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Will Trump Bail Out Spirit Airlines?; Virginia Redistricting Facing Legal Challenge; Southeast Wildfires; DOJ Reclassifies Marijuana; U.S. Navy Secretary Fired. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired April 23, 2026 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:02]

DANA BASH, CNN HOST: Thank you so much for joining INSIDE POLITICS.

"CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right now.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: A showdown on the strait, President Trump ordering the Navy to -- quote -- "shoot and kill' if Iranian boats lay mines in the Strait of Hormuz.

Plus, a major change for marijuana, the Justice Department moving to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, a change that could expand medical research and ease restrictions, but stops short of legalizing it.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And invisible threat. A new report says that as many as one in five Americans may have a dangerous toxin in their tap water.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SANCHEZ: President Trump issuing a new deadly threat earlier, saying that he ordered the U.S. Navy to shoot and kill any Iranian boat putting explosive mines in the Strait of Hormuz.

Hours before his post, U.S. forces seized a second oil tanker linked to Iran, troops rappelling from helicopters as they boarded that ship, all of this happening as the U.S. Navy is now without a confirmed secretary. Sources say that President Trump became convinced that John Phelan needed to be fired and told Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, to -- quote -- "take care of it."

CNN's Kristen Holmes is live for us at the White House.

And, Kristen, you're getting some interesting reporting about how Phelan responded to hearing the news from Hegseth.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Boris, the response was that he didn't take it well.

There had been an enormous amount of tension between Hegseth and Phelan for a number of reasons. One, Hegseth was annoyed that Phelan had his own relationship with President Trump, would often go around Hegseth. Just a reminder that Phelan has no military experience, but he was a donor to President Trump.

So they did have a relationship before he got assigned to this post in charge of the Navy. So, at that point, he gets this message from Hegseth that essentially says, you have to resign or be fired, but Phelan didn't believe it. He didn't believe it was coming from the president himself.

So he started calling the White House. He started asking anyone who would listen, does the president know about this message that I just received? I need to talk to somebody. Does the president know that I might be being fired?

He was told by some lower-level staffers that, yes, the president was aware, but Phelan still didn't believe it. In fact, he actually showed up here at the White House. First, he went to the building across the way, the Executive -- Eisenhower Executive Office Building, started talking to officials that he knew there, one source describing to me as kind of wandering the halls, asking if he was -- if he'd been fired, saying -- telling people that he thought he might be fired.

And yet still, despite being told a number of times that this did come from President Trump, he wanted to hear from the president himself. And that was when he went over to the West Wing and was waiting and asked for a meeting with President Trump.

Now, I'm told the two spoke for less than five minutes, and President Trump confirmed that, yes, he had been fired, but a very dramatic day here at the White House. And even after that conversation, I was told by another source that Phelan still seemed to not completely grasp that this was over, that this had come from the president, that he was out of a job.

And, again, look, this is coming at a critical time for the Navy. I mean, the Navy is in charge of that blockade in Iran on the Strait of Hormuz. So, now there is no secretary of the Navy. We know that the -- that his undersecretary is being brought in to take over as the acting.

But it was another dramatic day here at the White House, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Kristen Holmes live outside the White House for us, thank you so much -- Brianna.

KEILAR: We're also following major news at the Justice Department.

In a historic shift, it's reclassifying state-licensed marijuana as a less dangerous drug. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche signed an order this morning to jump-start the policy change.

CNN chief medical correspondent Doctor Sanjay Gupta is with us now on this.

You have reported so extensively on marijuana. I wonder what this means here.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think this is a big development, there's no question.

People have been talking about this for years. There's two headlines, I think. I think what this rescheduling does from a medical standpoint is that for the first time really in a long time, it recognizes that there is a medicinal use of cannabis.

I -- look, I think we have the schedule. I just want to put the schedule up here to give you some context. But that headline, previously, it was sort of scheduled as a I substance, which is with heroin, LSD, and ecstasy. Now it will be Schedule III, Tylenol with codeine, ketamine, steroids. That's where it's going to be scheduled.

[13:05:01]

And that recognizes that it has lower abuse potential and does have medicinal potential, which I think is -- what a lot of researchers have been saying for a long time, being used to treat seizures, for example, or for pain, or for any of the things that we have talked about in a recent documentary.

The second headline -- and you alluded to this, Brianna -- is that this isn't legalizing it. This is still a controlled substance. It's still going to be scheduled. And this is really applying to medicinal cannabis. This isn't for recreational. It doesn't really change things there, and it probably doesn't change things in the world of CBD, people who take CBD products, for example.

