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Joe Rogan: Trump Supporters Didn't Vote for More Wars; Trump Takes Message to Voters in Phoenix, Arizona; Trump Tells Axios He Expects Iran Deal In a Day or Two; Attack on OpenAI CEO Home Exposes Dark Side of Anti-AI Movement; Medical Cannabis Use on the Rise Among Women. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired April 17, 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]

DAVID CROSS, COMEDIAN: ... worst place now than before this thing started.

JOE ROGAN, THE JOE ROGAN EXPERIENCE: Yes, look, the Iranian regime is terrible. Like what they do to the protesters.

CROSS: I'm not disputing that at all.

ROGAN: I mean, 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.

ROGAN: And now we're in one of the craziest ones.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Rogan's take seems to be consistent with some recent polling, which shows a significant part of the president's base is increasingly skeptical about whether the war's benefits are worth the cost. The president today is making his case to supporters in Phoenix, Arizona, speaking at a Turning Point USA event at the Dream City Church.

CNN's Steve Contorno is there covering the event for us. Steve, what are you hearing from attendees?

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Boris, I have been attending conservative events across the country over the past six months, Turning Point events, CPAC, Trump rallies, and you just keep hearing the same sort of divisions over and over and over again between a party that was largely united just a year ago. Yes, there are people who are deeply supportive of the president and trust him, but you also hear a lot of confusion about his priorities and whether he has focused enough on the issues that got him elected in 2024. And those voices of confusion and discontent are getting increasingly louder as we get closer to the midterms and deeper into this conflict with Iran.

Take a listen to some of what I heard from attendees earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm a very big Tucker Carlson guy, so when President Trump tweeted about Tucker Carlson, I took that one to heart. I personally think -- I do support his policy. I am starting to lean away from his personality a lot more.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I really trust our president, and if he says there was a threat, then I believe him fully.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think you are starting to see concerns. So you see the president doing events like this to build that support back up. I think ultimately, he's a populist president, so I think the war isn't a populist issue.

So hopefully we're able to get out of that, and hopefully we get back to affordability, right? I think we voted for, like you saw the stickers all the time, right? We're OK with mean tweets as long as we get low gas prices.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CONTORNO: Now you heard that one person discuss the war between Trump and Tucker Carlson. Obviously, you played that clip from Joe Rogan as well, and we've heard other individuals who were so critical to building Trump's support in 2024. Comedians like Theo Von and Tim Dillon and Andrew Schulz also expressing their displeasure.

And the more they speak up, the more that their talking points I hear reflected at events like this from people who are clearly listening to the opinions of these very influential, right-leaning voices.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: And Steve, you're at a church, and this week we've seen the president in a very public fight with the Pope and a controversy earlier this week about a photo, AI-generated photo that seemed to depict the president as Jesus. What are you hearing from people there at the church? Are those controversies?

How do they play into all of this?

CONTORNO: Yes, this is very much a faith-based audience behind me. Turning Point is very much a faith-leaning organization, and so it's come up unprompted in several of my conversations including with a young man, a 19-year-old college student who is the son of Polish immigrants, talking to me about his Catholic faith and his surprise that this has become an issue for President Trump. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROL KRZYSZTON, ATTENDEE: A lot of things I didn't expect, for good and for the worse. I did not expect the Venezuela, going over to Iran. That was not my playbook for this year.

But I also did not expect him to diss the Pope, like what he just did recently, because I'm Catholic. And I'm like, some people around me don't really care, but I'm like, really?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CONTORNO: Now, I will say that that voter went on to tell me that even though he was a little put off by that interaction, he believes that ultimately these things with Trump tend to become controversies, flash of the pan, and then dissipate in several months. And he expects this to take place as well. But it's clearly something that is animating people here.

And they are very aware of this battle going on between Trump and Catholic leaders, something that we'll be closely following as these divisions among Trump's base continue to become more pronounced -- Jessica and Boris.

SANCHEZ: Steve Contorno, live for us in Phoenix, thank you. Back to the breaking news now.

Iran says the Strait of Hormuz is completely open, but President Trump is vowing to keep a U.S. naval blockade on Iranian ports in place until a deal to end the war is 100 percent complete.

DEAN: And that announcement comes as sources tell CNN the Trump administration is considering unfreezing $20 billion in Iranian assets as part of these ongoing talks.

