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Trump Threatens To "Obliterate" Iran's Power Plants Over Strait Of Hormuz; Trump To Deploy ICE Agents To Airports Tomorrow To Help TSA; Gas Prices Rising With Trump's Ultimatum Looming; Conflict In Middle East Disrupts Global Fertilizer Supplies; New Series Explores Relationship Of FBI Directors And Presidents They Serve. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired March 22, 2026 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:15]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. Hi, everyone. I'm Jessica Dean here in New York.

And tonight, a standoff over the Strait of Hormuz. Iran saying it will completely close the waterway if the U.S. carries out its threat to attack Iran's energy infrastructure. Of course, it is a vital passageway through which about a fifth of the world's oil travels. And since the start of the war a month ago, it has been effectively closed, prompting gas and oil prices to skyrocket.

Iran's message coming after our President Donald Trump threatened to go after the country's power plants if Tehran doesn't, quote, "fully open the strait without threat within 48 hours."

CNN chief global affairs correspondent Matthew Chance joining us now from Doha.

Matthew, what's the latest from there?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, the latest, Jessica, is that Iran has apparently rejected the idea that it's -- of that Trump ultimatum, the idea that by Monday evening, your time, early morning Tuesday here in the region, unless the Strait of Hormuz is opened up by the Iranians who effectively control access in and out of it, then the United States will start sort of pounding power plants inside Iran.

They're obviously crucial for the Iranian people, for the Iranian regime, to maintain, you know, kind of normal life and electricity and things like that inside the country. The Iranians have acted -- reacted angrily saying that first of all if that happens, they will close down the Strait of Hormuz completely. At the moment they allow a trickle of, you know, giant supertankers carrying oil and gas to go through.

Nothing like the levels that normally go through the Strait of Hormuz but some at least. They said they'll close it down completely. They've also very worryingly said they will strike at infrastructure targets, energy targets in the region. So we're talking about here in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, all of these countries that are, you know, on the Gulf, they are heavily dependent on oil and gas production and export for their economies.

And they all, of course, happen to have U.S. military installations on their territory as well. So all of those things Iran says it will target if President Trump carries out his threat to attack those Iranian power plants. And of course, that could spark absolute chaos on the markets and in a much broader way than that. Just last week, a major Iranian gas, sorry, a major Qatari gas production facility was targeted by Iranian missiles and that sent shockwaves through the international energy markets.

Imagine that spread over a broader array of energy targets in the region. And it could be pretty cataclysmic, the reaction on the energy markets and the consequences that follow on from that as well -- Jessica.

DEAN: Yes, certainly. And it is -- it will certainly be something to watch for all the reasons you just laid out.

Matthew Chance, there in Doha, Qatar, for us. Thank you so much for that.

And here to discuss more is CNN's senior military analyst and former NATO Supreme Allied commander, Admiral James Stavridis. He's also the vice chairman of the Carlyle Group.

Thanks so much for being here with us. We appreciate it. As Matthew was just discussing there, the president is threatening to attack Iran's power plants. Is it fair to target a country's energy infrastructure in a war?

ADM. JAMES STAVRIDIS (RET.), CNN SENIOR MILITARY ANALYST: It is fair. However, if it is going to inflict significant damage on the civilian population, then it is less legal, if you will. So I think that's a first order conversation. Second one is, do you think this will really work? In other words, will Iran, and you read it very clearly in the run up, will Iran perhaps lash out and permanently or at least hard close the Strait of Hormuz?

And they could do that in a number of different ways, putting thousands of mines in the water. They could sink enormous tankers in the center of it. You could close it for months and months. And ultimately to prevent them from continuing to close it, you'd have to put boots on the ground in that scenario. So I think this is a high risk deadline President Trump is laying out, and thus far, at least, the Iranians appear intransigent.

[18:05:08]

DEAN: Yes. And there is this big question about what happens when this deadline passes. He said 48 hours from last night. We're going to have to see.

I also want to ask you about something we saw on Friday, which is that Iran launched two intermediate range ballistic missiles at a joint U.S.-U.K. military base in the Indian Ocean. That facility is more than 2,000 miles away from Iran's coast. No w neither hit the base, but the fact that those missiles could get there, what does that tell you about Tehran's capabilities at the moment, and what should people know about that?

