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FDA Fast-Tracks Psychedelic Research; Jerome Powell Investigation Dropped; Iran Talks Set to Resume. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired April 24, 2026 - 13:00   ET

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

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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Tensions over talks. The White House sending envoys to Pakistan for new talks. Vice President Vance is on standby. So can the two sides bridge the gap between Tehran and Washington?

Plus: the Powell probe dropped. The Justice Department closing its criminal investigation into the Fed chair and the Central Bank's renovation project, a move that now clears the way for President Trump's new pick to be confirmed.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And summit push paused. A huge block of ice is getting in the way of hundreds of climbers who are ready to start climbing the world's tallest mountain.

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

SANCHEZ: Hello, and thank you so much for joining us. I'm Boris Sanchez, alongside Brianna Keilar. And we're coming to you live from our nation's capital, where the U.S. attorney just made a huge decision about Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

Jeanine Pirro is dropping the criminal investigation into whether Powell misled Congress about the renovation project at Fed headquarters. Her announcement comes after Republican pressure, including from a pivotal senator promising to block Trump's new pick unless the Powell case was dropped.

Powell has repeatedly said that the investigation was politicized.

KEILAR: And, last month, the federal judge quashed Pirro's subpoenas, stating in his ruling that they were an attempt -- quote -- "to harass and pressure Powell either to yield to the president or to resign and make way for a Fed chair who will."

Just two days ago, Pirro said she would not drop the case, despite presenting zero evidence of wrongdoing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JEANINE PIRRO, U.S. ATTORNEY FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: The cost overruns on that building are well over a billion dollars. This investigation continues. I am in the legal lane. There are others who are in the political lane. I don't intersect those two lanes. I am going forward.

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KEILAR: We're joined now by former federal prosecutor Berit Berger.

Berit, what's your reaction to this announcement?

BERIT BERGER, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: I mean, it's surprising to see DOJ walk away from an investigation that they had been very public about and one in which the president had seemed to be encouraging.

However, given Judge Boasberg's decision last month, essentially saying that prosecutors couldn't get the grand jury subpoenas that they were asking for because they hadn't presented any actual evidence that there was a crime that had been committed, I guess the writing may have been on the wall, given the judge's decision there.

It's interesting to hear Jeanine Pirro saying that she retains the right to bring charges in the future if the inspector general returns anything. You know, I think that's probably not likely to happen here. I think, if they had had some sort of evidence that there had been a crime committed, they probably would have brought charges in the first place.

SANCHEZ: Theoretically, though, if there were some evidence to pop up, what would it need to look like to restart a criminal investigation like this?

BERGER: Yes, so the -- from the outset, this investigation was focused on misstatements that Powell was alleged to have made to Congress about this renovation project.

These are incredibly hard cases to bring, because you have to show that he intentionally lied to Congress about something that was material. You can't just find a slight mistake in his words or something that he may have slipped up in. You have to have that criminal intent element.

So, unless they were able to uncover additional evidence that they were not able to present last month to Judge Boasberg, if they were able to find that, they could theoretically bring a case against him for these misstatements.

But the inspector general will do a review. They have been doing a review. This is not a new inquiry. The I.G. has publicly said that they have already been looking into this. So the I.G. could theoretically bring either civil matter or refer this to federal prosecutors if they found some evidence of criminal intent here.

KEILAR: And we hear Pirro saying that she doesn't really cross the streams with the political. She's in the legal lane. She's saying that.

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But, of course, the backdrop of all of this is that you have a senator who is refusing to confirm the president's pick for the new chair, unless DOJ drops this, and you have this big hearing, and then all of a sudden this is dropped.

I wonder if you really are seeing judicial independence here or independence from her office, or if you do see the political interference.

BERGER: Well, I think, right from the get-go, there's been political interference with this investigation.

You had the president who had been berating Powell for months before DOJ announced this investigation, trying to get him to lower interest rates. And, so, many said that this investigation was merely an attempt for the president to try to impose his will on the Fed, really taking away some of the independence that the Fed has historically enjoyed.

So I think that this investigation, right from the beginning, has been plagued with sort of sting of politics, and certainly the context in which it's been dropped now doesn't help that.

KEILAR: Yes.

Berit, thank you so much for your analysis. We appreciate it.

And let's go now to our breaking news on the war with Iran. Two Trump administration officials tell CNN President Trump is sending special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, who's a key negotiator, to Pakistan to participate in peace talks with Iran's foreign minister, right now, Vice President J.D. Vance not planning to attend, given that Iran's speaker of Parliament, who is considered Vance's counterpart, is not taking part in the negotiations.

