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Iran Says It's Seized Two Ships; Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D- DE) is Interviewed about Kevin Warsh; Man Arrested in Connection to Mass Shooting; American's Disapproval of Congress; Marc Short is Interviewed about Virginia Congressional Maps; Criminal Investigation into ChatGPT in Florida. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired April 22, 2026 - 08:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:30:57]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news out of the Strait of Hormuz right now where Iran's Revolutionary Guard says that they have now seized two ships. State media also saying that a third is, the way they put it, disabled off of Iran's coast. This all happening hours after President Trump extended a ceasefire with Iran indefinitely.

The president is blaming the Iranian government for how this is all kind of stalled. Its lack of organization. Its lack of clear leadership for this pause in negotiations. Officials in Iran, though, are putting it bluntly this morning, saying the ceasefire extension to them means nothing.

CNN's Alayna Treene is live at the White House for us with more on this.

Alayna, what's happening this morning?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, look, I think there's still, of course, a lot of conversations happening here at the White House about really how to push this forward. Now, this ceasefire extension that the president announced yesterday around 4 p.m., that does allow, of course, for more time for all of the parties involved, the U.S., the Pakistanis and the Iranians to try and find a way to get to a position where they can still have in-person talks, potentially, in the future, and try to find a pathway to the deal. I think the ceasefire yesterday shows just how much the administration is still prioritizing a diplomatic solution here even as, you know, the clock is ticking.

Now, from the conversations I've been having, one of the concerns about this ceasefire extension is, it doesn't come with another deadline. And that was something that some of the advisors I know, including yesterday during the national security meeting that the president held here at the White House with all of, you know, the top brass from the Pentagon to the State Department, to the CIA. Some of the warnings that came up was this idea of you can't give the Iranians too much time. You know, you do not want to drag this out, allow the Iranians to drag out these talks.

And so, I think they are in a wait and see period, but it doesn't seem like it's going to be one that they're going to drag out too far. I think what they really want here is to have the Iranians try to come up, as the president said, with a unified proposal so that they can get potentially a second round of talks back on track.

And all of this comes, of course, as one of the issues that this White House and the Trump administration is facing is they do believe there is a division within the Iranian government right now about who is in charge. You know, between the civilian negotiators that the White House team has been talking with, versus the IRGC. And so that has created some problems. But they are hoping that they can get some sort of agreement together so that they can have another meeting sooner rather than later, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes, and what evidence there is, what proof is provided that this, whatever they get back, is now a unified agreed upon, everyone's on the same page proposal coming from Iran so actual, real negotiations and tangible negotiations can take place. A huge question.

Alayna, thank you so much.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thank you so much, Kate.

High stakes and highly combative, that's how the confirmation hearing is going for President Trump's pick to lead the Federal Reserve. Lawmakers hammered nominee Kevin Warsh with questions. The focus, his independence and ability to resist pressure from President Trump, who has repeatedly demanded the Fed cut rates.

Senator Elizabeth Warren pushed for answers this way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): Did Donald Trump lose the 2020 election?

KEVIN WARSH, FEDERAL RESERVE NOMINEE: We try to keep politics, if I'm confirmed, out of the Federal Reserve.

WARREN: I'm just asking you a factual question. I need to know. I need to measure your independence and your courage.

WARSH: Senator, I believe that this body certified that election many years ago.

WARREN: That's not the question I'm asking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Warsh was adamant throughout that, that he would not be a puppet for the president. Still looming over this whole process as a Justice Department investigation of current Fed Chair Jerome Powell. Republican Senator Thom Tillis said he supports Warsh, but he has vowed to block his confirmation unless the Powell investigation is dropped, which he sees as unjust.

[08:35:04]

With me now is Democratic senator from Delaware, Lisa Blunt Rochester, excuse me. She sits on the Banking Committee that questioned Warsh.

From what you have seen so far, is Warsh someone that you could vote to confirm?

SEN. LISA BLUNT ROCHESTER (D-DE): Well, first of all, I want to start off by saying the hearing itself was putting the cart before the horse. There were a few really big issues, one was independence and the other was transparency. And so, for myself, even though he might have qualifications on paper, those issues were front and center for our hearing, both on the Republican and the Democratic side. I have been very clear that I have not supported Trump's nominees. And he did not give me any reason to go against my precedent.

