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U.S. Military Blockade of Strait; SEN. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) is Interviewed about the Strait; Swalwell Quits Governor's Race; Pope Leo Replies to Trump. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired April 13, 2026 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

ANNIE GRAYER, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Having conversations with Republicans behind the scenes because there is a -- there's a lot of different concerns from Republicans here. It's not just one issue. And in such a narrow majority, Republicans can't afford any votes really to lose. And they also can't really rely on Democrats in the same way, who often have come on board to support this program, but this year there are Democrats who previously had supported this reauthorization program, but no longer want to do so because they -- because of the massive distrust Democrats have for the Trump administration and their use of spy powers.

So, this is going to be a critical week. And it -- the communications companies that conduct this surveillance are saying that they don't want to continue this work unless Congress reauthorizes by April 20th. So, the clock is ticking on that, John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: It absolutely is. And watch the political lines here because they kind of wrap around and they go in all different directions here, and it's a little bit hard to follow.

Annie Grayer, great reporting, as always. Thank you very much.

A brand-new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: We are watching the clock. The U.S. blockade on Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz is about to set in. U.S. Central Command telling shippers now, quote, any vessel entering or departing the blockaded area without authorization subject to interception, diversion and capture.

Congressman Eric Swalwell drops his bid for California governor after allegations of sexual misconduct. And now talk of -- talk of his colleagues moving to expel him from Congress.

Pope Leo says he is not afraid of the Trump administration. The extraordinary new fight that President Trump just picked with the leader of the world's billion plus Catholics.

Sara is out today. I'm Kate Bolduan, with John Berman. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL. BERMAN: All right, happening now, we are counting down to the promised

U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, scheduled to begin shortly. Reuters is reporting that U.S. Central Command has issued this warning, quote, "any vessel entering or departing the blockaded area without authorization is subject to intercept, diversion and capture."

Now, the U.S. has said they are focused on Iranian ships or ships leaving from Iranian ports. President Trump ordered the blockade after talks between the U.S. and Iran hit a wall in Pakistan.

There was a new spike in oil prices overnight, back above $100 a barrel. This will pull, you know, a million and a half barrels of oil off the market every day. In an extraordinary admission, the president told Fox that gas prices might not drop before the midterms or could even be higher.

CNN's Clarissa Ward monitoring the Strait. She's in Riyadh, in Saudi Arabia.

We're going to start at the White House with CNN's Alayna Treene for what the White House is saying and planning here.

Alayna.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, look, we're fast approaching this 10 a.m. Eastern deadline, John, that President Trump had set for this blockade. And just monitoring what's been going on in the ground in Iran, I think it's pretty clear that traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has been thinning out. We've heard from shippers saying that they don't plan to put tankers there.

And then we did see that the United States, over the weekend, said that it had put two guided missile destroyers through the Strait on a minor -- or, excuse me, a mine clearing exercise. So, clearly, they're starting to have the U.S. Navy go in and try to sweep the Strait for some of these mines.

But I think a big question is, it's not exactly clear yet how the Navy and the military element of this, how they're going to enforce this blockade. You've also heard from the Iranians that they've said that if the United States were to shut down the Strait, that they are going to shut down the Red Sea, a route around it, and we could also see some escalation. You know, there's no question that the Iranians have been threatening to potentially send missiles and other different types of attacks against the U.S. Navy should they move forward with this plan.

So, it's very unclear what this is going to look like moving forward. I think, obviously, from the White House side, and this is the conversations I'm having with different Trump administration officials, is this is obviously them trying to use leverage after talks had collapsed over the weekend in Pakistan. They are trying to prevent the Iranians from sending any of their ships or any ships that they had previously approved through the Strait -- of course, that's a way that the Iranians make money here -- to try and add another stranglehold, economic stranglehold, I should say, from the U.S. onto the Iranians.

But again, it's not clear what this is going to lead to and what next steps are. I will say as well that even though we saw negotiations over the weekend kind of collapse in Islamabad, officials are still leaving open the door that negotiations are still possible. And so, there are two different kind of outcomes we could potentially see.

[09:05:02]

We could see a major escalation of military power here between Tehran and Washington, or we could potentially see this lead to more negotiations. It's just unclear at this point in time.

BERMAN: Alayna Treene, at the White House.