We're told Vance will be on standby if talks do progress. We're also learning details on how the U.S. military is drawing up new strike plans if the current cease-fire with Iran ultimately falls apart. The plans call for a much more concentrated bombing campaign around the Strait of Hormuz and other key waterways, targeting Iranian assets like small fast boat -- fast boats that have been making attacks, or certainly threatening to, and minelaying ships.

We're joined now by retired U.S. Army Major General James "Spider" Marks.

How are you seeing this, General, news that Witkoff and Kushner, without the vice president, are traveling to Pakistan?

BRIG. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I think what this really speaks to is the notion that Iran is not sending its primary engagement partner, if you will, to link up with Vice President Vance. And what you have going forward is an opportunity to really get their

arms around the defining issue in this fight, which is highly enriched uranium. That is the red line that we're not prepared to cross and they're not prepared to cross.

So, in order to move forward with some type of existing or a new relationship with Iran that does not entail the dynamic targeting, like you just -- potentially that dynamic targeting that might take place, is, you have got to take the highly enriched uranium piece and kind of move it to the side and say, look, OK, this isn't going away.

But there are a whole bunch of other things we can do right now to unscrew a number of problems, but we have got to be able to focus on that. So I think this is taking the highly enriched uranium, moving it to the side. That's what Kushner and Witkoff will address as those other pieces fall into place with next step options.

KEILAR: So, as you're looking at a real asymmetry here with these small boats that can do so much damage, these Iranian boats, even as Iran's navy has been decimated, what should the U.S. plan, the targeting, look like to target those small attack boats?

MARKS: Well, the key thing is freedom of navigation through the straits. That's number one. The Navy has the capacity to do that, has the ability to do that, is doing that right now. We're boarding ships that pose problems, that aren't communicating clearly with the U.S. Navy craft.

So they're being boarded by Marines. Marines are doing an absolutely superb job. That doesn't speed up the process of exiting the strait. It's a very deliberate, very disciplined process, but it's not like uncorking the straits.

These small boats that the Iranians have clearly act on mission orders. They may not be in direct command-and-control with any naval operational headquarters. They're not. So they're operating on what they understand the intent to be, which is to be disruptive and to have a presence.

The U.S. Navy has every opportunity now and right to go after these ships. I would see that when the U.S. Navy identifies these small craft that are about to engage with tankers, which they have done before, or the assumption is they're going to lay mines into the straits, the Navy's going to act. They will target those ships and go after them.

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KEILAR: When you hear the president emphasizing the lack of a timeline here, there's obviously a desire on the part of negotiators to make some progress there.

He's saying, don't rush me. But you also have the third U.S. aircraft carrier in the region, the president ordering to shoot minelaying ships, Secretary of Defense Hegseth emphasizing that U.S. troops remain locked and loaded. How are you seeing all of that? MARKS: All of that is necessary preparation. I mean, that needs to be

done. We would expect that to be done.

I think the thing we have to -- we have to look at this challenge that we have right now through the lens of, what has the United States been able to accomplish over the course of six-plus weeks in terms of Epic Fury and the targets that they have serviced in Iran? It's phenomenal. It's absolutely unprecedented what we have been able to achieve.

Simultaneously, what's unprecedented is the ability of the Iranian regime, as screwed up and naked as it is, upside down, who's in charge kind of a deal, they're still incredibly resilient. So the application of more military force should lead you to the conclusion that we're really not going to move these guys off the dime.

I think they're going to continue to shoot us the bird. They're going to continue to stall. They're going to go to Pakistan. And it's going to be a new group of folks showing up so they can't strike a deal. That's exactly what they want.

The key to this is, let's get the traffic flowing, maintain the blockade, make it very difficult on the regime economically. That has a much longer tail in terms of results. But they will be able to feel that. That, I think, is the approach, diplomacy and economics at this point, with the incredible threat and the capability to do some additional damage.

But we have to keep that with our eyes wide open and realize the causality of more military damage and the result we're looking for is not necessarily going to be there.

KEILAR: General, how real is the possibility of a resumption of just an all-out conflict again at this point?

MARKS: Wow. I mean, it could happen. Again, I don't -- I think we'd have to measure, what is it we're trying to achieve?

And, right now, what we have not heard clearly is, what is that strategic end state? But we have neutered their nuke capability, their missile capability, and their proxies. And those are the three red lines. We need to stay on those things like white on rice and just make it very difficult.

So I would hope this would be a transition to a more sustained engagement against those targets. If it was an all-out challenge or an all-out air tasking order, we're going to go back and start hitting all these targets, again, I don't think we know exactly what the result is going to be.

