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U.S. Blockade Of Iran Maritime Traffic Starts Monday; White House Warns Staff Against Insider Trading Amid War With Iran; Hungary's Viktor Orban Ends 16-Year Of Rule; Poll Shows Americans Unhappy With Rising Gas Prices, War; Trump Ally Victor Orban Concedes Defeat After 16 Years as Hungary P.M.; America's Eyes On The Moon; Rory McIlroy Wins Second Consecutive Green Jacket. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired April 12, 2026 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:33]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jessica Dean here in Los Angeles.

And breaking tonight, U.S. Central Command says in less than 24 hours, forces will start blocking traffic through the Strait of Hormuz to and from Iranian ports. President Donald Trump saying earlier today the U.S. Navy will start blockading, quote, "any and all ships" trying to enter or leave the Strait of Hormuz.

All of this coming after the U.S. and Iran failed to come to an agreement during those marathon talks over the weekend in Pakistan. The president describing the negotiations between the U.S. and Iran as very friendly, but also saying Iran refused to give up its nuclear ambitions, causing an impasse in the talks.

The stalemate between the U.S. and Iran puts the fragile two-week ceasefire into question, but there could still be some hope for a longer term solution. The president predicting Iran will return to the negotiating table. Of course, time is going to tell on that.

Joining us now, CNN chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward, who's reporting from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Clarissa, this blockade is set to go into effect at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time in the U.S. tomorrow. What more can you tell us about the state of play right now?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've been hearing from a number of Iranian officials over the course of the last few hours, Jessica, most notably the head of the Iranian delegation in those Pakistan talks, Mohammad Ghalibaf, who responded to President Trump's threat of this blockade that is anticipated to go into effect tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. Eastern, as you just said.

Mohammad Ghalibaf warning in a post on X, quote, "Enjoy the current pump figures with the so-called blockade. Soon you'll be nostalgic for $4 to $5 gas." That, of course, a reference to the likely spike that is anticipated in oil prices as a result of this action.

We also saw a post from a senior adviser to Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who said that Iran still maintains levers that it has not used at its disposal to inflict damage upon any attempts to take over, if you will, or blockade completely the Strait of Hormuz.

Now, we have also heard, in a slightly different tone from Iran's foreign minister, who was representative at the talks in Islamabad. He says in a post that they were just inches away from coming to an agreement when the U.S. suddenly shifted the goalposts and injected more maximalist positions into the conversation.

Now, obviously, this is just the perspective of the Iranian delegation. We've also heard from Iran's president, who has said that the door to diplomacy is still open. That is a nod to the fact that technically, Jessica, there are still 10 days left in this ceasefire. That means there is potentially still room for another round of talks, although, of course, right now it remains to be seen whether that will be possible if this blockade goes into effect.

DEAN: Yes. And Clarissa, I know you've discussed this, but just the feeling among the other Gulf nations tonight and how they're viewing all of this.

WARD: Well, I think it's a mixture of emotions, Jessica, because on the one hand, most of the Gulf countries would really like to see a diplomatic solution and a quick one to this conflict, which has eviscerated their economies. So definitely they would like this to be resolved peacefully.

But at the same time, there was concern from a number of Gulf countries going into these talks that it was possible an agreement would be made that would leave Iran with some type of control, if not full, at least partial control, of the Strait of Hormuz, which is very much a red line for these Gulf countries.

So in principle, they're supportive of President Trump's blockade that's expected to go into effect tomorrow. But of course, they're also concerned about what Iran's response might be, what the retaliation might look like if there is indeed a retaliation.

[19:05:04]

Important for our viewers to remember, it was just a few days ago that Saudi Arabia's vital East-West Pipeline, which is the only pipeline in this country that circumvents the Strait of Hormuz and allows them to export seven million barrels of crude oil a day, came under drone attack, and there were quite severe damages to the facility as a result, though, it is now operational again.

So the fear might be that Iran would attempt to hit out again at that type of pipeline. You have the East-West Pipeline here in Saudi Arabia and the Fujairah pipeline in the United Arab Emirates. So a mixture of support for taking a tough tone with Iran regards the Strait of Hormuz, but obvious concern about what this portends for the future of this conflict -- Jessica. DEAN: Certainly. Clarissa Ward, as always, we're very grateful to you

for your reporting. Thank you.

