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U.S. Military To Begin Guiding Ships Through Strait Of Hormuz Today; Spirit Airlines Cancels All Flights, Shuts Down Customer Service; Blanche: Comey Indictment "Not Just About A Single Instagram Post." Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired May 04, 2026 - 07:30   ET

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

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[07:30:33]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, new this morning gas prices ticked up slightly overnight. This after President Trump unveiled this new plan for what he says is the U.S. military to guide straits (sic) through the Strait of Hormuz. This is an effort he dubbed Project Freedom. To guide them, which apparently does not mean escort them.

Oil prices did fall slightly on that news early. However, they went up again overnight after Iranian state media reported that Iran's navy has prevented U.S. ships from entering the strait.

Let's get right to CNN's Matt Egan for the latest on this. Yeah, we've been watching oil prices actually go up over the last few minutes.

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yeah, John. Look, the market is desperate for anything that will break up this tanker traffic jam in the Strait of Hormuz but unfortunately, this does not look like the gamechanger that is needed -- at least that's the message from the market. Because yeah, as you noted, you're looking at WTI, the U.S. benchmark, three percent higher today.

Initially, prices did dip on this but that was really short-lived, and I think that's because of really, the fact that one, this is not an escort mission, right? Two, Iran says it violates the ceasefire agreement. And three, it's not at all clear how many tankers are going to take the president up on this offer right now. I mean, as of today, the Strait of Hormuz remains basically empty -- almost no traffic.

Now gas prices, as you mentioned, going up again -- $4.46 a gallon, up a penny today. But this is the highest level since July of 2022. And look at this, before the war we were looking sub $3.00 a gallon gasoline and now $4.46 a gallon.

And when you look at the trend, I mean, you can see that oil -- gas prices really just skyrocketed as soon as this crisis began. And the problem is that because of the fact that the Strait of Hormuz is closed the world is missing about 14 million barrels per day of oil that would normally be going out to the rest of the world, and this has been going on for 60-plus days. So you're talking about 900 million barrels of oil missing.

And I talked to Andy Lipow, a veteran oil analyst, and he told me that this chart could go even higher, right? He said that gas prices could hit $5.00 a gallon if the strait remains closed for another month. That would rival the all-time high set back in 2022 under former President Biden after Russia invaded Ukraine.

And gas gets all of the attention but also diesel prices --

BERMAN: Um-hum.

EGAN: -- remain extremely high. In fact, today all-time highs for diesel in three key states: Wisconsin, Michigan, and Illinois. All of them higher than at any point in history -- even higher than in 2022. This is bad news for farmers, for truckers, for railroads, for really the entire economy.

So look, John, bottom line, closing the Strait of Hormuz, right -- this was unthinkable, but now it's been going on for nine weeks and it's not really clear how this is going to end.

BERMAN: Yeah, it's not unthinkable anymore because we've seen it now for more than two months.

EGAN: Yeah.

BERMAN: Matt Egan, thank you very much --

EGAN: Thanks, John.

EGAN: -- for that report -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Joining us right now are CNN political and global affairs commentators Sabrina Singh and here with me on set is CNN national security analyst Alex Plitsas. Thanks, guys, for being here.

Sabrina, let me ask you this. Iran saying that it stopped a U.S. Navy from entering the strait and then this is just as the U.S. Navy says it's going to begin this new phase of helping civilian ships navigate the strait.

This means what, do you think?

SABRINA SINGH, CNN POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR, FORMER DEPUTY PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: This is all about messaging for Iran. Iran is trying to signal yet again that the strait is closed and that U.S. ships or other ships will -- cannot enter or without its permission. And so this is really the messaging game I think that Iran is playing both internally to its population but to the global markets as well.

As soon as Iran, you know, put that out there you saw markets respond to that -- that posting. You're also going to see insurance companies respond to that. They're not going to want to insure ships that might have to transit through that strait, especially when the U.S. military is not providing escorts. They're providing something short of that, which is guidance, which means some type of coordination cell setting up to basically give ships a path to go through.

But it's not escorting them and that's something that's very different from what we did in the Biden administration under Operation Prosperity Guardian where you had a coalition of over a dozen countries providing intelligence and escorting of ships through the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb to open that up as we were undergoing attacks from the Houthis.

So it's very different what the Trump administration is doing and frankly, I think it's a sign that this administration does not want to restart kinetic action with Iran because they're not putting those ships in an escort position right now.

[07:35:08]

BOLDUAN: And Alex, what do you see in this because, you know, how is guiding not escorting -- Sabrina is kind of getting at that -- and why is that distinction so important here and real, or is this more about the president trying to call an Iranian bluff or something with this move and announcement?

