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Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL) On Trump's Threat To Iran: Make A Deal By Tonight Or Face "Hell"; Doctor Accused Of Trying To Kill Wife On Hike Claims Self-Defense; Artemis II Crew Returning To Earth After Lunar Flyby. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired April 07, 2026 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:31:25]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news. Several explosions have now been reported on Iran's Kharg Island where about 90 percent of Iran's crude exports are handled. This is according to the Iranian news agency. It comes as oil prices still really high and President Trump's deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz looms tonight.

The closure of the critical waterway has sent shockwaves through the entire energy market and now some experts are sounding the alarm again warning that if the war continues for another six to eight weeks, we could start to see gas and diesel shortages, not just high prices.

CNN's Matt Egan joining us now. That will really rattle folks here in this country. But we're already seeing some of this elsewhere, right?

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yeah. No, that's right, Sara. I mean, look, before the war started you had a situation where the world was practically swimming with crude oil, right? Supply was really high and prices were really low.

Now we have almost the exact opposite situation, right? Prices are rising and they are significantly higher. You just noted a two percent move again this morning for U.S. oil futures on these reports of explosions on Iran's strategic Kharg Island. That's a very big deal.

And we're seeing all these red lights flashing in the market about just how scarce oil has become. I mean, exhibit A is the fact that oil futures are up almost 94 percent so far this year and it's only April. I mean, this is a rare move and it really speaks to how tight supplies are.

But it's not just that. It's that oil futures are acting kind of weird. Prices for oil that's going to be delivered in the near term -- they've gone up higher than prices that are for oil delivered months from now. That's unusual. It's known as extreme backwardation and it shows the market is basically screaming out for oil right now. And that's just the financial markets.

Look at the real world price. This is dated Brent. It measures how much real physical barrels are actually trading for. And last week it hit $141 a barrel. That's the highest level since 2008 and it does speak to some desperation in the market. One analyst compared it to how there'd be intense demand for the last bottle of water, right, and people would be willing to pay almost anything. Except now it's not water, right, it's oil or energy products like jet fuel.

Jet fuel prices have basically doubled since the war started. Look at this, now $4.69 per gallon, up from just $2.42 before the war started. This is a huge deal because fuel is the number two expense for airlines. They spend about $100 million per day just on jet fuel. So some of these airlines have had to actually raise prices and lift baggage fees. They're even cutting back on flights as well.

And then gas prices, right? The national average for gas in the U.S. now up to $4.14 a gallon. That's up from below $3.00 a gallon before the war started.

And so whether it's jet fuel or diesel, or gasoline, analysts estimate that Americans are spending every single day $830 million more for transportation fuels relative to before the war started. And look, this could change in the blink of an eye, right, if there's a deal. If the Strait of Hormuz could be reopened prices could crash. But I think the message from the market right now is that the status quo -- it's just not sustainable, Sara.

SIDNER: Look -- and then when you see these explosions in a place like Kharg Island it takes a while to rebuild these things as well, and that's a big worry that this won't be just really, really fast. That you're going to see this turn around, right?

[07:35:00]

EGAN: Yeah, absolutely. If there is a deal and the Strait of Hormuz is reopened prices would fall, but not back to pre-war levels because of all the damage to energy infrastructure in the region.

SIDNER: And therein lies the problem. We will see what happens. A lot to discuss but seeing those numbers, wow.

Thank you so much, Matt Egan.

EGAN: Thank you, Sara.

SIDNER: Appreciate it -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, and joining us right now is Democratic Congressman Mike Quigley of Illinois. He sits on the House Intelligence Committee. Congressman, thanks for coming in.

They're talking about the oil markets and what the -- and where this oil energy supply crisis is right now. There's also then what could happen in the next 12 hours with this new threat coming from President Trump -- this now deadline that he has set. The president has said if there is no deal by tonight he's going to blow up the whole country, including ordering attacks on Iran's bridges and power plants.

What is the result, in your mind, if he does that?

REP. MIKE QUIGLEY (D-IL) (via Webex by Cisco): Well look, first of all, is an extraordinary threat of escalation. Our first concern is always with our troops, and we've seen, gratefully, the airmen have been recovered but we've already lost many. The threat of escalation obviously involves the loss of innocent lives as well.

