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Airlines Raising Ticket Prices Due to Rising Fuel Costs; Navy Secretary Ousted in Middle of U.S. Blockade of Iranian Ports; White House: Iran Seizing Non-U.S. Ships Not a Ceasefire Violation; Wildfires in South Georgia Destroy 50 Plus Homes, Force Evacuations; GOP Chance to Hold the House, Prediction Market Odds. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired April 23, 2026 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

CLINT HENDERSON, MANAGING EDITOR, THE POINT GUY: You don't get miles and points for it. So this is coming to the premium cabins as well. The foreign carriers have been doing this for a while, but it's another way for us to part with our money.

All you need to know is you need to book the main cabin, whatever airline calls that main cabin fare. Just don't book basic economy because when you book basic, you don't get a seat. You don't get points and miles.

They're making it more and more restrictive. But that whole reason that exists is to compete against the low-cost carriers. And that's why Spirit, Frontier, that's why they're struggling so much because the majors have taken them.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Just quickly here. Should we be using points? Are points going to be worth less as well?

HENDERSON: Yes. Use your points if you've got them now, especially with cash fares as high as they are. Just use them up.

Don't sit on them. They get less valuable over time.

SIDNER: I hear you, but I'm not going to do that. And I'm the weirdo with points. I don't know what my problem is.

Clint Henderson, I don't know why. I'm weird. I really do appreciate it, even though you brought us some bad news.

I appreciate you coming.

HENDERSON: Good to see you.

SIDNER: Kate.

Oh, a new hour of NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

BOLDUAN: All right. The breaking news. The U.S. military has seized another tanker carrying oil for Iran. The Pentagon just announcing this. What this means when it comes to this blockade and the stalled negotiations to end the war?

And a state of emergency has been issued for more than half the counties in Georgia. Wildfires burning thousands of acres. We're live along the fire line.

Plus, it has been a quest since the 80s. Robots mastering table tennis, and apparently, they've now done it.

I'm Kate Bolduan with John Berman and Sara Sidner. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: We are getting some new video just in showing the U.S. military intercepting a tanker in the Indian Ocean. The Pentagon says it is a sanctioned vessel carrying Iranian oil. And this is just the latest incident at sea as the United States blockades Iranian ports and Iran keeps the Strait of Hormuz effectively shut down.

And now the top job overseeing the U.S. naval forces is suddenly vacant. John Phelan, who was picked by President Trump to serve as U.S. Navy secretary, has been ousted. Sources say Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told him resign or be fired.

Iran now says it has collected its first toll on the Strait of Hormuz. It also released new video purportedly showing Iranian soldiers boarding container ships there. The White House says this does not violate the ceasefire because they are not U.S. or Israeli ships.

With us now is John Bolton, a former national security advisor to President Trump in his first term, also former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Ambassador Bolton, nice to see you. First, I want to get your reaction to the ouster of the Navy Secretary John Phelan.

I know Navy secretaries are not generally household names in the United States, and most Americans might be a little confused about what they do, but what does it tell you about management inside the Pentagon?

JOHN BOLTON, FORMER TRUMP NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Well, this is just one in a series of conflicts, and this one has been brewing at the Navy Department really almost from the beginning of the administration. The only surprise perhaps is how long it took them to fire Phelan. I'm not making a judgment on who's right and who's wrong, but the Secretary of the Army is in a feud right now with Defense Secretary Hegseth, so there could be more coming.

And I think it just demonstrates that there are plenty of people at the Department who don't know what their jobs are, don't know how to do them, aren't thinking about what they ought to be thinking about it, and that's bad in any circumstances. It's particularly bad in the middle of a war.

BERMAN: What's the impact? Why? Why is it so bad?

BOLTON: Well, I think it has a tremendous negative effect on morale all across the building when they can see that their leadership is engaged in these personal confrontations, not thinking about certainly what the Defense Department's civilian leadership should be thinking about, which is what do we do strategically here to finish this conflict in Iran, either to achieve what I think the results should be, which is regime change, or to get out with the minimum further damage that we can. It's a tremendous misallocation of personnel resources.

BERMAN: I want to play an exchange, or one part of an exchange that I want to read you something else, and this has to do with Iran apparently boarding and seizing, taking possession of vessels in or near the Strait of Hormuz. This is how the White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt explained it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Does the President view that as a violation of the ceasefire?

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: No, because these were not U.S. ships. These were not Israeli ships. These were two international vessels.

And for the American media, who is sort of blowing this out of proportion to discredit the President's facts that he has completely obliterated Iran's conventional Navy, these two ships were taken by speedy gunboats.

[08:05:00]

Iran has gone from having the most lethal Navy in the Middle East to now acting like a bunch of pirates. They don't have control over the Strait.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So she said, talking about is blowing it out of proportion. But it was President Trump in a True Social not too long ago who said, "Any Iranian who fires on us or at peaceful vessels will be blown to hell." So is it blowing it out of proportion or is it blown to hell?

