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Sources Say Iran War at $40-$50 Billion; Pentagon Estimates $25B; U.S. Economy Showed Solid Growth In First Quarter As Iran War Began; Axios: White House Working To Bring Back Anthropic A.I.; Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired April 30, 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]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Also, this morning, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is set to return to Capitol Hill to testify this time before the Senate.

And this, of course, comes on the hills of that combative appearance that he made before House lawmakers he clashed with many of them, especially Democrats, over the cost of the war, the end goals of the war, the state of Iran's nuclear capabilities included.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: Their nuclear facilities have been obliterated, underground they're buried and we're watching --

REP. ADAM SMITH (D-WA): Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa whoa.

HEGSETH: -- them 24-7. So we know where any nuclear material that might be --

SMITH: Reclaiming my time for a quick second here. 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 up their nuclear ambitions. And they had a conventional shield of thousands of --

SMITH: So Operation Midnight Hammer accomplished nothing of substance that left us --

HEGSETH: You're missing -- you're missing the point.

SMITH: -- exactly the same place we were before. So much so that we had --

HEGSETH: Their -- their facilities are bombed and obliterated. Their -- their ambitions continued.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BOLDUAN: Joining me right now about what is going to happen today, independent Senator Angus King of Maine. He serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, many others, but he also be one of those senators questioning Pete Hegseth this morning. Thanks for being here.

So, what did you learn from yesterday's hearing, if you will, with the secretary? How are you possibly readjusting your focus or questions accordingly today?

SEN. ANGUS KING (I-ME): Well, I -- I think the first thing to note is that we've been at this war for now almost exactly two months. And yesterday and today are the first public hearings where an official from the administration is talking to the American people and to the members of Congress about the war.

That in itself is ridiculous. There should have been briefings certainly at the time and right along. And there have been some classified briefings, but no case was made to the public.

Now, as far as the hearing today, technically, Kate, it's a budget hearing. This even -- isn't even actually about Iran. It's a budget hearing for the entire Department of Defense.

And there are a couple of important things that I think we need to -- to note that are being obscured by the discussion about Iran. One is this budget zeroes out American support for Ukraine.

We have effectively abandoned Ukraine. We're still providing some intelligence support, but no material, no weapons, no -- no support humanitarian or -- or otherwise. I think that's shameful. And it's also not in the geopolitical interest of the -- of the United States. So, that's one piece of it.

The other piece, of course, is Iran, and where are we? What was contemplated at the beginning?

One of the questions I'm interested in is, did they talk about before starting this war, the possibility of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz? Because right now, just the price of gas and diesel is costing Americans about $700 million a day, in addition to the cost of the war.

And I'm also interested in that $25 billion estimate. That's considerably below numbers that -- that I've seen before this -- this hearing.

BOLDUAN: Yes. CNN is reporting from sources that the number could be more like in the -- in the area of $50 billion when you look at what needs to be rebuilt in terms of what's been damaged and also used.

One aspect, Senator, of the war that the secretary has avoided questions about but was asked about yesterday was that missile that hit a school during the opening salvos of the war on February 28th, killing 168 people, including around 110 children, according to Iranian officials. The reporting has shown that it was likely a U.S. missile that accidentally struck the school. In the two months since, the Pentagon has only said it's still under investigation. And Hegseth said the same yesterday. Let me play this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. RO KHANNA (D-CA): How much should it cost American taxpayers in terms of the strike to the Iranian school where kids were killed? Do you have that number in terms of the missiles were used?

HEGSETH: As I've said, that unfortunate situation remains under investigation.

REP. JILL TOKUDA (D-HI): Something clearly has failed whether it's our implementation of A.I., whether it's understanding our human dependence on A.I. Would you not agree something failed because almost 200 children died in Iran as a result of our bombing?

HEGSETH: You're -- you're insinuating something where an investigation is not complete.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Do you believe that they still do not have a conclusion to this investigation?

KING: No. It's ridiculous. Two months is enough to investigate. All they have to do is go back to the targeting set, the orders that were given, what weapons were used.

Clearly, it was an accident. I don't think anybody alleges that this was on purpose. But still, to say that we're -- it's under investigation and we're not going to give you any information, that's not very competent leadership.

This is an important matter. It's of concern to the American people and they should have had an answer by now, one way or the other.

[08:35:02]

How did it happen? And -- and as the congresswoman asked, was A.I. involved and did that involved? Was that involved in the possibility of -- of this mistake? So, yes, two months is -- is too long a time to get an answer.