ALEX PLITSAS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST, DIRECTOR, ATLANTIC COUNCIL'S COUNTERTERRORISM PROGRAM: So one of our colleagues this morning reported out of Axios that the White House wanted some action. The president was kind of tired of the stalemate and decided this was one of the ways he was going to try to push that. And so guiding a ship out and telling it where to go as opposed to escorting it where you're mandatory to, you know, sort of take protective action there is sort of -- it's an interesting distinction.

Obviously, the Iranians had said that they hit one of our ships with two missiles. That was quickly denied by CENTCOM. We are seeing reports now though that a tanker -- excuse me, an empty cargo ship off the coast of Oman was allegedly struck by two drones, you know, and that the crew seems to be safe at this point.

But that's the problem as Sabrina mentioned because she entirely right. Naval escorts and a $30 billion rolling insurance portfolio is what the U.S. government had considered to sort of open up the shipping lanes.

The problem is what I'm hearing from shipping executives and oil executives is that anything short of a political agreement is not going to guarantee that the ships are not struck and crew safety is their number one priority, and the only way that'll happen is with a political agreement.

So even during the crisis that Sabrina was just talking about the large shipping companies actually didn't transit until it was completely stable because the risk was too great.

BOLDUAN: Yeah. And Alex -- but on this exact point -- so what does -- and look, we'll see what happens throughout the day. We're very much in the middle of kind of waiting to see if something happens. PLITSAS: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: Does this -- what does this prove -- what does this give the administration in terms of its strategic positioning or does this give more strength to Iran's argument that it is in control of the strait?

PLITSAS: Well, it depends on how the -- the outcome of this.

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

PLITSAS: So I think the U.S. made it clear last week that the State Department -- it sort of leaked out -- had been tasked putting together an international naval coalition -- exactly what Sabrina was talking about that sort of needed to happen. The messaging has now become quite clear that Iran is not going to be allowed to control the strait nor are they going to be allowed to toll ships that are coming through, which is a 180 because originally in the beginning the president sort of indicated he may be open to that and then --

BOLDUAN: Yes.

PLITSAS: -- quickly pivoted off of that position and said no.

So now the U.S. appears to be putting a little bit of muscle behind the statements. So between putting the other coalition and now actually saying that they're going to clear for humanitarian purposes -- the strait -- they're taking it a step further. And it is essentially a game of chicken at this point to see who blinks at a game of wills.

BOLDUAN: It really does seem that we're stuck in this perpetual game of chicken at the moment.

And at the same time, Sabrina, I wanted to ask you. European leaders have met today and are reacting to the Trump administration's announcement that it's pulling thousands of U.S. troops out of Germany amid the tension between President Trump and the German chancellor over Iran.

The German chancellor on this pullback was downplaying the pullback from the United States, saying it wasn't necessarily the timing maybe a surprise but other leaders saying that this is an example of how Europe needs to be focusing more on its taking care of its own security.

What do you see here?

SINGH: Yeah. I think, you know, this was a petty reaction by this administration responding to the German chancellor's remarks criticizing the Trump administration's actions and negotiations with Iran. But the reality is that the United States military does remain -- does -- is going to continue to have a large footprint in Germany.

And I think what's important here is that Germany and European bases that we have all around in Europe serve as operations for the Middle East and also Africa, but they also serve us in our own defense here at home. So while this drawdown -- I mean, 5,000 troops is significant -- we still maintain a big presence in Europe and that, I think, needs to be maintained.

But you're also seeing both bipartisan support and criticism from the Hill on the Trump administration's actions to basically draw down these forced because members on the Hill know that they are there for our defense as well and it is important signaling to Russia and Vladimir Putin that we do have Europe's support, our allies' back, and of course, most importantly, Ukraine.

BOLDUAN: It's great to see both. Thank you very, very much -- John.

BERMAN: All right. This morning Spirit Airlines passengers scrambling after the budget airline shut down over the weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICARDO TEJEDA, SPIRIT AIRLINES TICKETHOLDER: I hope the people who have created this inconvenience for people like myself -- you know, they should ask God for forgiveness. I mean, this is terrible.

CHRIS BELL, SPIRIT AIRLINES TICKETHOLDER: We came here to the airport to try to get another ticket. Um, American Airlines is like $1,300. And then I hear from Frontier that they're only helping customers until June 6. Well, my flight is all the way until the 18th. I haven't even received my money back to even buy a new ticket. So it means I've got to come out of pocket with more money to purchase another ticket.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[07:40:00]

BERMAN: This is the first time in 25 years that a major U.S. airline has gone out of business because of financial trouble.

