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Eight Children Killed in the Worst Mass Shooting in U.S. History; Virginia Voters to Decide on Redistricting Amendments; Pope Leo Appeals for Peace During a Papal Mass before a Hundred Thousand Faithful in Angola's Capital; Boston, Orlando, OKC, and San Antonio Win Game One of NBA Playoffs. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired April 20, 2026 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world, I'm Rosemary Church. Just ahead.

This morning the U.S. military released this footage showing Marines boarding an Iranian flagged vessel. This new development as the resumption of the U.S.-Iran talks is up in the air.

A community in Louisiana is rocked by a mass shooting, the victims include many children.

And on Tuesday, Virginia voters decide if the state's congressional districts will be redrawn, Democrats say it's necessary to combat Republican moves to do the same thing in other states.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Good to have you with us.

And we begin this hour in the Middle East. There is growing uncertainty ahead of another potential round of talks between the U.S. and Iran after the U.S. seizes an Iranian-flagged cargo ship. The U.S. military says a destroyer fired on the vessel that was attempting to violate the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports.

Iran's military is accusing the U.S. of engaging in quote "maritime highway robbery." And state media says Tehran is warning of retaliation.

All this playing out as Donald Trump says a U.S. delegation is preparing for more negotiations ahead of a soon-expiring ceasefire. He is pushing for a deal and renewing threats against Iran if one is not reached.

CNN's Paula Hancocks joins us now live from Abu Dhabi. Good to see you again, Paula. So what more are you learning about the U.S. firing on and seizing an Iranian cargo ship and how that might impact the peace talks this week?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, we've been learning more from U.S. Central Command, giving more details of when it intercepted this ship.

And we understand that it was the U.S. Spruance who warned an Iranian flagged cargo ship called the Tusker, told them to move back and not to try and run the blockade. And they say that the crew ignored these warnings for some six hours. They then told the crew to evacuate the engine room and then fired several rounds towards the ship and towards the engine room.

They then issued footage of what happened next, nighttime vision of Marines from the USS Tripoli that were actually boarding the ship. We see helicopters overhead and a Marine actually rappelling down to the ship onto the metal containers below. That is when the U.S. took over this ship.

Now, according to CENTCOM, this is not the first time that they have had Iranian flagged ships trying to push past the U.S. imposed blockade on the Strait of Hormuz. They say the U.S. has directed some 25 commercial vessels to either turn around or return to an Iranian port.

Now, there has been a response from Iran very quickly afterwards. We heard from the Iranian military saying that they will respond. They will retaliate, calling it U.S. armed piracy.

Now, over recent days, we have seen many twists and turns when it comes to whether or not the Strait of Hormuz is open, who it is open to. And of course, now it appears to be completely closed by both Iran and also this U.S. blockade. But this latest event with the U.S. seizing this Iranian ship does raise questions as to where this leaves potential talks.

Before this happened, we did hear from the U.S. President that there would be a U.S. delegation heading to Islamabad by Monday evening, ready for negotiations. We understand it was to be led by the U.S. Vice President, J.D. Vance, along with Steve Witkoff and Jaron Kushner, who were involved in the previous negotiations as well.

We haven't had official acknowledgement from the Iranian side that they will be sending a delegation. Iranian state media say that they haven't officially announced this yet.

But we have heard from an Iranian source close to the situation that there will be an Iranian delegation arriving potentially on Tuesday.

[03:05:01]

It is expected to be the same individuals that were having those talks with the U.S. side last weekend. So that would be the Parliament Speaker, for example, leading that delegation. But of course, all of this was before we saw this latest event with the U.S. seizing this Iranian ship. So at this point, it's not 100 percent confirmed that we will be

seeing these talks happen. Of course, the deadline for this two-week ceasefire is fast approaching. We know that there have been a number of discussions behind the scenes to try and push this process forward.

We heard from the Turkish Foreign Minister, for example, on Sunday saying that he believes both the U.S. and Iran have the will to continue these talks, but there are a number of points of disagreement that remain, pointing out this is a critical stage.

We also heard from the Parliament Speaker in Iran saying that at this point, there are some points of agreement, but we are still far from a final agreement. Rosemary.

CHURCH: All right, our thanks to Paula Hancocks bringing us that live report from Abu Dhabi.

