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Trump Cancels Witkoff, Kushner Iran Peace Talk Trip; Interview With Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA); Trump To Attend His First White House Correspondents' Dinner As President. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired April 25, 2026 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:00]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. Hi, everyone, I am Jessica Dean here in Washington.

And tonight, President Donald Trump is set to attend the annual event honoring the First Amendment and journalists covering The White House, the same journalists his administration and he himself has repeatedly attacked.

This will be the President's first time attending The White House Correspondents' Dinner as President. He is also expected to speak.

President Trump's appearance tonight coming against the backdrop of the President calling off the U.S. delegation to Islamabad, Pakistan. The group was set to take part in talks aimed at eventually ending the war with Iran. But Trump's announcement leaving the potential for a peace deal in limbo, telling reporters earlier that Iran offered a lot, but not enough.

Let's bring in CNN's Julia Benbrook, who is standing by at the White House. Julia, a lot of questions about what this means next for potential return to combat in Iran, what the potential for the peace talks might be. What are you hearing?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A lot of questions and as President Donald Trump announced that he was no longer sending a delegation to Pakistan for these potential talks with Iran, he said too much time wasted traveling, too much work. So, in this post, he said that he didn't want them on planes for 16 or 17 hours, he said that throughout the day. That if he didn't know that there was going to be a deal getting done here, we did expect special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to make this trip.

Trump said that after he canceled these talks that he saw a new plan from Iran, and it was better that he got a lot, but not enough. I want you to listen to those remarks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: They gave us a paper that should have been better and interestingly, immediately when I canceled it, within ten minutes, we got a new paper that was much better. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BENBROOK: And then he went on to say that no one knows who is in charge right now, that there are questions on who those decision makers are in Iran. Now, specifically in this post, he did talk about that, the infighting in Iran and how that's impacting any potential talks. We'll pull up part of that for you now. In it, he said there is tremendous infighting and confusion within their leadership. Nobody knows who is in charge, including them. Also, we have all the cards. They have none. If they want to talk, all they have to do is call.

So as Trump signals that a phone call could be a potential next step, there are still a lot of questions as things move forward. In an interview with AXIOS, he was asked if this decision would mean a return to fighting. He signaled that it wouldn't, in fact, he said that we haven't thought about that yet.

Now, just to highlight how fast things have been changing here, just yesterday afternoon, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was here at the White House speaking with reporters, and she said that they had seen some progress on the Iranian side and that was why Trump was sending a delegation to hear them out. Those meetings now canceled.

And Jessica, just very soon, we do expect Trump to leave the White House here. He's going to speak at the White House Correspondents' Dinner and who knows where those remarks will go, what the tone will be. And if this major conflict, which is top of mind for many, will come up.

DEAN: Indeed, Julia Benbrook from the White House, thank you so much. And we're joined now by Democratic Representative Suhas Subramanyam of Virginia. Congressman, thank you so much for being here with us, I appreciate it. Let's start there with Iran and whether you agree with why or how the President entered this war, we're in this situation now. What do you think needs to come next?

REP. SUHAS SUBRAMANYAM (D-VA): Well, I hope avoiding an 18-hour flight is not -- I hope that's not the reason why they decided not to go and negotiate. They should be spending 24/7 as much time as possible to make sure we have a diplomatic solution to this mess that they have created with this war.

DEAN: But you think they need to be going there, even though they can do those negotiations from here. But essentially, the White House is saying there's not enough happening for us to go there yet. You don't think that's the right move?

SUBRAMANYAM: What I really think is that Witkoff and Kushner shouldn't be the ones negotiating this. We should have real negotiators, people with diplomatic experience who have been successful in negotiations, leading these negotiations in the first place.

The reality is, right now, a lot of this reasoning behind the war has been a diplomatic failure to negotiate with Iran. And now we've gotten to a mess that were in a worse position now than they were at the beginning, than we are at the beginning of the war, the Strait of Hormuz now being closed off to the world. They have more leverage now than they did before the war.