Which one do you think it is, Ambassador?

BOLTON: Well, look, I think her comment was utterly incoherent. Not that I expect anything any different. I mean, what if those ships were Saudi or what if they were Emirati or Kuwaiti or British or German?

I mean, who knows really what the ship -- where the ships were flagged. But the real point is, if you're going to have a ceasefire, that is not the kind of conduct we expect from the adversary. Now, Trump has also kept our blockade in place.

And in fact, I think quite correctly, extended it to a worldwide basis, which means the ceasefire itself is incoherent. And I'm afraid that's also a pretty good description at the moment of the direction of U.S. policy. I think the president's lost.

I don't think he knows what to do next.

BERMAN: Who has the leverage in negotiations as the president extended this ceasefire now a couple more days? Who do you think has the leverage and who do you think Iran thinks has the leverage?

BOLTON: Well, I think perhaps most importantly, Iran clearly thinks it has the leverage. I wouldn't have started the ceasefire. The country that benefits from the ceasefire is Iran.

They have been getting pounded and now they've had two to three weeks of relief from it and the prospect of more in store if negotiations get started. The leverage comes because of U.S. and Israeli military force and stopping the application of that force has really given the Iranians a chance to try and make something out of a very bad situation for them.

BERMAN: You mentioned the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports and the seizure of Iranian vessels and vessels that have been at ports all around the world. How much pressure do you think that puts on the Iranians? How long can they hold out against this type of blockade?

BOLTON: Well, I think it puts enormous pressure on, but I think in addition to that, and it's one reason I wouldn't have had the ceasefire, we've got to make the rest of the strait, the rest of the Persian Gulf safe for traffic from oil from the Gulf Arab countries. In other words, stop Iran from exporting oil, but let our friends in the Gulf, the Gulf Arab states export oil to alleviate the global economic effects that the conflict is having. I think if we try to get out of this without having demonstrated military dominance over the Strait of Hormuz, the Iranian regime is going to use this like a light switch.

They're going to turn the Strait of Hormuz off and on when it suits them. And if we weren't willing to use military force to open the strait now, when are we ever going to be willing to use it?

BERMAN: Former Ambassador John Bolton, we appreciate your time this morning. Thank you very much -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right, coming up, a state of emergency now in Georgia as crews there are fighting wildfires that are burning out of control and threatening more than a thousand homes now. We'll take you to the fire line.

And the Iran war was not only spiking gas prices and airfares, it's impacting the housing market and making buyers a bit more cautious. We'll discuss that.

Plus, the catch of a lifetime. A father and son reel in a 10 foot great white shark during their family fishing trip.

[08:10:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Wildfires are burning across the southeast right now, pushing state officials in Georgia to issue its first ever burn ban because of the unusually dry conditions. Southeastern Georgia has seen just 11 inches of rain since the beginning of September, which is less than half of what they typically receive. So far, the fires in Georgia have burned thousands of acres, more than half the counties in Georgia are now under a state of emergency because of the fire threat.

Let's go to the ground. CNN's Derek Van Dam is there with the very latest. And Derek, what are you seeing?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: All right, Kate, we've just arrived on the scene of the Brantley County command post. This is for the highway 82 fire. This is one of the 20 active large wildfires that are burning across the southeastern United States.

This particular fire though, which is just to our west has scorched over 5,000 acres and only has 15 percent containment. So it's difficult to kind of see what's going on behind me. But this is the staging ground for the volunteer firefighters in the area that have come to battle this blaze active right now.

There is a large group of firefighters and volunteers in the background here, obviously getting a briefing this morning and getting their marching orders where they will head in this very fluid and very dynamic wildfire that they have described in some of their press briefings as explosive and extreme fire behavior. And it is all because of the tinderbox conditions that are in place here across southeastern Georgia. You talked about the lack of rain.

Well, we are in some of the worst drought conditions in the southeastern United States where this fire is actively taking place.

[08:15:00]

So it's so dry that one single spark can ignite a dangerous wildfire.

Here's a repair crew coming in and out. We've seen police vehicles and fire trucks ushered in and out of this area. Again, the staging ground is where they deployed the front lines of this fire that continues to spread.

It's scorched dozens of structures, including homes, and as of the update last night, there are a thousand homes still threatened with this Highway 82 fire. Remember, there's still the Pineland Roads fire that's just to our west, closer to Valdosta, that's in southeastern Georgia. That's also burning out of control with very little containment.

And you can just imagine, if you look behind me here, the thick, dense vegetation is what makes it so challenging for these firefighters to get any kind of lead on the wildfire because it's so dry, but because it's so dense, it doesn't take much to ignite additional flames, but also, it's difficult to get through to the areas that are hardest impacted and where the fire is actively spreading. They talked about group flames and group clusters of flames, sometimes trees with these extreme and sporadic wildfire conditions. They can burst into flames at a moment's notice. It just takes one ember to be lofted into the sky and several hundred yards in front of it can start new additional spot fires. Kate, the smoke from here is thick. We can smell the wildfires.