STAVRIDIS: They still have a fairly significant inventory of long range ballistic missiles, kind of in this range. Yes, you're showing it there. This is over 2,000 miles. Now imagine that red line pointing in the other direction. Where does it land? It lands on NATO countries, in the middle of Europe, particularly in Eastern Europe.

So, as all of the countries in the region take that red line, Jessica, and just turn it into a circle and you get the idea, there's still very strong, distant capability with these ballistic missiles. Extremely worrisome. And final thought, if Iran decides to really burn down the house in the region and go after the Saudi oil fields and the Kuwaiti and Qatari gas production facilities, this shock to the global economy will be profound.

DEAN: And it's just, I think, too, just like listening to you talk through that, it's just a big question mark over whether it escalates to that point right now, right?

STAVRIDIS: It is. Here's the good news such as it is, both sides have kind of ticking clocks that would, at least in a rational world, drive them together to the negotiating table. In the United States that ticking clock is in November. It's the elections coming up. I doubt President Trump wants to be engaged in a full scale war going into November elections.

And the ticking clock on the Iranian side is the degree to which the Trump and Netanyahu administrations are willing to inflict essentially permanent damage on their critical infrastructure, not only the electric grid, but really going after Iranian oil fields. So both of those clocks are ticking.

I think there's still a better than even chance, Jessica, that because of those motivations, those ticking clocks, we will get to a negotiation hopefully in a matter of weeks. However, I'll close with this gloomy thought. I think there's a substantial call it a one in three chance this thing could really drag on. Boots on the ground, critical infrastructure strikes going both ways. Then you're in for real global shocks. Let's hope we're on the positive side of my calculus.

DEAN: Yes, one in three is not nothing, though. I do want to ask you just quickly before I let you go. From a military perspective, obviously that's where your expertise is, how successful has the operation been up until this point? And do you think that they have been able to achieve some of what they want to achieve in all of this?

STAVRIDIS: The administration, after some back and forth on what are the goals, settled on destroy the navy, destroy the ballistic missiles, obtain or destroy the nuclear fuel, and seriously degrade the proxies, the Revolutionary Guards. On that scale I think they've achieved largely three of four. So you could say the campaign is kind of hitting eight out of 10.

What is really hanging out there are two things. One of which we just discussed. Get the Strait of Hormuz back open, and the other is the thousand pounds of enriched uranium. No progress on that particular front. But overall, as a tactical evaluation, looking at it as a military commander, it's been very successful up in the eight of 10. We just haven't achieved all the goals yet. That remains work to be done.

DEAN: Admiral James Stavridis, always good to have you. Thank you so much.

STAVRIDIS: Thanks, Jess.

DEAN: Still ahead, unpaid TSA agents and political gridlock leave passengers in hourlong delays. This is the scene in New Orleans. We are live from one of the busiest airports in the country coming up. Plus, President Trump says he's going to send ICE agents to airports tomorrow amid these long delays. Our political panel will talk about the politics of that and if it helps or hurts when we come back.

[18:10:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: Tomorrow, ICE agents will be deploying to airports across the country. President Trump says he ordered the move to help TSA officers who are currently short staffed and going unpaid during this partial government shutdown. Travelers are experiencing really long lines at a lot of airports throughout the country, and Congress, meantime, remains at a stalemate over DHS immigration enforcement tactics, which means that the funding has not been worked out.

[18:15:05]

Senate Majority Leader John Thune saying this afternoon they are, in his words, hitting pause on those DHS funding talks today, with Republicans waiting for Democrats to respond to an offer from the White House.

So knowing all that, let's bring in CNN's Gloria Pazmino from Newark International Airport in New Jersey.

Gloria, you've been there really throughout the weekend. But as you noted, today is Sunday when a lot of people can be moving back and forth. What have you been seeing?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jessica. And, you know, frankly speaking, when we compare Newark to what we are seeing at a lot of other airports around the country, Newark is actually doing not that bad. The wait time here right now is about 25 minutes.

I want to show you behind me where the TSA line, you can see that people are flowing through this line, and this is what it has looked like most of the day. Especially busy now as we head into the evening rush and people are traveling, heading back home, or perhaps heading to their destination. But for the most part, passengers have been flowing, moving quickly into these checkpoints.