I want to go to Clarissa Ward, who's in Riyadh, in Saudi Arabia, right on the gulf here.

And this has shifted. For six weeks it was Iran basically limiting the flow of ships in and out of the gulf. Now the U.S. is saying we're going to stop the vessels that have been getting through.

What's the expectation there, Clarissa?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think the expectation is that no one here knows whether or not Iran will engage in retaliatory attacks as a result of this blockade. We have heard a rather menacing message from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, effectively warning that if Iran's ports are threatened, that no port in the Persian Gulf or the Sea of Oman will be safe. And that is certainly a threat to the gulf countries here. The UAE, Oman have all had their ports come under attack during the more kinetic phase of this war. So, there is an expectation now potentially that Iran could launch retaliatory attacks in that vein.

Another potential retaliation would be to try to activate the Houthis in Yemen to potentially cut off access to the Bab-el-Mandeb crossing and the Red Sea, which, again, would have pretty dramatic ramifications given that for a country like Saudi Arabia, for example, that East-West pipeline that runs across it and which allows it to export some seven million barrels of oil a day into the Red Sea is a vital lifeline. So, potentially could be a target for retaliatory threats.

Now, it's interesting to note, John, in that Reuters report that you mentioned with CENTCOM warning seafarers that in now less than an hour this blockade will go into effect, that any ship going in or out of Iran can be intercepted, diverted and potentially captured. It also gives a sense of the size of the territory that the blockade encapsulates, which is the entire coastline of Iran, including, but not limited to, ports and oil terminals. Again, this is a crucial detail because the Iranians do have this Jask pipeline that runs along the coast but does not require them to move through the Strait of Hormuz. It now appears that that will be cut off as well as a result of this blockade. And the one final thing I would say, it's going to be very interesting

to see how China responds to all of this, given that 13 percent of its oil and gas comes from Iran.

John.

BERMAN: Clarissa, I think you so rightly point out, we really just don't know what's going to take place starting at about 57 minutes. And we're going to be watching very closely, both Iran and the U.S. and all these other actors, mainly shipping companies here. We'll have to wait and see.

And, Mike, follow me. I just want to point out what Clarissa was talking about here, because it is interesting to point out. This is obviously the Persian Gulf or the Arabian Gulf, depending on what you want to call it. This is the Strait. We've been talking about everything from here over for the last six weeks. Now we're talking about this stretch also because Iran does have some capability to move oil out of this. So, a U.S. blockade would have to also include a much larger area, the Gulf of Oman there.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Joining us right now to talk about this is Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire. She's the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Senator, thank you for your time. A ton to get to with you. Let's start with exactly what John and Clarissa were just talking about.

Do you support this blockade, as you understand it, that the -- is going to set in, in now about an hour allegedly against shipping to and from Iranian ports?

SEN. JEANNE SHAHEEN (D-NH): Well, I think the goal is to put economic pressure on Iran to get them back to the table. The talks over the weekend were historic. The first time that the U.S. and Iran has really had face to face negotiations since the Iranian hostage crisis back in the '70s. So, hopefully we can expect that as far apart as the U.S. and Iran are, that they're going to come to some agreement in one sitting. So, hopefully this means that we will be able to go back to the table, that the U.S. will continue to negotiate and that Iran will feel that economic pressure and be willing to come back to the table as well.

BOLDUAN: Are you hopeful that a blockade, as it's been described, will be the thing that forces Iran back to the table?

SHAHEEN: Well, I think there are a whole series of things that hopefully will bring the parties together to the table. The blockade has been defined a little differently by the president and by Admiral Cooper at CENTCOM as being a blockade of Iran's traffic to and from Iranian ports, which is the effort to really ramp up economic pressure on Iran.

[09:10:17] I think that is a more doable option and hopefully will provide some positive progress in negotiations than the idea that we would blockade everything going through the Strait of Hormuz.

BOLDUAN: With regard to the war on Iran, President Trump is now taking on, picking a fight with, I guess you could say, what he apparently views as a new opponent today, which is the pope. The president attacked Pope Leo overnight as his quote was, "weak on crime and terrible for foreign policy." This morning, Pope Leo is responding.

Let me play this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE LEO: I have no fear of neither the Trump administration nor speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel. And that's what I believe.