We're joined now by Dana Stroul, research director for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Dana, nice to have you here with us on this Sunday as well. You're also a former deputy assistant secretary for defense -- of defense for the Middle East.

President Trump has predicted, you know, kind of over all of this, that Iran will come back to the negotiating table, that this isn't the end. Do you agree with that?

DANA STROUL, RESEARCH DIRECTOR, THE WASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY: I do. I think that what we saw over the weekend in Islamabad is a classic Iranian play of start with absolutely maximalist demands, test where the negotiating person, entity on the other side of the table is, go back and try to string it out. Generally, the Iranians play for time and think that they can wear down the people on the other side of the table.

So, yes, 21 hours of talks. But I don't think anyone who has studied the history of U.S.-Iran negotiations thought this was going to be resolved with every issue on the table over the course of one weekend.

DEAN: So what do you think is the likeliest next move here?

STROUL: Well, the problem we have now is that CENTCOM, the U.S. military, is about to impose a naval blockade. And a naval blockade is actually an act of war. So I think, first of all, the question is, is this going to be perceived as the United States honoring the ceasefire? As Clarissa said, there's still 10 days of the ceasefire. And the next question is, what does Iran do? Do they retaliate?

And if they are, if they can't export their oil, the most likely thing they're going to do is attack Gulf civilian energy infrastructure. In which case are we back to war? Do they escalate? Does the United States then escalate? So I think the next couple of days are going to be very telling as to whether or not the ceasefire even holds.

DEAN: I mean, yes, certainly for all those reasons, there are a lot of questions around that. We also have the -- we have the strait and we have the nuclear ambitions of Iran. And those have been the sticking point. Those have been an issue since before the war. They are still an issue. Do you see any movement on those?

STROUL: Not at this moment in time. I do think it's important to remember that in the original Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, that Obama era Iran nuclear agreement, the Iranian regime did say, made a commitment that it would not pursue a nuclear weapon. And there is a religious edict coming out of the Iranian regime that it would not seek to weaponize its program. So we know that in the past Iran has been willing to make really important concessions on its nuclear program and allow inspectors in, which is really a critical part of this. The question is now, after these six weeks of war, the absolute lack

of trust that the United States is going to stand by its word, how do you actually get to any sort of meaningful binding commitments?

DEAN: Yes. I want to talk about Israel's role in this as well, and kind of how that factors in. Israel's ambassador to the U.S. said this morning that the war is not over until there's a complete de-linkage between Iran and its proxies. Obviously, Israel has a second front in this war, which is that Hezbollah, which has, you know, is there, in Lebanon, started firing on Israel after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran. And Israel has now gone back and is attacking Lebanon, Hezbollah in Lebanon. And there's a massive displacement of people as well.

Do you think the U.S. and Israel's goals are still aligned?

STROUL: Well, I think they are aligned when it comes to Lebanon at this moment in time. And what I mean there is that Trump has actually backed up Netanyahu and the Israeli position that because there is no path forward for disarming Hezbollah, Hezbollah clearly has both the intent and the capabilities to continue terrorizing the Israeli population, and the government in Beirut is not taking the actions that it agreed to in the ceasefire of 2024 to completely disarm Hezbollah.

[19:10:06]

Israel is not left with a lot of great options here. And I think the Iranians actually understand the vulnerability of Netanyahu in Israel and also Trump's alignment here and tried to create an impasse in the negotiations this weekend in Pakistan by attempting to link Israel and Lebanon to these broader talks with Iran about its nuclear program.

DEAN: Yes. And so as all of this is going, the next thing that we are really looking to is this 10:00 a.m. tomorrow, Eastern Time, beginning of this blockade by the U.S. Navy of the passage through the Strait of Hormuz.

How do you see that going? I think, you know, it really underscores how tenuous this all is right now.

