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Trump Vows To Finish Iran War As Disapproval Grows Among Americans; New "Cicada" COVID Variant Is Spreading In The U.S. Layoff Rose 25 Percent to 60,620 in March; Oil Prices Surge After Trump Vows to Hit Iran Extremely Hard. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired April 02, 2026 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:31:50]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Happening now, fresh reaction to the president's speech overnight on Iran. The markets did not seem to like it. Stock futures down, oil prices up -- and up pretty substantially. He did not offer much of anything new and the American people seem to want something new. In the CNN poll, which was taken before the speech, just 33 percent said the president has a clear plan for handling the situation in Iran.

This is some of what he had to say last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks. We are going to bring them back to the stone ages where they belong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Let's get right to CNN's Jeff Zeleny. Jeff, you know, it's interesting. With the polls being so bleak on Iran the president really said very little that he hasn't been saying on social media the last few days.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: John, it was pretty extraordinary. It was basically just a public reading of a lot of his Truth Social posts. But the White House believes that the president speaking in primetime to make the case for the actions in Iran will move public opinion. John, that is very much an open question. I mean, the president speaks so much every day from the White House. He sends out so many messages. This is really an example of or a question of if the president can actually move public opinion.

But the White House and many Republican allies were talking about this off-ramp just all day long, sort of leading up to this speech. The president is looking for an off-ramp. Well, perhaps politically he is but militarily he talked much more about escalation and effectively using words like the stone ages. Sending them back to the stone ages. That sent the market tumbling in the wrong direction. So there's no doubt that politically the White House is hoping for

this to come to an end but that is not what the president signaled last night.

But I think the biggest sort of takeaway is that there was so little new in that speech, and had he given this five weeks ago before going into Iran or perhaps right after, would that have changed public opinion? It's unclear.

BERMAN: Yes, it is. Obviously, again, that is not what happened in this speech last night.

ZELENY: Right.

BERMAN: And the markets perhaps had been expecting some kind of a timeline or something. But really, very little new based on what we have been hearing there.

Jeff Zeleny, look, while I have you -- because there doesn't seem to be anyone else here right now -- CNN's got reporting on what the president is doing or not doing on Pam Bondi. What are you hearing about that?

ZELENY: Well John, this is, of course, very interesting. I mean, the attorney general has been at the forefront of so much criticism, really bearing the brunt and causing a lot of the criticism about the Jeffrey Epstein matter.

Our White House team is reporting that the president is talking quite extensively about replacing Pam Bondi, not necessarily something that is just coming out of thin air. He's been talking about this for a while. Of course, she was with him yesterday riding in the limousine to the Supreme Court where he was attending the oral arguments. But significant questions about her future.

And we are learning that one of the top contenders, if he decides to replace her, would be Lee Zeldin. He's the former New York member of Congress and the head of the EPA. So keep your eye on that.

[07:35:05]

Of course, only one cabinet secretary has been dismissed. That's Kristi Noem, as we will know. But that is a big difference from his first term in office where several cabinet secretaries resigned as you well remember.

So Pam Bondi, no question, on thin ice here. Is Lee Zeldin going to replace her? It is certainly what many are saying inside the White House, and we certainly have our eye on that today, John.

BERMAN: All right, excellent. Thank you so much for being with us this morning, Jeff Zeleny. Always great to see you -- Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Thank you, John.

Joining me now CNN national security analyst Beth Sanner. Thank you so much, Beth, for being here.

There -- look, let's go to look at this timeline with the war. There was a sense that President Trump in his speech to the nation may announce an end to the war or a quick wrap-up to the war.

What did you take away from this speech to the American public? Did we get that? What exactly did we get, that's different from what we've been hearing over these -- this past month?

BETH SANNER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST, FORMER DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE (via Webex by Cisco): We didn't get a whole lot that was different. I think Jeff covered that very well.

