Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Trump Orders Navy to Shoot & Kill Mine-laying Boats in Strait; U.S. Forces Board Another Tanker Carrying Oil From Iran; Iran Says It Received First Revenue From Strait of Hormuz Tolls; European Union Unveils Planned Emergency Measures as Energy Costs Soar Due to Iran War; Judge Blocks Certification of Virginia Redistricting Referendum; Worst Spring Drought on Record Fuels Southeast Wildfires; More Than 50 Homes Destroyed, 1,000 Threatened by Raging Georgia Wildfires. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired April 23, 2026 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

MARTY MOORE, MR. IRRELEVANT 1994, LINEBACKER, UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY: And Tom Brady, he was a sixth round pick.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Yeah.

MOORE: I was a seventh round pick. Brock Purdy was Mr. Irrelevant. Ryan Succop was Mr. Irrelevant. You know, there's been a lot of guys that made great names for themselves and have really kind of put their mark on the NFL. And I just always say, you know, anything is possible. It's up to you and the effort and the character you have as a player to go in and work and put that time in.

And I got in, you know, I got in and people didn't know who I was and eight years later, you know, I kind of made a name for myself and had some success in the NFL.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, congratulations to you for that. Appreciate that advice. Marty Moore, thanks so much for joining us.

A new hour of "CNN News Central" starts right now.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Threat assessment. President Trump has ordered the Navy to "shoot & kill" any Iranian boats placing mines in the Strait of Hormuz.

Rewriting the rules for marijuana, how a change in policy could drastically reshape the way the drug is used and studied.

And as the worst spring drought on record grips the U.S., bone dry vegetation is feeding fires across the Southeast. We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

Today, President Trump issuing a shoot and kill order, then says Iran has no idea who their leader is. In back-to-back messages earlier today, the president said that he ordered the U.S. Navy to destroy any Iranian ship that was placing mines in the Strait of Hormuz. And he then said the U.S. has total control over the Strait.

All of this coming just hours after U.S. forces boarded a second tanker linked to Iran. CNN's Oren Liebermann is live from Jerusalem with the latest here. What are you hearing, Oren?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF & CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, two things here appear to be true at the same time. First, the U.S. is able to blockade Iranian ports and seize vessels linked to Iran or carrying Iranian oil on the high seas. One more of those seized overnight, according to U.S. Central Command, in the Indian Ocean. And at the same exact time, Iran is able to effectively blockade the Strait of Hormuz.

It doesn't lead to lay mines across what is a very narrow waterway. But the threat of those mines, the threat of drone and rocket attacks on ships has kept traffic through one of the world's most critical waterways to an absolute trickle, with zero ships passing on Sunday and only a few passing on every day since then. So the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed.

And that, of course, affects worldwide gas prices and, from the U.S.'s perspective, gas prices throughout the United States. It is in this scenario, as the U.S. is trying to push forward with some sort of negotiations with Iran, that President Donald Trump, in two separate messages this morning, said he had ordered the U.S. Navy to shoot and kill any Iranian boats placing mines.

And then he also said that U.S. minesweepers were already at work in the Strait of Hormuz, clearing those mines. It's unclear what ships exactly he's referring to. The U.S. decommissioned its last dedicated minesweepers close to the end of last year, although littoral combat ships are able to do some minesweeping there. Still, it's not clear how many mines are actually being cleared from a fairly narrow waterway.

Then, Trump also said that Iranians don't even know who their leader is. And this appears to be getting at what the U.S. sees as a split between who is in charge of the negotiations. On one side, you have the Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, and the Speaker of their Parliament. On the other side, you have what's considered the more hardline Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Who the U.S. is actually negotiating with and how to get to a unified position from Iran is part of what makes the efforts to get to more negotiations with Tehran very difficult here. The White House said they want a unified proposal and a unified response from Iran.

But the leadership there, the leaders there, don't appear to have such a response. Meanwhile, Iran is clearly not backing down here. We see escalation of rhetoric and escalation of actions, Iran firing on more ships in the Strait, which has kept it effectively closed.

Brianna, it is worth pointing out that Trump said it's the U.S. that's blockading the Strait in one of his social media posts, but it's not clear why the U.S. would even want to do that, since traffic going through is better for the world economy. KEILAR: Yes, a very important point you make there. Oren, live for us from Jerusalem, thank you for that. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Oil prices are on the rise again after President Trump said that there is no deadline to end the war with Iran, dampening hopes that the Strait of Hormuz will soon reopen. We're joined now by Kevin Book, he's the Managing Director for ClearView Energy Partners. Kevin, thank you so much for being with us.