STROUL: Well, first of all, we do have -- the U.S. military has the capabilities in the Middle East at this moment in time to impose this naval blockade. The U.S. military just put out a statement in the past couple hours that said its intent is to block any ships coming or going from Iranian ports, and the answer is they can do it now. The question is for how long? Over what period of time and to what end?

So this is something they can do now. But the sustainability and the cost, if we're talking about weeks or months or all the way to the end of this year, given pressure here, global energy prices and of course American affordability issues going into midterm elections, I think the pain point about this and the tradeoffs are going to become more stark over time.

DEAN: All right. Dana Stroul, always good to see you. Thanks for your time. STROUL: Thanks, Jessica.

DEAN: Still to come here, new polling showing Americans hurting from the impacts of this war, what it means for Republicans and Democrats in the midterm elections. Plus Hungary's longtime prime minister Viktor Orban, a major Trump ally, losing his reelection campaign and conceding defeat tonight. We're going to be live from Budapest, where large crowds, you see them there, out in the streets celebrating.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:16:45]

DEAN: The White House is warning its staffers against insider trading amid suspiciously well-timed bets on online prediction markets about the Iran war.

CNN senior reporter Marshall Cohen has more about the warning -- Marshall.

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: A warning from the White House about insider trading. CNN has learned that just a few weeks ago, the White House sent a memo to all staffers reminding them that it's illegal to use their knowledge as government employees for their financial benefit by betting on prediction markets or using their information on futures markets as well.

This warning came amid a flurry of very controversial activity in oil futures and on prediction markets regarding the war in Iran.

Let me read for you a little bit of the letter that we reviewed. It said, quote, "All White House employees are reminded that the misuse of nonpublic information by government employees for financial benefit is a very serious offense and will not be tolerated."

Now, this memo, this e-mail that was sent to all White House employees mentioned by name the two most popular prediction market platforms in the world, Kalshi and Polymarket. Now CNN and Kalshi do have a partnership to use their data to cover major political and cultural events, but the company got in some hot water earlier during the Iran war for one of its markets related to the future and the fate of Iran's supreme leader, which led to big refunds and some lawsuits.

And then with regards to Polymarket, it has attracted considerable scrutiny for its offshore bets about the war in Iran and for various trades that have been repeatedly flagged by experts as having the hallmarks of potential insider activity when it came to when the Iran strikes were going to happen by the U.S. and by Israel.

Now, regarding allegations of possible insider trading by the White House employees, which has been raised repeatedly by Democratic lawmakers, levying those accusations without providing evidence the White House told us that at this point that is completely baseless speculation. Marshall Cohen, CNN, Washington.

DEAN: Marshall, thank you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VIKTOR ORBAN, HUNGARIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Dear friends, what this election result means for the fate of the homeland and the nation and what its deeper or higher meaning is, this we don't know. Only time will tell. But no matter how it turned out, we will also serve the country and the Hungarian nation from the opposition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: You're listening there to far-right prime minister and Trump ally Viktor Orban conceding defeat to opposition leader Peter Magyar in the country's parliamentary election, ending Orban's 16 years in power.

Now this loss, a big blow for the Trump administration, which had backed Orban for reelection. Vice President J.D. Vance had traveled there. Meanwhile, Magyar is holding a victory parade in Budapest. Here's what he said to his supporters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER MAGYAR, TISZA PARTY LEADER (through translator): We did it. Tisza and Hungary won this election, not in a small way, but in a big way, a very big way.

[19:20:05]

Together, we replaced the Orban regime. Together, we liberated Hungary. We took back our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: CNN's Melissa Bell is joining us now from Budapest, where she has been for many hours now, really watching the celebrations in the streets.

Melissa, tell us what you're seeing, what you're hearing from people.

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, just so much joy out there and especially from some of these younger voters who've never known anything other than Viktor Orban's rule, Jessica. I think there was this feeling, even though we could see in the polls that Peter Magyar was doing well, even though Orban's Fidesz Party was clearly very worried, even though the American vice president, the secretary of state, had traveled all the way here to lend a hand to their ally and friend, there was until the very last minute, this feeling, and I've been hearing this from people who come from parts of Budapest that are deep Fidesz country, that it would never change, that Orban would never fall, that he had far too much power concentrated in his hands as a result of having shifted and changed Hungary's democracy so much, changed its constitution, handing the executive so much power, no one quite believed that it could work.

