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High-Stakes Talks Between U.S., Iran Begin Tomorrow in Pakistan; Melania Trump Blasts Lies Linking Her With Jeffrey Epstein; Artemis II Crew to Splash Down in Pacific After Dangerous Reentry. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired April 10, 2026 - 07:00   ET

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

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JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, bracing for a new report on how much the war in Iran has cost you at home. Inflation numbers expected to rise as the world prepares to see what happens at these peace talks between the U.S. and Iran.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And what is Congress going to do now after the president has long told everyone to move on from the Jeffrey Epstein files? The first lady just told the country and the Congress to not move on, rather focus in more and allow the survivors to testify in public.

And countdown to splashdown. Tonight, the crew of the Artemis II returns home, as they've described it, riding a fireball through the atmosphere. How are they preparing now for what is one of the riskiest aspects of this mission?

Sara is off today. I'm Kate Bolduan with John Berman. This is CNN News Central.

BERMAN: This morning, there are reports of blasts in Lebanon and elsewhere reports that traffic is barely moving in the Strait of Hormuz, if at all. These were key conditions, the key conditions of the two-week so-called ceasefire. And if these conditions are not being met, what does that mean for the talks scheduled for this weekend in Pakistan? What does it mean for prices here in the United States? We are standing by for a brand new inflation report expected to show a jump fueled by the war.

Now, security is tight in his Islamabad as Vice President J.D. Vance travels to face Iranian representatives face-to-face. Now, on the Strait of Hormuz, President Trump said Iran is doing a very poor job of allowing oil through. And he issued a new warning after reports that Iran was charging tolls for passage. Although the president himself has floated the idea of Iran and the United States splitting toll revenue.

There has been new activity in Lebanon. Hundreds have been killed there since the cease fire was announced. Both the U.S. and Israel say Lebanon and Hezbollah, Iran's proxy there, they're not included in the deal, they say. Iran says Lebanon is. Israel is proposing negotiating directly with Lebanon. That would be separate from the talks in Pakistan.

Let's go to Pakistan. CNN's Nic Robertson live in Islamabad. High- stakes talks, still though with so many questions, if the conditions for these talks are even being close to being met.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: The stage is set here. Pakistan considers this a matter of national honor that they're able to host these talks. They're ready. As you mentioned, tight security in the center of Islamabad here. Iranian delegation expected today. Steve Witkoff Jared Kushner expected tomorrow, we understand at the moment.

Look, I think it's important to say all these timings are variable. There is so much more that we don't know than we actually know. We know that the United States has had a 15-point plan. We know that Iran has had a ten-point plan. We know that the Iranians have said that three points of that plan were already disrupted, if you will. They're saying they're absolutely entitled to have uranium enrichment. They're absolutely entitled not to have drones over their skies, which they had claimed a day or so ago. And, of course, that core issue over Lebanon, Iran and Pakistan's prime minister here have said that they believe that that was a core understanding that the Lebanon ceasefire would be part of the broader U.S.-Israel-Iran ceasefire, which is holding more or less at the moment.

So, that is a contentious point. We've heard from their Pakistan's president. We've heard from Pakistan's foreign minister. We've heard from their sort of top interlocutor diplomat, the speaker of Parliament, Mohammad Ghalibaf, saying that, basically, Iran's finger remains on the trigger, that they want this issue of Lebanon and a ceasefire there worked into this deal settled before they get to the table here.

And the expectation at the moment is that the parties are coming together, that these are diplomatic issues that can be wrangled out to bring the parties together. And if they can be brought together, and that's the aspiration here in Pakistan, for sure, is that some diplomatic progress can be made.

That said, the last time the U.S. and Iran came together, it wasn't face-to-face. They were fraught. Of course, it fell into a war after that.

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And so the tensions between and the lack of trust between the U.S. and Iran is huge at the moment. And the principle test of that trust from the U.S. side, the sort of confidence building, if you will, that Iran was going to produce to get into these talks and give them a hope of a positive outcome would, of course, be allowing tankers through the Strait of Hormuz.

BERMAN: Right. And the traffic there does not appear to be moving in any substantial way.

Nic Robertson for us in Islamabad, we're monitoring developments there, thank you so much.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

BERMAN: Kate?