Joining us now, a friend of the show, Clint Henderson, managing editor for The Points Guy. Clint, great to see you this morning.

All right, let's say I have a ticket on Spirit Airlines for today or tomorrow. What should I do?

CLINT HENDERSON, MANAGING EDITOR, THE POINTS GUY (via Webex by Cisco): So the good news is I didn't think this was going to happen, but Spirit is actually refunding customers for their purchases. So that's the first thing. If you paid with a credit card or debit card, you'll get a refund eventually and if you don't, you can do a chargeback on your credit card.

But in the meantime, the airlines have offered special fares. It sounds like they're a little bit restrictive but, in most cases, I know United has helped thousands of people already. But there's a website one of our readers created called stuckonspirit.com. You literally can type in your flight information, and it will tell you your best option and tell you how to rebook.

So they're offering -- the airlines are offering discounted fares, special rates. But your quote -- the person was right. There are limited -- there are sort of limited rules around this, so you've got to tread that carefully.

BERMAN: Yeah, you have to be careful obviously and it's going to take some time for you to unravel the situation.

Clint, what happens if you're a Spirit Airlines, you know, loyalty member? If you've been banking hundreds of thousands of Spirit Airline points over the years. What happens to those?

HENDERSON: Really bad news on that front. Unfortunately you're likely never to see a dollar for those points, those miles because what happens is in a liquidation consumers actually go to the end of the line so they're actually the last ones to get paid back in these situations. So unfortunately not such great news there.

BERMAN: And just what is the environment for air travel this summer? I mean, obviously we know gas prices at the pump are going up. We see oil prices going up. We know jet fuel prices have gone up. So what's it like if you're trying to buy a plane ticket for the summer?

HENDERSON: So you're looking at increases in ticket prices between 10 and 30 percent unfortunately for the summer. We're tracking this really carefully at The Points Guy. So you can expect to pay more.

The other thing that we're seeing is fuel surcharges added on top of some award tickets, so even if you're using your points and miles. And then baggage fees have increased.

So I'm telling people and we're telling people at The Points Guy go ahead and book your travel if you can afford it for the rest of the year, even into spring. Get ahead of any future price increases because I am really worried with the jet fuel prices the way they are, that it's going to get worse from here. So go ahead and get those tickets now.

The good news is you can get a trip credit. Say things go back to normal and prices drop. You can get a trip credit for the price difference if the ticket price drops between when you book and when you travel, so that's a little piece of mind for consumers. But you can't book basic economy and get those trip credits, so keep that in mind.

BERMAN: All right, this is good advice for what could be at trying travel summer.

Clint Henderson, great to see you. Thank you very much -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: We are standing by for a hearing today all having to do with the treatment of the alleged White House Correspondents' Dinner shooter. A federal judge says that he has -- the way he's described it is "grave concerns" after attorney for Cole Tomas Allen said that he was held in solitary confinement last week, placed on what they say was suicide watch. They also say he was confined to a padded room with constant lighting and had to wear a padded vest. This comes as the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine

Pirro, said that a Secret Service agent was definitively shot by the suspected gunman. According to Pirro, the suspect allegedly opened fire with a shotgun while running through the security checkpoint. Pirro said that additional surveillance video of the incident will be released soon.

BERMAN: All right. New comments this morning from the acting attorney general Todd Blanche on the charges against former FBI director James Comey. Blanche says Comey's Instagram post of shells on the beach spelling out "86 47" -- that that's not the only reason Comey was indicted.

Now the indictment said that post was a threat on the president's life. The indictment really is all about those shells. But now Blanche says that other people that post those numbers will not necessarily be charged.

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TODD BLANCHE, ACTING U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: This is not just about a single Instagram post. This is about a body of evidence that the grand jury collected over the series of about 11 months. If the only facts that existed was the posting of the Instagram, obviously that wouldn't have taken 11 months. Of course, the seashells are part of that case. I mean, that's what the public sees.

But without a doubt, and it should be evident by the fact that it's been 11 months since the posting and the indictment, there is an investigation that takes place. And that's the result -- the result of that investigation is the indictment that was returned last week.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[07:45:03]

BERMAN: Let's get right to CNN senior legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Elie Honig.

So the acting attorney general says it's not just the seashells; there's other stuff here. How do you read that?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR, FORMER ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK: John, count me as highly skeptical that DOJ has some piece of evidence that's a true gamechanger here above and beyond the post itself.