[14:35:00]

The president telling Axios he expects to hammer out a deal over the weekend. We were talking to Barak Ravid. He says, think of it as a framework, not details.

With us now, CNN Global Affairs analyst Kim Dozier. Kim, always good to see you. Thanks for being here.

I feel like this day has been like all of these little bits of information that are coming out, but the overall trajectory seems to be movement toward some sort of deal. How would you put it all together, what we've heard today?

KIM DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Look, the momentum is positive and there's less combat today than there was a week ago, whether it's over the skies of Iran or in Lebanon. But there are lots of cracks in this deal that we're already seeing. We're at this strange liminal space where each side can say what they want and the other side isn't forcing them to the edge, like the U.S. isn't steaming through the Strait of Hormuz just through the Iranian side of it to prove a point. If it gets to that point, and it could once you're at the negotiating table and you actually have to agree to something, then we'll see how they really stand and if someone wants to go back to fighting.

SANCHEZ: I want to ask you about the potential for $20 billion of Iranian assets to be unfrozen since, given some of the history here, CNN and Axios have reported that the administration is considering this as a bargaining chip. Previously, we'd heard this president and other Iran hawks suggest that handing money to Iran or allowing Iran financial benefit, access to its own funds that the U.S. is essentially frozen, would be a detriment because it would use it to fund proxies, ballistic missile program, et cetera, et cetera. How is this now, a potential bargaining chip, different?

DOZIER: Just different in scale, but not much in reality. I mean, President Trump has tweeted this afternoon that no money would change hands, but of course the technicality is this would be letting Iran have its own funds that are frozen in a bank in Qatar. Back with the JCPOA, the Obama-era Iran nuclear deal, they let the Iranians get access to something like a hundred billion of their frozen funds.

And then there was 1.6 billion that the U.S. had to give Iran because they defaulted on -- Iran under the Shah had paid for some of the weapons, the U.S. had never delivered them after the revolution, and the Hague court had ruled against the U.S. So that's why they had to give pallets of cash to Iran. We could see Trump once again, if they're freeing up $20 billion, somehow Iran has to access the money. What the Obama administration found was because Iran is cut off from so many financial institutions from the sanctions, the only way to give them the money was literally pallets of cash because you can't transfer to a country that's cut off from all global institutions.

DEAN: That is a good point, a good logistical point there. When it comes to the Strait of Hormuz, the president saying this is over, this situation's done, we're good. It doesn't seem like that's quite right.

DOZIER: Yes, it's over and yet while the Iranian foreign minister says that the Strait is open, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards are reported by Iranian media to say, no, it's not, not if that U.S. blockade remains in place. So you have two sides saying different things. You often see this in peace negotiations.

Each side say out loud the way they want it to be.

DEAN: Sure, yes.

DOZIER: And then push comes to shove. The most important thing is it doesn't seem like President Trump right now wants to go back to fighting and the Iranians feel like they have him on the back foot just by getting him to stop firing and getting the fighting in Lebanon to mostly stop, even though Hezbollah is still taking some shots south.

SANCHEZ: Yes, I'm glad you mentioned the situation unfolding in southern Lebanon, in part because if there is, say, a deal in place in the next 48 hours that's essentially a framework of a deal, and then there's this wider period to get into the details about who's inspecting that enriched uranium underground, etc., there is a chance, given the complexity of the region, that things fall off the rails. I wonder how delicate you see this balance between Hezbollah and Lebanon and Israel as potentially hinging, or rather how you see this deal hinging on the situation between Hezbollah, Lebanon, and Israel.

DOZIER: The most important thing is that peace deal between Israel and Lebanon, Hezbollah is not a party to it. So, you know, the Lebanese government, which has failed to disarm Hezbollah because it simply doesn't have the firepower to, has agreed with Israel, will stop firing, but Hezbollah fighters have still been firing south.

[14:40:00]

We don't know if Iran is now going to tell Hezbollah, OK, cool it at least for the next two weeks or so, at least until we see what shakes out. But that is always a lever that Iran can pull. If it's not happy with what's going on in Islamabad, it can say to Hezbollah, start firing south on Israel.

It could say to the Houthis, start firing into the trade straits around there to put the pressure back on. All eyes on Islamabad.

DEAN: Yes.

DOZIER: Kim Dozier, thank you so much.

DEAN: Thanks, Kim.

