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Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) On U.S.-Iran Negotiations; FDA Approves First-Ever Gene Therapy For Inherited Deafness; Trump Returns To A Dinner Celebration Press Corps He Often Attacks. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired April 24, 2026 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:33:18]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we have some breaking news for you. CNN has learned Iran is sending a delegation to Islamabad for negotiations. That is according to Pakistani and Iranian sources. We don't know yet if the U.S. plans to send a delegation of its own.

It comes after negotiations, as you well know, fell through earlier this week. And we are standing by for an update from the Pentagon scheduled to begin in just about 30 minutes from now. It comes as a third U.S. aircraft carrier arrives in the Middle East and it's the first briefing since President Trump extended the ceasefire with Iran.

You'll remember that originally, he said the war would last four to six weeks, but now it's been nearly eight weeks. The president says he feels no pressure to bring it to an end, telling reporters, "Don't rush me."

And if the ceasefire fails, CNN has learned that U.S. military officials are developing new plans to target Iran's capabilities in the Strait of Hormuz.

Joining me now is retired Vice Admiral Kevin Donegan, the former commander of the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet. Thank you so much for being here.

First, you have talked about what the options are here. You've said that effectively there are three cards that can be played. What are they?

VICE ADM. KEVIN DONEGAN (RET.), FORMER COMMANDER, U.S. NAVY FIFTH FLEET, DISTINGUISHED MILITARY FELLOW, MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE: Yes. So it depends on which side you're looking at, Sara. So if you -- if you look at it from the U.S. side, the cards the U.S. has to play is the -- is the threat of resuming strikes again. And you see that -- that's being played pretty heavily because we've just moved another aircraft carrier to the region. So it's three aircraft carriers in the region. The first time we've had that kind of force in the Middle East since 2003.

[07:35:00] Then there's the blockade and that blockade is having an impact. It's not just stopping ships in the area. I think they've stopped 33 ships or turned around 33 ships. It has stopped four ships well outside the area. So really, it's working. The blockade is doing militarily what you expect.

And on Iran's side they also have three options the way I look at it. They can continue to, as you are seeing, state and try to demonstrate that they control passage through the Straits of Hormuz. They have stated clearly that they want to continue to have the option to, you know, enrich uranium. And before -- and before today -- or before that announcement you just said today, the third one was saying we're not going to negotiate as long as the U.S. has the blockade in effect.

SIDNER: I do want to ask you about the mines that exist in and around the strait. How difficult is it to maneuver and to try and make sure that U.S. ships -- warships are not in any major danger? How difficult is it to navigate all of that?

DONEGAN: Yes. So what's happening right now and it started back when Iran released this chart of the area. And typically, traffic flows in and out of the Straits of Hormuz through what's called a traffic separation scheme. It's just a highway. It -- you know, you stay to the right when you're going into the Gulf; you stay to the right when you're coming out, and there's very clear lanes established.

Iran said they'd mined that area and so instead, they've said all traffic now has to flow further to the north and east, come next to their islands, and that's why they can control the straits and charge a toll, et cetera.

SIDNER: Yeah.

DONEGAN: But we've also heard from the administration that the United States is working now to clear any mines that may be in that main passageway, so whenever the negotiated settlement comes that strait can be opened for normal commercial traffic more quickly.

SIDNER: Look, it's been reported that the U.S. is developing plans to target Iran's defenses around the strait if, indeed, this ceasefire collapses and if these talks collapse.

What would that look like? What would that operation look like?

DONEGAN: That's a great question and I think that what you're hearing and what you're -- and the reason that the Straits of Hormuz is coming into focus from a military standpoint is because that's that one key card I mentioned earlier on that the --

SIDNER: Yeah.

DONEGAN: -- Iranians control. So the idea would be if we were to start, you know, restart -- if we had to restart more military pressure beyond the blockade that we focus on 1) clearing the mines, of course, and 2) eliminating or destroying any residual capability the Iranians have to hold that strait hostage. So this would be attacking the small boats - any that you've seen come out and harass ships. Any missiles that they would have left that could -- range ships. It would be any residual capability they have to mine the straits. Basically, the only remaining layers they have left to hold that strait hostage.