Sometimes the wait time does go up by a few minutes, but for the most part it has stayed under 30 to 40 minutes, which is very different from places like Hartsfield in Atlanta, where we're seeing wait times of at least an hour. Same in Houston, George Bush Intercontinental Airport, we're seeing over an hour wait times there as well. And earlier today, we were seeing long lines at LaGuardia and J.F. Kennedy Airports here in the New York-New Jersey area.

Now, this is all because of this ongoing partial government shutdown. TSA workers going without a paycheck. And that means that many of them are not coming into work. That is what's causing these long lines at the nation's airports. Many of those workers have said that they cannot afford to show up to work because they live paycheck to paycheck. So TSA reporting an absentee rate of about 9 percent, 10 percent last Monday. And resignations are also climbing. More than 400 employees have so far quit the force.

Now we also spoke to passengers here today to get their reaction about President Trump's plan to deploy ICE officers to help with some of the staffing shortages. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A little frightening.

PAZMINO: Yes. Why is that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, we've seen also that they kind of operate by their own rules and no one really knows what to expect. So even citizens themselves are not really sure what will set them off.

PAZMINO: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think anybody that can come and help is a good thing. If they're getting paid, we should probably put them to work.

BOB YOUKER, TRAVELING TO ORLANDO: Whatever it takes so that people don't have to wait in line, I guess, for a temp, for a band-aid temporary to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAZMINO: So you're seeing mixed reaction there, also frustrated passengers who told me they just want their lawmakers to go back to the table, try to get this resolved. And a lot of sympathy for TSA workers who are not here today, who are not getting paid. A lot of passengers we spoke to here today, they told me they understand, even if it means that they have to wait in line for a little longer -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right. Gloria Pazmino with the latest from Newark. Thank you for that.

And we're joined now by CNN contributor and "New York Times" journalist and podcast host Lulu Garcia-Navarro, and CNN political commentator and Republican strategist Shermichael Singleton.

Good evening to both of you, and thanks for being here.

Lulu, I --

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good to see you, Jessica.

DEAN: Yes, you too.

Lulu, I want to start with you. Gloria was just showing us, telling us about what Americans are seeing at these airports. Potentially now we're going to see these ICE agents that are going into airports. Then layer on to that the heightened threat environment because of the war with Iran and what that potentially could mean.

Democrats are holding strong onto their argument right now that they want to get this DHS, the ICE reforms sorted out before they agree to funding. They have also tried to, for the record, fund TSA agents' paychecks with a separate bill, but that has not gone anywhere. But do you think they're on the right side of this, Democrats, and where they're standing right now?

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I mean, I think nobody ever wins a shutdown. And it's a lesson that apparently no one ever learns. You know, they go on and on until something happens where people get really, really fed up. Last time, of course, it was again with the airports and the flights. And this time we're seeing the same issue.

You know, I just flew all over the country. I flew from D.C. to L.A. to San Francisco, and back. And it wasn't bad. It was very normal. And I think it just depends where you are in the country, what you're going to be dealing with. But at the end of the day, you know, this idea of sending ICE agents is a really dumb one. And why is it dumb? Because, you know, even though it's being touted as Donald Trump wanting to help people, his original announcement was actually about doing security and including the immediate arrest of illegal immigrants who have come into the country.

[18:20:12]

So for him, it was like his personal army was going to be unleashed at airports. It wasn't actually to help with the line.

DEAN: Yes.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Who's kind of softened that now and said, no, no, we're here to actually help with people and the lines and, you know, sort of backing up TSA agents. And again, what you're hearing from this administration is they're talking out of two sides of their mouths. What are these ICE agents actually supposed to be doing there?

DEAN: Shermichael, there is a question around exactly what the ICE agents will be doing. I know that Tom Homan had said security and that sort of thing, that in some airports TSA agents do participate in that and others it's set up differently. But to Lulu's point, and I'll use Lulu's word, dumb. Do you think this is a dumb move?

SINGLETON: Well, look, listen to what some of the passengers stated, specifically the guys. They said, look, if someone is getting paid and they can help expedite the quickness of people getting through security by placing all of the TSA agents at those checkpoints and allowing ICE agents to do the securing of appropriate areas where you don't want people, I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing.

I mean, Tom Homan was very clear, said, look, we're not trained to process people going through the advanced machines that they go through when you fly. He was very honest about that, but he did say, what we could do is help TSA by alleviating some of the pressure, allowing those agents to focus there while ICE agents focus on essential security. I don't think that that's necessarily a bad thing, so long as that's only the scope of the job.