So it's a huge development, I think, overall in terms of what it means as a medicine, but still with limitations.

KEILAR: And is this order kind of universally accepted as a move in the right direction?

GUPTA: Yes, well, look, I think nothing is universally accepted nowadays.

I mean, look, the prohibitionists, people who have been very anti- cannabis, they have been worried about this. They don't agree with this move. They say it should remain a Schedule I substance. And part of their argument, I think, is that THC has changed a lot over the last several decades.

You can get much higher-potency THC. So, putting that higher-potency THC in a largely unregulated market could be a problem. Then, on the other side, Brianna, there are people who say this still doesn't go far enough. I mean, it's still illegal. There's still going to be barriers to access, things like that.

But I think, overall, in the scientific community, this is mostly seen as a good thing, because one of the conundrums, I will tell you, of cannabis for a long time is, people understandably said, we want more research. But doing research on a Schedule I substance was really hard.

It's really hard to get the research that was necessary to prove the medicinal value. As a Schedule III substance, I think a lot of those barriers will be taken down. So, in the medical scientific community, mostly positive, but there's always, I think, naysayers on both sides, Brianna.

KEILAR: Really interesting.

Sanjay, thank you so much for being with us on this story. We appreciate it -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: The worst spring drought on record is now fueling fast- spreading wildfires in the Southeast. In Southern Georgia, people scrambled to escape the flames burning off of Highway 82 just west of Brunswick.

The fire risk is so high that, for the first time ever, the state Forestry Commission declared a mandatory burn ban for the 91 counties in Georgia's southern half. Meantime, in Brantley County, 1,000 homes are threatened. Dozens have already been destroyed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's really sad. Like, everybody, like, has worked so hard for everything they have, and we're just all going to lose it. It just doesn't feel real.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam is live for us in Brantley County.

What are you seeing, Derek?

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Boris, this is one of the 54 homes that have been destroyed by the Highway 82 Fire.

I want to take you around, because this is like it's straight out of a movie. The fire surrounded the communities and the homes within this area, and it spared some homes, and then it completely destroyed others, almost like the indiscriminate nature of a tornado and the damage, how the tornado hops from one part of a community to another.

Well, look at what's left behind after this what's known as extreme fire behavior from the fire here in Brantley County just charring vehicles. I mean, if you could peer inside of here, the entire dashboard has been melted. There's melted glass in the front portion of this vehicle.

This is what's left of a structure. There is still plenty smoldering in the background. And there's almost this putrid smell that we continue to waft around us of chemicals or burning plastic that makes it difficult for my team and I to be actually out in this area without a mask on.

Just look at this parched landscape. It is desperate for rain. We have an exceptional drought here in southeastern portions of Georgia, the worst drought level ever reached -- or the worst level that we can possibly reach. And here in Brantley County is the epicenter of the drought conditions that are helping fan and fuel the flames that move through this area.

We have talked to people and residents that said their -- this wall of flames took over their community and their home. Just in a matter of minutes, they had to evacuate and take whatever personal belongings with them to escape the flames. Now they come home to a life in ruins.

But, of course, they can rebuild. At least they have their lives. The wind has shifted here. And the Deep South vegetation is making it very challenging for firefighters on the ground. This is an all-hands-on deck effort by multiple agencies across the Southeast to put out the fires.

This is just one of 20 active large wildfires across the Southeast. So if this is just a drop in the bucket of what's out there, you know just how bad it actually is with this unprecedented wildfire season that we are experiencing here in Georgia -- Boris.

[13:10:08]

SANCHEZ: Wow.

Derek Van Dam, thank you so much for that update from Brantley County.

Still to come this afternoon: Virginia's attorney general vowing to fight back after a judge blocked certification of the state's redistricting results that were expected to help Democrats pick up more congressional seats.

Plus: What's in your water? A new report showing one in five Americans have a dangerous toxin streaming from their taps.

And all this talk about who is going to be picked first at tonight's NFL draft. Do you ever wonder what it's like to be picked last? We're going to be joined by a former Mr. Irrelevant straight ahead on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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KEILAR: Just one day after Virginia became the latest state to redraw its congressional map for partisan benefit, a court there has now blocked the results from being certified.

The judge in rural Tazewell County says the language on the ballot was -- quote -- "flagrantly misleading" and accused state lawmakers of not following their own rules.