That's what I think you would see -- a very clear and focused military effort going after. And it would include stimulating the Iranians to do something and then attacking anything that comes up. But also, you can expect during this break of the ceasefire that the U.S. military has been refining their intelligence on any elements the Iranians have to hold that strait hostage, and that's what would be attacked.

SIDNER: We will have to wait and see if these talks come to fruition. If the U.S. sends a delegation. Iran, we're now reporting, is going to send a delegate. We'll see how this all falls out.

But thank you so much for your great analysis there, retired Vice Admiral Kevin Donegan. Appreciate it -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, and joining us right now, Democratic Congressman Gregory Meeks of New York. He is the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Congressman, let me ask you first on the news that we just got in from Pakistani and Iranian sources that Iran is now planning to send a delegation to Pakistan for talks. Unclear what the United States will do.

But what's your reaction?

REP. GREGORY MEEKS (D-NY): Well, I hope negotiations continue. There needs to be a diplomatic resolution to this situation. I don't believe you're going to be able to bomb it out.

I think there is a matter of trust right now. The Iranians don't trust the United States and, of course, we don't trust Iran. And so I think that getting and engaging more of our allies in it so that there's individuals. I thank Pakistan for what it's doing. But you have to negotiate your way out of this and that's going to take sitting down and having real dialogue and conversation, and that could take some time.

[07:40:00]

I would hope that part of the deal that is struck is that the strait is opened while these negotiations take place so that there are thorough negotiations of which both sides can agree and people don't suffer, you know, because of the cost of oil, the cost of fertilizer, and rising costs that are affecting both the American people, of course, as we're feeling right now, and others around the world.

BOLDUAN: You mentioned time. President Trump has now said that he has all the time in the world; Iran doesn't. He told reporters yesterday, "Don't rush me." Every time I see -- every story I see is oh, Trump is under time pressure. He says, "I'm not. You know who is under time pressure? They are."

You have been very loudly opposed to the president's war, of course, but do you agree with his assessment that he has the time and the leverage?

MEEKS: No, I don't. I think that he's running this war as if it's a reality TV show. You don't negotiate that way. Every time he opens his mouth or goes by tweets -- you know, his tweets, things always go awry and it's like he is trying to use this as for entertainment purposes. You see the kind of language that he's using and things of that nature. That hurts negotiations. It doesn't help negotiations.

He should be with his -- you know, ordinarily you would have a strong State Department advising and experts talking back and forth figuring out how you -- and what your strategic -- strategically what you're planning. You would also see that members of Congress would be engaged privately. The committees of interest talking to one another and knowing what the game plan is strategically. But none of that is happening.

So it's reminding me -- you know, I get really concerned because it seems as though that he's using some of the same plan that Russia has and is saying some of the same things and doing some of the same things that Russia has done in Ukraine. And, you know, we all thought that was going to be over in two weeks and here we are in year four and it's still going on.

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

MEEKS: And, you know, Russia was this big power but these drones and everything else that Ukraine was -- is using, now we see Iran having some of the same things.

So it needs real serious negotiations, and I think that we do need our partners involved in this also.

BOLDUAN: What the president is doing in Iran is leading more Democrats to talk more and more about trying to impeach President Trump again.

Axios has new reporting out this morning saying this. "A cohort of resistance-minded House Democrats is pushing their colleagues to begin building the case against President Trump now in anticipation of a day 1 impeachment vote if they retake the House."

And folks are on the record.

Delia Ramirez saying that "The party should build the case up so that we are -- when we are in power in January, we've created the conditions. We've done the fact-checking, we've done the shadow hearings, everything we need to be able to impeach Trump."

Congresswoman Ansari of Arizona said that the -- "...that if the Democrats recapture the House, the push for impeachment is going to be overwhelming."

