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Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA) On House Bracing For Next Wave Of Potential Expulsions; L.A. District Attorney To Announce Whether Charges Will Be Filed Against Singer "D4vd"; Elon Musk Summoned To Paris As Part Of Investigation Into X. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired April 20, 2026 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:31:38]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Oil prices on the rise this morning after the U.S. Navy fired on and seized an Iranian cargo ship. The Strait of Hormuz virtually empty for the third straight day.

Now, gas prices have fallen a bit to $4.04 a gallon but that's still much higher than the $2.98 drivers were paying before the war began.

The president has said the increase will just be temporary, but his energy secretary this weekend put a longer timeframe on getting back to below $3.00 a gallon for gas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS WRIGHT, ENERGY SECRETARY: But that could happen later this year. That might not happen until next year. But prices have likely peaked and they'll start going down. Certainly with a resolution of this conflict you'll see prices go down. I think we've managed it fantastically though.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, with us now is Amena Bakr, head of Middle East Energy and OPEC Insights at Kpler. Thank you so much for being with us.

First, just your reaction to the energy secretary who said we may not get back down to where we were before the war in terms of gas prices until next year. What do you think of that?

AMENA BAKR, HEAD OF MIDDLE EAST ENERGY AND OPEC+ INSIGHTS, KPLER (via Webex by Cisco): Well, I agree with the energy secretary that it's going to take a longer time for gas prices to come down, but I just disagree also with the managing it fantastically part. The strait is still closed and that's a big reason of why we're seeing these supply shortages in the market, and that's going to continue having a big pressure on prices and it's going to determine that timeframe that we're talking about.

BERMAN: How does the market feel this morning -- the oil markets feel about this whiplash that really began Friday morning our time here on the East Coast of the United States until now where the president is out there announcing the strait is open, the Iranian foreign secretary is, and then by Friday night not at all. And now they're shooting again, more or less, in the strait.

BAKR: I think you've described it will there. There's a lot of noise in the market and it's that noise that's really swaying sentiment. One thing that we look at very carefully at Kpler, and our job is really to monitor flows all around the world and we've been focusing on the Strait of Hormuz obviously over the past weeks. We didn't see any change in the situation.

We see the headlines about the strait opening and then the strait closing, and then vessels supposed to get permission. And then over the weekend we had an incident where an Indian vessel faced issues with the Iranians and had to turn back.

So all of this doesn't translate into more flows from Hormuz. So reality on the ground is that we are not seeing a resolution to the situation despite all these headlines.

BERMAN: What's the importance of the clock right now -- timing? Getting some movement maybe as soon as this week. What happens if that does not happen?

BAKR: It's critical because the longer we wait -- the longer flows are restricted from Hormuz the less supply we have in the market. I think why a lot of people have been relaxed is because it didn't hit the market. It hits gradually and then it happens all of a sudden where we're really not going to have supplies. I mean, the IEA chief said it bluntly. In six weeks Europe is not going to have any jet fuel.

We're seeing a massive shortage in products. We're seeing developing countries having to cut back and that's just going to get worse. By the end of April we're expecting that we're going to have 700 million barrels of supply loss and that's just, you know, flows coming out of the Middle East. So this situation is just going to get worse.

[07:35:10]

BERMAN: A lot of people watching Islamabad hoping that something comes of these negotiations and there is some movement in and out of that strait.

Thank you so much for being with us, Amena Bakr. Appreciate your time this morning -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Also joining us right now is Democratic Congresswoman Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania. She sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Thanks for being here, Congresswoman.

Let me ask you as well. John was just speaking to that analyst about the energy secretary Chris Wright's comments just yesterday to -- saying that when it comes to gas prices we may not get back to pre-war gas prices until next year. If that is the case -- if gas prices remain elevated above $3.00 a

gallon, above $4.00 a gallon, do you think that will guarantee Democrats the House majority once again? That is what you are pushing for.

REP. MADELEINE DEAN (D-PA) (via Webex by Cisco): I don't think anything guarantees us the majority except our work and the great candidates we have running.