You've already talked about the threat to our economy. I'm concerned about threats to the homeland.

You know, just yesterday I spoke to people building affordable housing in Chicago. They're telling me they're already getting increases of five to 10 percent of what it takes to build affordable housing. Everything in the economy is affected by energy prices.

So obviously, a concern is an escalation to an all-out war. The president hasn't ruled out troops on the ground, a draft. I'm very concerned about what this means to our country's economic well-being all based on a lack of strategy and sort of an unhinged disoriented foreign policy that basically says to the world we're on our own, and that's a very scary proposition.

BOLDUAN: So then you do not support the war and the strategy and the objectives that the president has laid out or how he's carrying it out, I will say.

Is it a better result then, in your mind, if he passes another -- he allows another deadline to pass that he has already extended and doesn't follow through on his threat? Is that a better outcome in terms of the end goal and for the safety and security of America?

QUIGLEY: Yeah. Obviously, it makes more sense not to give ultimatums if you don't need it. And that happened as we saw in the Ukraine defense against Russia, and no one believes you anymore.

So here we are telling the world we're on our own and we don't care about you, and then a foreign policy that can't be described in any other way as wildly byzantine, disoriented, scattered, and actually ineffective.

We're not sure what the goal is here. Was it regime change? Well, maybe not so much. Was it eliminating the threat of a nuclear program? Well, why did the president pull us out of a treaty in which the Iranians were being compliant -- the JCPOA?

So there's actually no rhyme or reason to this and it's extremely scary.

BOLDUAN: I want to play something that the president said yesterday about his negotiation and who he is negotiating with in Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've had total regime change, you know. The people there now are much more reasonable than the lunatics that you had in phase one and phase two. They were lunatics. The people that we're negotiating with now in -- on behalf of Iran are much more reasonable.

You could call it what you want but I call it regime change, and I think most people are giving us credit for that. The first regime was taken out. The second regime was taken out. Now the third group of people that we're dealing with is not as radicalized and we think they're actually much smarter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Congressman, what do you think of that? Do you believe that?

QUIGLEY: I have no idea what he's talking about. There is leadership change within the regime but it's the same regime since 1979. The first succession that took place was the son who is far more rigid and far more right-wing than his father. So obviously, the defiance that you saw within the last 24 hours from Iran indicates that it's just the opposite of what the president is talking about.

This regime has survived by being us against the world. And the fact the president thinks he can change that shows a naivety or a lack of understanding of what's kept it together all these years.

BOLDUAN: Congressman, the president said yesterday that he -- I mean, he kind of posed it as a question -- but saying what about the United States controlling the Strait of Hormuz and charging tolls for ships to pass through.

[07:40:00]

Can the United States do that? Is that an end result that you think you would like to see?

QUIGLEY: First of all, it's not our country, it's not our territory. We have absolutely no right to do that under any legal auspices in world order, not that any of our allies or adversaries would let us do that. I think the president is under the sense that we can actually control it.

The insurance companies aren't going to insure freighters going through there if they perceive any threat and it doesn't take a full Navy to pose a threat. It takes single individuals. It takes mining. It takes very, very little to threaten the strait.

The fact of the matter is the only thing that's going to open that strait for good is some sort of agreement with Iran that ends this war and gets us back, frankly, to where we were before.

The end of this regime in Iran is going to be through diplomacy, through economic pressures, and through its own people. That's as frustrating as it can possibly be. But the fact of the matter is the only way to change this regime otherwise is an all-out war against the 1.5 million manned Army in Iran.

BOLDUAN: Congressman Mike Quigley, thanks for coming in. We'll see what happens today and tonight -- John.

QUIGLEY: Thank you.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: As Kate Bolduan would say, it is election day in America, or at least a few places in America.

In Georgia, a special election to fill the seat of Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene. This is a heavily Republican district but everyone watching if Democrats can make inroads on the margins of likely Republican victory.

And that stake in Wisconsin, a seat on the state's Supreme Court. Margins are key there too.

With us now CNN's David Chalian, our Washington bureau chief and political director. Chief director Chalian, always a pleasure to see you.