This happened on the, I think, the first or second day of the war. And we ought to have a clear answer by now.

BOLDUAN: Senator, on that -- the reporting of $25 billion cost to price tag to the war so far, do you believe it's more in the -- in the realm of $50 billion? And what does that number mean? What does that cost mean? Put that into perspective for people.

KING: Well, number one, I think one way to put it in perspective, I -- I believe the $50 billion estimate is more accurate. That's the one that I've been hearing until yesterday. And that's about a billion dollars a day. So that's one way to think about it is costing the American taxpayers a billion dollars a day.

And the question is, there's a tremendous amount of repair necessary at American facilities throughout the Middle East that were damaged by -- by Iran. Not to mention the replenishment of the massive amount of ordnance that's been expended in the war.

And also the deployment of thousands of troops and ships and airplanes and all of the military assets that have been deployed to the region. So it's a big number.

And -- and as I say, I don't have the exact number. I'm going to try to make some inquiry into what they base their estimate on. Because $25 billion is considerably below all the other estimates I've been seeing for the past two months.

BOLDUAN: That would be something to listen to close to today.

On another topic, Senator, the Supreme Court decision to further restrict the Voting Rights Act. Some of the analysis is that when you're looking towards the midterms, it may have somewhat of a small impact. But long-term, a bigger impact in '28, maybe giving Republicans advantage in a dozen or so seats.

What's your reaction to this? What does it mean for Congress?

KING: Well, I think we tried a couple of years ago to enact or reenact the Voting Rights Act, the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. We were unable to do so.

But I think this is an indication that the Supreme Court is in a bubble and doesn't really understand the implications of -- of what they've done going back to the Shelby versus Holder decision in 2014. And now this decision.

They basically gutted the Civil Rights Act and are pretending that there's no issue anymore. And that's just not the case.

BOLDUAN: Senator Angus King, thank you very much. We'll be listening closely when the hearing begins today with the secretary.

John.

BERMAN: Let's talk more about where they just ended up on the Voting Rights Act and the decision of the Supreme Court.

With us now is Sophia Lin Lakin, Director of the ACLU's Voting Rights Project. She was one of the lead attorneys in this case.

Thank you so much for being with us this morning, Counselor. What do you think the first impact here will be? What will we see in terms of changes and when?

SOPHIA LIN LAKIN, DIRECTOR, ACLU VOTING RIGHTS PROJECT: You know, unfortunately, I would hope that we wouldn't see a change in or attempt to call for changes in Louisiana itself, but we have been hearing news that the governor there may be interested in trying to cancel the primaries where ballots have already been issued to voters who are voting by mail and overseas. And you know, we don't know the ultimate impacts overall because we're living at a time where, unfortunately, we have politicians who are seeing this decision, who have just been seemingly waiting for the opportunity to be able to move forward with hyper-partisan -- partisan gerrymandered maps that fall, unfortunately, time and time again on the backs of voters of color in this country.

BERMAN: So what do you fear might happen, both in the South and in the North? I mean, what might happen? What does this open the door to have happen to these districts?

LAKIN: Well, unfortunately, we are talking about rolling back to an era of Jim Crow, and I don't believe I'm overstating that. Section two of the Voting Rights Act was one of perhaps the primary tool left in our arsenal to combat the excesses when it comes to gerrymandering with a focus, of course, on protecting and ensuring fair representation for voters of color. People who have fought and died for the civil rights movement to enact these protections for their political power when it comes to all levels of government, Congress, state legislatures, school boards, local county boards and the like.

So what we are concerned about, I mean, all the gains, all the progress that we have seen over the last 60 years in the literal face of representation at every level of government, the fact that we have people of color representing our communities in substantial numbers across the board, in state legislatures, in Congress, in local bodies as well, that is on the back of the Voting Rights Act and section two of the Voting Rights Act, in particular, to have that particular tool taken from our arsenal to protect voters of color.

You know, we fear that we're going to be going back to a time of Jim Crow.

BERMAN: So let me read you a response from a Democratic representative, Gregory Meeks, African-American here from New York here, who suggests what Democrats might do going forward.

He goes, "There's not just Southern states, there's Northern states. We can do it, too. We haven't done it. We don't want to do it. But if they want to do it, OK, we're going to do it, too."

And that is possible here with the Supreme Court decision that in some of these blue states, New York has districts which are majority minority. Those districts could be redrawn in ways that spread out some of these votes, which tend to be Democratic and actually take away Republican seats. What would the ACLU, how would the ACLU feel about that?