So we're now effectively, as Brett McGurk, our security analyst, put it earlier, in a stalemate and a waiting game between the U.S. and Iran. Who do you see blinking first?

KEVIN BOOK, MANAGING DIRECTOR, CLEARVIEW ENERGY PARTNERS: Well, I'm not sure who we're going to see blinking first if you don't define what blinking means.

[14:05:00]

We're sort of seeing rhetorically, militarily, economically, that we're rising from a subcritical level back towards escalation. So we may not blink until we're back in combat.

SANCHEZ: Yeah. So Iran has just announced that they began receiving their first revenue from tolling ships that were passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Is this something that you could see being reversed? Is there a way for whether the U.S. or the international community to essentially force Iran to allow flow through the Persian Gulf into the Gulf of Oman without taxing those that go through?

BOOK: Well, Iran is exercising its option right now. It's maybe something it's willing to trade away as part of a negotiation. If you look at the economics of the tolling, they're not very good. The price they're charging is a real deterrent to operators who would be shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Bad economics for producers means eventually bad news for global oil supply.

But down the road, this could be a bargaining chip. So I don't know that we want to read too much into it too soon.

SANCHEZ: I also wonder what it signifies that the Pentagon told members of Congress this week that it would take up to six months to have the Strait fully flowing the way that it was before the war once the war ends. I mean, what does that lag time of six months symbolize for not only our Gulf partners, but also Europe and Asia?

BOOK: Well, Boris, it all comes down to throughput. How many ships are going through the Strait? And if they're throttled because of Iran charging or approving cargoes, or if they're throttled because mines have impeded one of the two causeways through which the ships might travel, then that means less supply coming back to market.

Longer periods without supply in the market mean prices probably continue rising until such time as demand collapses underneath them.

SANCHEZ: Do you see pressure building on some of Iran's allies, China, perhaps even Russia, to try to bring Tehran to the table through suggestion, through some sort of persuasion? Because to some effect, despite prices at the pump going up here in the United States, the U.S. has been somewhat isolated from some of the more broad effects of this closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

BOOK: To be sure, so we're paying higher prices, but we're still getting access to molecules. And some of those importing countries that are Hormuz-reliant in Asia aren't even getting the molecules. But China is pretty well stocked. So they have some opportunity to play the long game if they see opportunity to both gain traction with sort of the broader negotiation vis-a-vis the United States and also to support an ally in the Middle East.

SANCHEZ: There was discussion among European allies, some NATO countries, about having a sort of effort that would multilaterally try to regain access to the Strait and simultaneously avoid leaning into either side of this confrontation. Is that a realistic option? Do you see Europe stepping in here to reopen, flow through the Strait?

BOOK: Europe has said that they would do it after conflict ends. But what does that mean if there are mines in place? Is that the end of conflict? Again, there's a lot of definitional wiggle in the communications we're seeing coming out of London and Paris.

SANCHEZ: The European Commission writes that for the second time in less than five years, Europeans are paying the price of Europe's dependency on imported fossil fuels. Given obviously the circumstances with Iran right now and also the war in Ukraine and some of the sanctions that they've placed on Russia, do they have any other choice?

BOOK: In the short term, not really. They need petroleum. They need natural gas because their economies still rely on it. But Boris, watch this space. This is where it gets interesting. This is, as they mentioned, the second crisis inside of five years. When that happened to the United States in the 1970s with the Arab oil embargo, '73 and '74, the Iranian Revolution, '79 and '80, '81, we saw a shift in our energy supply mix.

It wasn't immediate, but it was substantial. A lot of petroleum fell out of stationary end-use sectors, so residential, commercial, industrial, power generation, and didn't come back.

SANCHEZ: This claim from President Trump that some of these folks, whether in Europe or in Asia, that have relied on fuel coming from the Strait of Hormuz should pivot to the U.S., is there enough capacity coming from the U.S. to supply them, or is it apples and oranges? Is that a legitimate option for those powers?

BOOK: Well, it happens at the margin, so there's nothing in the world that can replace the substantial loss of supply from the Middle East right now. Not government strategic reserves, not the United States, but there is more oil and petroleum products going out of the United States right now. You can see it in the numbers from the Energy Information Administration. They're rising to essentially all-time export-level highs, at least for the recent decades. SANCHEZ: Kevin Book, appreciate the expertise. Thanks for joining us.

BOOK: Thanks for having me on.

SANCHEZ: Appreciate it, of course.

Still to come, Democrats redistricting win in Virginia hitting a legal snag as a judge bars the election results from moving forward, calling the ballot measure flagrantly misleading. We're going to speak to the state's attorney general.