CNN's Julia Benbrook has more now from the White House on how the Trump administration is cracking up the pressure on Iran in the lead up to the ceasefire deadline.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No more Mr. Nice Guy. That is how President Donald Trump is framing his approach to Iran as another round of talks are expected to take place in the coming days.

Trump says that he believes the United States is offering a very fair and reasonable deal, but at the same time, warning that if it is rejected, he will do what he thinks needs to be done. I want to pull up part of that recent post.

In it, he said, quote, "we're offering a very fair and reasonable deal, and I hope they take it, because if they don't, the United States is going to knock out every single power plant and every single bridge in Iran." That's when he added, "no more Mr. Nice Guy."

So again, threatening to target their energy infrastructure if a deal is not met.

Now, it's been about a week since Vice President J.D. Vance, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, were in Pakistan for talks. Following those talks, Vance announced that they were leaving without an agreement to end the conflict. He said that this was the best and final offer from the United States.

Looking ahead now at these talks that are expected in the coming days, there was a bit of confusion about who would be attending. In fact, Trump said in a couple of interviews that Vance would not be attending this time for security reasons.

A White House official did confirm to us, though, that he will be there, that Vance, Witkoff and Kushner are expected to take part. When we asked about the confusion related to this, they simply said that things changed.

Julia Benbrook, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: From Doha, Qatar is Rashid Al-Mohanadi, a non-resident fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs. I appreciate you talking with us.

RASHID AL-MOHANADI, NON-RESIDENT FELLOW, MIDDLE EAST COUNCIL ON GLOBAL AFFAIRS: Hello, Rosemary, good morning.

CHURCH: Good to see you.

We know the U.S. delegation is heading to Pakistan for peace talks, but we haven't yet received any confirmation from Iran that a delegation will be going from there. How likely is it, do you think, given the U.S. fired on and seized this Iranian cargo ship? And how do you think this incident will impact those negotiations this week if they do go?

AL-MOHANADI: Well, I think it's fairly likely we might see an Iranian delegation go. The reports we're reading on media shows that the potentiality of a meeting is quite likely.

If you look at Iranian media yesterday, after the U.S. seizure of the container ship, Iranian media immediately, an hour and two hours later, declared that the IRGC launched an attack on the U.S. Navy. And I think that shows you that they want to show that they have responded to the act by the U.S.

And what that tells me is that they would like to continue the negotiations. And we have to be very careful reading the statements coming out of Iran for two reasons.

Reason number one is that there is an Internet blackout. So whatever comes out, there is a high level of probability that this is for a domestic audience, not for, you know, it's not messaging towards the outside.

A second thing, you know, is the strategic options in front of Iran have become quite limited. And other than war, they only have negotiations on the table. And I think the Iranians would like to negotiate, but they would like to negotiate on terms that apparently they still disagree on with the U.S.

CHURCH: And Iran had just reopened the Strait of Hormuz, hadn't it? But President Trump refused to pull back the U.S. blockade, so Tehran shut the Strait down again.

[03:10:07]

Should the U.S. President have pulled that blockade back once Tehran reopened the Strait?

AL-MOHANADI: Well, the way I understand what happened, when we look at negotiations, there is something that we call confidence-building measures. And these are the measures you take with two, you know, parties that lack total confidence in rebuilding confidence. And the way I read it is either two things. Either these are confidence-building measures that did not transpire correctly or something more dangerous.

Maybe internally in Iran we have, you know, leadership disputes, because right after Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister, issued that statement, Iranian state media started attacking Araghchi. So it can be read two ways. But you know, I think the main issue here is the big distrust between both parties.

The Iranians, you know, visibly made a move in opening the Strait of Hormuz. I think their assumption was that the U.S. would remove the naval blockade, but that didn't happen. But like I said, the likelihood of discussions are quite high.

They're not 100 percent anything could happen. And the situation actually is quite volatile at this stage.

CHURCH: It is. And of course, one of the major issues facing both delegations is that of uranium enrichment.

The U.S. initially wanted zero enrichment, but according to sources, changed their offer to a 20-year suspension of enrichment. Iran rejected that and offered a five-year suspension. How will they come to some sort of compromise and resolve this, do you think?

AL-MOHANADI: Well, I think it comes back to how the Iranian leadership views the utility of a nuclear program. From a Gulf perspective, and you know, I come from the Gulf, the nuclear program as a nuclear program isn't a big issue, because all of the states, not all, a lot of the states here either have nuclear programs or have nuclear aspirations, and you know, specifically civilian ones.