And I just want to point out one little irony that I'm not sure all Americans get, but this phrase of bombing back to the stone ages was actually this infamous phrase used about the Vietnam War. And I find that just really ironic that he's trying to make this point that this is not going to be like that. And yet, he is repeating a lot of the assumptions and the bad assumptions that were used all around the Vietnam War and he's not really getting where the Iranians are at.

This whole point about really emphasizing the escalation rather than the negotiation -- I think one of the reasons for that is that there are reports in the intelligence community in the past few days have been saying that this Iranian government is not willing to negotiate right now and that they think they're winning.

SIDNER: Yes. I do want to play the moment where he talks about bombing Iran back to the stone ages. Here's exactly what he said and how he phrased it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We spent hundreds of billions of dollars a year on NATO -- hundreds protecting them. And we would have always been there for them but now based on their actions I guess we don't have to be, do we?

I'm so disappointed in NATO because this was a test for NATO. This was a test. You could help us. You don't have to but if you don't have -- you know, if you don't do that, we're going to remember.

The big fear I have with NATO is we spend tremendous amounts of money with NATO. And I know we'll come to their rescue, but I just really do question whether or not they'll come to ours.

So I learned about NATO. NATO won't be there if we ever have the big one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Apologies. That was his comments on NATO throughout this war. And I will ask you about the stone ages comment in just a bit. But when it comes to NATO, throughout the war he has been saying, you know, we asked for NATO's help, but we don't really need it. Now he's angry with them because he did not include them on the front end, but he's angry with them because NATO countries have not jumped in to help on the back end.

Do you think this is going to be used ultimately as the final reason why Trump decides that he leaves NATO? That the United States is pulled out of NATO?

SANNER: Well, I think that there's clearly a trajectory that we have been on for months and months and months, right -- from the beginning of this administration and even pulling off of the last one -- that Trump doesn't want to be in NATO. He doesn't like alliances, which puts him in the same category as President Putin and President Xi (PH). Neither of them like alliances either. They like to deal bilaterally and so do we.

And I think that this is the question -- how far will this go? Now, you know, we do have this prohibition in -- through Congress that the president cannot officially withdraw, but there's a lot that can be done that will really make NATO an actual paper tiger. And I think that we have to understand that, you know, when he used that paper tiger phrase in the past he said, "and Putin agrees that NATO is a paper tiger" as if they've spoken about it.

I think this is a huge concern and we are at a watershed moment right now in a transatlantic relationship. And if Americans think that Russia isn't a threat, that is a major concern. They are a threat not just to NATO but to us. And the fact that Russia has been helping Iran target American soldiers should tell them that Putin is happy to kill Americans.

SIDNER: Let me just quickly play what we were talking about earlier where Trump talks about bombing Iran into the stone ages.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We are going to finish the job and we're going to finish it very fast. We're getting very close. Everyone is talking about it. And tonight I'm pleased to say that these core strategic objectives are nearing completion. We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks. We're going to bring them back to the stone ages where they belong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[07:40:15]

SIDNER: If you bomb -- and you mentioned this was something used in Vietnam, which was a complete quagmire. If you bomb Iran though back into the stone ages, as he puts it, don't you completely destroy the civilian population? You punish them as harshly as the regime?

SANNER: Yes. So that's exactly what I was going to say, Sara. We're on the same wavelength.

Remember where we started this. It started on January 2 when President Trump promised the Iranian opposition that had risen up against their government and promised them that we were coming to help them and that help was on the way, and that they needed to rise up. And after he mentioned again a number that's wrong but 45,000 killed, he again -- even after all those people were killed, he said help is on the way and encouraged them to continue to protest. And now he is obviously for bombing these kinds of civilian infrastructure that hurts the very people that we began with.

The second irony here, sorry, is that the idea that bombing them has a purpose. If the purpose is to change the situation on the ground, I don't think we will because the nuclear situation isn't done. And if it's to force them to negotiations, I think we should understand that is not going to work.

SIDNER: Beth Sanner, thank you so much for your comments this morning. I appreciate it -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: There's a new COVID variant that doctors are paying close attention to now. They're calling it the "Cicada" variant.