DEAN: And so, if you could, who would you send in? What would you what would it look like to try to bring this to a close? And what do you think has to happen to get a deal?

SUBRAMANYAM: I would send in experts and actually negotiating these types of deals. I'd send in nuclear experts. I'd send in people who have experience and are understanding of Iran's culture and of this regime.

The reality is this regime will respond if they know that their pocketbooks will be hurt, if they know that they will be lose power, for instance. This Iranian regime does not care about its people. So, threats to the Iranian people don't make a difference at all. I think this administration has been miscalculating this regime from the beginning.

DEAN: You've also been a key advocate in the House for checking President Trumps authority when it comes to Iran. We are approaching the 60-day mark when the President will need congressional authorization. Some Republicans argue the ceasefire period doesn't count. What do you say to that?

[19:05:08]

SUBRAMANYAM: I say that May 1st is 60 days, that is the deadline. They need to come to Congress and get it approved. Otherwise, the President needs to follow the law and remove troops at that point. So, if they want to come to us, they want to get approval and if they want to respect the constitution, then May 1st is that deadline.

DEAN: I want to go to your home state of Virginia, where officials are now appealing the judge's ruling that blocked certification of the redistricting referendum that could see Democrats net four House seats. How are you thinking about this move?

SUBRAMANYAM: Well, it's the last desperate attempt to stop this from moving forward. The reality is the reason why this is happening is because Donald Trump told Texas to do mid-decade redistricting, and they thought that Republican states would do it and Democratic states would not respond. But the reality is we have responded. And now, I'm hearing from members of Congress on the Republican side who all of a sudden have seen the light and don't like gerrymandering anymore.

The reality is, Virginia is a response to the other red states, and this will pass muster in the courts, and this will move forward. And November will have four new democratic seats in Virginia.

DEAN: And I hear you with where this all started down in Texas, at the request of the President and Republicans. Virginia is a purple state, though truly and generally puts up pretty -- you know, it can be won by either party. Do you think this is a fair representation of the people of Virginia?

SUBRAMANYAM: Well, unlike Texas, we in Virginia gave the people a choice and that vote was successful. So, you know, Texas and now Florida seems like they're next. They didn't give their folks a choice. But in Virginia, we gave our voters a choice and they showed up and really big numbers. And yes, it was close. But in the end, the yes vote won and so I do think that the people wanted this, and we're moving forward with it because of that.

DEAN: And I know, I do want to talk about Oversight for a minute, a committee that you I know you sit on. We got word that the Justice Department's internal watchdog is going to launch an investigation into the DOJ's handling of the Epstein files. There is a tremendous amount of frustration from survivors about how this process has played out, especially and this would focus specifically on how they gathered that information and released it and there were names and sensitive details that weren't redacted. What are you expecting to see from that inspector general's investigation? What do you think should happen?

SUBRAMANYAM: Well, I encourage it. I hope that they will actually do a real investigation and that that investigation will show that this administration has withheld files, Because the reality is many of the survivors have said that files that they knew were in there have not been released. And even when I went to the DOJ and when I tried to look at redacted files, the unredacted versions, they were redacted when I was there.

And so, there are a lot of problems with the way they've released that they have 2.5 million files that we know of that have not been released. And some of the key files that I was looking for were not in the release, and they have actually ignored our subpoena from last August, a bipartisan subpoena.

And so, this administration continues to break the law. And even though Pam Bondi is gone, you know, Todd Blanche is basically doing the same thing.

DEAN: All right, Congressman, thank you so much for your time, we really appreciate it.

SUBRAMANYAM: Thank you.

DEAN: Still ahead, here we are live from the red carpet of the White House Correspondents' Dinner, where President Trump will make his first appearance ever as President. How his antagonistic relationship with the press is going to play out in a room full of press and the White House correspondents who cover him. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:13:25]

DEAN: Tonight, President Trump will be attending the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner for the first time ever as a sitting President. He has skipped every dinner when he's been President and bucked the tradition since 2017, when he first took office.