I am called to know what the church is called to do. We're not politicians. We're not looking to make foreign policies policy with the same perspective that he might understand it. But I do believe that the message of the Gospel, blessed are the peacemakers, is the message that the world needs to hear today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: What do you think of what we are now seeing play out in an extraordinary fashion here?

SHAHEEN: Well, the pope responds to a higher authority than Donald Trump. And one of my lessons early on when I got involved in politics was to never take on the Catholic Church on an issue like this. So, I don't think this is good news for President Trump. I think the pope has the moral authority, not only in the United States but around the world. And I think Donald Trump trying to undercut the pope makes no sense at all.

BOLDUAN: Fellow Democrat, he's in the House, Eric Swalwell, he's facing allegations right now of sexual misconduct and assault, Senator. Allegations he denies. He just dropped his bid for governor of California overnight over this. He's now facing calls to resign his House seat.

You are a leader in your party and you have seen quite a lot from your colleagues in the many years that you've served. Do you think that he should resign from Congress or face expulsion?

SHAHEEN: Well, I certainly think, given the number of -- given the people who have come forward, his former staffers, and raised these allegations, that they must be investigated. And if found true -- and I think we need to give the victims the benefit of the doubt. If found true, then he should resign.

BOLDUAN: Some of your colleagues, many are -- there's a growing number who are not waiting to see an investigation take place. They think in light of what has been already alleged that they would like to see him resign in face of it. You are not there yet?

SHAHEEN: Well, I think he needs to answer to his constituents and to his colleagues, but I do think, as I said, we need to listen when victims come forward who have been sexually assaulted or raped. I think victims who allege inappropriate behavior need to be listened to. And it needs to be done in a way that provides for a real investigation and real consequences if found guilty.

BOLDUAN: Senator Jeanne Shaheen, thank you for your time.

John.

BERMAN: Yes, what Kate was talking about there is that --

SHAHEEN: Thank you.

BERMAN: Oh, I'm so sorry.

What Kate was talking about there is inside the House of Representatives, some Democrats, Republicans are suggesting that they will vote to expel Eric Swalwell. And this has now kind of moved even past that to a suggestion that two, three, as many as four members could get expelled as soon as this week.

Swalwell dropped out of the California governor's race after four women came forward and accused him of sexual misconduct. One of rape. Swalwell has denied these allegations.

Let's get to CNN's chief investigative correspondent and anchor, Pamela Brown, who was in on some of the reporting that really pushed this story way forward.

Pamela, bring us up to speed on what got us here.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN CHIEF INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT AND ANCHOR: Well, John, I was part of this team with Ali Gordon, Casey Tolan and Isabelle Chapman with this reporting that came out on Friday and the fallout from it led to a near immediate campaign collapse for Swalwell. He was long considered, as you know, a top contender in a wide-open field with several prominent Democrats and two Republicans leading up to the June 2nd nonpartisan primary in California.

[09:15:05]

But CNN spoke with four women who accused the congressman of sexual misconduct and, in one case, rape. That woman was a former staffer of Swalwell's and alleges that he raped her when she was heavily intoxicated, leaving her bruised and bleeding in the 2024 encounter.

At that point, we should note, she had left his office, but she also detailed some sexual misconduct from 2019 when she was a junior staffer in his office. And we have corroborated much of her story. It's all online on our stories at cnn.com.

The Manhattan district attorney, John, then opened an investigation after our reporting went out into that 2024 incident, as that woman alleges it occurred in New York City.

And our reporting also led to key Swalwell allies, including his campaign chairs, Representative Jimmy Gomez, and Senators Ruben Gallego and Adam Schiff, pulling their support for him immediately. It culminated in this post from the congressman on his social media last night. Quote, "to my family, staff, friends and supporters, I am deeply sorry for mistakes in judgment I've made in my past. I will fight the serious, false allegations that have been made, but that's my fight, not a campaigns."

So, that's where we are this morning. And the gubernatorial race in California has really been thrown into flux now in the wake of this, John.

BERMAN: Yes. So, California thrown into flux. But Washington thrown into a little bit of flux in the House of Representatives, because Eric Swalwell was a member of the House today. Unclear whether that's going to be the case by Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. There's talk of expulsion here, not just of him, but other members who faced allegations of different sorts as well. What are you hearing?

BROWN: Yes, that's right, John. And we should note, they're out of session today, back tomorrow. So, it will be really interesting.

