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King Charles Visits 9/11 Memorial; Supreme Court Limits Voting Rights Act; James Comey Indicted; Pete Hegseth Grilled on Capitol Hill. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired April 29, 2026 - 13:00   ET

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

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: One of the key frustrations the president had with Bondi was that she wasn't more aggressive in some of these prosecutions.

[13:00:03]

And it all stems back to the president still feeling on a deep, intrinsic level that he has been wronged and politically persecuted over the last several years and -- yes, and this is a sense of payback.

(CROSSTALK)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Just really quickly, though, I mean, bottom line, if this fails, I mean, how does Todd Blanche look like then? Is this going to be the first fail that comes up? We will see.

TREENE: Huge question.

MANU RAJU, CNN HOST: Yes, we will see.

All right, we will see. And we will see if we see James Comey walk out of that courthouse.

Thanks for joining INSIDE POLITICS. "CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right now.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Twenty-five billion dollars and counting. Secretary Hegseth on the defense, as lawmakers get their first chance to grill him about the Iran war. We are following a fiery face-off on Capitol Hill.

And James Comey turns himself in, the former director of the FBI indicted a second time by the Justice Department. Comey saying he's innocent and he's not afraid. We will look at the charges against him.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: And a historic decision at the Supreme Court, a majority of justices limiting the reach of the Voting Rights Act, a decision with major implications for the midterms and beyond.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL. We're following major breaking news on the new indictment against

former FBI Director James Comey. We have learned that Comey has just surrendered himself at a federal courthouse in Virginia, facing a new set of charges, all because of a social media post that federal officials say threatened President Trump's life.

Comey posted this photo to Instagram last year showing shells on a beach spelling out 8647; 86 is slang for getting rid of or cutting someone off at a bar. Trump, of course, is the 47th president. Prosecutors say that is a clear threat. Comey, though, says he is innocent.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES COMEY, FORMER FBI DIRECTOR: Well, they're back, this time about a picture of seashells on a North Carolina beach a year ago. And this won't be the end of it.

But nothing has changed with me. I'm still innocent. I'm still not afraid. And I still believe in the independent federal judiciary. So let's go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: CNN crime and justice correspondent Katelyn Polantz is outside the courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia, where Comey just surrendered.

Katelyn, what more are you learning?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, Comey is in the courtroom.

And the hearing is starting now, the very first appearance of this former FBI director accused of threatening the president's life with that post on Instagram a year ago with seashells in the sand. This is the first hearing that will happen in this courthouse, the Eastern District of Virginia.

But this is a case that's charged in North Carolina, because that's where that beach photo was taken, this first appearance, Comey now being under arrest in the courtroom. He's going to be before a magistrate judge named William Fitzpatrick, the same magistrate judge that handled some his last criminal case after he was indicted for allegedly lying to Congress.

Those case -- those charges are now dismissed. But that had played out in this courthouse. We're waiting to see if there's any tension in the courtroom because of that.

There was quite a fraught circumstance, where the bench, many of the judges in this court, including Judge Fitzpatrick, today had issues with not just the case that the Justice Department had brought previously against Comey, but how this Justice Department leadership was conducting itself, investigating and then putting in place top people, top officials to lead the case against Comey at that time. This is a very different case. It's charged by a different U.S.

attorney's office in the Eastern District of North Carolina, but we begin another round for James Comey. He has had his family surrounding him. We did see them go into this courthouse a little bit earlier to watch this proceeding for him.

And we are going to be waiting to see exactly how his team argues against this. There have been already many legal experts, including conservatives, well-respected conservatives that had backed up many of the other things this Trump Justice Department has done -- have done, condemning it as potentially unconstitutional, an indictment that encroaches on Comey's free speech rights and political speech.

All of those arguments, though, are likely to come later. And, today, it's the initial response in court of James Comey appearing because of that indictment after he has been arrested and hearing his charges formally for the first time from a judge -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: All right, Katelyn Polantz, we will keep monitoring that story. Thank you so much from the courthouse in Alexandria -- Brianna.

KEILAR: And we are following some breaking news on Capitol Hill.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, are -- have been facing questions from lawmakers for the first time since the Iran war began. They are in the middle of a break, and here, in just a few minutes, they're going to get under way again.