The last time he attended was as a guest in 2011, when he became the focus of several jokes told by then President Barack Obama and comedian Seth Meyers. It's common for the President and the journalists in the room to be roasted, though, by a comedian by the President. Here's a look at some of the zingers from over the years, typically.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN COLBERT, "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT" HOST: Now, I know there's some polls out there saying that this man has a 32 percent approval rating. But guys like us, we don't pay attention to the polls. We know that that polls are just a collection of statistics that reflect what people are thinking in reality. And reality has a well-known liberal bias.

SETH MEYERS, "LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS" HOST: Donald Trump has been saying that he will run for President as a Republican, which is surprising since I just assumed he was running as a joke.

JIMMY KIMMEL, "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE" HOST: You remember when the country rallied around you in hopes of a better tomorrow? That was hilarious.

CONAN O'BRIEN, COMEDIAN AND T.V. HOST: Mr. President, you're going to leave office as a very young man, and yet the presidency has taken its toll. Your hair is so white it could be a member of your Cabinet. He can handle it.

HASAN MINHAJ, COMEDIAN AND ACTOR: We have to address the elephant that's not in the room. The leader of our country is not here. And that's because he lives in Moscow, it is a very long flight it'd be hard for Vlad to make it. Vlad can't just make it on a Saturday, it's a Saturday. As for the other guy, I think he's in Pennsylvania because he can't take a joke.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[19:15:13]

DEAN: This year, there will not be a comedian roasting the President. Instead, we will have a mentalist providing entertainment there.

CNN's Sara Sidner joining us now from the White House Correspondents' Dinner red carpet. She is there with the Secretary of Interior, Doug Burgum. Sara, tell us more.

SARA SIDNER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Look, we are here with the Secretary of Interior and his wife Kathryn, Doug Burgum. It's good to see you. You look, tonight is a really important night for this country, actually, because it is a celebration of the freedom of the press and the First Amendment. What are you expecting tonight and why did you come? Why was this important to you to come? And why do you think it was important for the President to come this year? He has never been here before.

DOUG BURGUM, U.S. SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR: Well, I think tonight what we're seeing, of course, celebration of 250 years of free speech. The world looks on tonight and I'm sure they're like, wow, how does this happen where we've got people of different political views all coming together and which was also a rich origin of our country is political humor and political satire going back to our founding fathers.

Ben Franklin was the king of this at the very beginning of the country and I think tonight's going to be a very fun evening. And I think we should all be celebrating that we live in a country where this can actually happen, because in many parts of the world, this isn't even conceivable to the people that live there, that you could get together, tell some jokes, make fun of yourself, have a laugh, and then together work together to make this country a better place.

SIDNER: President after President has come to this, whether we are in the middle of something difficult with right now, we're in the middle of a war. This President has been really, really tough on the press. He has said some things that a lot of people are like, that's too far. What do you make of the way in which that relationship exists? And the words that he uses against the press?

BURGUM: Well, I think from the press standpoint, and being a part of the administration and seeing how much time the President gives to be available to the to the White House Correspondents, the press. I mean, it's just unbelievable. I mean, sometimes he'll do two or three press events a day, some of them unscheduled, when there's no news to be made, he's the newsmaker. And I don't think there's a leader in the world that puts more time, effort and energy and availability, the press, I mean, think of, I talked to CEOs and board members and I'm like, they would never conceive of inviting an entire press corps to come to a board meeting.

Every time we have a Cabinet meeting, the press is there with us from the beginning to the end. And I think that transparency is so refreshing and quite amazing and very American.

SIDNER: I'm curious, Kathryn, what you're looking forward to tonight. There is a mentalist who says he is going to get into the mind of the President. Are you worried?

