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Winds, Drought Intensify Fires in Southeast Georgia; Soon, Pentagon Briefing as Trump Says, Don't Rush Me, on War Timeline; U.S. Soldier Arrested After Allegedly Winning $400,000 on Maduro Raid. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired April 24, 2026 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: The breaking news this morning, a one-two punch from Mother Nature. In Oklahoma, rescue crews are searching for people trapped in debris after a major tornado hit overnight, and in Georgia, communities on edge as wildfires explode.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And we are standing by for a war update from the Pentagon, the first of this week, as President Trump says he is in no rush to have to end this war. There's also new reporting the U.S. military is making plans to target Iran's defenses if the ceasefire fails.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And what can 140 miles per hour do for you and your BMW? There you see it. It can send police on a wild chase and send you airborne.

I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan and Sara Sidner. This is CNN News Central.

SIDNER: Breaking overnight, a huge tornado on the ground for more than 30 minutes, leaving behind a stunning trail of destruction in Northern Oklahoma. We've got brand new video this morning showing debris from destroyed homes and buildings in the town of Enid. At least 11 people have been hurt. Heavy rain, powerful winds and a flash flood warning complicated search and rescue efforts after the tornado tore through the area.

One woman captured the destruction in her neighborhood as lightning flashed all around in the background. You see it there, you can hear her distress.

More than 15 other tornadoes were reported across Oklahoma, Kansas, and Iowa last night. Some spots also saw hail as large as softballs.

Meanwhile, in the southeast, shifting winds have escalated the wildfire threat in South Georgia. Fires have destroyed 87 homes there so far, and they're forcing evacuations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOEY CASON, MANAGER, BRANTLEY COUNTY, GEORGIA: They need to be prepared. They need to be prepared to go. They don't need to wait. If they get the evacuation order, they need to leave.

CHUCK WHITE, EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR, CAMDEN COUNTY, GEORGIA: We cannot control the weather. Fire behavior is what fire behavior is and it does things sometimes that we can't calculate. We're trying to stay ahead of it as much as we can with hard work from a lot of partners who are actively out there fighting the fire. But we are also -- as you heard, we are doing active evacuations of areas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: CNN Meteorologist. Derek Van Dam is in South Georgia. You are in a scenario to explain just how dangerous this is and why people must get out when they tell you to evacuate. Tell us what you're seeing and where you are this morning.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Sara. To set the scene, it's eerie, almost an ethereal scene here in Brantley County where the Highway 82 Fire tore a path of destruction that you see behind me. Authorities were convinced that they were in the mop-up stages of this fire, that they had made some serious ground on it.

And as we were getting briefed, this media briefing with the other agencies that are down here, we literally watched the winds pick up and this firestorm just basically erupt into another gigantic plume of smoke and fire.

So, now the Highway 82 Fire continues to burn and it's all about the changing winds and the direction of the winds that's making it so difficult and so challenging for the firefighters on the ground. I talked to some of the authorities. This fire has become so hot in some places that it's creating its own winds. It's shifting winds from the ground all the way to the upper levels of the atmosphere. So, that can be so challenging for identifying the new forward flanks of the fire as it progresses what was going to the north yesterday.

Then the winds changed directions overnight and now with the smoke and this awful super fog that we call it, it's a mixture of fog and heavy smoke that just kind of blankets the air. It's a putrid smell, kind of tough to translate over the T.V. screen, but it is hanging thick in the air here.

So, I want to show you around just to give you an idea, we've got this burnt out vehicle here yesterday. We saw this. This is incredible. That is the windshield that completely melted. I did a bit of research, and glass generally melts between a temperature of 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

[07:05:04]

So, that just gives you an indication of how hot this fire actually was. There's some melted metal on the ground as well.

Yesterday during that press briefing that I mentioned, we actually saw these large air tankers that were dropping fire retardant on the frontlines of the expanding explosive wildfire, and it was quite the sight to see because it was all unfolding within in front of our eyes. The authorities had warned that we needed to be extra cautious. People on the ground, residents here needed to be ready to evacuate at a moment's notice because of the winds changing directions, picking up in speed.

And that's what we witnessed yesterday. And, literally, within an hour's time that during that media briefing, we saw the plume of smoke erupt in front of us. They started to deploy the large a tankers, the Chinook helicopters with buckets full of water to try and douse the fire. And right now we stayed at 5,500 acres of burned acreage here and 87 homes that have been destroyed with about a thousand homes still threatened.