And not only did it work, but as you heard Peter Magyar say, it works by a substantial number of votes, 3.3 million Hungarians voted for the Tisza Party, Peter Magyar's party. That is the largest number of Hungarians ever to vote for any party since communism fell.

Have a listen to some of the enthusiasm on the streets tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm really excited because it's going to be a new thing. It's going to be a better and exciting thing because we are the most poorest and corrupted country in the E.U., so it's going to be, I think it's going to be good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BELL: And it is for the European Union as well that tonight is something of a victory as -- because for the last 16 years, Viktor Orban has systematically been a thorn in the side of Brussels. European integration, voting mostly in the interests of Russia rather than those of his European allies. So in Brussels as well, I think there'll be a fair few glasses of champagne being drunk, too.

And Peter Magyar has spoken to the fact that he intends to change not only, bring not only to bring Hungary back to the rule of law, but to bring it back into the European fold. And that, I think, is a huge relief, as you just heard there, to the younger generation, many who had been choosing to leave the country all together. There are so many worries amongst people here about the state of the economy, the state of healthcare services, the lack of jobs.

And it is those said Peter Magyar tonight that he wants to come home or stay here to help him rebuild Hungary -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right. Melissa Bell, with the very latest from Budapest. All right. She has a friend there with her. Thanks so much, Melissa.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:27:33]

DEAN: President Trump delivering a message this morning many Republicans may not want to hear.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARIA BARTIROMO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: So do you believe the price of oil and gas will be lower before the midterm elections?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I hope so. I mean, I think so. It could be. It could be the same or maybe a little bit higher, but it should be around the same. I think this won't be that much longer. They're wiped out. (END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: A new CBS poll out today showing the majority of Americans are feeling that impact of rising gas prices. 51 percent say that that's causing a financial hardship for them.

We're joined now by CNN's senior political commentator and former Trump campaign adviser, David Urban, and CNN contributor and "New York Times" journalist and podcast host Lulu Garcia-Navarro.

Always good to have both of you here. Thank you for being here with us and for your time.

David, let's start first with you and those numbers that I was just talking about. You saw Maria's face when he said it could be a little higher and her eyebrows kind of went up. But listen, these higher gas prices are really impacting Americans. It's in their face, for a lot of Americans weekly if they have to fill up, if they drive a lot.

How much longer can this go on before it does political damage to Republicans in the coming elections?

DAVID URBAN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: So, you know, Jess, the question is one that we'll find out in the fall. Really we have to wait and see. But, you know, every day when people put their hand in their pocket to take out, you know, 20 or 10 or whatever bill they pull out to pay at the pump, it fills up their car less and less, and then they have less money to spend on groceries or, you know, coffee or other things that they need in their lives or feel they need in their lives.

And so it has an impact on so many things. It's a tax basically on everything we buy, everything that's transported, and it's immeasurable. Something that people drive down the street and they see, you know, posted there, they see the numbers and this administration did a phenomenal job of getting it down. Remember, during the Biden administration, it was up $4.50, five bucks a gallon.

Trump came in. About two -- it was, you know, gas was going to be under $2 a gallon, almost a little bit ago. Now, since this incursion into Iran has occurred, prices have skyrocketed. So it does have -- it does have a political impact. It has a real economic impact on most Americans.

DEAN: And Lulu, how long of a tail do you think this could have?

LULU GARCIA NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: A pretty big one. You know, I think, as David was saying, this is just one of those things that powers every sector of the economy. It's not just what Americans pay at the pump, but it affects, you know, how much things cost to get trucked across the country, how much diesel costs to fly in an airplane.

[19:30:14]

You know, it just affects every single bit of our economy. And so, we're going to see these costs rising everywhere and Americans are just not only fed up with high prices, but they look at this conflict, and it's not clear that they see a rationale for it.

You know, you have a lot of the former supporters of the President, especially in the podcast sphere, pointing out that this was, in their view, a war of choice and not necessarily a war of necessity. And so, the longer this goes on, the harder it's going to be to convince the American people that this was the right move at the right time.