I think the biggest worry from Gulf states now is in the post-conflict era, how do we manage Iran as a military threat and how do we manage Iran as a threat through their proxies?

And I think these things have to be on the table when the discussions happen. The reason, when Trump pulled out of the JCPOA, there was no pushback from the region because there was no regional involvement.

In this case, it's quite different because the lead mediator is Pakistan and visibly countries like Qatar, Saudi and Turkey are supporting the mediation effort. So if a deal comes out of it, it has to address regional concerns, interests and grievances, and if that happens, I think we potentially have a deal that might stick better than the JCPOA.

CHURCH: Rashid Al-Mohanadi in Doha, many thanks for joining us, I appreciate it.

AL-MOHANADI: Thank you, Rosemary.

CHURCH: A community in Shreveport, Louisiana, is in mourning after eight children were killed in the deadliest U.S. mass shooting since 2024. The shootings happened early Sunday and police have now identified the gunman as the father of seven of the eight children killed, all of them were between three and eleven years old. Authorities say the gunman also shot and critically wounded two women, one of them his wife.

More details now from CNN's Jen Sullivan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEN SULLIVAN, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): A horrific tragedy rocking the community of Shreveport, Louisiana. A series of shootings Sunday leaving eight children dead.

UNKNOWN: My heart is sad.

SULLIVAN (voice-over): Investigators say the shooter is related to at least some of the victims and are calling this a domestic violence attack.

CPL. CHRIS BORDELON, SHREVEPORT POLICE DEPARTMENT: Seven of the eight children that were killed we do believe to be his children.

SULLIVAN (voice-over): Police say the shooting rampage began just after 6:00 a.m. Sunday. Victims were found in three homes. The suspect carjacked a vehicle and led police on a chase.

MAYOR TOM ARCENAUX (R), SHREVEPORT, LOUISIANA: It rattles the entire city. This is something that, when something like this, it affects us all.

SULLIVAN (voice-over): The shooter was killed in a shootout with police.

GRAYSON BOUCHER, SHREVEPORT CITY COUNCILMAN: This is nothing but pure evil. Over 30 percent of our crimes and 30 percent of our murders in the city of Shreveport are domestic in relation. Now that number has gone up.

SULLIVAN (voice-over): There have been at least 114 mass shootings in the United States so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, and this marks the deadliest shooting in two years.

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, who represents the Shreveport area, released a statement saying, quote, "we're holding the victims, their families and loved ones, and our Shreveport community, close in our thoughts and prayers during this incredibly difficult time. "

I'm Jen Sullivan reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[03:15:05]

CHURCH: Ukrainian officials are launching a terrorism investigation into Saturday's mass shooting in Kyiv. Still to come, an update on the tragedy that has shaken the capital of a country already at war. Plus, Bulgaria just held its eighth parliamentary election in five

years, but the search for a stable government might bring the country closer to Moscow. We'll have details for you on the other side of the break, stay with us.

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CHURCH: Early results from Bulgaria's parliamentary election show former President Ruman Radev taking a commanding lead. Radev stepped down from the presidency in January to run for parliament. He campaigned on an anti-corruption, Euro-skeptic and pro-Russia platform.

Bulgarians flocked to the polls on Sunday. Rising costs of living and voting out entrenched politicians appear to be motivating factors. Those early results indicate Radev's progressive Bulgaria party may even win a parliamentary majority, the final vote tally is expected later on Monday.

[03:20:01]

The head of police in Ukraine's capital city is stepping down following a mass shooting that left at least six people dead. The resignation comes after video emerged allegedly showing two officers running away from the sound of gunfire during Saturday's shooting. Both have been suspended pending an investigation.

CNN's Sebastian Shukla has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEBASTIAN SHUKLA, CNN PRODUCER: A truly shocking incident took place on Ukraine's capital on Saturday. One that has left several dead and a dozen or so people injured including a child. Harrowing video circulating online of the attacker shows him walking down a street wielding a weapon and then apparently shooting somebody at point blank range, authorities say that he killed four people on those streets.

IHOR KLYMENKO, UKRAINIAN INTERIOR MINISTER (through translator): The shooter who was born in 1968 was most likely a pensioner. He lives nearby. He walked down the street starting from Demyavskaya Street.

On his way he shot four of our citizens and he also shot a fifth person who was being held hostage in that shop.

