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Pentagon Press Briefing; Pentagon Gives a War Update; Wildfires in Georgia; William Cohan and Tyler Maroney are Interviewed about Bitcoin's Founder. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired April 24, 2026 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: The world saw people hanging to planes as we -- as we fled. That deserves a full accounting, which is exactly what we're doing. Sean Parnell, our chief spokesman, one of my senior advisors, has been leading that effort, getting to the bottom of it. And one of the revelations was that those Marines at Abbey Gate, who showed courage, who were out there exposed, knew there was a threat, nebulous mission, the only gate that's open, did not receive the kind of proper recognition they should have for their heroism.

So, one of the early results of this Afghan review is to ensure they get the due recognition and award they deserve for the heroism and courage they showed at that gate. Despite the bad decisions of this building and that administration, those Marines acted heroically, and we're going to recognize them for that.

Jared (ph), thank you.

Yes, right here.

REPORTER: Thank you. Michael Casey with "O'Keefe Media Group."

Earlier this week, James O'Keefe published a story on Department of Army Nuclear Chief Andrew Hugg, who revealed top secret national security information to a stranger he met on a dating app. Will you defer Mr. Hugg for termination and prosecution and --

HEGSETH: Yes, he won't work here anymore.

REPORTER: And given the revelations will --

HEGSETH: That's an easy one.

REPORTER: Will any changes be made to the current anti-espionage training for all Department of War employees now given this --

HEGSETH: Well, we're always on the lookout for CIA threats, any internal threats, anyone talking out of school about things they should not. We take leaking very seriously here, informally or formally, which is why some of the reporting done by some of the people in here is incredibly problematic. They're willing to publish things based on classified information that would potentially harm those in harm's way. And we think them doing so is incredibly irresponsible and unpatriotic. And I would encourage members of the press to think twice about the lives they're affecting when they publish things in their public -- in their publications, like "The New York Times."

Yes. Right here.

REPORTER: Mr. Chairman, was the Touska carrying dual use equipment to China.

REPORTER: Sir. I'm sorry, the question's right here.

REPORTER: Thank you. Ryan Morgan with "The Epoch Times."

Earlier this week, on that topic, there was a report, I believe, with "The Washington Post," that the Pentagon had briefed Congress that it could take up to six months to fully sweep the Strait of Hormuz for mines. I was wondering if you could comment a little bit more on the specifics of the timeline, the range of time that it could take, and then just a general idea of how many -- how many mines have been placed?

HEGSETH: We would not speculate on a timeline. I saw that report. It was based on, again, another leak from a closed-door session, which was supposed to be classified. And apparently, allegedly, that was something that was said about we feel confident in our ability in the correct period of time to clear any mines that we identify and would encourage other countries to be a part of such an effort as well. But we're tracking that very closely.

Mr. Chairman, do you want to add anything to that?

GEN. DAN CAINE, CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS: No, sir. I think you covered it.

HEGSETH: OK.

Right here.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: You've been watching a briefing from the Pentagon. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, along with the chair of the Joint Chiefs, Dan Caine.

I will say, they gave a bit of an update on the blockade of Iranian ports and Iranian vessels and vessels leaving Iranian ports, saying it is complete. And obviously, the Iranians, they say, cannot move in or out of the Strait of Hormuz.

Other than that, not much else in this briefing other than to say, the defense secretary, that Iran has a chance at this point to make a deal. And certainly no news there bigger than the news we learned just before, that Iran is sending a delegation to Islamabad for what should be the next round of negotiations.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, let's go ahead and bring in CNN's national security analyst Beth Sanner, as we continue to sort of monitor what the secretary is saying. Give us some sense. When you -- when you heard him say, this war has a clear mission, clear objectives, and ultimately Iran will not have nuclear weapons, do we know that at this point?

