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King Charles And Queen Camilla Head To DC; Keir Starmer Is Less Popular Right Now In The U.K.; Several States Brace For Severe Weather As Tornadoes, Storms, Move To Midwest. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired April 27, 2026 - 09:30   ET

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

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[09:30:14]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, yes, yes. Happening today, a historic royal visit begins. King Charles and Queen Camilla are headed to Washington to kick off a very big trip to the United States. The royals are set to arrive this afternoon for a four-day trip marking America's 250th anniversary.

A trip that is set to include private meetings with President Trump and a rare address by the British monarch before Congress.

CNN's Salma Abdelaziz is in London with more details for us. And what else are you learning about this visit starting today.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, this historic monumental visit, which has been billed as an opportunity to improve relationships between the U.K. and the U.S., which have been strained as of late, of course, Kate, because of President Trump's disagreements with Prime Minister Keir Stammer here over this country's engagement in the Iran war. So, this is a really sensitive time.

And in just a few hours, King Charles will be wading into that, of course, with the Queen. They will arrive at Joint Base Andrews. And then they will go straight to the White House, where they're going to be met by their host, President Trump and the First Lady. They'll have a private tea. They'll have a garden party later on today.

But the main event, the crux of the event, will all take place tomorrow. That's when King Charles is going to address Congress. The last time this was done was in 1990s when his mother, the Queen, addressed Congress.

So, this is really historic, really important opportunity to speak to lawmakers. He's also going to be treated to a formal welcome ceremony at the White House.

And what really stood out, of course, just given the events of the last 24 hours with the White House Correspondents' Dinner is how quickly Buckingham Palace reacted and responded by saying, yes, the visit will go on as planned. Yes, the King will carry on as normal. And that was something that was praised by President Trump in -- in interviews afterwards. He described the King as his friend. He said he looked forward to the state visit. He ensured that he would be safe during this four-day state visit.

And it shows, again, a sense of commitment from the King that he went ahead and had that statement issued just hours again after the event from Buckingham Palace.

The remaining two days will include a visit to New York where he will be meeting with responders and survivors of 9/11. It will be a memorial ceremony as well. And then he'll be on to Virginia.

Now, there's a lot of opportunities here for goodwill. There's going to be a state dinner where President Trump's going to be giving a speech as well. A lot of positive chances, but there's also a lot of possibility for some mess-ups here as well, Kate. The president is, if anything unpredictable. He has had that spat with Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

There is the issue, of course, of the Epstein file, something that his brother, the King's brother, is currently embroiled in investigation. So, this is going to absolutely be a tightrope act for the monarch.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. And it's good to see you, Salma. Thanks for setting it up for us. Really appreciate it.

Sara?

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Thank you, Kate.

President Trump has said he wasn't worried when the sound of gunfire rang out at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.

The president has survived two assassination attempts against him; one in 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania, and another in West Palm Beach, Florida. Still, the president says, he does not believe political violence is any worse now than in the past.

Joining us now is CNN presidential historian Tim Naftali. Is he right?

TIM NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well, I think we have seen since Butler, since the first attempted assassination of the president. At the time, President Trump was former president.

I think since Butler, we've seen about 21 months uh cycle of political violence over the last 21 months that -- that really is, I would argue, unprecedented, certainly in our modern history.

If you think about the assassinations of Brian Thompson, which was done for apparently political reasons, the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the arson, attempted arson at the home of Governor Shapiro, the murder of Melissa Hortman in Minnesota with her husband, and the wounding of a second, at that point, member of the Minnesota legislature. We -- we have seen a cycle of violence, political violence. And I think it's a product of this toxic political culture that we're living in, where differences between us or among us have been turned into an apocalyptic or existential crisis.

And under those circumstances, people that are mentally ill or -- or are weak minded are provoked, can be provoked into using violence to resolve what they see as the great problems of our society.

[09:35:00]

It's a very difficult and very sad time. There's no doubt that the president has been target of more political assassinations than -- than anyone in recent history. But I fear that it is also part of a cycle of political violence that is a product of this culture we're living in.

SIDNER: I mean, we've looked at, you know, numbers of what happens when the vitriol, when the political vitriol is really, really high. You -- you tend to see the number of -- of violent acts, political violent acts go up alongside of it.

I do want to ask you about where this happened and how it echoes the 1981 shooting of Ronald Reagan outside the Washington Hilton.

Give us some sense and we're looking at some images from that day. Still to this day gives you chills down your spine as to what could happen and what did happen then.

Give us some sense of the parallels of all this.