KATHRYN BURGUM, WIFE OF DOUG BURGUM: Oh, no. I'm not worried. I think that President Trump has got it all together. He always entertains. He's so funny and I'm really looking forward to. You know, hearing what he thinks about things as usual, it will be full of surprises and full of great anecdotes. And anyway, looking forward to tonight.

SIDNER: Thank you so much, I appreciate it, Secretary, and thank you so much for being here and speaking to us tonight, I appreciate it.

BURGUM: Thank you.

SIDNER: So, there you have it. You know, look, a lot of people are expecting different things. But we know that the speech we're expecting from the President, this is his first time here as the President of the United States. He has skipped all the others. We're expecting his speech to be about an hour. But you know how he goes. You know that usually he goes quite long.

But this really is a night and should not be forgotten that this is a night to celebrate the freedom of the press, the freedom of expression, the freedom to speak your mind and not be punished for it. And there are scholarships that will be meted out. There are awards given out to the journalists who grind it out every single day, and you're seeing people. It really is quite a large crowd here. And I will tell you this, having been here a few times before, the security is different. It is roads are blocked off around the area. This is the first time I've seen this much security. And of course, that goes with a President showing up for one of these events. We just haven't seen that in quite some time.

DEAN: All right, Sara Sidner, thank you so much. We really appreciate it. And the Presidents daughter in law, Lara Trump, says the President hired joke writers to help him prepare for tonight. Let's take a look at how some past Presidents have handled their moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RONALD REAGAN, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Larry also said that preparing me for a press conference was like reinventing the wheel. It's not true. I was around when the wheel was invented and it was easier.

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Senator McCain is back tonight. I welcome him, especially. As you all know, he just made a difficult journey back to a place where he endured unspeakable abuse at the hands of his oppressors, the Senate Republican Caucus.

STEVE BRIDGES, IMPERSONATED PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: Here comes, nuclear proliferation, nuclear proliferation, nuclear proliferation.

GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: "Nukyer poliferation."

BRIDGES: Where's the great White Hunter?

BUSH: I am sorry, Vice President Cheney couldn't be here tonight. I agree with the press that Dick was a little late reporting that hunting episode down in Texas. In fact, I didn't know a thing about it until I saw him on "Americas Most Wanted".

[19:20:26]

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Bipartisan outreach will be so successful that even John Boehner will consider becoming a Democrat. After all, we have a lot in common. He is a person of color, although not a color that appears in the natural world.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY, AMERICAN ACTOR, COMEDIAN, PRODUCER, AND WRITER: Hold on to your lily-white butts.

OBAMA: In our fast-changing world, traditions like the White House Correspondents' Dinner are important.

KEY: I mean, really, what is this dinner? And why am I required to come to it?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Joining us now is John McConnell. He worked as a speechwriter for the George W. Bush administration. Thanks so much for being here with us, John.

That was a look back at, you know, just kind of some classic moments from over the years when Presidents went back and forth with the press, making fun of themselves for all the reasons we just talked about, this one's a little bit different. This President has a very different relationship with the press. And I am curious if you were surprised by his decision to attend this year and what you're expecting tonight.

JOHN MCCONNELL, SPEECH WRITER FOR GEORGE W. BUSH ADMINISTRATION: Honestly, I was more surprised by the times he didn't go to this dinner because it's a big event. The President of the United States is the marquee guest, and he and Mrs. Trump have attended this dinner over the years in in the pre-Presidential years. I'm not sure what to expect tonight.

They keep saying that the President's expected to speak for an hour or more. That is a very long speech at a dinner.

DEAN: Yes, it is.

MCCONNELL: But they must be getting some intelligence from the White House that he's got a lot to say.

