Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Iran Not Planning on Talks; Trump's Poll Numbers; Trump Praises Joe Rogan; Louisiana Mass Shooting; Trump's Sculpture Garden; FanDuel Jumps into Prediction Market. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired April 20, 2026 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Today.

With us now, CNN military analyst, retired Lieutenant General Mark Schwartz, and CNN global affairs analyst Karim Sadjadpour.

Karim, let me just start with you.

What do you make of the Iranian machinations this morning?

KARIM SADJADPOUR, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, John, I think the most difficult negotiations here may not be between America and Iran, but within the Iranian regime, between those hard line forces who want to continue to resist and defy the United States, fundamentally mistrust the United States and those who say, listen, our economy is in such dire straits that we need to think seriously about negotiation and compromise.

BERMAN: So, where does that end up, Karim, do you think?

SADJADPOUR: Ultimately, I think that they will, at some point, proceed with negotiations, whether it happens as was planned in the next 48 hours or whether its slightly delayed. I think the regime realizes that it can't continue to fight America and Israel forever. But as I said, there's profound mistrust. And some folks within Tehran believe that this is all a ruse from President Trump to get Iran to let its guard down so he can attack again.

BERMAN: So, meanwhile, General, the United States fired on and apparently boarded this vessel, this cargo ship that was leaving the Strait of Hormuz out into the Arabian Sea. How important is it for the United States to keep that pressure on? And how difficult would it be for them to do that with any ship leaving an Iranian port?

LT. GEN. MARK SCHWARTZ (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, the pressure is very important. And certainly, with the number of vessels that are currently in the gulf, as well as the marine expeditionary unit that is there, and the one that's -- should arrive later this week. So, we've got the 31st and the 11th. So, there's significant capability to continue to do these types of operations, not only to deny access to the ports, John, but also, as we saw over the last 24 hours, if there's a need to actually board and take control of an Iranian vessel or one that's being used and attempting to go into an Iranian port, that they can do that.

BERMAN: In terms of the Strait itself, appears to be more or less no traffic now after Friday. General, we were told by the Iranians, and by the U.S. administration, that the Strait of Hormuz would be open. It's not open. How long do you think it might stay in the situation it's in right now? Now that it was sort of open, at least rhetorically, might it stay closed at least until there are any negotiations? You can see right now, no traffic passing through.

SCHWARTZ: Well, as Karim was saying, if the negotiations take place later this week, I think you will see, at the back end of those negotiations, the opportunity for the Strait to reopen. If there's an agreed upon, you know, solution between those that are representing the IRGC predominantly and certainly the United States. But it's also possible that we can see a significant frustration coming out of this next round of talks and for military operations to commence the strikes into Iran's sovereign territory, as we saw prior to the ceasefire.

BERMAN: So, Karim, it seems that -- and oil prices, I should note, are up today. You can see Brent Crude in West Texas both up more than five percent. This is because there has been fire in the Strait. There was a ship, an Iranian ship boarded. And before that the Iranians may have fired on a couple vessels before. And the Strait all but closed here.

There seem to be politicians on both sides, the U.S. and the Iranian side now, really using these prices to try to posture before negotiations. What have the Iranians learned? And how far can they push it? Because there may be limits.

SADJADPOUR: Well, that's true, John. You can see President Trump, on a daily basis, signaling to markets that the war is about over, while trying to signal to Tehran at the same time that the war may return. And likewise, Iranian officials want to do the exact opposite. They want to spike the price of oil. But as I said, ultimately, I think this is a regime which realizes it can't fight forever against the United States. And so, there, at some point soon, will be discussions about their highly enriched uranium stockpile and the question of whether they will suspend enrichment, for what period of time. And, you know, I think that it's clear that President Trump also wants to move on from this war and focus on other issues.

BERMAN: Karim Sadjadpour, General Schwartz, thank you both so much for being with us.

You saw us previewing sort of our next segment here, because what's happening inside Iran has very much to do with the current state of the United States economy and inflation, which is what voters regularly tell us in all kinds of polling they would like to see the president focused on, not necessarily the military conflict.

[08:35:03]

With us now is CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten.

So, what am I talking about there? When it comes to inflation, which is something that every poll tells us that Americans care about, how is the president doing?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Right. Yes, OK.