[13:05:13]

But sparks have really been flying from the start here, at one point, the ranking Democrat on Armed Services, Adam Smith, pressing Hegseth about the administration's stated purpose of the war, to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, a threat the administration previously claimed was imminent. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: President Trump has been clear- eyed from the killing of Qasem Soleimani, to the -- pulling out of the Iran deal, to Midnight Hammer, and now to this effort, to recognize that you have to stare down this kind of enemy who's hell-bent on getting a nuclear weapon, and get them to a point where they're at the table giving it up in a way that...

(CROSSTALK)

HEGSETH: ... never have it.

REP. ADAM SMITH (D-WA): So they haven't -- so they haven't broken yet, OK. We haven't gotten there yet.

For all of the...

(CROSSTALK) HEGSETH: Well, their nuclear facilities have been obliterated, underground. They're buried, and we're watching them 24/7.

SMITH: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

HEGSETH: So we know where any nuclear material might be.

SMITH: Reclaiming my time for a quick second here.

HEGSETH: We're watching that.

SMITH: We had to start this war, you just said, 60 days ago because the nuclear weapon was an imminent threat. Now you're saying that it was completely obliterated?

HEGSETH: They had not given...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: CNN's Brian Todd is following this hearing for us.

We're all kind of following this hearing...

(LAUGHTER)

KEILAR: ... because it is a -- it's a doozy, Brian.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

KEILAR: How do Hegseth's comments compare to what he said previously about the war?

TODD: Well, the -- Brianna, the sharp exchanges between Hegseth and the Democrats here do have a lot to do with his previous comments about how the war is going, about the messaging in the war, the reasoning for the war.

He's been questioned repeatedly about the messaging of the war when it started, the reasoning for why it got under way, and the progress. Those are some of the sharpest exchanges, and he has been accused of misleading.

John Garamendi, the Democrat from California, basically accused Hegseth of lying and misleading the American public about the purpose of the war and about how the war has gone.

But there's been also conflicting messaging, at least confusing messaging, from the administration and others about the actual progress of the nuclear back-and-forth between Iran and the United States, whether Iran has actually agreed to give up any aspect of its nuclear program or not.

This is what President Trump had to say almost two weeks ago on April 16.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And so very important is that Iran does not have a nuclear weapon, and they have agreed to that.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Iran's agreed to that, and they have agreed to it very powerfully. They have agreed to give us back the nuclear dust. It's way underground because of the attack we made with the B-2 bombers. So, we have a lot of agreement with Iran.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: So, of course, there's back-and-forth there, President Trump saying that they have agreed to give up certain aspects, including some of the enriched uranium that's underground.

But the latest reporting, of course, from CNN and other outlets is that the Iranians have not really agreed to anything. They want to postpone any talk of the nuclear program until after the blockade has lifted, Brianna, as you know about, until after the war essentially ends.

That's where the Iranians are now saying, this is -- that's when we should talk about the nuclear program. So, again, conflicting messaging about how the war is going and what Iran has agreed to.

KEILAR: Yes, and he's insisting it's not a quagmire, it's not a forever war...

TODD: That's right, yes.

KEILAR: ... like Iraq and Afghanistan.

But he's also being asked about the cost of this war.

TODD: That's right. He was asked about it.

And the Pentagon's top financial officer, Jay Hurst, also mentioned -- a lot of exchanges were about Hurst's mention of the fact that the war has cost almost or roughly $25 billion so far, and Hegseth getting a lot of questions over whether it's worth it.

Hegseth saying, well, is it worth it to let Iran have a nuclear weapon? That's where some of those exchanges were. Some of the other information there you're seeing about the various reporting on the cost of the war from CNN and other outlets, you see the $25 billion there.

That's from Jay Hurst at the hearing today. He's a top Pentagon financial officer. Also, "The New York Times" reporting recently that a lot of the U.S. military bases used by troops there are now uninhabitable.

CNN, our colleagues Natasha Bertrand and Zachary Cohen reporting that a lot of the U.S. missile stockpile has been diminished, to the point where it's worrisome as to whether they can get that ramped up. And, of course, there have been some exchanges about the loss of life, 13 American troops so far killed in this war, many more injured.

KEILAR: And he was pressed on how long this is going to go on. He indicated, why would I signal that to the enemy?

The administration, though, has signaled that very loud and clear, but he seemed to want to stay away from that in this.