BETH SANNER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, I mean, clearly this is what the president said as well yesterday. So, he is repeating this idea that the entire shebang now, in terms of the war aim, is no nuclear weapons for Iran. And, you know, the question is, given that the nuclear program was significantly, you know, close to obliterated, it's hard to completely remove a nuclear program before this war and, in fact, hardly any strikes were taken against the nuclear program during this war. And so, it kind of begs a question of, you know, what was actually accomplished? What kind of deal are we going to be able to get on the nuclear issue?

And I suspect the reporting that Nic has about Araghchi, the foreign minister, coming to Pakistan is, they need to talk at a lower level about the basic U.S. demand that was put on the table on, this is what we want you to agree as the baseline on the nuclear program. My view on that is that it was too maximalist for them to say yes on, and it was part of the reason that they didn't show up. So, I think we're now going to be negotiating on that issue.

[08:35:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. And, Beth, one thing that has become evident in the last -- especially in the last 24 hours, in how the president is talking and that he now longer -- no longer wants to put a timeline on anything, saying that he is not feeling the pressure. You heard from Pete Hegseth here that he said -- making the case that the United States is who is now in control of this -- of the Strait of Hormuz. Any -- he -- the way he put it is, we are in control, nothing in, nothing out, when it comes to the blockade. And Brett McGurk had said yesterday that this is becoming a story of two blockades. Kind of like this -- in terms of -- in reality, but also just in the narrative of who really is in control, which is kind of like a fascinating moment here.

SANNER: It is. So, I mean, I think of this kind of like, you know, we are beyond the Strait and we've got the net, right? We can stop anything going in or going out. But the pirates, the IRGC, actually have, you know, an asymmetric threat. And that threat has reverberations beyond when we begin or end the blockade, because what they are telling the world is that they can stop any ship in the future from going anywhere near, regardless of whether the United States is there or not. And what we responded was, well, we don't really care about that. Those were random ships. No, those were ships from the largest commercial shipping company in the world for bulk carriers. And they're not random. They're European ships. And if they can -- if they can intercept those in the future and we don't care, you know, we're basically ceding control of the Strait to the Iranians.

BERMAN: Obviously, the discussion over the Straits is something, no doubt, that will come up in Islamabad, or at least a discussion about how to discuss them if this is now going back to a -- sort of a lower level range of talks. We will see shortly.

Beth Sanner, great to see you. Thank you very much.

Obviously, were covering a lot of breaking news, trying to get a better understanding of this Iranian delegation headed to Islamabad. We'll be right back.

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[08:41:45]

BOLDUAN: So, we're getting some new video in showing a massive tornado that hit in Oklahoma overnight. And that one, not the only one reported. Just take a look at the sheer size of this. And storm chasers captured two tornadoes, actually, on the ground at the same time. More than 15 tornadoes were reported across Oklahoma, Kansas, and Iowa.

And this morning, as the sun comes up, the damage is coming into sharper focus. Entire neighborhoods just shredded from these storms. At least 11 people were injured. And we know at least one of the tornadoes was on the ground for about 30 minutes.

Vance Air Force Base in Oklahoma now closed today because of power and water issues coming from -- stemming from these storms.

And meanwhile, it's -- dry weather across the southeast continues to fuel the fire dangers there. At least 87 homes now have been destroyed from the wildfires in south Georgia.

Let's get to CNN's Derek Van Dam, who is on the ground there covering this story, and all of it for us.

What are you seeing now today, Derek?

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, Kate, it's like a scene out of a horror movie here in Brantley County. It's almost otherworldly. You can just see the smoldering remains behind us. There are still these hot spots around the area that had already burned, not to mention the forward flank of this fire that continues to burn this morning. Fifty- five hundred acres, 87 structures have been destroyed, with about 1,000 still threatened through the course of the day today.

We had this scene this morning, almost a super fog that formed here. We had the mixture of fog and the pollutants from the smoke and the burning chemicals and plastic here mixing together. And it just sat very heavy. Now that the sun has come up, it's kind of burned off the fog aspect of it and now we just smell the burning, you know, remains of these charred buildings behind me.