Coming up, the attack on OpenAI CEO Sam Altman now exposing a disturbing trend online. We'll have details on that ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:45:00]

DEAN: The recent attack against OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's home is exposing a dark side of the anti-AI movement. The growing fears that AI could take jobs and harm the economy has some people openly supporting violence against tech executives. And these sentiments are raising major concerns across the industry.

Let's turn to CNN's Clare Duffy, who's been following this. Tell us more, Clare.

CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS TECH REPORTER: Yes, as I looked into this suspected attacker, Daniel Moreno-Gama, I sort of found that he is representative of this more radical fringe of the anti-AI or AI safety movement. And in some corners of the Internet, there were people cheering this attack, calling Moreno-Gama a hero, saying the attack was justified because of the risks that AI poses. And I think it's important to understand that we may increasingly be seeing these online sentiments posted mostly by anonymous users moving into very dangerous real-world attacks.

Just three days before the attack on Sam Altman's home, an Indianapolis council member had shots fired into his home after a data center was approved in his district. I also found that Moreno-Gama spent time in online spaces that were dedicated to discussing AI risks. He shared online messages discussing Luigi-ing tech CEOs, referring to the accused killer of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

He also posted in forums belonging to more mainstream AI safety groups like Pause AI and Stop AI. Those groups have disavowed his attack and said that their forums are open for anyone to join.

But I talked to Pause AI CEO Maxime Fornes. He told me, "Our response to this is going to be to double down on what we have always done, peaceful, lawful advocacy." He said, "I think it's very important that movements like ours, which are entirely peaceful, stay on top of what's happening because there could be much darker movements rising."

And I think it's going to be interesting to watch how the industry responds to this, whether they decide to do more to engage with those more mainstream, peaceful AI safety groups as these concerns bubble up.

And we are starting to see some debate within the industry about how to do that. OpenAI's global policy chief Chris Lehane did an interview with the San Francisco Standard this week where he said that some AI critiques are not necessarily responsible. He said the company needs to do a good job of telling people about the benefits of AI.

And then in response to that, another member of OpenAI staff, Jason Wolfe, I'm going to read you what he said on Twitter. He said he disagreed with Lehane's comments. And he said, "I believe our job is to earn trust by making the benefits real, being honest about the risks and uncertainty." He said, "I think it's bad for the public discourse to lump all critics together as "doomers" and suggest that it's inappropriate for them to express their concerns." Now, Wolfe later said that he had sort of spoken with Lehane. He said he thinks that they're more on the same page than he initially thought.

But it's interesting to watch this debate play out, even within this one company, about how to respond to these very serious and troubling sort of manifestation of these AI fears -- Jessica.

DEAN: Yes, we see it. Sometimes things go from being online to being in real life. And that is very scary.

All right, Clare Duffy, thank you so much -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Now to some of the other headlines we're watching this hour. The Senate just voted for a short-term 10-day extension to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. FISA allows U.S. officials to monitor phone calls and text messages of foreign targets on U.S. soil, though critics say it should be allowed to expire, citing concerns about warrantless surveillance of Americans. The 10- day extension will now head to President Trump's desk, who is expected to sign it.

Also, the Villanova and Notre Dame men and women's basketball teams will take a Roman holiday next season. The two Catholic universities announced today they're set to play a double header in Rome on November 1st.

The holy trip, a nod to Pope Leo, the first American Pope and a graduate of Villanova. Both teams are expected to enjoy an audience with the Pope ahead of their games and attend a mass at St. Peter's Basilica.

And finally, in Southern California, three people have now been convicted in this bizarre insurance scam that involved dressing up in a bear suit and wrecking luxury cars. Take a close look at what you see highlighted there on your screen. Investigators say the group staged fake bear attacks on high-end vehicles and then recorded video to sell the story to then file insurance claims. Prosecutors say the scam cost insurers more than $140,000.

The culprits have been ordered to pay restitution and will be forced to hibernate for 180 days in jail, plus two years probation. You see them there trying to mess the car up in the corner of your screen. The sentence overall doesn't sound too unbearable.

Still to come, weeding out myth from fact, how cannabis use is turning into a whole new health fad among women. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is going to join us to talk about this trend next. Stay with us.

[14:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: A new CNN special follows the rise in use of medical cannabis among one group in particular, women. For his latest report, CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta traveled the country to learn why women of all ages are turning to cannabis. Many of our viewers had questions about this topic and Sanjay joins us now to answer them.