[13:15:05]

SANCHEZ: The Democrats could potentially gain up to four seats in the House with this new configuration. Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones says he intends to immediately appeal the ruling.

Meantime, senior Republicans in Washington are pressuring Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to redraw his state's congressional districts.

CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig is with us now. He's a former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, also a former state and federal prosecutor.

Elie, great to see you, as always.

Do you think this challenge in Virginia has a chance of succeeding?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: I do think it has a chance of success. This battle is not over.

So, if you look at their various challenges here brought by the RNC and other Republican entities, they're basically making two types of challenges here. One is substantive. So they're arguing that the way the question was phrased on the ballot was unfair, was misleading. And there is some legitimacy to that.

I mean, the question asks, do you want to -- quote -- "restore fairness to the process"? Who's going to realistically vote no on that? I mean, a lot of people did. But it's slanted. I don't know if it's slanted enough to win the legal challenge.

But the second category is the procedural challenges. And that's where I think the challengers have some real heft behind their arguments. For example, one of the laws says, if you're going to do this, the Virginia General Assembly has to pass a law. And then voting, the referendum, can't start for 90 days after the law is passed.

Here, we're not even 90 days out now, and the voting's done. So I don't know how Virginia is going to defend that. There's another procedural quirk, I guess, that says the way you have to do this is the Virginia General Assembly has to pass a law. Then you need to have an intervening election. Then a second General Assembly needs to pass the law again.

And the argument here that you're hearing from the defenders is, well, the 2025 governor election, that's the intervening election. The problem is that overlapped with the first vote. So there's some procedural nuance here that I think is going to be a real problem for people defending this outcome.

And I think it's going to give the Republicans a chance to actually get it knocked down on the legal challenges.

KEILAR: This isn't the only legal challenge, right?

HONIG: Oh, yes.

KEILAR: I mean, this referendum -- this is a constitutional amendment.

HONIG: Right.

KEILAR: And this effort has already come through the Virginia court system. It's well-acquainted with this judge, as it were. Talk to us about that.

HONIG: So this judge, the same judge in Tazewell County, has tried to block the referendum even from happening twice. It went up to the Virginia Supreme Court, which essentially said, we're not going to block it. We're going to let it happen. However, they did not bless it.

What the Virginia Supreme Court said is, we're going to let the referendum happen. If it's a no-vote, it's moot. We don't have to get involved. Now it's a yes-vote, though. And so I believe it's clearly headed back to the Virginia Supreme Court. But important to know, you will read some of the coverage, which will say, oh, the Virginia Supreme Court has already rejected this twice.

That's not quite right. What the Virginia Supreme Court has said is, if it's a yes, come back to us then, and we're not giving you any opinions yet.

SANCHEZ: There's still a step or two before it gets there, right?

HONIG: Yes.

SANCHEZ: So what happens now?

HONIG: So the Virginia attorney general has said he will appeal. It'll go to the mid-level Court of Appeals, then the Virginia Supreme Court. This has to move quickly. I mean, the primaries in Virginia are scheduled for August. People have to know who's going to be on the ballot, who are the candidates going to be, where can people vote?

And then, of course, there's a looming question after the Virginia Supreme Court, will the U.S. Supreme Court take it, right? The U.S. Supreme Court can take cases from the state Supreme Courts. I think the Virginia Supreme Court's going to be the last word here. I don't think the U.S. Supreme Court is going to touch this.

It's a uniquely state issue. You're deep in the weeds, as we discussed, of state law and procedure. And the Supreme Court was asked to get involved in both the California and Texas redistricting, and both times said, no, not for us, hands off, we're letting it be.

KEILAR: And just to be clear, there's something about Virginia that kind of makes it unique when it comes to their efforts to redistrict, right? I mean, it's just their state law, their Constitution.

HONIG: Yes.

KEILAR: They have sort of run into some issues that maybe make it trickier for Democrats in this case than someone else in another state.

HONIG: Well, there's a couple things.

First of all, each of these is very intensely state-focused, right? You're getting into things that were passed as part of the original constitutional conventions in the 1700 and 1800s. I also think the extremity of this redistricting, the fact that you have a state that's roughly 50-50, a little bit Democratic-leaning, ends up with a 10-to-1 congressional split? I don't know how that's going to sit when it gets up the line in the courts. It's not technically legally relevant, but I think the extremity of this is going to be something that judges do take notice of.

KEILAR: That's really interesting.