One of the last times you were on you were talking to my colleague John and you said essentially that you don't have time for this kind of talk at this point. What do you say to this now?

MEEKS: No. I think my focus is getting the prices down. The American people are suffering at the gas pump. They're suffering at the grocery store. They're suffering with reference to health care. I think that's what the American people want us to do.

BOLDUAN: I mean, you're saying these -- members of Congress aren't focused on that because of their focus here?

MEEKS: No. I'm just saying that my -- I think that what we need to focus because we've -- you know, look, Democrats have impeached Donald Trump twice, but they don't have the votes in the Senate, so what happens?

So I think that what we should be focused on -- I think that we hold him accountable, yes. But I think they are really talking about is it accountability of Donald Trump and his actions and there's ways that we can make sure that we're holding him accountable.

If we are in charge, for example -- you know, in my committee now I try to get witnesses and -- like Kushner and like Witkoff so that we can talk about it and hold them accountable for what they do. They're not -- that's not being done now. As well as on the intel committee, as well as on armed services.

We need to make sure that this president is held accountable, and I think that we will be able to do that in the majority through our committees and that would be the immediate focus of which we have. And so -- and be able to count and move -- make sure that we move forward in that regards.

BOLDUAN: Congressman Greg Meeks was and is still -- he's not ready to talk impeachment yet again.

It's good to see you, Congressman. Thank you for coming in. I appreciate your time.

As you see there, live pictures. We're waiting for this Pentagon briefing to begin -- sorry -- J.B.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And then live pictures of John Berman right here.

BOLDUAN: Sorry.

BERMAN: For the first time, the FDA has approved a gene therapy for inherited hearing loss. The treatment is for children born with the rare genetic mutation. It affects about 50 babies born each year in the United States but the results really just miraculous.

CNN medical correspondent Meg Tirrell spoke with a mother whose son can now hear.

[07:45:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MEG TIRRELL CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: A year ago this little boy, Miles, could hear almost nothing but now his life is filled with sound.

KERRI, MILES' MOTHER: He loves music and dancing, and running around. I never thought this would be possible.

What did the leopard say?

MILES, RECEIVED GENE THERAPY FOR HEARING LOSS: Rahhh.

KERRI: To find out that your baby is profoundly deaf is just so scary. And I remember sitting in that room. It was dark and I just started sobbing, yeah -- and it was really the start of our journey.

TIRRELL: Miles was born with a rare genetic mutation in a gene known as OTOF. It's so rare only about 50 kids are born with it each year in the United States. But it turned out there was a clinical trial going on of a completely new way of treating this kind of hearing loss. Miles' parents signed him up.

In results from about five months after the treatment, 11 out of 12 participants had improvements in their hearing, six could hear soft speech, and three had essentially normal hearing. Now that therapy made by the company Regeneron has just received FDA approval.

So how does it work? Well, it's called gene therapy. It involves using a harmless virus to deliver a working copy of a gene directly into the inner ear to fix the faulty mutation that's causing Miles' hearing loss. For his family the results were incredible.

KERRI: He didn't like music. He wouldn't sit for stories. He would try to interact with his siblings to the best of his abilities but, you know, it was hard for him. And then after the surgery we quickly started to realize that his hearing was coming back.

What is that?

MILES: (INAUDIBLE).

KERRI: On one of the days they were heading to school I was, like, Miles, I love you. And he would have his back to me. He turned right around and he went (kiss) and blew me a kiss. I was like you heard me. You heard me say that and you blew me a kiss. It's just amazing.

TIRRELL: The new gene therapy is the first-ever for hearing loss and though Miles' condition is rare the hope is that this will lead to more breakthroughs that can extend the kinds of benefits that Miles has experienced to many more people.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TIRRELL: I've seen this video so many times, John, and I'm still, like, tearing up watching it. It's just such great news. In medicine you don't often see this kind of just dramatic benefit so quickly. And what's really remarkable about this also John is the company

behind it, Regeneron -- typically, these kinds of rare disease one- time treatments can cost millions of dollars per patient. They announced yesterday they're making it available for free for all children in the U.S. So just a great story.