This is sort of like a margin call here. It's the margins in Georgia and Wisconsin. Explain what you're looking for.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, this is the electoral story of Trump's second term, right, which is that in special election after special election throughout the last year, and then in those elections in November in New Jersey and Virginia, we've seen Democratic overperformance sort of narrowing the margin with Republicans in some of these places.

So a place like Marjorie Taylor Greene's district down in Georgia -- a place Donald Trump won by some 37 points or something -- you're looking to see are those trends continuing? Are Democrats able -- will the Democratic candidate here significantly overperform what the Trump versus Harris baseline was in 2024 in this district of even his own race? It's the same Democrat that ran against Marjorie Taylor Greene.

And in Wisconsin, you're looking at a similar thing. I mean, this is a battle for a Supreme Court seat.

You remember a year ago at this time John, Elon Musk poured a ton of money that was for battle of control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and the liberal jurist won that race by double digits. It was sort of the first sign a year ago about this Trump second-term phenomenon of Democrats overperforming. Does that continue today? And does that mean that this pattern continues to November for the crucial midterms?

BERMAN: Yeah, and it matters in Wisconsin and especially Georgia where there are competitive races that a lot of people are looking at in November. This Georgia Senate race certainly one of them.

I want to go to California for a second if I can, David, because something we missed a little bit yesterday morning here was that President Trump has endorsed a candidate -- a Republican candidate in the race for governor there. Now this is a heavily Democratic state.

But there are a lot of Republican strategists, like the four dimensional chess-type-playing Republican strategists, who are saying this morning what are you doing, President Trump? You sort of took away our one chance to maybe sneak through a Republican victory in California.

Can you explain what he may have blown there?

CHALIAN: Yes. I mean, I don't know if that's accurate that he blew anything here.

But yes, it is a top two primary system, as you know, in California, otherwise known as a "jungle primary," meaning irrespective of a party, all the candidates are running in the same primary and the top two finishers go on to the general election.

So there were two -- there are two Republican candidates that have substantial support in the race. You see here Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco, the sheriff from Riverside County. Those are the two Republican candidates. So they're in double digit support here in that poll that you see. And the thinking among Republicans was is there a way to get both Republicans as the top two finishers, blocking Democrats from a chance at winning the gubernatorial seat in one of the most Democratic states and the largest state in the country, California?

Now, I'm not sure that was ever in the cards here -- if that was really going to happen. And what I think the Trump team looked at it and said we don't really think two final Republicans is a real option here, so we want to get behind someone that we think has the best shot as a Republican to being in the top two. We don't want it to be two Democrats in the top two.

[07:45:05]

And so I think they're putting their endorsement muscle behind Steve Hilton to see if he could be guaranteed, with the MAGA Trump endorsement, a slot for a competitive California gubernatorial election come the fall.

BERMAN: Got it there. And meanwhile, the Democrats fighting it out amongst themselves.

Chief director Chalian, always great to see you. Thank you so much for being with us on this election morning -- Sara. Oh, this is actually me.

SIDNER: Is this --

BERMAN: Throw it to me. Throwing it back to me, John.

All right. Happening now --

SIDNER: Back to you.

BERMAN: -- Vice President JD Vance is on the ground in Hungary. We're following a political segment because this really is a campaign trip -- an apparent effort to support Prime Minister Viktor Orban just days before an election. The longtime Hungarian leader and Putin ally faces his biggest challenge in years.

One of Orban's main election themes is the threat that he says Hungary faces from Ukraine -- not Russia, Sara, but Ukraine.

Now I really will throw it to you, and you will be ready for said talks.

SIDNER: And I am ready and happy to take it form here. Thank you so much, John.

All right. Happening today the jury could begin deliberations in the trial of a Hawaii doctor accused of trying to kill his wife today. Dr. Gerhardt Konig stands accused of second-degree attempted murder. Prosecutors say Konig attacked his wife Arielle with a rock and attempted to stab her with a syringe while on a hike on her birthday in Honolulu last year.

Dr. Konig has pleaded not guilty and claims he acted in self-defense. He took the stand to explain.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARIELLE KONIG, WIFE OF GERHARDT KONIG: He seems like he takes a deep breath and then he just starts hitting my face and my head with a rock.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you see where the defendant got the rock from?