Plus, an apocalyptic scene in the state of Georgia, wildfires consuming entire communities, completely destroying homes and leaving nothing but ashes and soot.

And supporters of medical marijuana celebrating a new chapter in the U.S., we're going to explain what drug reclassification means for cannabis users.

[14:10:00]

Stay with us. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Virginia's attorney general is vowing to quickly appeal a judge's order blocking certification of Tuesday's referendum results, allowing state lawmakers to redraw Virginia's congressional map. Voters there narrowly approve the controversial measure, making their state the latest to redraw its map to benefit one party or the other in the upcoming midterms.

[14:15:00]

Virginia's map could see Democrats flip up to four U.S. House seats, but the judge blocking it accused state lawmakers of ignoring their own rules on redistricting and of using, "flagrantly misleading language on the ballot." We're joined now by Virginia's Attorney General, Jay Jones. Sir, thank you so much for being with us.

You're obviously familiar with the judge's argument here. Judge Hurley citing multiple substantial and procedural problems, including that the ballot question for the constitutional amendment was flagrantly misleading. As I said, the ballot question says new congressional districts will be temporarily adopted to "restore fairness."

Does he have a point that it's misleading?

JAY JONES, (D) ATTORNEY GENERAL OF VIRGINIA: Well, thank you for having me. It's my pleasure to be with you this afternoon. You know, look, we are excited that Virginia went out to the polls on Tuesday, made their voices heard. Turnout was robust. Both sides engaged in a vigorous campaign. And the yes side prevailed.

And now, as attorney general, my job is to enforce the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia. And so we won't let one activist judge in one county in Virginia try to offset the will of the people of this commonwealth, where more than 1.6 million voted yes. And so we will be in court very soon.

My office appealed the decision. And we are going to get this resolved quickly so that we can bring some clarity to the situation.

KEILAR: I know that you're calling him an activist judge, but he is citing the Virginia Constitution. And legal experts that we've spoken to say what he's saying is going to create some pretty big challenges for you in court that you will have to overcome. So let's really look at the substance here. Factually speaking, the map gives Democrats an advantage in 10 of Virginia's 11 U.S. House seats.

That is an objective description. Whether that restores fairness is a subjective description. Clearly, a lot of voters who will be losing representation by a member of their party and they previously had it traditionally do not think that is fair or restoring fairness.

Do you see how restores fairness could be misleading or confusing to some voters?

JONES: Well, you know, look, I'm really proud of Virginia. I believe the right to vote is sacred, not just as Virginians, but as Americans. This is the birthplace of democracy.

And so Virginia was able to go exercise our collective right earlier this week. And again, there was a vigorous campaign. Both sides were able to lay out their case for their adopted positions. And yes, prevailed. The issue was presented to the people after passing the General Assembly. And I'm really excited.

My team of lawyers are top flight and we're going to defend the will of the people that was validated earlier this week. And we're looking forward to it. We are working very hard and I'm confident that when all is said and done, we will resolve this and people in Virginia will have their representation of Washington that reflects the will of the majority of the state.

KEILAR: I don't hear you answering the substance of my question, but I will ask you another one, which is that the judge here also said this effort violates the timing clause of Virginia's Constitution because voters didn't have the 90 days between the General Assembly passing the constitutional amendment, allowing this redistricting and the voters voting on it.

It was signed in early February by the governor. It was passed in January. It went early March for early votes. It was presented to voters. Do you disagree with that timing argument?

JONES: Well, look, again, I think that one judge, an activist judge, who is engaging in this earlier --

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: I'm not asking you about the judge. I'm asking you really -- It's about a math problem here. It's about a math problem. It's the timing clause. I laid out the dates. We're talking about facts. We're not talking about -- I know you don't -- you have disagreements with this judge and you're calling this judge an activist. Let's talk about the argument here and the merits of it.

Can you address that in the timing that I just laid out? He says that it needs to be 90 days because the Constitution requires it to be 90 days. The bill was passed mid-January, signed for early February by Governor Spanberger, submitted for early vote March 6. That's clearly not 90 days. How do you see yourself working around that?

JONES: Well, look, this is going to be decided by the Supreme Court, and we are in the process of preparing for oral arguments here in a couple of days. And I'm really confident that when all is said and done, the will of the people of Virginia will be upheld.

Again, people came out in large numbers earlier this week, and votes are still being counted because we accept mail ballots through Friday. And I think that you'll see that the yes campaign that did prevail, which is now my obligation to enforce, has a pretty strong position when it comes to the legal foundations of this.

And I'm really excited. My team, they're top flight. We have some of the best attorneys in the country. And I look forward to presenting our case in front of the Supreme Court and for those folks who are just a few blocks away from us here in Richmond to make the ultimate decision.