SHUKLA: The shooter not named by authorities but confirmed as a 58 year old male born in Moscow then entered a supermarket where he took hostages. Authorities swooped on the supermarket and began negotiating with him to free those hostages for around 40 minutes which he did eventually do but not before he killed another person.

The incident took place in the Holosiivs'kyi district of Kyiv, a largely residential suburb southern part of the city where you would find the usual shops, restaurants and grocery stores. Very little detail though has been released about the motive behind this attack but officials are calling it a terrorist act and that the shooter had spent a lot of time in the Donetsk region of Ukraine's eastern region.

President Zelenskyy though has said that every detail must be examined. The whole affair though has really shaken the city of Kyiv which does say something for a city and a nation that has been under near constant attack for over four years now following Russia's invasion. But incidents particularly ones like this have been so rare.

Sebastian Shukla, CNN, Berlin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Still to come, Virginia Democrats make a major push for new congressional boundaries to gain crucial seats in the House. But can they make that dream a reality? I'll ask an expert back in just a moment.

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[03:25:00]

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CHURCH: Welcome back to "CNN Newsroom," I'm Rosemary Church. I want to check today's top stories for you.

Iran's military has warned it will respond after U.S. forces fired upon and seized an Iranian flag cargo ship on Sunday. President Trump says the U.S. Navy acted when the vessel tried to get past the U.S. blockade in the Gulf of Oman. He also accused Tehran of violating the current ceasefire agreement.

Eight children are dead in Shreveport, Louisiana in what is now the deadliest mass shooting in the U.S. in two years. Police say seven of the victims were the shooter's children. He also shot and critically wounded two women, one of them his wife, according to authorities, the shooter was later killed by police.

Exit polls show Bulgaria's former President taking a strong lead in Sunday's parliamentary elections. Early results indicate Roman Radev's progressive Bulgaria party may secure a parliamentary majority. Radev promises to fight corruption and restore public trust in the government and is pushing for closer ties with Moscow, final results are expected later Monday.

U.S. Senate Democrat Tim Kaine is defending his party's efforts to redraw congressional districts in the state of Virginia. The measure will appear on Tuesday's ballot in a special election in the state where Democrats hold the majority.

If it passes, they stand to gain up to four more House seats. Virginia is just one of multiple states attempting to redraw congressional boundaries sparked by Republican-majority states originally attempting the move themselves. Here's what Kaine told Fox News.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. TIM KAINE (D-VA): 90 percent of Virginians are not Democrats. That's true. About 100 percent of Virginians want election results to be respected.

We're deeply worried that Donald Trump will try to interfere with the election results this November or in 2028 because we saw him do it before. And we have to have a Congress that will stand up to it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Earlier I spoke with Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, and I asked for his expert opinion on Virginia's push to redraw those lines, especially with former U.S. President Barack Obama calling for greater voter turnout. Here's part of our conversation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA-CENTER FOR POLITICS: The polling information that we have, both public and private, suggests that the referendum will pass and that Democrats will have a good chance to get three or four additional seats out of the new drawing.

However, it's closer than it really ought to be, at least in the polling. Maybe the actual vote will be different. I think Democrats will be extremely disappointed if they don't win this because they need these seats to balance the ones that have been taken away from them in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina, and quite possibly in the coming month in Florida.

So we'll have to see what the results are. It's on Tuesday. Democrats are favored, but I wouldn't say heavily at this point.

CHURCH: And, Larry, over in California, Democrats are struggling in the governor's race after the sexual assault scandal surrounding former Congressman Eric Swalwell forced him from office and from that gubernatorial race. How's that race looking now, and what outcome are you expecting?

SABATO: It's a mess. It's difficult to call it anything but that. There are far too many candidates, frankly, who have very little chance of winning.

The top two, obviously, will move along to November. And probably there'll be one Republican and one Democrat. At this point, I don't think there is a frontrunner.

Every poll I see has a different person in front. Swalwell was becoming the frontrunner. So he not only lost a congressional seat, he probably also would have been governor of California, but that, of course, is out the window as well.

So Democrats are lucky that California is so blue. I put it that way. They're lucky it's so blue because they've come close to blowing it.

[03:30:08]

The Republicans simply don't have strong enough candidates to push one of their own to the governor's chair.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Pope Leo XIV is calling on the people of Angola to build a new society based on love, peace and justice. Large crowds greeted the pontiff as he arrived for Holy Mass outside the capital Luanda on Sunday, more than half of Angolans identify as Catholic.

