for her and her family since their mother vanished.

She shut down rumors that her sister or brother-in-law may have been involved in her mother's disappearance and she shared the guilt that she feels, wondering if her celebrity is to blame for what happened. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE, CO-HOST, NBC "TODAY": Do you think, because of me? I'm sorry, sweetie, but -- yeah, maybe. But I knew that.

HODA KOTB, CO-HOST, NBC "TODAY": you did?

GUTHRIE: I hope not. I mean, we still don't know. Honestly, we don't know anything.

KOTB: No.

GUTHRIE: We don't know anything. So I don't know --

KOTB: Yeah.

GUTHRIE: -- that it's because she's my mom and somebody thought, oh, that girl, that lady has money. We can get -- make a quick buck. I mean, that would make sense, but we don't know.

But yeah, that's probably -- which is too much to bear, to think that I brought this to her bedside, that it's because of me. And I just say, I'm so sorry, mommy. I'm so sorry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: CNN Chief Media Analyst, Brian Stelter is here with us on this story. Just the pain is so palpable in this interview, Brian. What else did Savannah say about the investigation now that she's back in New York?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: She apologized, you know, not just to her mom and her prayers. She's also apologized to her family, to her brother, to her sister, to her relatives. You know, that idea that Savannah is carrying this guilt really stands out.

Another noteworthy element from this interview is about the ransom notes that we all remember hearing so much about in February. Some of them, she believes, were sick money grabs by impostors. But she indicates she does believe a couple of them were genuine. Here's what Savannah said about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GUTHRIE: There are a lot of different notes, I think, that came.

KOTB: Yeah.

GUTHRIE: And I think most of them, it's my understanding, are not real. And I didn't see them. But, you know, a person that would send a fake ransom note really has to look deeply at themselves.

KOTB: Yeah.

GUTHRIE: To a family in pain. But I believe the two notes that we received, that we responded to, I tend to believe those are real.

KOTB: Really?

GUTHRIE: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STELTER: And you know, hearing this from Savannah, hearing about the ransom notes, the belief that a couple of them were legit, it just begs the question, then what happened? And why did those apparent kidnappers fall out of touch? Why did they not follow up? Why was there not some attempt to make a payment?

Or if there was, why did it not work? There's more questions that remain unanswered. And ultimately, the biggest question of all, the one that haunts Savannah every day and every night is about her mother's whereabouts, about her mother's status.

She points out investigators say they continue to work tirelessly. But she said, we need answers. And that interview is going to air more, actually tomorrow, as Savannah does prepare to return to work, looking for something resembling normal in her life.

Maybe getting back to work will give her a little bit of a comforting routine. But, of course, there's going to be no such thing as normal for Savannah or her family for a long time to come.

KEILAR: Ever. Brian Stelter, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

And if you have information that could help investigators, this family deserves it. You can call 1-800-CALL-FBI or 520-351-4900. You can go to tips.fbi.gov. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:29:23]

SANCHEZ: A federal judge appeared to side with lawyers for former Venezuelan President, Nicolas Maduro in court today as they argued that the ousted leader should be able to use funds from the Venezuelan government for his legal defense. Maduro and his wife have pleaded not guilty to federal drug and weapons charges.

CNN's Kara Scannell is outside the courthouse in New York and joins us now. And Kara, this all centers on U.S. sanctions on Venezuela.

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It does, Boris. And the judge overseeing this case was receptive to Maduro's argument that the U.S., by not issuing a license to allow those lawyers to receive payments from Venezuela, was something that was potentially impeding his defense.

The judge heard arguments from both sides. The prosecutor is saying that the Maduros are plundering the wealth of Venezuela. They said they could get by with a court appointed --