BOLDUAN: Let's get the view from the White House on this very issue right now. CNN's Alayna Treene is standing by there. The vice president is expected to be departing sometimes soon for what are still these planned talks. What are you hearing from there?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Look, I think a lot of people in the administration are of course a bit wary of how these talks are going to go. But I've heard particularly yesterday after some of the back and forth, of course, there's a lot of concern yesterday morning and Wednesday night about whether or not this fragile ceasefire would actually break down before they had a meeting in person to try and deal with this.

But over the last, you know, 12 to 24 hours or so, there's been a little bit more optimism and I know the president himself is hoping that once they are in person in Pakistan, that, hopefully, they can broach some of the really large daylight between these two different plans, as Nic laid out the ten-point plan from Iran the 15-point plan from the us. I am told they're expecting the meeting on Saturday with the vice president, Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, to be the first of likely several intense negotiations over that two-week ceasefire. And, of course, they could ultimately extend the ceasefire further if they believe progress is being made.

But one thing I just want to point out about Vance himself quickly is that, you know, one, I've been told that his presence here is really meant to lend a certain error of credence to these talks. He's, of course, the president's number two, has a lot of the president's full trust to negotiate on his behalf. But also one thing that's been interesting as well from some of my conversations around this is that they recognize Vance as someone that the Pakistanis, the mediators involved in this, but also the Iranians know, is someone who is a former anti-interventionist person in foreign wars, that he was one of the few people who did not want the president to move forward with strikes, which could also give perhaps a sense of, you know, giving Vance -- looking more reasonable perhaps in their eyes. We'll have to see how these negotiations go, but, of course, a lot riding on them at a very, very precarious time for the ceasefire.

BOLDUAN: Separate from what all that very important issue that's obviously going on and we'll watch to see when the vice president leaves. The first lady surprised a lot of people, including reporters who were brought in for this press statement that she was making yesterday and not knowing what she was going to talk about, and then she lays out this forceful denial of any connection to Jeffrey Epstein. Not only that, then calls on Congress to get more involved and to hold hearings to allow survivors to have their say.

What are you hearing about this and what level of knowledge the president had that the first lady was going to be laying this out? TREENE: I mean, this was truly remarkable, Kate, especially because I'd remind people this is not something that is common for the first lady. She's very intentional when she comes out and makes statements like this. There's a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes.

And I can tell you from our conversations with White House officials, they were absolutely stunned by what she had said in that entire meeting, and it actually, in fact, sparked rumors throughout the White House that perhaps there was a story that was coming tying her to Epstein that they must have just not known about.

Now, I will say we were told as well by people close to the first lady that they were less surprised about this, that actually over the last recent month she has grown increasingly frustrated about what she's been reading online, of people trying to connect her to Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. And she wanted to forcefully come out and actually deny this themselves.

But I will say as well, of course, the timing of this is a huge part of this. I mean, the White House has spent the last several months trying to move away from this issue and distance the president and his family from Epstein. And, really, they've only been able to successfully do that, Kate, over the last month-and-a-half or so, because of course of all of the attention amid this ongoing war with Iran.

Now, I will say, just to your point about whether the president knew, I mean, we did hear from some people in the White House that, no, he didn't know exactly what she was going to say, and he almost said that -- he did come out and say that really in an interview with MS NOW. He essentially said that he had no idea that she was going to say what she had said.

Now, I will say a different source in the White House had said that the president was aware of the statements before she made them. But, again, I think this is a -- you know, a lot of people bringing up the idea that this could have a Streisand effect on this, you know, bringing more attention to something that really -- that people in that building behind me have been wanting to get away from.

So, we'll have to see where this leads. I do think, of course, it may spark a lot more interest in people in Congress who may want her to now come down and talk more about this. We'll have to see.

BOLDUAN: We will have to see because, you know, it's not -- this is not -- this is one of the few things that have become a bipartisan on Capitol Hill was the push for more transparency from the Justice Department, the push to get the files released, and this. Let us see.

It's great to see you, Alayna. Thank you so much.

Still ahead for us, it is the most dangerous part of the Artemis crew's historic moon mission, what the astronauts will face as they prepare now for reentry into and splash down in Earth.

