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Iran Seized Two Ships; Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-IN) is Interviewed about Iran; Mills Has No Plans to Resign; Armored Truck Robbery in Philadelphia; FBI Opens Probe into Scientists. Aired 9- 9:30a ET

Aired April 22, 2026 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

HADAS GOLD, CNN A.I. CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely no responsibility for this terrible crime. They say, "in this case, ChatGPT provided factual responses to questions with information that could be found broadly across public sources on the internet, and it did not encourage or promote illegal or harmful activity."

This is new legal territory because while there have been several civil cases that have been brought against A.I. companies, especially -- when people have taken actions like committed suicide or other crimes after conversations with chatbots, this is the first time we are seeing a criminal investigation. But the Florida attorney general is saying, he says that he has a duty to find out whether a human being may have been involved in the design and management that could have led to these types of conversations.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: That's -- this is really interesting when you say --

GOLD: Brand new territory here.

BOLDUAN: Very much so.

Thank you so much, Hadas. We'll track this one very, very closely.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking this morning, Iran says it has seized two ships in the Strait of Hormuz hours after President Trump extended the ceasefire indefinitely. Where does this leave potential talks?

And one embattled lawmaker resigns, while another remains defiant, saying he's not going anywhere. What Congressman Cory Mills said the House speaker told him as calls grow for him to step down.

And a real-life Yogi Bear caught stealing snacks from campers in Connecticut.

John is out today. I'm Sara Sidner, with Kate Bolduan. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL. We're following the breaking news this morning. Just hours after President Trump extended the ceasefire with Iran, the country's Revolutionary Guard says it has seized two ships in the Strait of Hormuz, that vital oil shipping route. And Iran's state media says a third ship is now, quote, "disabled" off the country's coast.

And a new look inside Iran this morning. State media showing off a ballistic missile, displaying it at a pro-regime rally in Tehran. A show of support and military might.

The ceasefire was going to expire tonight, but the president extended it indefinitely after repeatedly saying he was not going to do that. He blamed the, quote, "seriously fractured" government of Iran and says the U.S. is now awaiting a "unified proposal" from whoever is in charge there. And that is a huge question right now.

Iranian officials responded by saying the extension means nothing and calling it a ploy to buy time for a surprise strike.

CNN's Alayna Treene, live this morning for us at the White House.

What's happening at this hour?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, look, I think yesterday was clearly a day that kind of took everything off course. We saw the vice president getting prepared to travel to Pakistan for talks that they said that were expected today in Islamabad with the Iranians. But clearly that all got scuttled because essentially the Trump administration had yet to hear any sort of response from the Iranians, and there was no commitment that they would actually show up. And so ultimately, throughout the day, we know that the president had a series of meetings with his national security team and ultimately decided, and we saw this in the form of a 4 p.m. Truth Social post, to extend the ceasefire, to allow the Iranians to have more time really to come up with what he characterized as being a unified response.

Now, to give you a little sense of what was going on behind the scenes. The Trump administration believes that there is currently a fracture within Iran's government and really on who is empowered to make decisions. You know, on one side, you have some of the negotiators that have been involved in these in-person talks before, the speaker of Iran's parliament, as well as their foreign minister, and then also those on the side of the military, the IRGC. And so, I think what we've seen play out, and this continues in my conversations with the sources I've been speaking with this morning, is that the ceasefire shows that the Trump administration still does want a diplomatic solution here. But there is also concerns about giving the Iranians more time. The deadline that the president had initially set the ceasefire was expected to expire today, that was meant to serve as leverage, really, and pressure to force the Iranians to come to the table and finalize a deal as soon as possible. Now, that's in question. And so, we really are waiting to see how this all plays out from here.

SIDNER: What are you learning about what the president's advisors are saying to him about all this?

TREENE: Well, I think one of the key things, I mean, we did see a number of top officials from the Pentagon, the State Department, you know, here at the White House itself, meeting with the president yesterday at the White House to discuss this. And what I was told in some of those conversations was, they had warned that -- about the Iranians trying to drag this out further. And that is one of the concerns about extending the ceasefire. You have seen the president argue previously in past days, just as recently as yesterday, actually, that he didn't want to extend the ceasefire.

[09:05:04]

And that's in part, again, because they do not want the Iranians to have enough time to potentially scuttle a potential deal all together.

And so what I am hearing is that they do not want this to be an indefinite ceasefire. They want to keep the pressure on the Iranians to try and come to the table. But still, they want diplomacy to prevail. They do not want kinetic strikes to continue. And so, it kind of leaves them in a wait and see approach, really putting the pressure on Tehran to come to the table with something more usable that the negotiators can work toward.

