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Singer D4vd Arrested On Suspicion Of Killing Teen Girl; Iran Declares Strait Of Hormuz Open But Imposes Conditions; Trump Says Port Blockade Will Remain Until Deal To End War Is A Hundred Percent Complete; ; HHS Secretary, RFK Jr. Faces Lawmakers On Capitol Hill; Trump Picks Public Health Veteran To Lead CDC As Administration Shifts Tone On Vaccines; Charlie Kirk Murder Suspect Pushes To Ban Cameras In Court; Justice Department Removes Lead Prosecutor From Investigation Into Former CIA Director, Brennan. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired April 17, 2026 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: And then, of course, they would have to make the case that he actually killed her, not that she just died and he tried to dispose of her body. But there was a high hurdle here for prosecutors. Of course, we're waiting to see whether this actually goes to prosecution. Again, we're expecting the next update on Monday when the police department formally advises the district attorney's office of their case.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": All right, we'll see what happens. Josh Campbell, thank you so much for that.

And a new hour of "CNN News Central" starts right now.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Iran declares the Strait of Hormuz is now completely open, but there's a catch as the Revolutionary Guard is attaching conditions as President Trump says a deal to end the war could be reached in the next day or two. And oil prices are down today, but how soon will Americans see lower gas prices at the pump? We'll look at what the Strait reopening could mean for those prices.

And prominent podcaster, Joe Rogan, suggests voters didn't sign up for this war. We'll go live to a conservative event in Phoenix to see reaction from those who voted for President Trump as we follow these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

SANCHEZ: We lead this hour with Breaking News, President Trump telling Axios that negotiators for the U.S. and Iran will likely meet again this weekend and that he expects a deal to end the war in a day or two. This is happening as Iran has announced that the Strait of Hormuz is now completely open for commercial shipping, though its Revolutionary Guard is now laying out conditions for actually getting through.

President Trump quickly touted the announcement of the Strait's reopening, adding that Iran also committed to never again closing the vital waterway again. The president also said that the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports will remain in place until a deal to end the war is complete. Iranian state media swiftly responded to that, warning that the Strait will close again if the blockade continues.

Today, investors are cheering the news that this critical passageway for 20 percent of the world's oil is reopening. You see stocks have jumped, oil prices have tumbled. CNN Business Editor-at-Large, Richard Quest joins us now.

So Richard, when will free shipping -- firms feel confident enough to send their vessels through the Strait again?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR, "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS": I think they will only do that when they've received guarantees, however so they be given from the Iranians that their ships are not at risk. We've heard from Maersk, we've heard from Hapag-Lloyd and their CEOs have all told us, yes, we're ready to sail, but only once it's safe. And that is certainly not the case at the moment.

Boris, if you just look at the introduction that you've just given, the number of this has happened but dependent upon that, over there's going to do this but only if this happens, perhaps over that. There are so many slips, conditions, preconditions that nobody can say with any certainty that this deal, this opening of the Hormuz Straits will continue for any length of time.

We haven't actually seen the ships, by the way, going through. And so yes, the market has given an extremely positive reaction because this is what they want. This is exactly what they want. But whether these gains hold in the short to medium term relies on actual evidence of it taking place.

SANCHEZ: And we'll have to watch for that evidence. Richard Quest, thank you so much. Jessica?

DEAN: All right. Let's go to the White House now for the latest on this. CNN's Kristen Holmes is standing by. Kristen, a lot of questions. This is a moving target today with a lot of pieces and one of the big questions is what the White House is doing to make sure the Strait stays open. What are you hearing about all of it?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Jessica, what we know right now is that these officials, the U.S. officials, Pakistani officials, Iranian officials are all working feverishly behind the scenes. But I do want to post, or at least draw your attention to a post from Donald Trump on Truth Social because it gives us an idea of what the United States is doing. He says, the Strait of Hormuz is completely open and ready for business and full passage, but the naval blockade will remain in full force and effect as it pertains to Iran only until such a time our transaction with Iran is a hundred percent complete.

That clearly goes to show you that we are maintaining a posture of maximum pressure in this scenario to ensure that they keep the Strait open. And we've just seen a post from U.S. Central Command reiterating what the President said, that this naval blockade is going to stay in place until it is necessary to remove it, meaning until they have some sort of a deal with Iran that is firmly in place.

Now, it has been sort of difficult to sort out what exactly is happening behind the scenes because we're hearing very different takes from U.S. officials who are telling us that the Trump administration is considering unfreezing billions of dollars in Iranian assets as part of a deal. But we're also hearing from President Trump who said the complete opposite.