Let's get to Jacqueline Howard -- CNN's Jacqueline Howard for much more on this. And Jacqueline, the focus here is on its impact on children, in particular. What are you learning?

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: That's right, Kate. So experts say it appears that children may be more likely to get infected with this variant. They say that we're seeing infections appearing at higher rates among ages two to 18. But again, this is a new variant. We're still collecting data.

But what I can tell you so far, Kate, the Cicada variant -- it's also known as BA.3.2. And so far here in the United States this variant has been detected in four travelers, three airplane wastewater samples, clinical samples were taken from five patients, and it has been detected in 132 wastewater samples from 25 different states.

So we know this is a variant that's out there. The symptoms to watch for are similar to what we've seen with other COVID variants -- cough, fever, sore throat.

But there is some good news here. This variant -- it doesn't appear to be causing a major surge right now. That's because it also doesn't appear to latch onto certain receptors on human cells. So scientifically, that's a good thing.

But again, Kate, we're still keeping an eye on this variant and it's important for families to be aware that, especially at this time of year when you're preparing for spring break travels -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: So if it's not creating a surge, as you said, it's similar symptoms as the other variants, is the vaccine that's out there now working with it?

HOWARD: We know that the vaccine is still offering protection against severe illness. Now you may still be at risk of becoming infected with this variant, but if you were vaccinated in the fall with the latest up-to-date covid vaccine, then you will still have that protection against severe illness. And it's also important to mention if you do become sick with the this cicada variant, antivirals like Paxlovid are still effective. So again, Kate, this is good news, but we're still keeping an eye on this particular new variant.

BOLDUAN: Jacqueline Howard, thank you so much -- John.

BERMAN: All right. The doctor on trial for the attempted murder of his wife takes a stand in his own defense, his story about what happened on the edge of a cliff.

And the one thing a woman wanted for her 99th birthday, hunky firefighters, naturally.

[07:45:00]

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SIDNER: Breaking moments ago, a new report showing job cuts rose 25 percent last month with the technology, transportation and health care sectors taking the biggest hit. The report comes just as President Trump's approval rating for the handling of the economy hits a brand new career low.

CNN senior reporter Matt Egan is joining me now. I was just sort of saying that things don't match in this economy. You've got consumer -- yesterday was like the consumers are spending more money, but now we're seeing these job losses. This is big.

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, Sara, it is. And I think that this report, it paints a mixed picture about the state of the job market. So U.S. based employers, they announced almost 61,000 job cuts last month. That's according to outplacement from Challenger Gray and Christmas. Now, that is a step in the wrong direction from February. That is a 25 percent increase from February moving in the wrong direction.

However, it's down sharply, down 78 percent from the same month last year. And of course, that's because at this point last year, the federal workforce was shrinking rapidly because of all of those deep budget cuts by DOGE. But let's look at the trend here for layoff announcements.

You can see that on the left side of the screen, that's '23 -- 2023, 2024, layoff announcements were really low. And then there was this massive spike early last year that set off all kind of alarm bells. What's nice to see is thankfully that has come down pretty significantly.

[07:50:00]

In fact, Sara, Challenger says that the first quarter of this year had the lowest number of layoff announcements in four years. Now, what's interesting here is the why.

Why are companies laying off workers? And Challenger lays out the top three reasons and two and three closings, stores closing, businesses shutting down, restructuring. Those are kind of routine things that you would expect to see.

But look at number one, your artificial intelligence. Challenger said that about a quarter of all layoff announcements last month were because of A.I. And that was especially true in technology, where roles that were typically done by humans like coding have now been replaced by technology. And this really gets at some of that anxiety that workers are feeling about what A.I. is going to mean for all of our jobs. There is some good news, though, in this report. Challenger found that hiring did increase significantly, doubling month over month, also doubling year over year. And that is certainly nice to see.

SIDNER: Is this just hiring plans or this is actual hiring?

EGAN: Good question. This is announced plans to hire workers.

SIDNER: Got you.