A. KONIG: I didn't see where he got it from but like spatially, he was like reaching up around this area of my head, so my impression was that there was a rock on the ground near my head that he was able to grab.

I just started screaming because I -- in my mind he was trying to knock me unconscious to get to be able to drag me over the edge. So I just was screaming then as much as I could.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did you do?

DR. GERHARDT KONIG, ON TRIAL FOR ATTEMPTED MURDER OF WIFE: I hit her with the rock.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How many times do you think you hit her?

G. KONIG: I hit her two times.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How did you feel about the fact that she was bleeding?

G. KONIG: I felt horrible.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

Did you ever plan on hurting her that day?

G. KONIG: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you ever want to hurt her that day?

G. KONIG: No.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson joining me now to discuss.

I mean, these moments are remarkable because it is very rare that you have a defendant in an attempted murder trial, no less, to take the stand.

Give us some sense of how this played out because he's claiming self- defense, correct?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Absolutely, Sara. Good morning to you.

How did it play out? Not well.

You know, it's a calculated decision to put a defendant on the stand and defense attorneys do what they do. No one has a monopoly on wisdom. But I think there are two instances. One is when you're very innocent and you want to make that proclamation in front of the jury and you need them to know. The other is when you're very desperate and you're throwing a Hail Mary.

The fact is that what you attempt to do generally is produce reasonable doubt --

SIDNER: Right.

JACKSON: -- through the prosecution's case.

Through every witness you try to coopt the narrative. In this specific case that's hard to do. Why? Because you have not only he say-she say -- we heard both of them testifying -- both who?

We heard the wife testify about the rock, right? She -- in addition, the husband is alleged -- he's an anesthesiologist, by the way -- to produce a syringe and inject her, right, presumably to knock her out and take her over the edge. And additionally trying to drag her after hitting her with the rock over the cliff.

Now, his narrative is somewhat different. The problem with that -- his narrative being oh, I hit her twice. I was acting in self-defense -- is that you have something called independent witnesses who saw otherwise.

And who were those independent witnesses? We've got two nurses who were hiking that heard her screaming. We've got the same nurses who say him with the rock. We have his son who testified that dad Facetimed me and I saw blood on him and he said oh my goodness, I tried to kill my wife -- his stepmom. So it's a problem.

And so I think in this case you have to combat all that. So everyone has a right to testify. We don't like defendants to because then it becomes about what you have to say. Are you believable? Can we trust you? Are you credible instead of the prosecution's case. But I think there are real issues here to overcome and it's not recommended.

I don't think his testimony went well because he had to confront things that are inconvenient truths -- that being corroborating witnesses saying it didn't happen the way you're saying it happened.

SIDNER: Give us a sense of what attempted second-degree murder means in this case. What he's facing and what the jury has to -- or what the prosecution had to prove here.

JACKSON: Sure. So there's a jury of 12, of course, right? They're impaneled to determine whether there's proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt in all that they're assessing.

And with attempted murder, what you have to show are two things. The first thing is that you specifically intended to produce what you were trying to -- that is, the murder. And so it goes to the intent.

[07:50:05]

The second thing is you have to have taken a substantial step towards completing what you intended, and the prosecution is trying to say he did that in terms of the rock, in terms of the syringe, in terms of the screaming, in terms of the grabbing.

It'll, of course, be up to a jury unanimously to draw the conclusion as to whether he's guilty or not guilty.

SIDNER: Closing arguments are today. We'll see if the jury gets it today and how long it takes them to decide.

Joey Jackson, it's a pleasure. Thank you for being here.

JACKSON: Always. It's good to see you, Sara. Thank you.

SIDNER: John.

BERMAN: A bridge engulfed in flames after a tanker truck explosion.

And then how did this never happen to Santa? A man gets stuck in a chimney. This guy was allegedly trying to break into the house.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JONI MITCHELL, TEXAS HOMEOWNER: All of the sudden I started hearing "oh, oh, aya, aya" and it was coming out of the fireplace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:55:02]

BERMAN: This morning Grammy-nominated rapper Offset is recovering after a shooting in South Florida. A spokesperson says the artist, a former member of the Migos, was shot outside the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. He is now in stable condition. Officials say a second person was also hurt, though those injuries were not life- threatening. Two people were detained for questioning. No arrests have been made.

