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Interview with Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA): Democrats Courting Republicans to Join Iran War Powers Resolution; Trump Threatens Iran: A Whole Civilization Will Die Tonight; Artemis II Crew Returning to Earth After Lunar Flyby; Mullin Makes First Trip to North Carolina as DHS Secretary. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired April 07, 2026 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: ... mom, before she disappeared.

KARLI AYLESWORTH, DAUGHTER OF WOMAN MISSING AT SEA: I haven't talked to her since Friday. We used to talk a lot.

KEILAR: You used to talk a lot. So how often before Friday? How often would you be in contact?

AYLESWORTH: Pretty regularly. She was helping me find a place to live soon to get my own apartment. She was helping me find places to live.

And every time I had a I needed advice. I would go to her to see what she would have to say.

KEILAR: It sounds like she was your person and you would talk to her a lot. Karli those conversations -- what was she telling you about her travels lately?

AYLESWORTH: She doesn't really confide in me about relationships though. She does that more with my grandma. But what I've heard is she's loves like exploring.

They moved spaces from when I went to go see them. But they've always wanted to sail the Bahamas. And so now they finally did it.

KEILAR: And tell us more about your mom and who she is.

AYLESWORTH: She is a very craftsy and active person. She likes to do crafts, or she used to sell Bimini's for sailboats and she's very active. She works out a lot and does yoga.

KEILAR: And Karli, I hear you. You're saying you don't have much information. So what is your next step as you are searching for answers here?

Are you in touch with the State Department? Are you considering traveling to the Bahamas? What are you thinking at this point in time?

AYLESWORTH: I just talked to a reporter in the Bahamas, and she gave me a number for the lieutenant. So I'm going to call him as soon as I can to tell him information that I know.

KEILAR: And what do you want to know? What do you want to find out at this point in time from him?

AYLESWORTH: Just if -- what happened to her at this point, the more time that goes on, the more I disbelieve that she'll come back alive. I don't think you can tread water for that long. But I hope maybe she's on a little island somewhere.

I don't know. But just -- yes.

KEILAR: Karli, I certainly hope that is the case. I appreciate you speaking with us and I hope that you get some answers. Thank you so much for talking with us today.

AYLESWORTH: Thank you.

KEILAR: Karli Aylesworth, we do appreciate you being with us. And we'll be right back.

[14:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: As President Trump's deadline to strike a deal with Tehran closes in, members of Congress are attempting to rein in the president. A source close to the conversations tells CNN that House Democrats are trying to get Republicans to join a war powers resolution to curb President Trump's authority in Iran.

It comes as Democratic leaders put out this statement saying, quote, "Donald Trump is completely unhinged. His statement threatening to eradicate an entire civilization shocks the conscious and requires a decisive congressional response. The House must come back into session immediately and vote to end this reckless war of choice before Donald Trump plunges our country into World War III.

We're joined now by Democratic Congresswoman Chrissy Houlihan of Pennsylvania. She's a member of the Armed Services Committee. Congresswoman, thanks so much for sharing part of your afternoon with us. You've personally condemned the president's statement this morning.

I wonder what your message is to the service members who may potentially be ordered to target infrastructure like water treatment facilities.

REP. CHRISSY HOULIHAN (D-PA), ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: So, first of all, thank you for having me. And you might recall that I was one of the six people who encouraged our members of -- our service members to follow the law and to make sure that they understood their obligation not to follow any illegal order. And I think that I believe in our service men and women of all the different ranks, whether enlisted or officers, that they will, when asked, do the right thing and do the legal thing. So I guess what I would say is we have your back and that these are very, very difficult times when the commander in chief, when the president of the United States has literally asked for, called for, that every bridge and every power plant, that the whole of a civilization die, that's some pretty worrisome language. And I think that's why we're all understandably a little bit concerned right now.

SANCHEZ: A spokesperson for the Iranian government said that this kind of rhetoric closes the door to a dialogue. But even before these threats, Tehran did not appear open to many of the demands laid out by the administration, giving up their ballistic missile program or on enriching uranium, etc. Do you think the regime would potentially move closer to those aims without the threat of more violence?

HOULIHAN: You know, it's really hard to say what in my readings of what's been going on in the situation room as an example. President Trump has, as near as I can tell, been going against the advice of everybody in that room, including his most senior intelligence advisors, including his generals and admirals, including his vice president. And so he's said that he's going with his gut and clearly his gut isn't getting us anywhere.

[14:40:00]

In fact, it's creating a much more hazardous planet to live on, one that's a very scary tomorrow, possibly.