The first American pope is spending several days there on his four- country tour of Africa. At the Sunday morning Mass, Pope Leo described Angola as a beautiful yet wounded country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE LEO XIV, HEAD OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH (through translator): And just as the Eucharist reminds us that we are one body and one spirit, united to the one Lord, so we too can and wish to build a country where all divisions are overcome forever, where hatred and violence disappear, where the wound of corruption is healed by a new culture of justice and sharing. Only in this way will the future of hope be possible, especially for the many young people who have lost it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Pope Leo is also continuing his loud calls for global peace, praising the ceasefire in Lebanon and condemning new attacks in Ukraine.

And we'll be right back.

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CHURCH: Welcome back to CNN, this is your Business Breakout. And these are the headlines.

Global markets are reacting to the latest instability in the Strait of Hormuz. Crude oil prices jumped more than 4 percent after the U.S. seized an Iranian ship, and questions remain over a potential second round of peace talks with Tehran.

[03:35:07]

The U.S. is maintaining its naval blockade on Iranian vessels and ports, while Iran over the weekend reimposed control over that vital waterway.

The U.S. Energy Secretary says gas prices may not return to under $3 until next year. Chris Wright told CNN that prices have likely peaked and they will start going down. Gas prices in the U.S. have surged more than $1 per gallon for regular unleaded since the war with Iran began.

New customs data shows China's exports of rare earth magnets fell nearly 2 percent in March from a year earlier, but month-to-month those exports were up more than 10 percent from February to March. China is the world's largest producer of the magnets which are refined from rare earth minerals.

A Chinese humanoid robot has crushed the human half-marathon world record. The robot, called Lightning, finished a race in Beijing in just 50 minutes and 26 seconds, that's about seven minutes faster than Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo, who set the human record last month in Lisbon. Unlike last year's Beijing race, the robots weren't controlled remotely, they navigated the course on their own.

Georg Steiler is Managing Director Asia at Steiler Technology and Market Advisors. He joins us from Zurich in Switzerland. I appreciate you talking with us.

GEORG STEILER, MANAGING DIRECTOR ASIA, STEILER TECHNOLOGY AND MARKET ADVISORY: Glad to be here, Rosemary.

CHURCH: So we certainly witnessed significant advances in technology this year compared to last year during China's humanoid robot half- marathon. What were your takeaways?

STEILER: There was clearly an impressive show of progress in this emerging field. Last year we had 21 participants, this year over 300 were registered and finally over 100 made it to the race. You saw that the winning robots are basically beating the human world record, which is quite an achievement.

CHURCH: And is China winning this humanoid robot race, do you think?

STEILER: I think we clearly have an advantage if you compare them to the other ecosystems, say Europe, Japan and the United States. If you want to build robots and in particular in this emerging humanoid field, we're not in a mature phase yet. You need to prototype and iterate a lot and China just has the best suppliers who can produce what you need for that.

And actually many European and American startups in that field also source from China more than most people are aware of. And China is also not very far behind when it comes to robotics foundation models.

CHURCH: So how close do you think we are to the science-fiction vision of autonomous humanoid robots?

STEILER: That will clearly still take, I mean, some people say three to five years, others say it's 18. We will see more commercially viable applications already this year, but they will still be relatively repetitive, relatively limited in scope along production lines, in intralogistics of factories and warehouses.

There's a high pressure in particular on the emerging Chinese companies in this field from their investors to show paths to revenue, which is not just robots for entertainment. But having a robot cleaning up your household or working in a more complex environment will still require at least five years, I expect. CHURCH: And when we look at this race, I mean, it's one thing to have these robots running really fast. I mean, how useful would that be in the end? As you say, it's more likely that humans are going to want to have a robot working in the house, cleaning up or working in a factory, working in a warehouse of sorts. How far away are we from that situation?

STEILER: What we need for factories and for households are dexterous skills and decision making. And this is where we're still relatively far away.

[03:40:00]

But as I said, we see the first limited, yes, relatively repetitive applications on production lines in China. Agibot, one of the leading companies in that field, just streamed last week an eight-hour work shift of one of their humanoid robots on wheels. So this is something what we see.

Call them humanoid, call them dual arm robots, and they will be doing jobs or they are already doing jobs which were not possible with the deterministic way we were programming robots for the last 60 years.

CHURCH: Some people do fear that this technology could potentially turn on humans. How much of a threat do you think that really is?