The issue of independence was front and center because this president has already, for the first time in, I think, 112 years, Justice Kavanaugh said, wanted to fire a sitting member of the Federal Reserve board, not just Chairman Powell, but also Governor Lisa Cook. And so, one was the issue of independence. Will Warsh be independent? And second was transparency. He's got about $100 million of assets that he says he will, you know, recuse himself, will give up. But Senator Warren and others asked, well, what -- where's the transparency? What is that? So, it was incomplete paperwork, at the same time also concerns about his independence.

And lastly, I must say, again, from a Republican -- even the Republicans across the aisle, you know, for senator -- for Senator Tillis, he made the point as well that he's not going to let that nominee get to the floor until the president drops the unfounded investigation of Chairman Powell.

SIDNER: Yes. Look, it is not in the interest of any administration to harm the economy. Do you honestly think that Warsh would do the president's bidding if he saw that it was going to harm the economy overall that was a real threat?

ROCHESTER: I think part of the question is also short term. Sometimes people do things as elections are coming up. One of the things that was stated was that, you know, the president would not ask me to do something like that. There were conversations as -- and questions about what, you know, the presidents in the past -- I think Mr. Warsh actually said, presidents in the past have had opinions, but presidents in the past have not threatened to fire members of the board.

I asked chairman -- I asked actually Mr. Warsh whether or not in his statement he talks about regime change. What does that mean? Are they going to get rid of people so that they can replace them with Trump loyalists? We've seen this across the board on different -- whether it's the ACIP, the vaccination board, that we will be questioning Mr. -- Secretary Kennedy about later. This is a pattern that this administration has done that strips independence. And then it -- and ultimately, you know, it is for his political gain and not for the American people.

And so, my focus also was to make sure that, for Mr. Warsh, his whole goal was not about just Wall Street, but to make sure that main street was taken care of as well. And I am really concerned about that.

SIDNER: You just mentioned Health Secretary RFK, and you're on the Health and Commerce and Science Committees. Look, RFK Jr. has been testifying to justify his 2027 budget. He was asked if he made -- he was -- he was asked a question, which, of course, made headlines because, again, it was about vaccines. I just want to let you hear his response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. RAUL RUIZ (D-CA): Mr. Secretary, Dr. Schwartz -- do you agree with Dr. Schwartz and her vaccine position?

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., HHS SECRETARY: I'm putting a billion dollars into vaccine research. I'm putting a billion dollars into vaccine research.

RUIZ: No. Mr. Secretary, if Dr. Schwartz is confirmed, will you commit on the record today to implement whatever vaccine guidance she issues without interference?

KENNEDY: I'm not going to make that kind of commitment.

RUIZ: Because you probably won't. You'll probably fire her, as well as you did Director Monarrez, because you will not -- you will not accept the recommendations based on science.

KENNEDY: You're getting your soundbite, but you're not getting truth.

RUIZ: Mr. Secretary, it has --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: You heard that tense back and forth. And he's talking about whether he will back this new CDC director as to her recommendations on vaccines, which she is for. What do you make of this, and what kind of issues has this caused, do you think, to the American public, because now there are a large number of Americans who no longer trust the CDC and no longer trust vaccines?

[08:40:06]

ROCHESTER: You know, I have to tell you, today at this hearing, it's been a challenge for me to even think about, what could I ask him in only five minutes, because there are so many problems, so many issues, so much chaos that he has really launched on this country.

I've talked to pediatricians in my state who say they're now having to spend more time explaining and providing confidence to parents about their children's vaccines. We have measles outbreaks because of this. As a matter of fact, we had a quarter of a century where we had this measles elimination status, that's gone. And so, you know, do I expect him to continue to be a vaccine skeptic? Yes. Do I expect him today to really give us confidence and help build trust in our health care, in our -- in our health system? No. This is about priorities when you talk about a budget. And that's what he's presenting to us today.

But when you look at the total administration, going back to the very first story, we're spending a -- we -- they spent $11.3 billion in the first six days of the war, where we have people who, because of the big, beautiful bill, no longer have the ACA tax credits and won't have health care. We have individuals who are going to be cut off of Medicaid. That's not going to make us healthier.

