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Iran President Says U.S. Blockade and Threats are Obstacles to Negotiation; Iran Says It Seized Two Ships After Trump Extends Ceasefire; Traveling Doctor Treats Rural Cancer Patients Across Colorado; Kalshi Prediction Site Suspends Three Political Candidates for Betting on Their Own Races; Hakeem Jeffries Warns Florida GOP Over New Map. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired April 22, 2026 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... President of the United States. We didn't even request the extension of the ceasefire. What's the response from the President of the United States.

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The response is you guys all see a lot of different messaging coming out of Iran, a lot of different rhetoric and language from them. I would caution you to take anything that they say at face value.

What we've seen is that what they say publicly is much different than what they concede to the United States and our negotiating team privately. I've said that repeatedly to all of you in the news media, and you should take our word for it.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: That is Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt at the White House answering reporters' questions. Let's discuss the latest developments in the war with Iran with Dr. Ravi Chaudhary. He served as the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Installations and Energy. Doctor, thanks so much for being with us.

On top of all of the issues regarding dissent within Tehran between the diplomatic corps and the IRGC, the even more hardline folks in Tehran, you now have the White House essentially saying that what you hear publicly is different from what the Iranians are saying privately. How complex is it to restart negotiations in a scenario like this where you're not even sure if who you're speaking to ultimately is the decision maker?

DR. RAVI CHAUDHARY, FORMER AIR FORCE ASSISTANT SECRETARY: Yes, thanks for having me here today. I think it's extremely complex. And if you kind of reel back about 30 days, what we've entered into is a new era of energy warfare in which energy and infrastructure is really turning into a critical factor in terms of how conflicts are prosecuted and what we could possibly see in the future.

Now, when we first started out, it looked at centers of gravity in terms of where the strengths and weaknesses of our opponents were. And as a combat planner, we looked at this very, very closely. Now, we know that the Strait of Hormuz is a major center of gravity. And I think we're busy catching up with that fact and building our own centers of gravity, such as the blockade that we've put forth on Iran.

SANCHEZ: Understood. So yesterday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that oil storage in Kharg Island, a critical part of the Persian Gulf and the infrastructure for Iran's exporting of oil. It is set to be full in days as a result of the U.S. blockade. You see the post there from Bessent. What happens if Iran runs out of storage?

CHAUDHARY: It's very simple. It's going to affect their capability to execute and enter fuel into the market. So we need to be aware of that going forward.

And as we move to create leverage going forward, it's going to be important that our energy resources and our energy balance is looked at really, really closely. So this is an important factor that we're all going to have to take into account for.

[15:35:00]

And the important thing is that we need to recognize that more broadly, our other adversaries in the Indo-Pacific are watching very, very closely. And so management of this from an energy standpoint is going to be absolutely crucial in the future. In fact, I call it the margin of victory in any crisis or conflict in the future.

SANCHEZ: When we look at Iran's response to the U.S. blockade in the Gulf of Oman, there was reporting today that indicated that they had seized, targeted two vessels and had tried to essentially deter a third. I wonder if you think their response is going to grow more desperate as the days go on. How desperate can they get given this blockade and the pressure that it puts on Tehran?

CHAUDHARY: Well, I think what we're seeing now is some spotty military action in order to create a position of leverage and broaden our positions of leverage. And you can see the U.S. is responding as well with the blockade. And that's an important point.

So as the conflict, its center of gravity moved from attacking fielded forces, the U.S. was very, very focused on that. In fact, that's really been their focus area throughout the past 30 days. Adapting to a new arena in which energy is going to be the major center of gravity, that economic instrument of national power is going to rise to prominence.

And we'd be well to focus on that.

SANCHEZ: An IRGC commander to that point says that Iran's target list that expanded beyond military installations, it now includes major oil fields and refineries across the Middle East. I mean, if you had to guess, do you think that next up for Iran, if this blockade continues, they're going to target these resources in our Gulf allies boundaries?

CHAUDHARY: It's not only that, because we've seen that over the past 30 days occur, but we've heard Iran announce and target data centers across the region as well, too. So this is a full on energy conflict that we've got to make sure that we account for. And as much as we are utilizing military forces, understanding the implications of energy is going to be important as well going forward.

In fact, we need to make sure that as a critical vulnerability, that we're covering our bases to make sure that we don't become targeted and lose the leverage that we're trying to build right now.

SANCHEZ: We've been tracking not only how this has impacted global energy markets and U.S. consumers and what they're paying at the pump, but also the way that Europe seems to be especially hamstrung by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and any exporting of fuel and energy from there. There has been discussion of some of the NATO allies unifying, doing more to not get in the way of the conflict between the U.S. and Iran, but to try to reopen the Strait in a multilateral fashion that keeps them away from the conflict. Do you see that as realistic, as potentially effective as a way to essentially open the spigot of oil in the Persian Gulf?

CHAUDHARY: Well, we didn't do ourselves any favors by not consulting our NATO allies at the outset. But bringing them in and bringing it into this discussion is going to have to be a major approach that we consider going forward because we're already hearing that NATO is running low on fuel. European countries are now stating that we're weeks away from completely running out of fuel sources. So as a combat planner, we call it operational energy.