STEILER: We see that in conflict places in Eastern Europe, for example. It is something, a possibility we need to keep in mind. But at the moment, I clearly see the potential benefits because China is not the only country that has demographic challenges.

Most industrialized countries in the world do. And they really hope for this boost of productivity of this new technology. They actually, if you talk to politicians and to startups on the ground, both say we need these additional productive forces to master the challenges we face.

CHURCH: Georg Stieler, thank you so much for joining us. I appreciate it.

STEILER: Pleasure. Thanks for having me.

CHURCH: And for our international viewers, "World Sport" is coming up next. For those of you here in North America, I'll be back with more "CNN Newsroom" in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone.

Well, students at a high school in the U.S. state of Oklahoma honored their principal over the weekend after he saved their lives early this month.

(VIDEO PLAYING)

There he is. Principal Kirk Moore was named prom king as thanks for stopping a gunman who had entered the lobby of Pools Valley High School. Video released by the school shows the principal tackle and disarm the gunman, who was later taken into custody.

While the principal was injured, no students were hurt.

Well parts of the Midwest, including Michigan and Wisconsin, are seeing drier conditions after historic flooding ripped through the area. A storm front is finally moving out of the region, which will allow the states to begin the cleanup process following the flooding.

Meanwhile, more than half a dozen states across the southeast are dealing with drought conditions as the region hasn't received much rainfall. On Sunday, parts of the southeast did receive some rain, but more is needed to help end the drought.

Pope Leo XIV is touring Africa to encourage the continent's growing Catholic population and to promote global peace. But that's been somewhat overshadowed this week after President Trump attacked the pontiff's anti-war message several times on social media.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino tells us how Catholics in New York are responding.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GLORA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we spoke with several parishioners on this Sunday, and I would say that the reaction we got was a real mix of frustration and disappointment, including from several supporters of President Trump, some who said that they agreed with him on his actions in Iran, but that they were upset to see the President sort of pick this fight with Pope Leo. They said that they felt that it simply had crossed a line.

We also spoke with Archbishop Ronald Hicks here in New York, he was recently appointed and represents more than 2.5 million Catholics in this area. He told us that the pope's message as he travels around Africa has been resonating right here at home. He said that he was happy to see him speak out on the gospel, speak out on a message of peace, and that he hopes he continues to do so.

Take a listen.

ARCHBISHOP RONALD HICKS, NEW YORK: What I think I've been most impressed about with our holy father is how he's responding. I'm not surprised by what he's saying. He's preaching the gospel.

He's preaching a message of peace, a message of reconciliation, of healing. That shouldn't surprise any of us.

UNKNOWN: I think the pope is right, and I think Trump is doing what he's supposed to do, but provoking the pope like he did, it's not necessary. I don't think it was something clever from his part.

UNKNOWN: I don't think it helps the President at all. I think it's colossally stupid, and I say that as a Catholic and as a person who voted for Trump, but I think that it's just not the battle to pick.

UNKNOWN: I would think that there's not much more blasphemous you can get than presenting yourself as Jesus. I don't know how you defend it, and I thought it was a doctor. It's hard to defend.

PAZMINO: Now, even as the pope tries to pivot back from this debate that we have been seeing over the past few days, he tries to focus the attention back on this trip that he's taking through Africa. There were a lot of people here who were still talking about the back and forth that ensued between the President, between Pope Leo, and even the vice President at one point, and several of them saying that it had just simply crossed a line.

Some of them wishing that the President would have just stuck to politics and governing, and certainly that he would not have spoken out against the pope in the way that he did.

Gloria Pazmino, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: A new poll shows U.S. President Trump's public approval rating has reached a new low. It's one of several recent reviews of voters' opinions on his leadership in his second term. They show most Americans disapprove of the war with Iran and the state of the U.S. economy.

CNN's chief data analyst Harry Enten takes a look at the numbers.

[03:50:08]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: An NBC News poll came out earlier today, and when it comes to Americans' number one issue, inflation, the message from the voters was loud, as I am, and clear, like I am sometimes.

And to quote the great Happy Gilmore, they say to the President of the United States, Donald John Trump, "the price is wrong."

The price is wrong, baby. And you can see it really quite clearly on this screen over here. Just take a look here. You have the NBC News poll, as well as four other polls released over the last month, and Trump is hitting pollster lows in all of them.