And, you know, so, for us, it's going to be a real -- a real session to ask him straightforward questions. Do I think we're going to get straightforward answers? No.

SIDNER: Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester, thank you so much for joining us this morning. I do appreciate it. I know there's a lot to do on Capitol Hill this morning. Appreciate it.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: There are new details coming in this morning about the horrific mass shooting in Louisiana. Eight children killed. Two women are still in the hospital fighting for their lives right now. The U.S. attorney's office there says a man has now been arrested for allegedly helping the gunman.

CNN's Isabel Rosales has been following this, and she's joining us now.

And, Isabel, what are you learning about this?

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kate, good morning.

We now have a picture of the very gun that Shamar Elkins used to kill eight children, some of them at least execution style as they slept, according to Shreveport Police Department. I spoke with Corporal Chris Bordelon of the Shreveport Police Department, who described this gun to me as an assault-style pistol, a rifle with a rifle caliber round, but on a pistol platform. Here's a picture of that -- of that gun.

Now, he also told me this is -- this sort of gun is getting to be more common with gangs and criminal activity of that sort, although Elkins was not known to them in that capacity. He was not connected to a gang.

Now, the U.S. attorney's office for the Western District of Louisiana charged Charles Ford, 56 years old, with making false statements to federal agents in regards to this weapon used in this mass shooting. According to the criminal complaint, Ford initially denied having the gun, but then later admitted that he stored this gun in his truck seat and noticed that it went missing back in March. Also admitted that he suspected Elkins, who had ridden in his truck of having stolen that gun and said that he tried to confront Elkins about it, but when he got offensive about it, he, quote, "let it go."

Now, in a statement announcing these charges, the ATF special agent in charge, Joshua Jackson, said this, "holding people accountable does not stop with the person who pulled the trigger, but also includes those who give access to and proliferate firearms that are later used in violent crime."

Now, Ford has not entered a plea. He remains in custody pending the outcome of his detention hearing. He is scheduled for that this Friday.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Isabel, thank you very much for that update on that horrible story.

Coming up still for us, the close call at JFK Airport. How two pilots were able to avoid a very dangerous collision.

And a courteous criminal, does it exist? Well, you apparently have manners from one man while he also robbed a hotel.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You want these too?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I'm good. Thanks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. Thank you. Have a good night.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:48:27]

SIDNER: New this morning, long security lines at airports could be coming back. The Department of Homeland Security is warning it will run out of money to pay TSA workers by early May. Just in time for summer. Unless Congress reaches an agreement to end the partial government shutdown. Yes, that is still ongoing.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Oi.

SIDNER: The stalemate -- exactly -- on Capitol Hill. One of the reasons perhaps that Americans disapproval of Congress just tied a record high.

CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten is here.

Just how bad is it?

ENTEN: You know, I just want to say to Congress, stand up and applaud. You're usually hated, but usually not this hated. You're reaching, or at least tying, record highs in terms of disapproval. Hello.

SIDNER: Oh.

ENTEN: Eighty-six percent. Eighty-six percent of Americans disapprove of Congress. That is tied with November of 2013 for the all-time high. As I said, Congress usually hated, but usually not this hated. You're actually managing to tie records. Just 10 percent. Just 10 percent of Americans approve of the job that Congress is doing. So, therefore, as I said, stand up and give yourselves a round of applause. You managed to do it. Congratulations.

SIDNER: Or walk away in shame.

This 10 percent approval, like, give us some context to what all of this means in comparison with other things.

ENTEN: OK. So, you see this 10 percent approval and I just was searching my head. I was like, OK, what else basically has 10 percent of the population by their side?

Just take a look here. OK. Americans who say that the moon landing was faked back in 1969.

[08:50:03]

Sara Sidner off on the side laughing. More Americans say that the moon landing was faked back in 1969 then actually approve of the job that Congress is doing right now at 10 percent. That 10 percent is equal to the percentage of Americans that believe that the earth is flat. Of course, we did not fake the moon landing. We did land on the moon. And, of course, the earth is actually a sphere, my dear friends.

SIDNER: That's the -- that's the one that made me --

ENTEN: It's round.