SIDNER: Yes. Meanwhile, we've heard from Iran thinking that this is a ploy, that there's going to be some sort of surprise attack during all this. We'll all have to wait and see how this all pans out. But one thing we know right now is that there are no official talks happening as we know them at this hour.

Alayna Treene, thank you so much. I do appreciate your reporting from the White House.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right, let's talk about this. Joining us right now is Republican Congressman Marlin Stutzman of Indiana for much more on this.

Let's talk about -- Congressman, thanks for coming in.

Iran now saying that they want the United States to end this blockade on Iranian ports and then they'll start talks back up. Do you think the president should lift the blockade? What should be his next move?

REP. MARLIN STUTZMAN (R-IN): No, he definitely should not block -- lift the blockade. One thing we know about this Iranian regime, and, again, we're trying to still figure out who's in charge there, is they are a propaganda machine. That is one thing they are good at. They're good at moving the goalposts. They're good at saying one thing and doing another. And that's why I think that the Achilles heel for the regime is the Straits of Hormuz. We have to shut off their cash flow. And by blocking the Straits, that keeps the oil and gas from flowing out and funding their war machine.

Again, they're good at propaganda. We've seen this from time, you know, from -- for the last 40 years. And I think that's what's important here is to be sure that we just simply cut off their cash and force them to find a better solution within their government.

BOLDUAN: But as a point of clarity, the president, at the very same -- the president of the United States, at the very same time, has been demanding, as part of a ceasefire condition, that the Strait of Hormuz be opened back up. And you're saying, but the U.S. should now keep it closed?

STUTZMAN: Well, I think we -- you know, President Trump will keep it closed in order to put the pressure on the IRGC. It appears the IRGC military is, you know, taking charge. Not sure exactly who the person is at the top of the food chain. But I think that keeping the -- you know, we can't let the Straits of Hormuz be open for some and not for others, you know.

And I think what's happening here too is that you have China and Europe and others starting to say they're feeling the effects of this. And so, hopefully a broader coalition of countries come together and help figure this out. I think in the long run, the IRGC just simply cannot be the ones in charge of the Straits of Hormuz because it's too big to the rest of the world. We need to be sure that that -- the ships can flow in and out of there, not just for oil and gas, but fertilizer and other commodities as well.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. The Strait was completely open before this war began. And we do know from national security, a lot of national security folks, this had been war gamed out, that what would happen if the Straits -- and the concern over Iran doing something to close down the Strait of Hormuz in the meantime. And it seems very clear that Iran knows it has leverage here. It continues to -- you can describe it however you want, but Iran has effectively continued to have control and threaten and shut down the Strait of Hormuz. Is this a miscalculation, has this been all along, on the part of the Trump administration if this now becomes such a central focus and they can't reopen it --

STUTZMAN: No.

BOLDUAN: If Iran has control of it?

STUTZMAN: Yes. No, I don't think it was a miscalculation because that's why Venezuela was such a key piece to what, you know, as the chess pieces were moved, you know, taking Maduro out. And now, you know, Venezuela is going to be participating in the western trade of oil and gas. Of course, Alaska is also a big piece to that. So, when it comes to energy supply --

BOLDUAN: That has nothing to do with global oil at all.

STUTZMAN: Oh, absolutely. Yes, absolutely.

BOLDUAN: I mean Iran is now taking out energy, oil infrastructure in the -- in gulf nations.

STUTZMAN: Absolutely, no, it does. It's a -- it's a backup because we want to be sure that we have supply. This is going to be -- it's creating volatility for sure in the short term. But, no, Venezuela is a big piece to long term oil and gas supply in the western hemisphere.

Now, yes, of course the Straits of Hormuz is a -- it's a critical piece for China, for Europe and, of course, global supply. But once we get that situated, we're probably going to be in a much better situation long run. We need to find someone in Iran who's going to be stable and be -- it doesn't necessarily have to be an ally to the west. But, of course, someone who's going to, you know, work together in the Middle East, work with the world as a whole, rather than being terrorists.

[09:10:01]

I mean these folks wanted a nuclear bomb. They are, of course, funding the proxies in Israel, around Israel with the Houthis, Hezbollah, Hamas. We all know that Iran is the leading state sponsor of terrorism. And that's why this is a critical moment. And the Straits of Hormuz is their funding machine. If they can't get oil and gas out, they're not going to have the cash for their operations.

BOLDUAN: People in Virginia just voted to accept a gerrymandered congressional map that now favors Democrats. You were one of the first to come out in support of President Trump's gerrymandering push in your state, in Indiana. State lawmakers there rejected that. Trump has then said that he wants to primary and is supporting primary challengers to some of those state senators.