EGAN: And we'll have to wait and see if this is backed up by the more official government jobs report that's coming out tomorrow morning that'll give us a better sense for whether or not actual hiring has increased.

But look, Sara, we have another test for the job market right now, right? It was tariffs. It was high inflation.

And now the war in the Middle East, hundred dollar oil, four dollar gas. That's going to potentially put more pressure on the job market in the weeks ahead.

SIDNER: Yes, I mean, we'll have to wait and see, because this is before the war started as well. So there's a lot of changes that may occur. Matt Egan, it's good to have you back.

EGAN: Thank you, Sara.

SIDNER: Kate

BOLDUAN: OK, this morning, the price of oil is rising, and stock futures are down after President Trump's speech last night and when he threatened to bomb Iran back to the Stone Ages, in his words. Look at this. WTI, the U.S. benchmark for oil, is above $109 a barrel right now. Let's talk about this, the impact on the U.S. economy and more. Joining us right now is Natasha Sarin, president and co-founder of the Budget Lab at Yale. Thanks for coming in.

I was reading from the head of the International Energy Agency talking about just what right now and looking forward, this massive and historic shock to the global energy supply really is looking like. Let me read what he said.

"The next month, April, will be much worse than March. In April, there is nothing. The loss of oil in April will be twice the loss of oil in March. On top of that, you have LNG and others. It will come through to inflation. I think it will cut economic growth in many countries, especially emerging economies. In many countries, the rationing of energy may be coming soon."

What does this mean or could this mean for the U.S. economy?

NATASHA SARIN, PROFESSOR OF LAW AND FINANCE, YALE LAW SCHOOL: It means really sizable and substantial disruptions. And frankly, you're already starting to see those. As a result of the speech last night where the president clearly articulated no plan for getting out of the Strait of Hormuz and getting the Strait of Hormuz back open and getting out of this conflict with Iran, you saw oil prices jump about 10 percent.

We're back to $109 a barrel. You've seen gas prices in this country that are above $4 for the first time in many years. And you're in a situation where the inflationary effects of this war are likely to shave off something like $100 billion from U.S. GDP over the course of the next year. And that's if this disruption is only a disruption that lasts a few months.

Well, all indicators suggest that this is actually likely to be a long-lived, not just conflict, but the consequences are very significant. There's no button you turn on to magically write what's going on with respect to the Strait of Hormuz and all the oil supply infrastructure that's also being implicated by this conflict.

BOLDUAN: I'm also seeing reporting this morning of the French president saying very clearly to reporters today that you cannot reopen the Strait of Hormuz by force, just showing that there is the solution of flipping the switch. It doesn't exist with what they're looking at.

SARIN: And something that's really important for your viewers to understand, last night you heard the president say, well, the Strait of Hormuz, that's other people's problem because U.S. oil doesn't substantially come from the Strait. That actually doesn't matter with respect to the fact that the global price of oil is set based on the nature of the supply.

BOLDUAN: How you're going to feel it depends on how the globe feels. That's the way it works. Before you go, I did want to ask you, because today is also the one-year anniversary of Liberation Day, when President Trump announced that massive change in trade policy, those massive sweeping reciprocal tariffs on pretty much every U.S. trading partner. I know you and the Budget Lab have a new analysis that you're coming out with on what has happened in this year since. What have you found?

SARIN: So my colleagues and I put out a report that illustrates to you that last year on Liberation Day, we had effective tariff rates that were announced that were something like 22 percent.

[07:55:00]

Now we're down to about half that, and partly that illustrates the nature of the volatility of this trade policy. Tariffs have gone in place. Tariffs have been stopped and paused. The Supreme Court has now weighed in and said a bunch of the ways in

which these tariffs were effectuated were illegal. But still, effective tariff rates of 11 percent are five times higher than they were when this president took office, and that is translating into price increases for the American consumer on the order of over $1,000 a year. If you combine that with the inflationary effects of this war and what's happening to oil prices and energy prices in this country, these are really significant consequences, and they're consequences that are already being realized.