Americans say inflation is the number one issue facing them right now. And to quote the great Happy Gilmore, according to them, the price is wrong when it comes to the president of the United States.

Just take a look at these net approval ratings when it comes to inflation. The president of United States is hitting all-time record lows in all of these polls. In all of them. NBC came out yesterday, 36 points underwater. CBS came out a few weeks ago, 38 points underwater. Ipsos-Reuters, 43 points underwater. CNN came out earlier this month, 45 points underwater. And taking the cake is UMass Amherst, 47 points underwater. Across all of these polls, Trump is in his worst position ever on the issue that the American people say over and over and over again is their key number one issue.

BERMAN: Was it always thus?

ENTEN: No, it wasn't this always thus, Mr. Berman. And this is what is so amazing to me. I mean these shifts that we're just seeing. My goodness gracious. Voters on Trump and inflation. In the 2024 election -- remember, Trump got re-elected to a second term and Joe Biden got pushed to the curb in large part because Americans felt he couldn't handle inflation. Trump was more trusted than Kamala Harris on inflation by seven points.

Look at his net approval right now. You average all those polls on the first side of your screen, 42 points underwater. That is a nearly 50- point shift away from the president of the United States.

BERMAN: A nearly 50-point shift. That's bad. What's worse?

ENTEN: Yes, what's worse? You think this is bad, a nearly 50 points shift. How about a 70-point shift? I'm laughing because you never see numbers like this. Look at this. Independents on Trump and inflation. In the 2024 election versus Harris, Trump was favored by ten points. Down he goes. Down he goes. He's down to 60 points underwater on inflation. That is a 70-point shift in a little bit less than two years' worth of time.

John Berman and I are big baseball fans. And I will tell you, I'm going to go to Trump's home borough and Queens because, to be honest, it's the only comparison I can think of. Donald Trump is in worse shape on inflation right now than the New York Metropolitans are in the NL East. That is how bad. And, what, the Mets just lose their 11th straight game, John?

BERMAN: It's 11. At a certain point you stop counting because there's so many.

ENTEN: Yes.

BERMAN: There's two things I just want to point out quickly here. The two words that matter so much here are, you know, independents and inflation. These are two areas the president did well on in the last election.

ENTEN: He did well. He did well. And this is what is happening here. The strengths that Donald Trump once had with the electorate, the things that got him elected to a second term, you can wave adios amigos, goodbye to them. And why that's so important is, even though Trump isn't on the ballot come November, a lot of Republicans in Congress are on the ballot. And if these numbers hold, you can wave adios, amigos, goodbye, see you later certainly to that House majority and maybe that Senate majority as well.

BERMAN: Harold Enten, thank you very much.

ENTEN: Thank you.

BERMAN: Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thank you, gentlemen.

On Saturday, President Trump signed an executive order fast tracking research into psychedelic drugs as therapeutics, surrounded by allies and a man the president clearly is looking to keep on his good side, Joe Rogan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Joe Rogan is a fantastic person. We did a little interview before the election. We had over 300 million people. And I said, oh man, I hope Kamala doesn't do it. And she didn't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: You can see Joe just standing right over his chair there. That praise of Rogan is not surprising when you consider the role he played in Trump's election victory in 2024. What is surprising is that it came just two days after Joe Rogan said this on his podcast.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE ROGAN, HOST, "THE JOE ROGAN EXPERIENCE": Anytime you're involved with -- you're shooting missiles into towns and blowing things up, blowing up infrastructure, blowing up bridges, you know, and Israel's blowing up Lebanon now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

ROGAN: It's like, what the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) are we doing?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I know, I --

ROGAN: Like, how is this still going on?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: All right, let us bring in Brian Stelter, who has been following all of this. Look, you -- he's been critical of Donald Trump a couple of times,

especially when it comes to Iran and talking about, you know, what's going to be happening on the White House lawn. What do you glean from this?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: It shows that Rogan has so much power that President Trump wants to keep him in the tent, wants to keep him in the fold, despite Rogan's criticism. And that's a big change or a big contrast with Tucker Carlson or Megyn Kelly. Some of the other popular right-wing podcasters that have been critical of Trump in recent months.