DEAN: Yeah, and we are just seeing Secretary of State Marco Rubio. We're seeing the new DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin there with our colleague, Sara Sidner. We're seeing, my point is, a lot of the cabinet members there, Doug Burgum, was just on with us. This is a heavily attended event by this administration, and the President of the WHCA the White House Correspondents' Association, Weijia Jiang, who's a senior White House correspondent for CBS News, said that everyone who's going to this, everyone that's in attendance, has chosen to be there, knowing that it is a dinner dedicated to recognizing the importance of the First Amendment, and that this is a reminder of what the free press means in our country.

I mean, again, we don't know what the President is going to say, to your point. We think we know that he's speaking for at least an hour, but typically Presidents will talk about the importance of the press and the First Amendment at some point. Do you think hell weave that in?

MCCONNELL: Very possibly, Jessica. I think, you know, you're right when you say that other Presidents have done that, a little part of the speech, usually toward the end of the speech where you make a few comments about the press and the presidency. It gets to the point, though, sometimes where people don't really, they don't really care much about that.

Ronald Reagan actually, the last time he went to this dinner, said, I'm not going to give you one of those worn out, sentimental homilies about the press and the presidency, because neither of us would believe it. But seriously, there probably will be something like that.

DEAN: And what goes into preparing for something like this, for any sort of speech of this size and magnitude and, and also getting the right tone?

MCCONNELL: Yes, a speech for the White House Correspondents' Dinner, there will be many hands involved in something like that, because there's going to be a lot of humor in the speech. And humor is something that usually involves a lot of soliciting ideas from outside friendly career joke writers, things of that nature.

Landon Parvin, who worked for President Reagan, did a lot of work for some subsequent speakers to two other Presidents and did a very fine job. But there are many hands. And probably some practice sessions, I'm guessing certainly other Presidents have done practice sessions before this speech.

DEAN: Well, and look, you know this better, you know, better than anybody in terms of Presidential speeches and giving them look, you have to have timing. You have to do those practice runs. You know, this President isn't always known for liking to do that. He likes to speak off the cuff or go off the script sometimes. But again, take us behind the scenes typically for how you get that tone right. And maybe how you coach a President on comedic timing or taking a beat.

MCCONNELL: Well, I worked for, as you mentioned, President George W. Bush, who was a very relaxed public speaker, and he had a very good sense of humor. But a speech like this did take preparation and practice. You can't just have a bunch of jokes on a page. You have to, as you suggest, think about pacing and delivery. And also, you test them out on people and sometimes they don't come across as the writers might have expected, or as the President himself might have expected.

And so, practice also yields refinement of the document itself. So, ideally, you do have these practice sessions and, and in turn, at least some internal vetting of the material just so you make sure you hit your target.

[19:25:46]

DEAN: And how much do you normally think about the crowd? Obviously in this, in this space, you are talking to a room full of journalists, many of whom cover the President, day-in and day-out. How much do you factor that in?

MCCONNELL: Well, you have to always think very carefully about your audience. And in the case of journalists at an event like this, again, it's supposed to be lighthearted. You want to look good, of course, as the speaker, but you also want everyone to have fun. That's the spirit of these events. I thought it was captured very well in the report just before I came on from your reporter on site, Secretary Burgum, talking about the nice spirit in the air at an event like this. And so, you want maintain that tone in the speech itself.

DEAN: All right, we'll see if that's what happens. It's anybody's guess until we hear it. John McConnell, good to have you though, to talk through it. Thank you so much.

MCCONNELL: Thank you.

DEAN: And you can tune in to the White House Correspondents' Dinner special at 8:00 P.M. just in about 30 minutes. It's going to happen right here on CNN. That's next, we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:31:20]

DEAN: New tonight, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is ordering the military to, in his words, vigorously attack Hezbollah targets in Lebanon that fires several rocket and drone interceptions from Hezbollah into Israel earlier today and an extension of the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire. CNN's Oren Liebermann has the latest now on the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: The Israeli military has carried out more strikes in Southern Lebanon, killing at least four people, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. Despite the fact that just a couple of days ago, President Donald Trump extended the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon for another three weeks as the U.S. tries to push forward a broader agreement between Israel and Lebanon.

