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CNN Team Crosses Border into Iran; Saudi Arabia Intercepts Drones; Pentagon Identifies Remaining Two Soldiers; Hegseth Comments about Media Focus; Rep. Joe Morelle (D-NY) is Interviewed about Iran. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired March 05, 2026 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:00]

MIKE DUBKE, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: With Ken Paxton, that that is what is -- the Cornyn team felt was going to get them across the finish line, and they finished up one point. So, it must have done some good work.

CHUCK ROCHA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Look, everybody on this program knows I ain't never wrote a thesis. But I'll tell you this about the primary. In the last primary we just had a couple days ago, 12 percent of the folks that voted in the Democratic primary had voted in a Republican primary in their history. That's a problem for the Republicans in Texas.

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: OK, Chuck, thank you so much.

You guys, stay with me. We have a lot more to talk about. We want to return to this breaking news coverage that's coming out of the Middle East. We're going to talk about why the defense secretary is saying the media is spending too much time talking about the first U.S. casualties.

Plus, CNN is the first U.S. network to report from inside of Iran since the U.S. strikes began. We're going to bring that to you next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:35:14]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CORNISH: Welcome back. We have breaking developments on a number of fronts in this war with Iran.

Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish. And I want to get you up to speed.

First, explosions in Tehran over the past several hours. Smoke can be seen here over the Iranian capital. Israel claims that it took out several Iranian missile systems. It also hit Hezbollah targets in Beirut. And just this hour, a CNN team saw a barrage of missiles intercepted

over Doha. Qatar has endured days of Iranian counter strikes. We have no word yet on damage or injuries.

And Iran is mourning dozens of young students killed in the bombing of a school in the first hours of the war. Days later, it's still unclear why the school was hit or which country fired at it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: All I know, all I can say is that we're investigating that. We, of course, never target civilian targets. But we're taking a look in investigating that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: The school is reportedly located about 200 feet from an Iranian military base.

And our senior international correspondent, Fred Pleitgen, and his team have actually crossed the border into Iran. CNN is the first U.S. network allowed into the country since the start of U.S. strikes. We have to point out that CNN operates in Iran only with government permission. And here is Fred's report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We just crossed the border and are now inside of Iran. The Iranian government has granted us a visa to come here and to report from the Islamic Republic of Iran.

We're now trying to make our way to the capital, Tehran, as fast as possible. But, of course, the distances in this huge country are immense. And we know it's going to take many, many hours for us to get there.

We also don't know what the situation on the road to Tehran is going to look like. How many checkpoints there's going to be. And, of course, we know, at the same time, there are massive combat operations also going on.

The United States and Israel are continuing their huge aerial campaign against targets inside of Iran. At the same time, the Iranians continue to retaliate, not just with their ballistic missiles, but with their drones, mostly hitting Israel, but then also American military installations, especially in the gulf region. But in general, in the Middle East.

In total, the Iranians are saying that they can continue this campaign for a very long time. They say that their missile arsenal is still immense, and they haven't even used some of their most modern missiles. But we also, of course, know that the place that we aim to go to, Tehran, has been under almost sustained attacks with massive airstrikes going on there and also huge damage being caused. And, of course, many people also having been harmed. (END VIDEOTAPE)

CORNISH: OK, we'll hear more from Fred Pleitgen, who is now in Iran.

In the meantime, in Saudi Arabia, they intercepted multiple drones overnight. And Italy says it plans to send air defense aid to gulf states.

CNN's Nic Robertson is in Riyadh.

Can you talk about the significance of the strikes that the Saudis are dealing with? What would it mean if they're drawn further into this war?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, it could potentially mean an escalation in the war in this region here if they get drawn in. They're trying not to get drawn in. But we learned at the Pentagon press briefing yesterday with the secretary of defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff that, in fact, Iran had launched very big and very serious missiles, ballistic missiles, at Saudi Arabia's energy facilities. They were intercepted. But if one of those was to impact, that really could change the calculus here in Riyadh.

What has happened in the hours this morning? Three cruise missiles were fired it appears at Prince Sultan Air Base, which is just outside of Riyadh. The ministry of defense here indicating that they were shot down in a town near that base. No one's saying that they were fired at that base, but it appears to be the case. And then a couple of hours later, three drones shot down in the same area. That is an air base, Prince Sultan Air Base, that has historically been used by the U.S. Air Force at times. Not quite clear what is happening there at the moment.