BOLDUAN: And they are going to be felt for some time to come. You can't, again, flip that switch to undo that as well. Really interesting and important kind of wrapping it all together, which is important.

It's good to see you. Thank you very much.

SARIN: So happy to be here.

BOLDUAN: Thanks -- John.

BERMAN: All right. New this morning, police see nearly 140 boxes containing iPhones and iPads were stolen from a FedEx warehouse near Miami worth about $2 million. The two suspects allegedly posed as workers and intercepted a delivery.

This morning, one suspect is in custody. The other remains at large.

In Indiana, beer on the lam. A man stole a Bud Light truck, leading police on a long chase. Ultimately, the suspect slammed into a patrol car before ultimately crashing into the field. Deputies fired pepper spray -- or pepper balls, I should say -- after he refused to get out of the vehicle.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEP. JARED ZWILLING, VANDERBURGH COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: When I was playing it back in my head, I thought I was a lot further away. But when I watched the video, I guess I was pretty close. I usually say like foot pursuits are the Super Bowl of policing, but chasing a stolen Bud Light truck is definitely up there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Suspect is facing several charges, including driving while intoxicated.

In Chelmsford, Massachusetts, one town over from where I grew up. The ultimate 99th birthday gift for Teresa Gola. In past years, all she asked for was a calendar, naturally.

But this year, her family went one step further. They got her the real thing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TERESA GOLA: I was shocked to see all this. I expected a couple of them to come, not the whole fire department.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: The whole fire department showed up. Incidentally, Teresa says the secret to living to 99, wine and firefighters. These are my people, Sara.

SIDNER: And they are mine as well. And we can do it before 99 if you want, John.

BERMAN: That's right. It'd be a weird show.

SIDNER: A little bit. All right.

A dramatic development in the trial of that Hawaii doctor accused of trying to kill his wife on a birthday hike in Hawaii. The defendant, Gerhardt Konig, taking the stand this week in his own defense. Prosecutors accused him of pushing his wife, Ariel, toward a cliff before attacking her with a syringe and then bashing her head in with a rock.

But the defendant is telling a very different story. He claims he acted in self-defense. CNN's Jean Casarez is here.

You are going to be seeing cross-examination today. But this is an unusual thing. You don't often see defendants in a murder trial taking the stand.

What did you hear?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, so much. So much. He talked about that mid-2024, she went on a trip to South Africa with a colleague and he said everything was different after that, that she would be on her phone all the time. She wouldn't let him see her screen or her phone.

She was talking to somebody named Jeff all the time, Jeff Miller, a colleague. So he knew something was very wrong. He found her phone and she was sending videos and texts and pictures to Jeff Miller, who was a colleague, a close colleague.

And so he confronted her. She admitted it. He arranged for all this therapy for them.

And it was so difficult. He said they were individual therapy, couples therapy. They read books together. They did everything.

Finally got to the point they're going to take a trip to Maui because they had come through all of this. And so it was her birthday. He'd gotten her a beautiful card.

He got her a gift. They went to breakfast on Oahu because they lived in Maui. They flew to Oahu, went on the trail -- on the hiking trail.

It was great. She said, all of a sudden, she said, I got to tell you something. She said, I got to go on a business trip with Jeff Miller, but nothing will happen. I promise you. He said, no, this will not happen. And then a terrible fight began.

Watch what he testified to.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GERHARDT KONIG, DEFENDANT: I felt like a shove, and I was almost pushed over the edge.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You felt a shove? Who shoved you?

KONIG: Henry did.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did you do right after that?

KONIG: I barely caught myself and turned around and looked at her and was like, what the was (BLEEP) that, like?

She keeps yelling and she kind of grabs my wrists and throws herself on the ground and pulls me down with her. She has her leg wrapped around one of my legs and is actively holding on to me and is yelling. And so I'm trying to, you know, get free and I get my one arm free, and I try to use it to get my other arm free.

And then she hits me with a rock on the side of the face. And I finally get the rock.