Still, that extension of the ceasefire has not stopped the exchanges of fire, the hostilities and the back and forth we have seen between Israel and Iran's proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah. On Saturday, according to Lebanon's ministry of public health, four people were killed in Israeli strikes in Southern Lebanon. The Israeli military says they were targeting what they see as armed militants in a car and a motorcycle in Southern Lebanon.

Israel also says they struck military infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah's Radwan Force. What's important here is that Israel believes it has the freedom of action it needs, and it wants to carry out strikes against what it perceives as threats. And Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said despite the ceasefire, Israel will still carry out the strikes it believes it needs to deal with those threats. The key question here is how long does Israel have the green light to carry out these strikes from the United States?

Trump has made it clear he wants to host Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in the White House to discuss talks and hold what would be a landmark meeting at some point in the near future. But if this exchange of fire Israeli strikes, Hezbollah launches continue, it might derail that effort to try to get a diplomatic track going here.

It's also worth noting that throughout the day on Saturday, there were several intercepts of Hezbollah rockets and drones over Southern Lebanon and Northern Israel. So, you see that despite a ceasefire between the two countries, Israel and Lebanon, there is still hostilities fighting and potentially more war in the future between Israel and Hezbollah.

Oren Liebermann CNN in Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: Oren, thank you for that. U.S. Forces boarding Iranian oil tankers in the Indian ocean. We'll show you the video that's up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:38:19]

DEAN: Tracking data shows a mega-yacht linked to a sanctioned Russian oligarch traveled through the nearly closed Strait of Hormuz. Earlier today that yacht is said to be one of the world's largest, at 1.5 times the size of an American football field.

It appears to have taken a route reportedly used by Iran's revolutionary guard to control access to the Strait, but it's still yet to be seen whether the mega yachts journey will be impacted by U.S. military presence in that region. And for more on the U.S. military's actions in the region. Here's CNN's Brian Todd.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do not attempt to breach the blockade?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): New details from the Pentagon on a campaign to keep the pressure on Iran with the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports and to expand interdictions beyond the Persian Gulf.

PETE HEGSETH, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: To the regime in Tehran. The blockade is tightening by the hour. We are in control. Nothing in, nothing out.

TODD (voice over): More than 30 ships have been turned around by the blockade so far, according to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. But he says the blockade is also now, "going global". U.S. Forces seizing what Hegseth called two Iranian dark fleet ships that had made their way into the Indian ocean vessels, which Hegseth said had left Iranian ports before the blockade went into effect.

HEGSETH: They thought they'd made it out just in time. They did not.

TODD (voice over): The first ship seized by U.S. warships was the massive tanker Tifani on April 20th. According to Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Dan Cane, the sanctioned vessel was transporting Iranian oil at the time.

GEN. DAN CAINE, U.S. CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: At approximately 11:30 P.M. Eastern time, U.S. military forces and law enforcement forces also went to the ship via rotary wing platforms. Fast roped onto her deck and secured them.

TODD (voice over): Two days later, a similar interdiction of what he called the stateless tanker, the Majestic X. As with the seizure of the Tifani video of the operation issued by the Pentagon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Motor vessel Majestic X, we intend to conduct a boarding of your vessel.

TODD (voice over): U.S. Forces then seen rappelling onto the deck of the U.S. Forces then seen rappelling onto the deck of the Majestic X.

[19:40:29]

HEGSETH: Both ships, the Tifani, the Majestic X and their crews remain in U.S. custody. Those operations coming on the heels of a U.S. Destroyer firing on then seizing the Iranian cargo ship, the Touska. After U.S. officials said that Tosca ignored repeated warnings to stop.

TODD (voice over): That means the U.S. forcibly seized three large Iranian linked vessels within the span of four days.

