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Pete Hegseth Back on Capitol Hill for Another Grilling by Lawmakers; Commanders to Brief Trump Today on New Iran Military Options; Maine Gov. Janet Mills Suspends Campaign for U.S. Senate; White House Correspondents' Dinner Shooting Suspect will Soon Appear on Court; Civil Rights Leader Andrew Young Speaks About Voting Rights. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired April 30, 2026 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

MARIA CURI, AXIOS TECH POLICY REPORTER: Murky legal territory right now, but Anthropic, if it chooses to release Metos more broadly, can do so is our understanding from this morning.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: 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.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: We are standing by for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to testify to the Senate. Now, he lashed out at questions on rising gas prices, and that was before they jumped seven cents overnight, the biggest jump in six weeks to the highest level in four years.

Can you imagine what the faces of Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg would look like on the bodies of robot dogs? Well, you don't need to imagine it any longer because it happened.

Sara is working the night shift. I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan, and this is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BOLDUAN: Breaking this morning, gas prices jumped seven cents overnight to a new nearly four-year high. This is the biggest jump in just one night in six weeks. It's sure to just ratch up the pressure even more on the White House over what to do about the war with Iran.

Today, sources tell CNN that President Trump will receive new military options during a briefing today from the head of U.S. Central Command. The goal, as first reported by Axios, is either break through the diplomatic deadlock that there's been or strike a final blow to Iran before ending the war.

Also this morning, a new message attributed to Iran's new supreme leader saying that Americans have no place in the Persian Gulf except, quote, at the depths of its waters.

Today, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is set to testify before the Senate. This is after clashing yesterday with lawmakers, especially Democrats, in the House over many aspects of the war. The cost of it, the rising gas prices, the end goal of the war, and now the standoff over the Strait of Hormuz.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. SETH MOULTON (D-MA), ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: So do you call Iran closing, the Strait of Hormuz winning?

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Well, I would say the blockade that we hold that doesn't allow anything to come in or out of Iranian ports --

MOULTON: OK, so --

HEGSETH: -- which is always --

MOULTON: -- so we have blockaded their blockade. They blockaded us and then we blockaded their blockade. That's like saying, tag, you're it. Or, you know, if President Madison has said, well, the British just burned down Washington.

But don't worry, we're going to burn it down as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: CNN's Brian Todd is watching all this for us, as it's going to be getting in a way shortly in the Senate. What's the latest you're hearing about what's about to come?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, that Senate hearing going to get underway in about two hours, and it'll likely get fairly contentious. Whether it's going to be as contentious as that hearing yesterday in the House, that remains to be seen. Secretary Hegseth really got some pointed questions, and he's likely to get some very pointed questions on the end strategy of the war, on how they're going to open up the Strait of Hormuz.

Those are really the pressure points that he's facing right now as he faces the Senate this morning. What we can tell you is that, you know, one thing that struck me in the hearing yesterday, and we'll see if this is the same in the Senate hearing today. It's really Secretary Hegseth that is the lightning rod here for the criticism.

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Dan Caine, did get some tough questions, but they weren't nearly as pointed, not nearly as acidic as the questions that Hegseth got yesterday, and we're going to see if that tone kind of remains in the Senate this morning. One of the exchanges that was really pointed yesterday was between Congressman John Garamendi, a Democrat from California, who really put it to Hegseth about the messaging of the war, and then you'll see how Hegseth brushed back just moments later. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN GARAMENDI (D-CA), ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: Secretary Hegseth, you have been lying to the American public about this war from day one and so has the President. You have misled the public about why we are at war. The President has got himself and America stuck in the quagmire of another war in the Middle East.

HEGSETH: The effort, what they've undertaken, what they've succeeded, the success on the battlefield that creates strategic opportunities, the courage of a President to confront a nuclear Iran, and you call it a quagmire, handing propaganda to our enemies? Shame on you for that statement. And statements like that are reckless to our troops.

Don't say I support the troops on one hand and then a two-month mission is a quagmire. That's a false equivalation. Who are you cheering for here?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: So we're going to be watching to see whether there are fireworks like that in the Senate hearing, which gets underway in a couple of hours. Now, one key question that he's likely to face, as he faced yesterday, is the cost of the war. We have new reporting on that from our Natasha Bertrand, Zachary Cohen, and Haley Britzky.

[09:05:00]

The Pentagon Comptroller Jay Hurst told lawmakers yesterday that the rough cost of the war so far has been about $25 billion. Now, our sources, according to our colleagues, say that's a lowball figure. It does not include the cost of repairing extensive damage to U.S. bases in the region. That's according to three people familiar with the matter. They say the real cost could be closer to $40 to $50 billion because of the repairs needed for damaged bases.

