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Trump Fires Loyalist Pam Bondi As Attorney General; Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) On U.S. Intel Shows Iran Has Significant Missile Launching Capability; Testimony Resumes In Hawaii Doctor's Attempted Murder Trial. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired April 03, 2026 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:32:10]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning what is next for the Justice Department now that President Trump has fired Attorney General Pam Bondi, the shortest serving attorney general in some 60 years.

With us now the former attorney for the Middle District of Georgia Michael Moore. Counselor, good to see you this morning.

Just as we look forward --

MICHAEL MOORE, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY, MIDDLE DISTRICT OF GEORGIA, PARTNER, MOORE HALL: Good to be here.

BERMAN: -- you know, what is Pam Bondi's legacy at justice? How has the Justice Department changed in this brief tenure?

MOORE: Yeah. Well, I'm glad to be with you.

I really think she will have a mixed legacy. Those who have supported the administration's effort to weaponize the department will cheer her as a champion. And those who had some respect for the reverence and sort of the independence of the department, as has been its place in history, will see her as a -- as a failure and somebody who probably has done irreparable damage to the department as a whole, both reputationally and I think professionally by getting rid of so many good qualified career employees and talented prosecutors there.

So she'll have a mixed bag, and it'll depend on, you know, which lens you're looking out of as you analyze that.

BERMAN: You know, our reporting is, among other things, one of the reasons the president fired her is she did not do a good enough job in his eyes of going after his perceived enemies.

So what went wrong for her? Why couldn't she get convictions or more prosecutions there?

MOORE: Well, they were bringing cases that they had no business bringing. They just had no proof. And she was using the department to be the megaphone of the president as opposed to the agency that should be seeking justice. And so they were bringing cases in places and I think probably having some unqualified prosecutors move forward on some of these cases.

You can't fault somebody just because they lose a case, but you can when they repeatedly oversee or approve prosecutions. When those things go south time and time again, you know, it's time to start looking at sort of the vetting process and the motivation behind bringing those cases.

So I don't know how anybody could say she wasn't a big cheerleader for Trump. I mean, she carried more water, you know, than a five-gallon bucket for the guy as she went both to congressional hearings and otherwise. I mean, almost to the point of being ridiculous. But she -- so I don't think she could -- he could be unhappy with her for sort of singing on his side of the sheet of music. But I just don't see how, you know, her efforts to bring these cases forward brought any credit on her or the department.

BERMAN: Yeah, look. I mean, she's the one who literally hung the banner of Donald Trump right outside the Justice Department.

MOORE: Yeah.

BERMAN: You can't do more than that than putting a giant picture of the guy outside.

MOORE: That's right.

[07:35:00]

BERMAN: Very quickly, Michael, any sense that a Lee Zeldin is attorney general or Todd Blanche would be any different or more successful maybe in the president's eyes?

MOORE: I think anybody going in is going to have an uphill battle. And Todd Blanche, you know, he's just fresh off his speech where he recently bragged about getting rid of prosecutors who didn't tote the president's water. So I don't -- I don't think he's going to be any better. And this may be a case of sort of having a devil you know. At least people could sort of see her ridiculousness as opposed now to bringing somebody else in.

But I also will tell you I think whoever is appointed is going to have an uphill battle in confirmation because we're mighty close to the midterms and you find that these senators who have to explain their vote get a little more careful on how they exercise that vote the closer they get to the ballot box. So it wouldn't surprise me to see some pretty heated confirmation process or at least somebody who is more moderate or at least seen as more qualified and moderate nominated to see if they can get confirmed.

BERMAN: Yeah. It'll be interesting to see how long the president keeps Todd Blanche as an acting attorney general.

Michael Moore, great to see you this morning. Have a nice holiday weekend. We appreciate your time -- Kate. KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: We are standing by for some major economic news this morning. Key data will be coming out in one hour -- the March jobs reports. It could give us an important gut check on the state of economy, the state of the labor market, and it also comes after an unexpected downturn in last month's report you'll remember. Expectations are just 60,000 jobs were added last month and the unemployment rate holding at 4.4 percent.

But this report also comes as we have been watching this wild week with oil prices, over the uncertainty about the war with Iran, and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

Joining me right now is Madison Mills with Axios for more on this. What are you hearing, Madison, about expectations and what kind of -- in terms of like the timeframe of when the -- when the survey was done and what we are going to see and can take from this report?