So, evacuations are going to take place with this fire continuing today. Sara?

SIDNER: Yes. It's terrifying looking at these pictures and we know just how hot these fires are burning. As you mentioned, they're up to 2,500 degrees. That's how hot it had to get to just melt that windshield.

And as a country girl, I just want to warn you with them shorts on, you might want to throw some jeans on because out there things can get so hot. You can actually -- you know, you can get hurt because there's so many jagged pieces of glass, jagged pieces of metal from the fire.

So, be careful out there, great reporting from you. And the scenes are just devastating.

VAN DAM: I appreciate that. Thanks, Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you, Derek. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. All right, let's turn here now. We're standing by this morning for a briefing from the Pentagon on the war with Iran, just as the U.S. is deploying more military assets to the region. U.S. Central Command has now announced a third aircraft carrier has arrived in the Middle East. Military says it's actually the first time in decades that many have been in the region at the same time.

This morning's briefing will be the first since President Trump extended the ceasefire with Iran. And now, after initially saying the war would last four to six weeks, remember the timeline that he set repeatedly, the president no longer wants to put timing on it. It has been nearly eight weeks, and the president is now saying, don't rush me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Don't rush me, Jeff. We were in the Korean War for seven years. I've been doing this for six weeks.

I could make a deal right now.

I don't want to rush myself, you know? Because every source says, oh, Trump is under time pressure. I'm not. No. You know who's under time pressure? They are. I don't want to rush it. I want to take my time. We have plenty of time and I want to get a great deal.

I can only tell you this. It'll end. I don't think it'll be very long by the way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Confusing, yes. And while the president is projecting that he is not pressed for time now, multiple sources do tell CNN the U.S. military officials are crafting a backup plan, if you will, if the ceasefire really does fail. But we do need to define what a failure of the ceasefires at this point, which it could include strikes on Iran's capabilities in the Strait of Hormuz, like attacking those small boats that the White House was just making fun of earlier this week.

CNN's Alayna Treene is live this morning at the White House for us. What are you hearing from there this morning? It seems the timeline or lack thereof is now getting more complicated and confusing.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And I'd note Kate, that, you know, that clip you just played, I mean, he's saying, don't rush me, he doesn't want to put a timetable on this, this is a problem of his own making. Because from the get-go, you know, almost immediately after the U.S. launched those fess strikes into Tehran, the president was putting a timetable on it. And a lot of people are, of course, very concerned about a prolonged conflict, one that this White House has consistently said that wouldn't be, that we were not going to be in a kind of another forever war, a long-term foreign entanglement.

But now there's really no end in sight, and so there is pressure on the president. And that's where we get into some of this great reporting from our colleague, Zach Cohen, on just what the military is planning behind the scenes should a ceasefire -- should the ceasefire not produce a diplomatic off-ramp to this war.

So, what he was told is that U.S. military officials are developing new plans to target Iran's capabilities in the Strait of Hormuz. Of course, really we are seeing this Iran -- this blockade, this U.S. blockade on Iranian ports really be this key point of leverage that the U.S. is using to keep the Iranians at the negotiating table. But it's also something, and I know this from my conversations with many people in the White House, something they can't have go on indefinitely. And they need to find a way out of this. And the strait is really one of those key problems that complicates trying to find an end to this.

And so the options that different sources have laid up to us is that there are several types of targets that the military is considering should a diplomatic solution not work. That includes strikes with a particular focus on dynamic targeting of Iran's capabilities around the strait.

[07:10:05]

That includes attacks against those small boats that we've heard the president mention, mine-laying vessel and other asymmetric targets.

And I think what's so critical about this great reporting from Zach is that these are targets that are really looking at trying to find a way to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. I'd remind you that prior to the ceasefire, a lot of the targets that the military had were deeper inside Iran, and, of course, leadership in the regime, but also in different infrastructure targets. The ones that they're looking at are more about trying to get the strait back open.

So, great reporting from Zach, curious to see if any of this will come up in that Pentagon briefing in about an hour from now. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. I was just going to say the exact same, Alayna. A lot to come this morning, thank you so much, Alayna Treene at the White House for us. John?

BERMAN: All right. An Army Special Forces soldier charged with using top secret intelligence to place a bet on the raid of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro allegedly winning more than $400,000.

And then breaking overnight, two teenagers arrested and a plot to attack a synagogue with a plan to, quote, kill as many Jews as possible.