I think the energy secretary is absolutely correct on the first part of that statement, which is it looks like it will take a long time to bring these energy prices down. After all, we still have the Strait of Hormuz shut. I think the United States shut it; now Iran shut it. I'm not sure who has shut it but obviously, the flows there are not working. So the prices aren't going to come down anytime soon. We need an end to this war.

I do want to point out the insane statement by the energy secretary that we had managed this fantastically well or something like that. It appears that the president wasn't really cognizant of the fact that the Strait of Hormuz was going to be an amazing strategic pinch point that Iran would get some leverage over us and the world with.

So we have a president who is failing. He's flailing about. You saw his tweet last night -- "no more mister nice guy." Thankfully, I hope diplomatic talks will start again.

But what's going to make us successful is the American people can't stand this chaos and the failed leadership of the Republican majority.

BOLDUAN: Let me ask you about the idea of talks starting back up because it is not clear that Iran and the United States even agree on what stage this war is in or what state the negotiations are in.

Iran did not heed warnings from the U.S. military in the Gulf of Oman. The U.S. military then fired upon and took over an Iranian-flagged ship. Iran also said that the Strait of Hormuz was open only then to very quickly shut it down again. And has also been playing coy with the idea of whether or not Iran says it will be showing up for said negotiations. At the same time you have a ceasefire that's set to expire tomorrow.

Do you think at this point in this state the United States should show up for talks without preconditions, as that didn't work in the past, or at least some assurances if the strait if still closed?

DEAN: Just think of that quick recitation and the chaos that reveals. The failure of this administration to fully understand what it was doing when it went side-by-side into war with Mr. Netanyahu in Iran and now the difficulties in the region.

I always think talks should continue. Obviously, we were in diplomatic talks before the president decided on his own -- as I say, next to Mr. Netanyahu -- to take us to war. No consultation with the American people. No consultation with Congress. I think that -- I hope that JD Vance has some success. How silly it

was when he talked about being in talks for 24 -- 21 hours in Pakistan in the past and that he was offering his final and best offer. That is no way to run diplomatic talks.

I'm hoping that Iran does come to the table through whomever it needs and that the United States is a leader in diplomacy. That's who we are. That's where we should have been all along against this dangerous regime in Iran. But it seems like the president has got himself in a place that he doesn't know how to get out of.

And what's at stake? Fifty thousand service members are there. We've already lost 13 lives. Hundreds have been wounded. Thousands of civilians are dead in this war of choice by the president. So please, God, continue the diplomatic talks and let's have cooler heads prevail.

BOLDUAN: Let me ask you this. You're heading back to the Hill today. After Eric Swalwell and Tony Gonzales both resigned there -- the House is poised to kind of enter a second round of the debate over expulsion.

[07:40:00]

Tuesday, tomorrow, the Ethics Committee is scheduled to make its disciplinary recommendations in the case of Democratic Congresswoman Cherfilus-McCormick who is accused of stealing millions of dollars in FEMA funds to finance her campaign. She's denied that.

Do you want to see an expulsion vote when it comes to your colleague? Would you support that?

DEAN: What I want to see is people doing the right thing. If she is guilty of those things she is disqualified from sitting as a member of Congress.

I'll tell you what, I take it quite personally. Do you know hard we worked and with what speed, and in a bipartisan way to pass relief funds during COVID? If it is true that she came to Congress using those funds -- appropriating those funds to herself for a campaign purpose, that's incredibly unethical. So anybody --

BOLDUAN: But the Ethics Committee already found earlier this month that she violated 25 rules of congressional standards. You're saying you still -- you want to see -- you still need to see more before you decide on where you are on expulsion.

DEAN: No, I don't need to see more. I think the representative needs to step aside. I also think we have folks on the other side who need to step aside. We have to change the culture.

Do you know that we take ethics training each year? How silly. We take ethics training and yet we have these kinds of activities going on.

So I think the representative should step aside. That is the right thing to do. The ethics violations have already been found. And I think we have to take a look at Mr. Mills on the other side.

BOLDUAN: Um-hum.

DEAN: But all of this stuff -- it's very clear now to the public why is it there's a culture of covering this stuff up. That's something I want to fight against.