REAR ADM. MARK MONTGOMERY (RET.), FOUNDATION FOR DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACIES: The lesson to the Iranian ships is if you slow down and let us board you, you'll get the vertical envelopment. If you don't, you'll get the five-inch gun followed by the vertical envelopment.

TODD (voice over): Meanwhile, Hegseth says Iran's fleet of speedboats operated by the Revolutionary Guard Corps has been severely downgraded to what he calls a group of criminals on the high seas.

HEGSETH: The IRGC, specifically, has been reduced to a gang of pirates with a flag.

TODD (voice over): Hegseth says. those speedboats are still harassing civilian ships.

MONTGOMERY: These ships can't do damage. They can have a boarding party like we've seen where, you know, they put ropes and ladders across and board the ship and take control of the pilothouse. They could also just launch weapons inside the ship using rocket propelled grenades or something like javelin anti-tank weapons, and do real damage to the ship.

TODD (on camera): I asked retired Admiral Mark Montgomery if the U.S. resumes combat operations, would it be stretching U.S. Forces too thin to engage in combat and force the blockade and conduct those wide- ranging interdictions of tankers?

Admiral Montgomery said the U.S. could still pull it off, could still launch about 500 to 700 strikes a day. But he also said the Iranians would, of course, ramp up their retaliation, firing cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and drones at American ships.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: All right, Brian, thank you for that. We're joined now by the author of "Iran's Rise and Rivalry with the U.S." in the Middle East, Mohsen Milani. Thank you so much for being here with us, sir. It's nice to have you. I want to start by asking you about something that the President said earlier today. I'm just going to play a quick clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I'll deal with whoever runs the show. They don't know, they are fighting with each other. There's tremendous infighting. They're probably fighting for leadership. In many cases, I think they're fighting not to be the leader because we knocked out two levels of leaders but I'll deal with whoever we have to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: What do you, do you think that's right. In terms of how he's assessing who's in charge in Iran?

MOHSEN MILANI, AUTHOR OF "IRAN'S RISE AND RIVALRY WITH THE U.S.": First, thank you for inviting me. The decision-making process in Iran, in the Islamic republic has not fundamentally changed. Prior to the 39-day war. The Supreme Leader was in charge and the Revolutionary Guards essentially were the other side of the leadership. And then you had the presidency.

Now today, we have a new Supreme Leader who does not have the kind of authority and power his father had. And therefore, the Revolutionary Guards are playing a much more important role in making decisions. So, as far as I'm concerned, the process of decision making has not changed.

Still, the Supreme Leader with the support of the Revolutionary Guards, are going to make important decisions. And yes, the Islamic Republic was born with different factions. These factions have been fighting for over almost half a century. They continue to fight. But based on my observation and I could be completely wrong, based on my observation, the governing elite in Iran faces an existential threat. Therefore, there is more cohesion within the governing class.

DEAN: That's very interesting. Now, we have not publicly seen or heard from the new Ayatollah. Weve gotten written what are said to be written messages. What do you think that means?

MILANI: Well, if the reporting by "The New York Times" is accurate, he has been seriously hurt. Apparently, he lost one leg. He cannot speak as clearly as he wanted to but in terms of his mental capability, he remains as sharp as he used to be.

Therefore, I think we can conclude that he is the ultimate decision maker, but he does not have the kind of power and authority that his father had.

Don't forget, when his father took over after the death of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khamenei, he didn't have that much power either. It took him 37 years to build the structure of his power. So, the same thing applies to his son. He does not have the kind of power his father had, but I believe he still has enough authority. He still has enough clout to be able to make important decisions, if he is alive.

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DEAN: If he is, and you think that's a question? If he is alive?

MILANI: We have not seen any evidence and I can understand why they haven't seen any evidence. They're afraid that if he comes out and talks other people who have killed 250 top officials of Iranian military and security agencies could do the same, same thing to him. If I have to guess, if you put the gun on my head and say, make a guess I would say he's alive, but injured.