New video shows smoke and flames rising from the Bridge of the Americas in Panama after a tanker truck caught fire and exploded. One person believed to be an employee of the tanker truck company was killed. Two firefighters were injured. The bridge is now closed while teams inspect its structural conditions. An investigation is ongoing.

In Houston, maybe a case of the wrong holiday? This was Easter morning. Firefighters pulled a man out of a chimney. They say a homeowner called for help after hearing strange noises. She woke up her husband who first thought it was an animal until they heard a man's voice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J. MITCHELL: All of the sudden I started hearing "oh, oh, aya, aya" and it was coming out of the fireplace.

CURT MITCHELL, TEXAS HOMEOWNER: I come down and I opened the flue inside the fireplace, and the flue lever is inside there, and this guy was speaking Spanish and he was freaking out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So firefighters say he was stuck in the space no bigger than two feet for about two hours. They had to break through stone to get him out. This man was charged with burglary.

And Kate, just to recap, the woman's descriptions of the sounds she was hearing -- I think it was something along the lines of uh, uh, uh, uh. Did I get that right?

BOLDUAN: Oh! Very close. I think you need one more uh just a little.

BERMAN: I was close. I was listening very carefully.

BOLDUAN: Thank you. We will have a transcript to bring back and look at that one just for our viewing pleasure a little later.

Let's turn to this right now. The crew of the Artemis II -- they are headed home. They're returning to Earth after traveling farther into deep space than any human has before. And as they flew behind the moon yesterday, they captured some images of the lunar terrain that have never been seen before, and we are standing by and very hopeful for NASA to be releasing those photos sometime soon.

Next up for the crew today, a special call is scheduled and expected with the other humans currently in space, the crew aboard the International Space Station.

Let's talk about this moment and where it all goes from here. Joining us right now is former NASA astronaut Leland Melvin, the co-author of the book "Space Chasers: To The Moon." It's good to see you. Thank you for being here. So now they begin their return home -- their return trip home. What do

you think is going through their minds after that remarkable and very successful six-hour flyby?

LELAND MELVIN, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT, CO-AUTHOR, "SPACE CHASERS: TO THE MOON" (via Webex by Cisco): Great to see you, Kate.

I think the biggest thing in their mind that they're going through right now is thinking what did we just see? This eclipse -- the solar eclipse of the moon. These impacts -- little impacts that were going on. These flashes of light. And they forensically studied and observed with their eyeballs and cameras this dark side of the moon that has never really been explored the way that they did before. And this is their way of being emissaries to help the next Artemis crews going back to the moon to live and work there. The right stuff to see where they're going to be living and where they'll be working.

So I think they're kind of relishing in this moment to say we've done a great job. And the science team -- Kelsey and the crew there -- they did an amazing job of training this crew to be lunar -- I mean, really, lunar geologists and the language that they used was just so beautiful.

BOLDUAN: It was really what they trained and very successfully did. It was just fun and amazing to watch the entire thing. I mean, the sheer distance that they have gone and traveled. This comparison is one that just puts it all into perspective.

The International Space Station is 200 -- is kind of orbiting 250 miles from Earth. They have gone to 250,000 miles from Earth. I mean, as someone who has spent time on the International Space Station, what do you make of just that distance they've traveled?

MELVIN: Well, the first thing is being a little jelly, Kate. I mean, you know, 250 miles to look down at the planet -- you know, you can't even see the entire planet from the Space Station. But what they've seen is Earthrise and just this -- our human spaceship. I mean, our Earth spaceship.

And when they get back they're going to reflect on looking up at the moon at night and seeing that -- you know, knowing that they have been there to the darker sides and say wow, we did this. And we helped the next generation of explorers, whether they're kids one day thinking about working and living off the planet or believing what is possible when you have four human beings that all are -- primarily all of them were first. Three of them were at least first. And to say that maybe if they can do it, I can do it. So that inspiration of inspiring that next generation is critically important.