Now, you see that $25 billion estimate in the graphic there. We're reporting that the cost could be $40 to $50 billion. The New York Times reporting that some bases in the region are now uninhabitable. Some U.S. bases after Iranian attacks on them.

CNN reported in the early days of the war, Iranian strikes significantly damaged at least nine U.S. military bases in just 48 hours in places like Bahrain, Kuwait, and Qatar. Also, several U.S. radar systems were damaged. So let's see if Secretary Hegseth gets those really pointed questions and whether he can deliver any specifics on the real cost of this war when he faces the Senate in a couple of hours -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes, and one of those senators, Senator Angus King, was just on with us, and he said that the number he had been hearing up until just yesterday is the $50 billion price tag. And he said now he has many more questions as well about the true cost of it. Brian, thanks so much -- John.

BERMAN: All right, with us now is CNN Global Affairs Analyst Karim Sadjadpour. Kareem, great to see you this morning.

We heard Congressman Moulton questioning the defense secretary about the blockade of the blockade in the Strait of Hormuz. You've described it as sort of mutual strangulation. What do you mean?

KARIM SADJADPOUR, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: So Iran is obviously trying to strangle the global economy. They know their leverage is when oil prices spike, pressure is on the American consumer, and they want the American public to pressure President Trump to end the war. At the same time, President Trump has his hands on the throat of the Iranian economy, trying to strangle this regime into capitulation.

And because of the Internet blockade in Iran, we're not hearing the voices of the Iranian people. But this is an economy which is really suffering. Seventy percent inflation among the highest in the world, and reports of malnourishment.

So right now it's a policy of mutual strangulation to see who runs out of oxygen first.

BERMAN: What are the different pain thresholds when you're talking, perhaps, about the Trump administration and the Iranian regime? Not the Iranian people necessarily, but the Iranian regime.

SADJADPOUR: So the difference is very stark in that President Trump needs the American economy to thrive. This is a regime which only needs to survive. And so we've seen in the past, they're willing to inflict enormous hardship on their own people. They're willing to kill thousands of their own people to stay in power. So their pain threshold is very high.

For President Trump, on the other hand, there's so many different things happening. It's not only the American economy, it's differences within his cabinet, with Vice President Vance perhaps wanting to wrap up the war, the midterm elections. And the Iranian regime is following American politics and American public opinion very closely to test the resolve of President Trump.

BERMAN: You know, gas prices went up seven cents a gallon overnight, for instance. How closely does Iran follow that?

SADJADPOUR: Going back to the 1979 revolution, when the Iranian hostage crisis helped end Jimmy Carter's presidency, Iran has focused very closely on trying to manipulate popular opinion and in U.S. politics. And that's what they're hoping for here, that U.S. popular opinion in opposition to the war is going to force President Trump to end it prematurely.

BERMAN: Now, you say that President Trump needs the economy to thrive, and Iran, the Iranian regime only needs to survive. That creates a little bit of a power differential there. At the same time, and I've seen it in your writing and in writings you point to, Iran can't last forever with its wells, you know, pumping and not having anywhere to store it.

Any new accurate estimate for how many more days they can withstand a blockade?

SADJADPOUR: You know, my friends who are oil exports disagree on this. There's some who say they have only weeks until they potentially do permanent damage to their oil wells. There's some who say, listen, Iran is a large country. There are other ways of getting its oil out rather than just the Straits of Hormuz.

BERMAN: But the discrepancy here is hugely important, right? Because if there are other ways they can last, if there's nothing else, they can do, it could be days or weeks.

SADJADPOUR: Well, at a minimum, John, this is not a regime which can defeat the United States and Israel militarily. It's a question of probably months. It's not years.

BERMAN: All right, Karim Sadjadpour, great to see you this morning. Always love reading what you have to write. It really helps frame what's going on --

SADJADPOUR: Thank you.

BERMAN: -- in a really, really interesting way.

All right, we do have breaking news. This is big political news in the world of Democratic politics in one of the most closely watched Senate races in the country. This is out of Maine.

The governor there, the incumbent Democrat Janet Mills, has suspended her campaign for Senate.

[09:10:00]

This clears the way for Graham Platner to be the challenger to Republican Senator Susan Collins, who is seen by many as one of the most vulnerable Republican incumbents.

Let's get right to our congressional reporter, Lauren Fox, with the latest on this. And there's kind of a lot going on here, right? Because Janet Mills, the sitting popular governor, the chosen candidate of Chuck Schumer, and now she appears to be out.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, obviously, this is a huge question mark for Chuck Schumer's ability to pick candidates that can win in some of these most competitive races. And obviously, Maine is a top target for Democrats. As you noted, Senator Susan Collins has held that seat and she has always faced tough reelection campaigns.