BERMAN: Miles might be my new favorite person.

TIRRELL: Mine, too.

BERMAN: I mean, like, he's adorable.

TIRRELL: I know.

BERMAN: The smiles there -- they're Central Casting. I'm so happy for him and his family. Oh, a lovely story. Thank you so much, Meg.

TIRRELL: Thank you.

BERMAN: Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right. Coming up for us -- you also just took randomly live pictures of Kate Bolduan in the middle of that. I was like hello, everyone.

For the first time this weekend President Trump is going to attend the White House Correspondents' Dinner while in office. What's changed? We will see.

And a wild crash at 140 miles per hour. How long the man behind the wheel will now spend behind bars for all of this.

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[07:52:35]

BERMAN: All right, tomorrow night in Washington, the White House Correspondents' Dinner. Donald Trump will attend for the first time as president. It is a celebration of free speech and journalism. And one key question is what the president will say when he speaks given that he regularly goes after journalists, including yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: What do you say to the American people who question how much longer this will take? Obviously, you know, that they are having higher --

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You are such a disgrace. Did you hear what I just said? Vietnam -- how many years was Vietnam?

REPORTER: Sir, would you use a nuclear weapon against Iran?

TRUMP: Why do I need it? Why would a stupid question like that be asked? TRUMP: Go ahead. Go ahead.

REPORTER: If there's nothing incriminating in the files, sir, why not --

TRUMP: Quiet. Quiet, piggy.

REPORTER: Why wait for Congress to release the Epstein files? Why not just do it now?

TRUMP: You know, it's not the question that I mind, it's your attitude. I think you are a terrible reporter. You're a terrible person and a terrible reporter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, some of that was yesterday; some of that obviously well before.

With us now, CNN chief media analyst Brian Stelter. Brian, what are you expecting tomorrow night?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Well, his daughter-in-law Lara Trump says the president plans to do some roasting, and that's no surprise. The president knows what it's like to be roasted from that stage.

As legend has it, he attended the 2011 White House Correspondents' Dinner. He listened to Barack Obama and Seth Meyers make fun of him and then he doubled down on his plans to run for president. Now, the reality of that story is a little more complicated but certainly that 2011 dinner was unforgettable. The president -- the now president was just the butt of jokes back then and he's probably going to want to turn the tables tomorrow.

And yes, he is probably going to engage in some press criticism because he's been doing that ever since he started running for president, and that's going to create a very interesting and very awkward scene inside the ballroom. Will some journalists stand up and walk out? Will some sit all through it and laugh along with the jokes? Well, we're going to find out.

I heard, John, that you might be co-anchoring the coverage here on CNN tomorrow night, so if I get tired of all the parties this weekend, I'll just go home and watch on TV.

But, you know, some politicos have accepted the invite to the dinner this year after boycotting throughout his time as president in prior years because he wants to spike the football because he views it as a victory lap of sorts.

On the other hand, you know, I've heard a lot of White House beat reporters argue that Trump showing up tomorrow night is actually a concession of sorts -- an acknowledgment of the Press Corps enduring power. Because despite all the threats and all the taunts from the president the daily work of the Press Corps continues to be done day in and day out.

[07:55:07]

So, John, it's complicated.

BERMAN: Indeed, it is.

What's some of the reaction you've heard from journalists around the country, Brian?

STELTER: It depends on whether you're attending the dinner or you're not. We've heard from veteran journalists who are pointedly not attending the dinner who say that this event should not be going on in the Trump era because of Trump's anti-democratic assaults on the press.

A letter signed by more than 250 journalists and some press advocacy groups said the event is a really important toast to the First Amendment and Trump's presence there is "a profound contradiction of its purpose." Here is part of the letter. It says, "These are not normal times, and this cannot be business as usual with the press standing up to applaud the man who attacks them on a daily basis."