You know, Trump has tried to excommunicate Carlson, excommunicate Kelly. But with Rogan, he's bringing Rogan into the Oval Office. We also saw them hanging out recently, chatting at a UFC fight. And there's a report that Rogan is going to be appearing at the White House for the UFC fight in the front of the White House coming up this summer.

[08:40:02]

So, Rogan, it's because he has unique power. He's uniquely popular. If you look at the Apple podcast charts, he's the number one political talk show in the country, other than "Pod Save America" on the left. So, Rogan is a unique figure. He's more popular than his competitors. And he's not as nearly explicitly political. He's one of the guys that I would describe as politically homeless. We hear those terms a lot during election seasons. Yes, he endorsed Trump in 2024. He voted for Trump. But he's been critical of Trump ever since. The fact that Trump still held a photo op with him and signed an executive order that he said was inspired by Rogan, it really speaks to Rogan's unique power in the marketplace.

SIDNER: Yes, it certainly does. Do you think that overall this might be a response to the criticism that President Trump has been getting, not just from Joe Rogan, but from others who have been on his side, like the Megyn Kelly's of the world, the Tucker Carlsons of the world, who have some people's ears

STELTER: Very much so. And I'll do my best Harry Enten impression here, because a new NBC poll from yesterday shows exactly what is going on with Trumps base. Eighty-three percent of Republicans say they approve of President Trump. Trump wants that number to be 100 percent. He brags whenever he can claim that his base is fully behind him. So, he has tried to claim that Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly are not part of the MAGA base, even though they are.

But with Rogan, he can see that Rogan's fan base, the types of listeners that Rogan attracts, are the ones that are souring the most on the president's second term. You can see that with polling about the war as well. It's remarkable to see not just that two in three Americans oppose the war, but that in the NBC poll, 54 percent strongly disapprove. So, a majority of the public, not just worried about the war, but strongly disapproving. That's the audience that Rogan speaks to in a way that is pretty unique and pretty powerful. And it's probably no coincidence, Trump tried to bring him up to --

from Texas, bring him to the Oval Office, put on a good show in order to appeal, not just to Rogan, but to Rogan's fans.

SIDNER: Yes, some of the big fan base for Rogan are young men who did help make a difference for President Trump, and whom have been sort of speaking out, saying, these are not the promises. You are breaking them to us.

STELTER: Right.

SIDNER: Especially when it comes to the war. So, what you're saying seems to go right along with what the reality is when he's sort of struggling here.

Brian Stelter, thank you so much. I do appreciate seeing you.

And the Harry impression, you have to do dancing and sort of moving up and down. There's a lot you have to do.

STELTER: Yes, you're right (ph).

SIDNER: It's a little Broadway.

All right. All right, thank you so much.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, there are new images coming in this morning of the gunman who police say is responsible for the horrific mass shooting in Shreveport, Louisiana, over the weekend. Police identified the suspect as 31-year-old Shamar Elkins. They say he shot and killed eight children, including seven of his own. Seven of the children are siblings. It is the nation's deadliest mass shooting now in more than two years.

The violence unfolded early Sunday across at least two locations. It ended with police shooting and killing the gunman. And police believe that the shootings were, the way they described it so far is that they were, quote/unquote, "domestic in nature." And they say two women were also shot, critically wounded. One of them, the shooter's wife. Police also say a teenage boy was actually able to escape as the violence was unfolding. He jumped from a rooftop to get to safety and suffered broken bones from it.

And according to "The New York Times," the shooter told family that his wife wanted a divorce and he was drowning in, quote, "dark thoughts." The community is just utterly shocked and still trying to wrap their minds around this horrible loss.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TABATHA H. TAYLOR, SHREVEPORT CITY COUNCIL: This is real. And this is the result when someone snaps. So, I'm going to ask the community, along with prayer, with every mental health consultant counselor that is out here, this family and this community needs you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Joining me right now is CNN's senior law enforcement analyst Andrew McCabe.

There is just so much that is going to be impossible for anyone to be able to wrap their minds around with this or understand, but what are your questions for police and investigators at this very moment about this?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yes, Kate.

So, I mean, this is obviously an absolutely horrible story. The devastation of an entire family by one likely severely distressed, you know, mentally unstable person. It's obviously not a case in which, you know, law enforcement is trying to now build a case for prosecution. The shooter, as you mentioned, is -- was -- died yesterday. But there are many questions to be answered.