As David points out, you know, at a moment when gas prices were actually quite low, now we're seeing them go up. And as President Biden learned, you know, that is not something that's going to bode well for you in the court of public opinion.

DEAN: Yes, and gas prices have been a real bright spot for the Trump administration, frankly, they really had something to hang their hat on with that for a lot of Americans.

I do want to ask David, let's go to Hungary for a second, because we saw vice President J.D. Vance there campaigning with Viktor Orban. We now know that he's conceded what, how do you see this politically obviously, you know, I think it's a hard sell to the average American that this is going to affect them in a meaningful way immediately. But how do you see it politically?

URBAN: Yes, so listen, I mean, if you look at what happened in Hungary, their political dynamic, where they're headed, whether they're conservative country or not is still the exact same place. The gentleman Magyar who beat Orban has basically his exact same policies towards the E.U., towards Russia, towards everything, which is more transparency and less corruption.

I think that what the Hungarian people were tired of is, is a government which wasn't super transparent in their in their opinion, and it was corrupt. And so, they didn't switch from being Republicans to Democrats in parlance, and most of our viewers may understand, they switched from being Republican to Republican, with just different leaders running their country.

DEAN: Would you agree with that, Lulu? How would you frame it?

NAVARRO: No, no, I wouldn't frame it that way. No, not even a little. I think this is a huge sea change. I mean, first of all, let's think about this in the political context of the United States. I mean, the American right, especially the MAGA right, had a huge, huge relationship, personal relationship, President Trump with Viktor Orban, he's been in power there for 16 years. Very proud of it being an illiberal democracy, very closely allied to Russia.

The person who is now come in was of course part of his own party and broke away and corruption was a huge issue. But it wasn't just corruption. It was also that closeness to Russia. It was also, who do we want to be allied to? Do we want to be allied to illiberal Russia, or do we want to be part and closer to the European Union?

So, there are many issues here that I think, not only the European Union, but here in the United States, we'll also be looking at very closely. And let me tell you, two for zero. The Vice-President went to go negotiate with the Iranians. That didn't go very well for him there. Went to go campaign for Viktor Orban, he had an absolutely catastrophic loss. In fact, some are speculating that that visit did him some harm. And so, at the end of the day, you know, this administration has lost a key ally and so has the American right, that they always like sort of held up, Hungary as this example of something that America should emulate. And so, the repercussions from this will be actually, I think, quite large.

DEAN: Do you think, David, that J.D. Vance, look, he did go there. Does this have any impact on him? Just the way the President sees him, even.

URBAN: I mean, I don't think so. This was you know, a Sisyphus task pushing a big rock up a hill, trying to save, I think obviously, Viktor Orban's numbers were not great and I think he went in to try to try to do what he could do. And as far as Iran goes, 21 hours is a good start. But you know, the Iranians and the Americans are on completely different time schedules in terms of ending this conflict.

What I would say about the Iranian conflict, in relation to gas prices, and Lulu pointed this out briefly, is that I think if the President and the administration did a better job of explaining early on that there's going to be some pain. This is, you know, George Bush suffered from this as well, said, just keep shopping people, right? Don't pay attention to the war that's going on.

If the President would have said, hey, listen, this is going to impact Americans. But in the long run, your children and grandchildren are going to be better off because we're going to were going to take their nuclear capability away. We're not going to have a bully in the region who's going to be able to hold America and the world hostage, who wants to export terror to our shores, someday with a nuclear weapon.

I think if they would have done a really good job explaining it at the beginning, people would be willing to tighten their belt and accept higher gas prices and higher prices if we come out of this with Iran which doesn't have a nuclear program and the ability to deliver it across the world.

So, I think, you know, the jury's still out on what's going to happen here. With the midterms and gas prices and, and the, you know, the final negotiations with Iran. But I think there still could be a bright side for this administration if they can, they can get the Iranians to break their will here in these in these next few weeks.

[19:35:43]

DEAN: Yes, and I think a lot of Republicans would have liked for the President to do better in his communication about all this.