And new details are coming in the case of an American woman who's missing off the coast in the Bahamas. Her husband is now in custody. What CNN is learning about what he told a friend about how everything unfolded.

And can the reigning Masters champion do it again? Roy McIlroy off to a great start in Augusta as round two kicks off.

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BERMAN: Happening now we're counting down to the most dangerous part of the Artemis II mission. The return, 8:07 P.M. splashdown, don't miss it.

Now, there have been concerns with issues in the unmanned Artemis I mission.

CNN's seen as Tom Foreman explains.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As Orion comes back into Earth's atmosphere, there may be no other part of this that is more important than the heat shield on the bottom of the space capsule here. Why is that so important? Because this is coming in at 25,000 miles per hour. That means there's going to be a tremendous buildup of heat on the bottom of the craft, about 5,000 degrees, half the temperature of the surface of the sun.

Now, this is an ablative shield. What does that mean? That means it is supposed to erode off against all of that intense heat. But in the Artemis I mission, one of the things they noticed was that it was not eroding so evenly, that's it, right over there. And that raised some safety concerns.

So, what they did was reconfigure the exact way that they're going to bring this back, thinking that that might avoid that problem again, or at least mitigate it and allow the craft to slow down, slowly pop its 11 different parachutes, and doing so, get to a speed where it can safely splash down in the ocean with the four astronauts aboard.

BERMAN: That was Tom Foreman, a brave man standing so close to that fire.

Let's get to CNN's Ed Lavandera at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. A big day there, Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A huge day. Unfortunately, I don't get all the special effects that Tom Foreman has, so you're just going to have to bear with me as I explained to you what Johnson Space officials and what they're doing for preparing for the day after the astronauts wake up this morning. It will be time to prepare the space capsule and reconfigure it so that it can be ready for reentry. So, that means moving a lot of the gear that seems kind of strapped down on one side, they have to put back two of the seats. Only two of them have been so far. Then they're going to have to get into their space suits and all of that process. That's going to be a lengthy process and it's very meticulous that the crew will be going through.

But then it all comes down to this incredibly, crucial moment. And, look, there is inherent risk for astronauts on a test flight like this to endure the reentry. It is extremely difficult. It is a tense moment and NASA officials here at Johnson Space Center acknowledge just that.

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JEFF RADIGAN, ARTEMIS II LEAD FLIGHT DIRECTOR: It's 13 minutes of things that have to go right, is the way I think about it, you know? I have a whole checklist in my head that we, you know, were going through of all the things that have to happen.

AMIT KSHARTRIYA, NASA ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR: It's impossible to say you don't have irrational fears left, right, but I would tell you, I don't have any rational fears about what, what's going to happen. We've done the work we need to, and we, you know, have full confidence in the team recovery team, the flight control team, analysis and the work we did.

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LAVANDERA: Yes, we've been hearing from NASA officials since we've asked about the reentry issues, the en the questions with the heat shield on Artemis I. We should also point out, John, that if the Artemis I craft had come through with a crew, that was an uncrewed capsule, they would have been fine.

So, the NASA officials here say that the astronaut team in the months leading up to this launch in this mission have signed off on this plan. They've recalculated everything. The trajectory and the angle by which the capsule will come through the Earth's atmosphere is really key. Those NASA officials and flight director were telling us yesterday, they have to nail that to ensure the safety of the crew.

But, obviously, you know, the heat shield and the question of our heat shields very sensitive. Remember back in 2003, it was the Space Shuttle Columbia, the tragedy there that the shuttle came apart because of a trouble with the heat shield. So, it is a sensitive, sensitive thing. John?

BERMAN: Ed Lavandera at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, you don't need special effects. You're your own special effect there at Johnson. Thanks so much for being with us this morning.

So, gas prices actually dropped this morning, but we are standing by for a brand new report on inflation expected to show a war fueled jump. How much is it costing you?

And a woman goes into labor in a Kroger parking lot with a very skilled and very kind Kroger employee jumping into help.

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[07:20:00] BOLDUAN: Defending Masters Champ Rory McIlroy is making his mark again in Augusta, Georgia. He's co-leader after round one. What is going to happen with round two?