This is something that criminologists sometimes refer to as familicide or familial annihilation. It's a not completely uncommon scenario in which typically a male, it's 95 percent of the time committed by men, basically kill their entire family.

[08:45:02]

It's seen as an effort, for some reason, to erase your entire family in one act.

So, I think the work to be done now is to go back and try to see those signs that were there for family members, for likely his spouse, for friends, for others, and work with the community on better understanding what steps to take when someone around you is spiraling into that sort of a depression, how to contact the authorities and how to maybe take steps to get that person help. And particularly, crucially, get them away from firearms.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely.

I mean -- and, Andy, this is not -- I mean like -- it's like I'm like thinking every word I'm about to say is an understatement, but, like, this is not normal. This is rare and should be -- should never happen. I mean a father allegedly essentially trying to kill his entire family and doing so basically.

Over the past two weeks, though, we've seen this multiple times now. Like the former lieutenant governor of Virginia shot and killed his wife and then killed himself. A Florida vice mayor was found dead and her husband is accused of shooting her. And now this. I'm just wondering, what is going on here?

MCCABE: Yes, well, Kate, it's -- it may shock you to know that, according to the Gun Violence Archive, there were 682 instances of murder-suicide in the United States last year.

BOLDUAN: Oh, my God.

MCCABE: In one year, 682 instances. So, as horrific as this is, it's not something that is rare or uncommon in this country.

The situation with Justin Fairfax and his wife, Serena, his murder of Serena and then committing suicide himself just last week here in Virginia, absolutely shaken the state to its core. But if you look at some of the reporting, there's a particularly detailed story in "The Washington Post" in the last few days about the struggles that Justin Fairfax was having after the obliteration of his political career over allegations of sexual abuse from years earlier.

But all the signs are there, right? He was totally obsessed on this. Wouldn't leave his room. Didn't interact with his family. He was then going through a divorce. He was -- he was under an order to leave his house by the end of this month. So, those pressures, combined with the instability that he had been harboring for any reason, there's no question those things had an effect.

But at the end of the day, if Justin Fairfax couldn't get to a firearm, likely the both of them would still be alive today. Gun violence archive, 38,000 deaths last year by firearm in this country, 24,000 of them were suicides. So, it is -- this is a very real aspect of the profusion of handguns in this country. And it's something that, you know, we should be doing a lot more about to better understand to try to prevent it.

BOLDUAN: Yes, absolutely. Those numbers are shocking. Just, like, that is -- wow.

Andy, thank you so much for coming on. I really appreciate it.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, just ahead, the new signs of progress in the fight against cancer. How far are we from a cancer vaccine?

And gunmen start shooting in a school's lobby. A principal pounces on him. Now that principal is getting a hero's award.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:52:55]

BERMAN: All right. So, new this morning, President Trump wanted 250 statues ready by July 4th to commemorate the nation's 250th. He wanted 250, but it's possible he might not get even one.

Let's get to CNN's Sunlen Serfaty, who has new reporting on this.

Sunlen, what are you learning?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, as you said, it's very likely my sources say that the president is set to unveil potentially even an empty field at the nation's big 250th celebration in July for this sculpture garden. Notably, sources telling me that it's unlikely that even one statue will be finished and built in place in time to make that debut that the president has said he has wanted.

I reached out to numerous foundries and numerous artists across the country that applied to have their statue chosen -- their plans for a statue chosen and built for this Garden of American Heroes, and I heard from no one who has been contacted by the White House and set to basically greenlight their project. And keep in mind, these sculptures take months and months to build. And we're talking about a garden that the president wants to unveil in just three months.

Additionally, plans for the garden have not been approved by the two commissions here in D.C. that are to approve these things. One source telling me, quote, "it has not been formally reviewed. Based on my experience in prior approvals in the district, I don't see how this could be in place in time in July." And certainly our reporting from the artist who applied really backs up that sentiment.

There has been some progress made, though. The president has really zeroed in on this plot of land along the Potomac River called West Potomac Park. That's a place where people view cherry blossoms. That's right -- very close to many monuments here in D.C. But that has not been set in stone. And sources all telling us that that could change. So, the location, the very location has not been set. They have certainly taken on more help.

[08:55:01]

They have hired a D.C.-based architect.