But I got to tell you, Jessica, I'm just not convinced here that Democrats are making a right decision. The $75 billion that ICE has over four years was already passed and appropriated in the big, beautiful bill. This isn't appropriations argument. Not to get into the minutia of the weeds, but they can't necessarily stop that. And so, as even Senator Mark Warner of my state of Virginia even argued, let's try to negotiate on the ICE issue while funding everything else so that you're not having a deleterious effect on people who need this money to take care of their families.

This also impacts FEMA. God forbid if there's a national disaster, what happens then? I'm certain Democrats don't want that at their feet. And so I think they need to be smart about this. I get the reasoning behind it. I've seen all of the data where most Democrats feel and stand as it pertains to ICE, broadly speaking. But is this the best way to go about winning that argument? I'm not convinced that it is.

DEAN: Yes. And Lulu, while we're talking, I'm looking at this video. You guys are probably looking at it, too. This is earlier today in Atlanta. We were looking at live pictures out of New Orleans. And to your point, depending on where you are is what kind of experience you're going to have, but in Atlanta, it's been really rough.

Do Americans care who's to blame or are they -- like, how do you think this lands with people who are just trying to get through their day and get where they need to go?

GARCIA-NAVARRO: You know, this is the calculation, right, that both Republicans and Democrats are thinking, and I think at the moment, what you're seeing is both Democrats and Republicans actually don't feel a lot of pressure on this. Why is that? For Democrats, they feel that this just feeds into the wider sense of chaos that they view the -- this administration through. So there's a war in Iran. Gas prices are up. You're going to the airport. You can't get through the lines because there's no deal on TSA agents' issue.

You know, it's just this general sense that things aren't going well and this sort of backs that, (INAUDIBLE) power for that. And then Republicans feel that if they just keep pointing the finger, Democrats saying, as you heard Shermichael say there, listen, they're on the wrong side of this. You know, they are (INAUDIBLE) to an issue that really isn't, you know, fair to do with this appropriations maneuver.

And so at the end of the day, both are a little bit insulated from this, which is why I just think this is going to go on for quite some time.

DEAN: Yes. And we do have the indication that these talks are just like not progressing in a meaningful way today at this very second.

Shermichael, we're about out of time. I'll let you just give us your final thoughts on what Lulu was just saying there.

SINGLETON: I just want to say, Lulu's overall assessment in terms of where both political parties stand I think is 100 percent correct. I mean, to the point that I was making earlier, most Democratic voters want Democrats to stand very firm as it pertains to reforms with ICE. On the other side, many Republican voters don't necessarily want to see some of those reforms to ICE agents removing their masks out of concerns about doxing, et cetera.

So you have two political parties with a base that's saying, stand firm where you are. Why would anyone of them come to the middle, to Lulu's point?

[18:25:01]

I don't see it happening any time soon. And as Senator Thune said, the conversations are off and hopefully they'll come back to the table this upcoming week.

DEAN: Yes, we'll see how long on pause can last.

Lulu and Shermichael, it's always good to have both of you. I really enjoyed talking to both of you. Thanks so much.

SINGLETON: Good to see you, Jessica.

DEAN: Yes.

Still ahead, gas prices continue to climb as the war with Iran intensifies.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: Oil prices could surge even higher tomorrow as President Trump threatens to obliterate Iran's power plants if Tehran doesn't fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz by Monday, after closing on Friday at their highest level in nearly four years.

[18:30:03]

Right now, the two global benchmarks at crude oil stand there at 105 for Brent crude oil and about 97 for WTI crude oil. We're joined now by Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at

GasBuddy.

Patrick, thanks so much for being here with us. The question on everyone's mind, what should we expect this week?

PATRICK DE HAAN, HEAD OF PETROLEUM ANALYSIS, GASBUDDY: Jessica, it's going to be another week starting tomorrow, we'll likely start to see stations reassessing higher prices. We haven't seen it filtered through yet. A lot of states engage in a funky game called price cycling, where they slowly pass increases along, and I would expect that probably a half dozen, excuse me, maybe a dozen or a dozen and a half states will see pretty noticeable jumps tomorrow. Areas like the Great Lakes down in the Southeast Florida, Texas, Colorado.