DEAN: And so, knowing all of this, what do you think Iran is, is going to be willing to agree to in these negotiations?

MILANI: Well, you know, I wrote the piece two weeks before the first American and Israeli attack on Iran about a year ago. And I said, even if you attack Iran, you're not going to change the calculus. You're not going to be able to force Iran to surrender. And the best way to do it is through negotiations.

And I think the record, after the 12-day war, as well as the 39-day war, has shown that there is no military solution to Iranian nuclear program. It has to be addressed through negotiations. The problem is that both the United States and the Islamic Republic today see no urgency to end it, because they have two completely different perception of who has won the war. The Americans believe that they have won the war. The Islamic Republic says, insists that they are still in power and therefore we have won. And then they add that they have today what they did not have six months ago, and that is to control of the Strait of Hormuz.

They think that is their winning car, and therefore they are not willing to give as many concessions as a lot of people think they should. The same applies to the United States. But both should understand that unless they come down with their maximalist demands, this war is going to go on, and the Iranians are betting that their endurance for accepting pain and suffering is much more than the endurance of the Persian Gulf, Arab countries of the United States and the international community. Don't forget, Iran fought a war for eight years, eight years, 300,000 Iranians were killed. Iranian military and economic infrastructure was destroyed, and Iran refused to surrender. And they think they won the war. The same thing applies to them.

DEAN: All right, Mohsen Milani, thank you so much. We really appreciate it and we'll be right back.

MILANI: Thank you.

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DEAN: As New York Mayor, Zohran Mamdani looks to move his tax the rich plant forward, one billionaire's company is pushing back. Mamdani recently released a video promoting his and governor Kathy Hochul's new proposal, which is aimed at taxing luxury second homes valued at more than $5 million.

Now, in that video, Mamdani singled out Citadel CEO, Ken Griffin and his $238 million penthouse. And now his hedge fund is fighting back. Let's bring in CNN's Gloria Pazmino. Tell us more -- Gloria.

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jessica you know, even though Governor Kathy Hochul is the one who has said that she is willing to put this tax proposal in her state budget because she's the one with the power to raise taxes here in New York City, it's Mayor Mamdani who is getting a lot of flak and a lot of the reaction, certainly from the business sector here in New York City and some of the city's ultra wealthy residents, including Ken Griffin, who is the CEO of Citadel, as you said, a major hedge fund with multinational locations. And Griffin, a billionaire who back in 2019 bought an apartment in Manhattan for $238 million, making history at the time as the most expensive home U.S. sale in the country's history.

Now, Mamdani making the point that people like him who can afford such kinds of homes should pay more taxes. And Kathy Hochul has introduced this proposal because she does not support Mamdani's original plan to raise taxes on the wealthiest people in New York City. They're looking at a $5 billion deficit that they're trying to raise new revenue for. And this is Governor Hochul's answer to that.

So, as you said it's getting a lot of reaction and the CFO of Citadel sent a letter to its employees last week. Essentially talking about this proposal and also suggesting that they might pull back on a project to build a new site in Midtown, which would bring thousands of jobs to New York City and millions of dollars in investment. Here's part of what the CFO had to say.

He said, "The mayor has once again manifested the ignorance and disdain of the elite political class towards those who have been consistently committed to building one of the greatest cities in the world."

[19:55:35]

This company essentially saying, we have been doing our part. The mayor was asked about this. He said that he wants to work with people like Griffin, but he continues to stand by his proposal. I should say this is not yet finalized. The state budget is still being negotiated, so we'll see if there is actually an approval of this tax in the next few weeks -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right, more to come. Gloria Pazmino with the latest, thanks so much.

And I want to say thank you for joining me this evening. I'm Jessica Dean. Our special coverage of the White House Correspondents' Dinner is going to start after a quick break. Have a wonderful night, everyone. We'll see you back here tomorrow.

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