SIDNER: Laugh because this one --

ENTEN: Yes. It's not flat. You can't walk off the edge of the earth. But apparently the same percentage believe that Congress is a job well done.

SIDNER: That is brutal.

When you look at this, what does this tell you about sort of where Americans' minds are and why they are so annoyed or pissed with Congress?

ENTEN: Yes. Yes, they -- pissed is a great word. Perturbed is another one. I like my p's early in the morning. But I would just say this. You see this 10 percent, right? You go, how the heck did we end up here?

You know, Republicans control the House. Republicans control the Senate. But yet Republicans have actually turned on this Congress. Just take a look here. I mean, just look at this. Congress' net approval rating among the GOP. Back in March of 2025 it was plus 33 percent. That was the net approval. That was the net approval. Down it goes to minus 56. What is that? That's like an 89 point move over a little bit years' time. No wonder at this point Congress is facing record high disapproval rating because even Republicans, and their party controls Congress, absolutely despises it.

SIDNER: Wow. Those numbers are abysmal. I don't know what Congress can do to fix them.

ENTEN: I don't -- there's nothing. I mean, maybe they can walk off the edge of the flat earth.

SIDNER: Well, I got -- I was going to say, I got one thing they can do. They could actually give a budget, approve a budget, which is, like, their number one job.

ENTEN: Yes. They could actually do something, do something, do something, then maybe people might actually like you.

SIDNER: There you go.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: We've got the man who can solve all of that joining us next. Democrats are looking at what is next after a big win in Virginia last night. Voters there giving the green light to a new congressional map that gives Democrats the advantage in four additional seats in congressional races there come the midterms. Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a statement, "we will crush" -- this is the statement. Hopefully you'll see it. There you go. "We will crush the DeSantis Dummymander in Florida next. Maximum warfare, everywhere, all the time."

And here's what he also told CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): It was important for Democrats to push back aggressively across the country to stop Donald Trump's gerrymandering scheme, which was designed to rig the midterm elections. They thought we were going to step back, but we've made clear that we will fight back and we're going to keep our foot on the gas pedal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: All right, joining us now is now Marc Short, former chief of staff to then Vice President Mike Pence.

The aforementioned man who has all of the solutions for bringing this country together and getting Congress to do its job. Just kidding.

OK, so, let's talk about Virginia, though, Marc.

MARC SHORT, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF, VP MIKE PENCE: I didn't think that was the subject of today.

BOLDUAN: You were like, I think I've got someplace to be. SHORT: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Let's talk about Virginia. Do you see how this all has shaken out there as more of a result of Democrats pulling off a win, or Republicans there kind of handing them a victory?

SHORT: Well, Kate, I think it's both. I think it was an incredibly disingenuous and dishonest campaign from Governor Spanberger, who just last fall campaigned on a pledge to say she had no plans to redistrict. The referendum itself was dishonest in saying this is merely temporary and it restores fairness.

You will actually have, if this goes through and it's not stopped by the courts, you'll actually have, you know, residents in Virginia who will be represented by members in the northern Virginia suburbs who those members who live close to the New Jersey state line and the constituents they represent, either in Tidewater or southwest Virginia. And so, it is incredibly disenfranchising of voters.

Having said that, I also think it is an incredible political malpractice by the political team in the White House that, at the same time, they were not spending resources here in Virginia in a vote that was only lost by three points, which was a tighter margin than, obviously, the elections last fall, significantly tighter, and could have benefited from more resources. But at the same time, they're spending those same resources attacking conservative Republican state senators in Indiana who oppose redistricting there. So, they're spending dollars attacking Republicans, but wouldn't support actual efforts here to stop redistricting in Virginia.

So, I think it's -- I think it's both. I think there's Democrats, on the pure political sense, one, I don't think it helps Spanberger long term. In fact, the first -- after the first 80 days in office, she has a lower approval rating than any previous governor in modern history in Virginia because she's no longer that moderate she pretended to be. But I also think it's a big loss for Republicans and hurts their midterm chances.