We've seen a big jump in the wholesale price of gasoline to close out last week. That hasn't yet funneled down to pumps across many states in the nation. I'd likely do think that we will see the national average hit $4 a gallon tomorrow. It has trickled down a little bit today as stations undercut each other, but tomorrow they likely will start to pass those higher increases along. And this may just be the tip of the iceberg.

While oil prices are stagnant, at least for now in overnight trading or electronic trading, I think as we start to see these global supplies that are being drained, the Iranian oil being stored at sea, as well as those Russian barrels, we could see a bit of whiplash in oil markets in the weeks ahead, and gas prices are not done climbing yet.

DEAN: Now that is the takeaway there. The Trump administration has already eased some sanctions on Russian oil. They have said they will do the same for about 140 million barrels of Iranian oil, currently at sea, though Iran has appeared to snub that move. There's the politics of that, of course, and what easing those sanctions means. But I'm curious, from your perspective, just what that means actually. In practice, would that help? Would that change prices?

DE HAAN: Well, this is a finite amount of oil being stored at sea, and it certainly is a sign of how distressed the global market is that it needs these barrels. As we've seen this blockade now continue into its fourth week, it could temporarily delay the onset of a surge in oil prices. But once that slack is gone out of the system, which probably won't take beyond maybe another week or two, we could see a tremendous amount of whiplash.

And it would not surprise me if we saw even WTI once that whiplash is removed, if none of these things helps to de-escalate the situation, we still could see oil prices going well, well beyond where they are today. And again, highlighting the uncertainty here as these oil barrels are put into the market, there were reduced from storage. And that's the risk is that there's not really any safety after this until we reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which doesn't seem any closer today than it was late last week.

DEAN: Yes. Sources have told CNN that the Trump administration, that some Trump administration officials are estimating the price of gas could take several months to come down, even when the war ends, whenever that may be. Goldman Sachs has suggested higher oil prices could last well into next year, to 2027.

Help people understand, prices are quick to go up when this sort of thing happens but it sounds like no matter when the war ends, it's going to take time to get them back down. Why is that?

DE HAAN: Well, we've lost a third of a billion barrels that would already be -- have gone through the Strait of Hormuz. Now we're starting to draw down those -- the massive stockpiles that Russia and Iran had at sea. And there's very little breathing room between global supply and demand even before this. They were pretty closely matched. OPEC and oil production globally may have outpaced demand by maybe a million barrels.

But keep in mind, if we're down a half a billion barrels, coupled with what we're losing from the block of Strait of Hormuz, coupled with those Russian barrels and Iranian barrels are going to be sold into the market, plus the 400 million from the IEA, with 172 million barrels coming from the SPR, it's going to take a significant amount of time, maybe in excess of a year for all of those inventories to, again, start filling back up to pre-war levels, if not beyond that.

DEAN: Right. And so it sounds like what you're saying is, the takeaway is no matter when this ends, even if it ends very soon, it's going to take some time for these prices to go back to where they were.

DE HAAN: Yes, without a doubt. This may not be as short in terms of the amount of time we spend at elevated levels. 2022, the national average only saw $5 a gallon for seven days before it then plummeted for much of the rest of the year. We're not talking about a quick plummet and every day this goes on it's not going to be a quick plummet. It's going to be a snail's pace for as long as this continues to stretch out because it will take much more time for markets to globally mend and for them to resupply themselves.

[18:35:00]

So the sticker shock may continue, though there could be relief if it does improve. There still will be an element of much higher prices likely for the next several months and into the summer.

DEAN: All right. Important to keep in mind.

Patrick De Haan, thanks. We really appreciate it.

DE HAAN: Thanks, Jessica.

DEAN: Farmers are also feeling the impact of the Iran war. And some people say that could mean you could feel them, too, when it comes to food and food prices. We'll explain all of that when we come back.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [18:40:08]

DEAN: With the spring planting season right around the corner, farmers are bracing for rising fertilizer prices and potential shortages caused by shipping disruptions from the Iranian war. The Middle East is home to some of the world's largest fertilizer plants, as well as a major producer of the raw materials that are needed to make it. And the U.N. says a quarter of the world's fertilizer passes through, you guessed it, the Strait of Hormuz, which has been, of course, largely blocked by Tehran.