Now if this case charged some sort of sprawling, ongoing conspiracy, some multidefendant scheme that went on over weeks or months, then sure, there could be evidence that hasn't yet come out at this early phase but will come out soon.

But if you look at the indictment, if you look at the statute the DOJ has chosen to charge here, if you look at the wording of the indictment, it's quite clear that Jim Comey's Instagram post with the seashells -- that is the case. And the case is that post. So I'm skeptical. There is going to be a few week period before the

defense actually sees the discovery here but it's hard to imagine a piece of evidence that would materially change the meaning of that phrase as Jim Comey posted it.

BERMAN: Yeah, and just go read the indictment because the indictment is all about this stuff right there -- this "86 47" as -- you know, as Elie Honig was saying right there.

And to have the acting attorney general, Elie, say that these charges aren't just about this Instagram post, why might he be saying that? What's the case law over the last several decades that might make a charge based on that Instagram post a little bit thin?

HONIG: Well John, I think this apparent overrepresentation of the case by Todd Blanche is a reflection of the fact that he's a good enough prosecutor to recognize that this case is sorely lacking and deeply problematic.

So the case is going to turn on the meaning of that phrase "86 47." No question 47 means Donald Trump, the 47th President of the United States. But 86 is ambiguous at best for prosecutors. Are there instances where people have used 86 to mean kill, sure, but those are few and far between and clearly in the minority. The far more common usage of 86 is to mean we've run out of something or to cut something off, or to eliminate something. And that's, by the way, what all the major English language dictionaries say.

Now, if you look at prior case law there was a case back in 1969 involving a Vietnam War protester -- a guy named Robert Watts. His case ended up going all the way to the Supreme Court. Here is what Robert Watts said in his statement back in 1969. "I am not going (meaning to Vietnam). If they ever make me carry a rifle, the first man I want to get in my sights in L.B.J." Referring to the then- president.

That went up to the Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court said that is not a criminal threat. Same charge at issue here. And even that explicit statement about a rifle sights and the president, the Supreme Court said that is aggressive, it is offensive, it is controversial, but it is protected First Amendment political speech.

And so John, if that statement about getting the sitting president in the sights of a rifle is not a crime, there is no conceivable way that a seashell post of "86 47" is going to be a chargeable crime.

BERMAN: Yeah. The case law there does not seem to be on the acting attorney general's side here.

Elie Honig, great to see you, counselor. Appreciate it -- Kate. Oh, this is me.

New details after a midair emergency. Well, she was standing there. I thought she wanted to do some work.

BOLDUAN: I'm here to support you. I'm here to support you. BERMAN: There are new details after a midair emergency. A passenger

attacks a flight attendant and allegedly tried to storm the cockpit.

And the Oscar goes to the human actor. The Academy Awards makes it official. AI performers can't win.

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[05:53:10]

BERMAN: All right. This morning new remarkably bad poll numbers for President Trump. This is in the ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll, you know, out just this weekend. His disapproval reached a new high. Sixty-two percent disapproving of how the president is handling his job.

I want to get now to friend of the show, CNN political analyst Alex Thompson. He is a national political correspondent for Axios. Alex, great to see you this morning.

And it's not just the -- you know, the ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll, it's really all polls. And it's the economic numbers just dragging the president down.

What's the feeling inside the White House? How is this sort of impacting how they behave and their thinking every day?

ALEX THOMPSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, AXIOS (via Webex by Cisco): I mean, they know that the poll numbers are bad. That is why there is this impetus to try to end the war. But, you know, as we know, they called the -- we're 10 weeks into what Trump said was going to be a six-week war and now you are having escalation.

And the fact is that many of the people that voted for Trump in 2024 -- the people in the middle -- the people that really swung this election -- were voting for Trump because they were nostalgic for Trump 1.0 and they have not gotten Trump 1.0, especially on the economy.

Now some of these things are outside of any president's control but, you know, the fact is that the poll numbers have never really gone back since Trump's tariffs last year. And then having a, you know, once in a generation energy shock because of the Iran war, has just further exacerbated this growing trend that many Americans no longer approve of Trump's handling of the economy, which was in many ways his sort of, you know, political superpower in the first term.

BERMAN: Yeah, and we saw those numbers just up on the screen. Just a 25 percent approval rating among Independents of the president now. That's really low.

[07:55:00]

Alex, over the weekend Tucker Carlson did an interview with The New York Times -- an extensive interview. He says a lot of things. There's a lot of talk about the antichrist. We're going to leave the antichrist over to the side for a moment Alex because he also talked about Vice President JD Vance who is a friend of his.