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

Congresswoman, thank you for your time this morning. I appreciate it -- Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Later today the L.A. district attorney's office expects to announce whether they will move forward with criminal charges against the singer named D4vd. The 21-year-old whose real name is David Anthony Burke was arrested Thursday in connection to the death of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez. Authorities say the young girl had been reported missing for months before her body was discovered in the trunk of a Tesla SUV registered to D4vd.

D4vd and Celeste had a history together that was shared online. They did a Twitch livestream. That's the one you're looking at there. And Celeste was photographed backstage at one of D4vd's shows during the months that she was reported missing.

D4vd's arrest follows a lengthy investigation. In a statement from his attorney, D4vd denies he had anything to do with Celeste's murder and claims he is innocent.

Joining me now is CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson.

So the office is expected to file charges -- expected to file charges. We do not yet know yet. Walk us through the decision and how it's made. Going through a grand jury, I'm assuming here. And what they would have to show in order to go ahead and decide the charges are applicable in this case.

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Absolutely. Good morning, Sara.

So what ends up happening is that it's a process as you noted and we do know that a grand jury has been meeting for several months. Now we don't know a lot about it. Why? Because it meets in secret and there are reasons for that. They want to protect witnesses, the integrity of the investigation, et cetera.

So it meets in secret, but they've been considering all types of evidence, including obviously the finding of the body, the remains, the two bags. Who knows what came from that? They've been interviewing -- that is, the grand jury -- his family, his associates to glean and get information.

Very important to note Sara that although there's not an indictment yet that we are aware of it does not mean that they cannot vote out an indictment. Very briefly, a grand jury, Sara -- they're not there to consider whether someone is guilty.

SIDNER: Right.

JACKSON: That's not their role. They're not there to determine whether there's proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and all 23 have to be in agreement. That's not the case.

In California, 14 of the 23 have to concur and they have to decide not guilt. Is there reason to believe that a crime was committed and he committed it? Now, I should also say a grand jury is one vehicle to do this and I would suspect that would be the vehicle used here because a grand jury has been convening.

The prosecution also has the ability to file what's called a criminal complaint, which is an affidavit where they allege certain things happen. And today I suspect that there will be a decision made and there will be a public rendering of what that decision is. Why do I believe that? Because he was arrested. And if he's arrested it doesn't mean arrest itself doesn't mean anything, but you can't hold him indefinitely.

[07:45:00]

SIDNER: Right.

JACKSON: You have 48 hours, excluding weekends. So if they don't -- that is, authorities in California -- arrest and move forward he needs to be released by 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time today.

SIDNER: If the charges are filed what do -- what should we expect to happen sort of going forward? Because as you said, he's already in jail at this point.

JACKSON: Yes. So he's being held without bail. And again, that's not indefinite. You have a 48-hour period in which you have to make decisions. Now you might say well, it's Thursday. It excludes weekends. And so therefore, what'll happen in the event that he's either indicted -- they go to the grand jury and they vote it out, right?

It'll be a situation where he'll be brought in front of a judge. He'll be arraigned. What is an arraignment? You are officially notified with respect to what you're being charged with. In this case it potentially could be murder and then a judge makes a decision with respect to bail. We would anticipate that he may be held without bail in the event that happens.

And then the case proceeds and you know what that looks like. Discoveries exchanged, information. This is what the prosecution says they have on them. Your defense attorneys get to vet and parse that information. There are a number of hearings. There are a number of challenges to the information they have.

There's going to be a dispute as to whether music lyrics can be used in this case.

SIDNER: Right.

JACKSON: There's a long history of that. California actually has a law that says you can't do it unless there's a strong connection. And so it'll be on.

In the event that he's ultimately arraigned and he goes before a judge it's a criminal case.

SIDNER: Yeah. If California -- you know, all states have different laws as to what you can use.

JACKSON: Yes.