This one was going to be no different. But Democrats went all in. The party establishment went all in for the sitting governor there, Janet Mills.

She released a statement this morning saying that she said, quote, "While I have the drive and passion, commitment and experience, and above all else, the fight to continue on, I very simply do not have the one thing that political campaigns unfortunately require today, the financial resources. That is why today I have made the incredible difficult decision to suspend my campaign to the United States Senate." And of course, underscoring there that she clearly states she just did not have the campaign funds to continue. And that's a sign. If you are the Democratic leader, typically the candidate that you support has the money flowing to them. Obviously, in the of Graham Platner, he was able to go out there and get some of these grassroots donations, get some of this grassroots support.

And obviously, that is having a huge impact and is reflecting back on whether or not Schumer and Democrats at large are able to pick these winning candidates at this time as Democrats are really trying to retool their message after losing to Donald Trump in 2024.

I also just want to point out this statement from the DSCC. They said "Democrats are dedicated to fighting back against the chaos of the Trump administration by defeating the Republicans who enable his harmful agenda. And that includes Senator Susan Collins. After years of allowing Trump abuses of power, Senator Collins has never been more vulnerable. And we will work with the presumptive Democratic nominee, Graham Platner, to defeat her."

There you have it -- John.

BERMAN: There are generational dynamics at play here in the Democratic Party, as you said, questions of financing. And also, now we will see where they go in terms of unity. Lauren Fox with the breaking news this morning. Thanks so much -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Also this morning, the man charged with trying to assassinate the president at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, he's due back in court. Prosecutors say that in a new filing, they believe that Cole Thomas Allen was planning the attack for weeks, and they want him kept in custody as he awaits trial now. This filing also includes a selfie that Allen allegedly took of himself, clearly, in the hotel room shortly before the attack.

In the picture, you can see, and they highlight at least four weapons. Additionally, the Washington Post has reviewed kind of a new angle, if you will, of the incident, a higher quality version of security camera footage. And according to the Post, the video does not show the suspect firing a weapon as he ran through that security checkpoint and out of frame, but does show, according to their analysis, a Secret Service officer firing his gun at least four times in Allen's direction.

Prosecutors allege that Allen did fire his shotgun as he was sprinting toward the stairs to the ballroom where the dinner was happening. Just more detail kind of coming out, laying more of a timeline of how this all played out.

Let's get over to CNN's Katelyn Polantz who's outside of court where this is going to be happening today. And Katelyn, what are you expecting?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, that detail, that is what's going to be discussed today in a hearing that could be quite lengthy and in some ways is not totally normal for this sort of situation where there was a very high profile security breach and obviously the possibility of violence toward the president. The Justice Department is alleging that Cole Allen attempted to assassinate the president on Saturday night, and now they have to argue to the court that he should stay behind bars. Other defendants, they often just waive that and they say, OK, fine, I'll stay behind bars and perhaps challenge it at a later date.

But Cole Allen's defense attorneys from the public defender's office here in D.C., they are already putting before the court his history of being a tutor, being gainfully employed, having multiple degrees, including as a mechanical engineer, also being someone who is very tied to his community and has a lot of friends and family, including in California and on the East Coast.

And so they're going to be arguing that he doesn't actually have to stay behind bars as he awaits trial. It would be OK and safe for him to be released under a certain set of other conditions. His full liberty wouldn't need to be deprived.

But what's going to happen in court today, Kate, there's going to be a lot of focus on two things.

[09:15:00]

The guns he was carrying on Saturday and into Washington as he took the train across to from California in the days before the Correspondents' Dinner. What exactly happened in that lobby outside of the ballroom? Who fired a shot? Was it indeed Cole Allen?

Justice Department has indicated they believe he did shoot from a rifle. And then the third thing is that manifesto that was recovered that he had e-mailed to friends and a former employer at the exact moment that he believed he would be running into the ballroom armed with both a rifle and a pistol.

Now, the Justice Department is going to be saying that he has demonstrated not only a capacity -- and this is a direct quote from their filing to the judge last night -- to accumulate and use significant amounts of lethal weaponry, but also a willingness to deceive those closest to him to achieve political objectives through violence.

They say he absolutely needs to stay in detention as he has been since he was downed on Saturday night as he awaits trial. But his defense team, they're going to make as much effort as they can to say this guy can be safe even if he is released at this time -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right, Katelyn, thank you so much for setting us up for that. That's coming today.

Joining us right now to talk more about the investigation, where things stand, law enforcement contributor, retired FBI supervisory special agent Steve Moore.

So, Steve, based on all this new reporting and the filings that the suspect, you know, charged a checkpoint with multiple weapons, what stands out to you about how this attack unfolded as we know it right now?