TODD: He did want to stay away from it.

The administration has -- and that messaging has gone all over the place too over the past few weeks, as you know.

KEILAR: Yes.

TODD: They have said a couple more weeks, a few days, President Trump saying it's basically over already. It's been going all over the place.

Hegseth was a little bit noncommittal on that. He did really get into a sharp exchange with Congressman John Garamendi, Garamendi accusing him of leading us into a quagmire in this war. And Hegseth, as he said repeatedly in this hearing, saying, don't talk to me about quagmires when we have been in quagmires in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Vietnam.

[13:10:15]

That's about as close as he would come to say, basically, we're not going to go on as long as those wars lasted, but, again, a little noncommittal on exactly when this is going to end.

KEILAR: Yes. All right, we will be staying tuned as this gets under way again.

Brian Todd, thank you so much.

Still to come: the Supreme Court tossing a Louisiana congressional map drawn to create a second majority-black district. What this means for a landmark civil rights law.

Plus, happening right now, King Charles and Queen Camilla are in New York. And we are live in the Big Apple following their royal trip.

Then, later, a severe storm outbreak terrorizing parts of the country. Some new images from a Texas town torn apart by a tornado.

We have that and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:15:11]

SANCHEZ: Breaking news to CNN.

We have an update on the surrender of former FBI Director James Comey to a courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia.

CNN's Evan Perez has been tracking this story.

Evan, what's the latest?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, the hearing in federal court in Alexandria is now over.

The defense, Comey's defense attorneys have indicated that they are going to file a number of motions, including one for vindictive and -- or selective prosecution, which is similar to one that they had filed in the first time he was indicted, which was for false statements, in this case, in the seaside seashells case.

They are now anticipating that the Justice Department and the court down in North Carolina, which is where he's facing these new charges, that they will set a date for him to appear in that court. Right now, he has been released on his own here. There is no reason for him to be detained, according to the judge.

And so now we wait for him to -- for this case to begin its process down in North Carolina, which is, again, where allegedly Comey found these seashells that spelled out 8647, which is the reason why he's facing these two federal criminal charges, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Evan Perez, thank you so much for that update.

We will, of course, continue to monitor the story and bring you the latest as we get it -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Just months before the midterms, the Supreme Court just dealt a major blow to the landmark Voting Rights Act. This tosses out a Louisiana congressional map that was drawn two years ago which added a second black and Democratic lawmaker to the state's overwhelmingly Republican delegation.

The justices, in a 6-3 conservative majority ruling, called the redrawn map an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. This decision will add to the political tug-of-war that leads up to November.

I'm joined now by civil rights activist Martin Luther King III, whose father, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., fought for and witnessed the 1965 signing of the Voting Rights Act.

Martin, thank you for being with us.

What is your reaction to this ruling?

MARTIN LUTHER KING III, CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST: I think this is certainly a tremendously tragic ruling and an unfortunate one, in the sense that, historically, the court was a place where you went to expand, to include, to lift up.

And now it feels as if, when going to the court, often, the court is turning the hands of progress backward. The Voting Rights Act was one -- the crowning jewel of the modern civil rights movement. In 1957, my father spoke and talked about, give us the ballot. He shared that concept, so that we can participate in voting, before he shared his dream in 1963, August of 1963.

KEILAR: And you have...

(CROSSTALK)

KING: So I think we're at a...

KEILAR: Sorry. Go on. You said we're at a...

KING: I'm sorry. Go ahead. I'm sorry.

KEILAR: Yes, tell us about the moment that you...

KING: No, no.

KEILAR: OK. I was going to say...

KING: No, I just think we're at a -- yes.

KEILAR: You have talked about how the Voting Rights Act has been gutted since the 2013 Supreme Court decision that said key parts of the Voting Rights Act were no longer valid.

This particular decision, when you really sort out the weeds of it, it goes back to deferring to a lower federal court ruling. It does not strike down the Voting Rights Act Section 2, the key provision that prohibits discrimination in voting.

But Justice Elena Kagan, in writing her dissent, said: "It is all but a dead letter."

How do you see it?

KING: I certainly agree with Justice Kagan. It is hanging on by a thread. While it wasn't totally struck down, it certainly creates a monumental, a more challenging, daunting task.