Elie, thank you so much.

HONIG: Thanks, guys.

KEILAR: We're all watching this.

And coming up in our next hour, we will talk one-on-one with Virginia's Democratic attorney general about the legal issues that are surrounding Tuesday's redistricting vote.

And next: a budget airline bailout perhaps in the works, a source telling CNN Spirit Airlines is close to securing a half-billion-dollar rescue package from the administration. But some Republicans are very publicly warning the president against doing this.

Plus, singer D4vd just in a Los Angeles courtroom, as an autopsy reveals how a 14-year-old girl found in the trunk of his car died.

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[13:24:40]

SANCHEZ: Spirit Airlines is on the brink of a bailout.

Sources tell CNN that the Trump administration is close to giving the budget carrier half-a-billion dollars in financial assistance. The deal would help Spirit avoid shutting down, which would put thousands of employees out of work and leave millions of ticketed passengers stuck without flights.

Joining us now is CNN aviation correspondent Pete Muntean.

[13:25:01]

Pete, earlier this year, Spirit announced it had reached a deal with its creditors. What are you hearing about this now likely bailout?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, here's the latest.

An attorney for Spirit Airlines just said in bankruptcy court that the carrier is in advanced discussions with the federal government about a bailout package. And we could learn more in a court hearing next week. But it's also possible the airline or the White House could announce a deal before then.

Here's what we're talking about. The federal government is considering roughly a $500 million bailout of the ultra-low-cost carrier. That would include a federal stake in the airline. Remember, Spirit has been struggling for years. JetBlue tried to acquire Spirit back in 2022. The Biden administration essentially blocked that in court in 2024.

Spirit filed for bankruptcy not long after that. Then, just this past February, Spirit reached a deal with its creditors to reemerge from bankruptcy. It seemed like things were on the up-and-up for Spirit. But the Iran war started only a few days after that, which caused fuel prices to spike astronomically and has really put Spirit on the ropes here.

I asked Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy about this in a one-on-one interview on Tuesday. And I want you to listen here. He did not exactly commit to government help for Spirit Airlines. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN DUFFY, U.S. TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: If we do bail out Spirit, well, what does that future look like, right? Is it just forestalling the inevitable, or is there a true pathway for Spirit? And that's a broader conversation.

Again, we have a lot of equity in making a decision. But, really, that's the president and the team that's going to come together and figure out, do we want to do something?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: Senator Ted Cruz of Texas posted on X that government help for Spirit is -- quote -- "an absolutely terrible idea," saying the government does not know -- quote -- "a damn thing about running a failed budget airline."

Critics on the right say this really opens Pandora's box if another big company starts to fail, that it may look for Washington for a lifeboat. Either way, travelers should really pay attention to this. If you have travel booked on Spirit, if you have a credit with the airline, this really matters.

Also, it could have a major impact on jobs. Spirit employs about 17,000 people in total, depending on how you count. So if the airline folds or somehow stays afloat through a bailout package, this is going to be a huge economic story any way you slice it.

A lot of critics asking here too, Spirit is not a huge airline. It's not really in too-big-to-fail territory, but a lot of questions here about the motivations about why the Trump administration really wants to do this.

SANCHEZ: I guess, with apologies to those folks that may have outstanding tickets on the airline and obviously the potentially 17,000 employees that could be affected, what's in it for the federal government?

MUNTEAN: Well, there's really not much of a precedent here.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

MUNTEAN: And so there are many folks saying, this is like nationalizing the airline.

SANCHEZ: Right.

MUNTEAN: And it borders on socialism, is what some say.

President Trump notably, was not a fan of the bailout of the Big Three automakers in 2008 and 2009.

SANCHEZ: Right.

MUNTEAN: So it's interesting here. It seems like there may be a bit of saving face here, just because the war is causing gas prices to go up. That has a huge impact on aviation. The number one cost for airlines is labor.

(CROSSTALK)

MUNTEAN: The number two cost, very close behind that, is jet fuel.

(CROSSTALK)

MUNTEAN: So, jet fuel has a really, really disproportionate impact on how an airline can operate, when the margins are already so thin.

SANCHEZ: Pete Muntean, thanks so much for breaking down that news for us.

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: It's a story we will keep an eye on.

MUNTEAN: No doubt.

SANCHEZ: Thanks so much, Pete.

Up next: the president ordering the U.S. Navy to shoot and kill any boats laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz -- what we know about the threat right after this.

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