I would have to assume they're still going to stand in there and say, they keep hammering us, but we're not going anywhere. So, to answer your question, we have got the capacity. The strategic risk is with all the other combatant commanders, who look at their readiness, mandatory readiness posture.

And it may be getting challenged now because of the use, the stockpiles that all of those combatant commander -- commanders rely on in order to execute their tasks are now being diminished, based on the high op tempo in Iran.

KEILAR: General Spider Marks, thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate it.

And still to come: Psychedelics are now one step closer to being approved to treat mental health disorders. We will have that next.

SANCHEZ: Plus, imagine looking at your plane window and seeing this. We're following the aftermath of the large tornado in Oklahoma that stayed on the ground for more than 30 minutes.

And, later, a block of glacial ice blocking the route to the summit of Mount Everest, stranding hundreds of climbers at base camp -- that story and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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KEILAR: Let's go to the White House, where the press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, has just begun gaggling, as we have gotten word that Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are heading to new negotiations over the Iran war.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) that country?

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Well, look, as you know, and I spoke about it earlier this week, the president was flexible in granting an extension of the cease-fire throughout this time.

The president has decided to dispatch special envoy Witkoff and Jared Kushner back to Islamabad. The Iranians want to talk. They want to talk in person. And so the president is, as I have said, many, many times to all of you, always willing to give diplomacy a chance.

So Steve and Jared will be heading to Pakistan tomorrow to hear the Iranians out. We hope progress will be made and we hope that positive developments will come from this meeting. And we will see. And the president, the vice president, the secretary of state will be waiting here in the United States for updates.

And the vice president, I understand, is on standby and will be willing to dispatch to Pakistan if we feel it's a necessary use of his time.

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LEAVITT: Go ahead, Kristen (ph).

QUESTION: So the first one on Iran. With this group going, does that mean that you have gotten, the United States has gotten any kind of unified proposal from Iran? Or are they going over there without a proposal from the Iranians? LEAVITT: We have certainly seen some progress from the Iranian side in the last couple of days. Again, the president has made the decision to send Steve and Jared to hear the Iranians out.

And so we will see what they have to say this weekend.

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QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) question on Kash Patel.

Does the president still have full confidence in Kash Patel to lead the FBI?

LEAVITT: The president does still have confidence in the FBI director and in our law and order team to do what they have been doing so well over the course of the last year-and-a-half.

Kristen, and I wish more people would cover it, the crime rates in this country have completely plummeted. We're at a 125-year low in murder rates across this country. You look at what's happened in Washington, D.C., new numbers released, murders are down nearly 60 percent in our nation's capital, which is something I know, as all of us live here, we can be very grateful for.

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So the president is grateful for the efforts of the great men and women of the FBI who are make -- help making this happen.

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LEAVITT: Karen, go ahead.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) Pirro ending the probe...

LEAVITT: Sure.

QUESTION: ... into Jerome Powell, did the president sign off on that? What was his involvement? And why now, after ratcheting up the rhetoric around that (OFF-MIKE)

LEAVITT: As you saw, Judge Jeanine Pirro -- or former Judge Jeanine, U.S. attorney Jeanine now, put out a statement saying that the case is not necessarily dropped. It's just being moved over to the inspector general, who has critical tools at their disposal to continue to look into the financial mismanagement at the Fed.

This has obviously been a priority for the president. If you drive by the Fed building, the president has a point. This is a project that's been going on for a very long time. It's costing taxpayers billions of dollars, and I think it's in the best interest of the taxpayer to get to the bottom of it.

So the investigation still continues. It's just under a different authority, and that's what you will continue to see.

QUESTION: And was the White House (OFF-MIKE) Senator Tillis (OFF- MIKE)

LEAVITT: Not to my knowledge.

I don't know if the White House legislative affairs shop was in touch with the senator, but, as we have always maintained, Senator Tillis should do the right thing and move to confirm Kevin Warsh as speedily as possible. He is a phenomenal candidate to lead the Fed.

And we shouldn't be holding our nation's economy hostage because of a disagreement with the Department of Justice.

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LEAVITT: Go ahead, Penny (ph).

QUESTION: Can you just share with us what led to this reclassification of marijuana that the president just did the other day? There's a lot of stuff on social media (OFF-MIKE). But I was just wondering if you could share kind of the process of what was behind this?

LEAVITT: Sure.

Well, as always, the president hears from a number of people, both inside and outside the administration and, frankly, the American people. If you do look at the public polling on this issue, it is overwhelmingly popular with the vast majority of Americans.