And so that is a major factor in this conflict. And we've got to make sure that we create the abilities that our adversaries are unable to impact in an adverse way. And so operational energy and use of energy resources is going to be a major, major critical factor going into future conflicts.

SANCHEZ: Dr. Ravi Chaudhary, thank you so much for joining us.

CHAUDHARY: My pleasure.

SANCHEZ: Still to come this afternoon, several politicians have just been accused of betting in their own races. The details into CNN right after this.

[15:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is on Capitol Hill right now, and he is facing lots of questions from lawmakers on two committees. One of the challenges facing Kennedy and other health officials is support for rural Americans.

Many have to travel dozens, maybe even hundreds of miles, in some cases to see a doctor. CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta recently profiled a cancer doctor who is taking his expertise on the road to help patients who have few other options. This story was done in collaboration with the Global Health Reporting Center with support from the Pulitzer Center.

Dr. Gupta has more from Colorado.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In rural America, cancer care can be hard to find. That's where Dr. Robert Hoyer comes in. In Colorado, there are no licensed oncologists in the eastern part of the state.

So, every month, Hoyer and his team leave home in Colorado Springs to spend a week on the road, covering more than 400 miles to care for cancer patients in two rural clinics.

DR. ROBERT HOYER, ONCOLOGIST, UCHEALTH: Fifteen years ago, I was kind of, I guess the best way to put it was, voluntold to go to Lamar. And I said, where is that?

GUPTA (voice-over): Across the country, nearly half of all rural hospitals operate at a loss. Closures and service cuts are common. Since 2014, more than one in five rural hospitals have stopped offering chemotherapy.

And rural Americans are nearly 10 percent more likely to die of cancer.

[15:45:00]

HOYER: The situation of rural health care in the U.S. is not good. Many patients just opt to just see how it goes and hope for the best and hope this gets better.

GUPTA (voice-over): Before Dr. Hoyer started coming to town, Sherry Jones was one patient who thought she had no options.

SHERRY JONES, CANCER PATIENT: We live a lot of miles away from anything. It's all wind and blow dirt and miles and miles of nothing. When people are that sick, it is horrible, the travel.

I am not one to go to the big cities anymore. I didn't want to be a number on a medical record. I wanted somebody to care about me.

JONES: Can I give you a hug?

HOYER: Of course.

JONES: Is that OK?

HOYER: Of course, of course.

How are you doing?

GUPTA (voice-over): Dr. Hoyer and his team have over 750 patients in this region and limited time.

HOYER: So this is the scan that you just had done. GUPTA (voice-over): The traveling team is small but dedicated.

HOYER: We have Rose, our nurse practitioner, and she's an expert in supportive care, oncology. Then we have Creston, our medical assistant.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right, we're just going right in here.

SHANA VARNER, CANCER PATIENT: How are you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm good. How are you doing?

VARNER: I'm good, thank you. I will get boils once in a while on my chest and I got a bump. And one day I was just scratching and it kind of hurt.

So I was like, I need to have that checked.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good morning.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was scared to death that she was going to die from this. She's a young girl. And she said, I've got to live to help her grow up.

VARNER: I can't work. I don't have a vehicle right now. I mean, my sister will take me. But, you know, she works too, so. I'm better now. I can walk because I almost lost the use of my legs and everything and my hair.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You must be looking forward to finishing up this round.

VARNER: Yes. And working again.

VARNER: Come and see mom.

VARNER: I have a little girl. She's seven. I'm a little miracle baby.

I don't know. It's scary if they weren't here because I might not be able to get through this and be here for her to watch her grow up. Rose has seen me cry. She's seen me laugh.

She's comforted me because I really thought one time I was dying. And she took my hands and she told me I was going to be all right. That's pretty special.

I'm sorry.

I feel good now. I was scared for a while, but I feel a lot better now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And you're going right in here. Your medication's still the same.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is Kristen's last week.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to let you know this is my last trip down here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's sad for us. She has built her relationship over the last eight or ten years with people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's like, yes, losing a friend.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm going to clinical trials. So, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, let me see you there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You might, yes.

All right. Have a good rest of your day.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Take care.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You too.

GUPTA (voice-over): It will be tough to replace Kresten, and recruiting full-time staff in rural areas is hard.

HOYER: Shortage of doctors, that's a huge issue. There's just not enough doctors, specifically oncologists.

GUPTA (voice-over): In January, Dr. Hoyer retired from his main job at the hospital in Colorado Springs, but he's agreed to keep up the traveling clinic, for now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At some point, you're going to move on?

HOYER: Probably.

UCF has done some recruiting to try to identify a replacement. To my knowledge, that person has not yet been identified. I'm hoping to continue for at least a couple of years, is my thought.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Our thanks to Sanjay and team for that report.

And now to some of the other headlines that we are watching this hour. A proposed amendment to protect non-citizen U.S. military veterans facing deportation has failed. The push by Congresswoman Norma Torres of California would have prohibited federal funds from being used to deport such veterans, unless they're first given legal counsel and due process in immigration court. Torres previously tried to pass a similar change to a bill that also failed. She says more than 280 non- citizen U.S. veterans could face deportation.