And Marc Short, who was just on, no -- he's definitely no Democrat, and worked for the former governor of Indiana, Mike Pence, he was just on and said it was incredible malpractice by the part of the political team and the White House that they were not spending resources in Virginia in a vote that was almost -- that was super close. At the same time, they are spending those same resources attacking conservative Republican state senators in Indiana who oppose redistricting. Attacking Republicans -- spending money to attack Republicans, but not supporting actual efforts here to stop redistricting in Virginia. He have a point?

STUTZMAN: Well, I mean, I heard the segment with Marc. And I'm not saying it's malpractice. There was a lot of funds spent in Virginia supporting the no effort for the redistricting. And I think this whole redistricting thing, it's unfortunate because this is not the way democracy should work. There should be fair and equal representation from every state.

I mean look at Massachusetts. And that's kind of where a lot of this started in New England, where Massachusetts is as Democrat as Indiana is Republican. We both have nine congressional seats. Massachusetts only has nine Democrats. There's not even a swing seat in Massachusetts. In Indiana, we have seven Republicans and two Democrats. And one of those seats is trending towards Republican because people are moving out of Illinois into Indiana.

I think that, in the long run, we all need to take a step back and realize this isn't serving the American people the way that it should. I think there should be some sort of standard across the country. But you look at California. They just redrew their maps and now it's 48 Democrats to four Republicans. Illinois is the same way. It's very unbalanced.

But I think that the president looked at the map, looked across the country and said, look, this is what they're doing in New England. If this is the way the game is going to be played, we're going to have to fight the same way.

BOLDUAN: Yes, I mean, stepping back and saying, this isn't the right way, that's basically exactly what the state senators in Indiana said that you've been speaking out against. But thank you so much for coming in. Appreciate it.

STUTZMAN: Well, I am. But I told them, they're really making our job much harder here.

Yes, thank you.

BOLDUAN: Well, thank you very much.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Thank you, Kate.

This morning, Florida Congressman Cory Mills says he will not resign despite calls from fellow Republicans for him to step down. It comes as the House Ethics Committee investigates allegations against Mills. They include accusations of sexual misconduct, dating violence and violating financial disclosure rules. The congressman claims Speaker Mike Johnson told him not to resign.

CNN's Lauren Fox joining us now.

What can you tell us about this and this claim about what Mike Johnson said to him allegedly?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, Sara, there is a real discussion right now happening on Capitol Hill about how members can better police themselves. And what they're running up against right now in Congress is these two conflicting beliefs, one, that members do not want to have fellow members under these lengthy ethics investigations for years at a time, potentially really casting aspersions on the entire body of Congress. Meanwhile, you have other people who argue this process has to play out. That the Ethics Committee exists for a reason. That they are qualified to endure these long investigations, that they have the tools and the resources to do that. And you cannot have members of Congress facing accusations and then just quickly being ousted by their colleagues.

Now, there is an incredibly high bar for ousting a member of Congress. And that is a two-thirds vote in the House of Representatives. And it's only happened six times in history. But over the course of the last week, we've obviously seen three members who have resigned given the fact that there were these discussions surrounding whether or not their colleagues were going to vote to expel them from the body. Now, Speaker Mike Johnson said that he has been consistent, that he

believes that this process needs to play out, and he believes that is the case with Representative Cory Mills. But it is difficult to ignore the politics here, which is that he has an extremely tight margin. Any loss in Republican members could make passing his agenda even tougher just months before the midterm elections.

[09:15:05]

But Cory Mills says he's not going anywhere and that he doesn't believe he should be lumped in with Eric Swalwell or others who have decided to resign over the course of the last week. Here's what he told our colleague Alice Kim (ph).

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. CORY MILLS (R-FL): There's no open criminal or civil case against me. Nothing. I've never been arrested and/or charged with anything that's criminal and/or civil. I have no federal indictments or anything for alleged federal fraud. So, a vast contrast between -- or -- and I've never had any type of sexual misconduct or inappropriate behavior that involves staff or hill or things like this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOX: Now, there are some of his colleagues who said that they are open to potentially expelling him. But again, it does take a member to bring a privileged resolution. And then it's an extremely high bar. Two-thirds of the House have to vote to expel a fellow member.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, Lauren Fox there. Thank you.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right, a manhunt is underway right now in Philadelphia. Suspects on the run after they robbed an armored truck and made off with millions.

Also ahead, at least ten scientists tied to sensitive research, they are -- have either died or have gone missing. And now there is a new federal investigation into all of this. And the question of, is this a coincidence or something more sinister?

And today is Earth Day. And we are live, we hope, from a ship in the Arctic Ocean. Bill Weir with the assignment to get it up close and -- up close look at glaciers from the top of the planet.