But to the extent the viewers see applause tomorrow night it will be either for the institution of the presidency or more broadly for the role of the press in the country, and that is something that is worth toasting once a year.

But look, we've never seen a White House Correspondents' Dinner like this before because Trump has never attended as president before, So it will be very, very interesting to see what happens.

And am I right? Can we watch you tomorrow night?

BERMAN: You, in fact, are correct on that, Brian Stelter. You can watch for yourself. Everyone can judge what the president does, what he says. How important he believes free speech is. CNN's coverage of the White House Correspondents' Dinner begins tomorrow night at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. I am anchoring alongside Laura Coates, and special guest star Sara Sidner reporting from the red carpet.

SIDNER: Really? Special guest star? That's the nicest thing you have ever or will ever say to me.

BERMAN: It's true. It's the highlight of the night.

SIDNER: Oh, yes.

BERMAN: It's the highlight. It's pretty serious.

SIDNER: I will send everyone to sleep.

Anyhoo, all right. This is a Hollywood movie-style crash except it's terrifyingly real. New video shows what happens when a drunk driving suspect decides to gun it hitting speeds of 140 miles per hour, police say. You can see the car somersault after crashing into a roundabout -- look at that -- over and over and over again. It happened in north Yorkshire in the U.K.

Police say they were pursuing the driver of the BMW and when the driver got to that roundabout the suspect lost control. Apparently, the suspect survived and is -- has been charged.

All right, a mother's work never done. Beary cute scenes out of California. Two little bear cubs playing around get into a pickle.

One of the cubs accidentally falls into a storm drain. Neighbors and local animal rescue then lured that little guy out of there using food while the other bear cub is stuck in a tree. And the mom keeps going up there to nurse her baby. Authorities say they've been monitoring this for a long time but hope that the little cub will eventually learn from its mom how to climb down. Get down from there.

All right, CNN's Manu Raju is known for his excellent work chasing after lawmakers on Capitol Hill. He's also known to be a pretty cool dad. He took his kiddos to work on Thursday, even letting them take over his job for a bit to ask some good questions to minority leader Hakeem Jeffries.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANU RAJU'S DAUGHTER: Why do voters do Democrats so poorly?

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): Oh. Did your dad give you that question? It's a great question in that -- I'm going to have words with you after this, Manu.

MANU RAJU'S SON: Um, so --

JEFFRIES: What is this about? A question that our dad said?

MANU RAJU'S SON: Well, actually, it is a question that my dad told me to ask.

JEFFRIES: This is truth coming to --

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Go ahead.

MANU RAJU'S SON: He told me it yesterday night.

Would you have voted to expel Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick?

JEFFRIES: So you did a great job pronouncing her name.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Listen, those kids are learning from the best. And you know what's great about this, Kate, is that when a child asks a question to these politicians, they have to answer it because they look like bad guys --

BOLDUAN: I mean --

SIDNER: -- if they don't answer. BOLDUAN: Did you not hear Jeffries?

SIDNER: I know.

BOLDUAN: He's like, Manu. Here's my artful dodge to not have to speak to adorable children.

SIDNER: So --

BOLDUAN: I mean, I read this last night and that's the first time I --

SIDNER: So good.

BOLDUAN: -- actually saw it. It's so much better --

SIDNER: So good.

BOLDUAN: -- to see it. I love it. I am -- you do not want to hear my daughters anchor this show. No, you do not.

SIDNER: Yes, we do. Delphine?

BOLDUAN: I'm sorry, Auntie Sara.

SIDNER: It's a comedy show.

BOLDUAN: You know. You guys should see. Sara is the best influence. She says she's taking them to the restroom and then comes back with Doritos, chocolate, and sodas at 7:00 a.m.

SIDNER: What's wrong with that? That's what I eat?

BOLDUAN: That's why you are the favorite aunt. That's why you're the favorite aunt. It goes without saying.

OK, let's turn to this now. It is almost certainly a sign of the times. The parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp says that it plans to lay off roughly 10 percent of its workforce now. That's about 8,000 people losing their job in the next month.