And he said of JD Vance, "There are a lot of people in the White House who want to hurt JD Vance and have wanted that since the very first day. They were bitter. They wanted Marco Rubio to be the choice as vice president. And so JD has been subject to -- and this is well known, but I'll just confirm it -- nonstop treachery from people on the neoconservative side here."

So what did you hear from Tucker there and where do things stand for JD Vance inside the White House?

THOMPSON: Tucker's comments were fascinating for a number of reasons, including that, you know, Tucker is one of the reasons that JD Vance is vice president. Tucker Carlson hosted JD Vance on his show a lot during the 2022 Ohio Senate race primary to try to boost him. He's also the one that kept telling Trump to pick JD Vance for vice president. And he has been very openly talking about JD Vance running for president in 2028.

Now some other Republicans just see Tucker's commentary as, you know, a little conspiratorial. And yes, there are some people in the White House that don't love JD Vance -- that think he's a little too online. That he -- you know, it can be a little too undiplomatic as, you know, even Donald Trump has sort of signaled, comparing him to Marco Rubio.

But there is a lot -- you know, the fact that Tucker Carlson has broken distinctly with Donald Trump, but he has still tried to manage a really good relationship with JD Vance is fascinating. It's also worth noting that Tucker Carlson's son was working for JD Vance until just recently.

BERMAN: It is worthy of note.

Alex Thompson, it's great to see you. I think everyone needs to go to Axios and check out your new reporting on Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro. Some of the intrigue there as Shapiro may or may not be positioning for higher things. Thank you so much for being with us this morning -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Other things we're watching right now.

Newly released video shows the moment a firefighter risked his life to save a driver from a burning SUV in Detroit. It is fully engulfed in flames. This happened back in January, but the video was just released, so we're getting a view of it now. The woman in the SUV is still recovering after suffering third-degree burns.

Since that incredible rescue the firefighter has been honored for his heroism and courage. He said that he looks at all citizens like his own family and he was just doing his job. And an amazing job at it -- my God.

A man was detained on a United Airlines flight after he allegedly attacked a flight attendant and then tried to get into the cockpit as the plane was landing in Newark.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PILOT: United 1837, we are declaring an emergency. It seems like someone just attacked one of our flight attendants.

GROUND CONTROL: Do you have a nature of emergency?

PILOT: Uh, a gentlemen just attacked one of the flight attendants and trying to open the floor main cabin door.

GROUND CONTROL: Oh my God.

PILOT: Trying to gain access to the flight deck.

GROUND CONTROL: All right, we're calling.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Oh my God is right. No injuries reported, thankfully. The suspect was taken to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation -- John.

BERMAN: I'm glad that ended well.

All right. New this morning Hollywood cracking down on AI. The Oscars introduced a new rule stating that only humans can win in acting and writing categories beginning next year.

With us now is CNN's Clare Duffy. Good to see you.

So this -- you know, this ruins my chances because I'm a robot. No, but why are they doing this now?

CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS TECH REPORTER: Well, this is the first time that the Academy has addressed artificial intelligence in its rules. Obviously, this is coming as we are seeing more and more filmmakers and others in and around Hollywood experimenting with AI and many in Hollywood very worried about what AI is going to mean for their jobs.

Now what's interesting here is the Academy says that generative artificial intelligence neither helps nor harms the chances of achieving a nomination, saying the Academy will take into account the degree which a human was at the heart of creative authorship when choosing which movie to award.

But there are two apparent exceptions to that. As you said, in the acting category, only roles demonstrably performed by humans with their consent will be eligible for awards. And in the writing categories, the rules say that screenplays must be human-authored to be eligible.

So this would appear to put Tilly Norwood, the AI actor that we've talked a lot about, out of luck. But I do think there are going to be some edge cases that the Academy is going to have to sort out here. You know, we've talked about this role that the AI replica of Val Kilmer is playing. He agreed to participate in that film, but AI is technically playing the role. You know, I've also talked to screenplay writers who are using AI as sort of writing partners.

And, you know, there's this question I think that the awards groups are going to have to deal with is where do you draw the line between what is human creativity and what is contributed by generative AI.

BERMAN: I mean, I see why they're doing this. You want to lay down a marker. But part of it does feel symbolic. I have a hard time believing that an AI actor was going to be up for a nomination anytime soon. It seems like they just wanted to make a statement.

DUFFY: That's absolutely right. I think they do want to make a statement about where the Academy stands and where Hollywood as a whole stands.