[14:05:00]

He's doing these kind of quick phone interviews that he does with reporters, in one of them saying that he expects the deal in the next day or two. In another saying that Iran agreed to not only suspend its nuclear program indefinitely, but that they wouldn't receive any frozen funds. So even though these U.S. officials are telling us that is under consideration, he is saying that's not out there, he is not going to do that.

So we're still piecing together what exactly is happening in those negotiations. Of course, as we've been reporting, really much of the sticking point is about that enriched uranium and the idea of Iran not, or at least pausing, enriching uranium and getting rid of that enriched uranium that they already have. There have been different timelines that have been proposed.

President Trump has told a number of reporters in various interviews that Iran has agreed to everything, including never enriching uranium again, but that seems really unlikely just given what we know about the back and forth. So we are waiting for some kind of document, some kind of clarification, again, from what we're hearing from these U.S. officials who have been briefed on the talks, who are participating in the talks, and what President Trump is saying publicly.

But one thing we do know is that the White House, the president, they are all incredibly optimistic, and they are hoping for a deal as early as this weekend.

DEAN: OK, we will see if that comes to be. Kristen Holmes at the White House, thank you for that.

And still to come here, Health Secretary, RFK Jr. back on Capitol Hill for another round of intense questions from lawmakers, this time being asked about the president's mental health.

Plus, the man accused of killing conservative activist, Charlie Kirk, is back in court today and we're live at the courthouse with the latest update on that. And a new wave of anti-A.I. rhetoric growing online. Why experts say the recent attack on the CEO of OpenAI is raising some major alarm bells. We've got that and much more coming up here on "CNN News Central."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:11:34]

SANCHEZ: Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert Kennedy Jr. is facing another round of tough questioning from lawmakers on Capitol Hill today. At one point, he was pressed by a Democratic lawmaker about President Trump's mental health following Trump's recent flurry of controversial social media posts. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MARK TAKANO, (D-CA): Millions of Americans are now wondering if this president is delusional and thinks he is Jesus Christ. Mr. Secretary, given everything that I've shown you today, will you insist that President Trump undergo an assessment of his mental fitness and his emotional stability?

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., UNITED STATES HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: Absolutely not.

TAKANO: Should President Trump fail a mental fitness test or an evaluation about his mental stability or emotional stability, would you vote to invoke the 25th Amendment?

KENNEDY JR.: There hasn't been a president who is more sane.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: CNN Medical Correspondent, Meg Tirrell joins us now. Meg, talk to us about this exchange and some of the other feisty ones that the secretary faced.

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Boris, I mean, this is the third hearing we've seen RFK Jr. in, in the last two days alone, and there's four more next week. That line of questioning was picked up by another lawmaker later in the hearing today, and they noted that RFK Jr. had said President Trump is the most sane president we've had. Of course, they pointed out that Kennedy's uncle was also president, and so RFK Jr. sort of revised that to say that President Trump is very, very sane.

So that was one line of questioning. There were a lot of fiery backs and forths though. One topic that came up today, from two different lawmakers though, was the topic of gun violence. Take a listen to this exchange from Representative Lucy McBath, to whom this is a very personal issue.

REP. LUCY MCBATH, (D-GA): My son Jordan Davis was murdered in a shooting at just 17 years of age. Simple answer, yes or no. Do you believe that gun violence is an epidemic or a public health crisis?

KENNEDY JR.: I would say it's an epidemic. I think it's a law enforcement issue and not public health.

MCBATH: I find it kind of absurd to hear you say that. I really do.

KENNEDY JR.: You think I should be regulating gangs at HHS?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TIRRELL: So there were a lot of questions about what HHS is doing in terms of funding for prevention of gun violence, particularly against children. And this is something that public health groups have criticized this administration for not including, for example, in the Make America Healthy Again report focusing on children's health. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Meg, President Trump is tapping a veteran doctor to become the new leader of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Talk to us about this pick.

TIRRELL: Yeah, so this is Dr. Erica Schwartz. She served as the Deputy Surgeon General in President Trump's first term. She's really being heralded by both people who know her and just people in the public health world as a very good choice, sort of a traditional public health leader, somebody who spent a lot of time in this space leading things like disease surveillance and vaccination programs.

For that reason, there are some folks more aligned with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s vaccine skepticism who are criticizing this choice. But this is seen as a really stabilizing pick for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has been one of the most unstable places in terms of leadership in this Trump administration.

[14:15:00]

Of course, President Trump's first nominee, they withdrew his nomination the morning of his confirmation hearing over concerns about his vaccine views. Their second pick got confirmed, served less than a month in the role though as she clashed with Kennedy over vaccine policy as well.

And then they put the director of the NIH in charge of CDC as they sought a more permanent choice. So this really is seeing, Boris, as a more stabilizing pick. They're also nominating three additional leaders to come in as a team with her. She will need to go through the confirmation process though. It'll be very interesting to see how she navigates, whether she expects to have autonomy, which is the big concern from the public health world.