And the rescheduling will lead to more research into cannabis as a drug, especially for those who need it for medical treatment. And so the president was willing to take this step to do that at the behest of the American public, who largely supported it, and many of his health advisers on his team, who he spoke with about it, as you saw them in the Oval Office yesterday discussing it.

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QUESTION: Kara (ph).

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

LEAVITT: Yes. So we did have representatives from both Israel and Lebanon here. There was another extension of that cease-fire, which is another win for the world, for the United States, and again is evidence of President Trump and his team doing a tremendous job at negotiating for peace all across the globe.

So we're very grateful to both Israel and Lebanon for choosing to work together in continuing these conversations, and we hope that there will be a day where we welcome the leaders of both countries.

And, yes, as for tomorrow night, I hope that we will see all of you there. I know the president is very much looking forward to it. I think it's quite fitting that, in our nation's 250th year, the most transparent and accessible president will be attending the White House Correspondents' Dinner for the first time. And his speech will be very entertaining. That is what I will tell you. So everyone should tune in.

And then, finally, on a personal matter, this will likely be my last gaggle for some time. As you can see, I'm about ready to have a baby any minute, so I will see you guys very soon. I know you will be in very good hands with my team here at the White House.

And I know all of you have the president's phone number personally.

(LAUGHTER)

LEAVITT: So I have no doubt that you will have a shortage of statements and news from this building while I'm gone.

So we will see you guys this weekend. Thank you.

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SANCHEZ: We have been listening to Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt gaggling with reporters at the White House, the last gaggle she says she will do for some time, as she is expecting to at any minute deliver a baby.

There, Leavitt asked questions about a number of issues, including on Iran. She says that Iran wants to talk in person. So, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff are heading to Pakistan tomorrow, hoping for positive developments. She said that the vice president, J.D. Vance, who's not going alongside them, remains on standby to dispatch when the White House feels it is necessary.

She maintains that the White House has seen progress from Iran over the last couple of days.

KEILAR: Yes, he stands ready. He's standing by to head out there.

Also, on the investigation of the Fed chair, that was really interesting...

SANCHEZ: Yes.

KEILAR: ... not being moved -- it's not being necessarily dropped. It's being moved over.

But this could also be a case of sort of having it both ways, not wanting to appear that they're dropping this investigation of the current Fed chair, Jerome Powell, because they -- as they're -- as the president really wants to see his nominated new Fed chair, Kevin Warsh, confirmed, there is a Republican senator, Thom Tillis, who's saying, I'm not going to do that unless DOJ drops this investigation.

SANCHEZ: And, to that point, in Pirro's statement, she says -- quote -- "I have directed my office to close our investigation." So make of that what you will.

[13:25:01] KEILAR: Maybe Thom Tillis will be the one who lets us know what's really going on here.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

KEILAR: In the meantime, the Trump administration just took a big step towards potentially approving two experimental psychedelic drugs for use as mental health treatments.

SANCHEZ: And, today, the Food and Drug Administration issued national priority vouchers to companies studying psychedelic-based medicines, fast-tracking a typically monthslong review process.

CNN health reporter Jacqueline Howard joins us now with the latest.

So, Jacqueline, break this down for us. What does this mean?

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Boris and Brianna, what's happening, the FDA issued national priority vouchers to three companies to study these three different approaches.

One voucher is to study psilocybin. That's the active ingredient in magic mushrooms. And it's to study psilocybin as a potential treatment option for people with depression, specifically cases where people did not find relief with traditional therapies.

The second voucher is to study psilocybin as a potential treatment option for major depressive disorder. And then the third voucher is to study methylone. Now, this is a substance similar to ecstasy or MDMA. And this is specifically to consider this as a potential treatment for PTSD.

And, Boris and Brianna, this move is coming just days after President Trump signed an executive order calling for an acceleration in research and a fast-track review process for certain psychedelics.

And the FDA also did another action today, where they say for the first time ever they are allowing for an early phase clinical trial here in the United States to study a derivative of ibogaine as a potential treatment for alcohol use disorder.

Now, ibogaine is a psychedelic that is extracted from the iboga plant in Central Africa. And, in this case, it's being studied as a potential treatment option for alcohol use disorder. But there have been many advocates, specifically some military veterans, who have been calling for ibogaine to be studied as a potential mental health treatment.

So, all of these actions today, Boris and Brianna, they're coming in response to the president's executive order. And we can expect to hear more from the FDA as we see this research and we see this review process moving forward.

SANCHEZ: Jacqueline Howard, thank you so much for the latest there.

Still ahead: A U.S. special forces soldier has just been charged for allegedly betting on the very operation he was involved in. We have the details when we come back.

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