LAKIN: I think any kind of this excessive gerrymandering wherever it happens, whenever it is done, that that is a tragedy for democracy. And we've been seeing this already happening with the opening of Pandora's box during the mid-decade redistricting, all of that that we are seeing that now may be hyper-charged after yesterday's ruling, that this is not a good thing. We want voters to be choosing their politicians, not politicians choosing their voters.

At the end of the day, we want a responsive government, a government where politicians have to answer for their voters, not politicians getting to decide which voters are going to elect them at the end of the day. That is not good for the -- for anybody. And it's not good for the policies that any voter would like to see.

[08:40:08]

So I encourage, as we're heading into these consequential elections, that everyone understand this, that anyone, any voter of conscience who is appalled by what we're seeing during the mid-decade redistricting cycle, what we're seeing from the Supreme Court, what that is greenlit across the country to show up at the polls, voice their dissatisfaction. And hold Congress, state legislatures and the like responsible for ensuring that the excesses that we fear may come from this ruling and come from the power grabs that we're seeing of politicians very interested in participating in are checked.

BERMAN: Counselor Sophia Lin Lakin, thank you so much for being with us this morning. Appreciate it.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Let's continue to focus on this. President Trump celebrated after the Supreme Court's decision. Here's that moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When did it come out, just now?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. It came out this morning. But basically very much narrows the Voting Rights Act.

TRUMP: Was it considered a win for who?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A win for Republicans.

TRUMP: I love it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: CNN's chief data analyst Harry Enten running the numbers on this one.

Harry, let's kind of baseline it for everyone right now. How is the president doing right now with African-American voters, with Black voters, now versus this point in the first term?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Yes. I think what we're seeing right now in the numbers is President Trump and the Republican Party are chipping away at the long-term advantage that Democrats have had with black voters, with African-Americans.

You can see it right here. Look, Trump's approval among African- Americans at this point in term one. He was at 12 percent. You know, he's been losing ground with a lot of -- he's gaining. He's gaining ground with African-Americans.

He's up to 16 percent at this point. And you say, this isn't that big of a shift. But I will tell you, Republicans absolutely love this shift that's going on because Democrats have had such a long-term advantage.

The fact that he's actually gaining ground versus where he was in term number one, this has major implications for elections down the line, because Democrats, especially in a lot of these tight races, you talk about places like Georgia right down in the south, you see this type of movement for Trump actually gaining ground.

This could have major ramifications and help put Republicans over the top in a number of southern places in the midterm elections.

BOLDUAN: But do you see this as part of a bigger trend?

ENTEN: I see this as absolutely part of a bigger trend. Donald Trump's Republican Party is absolutely gaining ground, not just him gaining in terms of his approval rating.

But look at the party I.D. margin, Kate. Because this to me was absolutely stunning. Look at this. Party I.D. margin among African- Americans at this point. In Trump, term number one, Democrats had a 63-point advantage. That has absolutely fallen.

Look at where it is now. A double-digit shift away. Democrats, of course, still have the advantage, but it's a 12-point shift to the Republican Party. And I look back through Gallup's records. They sent me their records. And this in fact lead that Democrats have is actually smaller than any lead from 2006 to 2021.

So, Democrats are leading. But again, we're talking about chipping away. Republicans are chipping away at this long-term advantage that Democrats have had among African-Americans. We see it in terms of Trump's approval rating. And we even see it to a wider degree among the party I.D. margin where all of a sudden there are a number of African-Americans who are walking away from the Democratic Party and a number of them who are walking into the Republican tent.

[08:45:18]

BOLDUAN: That is very interesting looking at that past Gallup information.

ENTEN: Yes.

BOLDUAN: What does this mean for the race for control in Congress?

ENTEN: OK. So you see this right here. You see this 51-point advantage that Democrats have significantly less than you see that 63-point advantage.

And what we will note was back in 2024, right? Donald Trump put in a historically strong performance among African-Americans.

Democrats performed the worst in the generation. Have they gained any of that coalition back from where they fell down to in 2024?

But take a look here. OK. Choice for election among African-Americans. Kamala Harris was leading amongst that group in the pre-election polling by 63 points.

Are Democrats gaining back any of that ground? Uh-uh. It's a 62-point advantage now. Republicans are holding on to the gains that they made among African-Americans in 2024. Republicans are gaining among African-Americans. They are chipping away at that long-term advantage.