Lulu, David mentioned though, that if he would have said, we're going to end their nuclear program and were going to make it safer, but at this point, it doesn't appear, you know, they still have the enriched uranium and we can't get a deal right now on this nuclear program. NAVARRO: I mean, I think the thing that's so staggering about this is that they're trying to negotiate to open up the Straits of Hormuz, which were open before this conflict erupted.

And so, we are now trying to negotiate to get back to a baseline that was sabotaged by this war. And I think anyone who looks at this will say, well, how is this good for us? And I take, you know, David's point, and I do think the administration should have done a much better job of not only explaining it to the American people, but also explaining it to our allies, getting people on board. I mean, that's why a lot of these when, you know, great powers try and do these big attacks, they try to get people to support them because it has global repercussions.

You know, I was just watching some news out of Guatemala of all places, I was, you know, buying something at a Guatemalan store here in D.C. and the news was talking about how their strikes there are over diesel because the trucking industry is at a standstill, because prices have gone up. This is, you know, having impacts all over the world.

And so, it's not just us that is that are that is feeling the pain right now. In the United States, it's everyone everywhere. Because oil is a global commodity.

DEAN: All right, David and Lulu, always good to see both of you. Thanks for your time.

And still to come, the Artemis II crew back on Earth after their historic trip around the moon. So, what comes next for our nation's lunar ambitions? We're going to discuss it.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:42:26]

DEAN: After their successful historic mission to the moon and back, the crew members of Artemis II are now reunited with their families. They took the stage at Johnson Space Center, where they celebrated achieving this milestone in America's space program. NASA says they'll now undergo more extensive medical evaluations, post-flight reconditioning, and science debriefs about the moon.

And for more on this mission and its significance, we're joined by Bill Nye "The Science Guy" to talk more about all of it. Bill, it's great to see you as always. This was a highly successful mission. It put the U.S., it appears, on track to land astronauts on the moon in 2028. And I think importantly to a lot of people out there, it brought a lot of joy to people. And really, it was a unifying mission. What were your key takeaways?

BILL NYE, "THE SCIENCE GUY," CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, the big thing for me, at the Planetary Society, we advance the scientific exploration of space. The big thing for me is we had a success. NASA had a success with the human exploration, human space flight program, which is very important, politically. Nothing else, well, very few other things are going to happen at NASA without this moon mission -- moon series of missions being successful. So, this is very good and of course, it worked about as well as it could possibly work.

And then the plan now is to put another spacecraft in orbit to learn or to make sure we can transfer fuel from one spacecraft to another, even though there is very little gravity and then go on to the moon and land on the moon and walk around and have a look.

The big things, there are a couple of scientific questions about the surface of the moon that are unanswered, and sending people there will definitely advance that. The big thing is why doesn't the water ice evaporate? And then what makes certain things so shiny? What's going on? What minerals are present that may not have been anticipated?

And as always, when you go there, you'll make discoveries that are unanticipated. Just something will happen that'll be serendipitous.

DEAN: Yes, just by virtue of being there. You can learn more. It's also interesting too, that we're essentially in a in a new space race with China in a way. Why is it important that the U.S. push forward in its endeavors?

NYE: Well, everybody, China National Space Administration is, if I may, the real deal. And just a few weeks ago if you're scoring along with us, China's investment in research and development has surpassed the U.S.' investment in research and development for the first time in history.

[19:45:17]

And so, part of that is the, China National Space effort to land on -- the Taikonauts on the moon. But along with that there are several other, about a dozen other deep space science missions that the plan right now is for the U.S. to abandon while China National Space goes ahead and does them.

And it's this classic thing. What are you going to find out there? We don't know. That's why we're going. And so, this strange thing where the President and some parts of the administration are all enthusiastic about sending people back to the moon and exploring the moon, but other parts of the administration, notably the Office of Management and Budget wants to cut the NASA investment, NASA budget at least 20 percent and the NASA science budget almost 50 percent.

That is a formula for losing the lead. That is a formula for falling behind. And so, why this goes on is a little bit mysterious, but generally the office, the people at Office of Management and Budget are the Project 2025 people and I'm not sure they share the President's vision.