SIDNER: And there are these lyrics out there and this video out there -- one of him dragging his own -- what, you know, looks like his own body into a trunk, and one of him where there's knives and there's a girl who is, you know, bloodied. And there are lyrics that are -- when you think about this case could be linked to the case. But you said the judge has to determine whether or not this is close enough of a link. Has he --

JACKSON: As to the music Sara, there's going to be massive arguments as to whether or not on the one hand it's art. And as an artist you can have lyrics and do anything else that you think is creative expression.

SIDNER: Right.

JACKSON: On the other hand, prosecutors will say this is not creative expression as they have before, and it's a long history throughout the country of lyrics being used against people accused. And, in fact, they'll say that no, it's a connection. It establishes his intent. It establishes motive. It establishes a common plan and scheme. It establishes who he is, and all that other stuff. And then a judge will determine whether it's appropriate to introduce that as evidence.

And again, presumption of innocence.

SIDNER: Um-hum.

JACKSON: He hasn't even been indicted; just arrested. But hypothetically, in the event it does go forward there will be a massive dispute as to whether those lyrics can be used in a court and whether all or some or none.

SIDNER: We will wait to see because those charges need to come, I think, today --

JACKSON: That's right.

SIDNER: -- or he will be released.

Joey Jackson, thank you so much -- appreciate it.

JACKSON: Always a pleasure. Thanks, Sara.

SIDNER: John.

BERMAN: All right. Elon Musk summoned for questioning in an investigation into whether X is illegally spreading images of child abuse.

And this morning the newest addition of our perverse obsession with robots that run. Look, it's a robot and it's running, but can it feel joy?

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[07:52:30]

BOLDUAN: Today in Paris, Elon Musk and the former X CEO Linda Yaccarino are being summoned to appear before French investigators for what has been described as voluntary interviews. What they are looking at is they're looking into allegations of misconduct on the platform, including spreading material related to child sexual abuse and deepfake content. It's unclear if Musk or Yaccarino will actually show for these interviews.

And something that might delay this entire French investigation though is the U.S. Justice Department. The Wall Street Journal is now reporting that DOJ issued a letter to French law enforcement saying it will not be helping to facilitate this investigation into Musk.

CNN's Melissa Bell is covering this in Paris for us and she joins us now. It seems like something's got to give though, Melissa. What are you learning about this?

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. What's so interesting about this whole investigation that's lasted now for a year, ever since the X offices here in Paris were first raided by French authorities this is an inquiry that has been in the hands now of France's judiciary that has been widened and deepened over the course of the few months.

So initially, this was about allegations of algorithmic manipulation. Later on it was found and added to the inquiry that Grok was disseminating Holocaust denial material. So that was added then to the inquiry. Later was added allegations of complicity in the sharing of pedophilia material -- so child abuse material.

So every step of the way this inquiry has gotten more serious when it comes to X. But every step of the way Elon Musk has made it very clear that he has no intention of cooperating -- in fact, going so far Kate as to tweet insults towards the French magistrates describing them, and I quote, as "mentally retarded."

Now, since then we've seen him tweeting a lot these last few days. There is nothing to suggest in his latest tweets that he intends on being here in Paris. The big question, then what happens after that? Again, as you mentioned, this was a voluntary interview. There is the possibility that the French judiciary then takes this up a notch -- takes it further and issues even one day an international arrest warrant, Kate. BOLDUAN: Hmm, my goodness. All right. Let's see.

Melissa, thank you so much for tracking this for us. I really appreciate it -- John.

BERMAN: All right, new images this morning after a small plane crashed into the backyard of a Florida home. The pilot was believed to be killed in the crash. A resident described the scene.

[07:55:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHERYL KORTH, GRAND OAKS RESIDENT: I heard the plane coming in and then, of course, I heard it crash. And it was -- and then I saw all of the flames and everything. Um, the flames were encroaching a little bit. I went out with my little fire extinguisher and got some of it that was coming on my porch. We did dodge a bullet.

I don't know who the pilot was, but I think that he knew what he was doing. My opinion is that maybe he was having engine trouble, and he steered it so that he didn't hit our houses.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: The FAA confirmed the pilot was the only one onboard at the time of the crash.