I just want to show you around. This is already the scorched landscape that the Highway 82 Fire has left behind. There were some homes and structures here. Burned out vehicles.

Yesterday we were part of a media briefing by authorities here on the ground. And just during that span of roughly an hour, we watched as the winds picked up, changed directions and this fire exploded in size right before our eyes, creating this plume of smoke and a pyrocumulus cloud, which, talking to authorities, that actually has the ability to be so hot that it can create its own weather and shift the winds. And that's what's making it so challenging for the firefighters on the ground.

But during that press briefing, we also witnessed them deploying the air tankers, large air tankers, and the Chinook helicopters with buckets of water, trying to douse the forward flank of the fire, preventing it from spreading even further with that strong wind coming from the south pushing it in. That was the sea breeze. Remember, we're so close to the Atlantic Ocean here that as the surface of the ground heats, we get the temperature differential between the ocean and the ground.

[08:45:02]

And so it creates that wind effect, the sea breeze. Then we cool down at night and the wind shift changes again, but it goes in the opposite direction. So, it pushes the forward flank of the fire in an opposite direction. So, that is the challenges that firefighters and authorities have on the ground here, trying to figure out, OK, where are those next hotspots going to flare up as it is just a complete tinderbox around here.

I mean, Stu (ph), if you don't mind just panning around. Look at how dry and moisture starved this vegetation is. That is like having matchbooks just at your disposal. It doesn't take more than a single spark to ignite an extremely dangerous wildfire. And that is exactly what happened here in Brantley County. Not to mention the other 20 large active wildfires fueled by this drought across the southeast.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes, absolutely.

Derek, thank you so much. We really appreciate it. A lot going on here, J.B.

BERMAN: All right, one of the biggest mysteries in modern finance, who created bitcoin? And as a result, might be worth as much as $80 billion. A new documentary claims to crack the case.

And this might be the ultimate destination wedding. One word for you, Antarctica.

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[08:50:08]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Las Vegas Raiders select Fernando Mendoza, quarterback, Indiana.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SIDNER: The Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza's great year, even greater, after being selected number one overall to the Los Angeles Raiders in the NFL. Oh, excuse me, the Las Vegas Raiders. Wow, that was a throwback to a time that you probably don't remember. The Hoosiers helped his team clinch their first national championship this past season with a perfect 16-0 record. Rounds two and three of the draft will take place tonight in Pittsburgh before wrapping up with the last four rounds on Saturday.

All right, police in West Palm Beach, Florida, apprehended an unlikely suspect. Video showing an officer grabbing an angry alligator by the snout with his bare hands. Because this is Florida, people. Another officer quickly steps in. You hear -- see that, to help secure the gator. The department posted the video saying, good policing means being ready for anything, even when it has scales and a serious attitude.

All right, also on our radar, a couple who met and fell in love in the icy landscape of Antarctica returned years later for their wedding. The couple met in 2014 while working on a base in Antarctica, and now, 12 years later, they are returning to the place where they first fell in love to have their religious wedding ceremony. And this time they had their children by their side. That's sweet.

John.

BERMAN: That's a wonderful story and quite a destination.

All right, a new documentary looks to uncover one of the biggest mysteries in finance, who is Satoshi Nakamoto, the purported creator of bitcoin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM COHAN, INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST: Satoshi creates one of the most groundbreaking financial innovations in decades, and he disappears.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoever Satoshi is, that's not the name on their birth certificate.

TYLER MARONEY, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR, QUEST RESEARCH AND INVESTIGATIONS: Satoshi completely disappears. No post on any of the forums, no emails, no transactions on the blockchain.

COHAN: Satoshi Nakamoto is worth billions of dollars. To not touch that wealth, that's not human nature.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: With me now are two guys you saw just there, and really the stars of this documentary, investigative journalist William Cohan and private investigator Tyler Maroney.

And guys, first of all, it really is a riveting documentary. The world's kind of split into two groups, one who knows exactly who,

you know, the idea of Satoshi Nakamoto is and the other who have no idea what you're talking about there, right? But for those who don't know, explain who this figure is, allegedly, or at least, you know, the idea of it and why it's so important to find out.