STEVE MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR: I guess the amount of planning that went into it. He made reservations earlier in the month. He accumulated the weapons.

He I guess crossing the country in a train is indicative of the fact that he didn't think he could get across the country with weapons on an airliner. So, you know, there was a lot of planning and a lot of thought about this, which is in direct contrast to what the defense is going to point out is a pillar of the community and somebody who is relatively sane.

BOLDUAN: Let's talk about kind of the planning of this, that court filing, laying out this timeline that that he had been planning this for weeks and even documenting kind of his movements with it. With that, what red flags kind of along the way would you be looking for, have questions about if he has been actually planning this for so long?

MOORE: You know, the problem with red flags is he was 3,000 miles away at the time of the shooting he had -- or the time of his attempted attack -- he had legally bought two weapons 3,000 miles away and he had gotten a hotel room in that same hotel. That right there is not something that would raise, you know, the red flags for anybody at that point.

What I want to know is what he talked about to friends and neighbors, what he talked about on social media, things like that. Those are the red flags that would be indicative of a problem. And we don't know if he at this point if he did that and whether or not there was enough there that people should have said something.

BOLDUAN: See, what do you make of that image, that selfie picture that has been released in the court filing and what the FBI is trying to take from it?

MOORE: You know, it's interesting because in just about all these types of mass -- well, political mass shootings, things like this and other types, you will frequently see somebody, the assailant, appear in pictures or wanting to call relatives or friends. I remember one guy said, hey, watch the news, you know, and they do things for self aggrandizement. And so this is while there is a political element to this, there's also a personal element that's not much different than any mass shooter.

It's I need some attention and I need to be important and I need to do something historic.

BOLDUAN: Steve Moore, thank you for coming in -- John.

BERMAN: All right, breaking just moments ago, we've got new economic numbers released. On the one hand, strong growth, but on the other hand, a big new spike in inflation.

And why did Elon Musk just tell a jury he was a fool? The new chapter in the tech billionaire thunder dome with the future of AI in the balance.

And it was one of the most controversial developments in sports. Now is it nearly over? What happens next to Saudi backed LIV Golf?

[09:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: So this morning, new comments about the Civil Rights Act -- excuse me, the Voting Rights Act, which is what the Supreme Court issued a ruling on yesterday, really reshaping it. Andrew Young is one of the last living members of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s inner circle, and he was one of two black southerners to win House seats after the Voting Rights Act passed. This is what he told CNN before the court's decision.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[09:25:00]

ANDREW YOUNG, CIVIL RIGHTS ICON: This is a country -- I've been to jail to try to get the voting rights right. And I don't know why the Supreme Court that's there now thinks that by backtracking on 250 years of constitutional government, that that's going to do any better for the citizens of this nation. Now, if they do, that doesn't mean we'll quit.

I've been beat up. I've been jailed. I'm convinced that God is on the side of the least of these, his children.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: With us now is John Blake, senior writer for CNN Digital, who conducted that interview with Andrew Young. Again, that was before the Supreme Court decision, but you could tell where Andrew Young's head was.

JOHN BLAKE, CNN DIGITAL SENIOR WRITER: Yes, it was the day before. And I don't think the decision surprised him, nor did it surprise many people who have been following this issue for years.

BERMAN: And he suggested at the end there of that interview that he was going to continue the fight. Any sense of how?

BLAKE: Well, I think he's saying that he believes that this decision will inspire a backlash, that it will backfire because it will mobilize Black voters and other voters who have kind of taken the Voting Rights Act for granted. And this is a pattern we see throughout the civil rights movement. There's an action, and then there's a reaction.

And in fact, that's the same pattern that gave us the Voting Rights Act. When Alabama state troopers cracked down on civil rights demonstrators, there was a reaction in the nation that led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act. And I believe that Ambassador Young is counting on that same dynamic today. BERMAN: And what did he have to say in general about the overall environment now, how we got to this point?

BLAKE: I think what he's really tried to express is not just how we got to this point, because I think a lot of people are very aware of how we got to the point. The composition of the Supreme Court changed, and this decision was seen pretty much inevitable for a lot of people. My sense from talking to him is that he was more concerned about the future.

There's always this sense among civil rights activists that people are tempted to give up, to give in to despair. And when Ambassador Young was trying to tell people, hey, look, I'm 93 years old. I've seen so much suffering.

I've seen so much brutality. Don't give up. Keep your eyes on the prize.

BERMAN: John Blake, thank you so much for sharing your reporting. It is always good to hear from Andrew Young, a true legend and icon.

All right, gas prices have shot up nearly 30 cents in just the last week. What is behind that spike?

And police using jumper cables not plugged in to rescue a mother and three kids from raging floodwaters.

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