But the U.S. Agriculture secretary insists the Trump administration does not expect an impact on farmers or food prices.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROOKE ROLLINS, SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE: Almost all of our farmers put their fertilizer orders in last fall, so there shouldn't be too much of a disruption or an increase in the cost of planting for at least most of our farmers.

This is a temporary conflict. The president has said that. There shouldn't be really a food price increase, at least for the long term. Over the last year, we've brought almost all food prices down with a couple of outliers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: We're joined now by John Boyd, Jr., founder and president of the National Black Farmers Association.

John, thanks for being here with us. I just first want to start with getting your reaction to the secretary's comments there.

JOHN BOYD JR., FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT, NATIONAL BLACK FARMERS ASSOCIATION: Well, the secretary is not connected to the farmers. You know, I just came from Illinois, Decatur, Illinois, yesterday and the farmers there do not have their fertilizer. And they're asking us for assistance on how to get the fertilizer in. And the prices have risen 40 percent since the war began. Up between $140 a ton to $200 a ton. That's a lot of money.

And for (INAUDIBLE) farmers, that's going to equate to about $100,000 increase. So what the secretary is saying is really someone who's out of touch with America's farmers. That's what I'm looking to say. And we haven't heard from her because she wants to hear from these farmers who were out there yesterday that are losing their farm. We had eight farmers facing farm foreclosure, and they're asking for financial assistance to help catch the debts up.

We've been asking for assistance there to stop farm foreclosures in this country. And the Ag secretary hasn't responded to that. We have high diesel fuel, roughly in the neighborhood of about five bucks a gallon. And the president said this is temporary. He always says this is temporary, and the farmers can wait. Planting season is a short window of opportunity for Americans that are watching this show. 30 to 60 days that you have to have your crop in and you have to have your fertilizer sprayed on your fields so that you can plant.

So we have to have fertilizer and we have to have diesel fuel. My tractor, Jessica, of course, it holds about 100 gallons. That's $500 every time I fill up my tractor, for people that are watching the show. Those are the increases due to the president's war, in my opinion, that we didn't have to go to. We can't afford it. You know, roughly 800, 900, you know, a million dollars a day that is costing America's taxpayers every day. We can't afford it.

DEAN: And farming is a tough business. As you note, it's very particular about time frames. And you can't outrun when spring is coming and when it's not coming. You operate, you know, small farmers especially operate on really small margins in terms of that sort of increase can make a giant difference into their whole business and the well-being, the financial well-being of their farm.

So she was saying that most farmers should have already ordered their fertilizer. She thinks that most farmers have ordered it and that those prices are locked in. What you're saying is that's not everybody. And it's certainly not the people you talk to yesterday. So if they haven't --

BOYD: It wasn't.

DEAN: Yes, if they haven't done that what kind of choices are they being forced to make right now?

BOYD: Well, right now I want to tell you so bad, I don't have fertilizer. And, you know, a thousand acre producer here. And what the -- again, what the secretary is saying isn't connected, well-connected to America's farmers. Someone should tell her that the president's tariffs have put this country in turmoil and farmers are still waiting for assistance from that. They propose $12 billion, and we lost $55 billion just in soybeans alone.

So the secretary is saying all these great things, but it's not the reality. We lost 15,000 farms last year in this country. 15,000. In any other country around the world that would be a farm crisis. And you kind of said something to the top of the show. The American consumer is going to pay for all this. The president says it's temporary.

[18:45:03]

He said when diesel fuel and oil goes up, you know, people make money. Farmers aren't making money due to the high cost of these things, fertilizer and diesel fuel.

DEAN: Yes. All right. John Boyd, Jr., good to have your perspective. Thanks for your time.

BOYD: Thank you so much for having me.

DEAN: Yes.

Still ahead, as Hawaii continues to deal with the worst flooding it has seen in decades, more rain is now headed Hawaii's way. We'll update you on the situation there.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:50:09]

DEAN: The new CNN Original Series, "STANDOFF: THE FBI, POWER AND PARANOIA," explores the complex relationship between FBI directors and the presidents they serve.

CNN's Josh Campbell worked for three FBI directors, and he gives us an inside look at the complicated dynamics at play.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KASH PATEL, DIRECTOR, FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION: Thanks to your brave leadership. And the mandate you were given by the American people, not only to defend the homeland but crush violent crime.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is a new era at the FBI.

PATEL: We are thankful for President Trump's steadfast leadership, and this FBI will fearlessly follow in his footsteps.