He still holds that seat for California's 14th district. It's unclear if he's going to remain in that position until his term expires in January. Multiple Democrats have called on him to leave Congress, including Representative Eugene Vindman of Virginia and Representative Pramila Jayapal of Washington.

Now, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who did urge Swalwell to end his candidacy for governor, has not gone as far as to say that Swalwell should resign his congressional seat. Yet he has called on an investigation. He told reporters at a backyard rally yesterday that Democrats will convene in Washington this week and will have more to say. So, you can hear more about the political fallout and the key members calling for him to exit Congress next hour on my show I anchor with Wolf Blitzer, "THE SITUATION ROOM." So, stay tuned for that.

John.

BERMAN: We are regular viewers of said show. Look forward --

BROWN: Love to hear it.

BERMAN: Look forward to that new (ph) report.

BROWN: I have to plug it. You know I have to plug it.

BERMAN: I appreciate it. I appreciate it. Well done.

Pamela, great reporting.

BROWN: Thank you.

BERMAN: Obviously, the last several days on this and a very difficult subject. And again, we're waiting to see the fallout, not just for Swalwell, but many others as well.

BROWN: Yes.

BERMAN: Appreciate it.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Still ahead for us, Pope Leo arrives in Algeria for the start of a ten day papal visit. More on how he is responding to President Trump's broadside. One statement from the pope that he has, quote, "no fear" of the Trump administration.

And the price of crude oil is surging this morning. Investors are watching the clock less than an hour from now, and from this -- less than an hour from the start of the blockade that president Trump has now ordered in the Strait of Hormuz.

And Britney Spears checks herself into rehab weeks after an arrest on suspicion of DUI.

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[09:22:36]

BOLDUAN: So, this morning, Pope Leo is responding to President Trump's insults. The president saying that the first American born pope, who has criticized the Iran War, the president calling him weak and terrible on crime and foreign policy. Pope Leo, not staying silent, saying he does not fear the Trump administration, and much more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE LEO: The message of the church, my message, the message of the Gospel, blessed are the peacemakers. I do not look at my role as being political politician. I don't want to get into a debate with him. I don't think that the message of the Gospel is meant to be abused in the way that some people are doing. And I will continue to speak out loudly against war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: CNN's Vatican correspondent, Christopher Lamb, is traveling with Pope Leo in Algeria right now, where they touched down earlier today.

Christopher, tell us more about what you heard from the -- from Pope Leo on this and what you make of it.

CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, it's very significant to see Pope Leo respond so strongly to that extraordinary broadside from President Trump. Now, when a pope travels, he takes with him a group of journalists, and he usually comes to the back of the plane after takeoff to greet us individually. And he did that this morning on the way to Algeria.

And, of course, many people were asking him about those comments from President Trump. And I think what was really interesting is that Leo's insisting that he doesn't want to get into a kind of tit for tat with the president. He simply wants to continue to speak from the heart about peace, to communicate what the message of the church is. And he insisted he's not going to be intimidated by the president.

Here's some more of what he had to say on board.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE LEO: I have no fear of neither the Trump administration nor speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel. And that's what I believe.

I am called to know what the church is called to do. We're not politicians. We're not looking to make foreign policies policy with the same perspective that he might understand it. But I do believe that the message of the Gospel, blessed are the peacemakers, is the message that the world needs to hear today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[09:25:11]

LAMB: Well, Kate, the broader context here is that Leo is the first American pope. He speaks English as his mother tongue. So, he can communicate in a different way to other popes. His words cut through and have a much bigger impact than perhaps popes of the past. And he has been increasingly outspoken about the war in the Middle East, about the use of religious language to justify conflict. That's something we've heard from the U.S. defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, with the military operation in Iran.

Leo, in Algeria, continuing to call for peace and to build Christian- Muslim relations to foster them whilst here in Algeria, a Muslim majority country.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes, quite a moment. And so important that you were there traveling along with the pope and following this important trip.

Thank you so much, Christopher. I really appreciate it.

Still ahead for us, we are now just 30 minutes away from the start of President Trump's blockade on the Strait of Hormuz. Everyone watching the clock to see what really happens.

And we're also monitoring the markets this morning as futures reacting, as you -- one would guess it -- they are to these new developments with the war with Iran. Opening bell just minutes away.

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