And a car goes airborne at more than 140 miles per hour, and then it landed.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:15:00]

BERMAN: This morning, a U.S. Special Forces soldier involved in the capture of ex-Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is under arrest and facing charges. Master Sergeant Gannon Ken Van Dyke is accused of betting on the operation, making nearly $400,000 in profit. According to the federal indictment, he opened a poly market account in late December. He wagered about $32,000 that Maduro would be, quote, out by January. Prosecutors say he was involved in the planning and execution of the raid and had access to classified information before he placed his bets. He faces five criminal charges and will make his first court appearance in North Carolina.

Let's get to CNN Senior Legal Analyst Elie Honig, Elie, Counselor, what needs to be proven here in order to convict? What are the nature of the charges?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: So, John, what's so unusual about this case is it's the first time we've ever seen somebody charge for their online activity on these prediction markets. That said, it's still an insider trading case, the lead charge.

So, prosecutors first have to show that this defendant traded on what we call material, meaning important, non-public information. So, if he had information, as he surely did, that Nicolas Mauro was to be captured on a certain date, that would certainly qualify. Prosecutors also have to show that this person had what we call a fiduciary responsibility, meaning some official responsibility to take care of that information, to guard and protect it.

So, those are the core elements of an insider trading case. And although we've traditionally seen that charge applied to bankers and people on Wall Street, there's no reason it couldn't necessarily be applied to anyone else who meets those definitions.

BERMAN: Still, you say this is the first case of its kind with Polymarket. How do you think that will play into the legal strategy?

HONIG: So, I think this could leave some legal wiggle room for this person to raise a defense. And I think the defense will be essentially, when you go on one of these online prediction markets and you take a side of a question, will Nicolas Maduro be captured by January 31st, 2026, there's a yes and a no. And what these markets do is they match up a yes with a no.

And so I would expect to see a defense motion saying, that's really no different than, John, if you and I bet on the Eagles-Patriots game. They're taking one side and matching it up with the other side, and it's essentially a bet. And I would look for the defense to argue that that means the insider trading charges are not valid.

I think the response from prosecutors will be, no, this is different than two friends placing a bet on a game. This is a nationally available online service where people can bet against each other, and this is relevant legally, they'll argue Polymarket impacts interstate commerce, it impacts the nation's commerce, whereas a friendly bet between two friends does not impact interstate commerce.

BERMAN: So, very quickly, President Trump had an interesting take on it that -- related to former Major Leaguer Pete Rose. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Was he betting that they would get him or they wouldn't get him?

REPORTER: It sounds like he was betting on his removal from office, that Maduro would be removed.

TRUMP: That's interesting.

REPORTER: It sounds like he was involved in the operation.

TRUMP: That's like Pete Rose betting on his own team. It's like Pete Rose. Pete Rose, he kept him out of the Hall of Fame because he bet on his own team. Now if he bet against his team, that would be no good, but he bet on his own team.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: By the way, the president thinks Pete Rose should be in the Hall of Fame because he was only betting on his own team. He also said though that he has some issues with this trading. He calls it a big, giant casino here. Nevertheless, does it matter at all that this master sergeant was betting on the operation, not against it?

HONIG: No, it does not matter legally, John. You can have insider trading based on somebody trading on positive information. So, for example, if you had somebody who worked at a pharmaceutical company and knew that that company on, let's say, Tuesday was going to announce that they had a new miracle drug that had tested extraordinarily well in the clinical test, and that was secret information, and then on Monday, that person went and bought a bunch of stock in their own company knowing that that stock price would increase, that would still absolutely be insider trading. So, even if you're betting positively on your own team, that still can be a crime.

BERMAN: All right, as Pete Rose did learn, at least with baseball, not necessarily a crime, but in that case enough to keep him out of the Hall of Fame.

Elie Honig, great to see you. Thank you very much.

Kate, you got some breaking news.

BOLDUAN: Not -- it's coming in.

BERMAN: We're working on it.

BOLDUAN: We are working on it, Mr. Berman.

Ahead, this is also coming in right now. Meta is slashing its workforce by 10 percent to make way for A.I., a sign of the times, guys. 8,000 people will lose their jobs and projected. Is this the beginning of, well, maybe the middle towards the kick-up of what is clearly a trend already when it comes to the jobs market?

And one of those Americana times of the year, draft day top pick for the NFL draft and what we can expect in this second round today, including Mr. 57 --

[07:20:06]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For the first pick in the 2026 NFL draft, the Las Vegas Raiders select --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: NFL Draft day, so much fun, a moment where players see their lives changed in an instant, tears and cheers are abundant, and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell gets bear hugged and almost crushed by huge human after huge human.