CAMPBELL (voice over): One of the nation's premier law enforcement agencies, which once prided itself on strict independence from politicians, now taking shape as the political arm of the president. Director Kash Patel often mirroring Donald Trump's own style with the president's perceived political enemies.

(CROSSTALK)

PATEL: What I am doing is protecting this country and combating the weaponization of intelligence by the likes of you.

SEN. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): The most -- the most -- the most significant witness, the Epstein files cover-up.

CAMPBELL (voice-over): But the history of the Bureau has been marked by frequent clashes with the White House. That intense conflict is the topic of a new CNN Original Series documentary, exploring the fragile and high-risk relationship between FBI directors past and the presidents they served, as the FBI's quest for independence was pushed to the brink.

JAMES COMEY, FORMER FBI DIRECTOR: It was never going to work between us.

STEVE CORTES, 2016 TRUMP CAMPAIGN MEDIA SPOKESMAN: The president did not trust him.

COMEY: Donald Trump wanted an FBI director who he could count on in the political sense. LEAH WRIGHT RIGUEUR, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST AND HISTORIAN: You have two

men who have radically different visions engaged in a standoff over who is the FBI beholden to.

CORTES: James Comey's announcement, it absolutely hurt the Trump campaign, and I believe it was intended to.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: A major development here this evening at the White House. The president of the United States has terminated the director of the FBI, James Comey.

COMEY: It felt otherworldly.

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: This is just the beginning of a complete change in everything that's going on. I mean, it is seismic.

COMEY: Numbness, confusion, because I really not expected to be fired.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It was a great honor for me to fire, I will tell you this, a great honor to fire James Comey.

COMEY: I often joke I'm the relationship that Trump can't get over.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To understand the FBI and really to understand the 20th century, American democracy, you have to understand J. Edgar Hoover.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hoover started keeping tabs on anyone he didn't like, and he didn't like a lot of people.

ANDREW MCCABE, FORMER DEPUTY FBI DIRECTOR: He was cunning, right? Tactical, terrorizing, vindictive, secretive, closed off. Yes, he was a tough customer. I'm glad I didn't have to work for him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Louis Freeh had the guidepost of faith and family, and Bill Clinton had the guidepost of position and power.

LOUIS FREEH, FORMER FBI DIRECTOR: We're conducting a criminal investigation of the president of the United States. I haven't even unpacked my materials yet.

RIGUEUR: Bill Clinton comes to hate his director of the FBI, and the feeling is mutual.

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Outside of current issues involving national security concerns, the president of the United States should have little or nothing to do with the FBI.

MCCABE: The FBI has a lot of power and put to the wrong ends, those capabilities can be devastating.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: all right, Josh Campbell, thanks for that preview. And be sure to tune in the back-to-back premiere of the CNN Original

Series, "STANDOFF, THE FBI, POWER AND PARANOIA" airs tonight at 9:00 and 10:00 Eastern, only here on CNN.

The clock is ticking on the president's 48-hour deadline for Iran to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz. So far, Iran is not backing down. So what happens now? Those details still ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:58:30]

DEAN: And welcome back. The start of spring has felt more like the start of summer. In some places, temperature records have been already shattered across much of the West Coast over the last few days. More records are possible as that unprecedented heat wave moves east as far as Maryland, Fort Collins, Colorado, hitting 91 degrees yesterday. Meanwhile, other parts of the country facing a severe weather threat from east Illinois. In New Jersey storms could bring damaging winds and hail that could continue into the overnight hours.

A one ton meteor was spotted in the skies over southeast Texas Saturday afternoon. This is the view from Houston, according to NASA. That meteor becoming visible 49 miles above a town northwest of the city. It was captured on video by multiple people who happened to see it. NASA says the celestial rock also triggered a sonic boom before breaking up into smaller pieces. Saturday's sighting comes just a few days after several people witnessed a meteor in Pennsylvania and Ohio. That rare fireball was bright enough to be seen during broad daylight. Wow.

A new hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

And you are in the CNN NEWSROOM. Hi, everyone. I'm Jessica Dean here in New York.

Just 24 hours now until President Donald Trump's self-imposed deadline for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz fully and without threat. Trump saying the U.S. will strike Iran's power plants if the critical waterway isn't opened. It's effectively been closed since the war with Iran started more than three weeks ago.