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Israel and Lebanon Wrap Up Ceasefire Talks in Washington; Trump Officials Discussing Possible Second Meeting With Iran; Arraignment for Suspect in Attack on OpenAI CEO's Home Soon; Roblox Tightens Kid Safety With Age-Based Accounts; Trump Administration Agrees to Return Pride Flag to Stonewall Site; Heart Wrenching Testimony From of Camp Mystic Director, Edward Eastland. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired April 14, 2026 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:32:26]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Breaking News to CNN. Diplomats from Israel and Lebanon just wrapped up ceasefire talks in Washington, their highest-level direct talks in more than four decades, lasting roughly two hours. For more than a month, Israeli strikes have hammered parts of Lebanon as the IDF wages a military campaign against the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia. Iran has said it will not make a peace deal until these attacks stop.

And last week, President Trump said he told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be, quote, "A little more low-key about his operations in southern Lebanon." Let's talk more about this with Leon Panetta. He served as Defense Secretary and CIA Director under President Obama. He was also White House Chief of Staff for President Clinton.

Sir, thanks so much for being with us. How optimistic are you that a lasting agreement will be reached between Lebanon and Israel?

LEON PANETTA, DEFENSE SECRETARY AND CIA DIRECTOR UNDER PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, you know, it's a good sign that the parties were able to come, together to have Secretary Rubio there, somebody who's got experience in dealing with these kinds of issues. I think the fact that they did come together, hopefully exchanged comments about how they felt that matters could be resolved, I think it's a good beginning. Let's put it that way. Whether it winds up in a firm agreement remains to be seen. But I think it's a good step forward.

SANCHEZ: So the crux of these talks are Israeli forces withdrawing from Lebanese territory in exchange for Lebanon moving forward with steps to disarm Hezbollah. The question that that begs is how much control, how much leverage do Lebanese leaders have over Hezbollah? Because there have been attempts to disarm them before.

PANETTA: I think the reality is that the United States can provide some very important leverage here for Lebanon in trying to determine what path they take in order to control Hezbollah. And so for that reason, I think having the United States in the middle and being able to try to convince the parties to try to be able to resolve their differences rather than having Israel simply bombing the hell out of Lebanon and Lebanon then responding in kind, I think there is an opportunity here to try to find some kind of resolution that allows Lebanon to be able to exist as a separate and independent country, not under the influence of Hezbollah, but operating on its own volition.

[13:35:26]

And that's really what you're trying to get at here.

SANCHEZ: Do you think there's going to be progress when it comes to negotiations between the United States and Iran before any of this between Israel and Lebanon and Hezbollah is settled?

PANETTA: I don't know, Boris. It's all a little strange to me that the parties would get together in Abbottabad, exchange offers, and the fact that there are reports out now that the United States offered a 20-year suspension on nuclear enrichment, and that Iran came back with three or five years in return. What normally happens when people at a high level get together and they start exchanging these kinds of offers is that they stay at the table and they continue to negotiate, and they continue to exchange different offers and eventually try to find a compromise.

But what happened here is they exchanged offers and then jumped on a plane and flew out of the country. So I'm glad that there's talking about resuming those discussions, but I find it a little strange that they aren't staying at the table and trying to come to an agreement that can bring this war to an end.

SANCHEZ: The administration has floated a second round of peace talks with Tehran before the ceasefire expires a week from today. Do you believe that the administration deploying the U.S. Navy to block Iranian ports, essentially playing an Uno Reverse card on what the Iranians were doing with the Strait of Hormuz, do you think that gives the U.S. additional leverage in these talks or does that risk expanding the conflict? Because there are a lot of ships that pass through that area, including Chinese ones.

PANETTA: I'm very concerned about a blockade on top of a blockade, and what you have now is a total blockage of the Straits of Hormuz, which is the opposite of what should be happening. What you want is to open up the Straits of Hormuz and to have traffic proceeding through the Straits of Hormuz. And now, what's happening is that everybody is paying a high economic price for this approach. Our prices are going to go up.

We're going to continue to have problems within not only our economy, but the world economy. It just seems to me that the role of the Navy that we have there should be one of sweeping for mines and providing support for ships to be able to go through the Straits. It shouldn't be about blocking the Straits. It should be about opening up the Straits so that there's free access for all ships to go through the Straits of Hormuz. That ought to be the goal.

SANCHEZ: Secretary Leon Panetta, thanks so much for joining us.

PANETTA: Good to be with you.

SANCHEZ: Up next, we just learned that two of the largest airlines in the country are considering a mega merger, one that watchdogs fear could have a big impact on how much it costs us to fly. Some new reporting right after this.

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[13:43:37]

SANCHEZ: So, United Airlines is reportedly shopping a giant proposal to become the nation's largest domestic airline with the help of one of its competitors.

ERICA HILL, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Reuters is now reporting that United's CEO pitched an idea to the White House earlier this year for United to merge with American Airlines. So, industry watchdogs are alarmed. They worry what this could mean for the flying public when it comes to what you will pay, of course, and competition.