Let's go to CNN's Coy Wire and former third round pick himself. Hello. COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Hi, Kate. Your heartbeat is booming with every pick. You don't know where you'll go. You don't know if you'll go and if you get picked, what city am I going to be living in? All you know is you're going from eating microwave burritos to your dream coming true in an instant.

There were more than 320,000 people flooding the stage in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, millions tuning in to watch the massive three-day spectacle and dreams coming true. Fernando Mendoza taken number one overall to the Raiders as expected. He chose to stay home and he hugged, Mom Elsa, who battles M.S., his dad, his brother, about 80 family member and friends there in Coral Gables to celebrate.

[07:25:03]

He graduated high school with a 5.2 GPA, went to Cal, Kate, interned at a real estate firm, went to Haas Business School. He'd wake up at 5:00 A.M., do the football, school, work a job every day, then go home and study more football tape at night.

He transferred to Indiana, of course, led them to their first ever national title, became their first ever Heisman winner, 22 years old, launching yesterday, the Mendoza Family Fund in partnership with the National M.S. Society. Here he was after the big moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FERNANDO MENDOZA, #1 OVERALL PICK IN NFL DRAFT: I'm just looking forward to get to work, prove it at the next level. College was fantastic. I'm so blessed to have that career, but now I step into a great game at the NFL. I look forward to proving and earning it every single.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Now this is what it's all about. Watch this moment as Jordyn Tyson out of Arizona State gets selected eighth overall by the New Orleans Saints. Kate, you mentioned the tears and you can just see it overwhelmed Jordyn there.

His brother plays for the Cavaliers in the NBA. Now the ninth pick was the Browns. He almost could have joined his brother in Cleveland, but the Saints got them a good one there in Jordyn.

All right, NBA playoffs now, Hawks fans we're saying to New York, welcome to Atlanta, where the players play. Tie game with a minute to go, Jalen Brunson gets big, he puts the Knicks on his back, strong take there, and-one, puts New York up three, but Atlanta not checking out early. Jalen Johnson says, not so fast, my friend, slicing it in the lead there to one. And then 15 seconds to go, queue the cash register, C.J. McCollum would be money. And then we get the -- yes, this steal, seals the deal there for the Hawks. They win it, take a 2- 1 to series lead, a 109 to 108 win.

All right, tonight, day two of the draft, Kate, something to watch. The 57th overall pick will be named Mr. Heinz, and number 50 -- Mr. 57, rathe,. and he'll receive a lifetime supply of ketchup from the Pittsburgh Company Heinz, with their famous 57 varieties logo. He'll get a that custom blazer there and a lifetime supply of ketchup.

This is delightfully weird in the best way. I'm not so sure that if I was going to get picked 47th, I might say, hey, wait a minute, let me drop ten picks here and get picked 57.

BOLDUAN: Yes, I mean, absolutely. I was the like Americana kid who was like, what are we having for dinner? Great with ketchup, like, I mean, it was mac and cheese and ketchup, everything in ketchup.

WIRE: Yes.

BOLDUAN: I would totally be like, let's just bump me down a little bit just so I can --

WIRE: Yes.

BOLDUAN: I mean, amazing.

WIRE: Please pick me.

BOLDUAN: Exactly, just pick me. I love how -- Berman asked you -- don't play me off, guys. I wanted to ask Coy about him being picked for the draft. I love hearing your stories.

WIRE: Well, no one yells at me. It was dream come true. No one saw mom cutting seat belts out of my car, their car to build a harness for me so I could drag a tire. They didn't see dad turning mom's pant plots into cones that I could practice growing up. That's what it's all about. It's not just the players, the family who's sacrificed so much to allow this moment to happen for these young men.

BOLDUAN: We love you so much, Coy. I love you to tell us those stories. It's really remarkable. Thanks, buddy.

SIDNER: Coy can drag a car is what I learned from that.

BOLDUAN: Exactly. I know what we're doing at the next team party. I know what we're doing today.

SIDNER: Good, party trick. I like it. Thank you, guys.

All right, ahead, a new gene therapy is changing the life for babies born with inherited hearing loss. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I never thought this would be possible.

What did the leopard say?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roar.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: And kids say the darnedest things and ask the best questions. This one put the House minority leader on the spot.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why do voters view Democrats so poorly?

REP. HAKEEM JEFRIES (D-NY): Did your dad give you that question?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:30:00]