So otherwise, I mean, I'm just looking for an explanation here. I'm not providing one. So, the Planetary Society will be back on Capitol Hill the same way we were in October. We'll have 300 people from 20 science organizations and members of Congress and the Senate respectfully have no time for this budget cut thing. They will restore NASA budget again. It's just crazy to me, inefficient.

So, if you're a member of the Planetary Society or you want to be -- check us out there's a picture from the last time we were in Capitol Hill, where we successfully pushed back against this extraordinary proposal to fall behind the rest of the world.

DEAN: Yes, as you mentioned, bipartisan support that has pushed back on those cuts and also, funding to the Artemis program as well, which you also mentioned.

Bill Nye, always good to have you. Thank you so much, we appreciate your time.

NYE: Thank you.

DEAN: Thanks.

Still ahead, the final round of the Masters is now over. Who won that coveted green jacket? We'll let you know.

Also, a quick programing note the new CNN original series, "Kara Swisher Wants to Live Forever" is now streaming, and you can catch the first episode on our CNN App.

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[19:52:32]

DEAN: It is Masters Sunday, which is often one of the more dramatic days in all of sports. Rory McIlroy starting the day tied for the lead as he tries to become just the fourth player in Masters history to win back-to-back green jackets. But several of the best players in the world came into the final round, well within striking distance. And this is where we bring in. CNN sports anchor, Andy Scholes, who's been in Augusta tracking all of it. Andy, how did the day go.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Jessica, it was high drama here at the Masters on Sunday, and that's really all you can ask for. And you know, it was quite the roller coaster. But somehow Rory ended up pulling this off. You know, ever since he had the largest 36-hole lead in Masters history, he's kind of just been trying to hang on for dear life. He shot one over yesterday, one under today. But it was good enough for a second green jacket.

At one point today, he actually fell behind to Justin Rose by two shots. But the difference like it's been at so many of these Masters came down to amen corner on 12. Rory, the fabulous shot off the tee. He birdied the hole.

Rose, meanwhile, he had bogeyed 12 moments before. Rory went up to 18, up two strokes. But then he made it an adventure, he hit his tee shot way right into the trees, but he was able to get out of those trees would end up with this putt to win the masters. And he, of course, let out a huge scream afterwards.

He then shared an awesome moment with his daughter, Poppy, his wife Erica, and his parents as he's the champ once again, and Rory getting really emotional in Butler Cabin when he was asked about the sport back home in Northern Ireland.

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RORY MCILROY, 2025 AND 2026 MASTERS CHAMPION: I was a little kid with a dream and the support that I have from my family, my friends, everyone back home. You know, some people probably thought it was outlandish to dream of the things that I wanted to do, but I had amazing support from back home and, I can't thank them all enough for that continued support.

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SCHOLES: Yes, so the win makes Rory just the fourth golfer ever to win back-to-back masters. He joins Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods. And this is the sixth major win of his career and, you know, Jessica, Rory had said you know, earlier this week that he was coming into this Masters and he was going to get to play out there with the weight lifted off of his shoulders, the weight of the world, he said. But now Rory, on top of the world as he wins here again.

And he also said, you know, he waited 17 years to get his first green jacket. Now, he's got two in a row, so I guess he has his perseverance is paying off.

DEAN: Yes, no kidding and we're seeing all the fans in the background and seeing his family there. What was it like -- you were there. What was the energy like?

SCHOLES: I mean, Jessica, there's nothing quite like the roars on a Sunday out there on the back nine at the Masters. I mean, everyone just hanging on every single shot. And there was a lot of nervous energy around Rory. Was he going to be able to pull this off again? I can tell you, the fans out there, they wanted it for him again so bad. They wanted it for Justin Rose as well, but also for Rory. They want to see some history, right.

All the fans here want to see history. And they got to see it with Rory, becoming the fourth to ever win back-to-back.

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DEAN: All right, Andy Scholes, from Augusta, good to see you, thanks so much.

And still ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, growing concerns over gas prices as the President tries to block the Strait of Hormuz indefinitely until Iran agrees to a deal.

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