And so I don't know that we can necessarily believe that this president has it in him to pull back. And that's one of the things that I think is most worrisome, is that this president, President Trump, has demonstrated that when he says he's going to do something, he does it. And so we should, I imagine, take him at his word.

And that's why I'm asking all of my Republican colleagues to please talk to the president, talk to the cabinet members, explain to them the power of the rhetoric that's happening right now and the dangerousness of it. I'm asking the American citizens to please call their representatives and their senators to explain how worrisome this rhetoric is and how it doesn't do anything to address the issues that we really worry about, which is affordability, the price of gas, the price of an airplane ticket to go away for the holidays, the price of food. Those things are in fact going the opposite direction because of the president's gut.

SANCHEZ: I wonder how receptive you think some of your Republican colleagues are to that message about a war powers resolution, how much of an appetite there is among Republicans to try to restrain the president, especially going into a midterm election.

HOULIHAN: I continue to be astounded at how sycophantic, frankly, the administration has been towards this president and how incapable the Congress, both the House and the Senate on the Republican side, the majority side, has been to push back at this administration and this president's abhorrent behavior. And so on the one hand, I don't expect much from my colleagues at this point in time. I've grown exhausted by it. But on the other hand, I'm hopeful that at some point, something little inside them, some small voice will say that this is the tipping point, that this is the point where we need to rein in the president, as the Constitution demands, that Congress has the power and the authority to declare war, to authorize war and to pay for war. And we need to exercise that.

SANCHEZ: When it comes to an outcome of a deal or strikes and continuing strikes after that, Iran has leveraged control over the Strait of Hormuz. They're essentially setting up a tolling system, so to speak, reportedly allowing certain vessels through as they threaten others. Would you be comfortable with Tehran effectively tolling access to the Persian Gulf?

And if not, how far should the U.S. go to reopen the Strait?

HOULIHAN: Sure. Mine is not the place to make diplomatic efforts and overtures such as this and to decide what sort of policy should exist. I will point out that this problem didn't exist a month ago, a month and five days ago.

And instead, we're here now with the Iranian government, not only having not been having had a regime change, but also now extorting the United States and asking for reparations. And we are in a very, very difficult place where the price of gas here in our area is about $4.15. I've seen prices as high as $6. Again, this is not what this administration was elected to do.

It was elected to address the issue of affordability. And it was also elected under the auspices of being a administration of peace. Neither of these things is true.

SANCHEZ: I understand your desire not to get into potential points of diplomatic dispute or resolution. But then what is the way out for the United States? Because at this point, if the United States withdraws without reopening the Strait, you wind up with a tolling system that Tehran may continue pursuing, plus the added incentive for them to now really pursue going after nuclear weapons to deter future action by the United States and Israel.

HOULIHAN: Absolutely. Absolutely. You know, you've hit the nail on the head right now.

President Trump is in a really rock hard place situation. The administration, the regime of Iran is at this point kind of in a place of why wouldn't they have to aggressively pursue nuclear weapons? I've been in Congress now for eight years, nearly.

And for all of those eight years, they've been within a couple weeks to a month or so of purportedly in open source material of developing a nuclear weapon. Now, if I were them, I would be even more incentivized to do that. And so I don't know, I can't tell you what the peace deal looks like.

But I can tell you that you can't bomb your way to peace. And you certainly can't bomb your way by obliterating an entire civilization to peace. And that is, in fact, what this administration is advocating for right now.

SANCHEZ: Congressman Chrissy Houlihan, we have to leave the conversation there. Very much appreciate your time and sharing your perspective.

HOULIHAN: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

SANCHEZ: Of course.

Still ahead, a long distance call. The Artemis II crew speaking to the astronauts aboard the International Space Station. Stay with us.

[14:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Right now in deep space, the Artemis crew is speaking with astronauts aboard the International Space Station. It's a 15 minute ship-to-ship conversation. It's a chance for the crews to share their mission experiences.

The Artemis crew is now on its way home from what has been a historic trip around the moon, giving us stunning images from their flyby yesterday. Their mission reached a record breaking distance of more than two hundred fifty two thousand miles from Earth. In comparison, the International Space Station orbits about two hundred fifty miles above Earth.

I'm joined now by Scott Parazynski. He's a former NASA astronaut who spent more than eight weeks in space and performed multiple spacewalks on the International Space Station. He's also the founder of Onward Air.

All right, first, Scott, as I mentioned, you've spent a lot of time there on the space station. This is kind of a cool chance for them to have a little chit chat here. What do you think is important for them to cover?