MADISON MILLS, SENIOR AI REPORTER, AXIOS: Well, it's not going to give us any clarity on whether the war in Iran has impacted the labor market, right --

BOLDUAN: Right.

MILLS: -- because to your point on timing it's just too soon to know. If a company is saying they're laying people off because of the war they are likely lying about that.

BOLDUAN: That's a good point.

MILLS: It would be way too soon to do that.

But it is going to be interesting to see. You know, last month's report was a little bit confusing to read because there was this strike, so it looked like there was just this massive hit to jobs. And a loss of jobs -- that's not going to be in the picture this time around. So it could give us a little bit more of a clear read on the state of the labor market, which is obviously very important as there are concerns about consumer spending and how that's going to impact both the economy and the stock market.

BOLDUAN: Madison, so markets are closed for Good Friday, but what is your kind of take on the wild week that was --

MILLS: Um-hum.

BOLDUAN: -- with oil -- I mean, with all markets?

MILLS: It's like the ghost of crises past is how sources have described it to me. Every single historic financial mishap is happening all at once. So you've got, like, the war in Iran is whispering of past energy crises. The global financial crisis with regards to what's happening in private credit. And then you also have the AI bubble, which looks like the dot.com bubble. So, like, pick your historic example.

BOLDUAN: All in one, everyone. MILLS: All in one.

So it seems like investors don't really know what to focus on and that's in part why we're seeing these massive swings. We had this huge surge in oil prices yesterday and then people dumped out of stocks because they didn't want to be invested over the long weekend. So that's why we're going to have a lot of volatility, at least for the near term.

BOLDUAN: Yeah, and I'm going to say medium term.

MILLS: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: So what's -- on oil, there -- a strategist with Macquarie told Matt Egan who was doing some reporting -- our Matt Egan -- and he said now that $200 a barrel oil is possible even if the war ends but the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed, mostly closed, or paralyzed.

When I talked to the energy secretary last month about this and asked him directly about the idea of could oil hit that point -- hit that kind of unprecedented mark -- he said it was unlikely, but he did not deny it.

I mean --

MILLS: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: -- if that's coming what does that mean for the U.S. economy?

MILLS: Well, the challenge, of course, that you know is that it's not just about the price at the pump.

BOLDUAN: Right.

MILLS: That this impacts so much. It impacts mortgage rates, so people buying a home could expect to see higher prices. Airline costs are surging. Hopefully, everybody bought their summer vacation tickets early because you're going to see higher prices. Travel costs overall, housing -- everything gets more expensive because energy is a part of so much. Even the AI that we're all using could get more expensive because of energy costs.

So this is something that really ripples throughout the entire economy.

BOLDUAN: It's great to see you, Madison. Thanks for coming in.

MILLS: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Sara.

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

Joining me now, Democratic Congressman Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey. He serves on the House Intelligence and Financial Services Committees. Thank you for being here this morning.

You just heard. We're talking about oil and gas potentially --

REP. JOSH GOTTHEIMER (D-NJ) (via Webex by Cisco): Thanks for having me.

SIDNER: -- going to go to $200 a barrel, which is crazy.

[07:40:00]

And since we're talking about the Iran war, we've got some new reporting from sources to CNN that half of Iran's missile launches are still very much intact -- a far better scenario than the Trump administration has been painting so far as that is one of their objectives to destroy missile capabilities.

But now that we are in this war this is how President Biden's former national security communication adviser, Rear Adm. John Kirby, sees it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REAR ADM. JOHN KIRBY (RET.), FORMER BIDEN NATIONAL SECURITY COMMUNICATION ADVISER: So what I worry about is pulling the plug early, leaving the regime still in power -- and it is still the same regime. There has not been regime change. Leaving them in power to continue to persecute their own population and be able to propagate terrorism and a threat to the region, and then where we are. Are we simply back to, again, mowing the grass? So I worry about pulling the plug early and not letting the military finish its job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Pulling the plug early and not letting the military finish its job is his worry. Is that yours? Is that how you see it?

GOTTHEIMER: Listen, I think it is very fair to say that this is not an overnight mission, right? And I think the -- you know, this is not Venezuela, as the president talked about the other night about Venezuela and how quick the success was there.

This is not something -- the Iranians have spent decades preparing for this, right? I mean, they've built tunnels and caves where they're hiding their missile launchers, and that's what you're seeing here of how tough this is. And if the mission is completely destroying their nuclear capabilities that's also not something that's going to happen overnight. And by the way, that's a much more involved mission than something we could do from the air.