CNN Aviation Correspondent, Pete Muntean is with us now. So, first of all, the how and the why here for United's thinking, is this even a formal offer or are we just sort of floating things out there to see how they land?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: It's a bit of a pie-in-the- sky idea at the moment. You know, I just spoke to a legal scholar who specializes in this, who says the possibilities of this happening are pretty remote at best. Here is the route. If United Airlines and American Airlines merge, it would create the largest airline in the world.

Here are the numbers from the federal government. American has 17.4 percent of the market. United is slightly smaller on that bar chart there. Combine the two, you get one mega airline controlling about a third of the entire U.S. market, exactly why regulators would likely go nuclear over this idea. Antitrust laws are designed to preserve competition, which is good for consumers.

And even under a Trump administration that's been more open to deal- making, Bill Kovacic at GW tells me that states and international regulators could still block this.

[13:45:00]

And remember, this industry has a long history of consolidation. 2005, America West and U.S. Airways merged. 2008, Delta and Northwest. 2010, United and Continental, which brings us to today, American and U.S. Airways, they merged back in 2013. So a big history here. But not every deal goes through. United failed to acquire U.S. Airways back in 2000. And just last year, a federal judge blocked JetBlue from buying Spirit Airlines.

So the big question here is why float this idea now? One theory, United has been eying a deal with JetBlue. And this could be a way to shake up those negotiations or test how regulators might respond to something bigger. A lot of theories on the table here and a lot of big questions about where this could go next.

SANCHEZ: I mean, I guess one of the questions would be, would they sort of downsize the number of flights? How would this work from a hub perspective? Does it ultimately mean that we're going to have to pay more? Or could it be a good thing if say, for example, your flight gets canceled, there may be extra airplanes, extra pilots sitting around?

MUNTEAN: One idea is that United would potentially, or American, would have to essentially spin off different parts --

SANCHEZ: Right.

MUNTEAN: -- of the airline to make sort of a smaller airline, so they don't have such a big slice of that pie. We will see how this plays out. You know, the Trump administration has been pretty keen on mergers and acquisitions. But the legal scholars say, this probably isn't going to fly if you'll pardon the pun.

(LAUGH)

HILL: Ha! Ha! Ha! May never take off.

SANCHEZ: There he is. Hey! He's got that dog in him. And it's an industry watchdog.

(LAUGH)

That's right. There he goes.

(LAUGH)

HILL: Much more than that.

SANCHEZ: Thank you so much.

HILL: You are going to be on every hour so we can continue the puns?

MUNTEAN: Yeah. I'm game. You know I'm there for all of it.

SANCHEZ: Love this guy.

MUNTEAN: Yeah.

SANCHEZ: Thanks, Pete.

HILL: Thank you. Well, just hours from now, the man who is suspected of hurling an incendiary device at the home of OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman is set to be arraigned. Daniel Moreno-Gama is facing attempted murder and attempted arson charges after allegedly throwing the device that set a gate on fire.

At the end of the event, he allegedly went to OpenAI's San Francisco headquarters and struck the glass doors with a chair. Joining me now, CNN Senior Law Enforcement Analyst, Andrew McCabe, who of course served as Deputy Director of the FBI. And it's good to have you here. So we've learned a lot, actually, in the last 24 hours. What do you make of these charges and the potential for anything to relate to domestic terrorism?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Sure. So the charges are super strong, as they are, right? You have incredible surveillance photographs from the scenes of both crimes that clearly identify the defendant.

He was taken into custody at the scene of the second attack, which was at the office there of OpenAI. He had a jug of kerosene and an implement to light that on fire on his person. He also had this writing that detailed what he was doing and the fact that he wanted to kill Sam Altman and that this was all in response to what he sees as some sort of a, you know, existential threat that A.I. poses for society.

So, his intent is pretty clear. He had the, you know, chock full of evidence when he was taken into custody. So the cases are very strong.

I think the bigger question for law enforcement now is what does this say about additional threats, similar threats that maybe we may be facing in the future.

HILL: Yeah, which is, I have to say, that's one of the things I thought of as we learned about that document, right, that was advocating for the killing of CEOs of A.I. companies and their investors. What would then, given that, what is the Bureau potentially doing in this moment to not only assess the risk level when it comes to other businesses or executives, but also alert them?

MCCABE: Yeah, so this is really gets to the core of the FBI's strategic mission. It's not enough to be responding to events like this in real time. You have to constantly be looking over the horizon to spot what we call emerging threats. And where I still at the FBI, this is one that I would be thinking of in that context. Like, is this an emerging threat on the domestic terrorism scene?

Are we about to see the rise and the coordination among like-minded individuals who are motivated to reach out violently in response to threats that they perceive driven by corporations and their leadership related to A.I.? It's certainly conceivable if we believe some of the predictions from those A.I. executives themselves.