Now, of course, the only way any of this changes is, people have to stay engaged, stay on the battlefield, have to continue to register and to vote. And this does not preclude people from voting, but it may make it harder for black and brown communities to be fully represented.

And so we must continue to fight. We cannot ever give up. We will not give up. We will not give out. We will not give in. We're going to continue to move forward and lift up the rights and voices of those who often have not been heard.

KEILAR: And that's a call to action you're putting out there for the future in the face of quite a disappointment for your cause.

I do wonder, as you're looking back at history, the March on Washington, 1963, we know the images. We know your dad's role, and as he -- they were pushing for the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. How does this decision announced today impact how you see the legacy of that and of your dad and what he was fighting for?

[13:20:19]

KING: Well, currently, this particular ruling may even lead to more and more civil rights laws being struck down, as opposed to, again, the expansion of rights for people.

Now, there's a lot of anxiety and maybe excitement. Again, the only body that actually can change any of this now is Congress. And the Congress has to be changed to some degree, just like, if we're as a nation are going to survive, we're going to have to have a course correction.

The things that we're going through right now are not sustainable. Dad would say, from a nonviolence perspective, we must learn nonviolence or we may face nonexistence. I don't like to embrace that, but that is a probable, that is a possible reality. Human beings have got to begin to conduct themselves certainly also in a more civil manner.

Civility is lost from the political discourse. We have to bring civility back. And it doesn't mean we're going to agree on everything. We don't have to agree on everything, but we do have to agree in a civil manner in how we move this nation forward and thinking about generations yet unborn.

KEILAR: Martin Luther King III, we appreciate you being with us today. Thanks for taking the time.

KING: Thank you for the opportunity.

KEILAR: Boris.

SANCHEZ: We're also tracking rising gas prices today, which have just hit a four-year high.

According to AAA, the average cost for a gallon of gas is now $4.23. That is up a nickel overnight. Before the war started, gas was just under three bucks, and we may not see a return to those prices any time soon.

Sources tell CNN that President Trump met with energy executives at the White House yesterday, discussing ways to continue the U.S. blockade in the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman for what could possibly be months.

Next hour, we're going to hear from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell for what is expected to be his last interest rate decision as chair. The rate is widely expected to remain unchanged, but, during his news conference, we may also learn whether or not he plans to stay on the bank's Board of Governors after his term ends on May 15.

Also coming up, we're live in New York City for King Charles' next stop on his royal visit to the U.S.

Stay with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:27:25]

SANCHEZ: Britain's king and queen are today experiencing one of the most somber parts of their four-day visit to the U.S., a stop at the 9/11 Memorial in Manhattan. These are live images of that visit now to New York.

Yesterday, in his address to Congress, King Charles reminded lawmakers that NATO invoked Article 5 for the first time in response to the September 11 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people, including 67 Britons.

CNN's Richard Quest joins us now live from just outside the memorial.

Richard, talk to us about how the royal couple is marking this moment.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: So, the king and the queen arrived here at the National 9/11 Memorial about half-an-hour ago.

They went inside, and they immediately laid flowers at the memorial, Her Majesty putting forward the flowers. They were greeted by various dignitaries, including the former Mayor of New York Mike Bloomberg, and the process then of going to meet first responders, going to meet those of -- the families of those who were affected, those who lost their lives.

And the pictures you are now seeing is of the royal couple meeting the various people. They have also met the mayor of New York for the first time, Mayor Mamdani. That meeting took place a short time ago. They are meeting the governor of New York and the governor of New Jersey.

So, of all the events that Their Majesties will do over the four-day state visit, this is perhaps one of the most poignant. Now, it's not the first time that either of them have been here. Back in 2005, when he was prince of Wales and she was duchess of Cornwall, they visited the memorial.

But now, as you can see from these pictures -- the relationship between the U.K. and the U.S. is so close. There were so many of the U.K. who lost their lives in 9/11, along with all the other nations.

And one of the core points that the king will be meeting here as well are members of the commonwealth representatives, because this was -- the loss of life was so great and it affected so many countries that this is also being remembered. But it is by far the most solemn part of the visit so far.

SANCHEZ: Richard Quest, live for us at the memorial, thank you so much.

For the first time since the start of the war with Iran, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and the chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff are testifying before Congress. What they said about the purpose of the war and Iran's nuclear ambitions.

We will be right back.

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