We're close to the front lines. The smoke will continue to impact places like Atlanta and the southeast this morning as it continues to burn out of control.

BOLDUAN: Yes, far from over and far from under control. Derek, thank you very much for that -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right, ahead, a massive bailout that could be on the way for the major budget airline Spirit. What it means for your travel?

And her recovery was considered a long shot, but Nutella, the sea turtle who was found barely alive, is returning home to the Atlantic Ocean on Earth Day after months of treatment. We'll take you there ahead.

[08:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: You've seen the trend. Virginia jumping into redistricting, maybe Florida as well. Very soon.

The trend really all began with Texas 10 months ago, redrawing state lines to favor Republicans, a very vocal demand of President Trump. Roughly one year later, there are some serious concerns among Republicans that those new lines in Texas might not work out like the president intended.

CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten is here now with me to run the numbers for us. So just how much of the chance that the GOP have to hold on to those House seats since this redistricting happened in Texas?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Yes, talk about one of your all time backfires potentially, because just take a look here. The chance that the GOP holds on to the House. You go back to the day that Texas redistricted, according to the Kalshi Prediction Market, it was a 33 percent chance.

You come over to this side of the screen. Well, that is way down. Hello.

Down we go. We're talking about just a 14 percent chance now that the GOP in fact holds on to the House of Representatives. So despite starting the fire back in Texas all those months ago, it feels so long ago because the Republican chances of holding on to the House have absolutely declined.

Down we go into the water.

SIDNER: Look, it's not unusual when the Republicans are in power and then the midterm comes. We've seen this with Democrats, Republicans throughout the history, but how much has the national environment moved toward them?

ENTEN: Yes, OK, so you know at the end of the day a rising tide lifts all boats if you're the case of a Democratic Party, right? And what we've seen is a massive shift on the national level. You can see in the generic congressional ballot.

Just take a look here. I mean this just tells the story, right? Back when the day that Texas redistricted, Democrats held a lead on the generic ballot, but it was just three points.

Since that time, that lead has doubled. It has doubled to six points. I don't care how much you redistrict.

If you have a six-point national environment in your favor, if you're the Democrats, Republicans can only redistrict so many seats and at this point they're actually behind when it comes to redistricting. Democrats have actually gained more seats. So not only are you seeing that the redistricting has moved against the Republican Party, the national environment has moved against them as well.

You've got a six-point lead if you're the Democrats. This is the type of thing you say, yes, yes, yes, we're getting that majority back and that's why one of the reasons why their chances have gone way, way up and the Republican chances have gone way, way down.

SIDNER: What about on the individual level, individual seats?

ENTEN: Yes, OK, so you take a look at the national environment here, right? But what about seat-by-seat analyses like those that are done by inside elections or the Cook Political Report? You can see it here.

OK, party edge and House seat pickup chances. You know, the day that Texas redistricted, look at that. Republicans actually had an edge in terms of the potential seat pickup opportunities.

That is the toss-up seats or those that were leaning in their direction. They had a lead of eight. Well, look at where we are today.

Democrats actually hold the lead. They have a net pickup opportunity of 12 seats. That's a 20-seat shift, a net shift in their direction.

That is partially because of the redistricting. It is partially because of the national environment, but the bottom line is this. If Donald Trump and the Republican Party thought that they could tilt the midterms and their elections because of the Texas redistricting, they were sorely, sorely mistaken.

SIDNER: It is interesting, though, because now there's a battle in Virginia over the redistricting that the voters approved. A judge has halted that for now, so we will have to be watching this.

ENTEN: We will see, but I will say that if four seats is what ultimately determines the House of Representatives, then Democrats have definitely wasted a big opportunity. At this point, I think that the majority would be able to withstand that.

SIDNER: All right, Harry Enten, we will see what happens.

ENTEN: We will see.

SIDNER: These are predictions.

ENTEN: As the world turns over to John.

SIDNER: Oh, wow!

BERMAN: Days of Our Lives and Guiding Life, better soap operas. The New York Times says one of its reporters was put under FBI investigation after writing a story about Kash Patel's girlfriend.

And now they are playing ping-pong. The robots, that is. They are playing ping-pong. Is nothing sacred?

[08:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right, breaking news. The Pentagon says U.S. forces have intercepted and boarded a sanctioned tanker in the Indian Ocean carrying Iranian oil. The United States is blockading Iran's ports while Iran is effectively keeping the Strait of Hormuz shut down.

Iran has now released video purportedly showing Iranian soldiers boarding container ships in the Strait. And Iranian officials say they have collected their first toll in the Strait over the last several weeks. This is quite a time for the United States to lose its Navy Secretary.

The man who was serving in that role, John Phelan, has been ousted after a little more than a year on the job. Sources say Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told him to resign or be fired.

Let's get right to seeing as Alayna Treene at the White House this morning for the latest on this new turmoil ...

[08:30:00]