So, you know, what you're seeing here is what's the level -- how are we going to define success? That's the real question. And if it's completely as was just pointed out -- if that's complete obliteration of this regime and that is a much different mission than what we're -- what the president seems to have outlined the other night.

SIDNER: What is best case scenario for you because there are several options? You could leave and sort of leave with the Strait of Hormuz still closed. You could continue on. You could add to this by putting troops on the ground, which has not been taken off the table. What, to you, is the best case scenario?

GOTTHEIMER: Well listen, the challenge is that the straits are still closed. That means they control the oil, right, and that's 20 percent of the world's oil will be controlled by the Iranian government if that's the case -- if we left then.

And we are looking already at over $4.00 nationally a gallon of gas. That's a huge hit. You were just talking about people's pocketbooks and the struggles they're facing on energy prices. You can imagine the hit to our economy and to families, and I hear about that all the time.

Obviously making sure that their missile capabilities are devastated is critical, that their drone capabilities are set back, and that they can't still threatened the United States of America. That is to me always been what the objective is here -- to crush the Iranian government and ensure that they can't threaten our interests, right, and continue to threaten our families, our men and women in the military, our bases that they've obviously attacked over the years. Their banner of "Death to America" -- if that still hangs strong that's a real challenge for us after this mission.

So, you know, the question is where is the line of success? What is that -- you know, what is good enough? Because right now if we're looking at making sure everything is obliterated and gone that's a much different objective than the president seemed to have laid out and I think what people have patience for right now in this country.

SIDNER: All right, let's move on to big news out of the administration -- Trump firing Pam Bondi, the AG. But she has a subpoena to appear before the House Oversight Committee over her handling of the Epstein file release.

Should she be compelled to appear now that she's no longer AG? Do you want to see that happen?

GOTTHEIMER: Absolutely. I move -- we still have to understand she's still been the attorney general and she's still going to be there for weeks ahead, according to the reports yesterday.

So, I mean, we've got to understand the depths of her retribution campaign that she has conducted on behalf of this administration and on behalf of the president, right? I mean, I think we have a right to understand exactly what she's done and what has been laid out that we haven't seen yet in the department.

I understand the president didn't think she was conducting a good enough retribution campaign, right, so he wants to replace her. But there's been a lot of damage done both within the department and, of course, on some of -- on some of the, you know, indictments that she's issued. So, you know, I think we have a right to know, and I think it's important that we get to the bottom of it. SIDNER: Look, Todd Blanche is now the acting AG, and I want you to

hear what he said on Fox News about his former boss, Bondi, and the reason for her termination.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD BLANCHE, ACTING U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: I have -- I have never heard President Trump say that the attorney general was -- anything that happened to her had anything to do with the Epstein files. And so look, the Epstein files has been a saga that's lasted for the entire -- for the past year. And what happened when the president signed the Transparency Act is the Department of Justice has now released all the files with respect to the Epstein saga.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[07:45:05]

SIDNER: Have all the files been released? Is that true?

GOTTHEIMER: I guess we really don't know the answer to that. That's part of the challenge here, right? I mean, she -- at first, when she got in -- the attorney general -- she said she was going to release everything immediately -- they were on her desk. Then it was months later. And then it was then they've trickled out slowly over weeks.

So I don't think any of us know if everything has been released. I think that's the question. Is there anything hiding in a basement somewhere? I think people want to make sure we actually get all this information out as was promised, right? And I think we've got to get to the bottom of that as well, and I think that's a really important reason that she should come before Congress and make sure she tells the truth.

SIDNER: Congressman Josh Gottheimer, thank you so much for joining us on this Friday. It is finally here. I appreciate it.

GOTTHEIMER: Thanks for having me. Happy holidays.

SIDNER: Happy holidays -- John.

BERMAN: Yeah, and new this morning it is a holiday weekend and there is word that about seven percent of TSA workers are still calling in sick, though they have started getting paid again. That's about 2,000 workers.

Let's get a check and see what that's doing to lines this morning on this holiday weekend. CNN's Ryan Young back at his post at the airport in Atlanta. Ryan, what are you seeing?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Why not? Look, it's been pretty busy already this morning, John, but we're not seeing the lines like we used to. In fact, I was standing outside there just a few days ago. Now when you turn back this direction you really get to see it's moving fast again, and that is good to see. Families have been telling me they're still coming really early here to the airport because they're obviously scared about missing their spring break.