[08:55:02]

BOLDUAN: The -- this has been -- gerrymandering, redistricting, these -- this has been going on for years but it really -- it seems to feel like it's kicked it up a notch and gone to a whole new level in just how blatant the gerrymandering is in the last year. We've really been talking about it so much. Do you think it's just like no longer gerrymandering, you know, the thing that, oh, no, that bad thing, because this is now just status quo as bad as it really is and disenfranchising as it may be across the board from Democrats and Republicans. Because if the -- like no one cares really about the decade, census, redistricting move and everything could be mid-decade or whatever you want is -- do you think this is now the status quo?

SHORT: I don't know if it's going to be the status quo. I think that sometimes there will be a detente, an arms race like this, and I'm not sure this benefits either, just to your -- to the -- there is a similarity to the last segment you just had with Harry, that these sorts of shenanigans continue to make Americans less comfortable with Congress. They don't like it. It's why, again, even though Virginia is decidedly blue today, it was a very narrow race because people don't like to see it redrawn this way. They don't want to be represented by somebody who lives 200 miles away and doesn't know what their interests are. And so, I think that that probably will have a necessary point where the voters push back on, but it'll be hard to ever take politics out of redistricting. That will be a part of it, too.

BOLDUAN: Right. What is the lesson then? If, in the end, let's say Florida acts, the Supreme Court weighs in, would that -- you know, it becomes something of a wash in terms of how it shakes out.

SHORT: Yes.

BOLDUAN: What is the lesson in this? I mean --

SHORT: Well, Kate, many -- yes, many months ago on your network I said the efforts in Texas was foolhardy because it would be basically a wash. That you're premising it on 24 results when the border in Texas was inundated by the porous borders during the Biden administration. But you made assumptions those Hispanic voters are always going to be Republicans. They weren't. And so, I don't think Republicans can pick up all four of those seats. And so, this whole thing, at best, is going to be a wash for Republicans. And I think it's going to cost a ton of money.

BOLDUAN: Yes, a ton of money for sure.

Marc, it's good to see you. Thank you so much for coming in.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, on our radar this morning, we are taught from a young age to have good manners. Well, that lesson clearly stuck with this robbery suspect who thanked a hotel clerk after demanding cash.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How you doing? Fill the bag. Fill it up. All right. Fill it up. Come one.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You want these too?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I'm good. Thanks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right, thank you. Have a good night.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: The clerk was unusually calm and unusually hospitable as well, telling the robber, OK, have a good day. Police say this happened at a Red Roof Inn near Columbus, Ohio. The masked man implied he had a weapon. Police say he got away with some cash. All right, surveillance video shows the moments two thieves literally

smashed their way into a sports memorabilia store in Chicago, making off with $100,000 worth of valuable Pokemon and sports cards. The store's owner said this is not the first time one of his stores has been targeted. And, unfortunately, there is no way to be able to trace those stolen items.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Wow.

Florida's attorney general has now launched a criminal investigation into ChatGPT and the parent company, OpenAI. It all centers around whether the company and the way this is talked about is, bears criminal responsibility in the deadly shooting at Florida State University last year.

CNN's Hadas Gold has much more on this reporting.

What are you learning?

HADAS GOLD, CNN A.I. CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So, this may be the first time that an A.I. company is being criminally investigated for the actions one of its users took after talking to their chatbot.

So, this is the case in Florida State University last year. Phoenix Eichner, who was then 20 years old, is accused of allegedly shooting at the university, killing two and injuring six others. And the Florida attorney general has said in their investigation they found that Eichner had extensive conversations with ChatGPT, including in the lead up to this mass shooting, asking ChatGPT about how the media would react to a mass shooting at that university. When would be the busiest time at the university? When would be the busiest time -- where would be the busiest place to go? And very specific questions about weapons, about how to use certain guns, about the safety of certain guns. And the attorney general said that if ChatGPT was a person, they would be criminally charged and arrested.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES UTHMEIER, FLORIDA ATTORNEY GENERAL: ChatGPT offered significant advice to the shooter before he committed such heinous crimes. Florida law states that anyone who aids, abets or counsels someone in the commission of a crime, and that crime is committed or attempted, is a principal in the first degree. So, if that bot were a person, they would be charged with a principal in first degree murder.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLD: Now, OpenAI, for their part, they have said that the shooting was a tragedy, but they are not saying that ChatGPT bears absolutely no responsibility for this terrible crime.

[09:00:04] They say, "in this case, ChatGPT provided factual responses to questions with information that could be found broadly.