The Donald Trump-led Republican Party is making gains among African- Americans that we simply put have not seen the Republican Party make in a generation.

BOLDUAN: Fascinating. Good to see you, Harry.

ENTEN: Nice to see you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Thanks so much for putting this together.

John.

BERMAN: All right. We've got breaking news. In just a few minutes ago, new data on the economy. It's kind of an on a one hand on the other hand thing.

Strong growth in the first quarter of this year. However, the key inflation index at the Federal Reserve likes rose to its highest level in nearly three years.

Let's get right to CNN's Matt Egan who's been spending quality time with the outgoing chair of the Federal Reserve.

All right. What's going on here, Matt?

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, John, look, we did just learn that the U.S. economy, it grew to a pretty solid pace during the first three months of this year. And this was a significant rebound from a surprisingly weak end to 2025.

So, we're talking about GDP, gross domestic product. This is basically like a quarterly report card for the economy. And it came in at two percent for the first quarter. That's a touch below expectations.

But as you can see, that is a major improvement from the very small gain of just half a percent during the fourth quarter of last year.

So at a headline level, this looks pretty solid. Why did this happen? Well, one of the biggest factors was government spending. The federal government spending really plunged during the fourth quarter of last year because of that record long government shutdown.

And anytime you have a shutdown, the following quarter, there's a major rebound in government spending. And that happened here.

However, this is not just about government spending. Other factors include strong business investment, higher exports, and pretty solid consumer spending as well.

So, you put it together. And this shows how the economy was holding up again during the first three months of the year. So, this does not capture the full impact of the war, which started in late February.

This is really just showing one month of the war, March, and it reflects the fact that the government shutdown ended.

Now, I think it's a more visible impact from the war in the other metric, which we just got, which is the PCE inflation index. This is the Fed's go-to inflation metric. And it shows that prices in March were up by 3.5 percent year-over-year.

Now, some context, that's a significant acceleration from 2.8 percent in February. And as you noted, John, that's the highest level since May of 2023, nearly three years.

And when you look at the monthly rate, monthly PCE was up by 0.7 percent. That's a little worse than expected. And that's the biggest monthly increase since June of 2022 back during the height of the inflation crisis during the Biden administration.

Now economists and Fed officials, they like to look at core inflation because it strips out the volatile food and energy.

And on that basis, inflation also moved in the wrong direction as well with core PCE at the highest level since January 2024.

So, look, you put it all together and you can see that the economy was doing okay at the start of the year.

But obviously, the question now is, how does this energy crisis, how does all the supply problems caused by the war impact the economy going forward, John?

BERMAN: Yes. That -- that graph, that line chart of the PCE increase, a pretty sharp increase there at the end there in March. That is something to watch to be sure,.

Matt Egan, thank you so much for that.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: All righty. In this week's Searching for France, John Berman's best friend, Eva Longoria, travels to Burgundy. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EVA LONGORIA, AMERICAN ACTRESS (voice-over): Land in Burgundy is so expensive that most small winemakers buy in surplus grapes from bigger producers.

Oh, yes. It's a cellar, cellar.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right this way. It is.

LONGORIA: (INAUDIBLE) supplies a handful of local restaurants, but this Bijou (PH) operation is about pleasure over profit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's tiny, but there's enough space to make a little bit of wine.

LONGORIA: And what -- what do you make?

[08:50:00]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's two grapes in Burgundy. There is Pinot Noir and there is Chardonnay. These two come from here.

We're starting with a Pinot Noir.

LONGORIA: Oh, yes. That's so easy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fresh, easy.

LONGORIA: I've never had such a fresh Pinot Noir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So this is the Chardonnay.

LONGORIA: Okay.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There you go.

LONGORIA: That is so nice. Sometimes Chardonnays can be very perfumy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pure, fresh, elegant.

LONGORIA: It really rivals the Pinot Noir. If they were arm wrestling, it'd be a tie.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: I know it's 8:50 in the morning, guys. But is anyone else thirsty after that? I am. Two new episodes are coming this Sunday at 9:00 P.M. on CNN, the next day on the CNN app.

Coming up for us still, a stolen military truck leading police on a wild chase. How it all came to an end? We have that for you.