Let's go to CNN's Andy Scholes. First, the weather report. It looks warmer today. You're not wearing your puffy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Actually, my jacket's locked in a car that I couldn't get into this morning, Kate. So, I'd like to have it on. It's a little chilly right now but it's going to actually warm up quite a bit later on today. So, I won't need the jacket in an hour or so. And like I said, it's going to be another beautiful day here in Augusta for round two.

And when it comes to defending champs in the first round the following year, you can't do much better than Rory McIlroy did yesterday. He's just the seven Masters champ to have the lead or a share of the lead in the first round of his title defense. The last time we saw it happen was Jordan Spieth back in 2016.

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And Rory said yesterday he didn't even have his best game, but he really leaned on his experience, and that experience really came through big time on the back nine. He birdied 13, 14, and 15.

And, you know, Rory had talked earlier this week about having a huge weight lifted off his shoulders after finally winning last year. And he said after his round, he certainly felt more at ease out there on the course.

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RORY MCILROY, FIVE-TIME MAJOR CHAMPION: I couldn't have got a lot more out of my round and, you know, I feel like I leaned heavily on my experience out there to do that.

Winning a Masters makes it easier to win your second one. I think it's easier for me to make those swings and not worry about where it goes when I know that I can go to the champions locker room and put my green jacket on and have a Coke Zero at the end of the day.

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SCHOLES: Yes, Rory is tied with the lead with Sam Burns. The 29-year- old having his best round ever here in Augusta. Yesterday they got a two-shot lead coming in to today. And, you know, the saying goes, you can't win the Masters in round one, but you can certainly lose it. And last 20 years, all but two champions have been in the top ten after round one. Those two outliers were Rory last year, actually, and then Tiger back in 2019. So, you need to be near the top of the leaderboard after 18 holes if you want to have a chance here in Augusta.

Now, Xander Schauffele, he's in position to make a run at his first green jacket, and that's despite this shot on the par five eighth. So, his tee shot here, it ends up in a lady's merch bag from the golf shop. Xander was then able to take a drop from there with no penalty. And he actually thanked the lady after his round because he said that ball would've kept going the wrong direction had it not been for her bag.

Now, there are just giant bags of merch, you know, everywhere here in Augusta. The Masters really is the only sporting event where everyone at the event is wearing and then buying all of the merch. You know, the golf shop here, it's always quite busy. You can only buy Masters' gear here at Augusta National the week of the Masters.

And, you know, it's quite easy to lose yourself in that golf shop. And I walked around talking to patrons this week asking them, how much did you spend in there?

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, you don't look at price tags when you're at the Masters. You just put everything in a bag.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is this confidential? My wife is going to see this.

SCHOLES: You look like you did quite well in the gift shop. About how much did you spend?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we're about the $2,200 number.

SCHOLES: $2,200?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like $800.

SCHOLES: $800? That's hi.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, I think --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But it's plus $1,200.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: About $3,500.

SCHOLES: $3,500?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm coming back tomorrow and I'm spending more too.

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SCHOLES: Yes. And, Kate, in one of my trips to the gift shop this week, I asked the cashier what was the most she had seen so far. She said someone spent $12,000 at her register. And you know what? I could see it happening because I, myself got it, got -- had a big bag once when I was leaving.

BOLDUAN: I'm just going to say, I don't think I should be commenting on anyone's shopping habits. Just ask my husband. I will take a pass on this one, but I will say the mantra of you, just don't look at price tags. I may have taken part in that once or twice in my life, and it does not end well. It does not end well. It does not end well.

SCHOLES: Yes. That's a good saying to live by.

BOLDUAN: Exactly, exactly.

Andy Scholes with the best job in the business and, honestly, that shot, we're looking at the shopping bag again, that's hilarious, Andy. Was there a garden gnome in that bag?

SCHOLES: Oh, I mean, there's a lot of garden gnomes everywhere, Kate. Those are the happy people walking around.

BOLDUAN: Lots of happy garden gnomes and happy people owning them. Great to see you, buddy. Thank you so much.

All right, so now to this, what will Congress do now after the first lady just publicly called them out to do more to investigate the Epstein files? And what will the president say about that, as he's been telling the country to move on?

KitKat now beefing up security on shipments after that wild case of 12 tons of bars being stolen and apparently still missing.

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