SANCHEZ: Yeah.

TIRRELL: Will she be able to operate as they believe a CDC director should under Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

SANCHEZ: Meg Tirrell, thank you so much for the reporting.

So right now, a hearing is underway for the man accused of killing conservative activist, Charlie Kirk. We'll take you live outside the courthouse in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:20:33]

DEAN: Tyler Robinson, the man accused of killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk, is back in court today fighting to get cameras banned from the courtroom. His attorneys claim biased coverage is tainting potential jurors.

Robinson is accused of fatally shooting Kirk, who was addressing a crowd of thousands on the campus of Utah Valley University. Let's bring in CNN National Correspondent, Nick Watt, who has been covering this for us. Nick, first, tell us about the arguments surrounding cameras in court that's been central to today.

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, listen, this is the big question. In court, by the way, Tyler Robinson sitting there wearing a pale blue shirt, taking notes on a yellow legal pad with his defense team, who will today argue for two hours they've been given to argue why cameras should not be allowed. Now, they -- as you just mentioned, they say it is going to prejudice coverage. It's going to vilify him.

They've already demanded that, you know, he not be shown shackled. And also previous hearings when the pool camera has been in the court, they, the defense clearly has a paralegal or somebody watching the feed. And they lodge complaints every time they say this decorum order about how photographers should behave is broken.

So they are also objecting to the fact that, you know, even if we can't hear what Tyler Robinson is saying to his defense, that some outlets have put lip readers on the case, body language experts on the case. They want all of this out. They say that is going to be the way to sort of staunch the flow of conspiracy theories that are swirling around this case and have been ever since Charlie Kirk was killed.

Now, the counter argument, the state wants cameras in there. Erica Kirk wants cameras in there. She says, that's how we will stop the conspiracies. She said my husband was killed in public. This case should be conducted in public. Jessica?

DEAN: And another issue discussed is if the preliminary hearings even going to happen.

WATT: Yeah, so that's what they've been talking about all morning. It's supposed to be next month at which we would get some evidence presented and probably a plea from Tyler Robinson himself. His defense wants to delay that. They say that they have not been given adequate access to the digital files relating to the DNA in this case.

Now, the state argues, listen, we've got four buckets of evidence. We've got surveillance cameras. We've got a lot of stuff. We've got testimony. We've got -- we've got confessions. We don't need the DNA to prove probable cause, but we'd like to use it. So that's what they're arguing about right now.

Listen, you know, it's really interesting. Just recently, there was a search warrant was unsealed that showed some of the text messages between Robinson and his roommate/romantic partner. One of those messages from, just the hours after Charlie Kirk was killed. The message from Tyler Robinson is going out. I want to go out on my own terms. I have no intention of being drug through the courts in front of the country.

But that is what is happening right now. He is in court. And for now at least, cameras are going to be allowed in these proceedings. We won't get a decision today on whether that hearing is going to happen next month or the cameras are going to be allowed. The judge, this judge is very meticulous. He says, I'm going to hear all your arguments today and then later, I will give out the rulings. Back to you.

DEAN: All right. We'll see how that goes. Nick Watt, thank you so much. Boris?

SANCHEZ: So the lead prosecutor from the investigation and a former CIA Director, John Brennan, is now off the case, according to people briefed on the matter. They say the Justice Department removed career Prosecutor, Maria Medetis Long from the case after she resisted pressure to quickly bring charges against Brennan.

Remember, Brennan is under investigation for his 2017 intelligence assessment that found that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election to help Donald Trump. Long led the case for months amid growing demands from Trump to prosecute Brennan and other critics. The Miami U.S. Attorney's Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Still ahead on CNN, the Strait of Hormuz may be open again, but has the war changed how the MAGA faithful feel about President Trump? We're live from Turning Point USA's conference in Arizona with reaction after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:29:30]

DEAN: Another sign today the war in Iran is testing the MAGA movement that President Trump has built and relied on for his political power. Podcaster Joe Rogan talked about the war on his most recent podcast with comedian David Cross, saying this isn't what the president's voters, in his opinion, signed up for.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID CROSS, COMEDIAN: We're in a worse place now than before this thing started.

JOE ROGAN, HOST OF "THE JOE ROGAN EXPERIENCE" PODCAST: Yeah. Look, the Iranian regime is terrible, like what they do to the protesters.

(CROSSTALK)

CROSS: Yeah, I'm not disputing that at all.

(CROSSTALK)

ROGAN: It's all (ph) evil.

CROSS: I mean, yeah.

ROGAN: Most people that voted for Trump or wanted Trump to be in office, one of the things that was attractive was this, no more wars.

CROSS: Sure, of course.