[14:55:00]

Sanjay, thanks so much for being with us. So Erica from Canada wants to know what are the short and long-term effects on a baby if a mother uses cannabis while pregnant and breastfeeding?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so let me just say, first of all, I think this was the most surprising, if not shocking, part of our investigation. The idea that women are using cannabis while pregnant and breastfeeding, the numbers were a lot larger than we expected, Boris. Some studies, 7 percent all the way up to 20 percent of women doing this.

And the typical scenario was a woman was using cannabis before they got pregnant. Many times it was for a very specific reason, depression, anxiety, pain, or something like that. And they continued using cannabis while pregnant and even breastfeeding.

A couple things to sort of point out. First of all, there's potential harm here, obviously. We know cannabis can cross the placenta. That was a big question.

Second of all, we know cannabis can get concentrated in breast milk, meaning that the doses that may be transmitted to the child could even be higher than what you'd see in the blood. So those are all potential concerns.

Low birth weight, preterm labor, preeclampsia, those were all things that seemed to be associated with cannabis. So these are the types of things that they were most concerned about. These studies are hard to do, Boris.

Women may not always be forthright and disclose that they're using cannabis. Obviously, a lot of stigma. And oftentimes it is commingled with other substances.

People may be using alcohol, tobacco. So what is causing what? Parsing that all up can be challenging.

But it's a good question. And I got to say it was instructive for me because I did not realize the numbers were going to be that high in terms of the use of cannabis during pregnancy and breastfeeding. But that is some of what we've learned.

SANCHEZ: Meantime, Sanjay, Jodi from New Jersey is asking, can marijuana products, specifically those that are edible, be helpful for perimenopause symptoms? How and what's the mechanism and which symptoms?

GUPTA: Yes. So the short answer here is yes. All the caveats that I spoke about earlier in terms of how challenging it is to do these studies, they pertain here as well.

But what is interesting, I think for first of all, overall, we know that cannabis use, the greatest growth has been happening in women. Women now outpace men when it comes to cannabis use. And so much of that growth has been between the ages of women between the ages of 45 and 60.

And I think a lot of it is because of the question that is being asked here, perimenopause and menopause symptoms. Specific things. We know that THC can help with sleep.

A lot of people using gummies and things like that to help with sleep. We know it can help with anxiety. But also more specifically, this was fascinating, THC can have an impact on what is known as the hypothalamus of the brain.

And that's relevant here because the hypothalamus sort of controls your body's temperature. So it can help regulate, for example, hot flashes. We also know THC can be an anti-inflammatory.

So sort of the aches and pains associated sometimes with perimenopause and menopause, that can be helped as well. So early days, pretty good results that we're seeing in some of those early studies. But that's also a little bit of an insight into how this might work as well.

Sort of focusing on what is known as the endocannabinoid system in the body.

SANCHEZ: Jessica from your home state of Michigan says that she's been using marijuana for the last 20 years to manage her pain from endometriosis. She wants to know what kind of advancements are we making as far as utilizing marijuana as medicine?

GUPTA: Well, I'll tell you, this is our eighth documentary on the topic. So since our first documentary, there's been a lot of advancement. It was very hard to do studies at all initially.

There's a lot more clinical trials that are happening and a lot of clinical trials that are focused on women specifically. So women- specific trials. And endometriosis is one of the topics that came up a lot, a neglected sort of problem for so long.

People had a hard time finding relief for this. The mechanism by which cannabis may help here is really in the anti-inflammatory sort of part of things. Decreasing inflammation, that inflammation being something that can either worsen pain or sort of ignite the pain of endometriosis. It can help there.

I'll tell you one interesting thing about this, Boris. Because these studies are hard to do, what they would look at sometimes is not necessarily measuring how much pain increased or decreased. They would look at the utilization of other things, non-steroidal anti- inflammatories, opioids, other pain medications, and see if the use of those went down in women who were then using cannabis.

And the answer to that question was yes. So they were utilizing fewer other pain medications. And that was sort of a barometer of success of cannabis. Again, hard studies to do. And there are potential harms to all these things.

We say that a thousand times in the documentary. But that gives you a little insight into how they conduct these studies.

SANCHEZ: Really interesting new research. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you so much for walking us through that.

GUPTA: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Of course. Be sure to catch Sanjay's special ...

END