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[09:21:15]

SIDNER: This morning, there's a manhunt underway right now in Philadelphia. Police are looking for two suspects they say robbed an armored truck and reportedly got away with nearly $2 million. CNN affiliate KYW obtained an image from a nearby surveillance camera, which appears to show the suspects who are masked and armed.

CNN's Danny Freeman is in Philadelphia for us with the latest on this.

What are you learning?

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Sara, I can tell you it was a very chaotic scene in this part of northeast Philadelphia yesterday morning. Basically to orient you, there was an armored truck that was sitting right here outside of this check cashing place behind me. And it was just before 10 a.m., according to police, where those two men, as you noted, wearing masks, carrying these long rifles, attacked this truck and robbed it. And according to our affiliates WPVI and KYW, those thieves may have made off with as much as $1.8 million from this robbery. They were able to get into a getaway car and take off.

Now, it's really interesting, Sara. This was in the middle of the day. This was in a very popular and well-trafficked area of Philadelphia. There's a bus stop right here. A Dunkin Donuts here. It's right off the highway. This truly was a brazen attack.

Now, this whole area was roped off. The FBI now leading this investigation. But I want you to take a listen to just the intensity of that police radio traffic yesterday morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was there any dye packs or trackers in anything they took?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gunpoint robbery of a Brinks truck 7219 Torresdale. Looking for a bright blue Acura MDX tinted out, has an upside down "v" on the front grill occupied by two to three black males wearing black masks. They're armed with automatic rifles.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: Now, Sara, according to our affiliates, the getaway car was actually recovered a little ways away, but the cash nor the suspects were there. And remarkably, no one was injured during this attack.

But it's interesting, Sara. While armored truck robberies are fairly rare, Philadelphia has actually seen a decent amount of them, several of them, especially last summer. The U.S. attorney, just last month, of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, announced a guilty plea for one man who was accused of being involved with two attempted robberies of Brinks trucks and then two actually successful robberies of trucks. Again, all last year.

I say that to say that local and federal law enforcement, they have recent experience of not only finding but also charging men who have robbed these armored trucks.

Sara.

SIDNER: That image from KYW was really scary. The largeness of the guns and just the brazenness. This happened in daylight in a very popular, populated place.

Danny Freeman, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: So, the FBI is now leading an investigation into the deaths or mysterious disappearances in recent years of at least ten people, all of whom were connected to sensitive nuclear or aerospace research here in the United States.

CNN's Natasha Chen has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The circumstances of these dozen or so people vary widely from people whose deaths had been publicly reported and explained, with suspects arrested, to people whose disappearances truly leave detectives stumped. And I've tried to reach out to as many family members and close friends of these people as I could, and the reactions also range widely, from some laughing this off as ridiculous, to others hoping a federal investigation will finally give them some answers.

The request for briefings from the FBI, the Defense Department, Department of Energy, and NASA comes from the Republican-led House Oversight Committee. But there's nothing sinister in the eyes of Julia Hicks, the daughter of Michael David Hicks, a scientist who died in 2023. He was named in those congressional letters.

[09:25:02]

There were internet rumors stemming from no publicly listed cause of death or available autopsy, but his daughter told me she's the one who found him when he passed, and he had known medical issues. She said he worked at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory for nearly 25 years on near-earth comets and asteroids, and how to deflect them from earth. Nothing that she feels would put a target on his back. She told me, "I can't help but laugh about it, but at the same time, it's getting serious," referring to this congressional attention.

And then on the other end of the spectrum, you have disappearances like that of Anthony Chavez, 78 years old, who disappeared last year from Los Alamos, New Mexico. He was retired and had been a foreman overseeing construction of new buildings at Los Alamos National Laboratory, according to police. A detective there told me he is at a loss. The clues show that Chavez was home the day before he was reported missing, but left all his stuff behind. And though he was a hiker and could have gone to one of the many canyons in the area, it was also pouring rain that day and he didn't bring a jacket.

Chavez's best friend told me he tried to get the FBI involved initially, but was hung up on. He says it's about time the feds look into this and he believes Chavez was abducted. I asked him to elaborate on that, but he said the Chavez family asked him not to say anything more. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt posted last week about

what she called, quote, "recent and legitimate questions" about these troubling cases, that agencies would holistically review all the cases together and leave no stone unturned.

Now, the FBI declined to comment. The Department of Defense said only that it would respond to the committee directly. And the Department Ef energy referred questions to the White House.

Natasha Chen, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: All right, ahead, the U.K. one step closer to issuing a lifetime ban on tobacco for people under the age of 18.

And we're just minutes away from the opening bell on Wall Street, where word of an extended ceasefire with Iran has stocks all up this morning. Might be confusing, but so are oil prices. Yesterday, the indices all closed down. Gas prices are now almost ten cents lower than last week's price.

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