But let's check the big board right here. You see that north main and south checkpoints all at two minutes. Those are the green lights that we want to see because before, we saw those red lights when times extended above 187 minutes.

If you walk this direction with me, we're going to go against the grain a little bit here. This is supposed to be one of the busiest days at the airport. Spring travel is getting ready to get started here. We also know we have big events in the area. So John, we know across the country people are going to be traveling nonstop, especially for spring break.

Wanting to show you the extra layers of security they have here at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport because still, beyond the fact of just having regular TSA they still have some of the ICE agents who are working. So right here you can see one of the guys who is taking people's IDs. They are checking folks in. So beyond the fact of just having regular TSA, they have those folks who are checking IDs to get them through.

We know just this week they've had over 20 percent of folks from this airport who work for the TSA still call out. When we talked to some of the TSA agents some of them were still trying to recover from the financial haul that this really put them under. Those late fees are really having an impact. The overtime checks hadn't hit just yet and we learned some had possibly faced eviction. So you could understand there could probably be some sore feelings that are still connected to this.

But as we walk you to the main checkpoint because I want to show you this. We should you precheck, we showed you clear, and now the main checkpoint. You can see things are open here, John. We're getting our steps because we can move wherever we want at this point because it's so open as we speak right now. So that's a good thing.

BERMAN: Yeah. I was going to ask you -- have you been checking your steps during the coverage at the airports there? Are you like at 23,000 steps a day or something because you just keep walking and walking and walking?

YOUNG: Uh, the -- yeah. Well, the worst day that we had so far was 17,000, so that wasn't too bad. And that was really because of the slowdown here.

I will say this on top of all that. When people were standing in that line for five and six hours the airport was bringing them water because you did have people who have medical emergencies. They have restaffed how they do things. So they know today is going to be a busy day.

BERMAN: Yeah.

YOUNG: You have the extra staff on the floor to make sure folks who are going through security are OK. And we know at other airports they could be seeing longer wait times too because all these folks have got to go somewhere, John.

BERMAN: Yeah, and it is very important to hydrate.

Ryan Young in Atlanta. Thank you so much for being there for us -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Covering airports, the new Olympic sport founded by Ryan Young.

BERMAN: He's got the gold. I mean, no question about that.

BOLDUAN: Obviously, obviously. I mean, look -- and with the sporty jacket as well.

BERMAN: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: He has made it a sport.

BERMAN: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: Love it. OK, let's move on. Here we go to this.

A terrifying moment. A car is stolen. A baby is inside that car. Police are still searching now for the suspect behind all of this.

And the man accused of trying to kill his wife while they were on a hike in Hawaii, he took the stand in his own defense, and he gets grilled in cross-examination.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a surprise because you still had a chance to go through with your plan to push Arielle off the cliff. Isn't that right?

GERHARDT KONIG, ON TRIAL FOR ATTEMPTED MURDER OF WIFE: That is not right at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:53:48]

BOLDUAN: It is a gut-wrenching moment. Video out of Minneapolis shows a mother running after her car after it was stolen. Her 3-month-old baby was inside.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOTHER WHOSE CAR WAS STOLEN WITH 3-MONTH-OLD BABY INSIDE: (Screaming) (INAUDIBLE).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: This happened outside of a daycare. The mother says that her baby was in the car alone for less than a minute and that is all the time though that it took for someone to jump in and take off. Police used license plate readers, drones, and some of the city's cameras to be able to locate the stolen SUV about an hour later. Thankfully, they found the baby safe inside, which is the most important part. This morning the suspect is still on the run.

So as oil and gas prices continue to surge because of the war with Iran, it may be having a new impact you're going to have to deal with. Amazon is now slapping a new surcharge, it says, on third-party sellers. The company says starting in two weeks it will apply a 3 1/2 percent fuel and logistics surcharge to cover higher operating costs. The fee could lead to higher prices for customers, of course, if sellers decide to pass those costs along.

[07:55:00]

And Dutch prosecutors say stolen ancient Romanian treasures, including a 2,500-year-old gold -- 2,500-year-old gold helmet -- have been recovered and it's thanks to the actual suspected thieves who are in custody. Authorities say that the three suspects gave up the information on the location of the artifacts as part of a deal, so are they still suspected thieves? The relics were stolen in January of last year while on loan to the Drents Museum. Two gold bracelets also recovered from the heist are from 50 B.C.