And gas prices jumping again overnight. Now nearly 30 cents higher than a week ago. And new fears of how much worse it really could get.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:55:16]

BERMAN: Two police officers are recovering this morning after a chase with a stolen military truck. The suspect crashed into a utility pole and blew through a fire hydrant. Eventually, he shamed and slammed into a tree before officers arrested him. The 29-year-old is now facing multiple charges, including grand larceny, assault and driving while intoxicated. This apparently did happen in Upstate New York.

Japan Airlines launching a two-year trial with those guys, kind of robot helpers. They're going to handle baggage and help clean the cabins of the aircraft. This is actually a big deal in Japan and has some bigger implications there, because that country is experiencing a workforce shortage. At the same time, they're seeing a record number of tourists.

And then in Madison, Wisconsin, a two-year-old got stuck in one of those claw machines. The boys squeezed through an opening in the machine and climbed up, then realized he was trapped. One of the employees called 911. His father posted video of the rescue online. It got more than a million views.

I -- I have to say, I think I speak for all parents here, but these machines, I kind of hate them.

BOLDUAN: Yes. Ultimately.

BERMAN: But I never thought that someone like a kid would be able to crawl inside of it. I didn't think that was possible.

BOLDUAN: It's happened over and over again, J.B.

BERMAN: All right. Well, maybe there needs to be a design, you know, conference.

BOLDUAN: A -- a redesign.

BERMAN: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Should we turn to something else?

BERMAN: Yes, go ahead.

BOLDUAN: OK, thanks.

After blacklisting A.I. company Anthropic, there is new reporting now that the White House is actively working on essentially ways to get around their own restrictions.

This is coming from "Axios." According to sources, an executive order has been drafted to give the Trump administration a way to quote dial down the Anthropic fight.

You'll recall it was back in February that the administration ordered all federal agencies and military link contractors to stop working with Anthropic, designating the company a supply chain risk, which was an attempt to punish Anthropic after the company refused to let the Pentagon use it's A.I. without restriction.

But now, Anthropics new Mythos model, seems to be too important or too good to pass up.

Joining us right now is Maria Curi. She's the "Axios" reporter behind this new report.

As I read this, I was just -- it was fascinating. The, like, turnabout that is being attempted here. But tell me what you're learning and tell us more about what you're learning the White House is considering here. And what does it mean for this fight that the Pentagon has already picked with Anthropic?

MARIA CURI, TECH POLICY REPORTER, AXIOS: Right. So, this is an effort from the White House to get industry feedback and figure out a way to get around its own decision earlier this year to designate Anthropic a supply chain risk, meaning that, you know, no one can use this technology because it is so dangerous. This is usually treatment that is reserved for, you know, for an adversary countries.

Now, the White House is rethinking this strategy. It was once fully aligned with the Pentagon on this designation.

But with the release of Mythos, this model is so powerful in potentially cybersecurity settings in detecting threats and preventing these types of threats and attacks from happening, that the White House acknowledges this.

White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, acknowledges this. She got the ball rolling earlier this month in meeting with Anthropic CEO, Dario Amodei. And now they are figuring out a way to bring the technology back into the government.

BOLDUAN: I love this --

CURI: In terms of what this means for the Pentagon dispute --

BOLDUAN: Go ahead.

CURI: -- that's going to be a much thornier issue for later this -- later this year.

BOLDUAN: Yes. Definitely not over yet. Sorry, there was an audio hiccup I thought you'd finished speaking. Sorry about that.

One -- I love this one line from your reporting. One source described the White House effort as a way to save face and bring them back in. I mean, does -- do you -- from your reporting, do they recognize this is somewhat of a problem of their own making?

CURI: Yes. I mean, you know, this is definitely a problem of their own making. And I think, you know, what's happening now is Anthropic is moving to expand its Mythos access to even more organizations.

And my understanding is, is that this is causing a hiccup in the White House's attempts to bring Anthropic into the government. They are worried about expanding access to Mythos. They're not being potentially enough compute power for releasing this to more organizations. And what broadening this might mean for the security implications.

But in terms of what we have been reporting on more this morning, our understanding is that this is not a blanket opposition to Anthropic wanting to release its model more widely. The two sides are continuing to talk about this and what the timing of such a rollout should look like.

And at the end of the day, Kate, you know, the White House does not necessarily have the control to stop Anthropic from releasing this model. We're in murky legal territory right now, but Anthropic, if it chooses to release Mythos more broadly, can do so, as our understanding from this morning.

BOLDUAN: All right. Clearly, much more to come. Stay tuned on this. It's great reporting. Thanks for coming in.

A new hour of "CNN News Central" starts right now.