NAFTALI: Well, after the John F. Kennedy -- after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the Secret Service changed its protocols and -- and tightened the cordon around the president.

John Hinckley Jr. found a flaw in -- in those protocols. And the flaw is the president needs to get from a secured facility into his car. Presidents don't drive, don't -- aren't driven in convertibles anymore, not since Dallas.

They are driven in armored tanks, if you will, that look like cars. But they have to get into the car.

And so John Hinckley Jr. was waiting for the president when he exited from the Washington Hilton and -- and sadly shot him. Fortunately, the president survived the attack. But that was a -- a flaw in the Secret Service cordon around the president.

The current -- this -- this -- this new would be assassin thought he could get around this issue by being inside the hotel, not having to enter the hotel with his guns or to wait for the president to leave the hotel, but to be in the hotel.

Fortunately, there was a security cordoned closer to the president, closer to the ballroom, and that's how he was ultimately defeated. But this is a challenge for our Secret Service. There are many, not many, but there are -- there are many serious threats that come into all presidential families. Republican and Democrat alike.

Secret Service has to monitor them and decide which are the most dangerous, but they can -- they can only protect the president if they establish these defensive perimeters.

And sadly, the deranged among us, rhetorically have tried to find a way around those cordons. Fortunately, this would-be assassin this time was defeated.

SIDNER: Yes. And I mean, this was a moment that I think people afterwards started realizing how serious it was, because they did hear the gunshots go off and no one was told anything for quite some time until we saw the result of what happened here.

Tim Naftali, it is always a pleasure to look back on history and have it inform what is happening to us now.

Kate?

BOLDUAN: There are more storms that are set to hit the Midwest today. There's new video of a twin tornado sighting in Oklahoma. We have the latest forecast for you coming up.

And the last surviving member of the '60s girl group, Ronettes, has passed away.

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[09:40:09]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The King of England is set to visit the United States today. The British head of state will not face British voters ever. You judge the merits of that for yourself.

Things are different though for the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Way different.

Here now, CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten. Things not so good for Keir Starmer right now.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: You think things are bad here in the United States, why don't you just go across the pond over to the U.K. because things are just downright atrocious over there for Keir Starmer.

Just take a look here. Britons satisfied with Keir Starmer. Overall, 18, 18 percent. You can't even drink or smoke anymore when you're 18 percent. You're below that line, that's not good.

How about his own party? The voters who voted him in -- back in 2024, less than 50 percent of Labour Party voters back in 2024 actually are satisfied with the job that Keir Starmer is doing.

When less than 50 percent of your own party voters are satisfied with what is shaken, you know you're in bad, bad shape.

BERMAN: Wildly unpopular right now. How does it compare to something in American history?

ENTEN: OK. So, you see this 18 percent right here, and I just went myself, hmm. I'm not sure I've ever seen a U.S. leader so unpopular.

So, I went back through the record books and I said, OK, popularity ratings. And I was like, who was the worst ever, the lowest ever? And that was George W. Bush back in 2008. He came in in one poll with a 20 percent approval rating.

Well, I got news for you, 20 percent is low, but it's higher than 18 percent. Keir Starmer is less popular right now than the least popular American president ever. He is somehow less popular. And Richard Nixon, of course, was coming in at about 24 percent just before he resigned office.

So, Keir Starmer is less popular than Richard Nixon was when he was forced out by Watergate. Keir Starmer, a very unpopular man. A lot of people want to put a lot of things in their tea when they look at Keir Starmer over in U.K.

[09:45:03]

BERMAN: This is historically unpopular. What does history tell us about British prime ministers who are maybe not even this unpopular?

ENTEN: Yes. OK. So, I went back through the history books, right? And I feel like all these British prime ministers have had some massive popularity issues, perhaps not as bad as Keir Starmer.

U.K. Prime Ministers with his ratings as bad as Keir Starmer's, all of them lost or resigned before the next election that is their party lost in, of course, the parliamentary elections.

So Keir Starmer being this unpopular, he'll try and climb out of that hole, climb that ladder, but that ladder is going nowhere. He is on a highway to political health.

BERMAN: And again, so what are the prediction markets saying about whether he will last? And we should note this isn't being voted out necessarily.

ENTEN: Correct.

BERMAN: This is probably, you know, possibly another outcome.

ENTEN: Correct. But essentially, it could just be that he resigns office and there's another Labour Prime Minister, OK?

So take a look here. Chance Starmer's out of power by the end of August. Whoops, this slide, I will now note is to 62 percent, 62 percent right now. I was just looking at the latest data.