Also, evacuation orders are in place in parts of southeast Georgia amid devastating wildfires there.

[15:50:00] Officials say the Brantley County fire, which is one of the largest, has grown to more than 5,000 acres, and it's only 10 percent contained. Dozens of buildings, including many homes, have been destroyed.

Thankfully, no injuries or deaths have been reported -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: We're following breaking news just into CNN. Prediction market site Kalshi just suspended three political candidates from its platform for betting on their own campaigns. The company accused the trio of political insider trading.

CNN senior reporter Marshall Cohen is here with more. Marshall, what are you learning?

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, Boris, you know, they are calling this political insider trading and let me explain why. This is the prediction site Kalshi, where you can bet on almost anything from sports, entertainment, even the weather, and elections, and that's what happened here. According to Kalshi, three candidates running for federal office bet on their own campaigns in violation of company rules, which of course brings into question the integrity of the market, but also the election.

Let me read for you a quote from the head of enforcement for Kalshi, Robert Denault. He said, announcing this today, "Regardless of the size of a trade, political candidates who can influence a market based off of whether they stay in or out of a race violates our rules." He went on to say, "... any trade that is found to have violated the exchange's rules will be punished." And that's exactly what happened today.

Fines levied against all three of these candidates and five-year suspensions, but that's where Kalshi stopped, Boris. They did not refer this to the Justice Department for investigation. If you're wondering why, the legal experts that I spoke to said that the technical definition of insider trading can be pretty narrow, and this probably would fall outside of the line.

And of course, I should point out, for the record, CNN has a partnership with Kalshi. We use their data to cover major political and cultural events, but we don't use their prediction markets to bet.

SANCHEZ: Marshall Cohen, thank you so much for that reporting. Appreciate it.

Still ahead, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries has a message for Florida Republicans on redistricting. F-around and find out. Stay with us. We'll be right back.

[15:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

THE ARENA with Kasie Hunt, next on CNN. KEILAR: Democrats are celebrating after Virginia voters approved new maps that could give their party four more seats in the House of Representatives.

SANCHEZ: And now Republicans in Florida are now considering their own redistricting plan, prompting this warning from House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY), HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: Our message to Florida Republicans is F around and find out. If they go down the road of a DeSantis dummy-mander, the Florida Republicans are going to find themselves in the same situation as Texas Republicans who are on the run right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: CNN's Jeff Zeleny joins us now. Jeff, how are Republicans reacting to this?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, I mean, the governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, spoke just a couple hours ago, was talking about their plans. And he did have some strong words for Hakeem Jeffries. He effectively invited him down to Florida and said, if we want to make this referendum about you, come on down.

So he said this in Jacksonville to a reporter slightly earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): Please be my guest. I will pay for you to come down to Florida and campaign. I'll put you up in the Florida governor's mansion.

We'll take you fishing. We'll do all this stuff. There's nothing that could be better for Republicans in Florida than to see Jeffries, Hakeem Jeffries everywhere around this state.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: So one thing that the governor did not say is what his actual plans are for redrawing these maps. And that is a question that is hanging over all of this. Of course, Florida has 20 Republicans in Congress, only eight Democrats.

But there is some worry among Republicans. If you sort of water down their maps too much, is that going to make incumbents face harder races in the fall during a tough midterm election year? So lawmakers are coming back to Tallahassee next week.

But again, the governor has not unveiled these new maps. But this will not be like Virginia. It's not going to be a vote of the people.

It's going to be decided effectively in the statehouse. And that can be controversial. And there are limits to what they can do. So for all this back and forth between Hakeem Jeffries and Ron DeSantis, we still don't know what he plans to do and how he plans to redraw those districts.

KEILAR: Maybe they should go fishing together or play checkers together or like collaborate politically. I don't know. They could just do something together that might serve everyone.

OK, I digress. Nonetheless, the president had a really kind of interesting vintage post about what happened in Virginia.

ZELENY: He did. I mean, for all the Republican responses to the Virginia results. So the president weighed in early afternoon and he suddenly called this election rigged. We should know we've heard this from him before.

There is no evidence that the election was rigged. In fact, his own top political advisers were talking about how good of a sign it was for Republicans that it was so narrow that the race was only -- that Democrats effectively won by about three points. You'll remember last fall the Democrats won the governor's office by 15 points.

But the president now is weighing in, saying it's rigged. We will see if this takes hold. There again is no evidence to this at all.

But he did say on the eve of the election that the country was watching this very carefully. We know he was. And again, at the end of this, it was all about Trump.

It was boiled down to the MAGA power grab. So that is what he is responding to.

SANCHEZ: And quickly, Jeff, Texas, California, Virginia, potentially Florida, where else are we watching these redistricting battles?

ZELENY: Florida would seem to be the final word on this unless the Supreme Court weighs in on the voting rights case. And then some cases across the South also could a redraw. But it's getting pretty late in the year to do that.

So Florida might have the final word.

SANCHEZ: Jeff Zeleny, thank you so much. And thank you so much for joining us this afternoon. "THE ARENA" with Kasie Hunt starts right now.

END