WILLIAM COHAN, INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST: All right, I'll try, Tyler. And then if I goof, you step in.

He's the, you know, purportedly to be the creator of bitcoin, a digital currency, digital gold, a newfangled way to engage in financial transactions that was created in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. In October of that year, Satoshi Nakamoto wrote, quote/unquote, a white paper that sort of laid out bitcoin. And since then, it's been a phenomenon I would say. At one point it was worth $120,000 per bitcoin. Now it's worth about 77. It started out at pennies. So, it's a -- it's absolutely a phenomenon, which you're right, most people don't know what it's about.

BERMAN: And the idea is, literally no one knew for sure, until maybe the end of your documentary, who this person was. I mean how did you go about trying to track this individual down?

TYLER MARONEY, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR, QUEST RESEARCH AND INVESTIGATIONS: So, first of all, Bill interviewed dozens and dozens of investors and other sort of people who are using bitcoin. It seems like a natural group of people to talk to. And then I spent a lot of time talking to cryptographers, sort of computer scientists who create security and privacy systems. And this is the world that we suspect and now know that Satoshi came out of.

And the reason that's important is that this became an origin story. It was history. It was like digital paleontology going back a generation to learn that Satoshi's motives were originally kind of libertarian in a sense. That bitcoin was created to allow people to transact in private, which is a very different technology than we have today. So, it's evolved.

BERMAN: Actually, that's one of the biggest things that I took away from this documentary, the mystery and the problem solving you guys did, but also about this industry and this field and the sort of disparate forces that built it to begin with. Just talk to me a little bit about that.

COHAN: Well, again, it grew out of cryptography, you know, secrecy. People who did not want to be found. People who wanted to go about their lives, who felt that perhaps the government, shockingly, was maybe being to intrusive into their lives and wanted to create financial transactions away from the prying eyes of banks or central authorities. And so, they created this way to do that.

[08:55:00]

BERMAN: And one of the things I should also make clear is, this person or persons, in parentheses, would be worth, you know, billions and billions of dollars -- COHAN: Eighty.

BERMAN: Because they had a stash of bitcoin that has never been touched, really, and never been moved?

MARONEY: Yes. So, I mean, this is why the history project was so important, is that one of the things we learned is that, when bitcoin was created, it had no value. Value was later imposed on it by exchanges and others. So, it didn't -- it wasn't a currency in the sense that we think of it today.

And so, the original mining, which is the process by which new bitcoins are created and verified, most of our sources explain to us that that process was more about making sure the system, the machine they built was actually working, not about creating value.

BERMAN: All right, we have just about 45 seconds left. Sort of I want you to give away the ending in a way, but there's still so much mystery here. What did you end up discovering about who this person is and how did you find out?

COHAN: I'm going to let Tyler spill the beans on this.

BERMAN: OK. OK.

MARONEY: So, our conclusion is that it was two people working together, and their names are Hal Finney and Len Sassaman, who were cypherpunks, meaning they were mathematicians in the 1990s who cared a lot about privacy. And they worked together to create this beautiful technology.

BERMAN: And part of it was broken by an interview you did with one of their spouses. And, of course, these people are both no longer with us.

COHAN: Which explains, frankly, why no one has touched their one million bitcoins, which makes sense, which is why I said it was not human nature that someone would have a fortune this big and not touch it.

BERMAN: It's a wonderful documentary. I promise everyone, if you watch it, you're going to learn a ton. And once you watch, you'll also realize how controversial this all is. And maybe the new debate that the documentary is set off by people who say, you guys are dead wrong, which only makes it more interesting, right?

COHAN: Of course.

BERMAN: All right, great to see you. Congratulations to both of you.

COHAN: Yes. Thank you, John.

BERMAN: We do have a lot of breaking news this morning on Iran. We are learning new details just in about this new round of talks. Much more just ahead.

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