There have been prominent predictions about massive sectors of the economy losing jobs and people being put out of work because they're possibly replaced by all this generated A.I. capacity. So that certainly gives you one element, right, of creating a population of people that may harbor grievances that motivate them to violence. So I do think that this is something that the Bureau is probably focused on right now.

HILL: There's also, I mean, it feels to me that there's also this other threat too, in terms of the rise in violence. We see it with the rise in political violence, right? Someone doesn't like something and the way that they allegedly decide to take things into their own hands to resort to violence.

[13:50:00]

And it did make me think of, especially when we learned about this document, the United Health Care CEO who was killed in New York City. Do you see a thread between these events?

MCCABE: No question, Erica. I mean, generally acts of violence, particularly acts of politically or ideologically motivated violence, acts of terrorism tend to beget additional acts of violence, right? You can trace that, that thread that you noted there to the assassin of the UnitedHealthcare CEO, all the way back to the Unabomber, right? These are threads and sources of grievance that have existed in our society for a long time.

The difference today is we have more immediate and more recent examples of political violence. And each one of those runs the risk of risk of sparking another actor, another person who's prone to violence, motivated by grievance or ideology to believe that striking out against someone violently is the way to assert and propagate their beliefs.

And I mean, I think that's exactly what gets us to this place we're in today, which is in a country that is experiencing a higher rate of political violence than we have seen in many of the past decades.

HILL: Yeah, it is sobering to put it mildly. Appreciate it as always. Thank you.

MCCABE: Thanks.

SANCHEZ: Now to some of the other headlines we're watching this hour. Roblox, one of the most popular gaming platforms for kids, is changing how users access the app. Starting in June, accounts are going to be divided by age. Kids ages five to eight will have chat turned off by default and access to games is going to be strictly limited by content rating.

The company says older kids are going to have a bit more access, but safety controls will remain in place. Roblox has recently faced pressure to better protect kids from online predators.

And in a reversal from the White House, the Trump administration has agreed to allow the pride flag to fly over Stonewall National Monument. The New York landmark is the site of the 1969 uprising that helped spark the modern LGBTQ rights movement. Initially, the administration faced backlash for removing the flag under new federal guidelines, restricting which ones can be displayed at national parks. Under a legal agreement though, the flag has since been returned.

HILL: And we are getting yet another new view of the Artemis II crew and their return. So this is from when their capsule, of course, splashed down successfully on Friday. Commander Reid Wiseman sharing the video from his helmet camera, which shows the moment that they were welcomed back to Earth.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Reid (ph), welcome home. Christina, welcome home. Yes.

CHRISTINA KOCH, ARTEMIS II MISSION SPECIALIST: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jeremy. You are absolutely welcome home, brother.

There it is. Reid, let's welcome home brother.

Reid Wiseman, Artemis II commander: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: That historic lunar mission for the four astronauts. Of course, remember they traveled nearly 253,000 miles from Earth.

SANCHEZ: Pretty cool. In good spirits for having just ridden a fireball back to earth.

HILL: Yes, literally. I mean, I cannot get enough of the Artemis II content.

SANCHEZ: It's amazing.

HILL: Yeah.

SANCHEZ: It's amazing. Hopefully more soon, Artemis III, et cetera.

HILL: Yes. I'm ready. I'm here for it.

SANCHEZ: Stay with CNN. We'll be right back.

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[13:58:06]

HILL: Happening now. We are following heart wrenching testimony in the legal battle against the owners of Camp Mystic, that's the Texas summer camp where 27 counselors and young campers were killed during the devastating 4th of July flooding last year.

Just moments ago, the Camp Director, Edward Eastland broke down on the stand when asked about eight-year-old CiCi Steward, the only camper who remains missing to this day. So far, Eastland has provided the most detailed account yet of how the deadly night unfolded, acknowledging the camp did not have a detailed written evacuation plan despite being in a flood zone.

Eastland also says there were no staff meetings about the severe weather beforehand and that he did not see official warnings that went out, and admits he slept through a Code Red alert sent to his phone as that situation became more serious.

Eastland argued there was no way camp staff could have anticipated the storm's severity. The district attorney, however, pushed back.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Between 2:26 and 10 p.m. on July 3rd, did Camp Mystic take any steps to prepare for this potential flooding and flash flood? Yes or no?

EDWARD EASTLAND, CAMP DIRECTOR, CAMP MYSTIC: I mean, that's hard to -- we did not expect what was going to happen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A warning from the Texas Department of Emergency Management Resources, so the idea that Camp Mystic wasn't warned about the potential for flash flooding for days is demonstrably false. True?

EASTLAND: I wouldn't put it that way based on what they just put on their website.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, it says it right there, does it not?

EASTLAND: We weren't told to go to this website to look at this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: The hearing comes as Camp Mystic hopes to reopen this summer if the state renews its license. Camp operators say close to 900 girls are registered for the season.

A new hour of "CNN News Central" starts right now.