[14:20:00]

KEILAR: And certainly, the will of the voters is important. You do have this judge saying that there are these problems that need to be resolved with whether this is something that should have gone before voters.

I do just want to note something for people who aren't familiar with Virginia, just looking at the political makeup of it. Former Vice President, Kamala Harris won your state with less than 52 percent of the vote. She won.

But 52 percent, that's an important number. Governor Spanberger won with 57 percent, significantly more. But there are still obviously a lot of Republicans in your state. This constitutional amendment likely gives Democrats almost 91 percent of the House seats.

When you were elected attorney general, you said that you would put Virginia first. Are you putting all of Virginia first by moving forward with this and defending this?

JONES: Absolutely. And when we were elected last fall, this had been presented to the voters and Governor Spanberger was elected by 15 points. Our lieutenant governor won by 10 points. I won by seven points.

And then the General Assembly picked up seats. The Democrats picked up seats, 13, and then passed this in January. I think when you see what's been happening across this country, where other states have been redrawing their maps, Virginia needs to make sure that our voice isn't marginalized in Washington.

And so, we want to make sure that we are using every tool available to us so that our voices are actually represented in the nation's capital. And I think when you look at what happened on Tuesday, people agree that we deserve the representation in Washington that's going to take us in the right direction.

And so that's why we put this to the voters. That's why everybody had the opportunity to come out and vote. And again yes won and again, after a vigorous campaign. And so now, we will go and fight in court to make sure that that result is upheld.

KEILAR: Aren't you talking about overemphasizing the voice of some of your voters compared to others in order to compensate for what other states are doing?

JONES: You know, again, we didn't start this. This happened in Texas. This happened in other states. And so, Virginia has traditionally been a leader in this nation. Again, we are the birthplace of American democracy. And so we want to make sure that our democratic principles are upheld and that as we continue to do the work of the people here in Virginia, we're doing it knowing that our voices cannot be silenced in Washington, that we deserve the representation that we need in the state to really help be a check on what's happening in this administration.

I certainly spend a lot of my time as attorney general litigating against the federal government because they're not putting Virginia first. And so this is yet another instance where Virginia is leading. And again, we were able to go and make our voices heard. Everybody had an opportunity to go to the polls on Tuesday. We had 45 days of early vote.

And again, I think what you saw is a robust campaign on both sides. And Virginia has chosen a direction to go in to redraw these districts. And that's what we're going to continue to fight for in court.

KEILAR: All right. We know that you are appealing this. Of course, we're going to see another chance at the polls quickly approaching and questions over whether this can all get wrapped up by then. We'll be watching Virginia very closely as all of that happens. Attorney General Jay Jones, thanks for being with us.

JONES: Thank you for having me.

KEILAR: And still to come, we're tracking the extreme drought across the country that is fueling devastating wildfires in Georgia. We'll have that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:27:57]

SANCHEZ: In southern Georgia, families are losing everything they own in a matter of minutes to wildfires. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRYTNEY QUINN, HOUSE BURNT BY GEORGIA WILDFIRE: My house is gone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: That's the voice of Brytney Quinn, a mom who took this video today of what was left of her property in Brantley County. She told CNN her Tuesday got off to a routine start, but by lunchtime, she was ordered to evacuate.

Minutes later, surveillance cameras showed her family's place in flames. Fires in Georgia and Florida are raging after a record spring drought, the driest since reporting began in 2000. Georgia fire officials just reported at least 34,000 acres of burn so far. Only a small fraction, 10 to 15 percent, is contained.

Meteorologist Derek Van Dam is live for us in Brantley County, Georgia. Derek, some of the images we've seen are just devastating.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, Boris, it's like a scene out of a movie. I want to show you something that is absolutely astounding. It's devastating to look at the destruction left behind by this Highway 82 fire in Brantley County, southeast Georgia.

But what really struck me and my team is that it got so hot with the passage of the flames here that it melted the windshield onto the dash there of this vehicle. And I did a simple search and glass typically melts between 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit and 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. So it gives you an idea of just how hot it is.

I mean, hot enough to singe the tires off of the side of this car and also melt metal on the ground. You can see that. This is being fueled by winds, which you could probably hear right now, stepping on some of that broken glass, but also the worst drought in Georgia since 2012. These conditions are exceptional.

And of course, when the flames moved through this area, it left no scene untouched, really. And unfortunately, it was very, very scary moments for so many people. The residents here that decided not to evacuate.

I caught up with one of them earlier today, and you got to hear his harrowing tale as he took his children to safety. Listen. --