OK, here is one for you on a Friday. A suspected burglar -- burglary and the man apparently wanted to just kick it up a notch and do it naked. Police in Fairfax, Virginia say the suspect is wanted after terrorizing the same neighborhood for weeks. Each time they say he strikes while nude.

In one account, a resident says that the man got in through a bedroom window as they were getting ready for work. Another resident told police that they heard footsteps in the hall and saw the naked man standing in a doorway.

And now the suspect has been caught on camera. Investigators clearly are releasing this and putting this out hoping that someone will recognize him so they can solve this very strange, very weird, very disturbing naked mystery -- John.

BERMAN: Yeah. Actually, really disturbing.

BOLDUAN: Really, I mean --

BERMAN: That's for sure.

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

BERMAN: All right. New testimony today in the trial of a Hawaii doctor accused of trying to kill his wife during a hike to celebrate her birthday. The defendant has faced tough cross-examination as he tried to convince the jury that he repeatedly bashed his wife's head with a rock in self-defense after she tried to push him from a cliff, he says.

Let's get right to CNN's Jean Casarez who has been following all the drama in this case. What's the latest?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He was on the stand all day on cross- examination and his demeanor was -- he said he was a meticulous person, and he went through every question. I'm talking about the defendant. He thinks, he pauses, he answers no, that's not right, and just really never got out of control and never got angry.

But the prosecutor then says let's talk about the hiking trail, and he showed the jury all the searches -- Google searches of Maui's hiking trails, Oahu's hiking trails, easy hiking trails, difficult. And he said you, the defendant, you selected the most treacherous one of all -- listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you saw the cliff was a minimum several hundred feet high, correct?

GERHARDT KONIG, ON TRIAL FOR ATTEMPTED MURDER OF WIFE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know -- common sense tells you if somebody falls off that cliff they're going to die, right?

KONIG: That's correct.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And this is the hike that you wanted to take Arielle on for her birthday, right?

KONIG: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You wanted to take Arielle along this path, right?

KONIG: That's right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wouldn't you agree that path is right on the edge of the cliff?

KONIG: Uh, yeah. It's very, very close to the edge of the cliff.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But Arielle didn't go that far on the trail that day, did she?

KONIG: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because Arielle didn't want to hike anymore, right?

KONIG: Um, yeah. There came a point in time where Arielle did not want to hike anymore.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And at some point, you actually continue up the trail yourself, right?

KONIG: That's right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Without Arielle.

KONIG: That's right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And then you went back down. Isn't that right?

KONIG: That's right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you saw that she was still there, right?

KONIG: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And it was a surprise to you, right?

KONIG: It was.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a surprise because you still had a chance to go through with your plan to push Arielle off the cliff. Isn't that right?

KONIG: That is not right at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: Now the defendant is an anesthesiologist, and he actually brought one of his medical bags on that trip that day. And so the prosecution said look, you brought this bag. This is a bag you use in your medical practice. You don't bring it on a trail with you. He opened up the bag so the jury could see what was in it. And remember, Arielle said he'd taken out a syringe from that bag. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your work bag is used for when you're on call, correct?

KONIG: That's correct.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The medication that you keep in that bag can kill somebody, right?

KONIG: Um, I'll have to look at the medication that's in there but, um, a lot of the medications that I use at work can be lethal if not given appropriately.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you see the vial on the bottom right of this bag?

KONIG: Yes, I can.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The actual name of the drug or the scientific name is called Propofol, correct?

KONIG: That's correct.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Propofol is the -- one of the main drugs that actually, to use a nonscientific word, puts you to sleep during anesthesia, correct?

KONIG: It's a very common drug that we use to initiate and sometimes maintain anesthesia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: And concluded by saying "And Propofol killed Michael Jackson, didn't it?" And he said, "Yes, it did."

This was the cross-examination. As I said, it's now concluded. Court will reconvene on Tuesday, and it looks like there's going to be closing arguments on Tuesday, so that's finality.

BERMAN: Pretty dramatic stuff. You don't often see a defendant like that on the stand for as long getting questioned quite that rigorously. So this is --

CASAREZ: Yeah.

BERMAN: - something to watch. And Jean, I know you'll be covering this all day again.

CASAREZ: And he's facing life in prison.

BERMAN: Appreciate your coverage. Thank you so much.