But, John, just underscoring, this has been a personal project by the president six years in the making. He first talked about it in 2020 in the shadow of Mount Rushmore he ordered up this. He put out an executive order. But three months before it's set to debut, it's very clear it's not ready for prime time.

BERMAN: Yes, not much set in stone or marble or plaster or bronze or much of anything in this case.

Sunlen, thank you very much for that.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Thank you, sir.

It was a coronation and it was a celebration that was oh so much more than just that. Take a look at the moment that students at an Oklahoma high school absolutely lose it when their principal, Kirk Moore, is named prom king.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, our king, Kirk Moore.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: I mean, he is so cute. You have to see his face when he walks in, you guys. So, Principal Moore became a true hero earlier this month when an

armed gunman, a suspect, was able to get inside Pauls Valley High School. You can see this from surveillance video. Students were just feet away. And Principal Moore comes out of a door and just tackles the man, allowing a student who's on that bench nearby to escape. He was shot in the leg, actually, during the scuffle. He was able to keep the gunman subdued while another administrator took the gun. Police, obviously, arrived and took that man into custody. But remarkable and very worthy of the prom king title.

There's also this new and promising development to tell you about being announced. In the fight against one of the deadliest forms of cancer, pancreatic cancer, the current five-year survival rate with pancreatic cancer is about 12 percent. But a new, early trial using an mRNA-based vaccine showed that almost half of the participants were alive and well up to six years after treatment. How it works is also fascinating. Doctors remove the tumor, send it to a lab in Germany, where they develop personalized vaccines for each patient, and then the patients receive weekly infusions over the course of about nine weeks. And of the 16 participants in this trial, eight showed a dramatic immune response. Seven are still alive today, including Donna Gustafson. We can show you a picture of her hopefully. She was the first person to enroll in the trial back in 2019 in the hospital. It shared many images of her celebrating her 50th wedding anniversary last year. The new focus now turns to a larger global trial that's been underway for a year.

So, we all love a wild ride once in a while, but this most likely was slightly more than anyone bargained for. Thirteen people set off on a hot air balloon ride Saturday, and then things veered off course.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're in somebody's backyard.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no, no, not into the fence.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, not into the fence.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There we go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: You heard them there saying, we're landing in someone's backyard, which is quite -- also became quite the surprise for the homeowner.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, everybody. Look at that. Wow. Hi, everybody. How's your guys trip so far?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: How's the trip going? How did he find out he had visitors? A neighbor ran up to the door and said, a hot air balloon just landed in your backyard, my friend.

The pilot said that the wind had died down, which is why they had to make the emergency call and the landing. The balloons crew ended up having to jump the balloon then over the house onto the street so they then could deflate it. No one was hurt and everyone had quite the story.

Sara.

SIDNER: Why didn't they jump out of the balloon -- like, I'm -- they're just standing. I would have been out of that thing so fast.

BOLDUAN: I mean, Lou was like, they're packed in like sardines. Maybe they couldn't get out. They're like, this is a little tight, guys.

SIDNER: Can't move. Oh, that was insane. But I like that he was at least dressed and ready for company, because that could have been awkward.

BOLDUAN: And then there's that aspect. And then the twist, he was naked. I'm kidding. I have no idea. No idea. No idea. That's not true. That's not true.

SIDNER: It's not true. I'm sorry.

BOLDUAN: Sara, you're nothing but getting me in trouble.

SIDNER: We're going down, down, down.

BOLDUAN: Welcome to our usual Monday.

SIDNER: Let's go up. Let's go up and talk to Clare.

This morning, more ways to separate you from your money. FanDuel is jumping into the fast growing billion-dollar prediction market business. A space already drawing controversy. Similar to other prediction markets, it lets users bet on real world outcomes in economics and commodities, as well as sports in states where traditional sports betting is not legal.

Here with me now is CNN tech reporter Clare Duffy.

The argument is over whether this is betting or I think they call it trading you said?

CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH REPORTER: Yes, trading is what they call placing wagers on anything when you're using a prediction markets app.

This is interesting, right? So, FanDuel launched its prediction markets app, FanDuel Predicts, late last year.

[08:59:56]

And it's entering the market at a time, as you said, where the prediction market space is facing big questions about whether it enables insider trading, whether it's actually good for society to allow people to bet on everything, especially things like elections