So, the bottom line is this Keir Starmer in massive political problems right now. Chances are based upon history, he will either be forced out by the end of August, maybe his own party says we've had enough, or the voters will in fact force him out by the end of, let's say, this term when we actually have the next general election.

BERMAN: All right. By the end of August could be a long, hot, uncomfortable summer for Keir Starmer.

ENTEN: And I tell you, there's not a lot of A.C. over there in Europe, so it could be really difficult.

BERMAN: All right. We have a lot of news this morning. We'll be right back.

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[09:50:08]

SIDNER: On our radar for you this morning, happening today, the Supreme Court set to hear arguments in a major case over weed killer. Bayer, the maker of Roundup and other pesticides, argues that federal law regulating their products should shield the company from the thousands of lawsuits claiming the active ingredient in Roundup causes cancer.

Health advocates say companies should still be liable for failing to warn consumers of the potential risks.

Also, a high-stakes court battle begins this week. Part business battle, part personal grudge. Elon Musk is suing OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, over allegations that the company, which Musk helped found, defrauded him by abandoning its original nonprofit mission.

Musk claims the company profited wrongfully from his contributions in a breach of charitable trust. He wants a judge to revert OpenAI back to its previous nonprofit structure and to boot Altman and president, Greg Brockman, from their roles on the board.

Bottom line, the verdict could change everything about who controls A.I.

All right. Some sad news this morning. Nedra Talley Ross, the last surviving member of the 1960s girl band, the Ronettes, has died. She was 80 years old.

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SIDNER: Talley Ross joined forces with her cousins Ronnie Spector and Estelle Bennett to form the magical musical trio. They had a string of hits, including, of course, the one you were just listening to that we all love, massively successful, "Be my Baby."

All right. Also, women's golf star Nella Korda -- Nelly Korda, has reclaimed her number one spot as the best in the world with a splash.

Korda won the Chevron championship, which pushed her back to the top of the world's number one ranking for the first time since last year.

She celebrated with what you saw there, a cannonball into the pool next to the 18th green in keeping with that tournament's tradition. I'm all about it. She's a swimmer and a winner and a golfer, Olympics.

BOLDUAN: And she gets -- it looks like instead of a green jacket you get a cool robe.

SIDNER: I like it.

BOLDUAN: It was real. We all should just have a little bit more of their lives.

All right. Let's turn to this. Going from something very, very fun but now something, again, serious, the forecast.

We're monitoring severe weather threats across several states. Today could be a very serious one of that.

Two people died in Texas over the weekend. Authorities are waning more tornadoes and thunderstorms are hit are set to hit Mississippi and Ohio now.

Take a look at this video from Oklahoma. It shows kind of rare sighting of twin tornadoes being captured on video at the very same time. We'll show it to you.

Meantime, winds were so powerful that they even derailed trains and damaged buildings in Kansas. About 40 million people are facing this next round of threats in the Plains and the Midwest.

Let's get over to CNN's meteorologist Chris Warren, who's watching all of this for us. Chris, what are you keeping your eye closest on? Because there is quite a bit.

CHRIS WARREN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Once again, right in the middle of the country here, Kate, where multiple days of severe weather and this could end up being one of the biggest, if not the biggest days for severe thunderstorms.

Already, severe thunderstorm watches in place. These yellow shaded areas and storms are firing right now, producing some of the stronger storms with severe thunderstorm warnings and a tornado warning as well.

Even at this early hour, typically it's that daytime heating that really helps to get things going. But throughout the day today, right here, now a level four out of five for large hail damaging winds and possibly strong tornadoes. That's what this is showing us right here.

The potential is therefore violent tornadoes today. Possibly a one-two punch. Some of these individual storms this evening, followed by a line of storms. [09:55:08]

So tornadoes then damaging winds possibly in some of the same areas. The threat does continue tomorrow with a two out of five here on the threat level.

And in terms of the rain that eventually is going to come on the southern part of this big system that's working through the U.S., not a whole lot of relief for some of the active fires that we have been watching and tracking for you here.

So, we'll take what we can get, but still at this point, Kate, does not look like a whole lot of rain on the way for the end of the week.

BOLDUAN: All right. Chris, thank you so much. I really appreciate it.

BERMAN: Some ugly systems there worth watching over the next 24 hours. People should stay tuned.

SIDNER: You're talking about my face and ugly system.

BERMAN: No, no, no.

SIDNER: Because that's what it feels like on this Monday. Good God. Thank you so much for joining us. "Situation Room" is up next.

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