New video of the Coast Guard rescuing four people stranded in a boat trapped in icy Alaskan waters. They were trapped there for more than 24 hours -- three adults and one child. They were on a seal hunting expedition when their boat became stuck in a sheet of floating ice. The Coast Guard crew said it was one of the most challenging rescue missions they had every flown.

An unfortunate landing for a skydiver just before kickoff at a spring football game at Virginia Tech. He slammed into the Jumbotron there. That's not where he wanted to land -- and he got stuck. That's not where he wanted to get stuck. It was so windy, only one of three skydivers actually landed inside the stadium as planned.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SKYDIVER: It looked like I was going to land on the crowd, which could have been pretty dangerous. At that point the safest thing for me to do would be to cut away the flag. But then again, the flag would fall and hit fans. So then I looked to the field, and I was right outside the stadium and that's where my plan was going to go. And as I was turning to try and go into that field another windshear came in and just slammed me into that Jumbotron.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: I mean, at least he has a good attitude about the whole thing. It took about 30 minutes to get him down. This morning is the 130th running of the Boston Marathon. Only human runners are allowed. This is not the Boston Marathon. This is a robot because we show robots running on CNN NEWS CENTRAL. That was a robot running a half-marathon in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, beating the world record time by more than six minutes.

Two notes: this was a half marathon so I'm not sure why the comparison with Boston. And also, it was, in fact, a robot, Sara.

SIDNER: First of all, can I just say who cares what the time that a robot runs at this point?

BERMAN: We do, a lot. We show a lot of robots running.

SIDNER: I mean, when it comes to a marathon I don't care -- it's a robot. Like, OK.

BERMAN: We have, like, a contract with robots of the world.

SIDNER: But you know what happened? You got your Boston plug in. It doesn't matter. You got Boston in there somehow.

BERMAN: Exactly. They're running. They're running. It's Patriot's Day.

SIDNER: Also, is it screaming? Listen. It makes like a weird screaming sound. That's what it sounds like. It was like ahhhhhhh. I don't know, maybe that's just the motor in the back. Anyway, I find those things creepy and I'm angry about it this morning, so I just wanted to express that. You're welcome.

BERMAN: Have at it.

SIDNER: This morning Christopher "Kid" Reid is feeling brand new as he recovers from a heart transplant. You may remember him from his house party antics or his iconic hi-top fade. He is one half of the duo "Kid 'n Play."

Reid joined us here on CNN NEWS CENTRAL to talk about his journey after being diagnosed with congestive heart failure and his hopes that his story will inspire others to prioritize their health.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTOPHER "KID" REID, RAPPER, HEART TRANSPLANT RECIPIENT: I'm meeting people that have had transplants or have had family members that have gone through this so it's really kind of opened my eyes to what's going on. And then ultimately as I realize I'm -- as a rapper, I'm getting older but hip-hop as a culture is getting older. Our audience is growing old with us, so to let them know -- to let them know not to ignore the signs. To get checked out, especially people of color. We tend to not do that for whatever reason.

SIDNER: And men. Often --

REID: And men.

SIDNER: -- they don't like going to the doctor.

REID: Oh, yeah, we're tough, we're this, we're that. But this is the one thing that I learned and the doctors at Cedars told us many times. When it's too late no matter all the skill that they have in the world they won't be able to help. They won't be able to do what you -- they would have been able to do had you come in earlier had you recognized the signs.

So this is my first time back to my hometown with a brand new heart and man, I'm just seeing the city in a whole new way and I'm smelling the smells in a way that's, you know --

SIDNER: (INAUDIBLE).

REID: Yeah.

SIDNER: The danger --

REID: I'm home.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: He's smelling the smells. OK.

BERMAN: He smells.

SIDNER: He did. Wait until you see this. It is incredibly funny. His new ticker is working quite well. Wait until you see what he does just after the interview. All right, you can catch more of the interview with Reid ahead at 9:00 a.m.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

BERMAN: All right, word from Iran this morning that they have no plans to attend a new round of peace talks with the U.S. Vice President JD Vance and the U.S. team were supposed to be headed there today.

New details emerging about the shooting in Louisiana that left eight children dead.