[14:50:00]

SCOTT PARAZYNSKI, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: My goodness. Well, I think for the crew of Artemis II, this is their day off, but they're probably scratching their heads thinking, you know, did we just do that? Did we just witness sites that no human has ever seen before?

And so I'm sure it's just a wonderful dialogue between my colleagues, between two spacecraft sharing the high points of Artemis II mission. And of course, there's some incredible work taking place on ISS now as well.

But, yes, I can only imagine how elated this crew is right now and to know that they're on their way home on Friday. We'll have them back here on Earth and we'll be able to really share the stories with us personally.

KEILAR: It's not often I suspect that people on board the ISS are jealous of someone else for their experiences. But alas, that's probably happening right now. The pictures that we've been getting of the Earth rise of the solar eclipse, they're just incredible.

What was your reaction to seeing them?

PARAZYNSKI: They were mesmerizing, mind-blowing images. And I just wish I could have been a stowaway on Artemis II to look over the shoulders to see those views. But, you know, it's truly soul stirring to look back at planet Earth, to see the Earth rise behind the moon limb there and to also realize that you're seeing things that no human has ever seen before.

So this is the, you know, the true sense of exploration. And it really bodes well for the future. You know, the world is in a bit of chaos right now. And this is just such an uplifting story.

I was really, you know, buoyed by the fact watching the live stream yesterday, all this beautiful imagery and the crew talking about the images that they were capturing. But to see in the in the chat, quotes from people from all over the world through their flags, you know, it was the United Nations of participants, you know, joining in on this live stream.

And so it really was, you know, humanity going to the moon with this crew. And it really -- it gave me great hope for, you know, the power that the space program can bring to humanity. I hope that we can continue that.

KEILAR: Yes, it's a step for mankind, right? And they've exited this sphere of lunar influence, which very few people have ever been able to say. And there's also that figurative saying of, oh, someone's coming back down to Earth.

Well, they literally are. So as they're doing that, what's that going to be like for them?

PARAZYNSKI: Well, the next couple of days, they'll be busy with different experiments and kind of tidying up, getting ready for a Friday splashdown. And it will be an e-ticket ride. So we'll be, you know, craning into the upper reaches of our atmosphere at about 25,000 miles an hour.

And the heat outside of their spacecraft will be about 3,000 degrees. So thankfully, they'll be nicely cocooned inside of their spacecraft and, of course, wearing their spacesuits. But we anticipate a very gentle landing splashdown in the waters just west of San Diego, California.

I'm actually going to be out there on Friday. So I'm really excited to be in the neighborhood as all this takes place. But I'm sure it's going to be a really an e-ticket ride for the crew.

KEILAR: Well, that's awesome that you get to be there in the neighborhood. Scott, great to have you. It's such an exciting time in this space exploration, and we love chatting with you about it.

PARAZYNSKI: Thank you so much for having me.

KEILAR: And just weeks after replacing Kristi Noem, the new head of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin is on the road. He's visiting North Carolina communities, still working to recover from several devastating hurricanes.

[14:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Markwayne Mullin is making his first trip as the head of the Department of Homeland Security to North Carolina. Mullin, who was confirmed by the Senate last month, is meeting with officials there discussing FEMA's disaster relief efforts. Here's what he said earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARKWAYNE MULLIN, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: I'm proud of, one, of the work you guys are doing, and two, the work that FEMA has done here, too. To make it our first trip to see the private-public partnership from the state level to the local level, to the federal level, this is how it's supposed to work. But everybody said, too, I mean, when we talked to the mayors, there's been some hiccups, but we were able to work past them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Senate correspondent Gabe Cohen is here. Gabe, you've done extensive reporting on cuts at FEMA, concerns among staff that's been there for a long time, that it's being decimated. What did you hear today from DHS Secretary Mullin?

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think that soundbite really said a lot, that this was an intentional, very intentional first trip for Secretary Mullin. Yes, to tout more money going out the door to North Carolina, but to really show that he is going to take a different approach to FEMA than his predecessor, Kristi Noem, did. As we've reported for months and months and months now, she had a really adversarial relationship with FEMA.

She talked about eliminating it for a while. She talked about cleaning house. She really criticized the workforce a lot. And she got a lot of pushback from lawmakers, in particular because of this spending policy she had put in place, this really strict rule that anything over $100,000, she had to approve.

She said it was about waste, fraud and abuse. But what we saw was this massive backlog of FEMA money, including a lot of disaster aid that could not get out the door. And it frustrated a lot of lawmakers, including a lot of Republicans ...

END