Look at the NBC News poll. He's 36 points underwater. My goodness gracious, voters are 36 points more likely to disapprove than approve of the job the President of the United States is doing on the key issue of inflation.

You think that's low, 36 points underwater? How about 38 points underwater, according to a CBS News poll released earlier this month?

How about Ipsos, Reuters' Ipsos? Trump, 43 points underwater, according to the Ipsos polling.

How about that CNN poll that we released earlier this month? Trump, 45 points underwater.

How about UMass Amherst? Look at this, 47 points underwater.

The President of the United States is among Americans.

This is titanic level lows, and this is a titanic portion problem. It is a titanic portion problem because, simply put, inflation is what ran Joe Biden out of the White House, and it is right now a problem in which the American people aren't just walking away from the President of the United States, the now President of the United States, Donald John Trump. They are, with the running motion, running away from him.

And you can see it right here. I mean, just take a look at the difference. Just take a look at the difference.

Voters on Trump and inflation. You go back to the 2024 election.

Look at this. Versus Kamala Harris, Donald Trump was more trusted on the key issue of inflation by seven points. Look at the movement.

You take an average of polling. Trump is now 42 points underwater.

That's a four. That's a two. On inflation, the net approval rating now, that is a nearly 50-point shift away from the President of the United States on the key issue of inflation.

Now, what is supercharging this? Why are Americans running away from the President of the United States on inflation?

Well, the name of the game when it comes to elections is independence. And just take a look here. You think that movement among the overall electorate was large?

Look at this among independents.

Independence on Trump and inflation. You go back to the 2024 election. You look at this versus Kamala Harris, Donald Trump among independents was trusted more on inflation by a 10-point margin.

And then you just look and you can't help but laugh because these shifts are nutter butter. They are nutter butter. He is now 60 points underwater, his net approval rating is on inflation.

The only comparison I can possibly think of as a baseball fan is a comparison between Donald Trump and the New York Mets in his home borough of Queens, because the Mets, if you've been following the NL East, they stink.

And according to the American people and independents especially, Donald Trump, he stinks when it comes to the key issue of inflation. And if he can't solve this problem soon, the Republican Party will absolutely suffer in the midterm elections.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will address what will likely be an angry parliament in the coming hours. He says he'll set out the relevant facts over the Peter Mandelson scandal.

Mr. Starmer faces growing calls by opposition lawmakers to step down after revelations that Mandelson, the former ambassador to the U.S., failed a security vetting process. Mandelson is a veteran of Starmer's Labor Party. He was fired last year after the depth of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein came to light, he is now under police investigation for allegedly leaking government documents to the sex offender.

Prime Minister Starmer denies knowing anything about the vetting failure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEIR STARMER, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: That I wasn't told that Peter Mandelson had failed security vetting when he's appointed is staggering. That I wasn't told that it failed security vetting when I was telling Parliament the due process had been followed is unforgivable.

Not only was I not told, no minister was told. And I'm absolutely furious about that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: A spokesperson for the British Prime Minister told reporters that Starmer has no plans to resign.

The Boston Celtics never trailed Sunday night in their first game of the playoffs. Jason Tatum had 25 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists as the Celtics dominated the Philadelphia 76ers.

[03:55:05]

Boston hit 16 three-pointers and won 123-91.

The Orlando Magic knocked off the top-seeded Detroit Pistons in game one of their series. Desmond Bain connecting on this three-pointer when the game was close in the third quarter. Franz Wagner scored 11 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter helping to seal the upset 112- 101.

Chet Holmgren hit this buzzer-beater at the end of the first quarter in Oklahoma City. The Thunder crushed the Phoenix Suns 119-84. Nine Oklahoma City players saw at least 13 minutes of playing time including Carson Wallace with the jam on this alley-oop.

And in San Antonio, Wendy put on a show for Spurs fans against the Trailblazers. This 35 points set a franchise record for a postseason debut. Spurs win 111-98. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: Hi everybody. Look at that. Wow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: A homeowner in California got quite a surprise and some unexpected visitors when a hot air balloon landed right in his backyard. He told CNN he learned about it from someone who rang his doorbell and saw the balloon come down early Saturday.

Apparently the pilot said the winds had died down forcing the balloon to make an emergency landing. The crew eventually flew it back over the house onto the street where a truck had arrived to take the balloon away.

Quite a day. Thanks so much for your company, I'm Rosemary Church. Have yourselves a wonderful day.

"State of the Union" is coming up next.

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