There was a drone strike in the north of the country here as well in the last hour or so. And I think to that point that we've been hearing about the expansion of this conflict, whether it's the sinking of that Iranian navy ship yesterday in the Indian Ocean, or whether it was the missiles that were intercepted on their way to Turkey, we've heard today from the European Union foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, saying that Iran is trying to export its war.

[06:40:11]

But very significantly, we've also heard today from Mark Rutte, the NATO secretary general, being quoted on the wire services, saying Iran is close to becoming a threat to Europe as well. Those are very significant words from this very senior and prominent figure heading NATO. Very significant.

CORNISH: OK, that's Nic Robertson speaking to us from Riyadh.

I don't want to leave without talking about this today. The Pentagon identifying the remaining two soldiers killed in a drone strike in Kuwait. Major Jeffrey O'Brien and Chief Warrant Officer Three Robert Marzan were among the six U.S. service members killed in the early days of U.S. strikes on Iran. Now all six were assigned to an Army Reserve unit out of Iowa.

CNN's Brian Todd joins me now.

First, I want to start with just the process, dignified transfers. What do we know about what happens next?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we do know, Audie, that President Trump is planning to attend the receiving of those -- of the bodies of these service members when they are transported via dignified transfer. It's not quite clear when those remains will arrive in the United States, but we are told that President Trump does plan to attend the ceremony when they do arrive.

As Audie mentioned, the Pentagon now identifying all six U.S. service members killed on Sunday in that Iranian strike. That strike occurred on a makeshift operation center in the Kuwaiti port city of Shuaiba. The latest to be identified, Audie just mentioned their names, but a little more detail on them.

One is Major Jeffrey O'Brien. He is 45 years old, from Indianola, Iowa. The other one is Chief Warrant Officer Robert Marzan, 54 years old, from Sacramento, California. Previously identified as being killed in that same strike, Captain Cody Khork. Sergeant Declan Coady, Sergeant First Class Nicole M. Amor, and Sergeant First Class Noah Tietjens. All six of these service members were assigned to the same unit. That is the 103rd Sustainment Command, a U.S. Army Reserve unit out of Iowa.

Now, in a Facebook post, Elizabeth Marzan, the sister of Robert Marzan, well, she described her brother this way, quote, "a strong leader who lived by example. Very loyal. My hero. My baby brother, you are loved."

Also in a Facebook post, Mary Melchert, she is the aunt of Jeffrey O'Brien, she said this, "war is real. Loss is real. He was the sweetest blue-eyed, blonde farm kid you'd ever know. He is so missed already."

Now, also a little more detail about the strike in question which killed these six U.S. service members. A source familiar with the situation telling CNN that the operations center that they were in, excuse me, in Kuwait, was a triple-wide trailer. The source said it was surrounded by concrete barriers that are supposed to protect U.S. military structures from things like IEDs and car bombs. But the source saying there was nothing overhead which could shield the building from drones and missiles. So, you're getting kind of a picture there of how that attack might have unfolded. All six service members apparently being killed basically at the same moment of that one strike in Kuwait.

Audie.

CORNISH: OK, Brian Todd, thank you so much.

I want to follow up on this because we're hearing more from the families of the soldiers who were killed in the early stages of these U.S.-Israeli strikes in Iran. The sister of Sergeant Declan Coady says that she's having a hard time accepting the fact that her 20 year old kid brother is gone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIERA COADY, SGT. COADY'S SISTER: I still don't fully think it's real. I didn't think it was real when they told us. Because I just remember all of our conversations about what he was going to do when he came back. And so I'll just be sitting and thinking about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth lashing out at news outlets for focusing on those U.S. military deaths.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: This is what the fake news misses. We've taken control of Iran's airspace and waterways without boots on the ground. We control their fate. But when a few drones get through, or tragic things happen, it's front page news. I get it, the press only wants to make the president look bad. But try, for once, to report the reality.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: OK, since you all just heard that, I want to play one more thing for you. Karoline Leavitt, she was asked about this comment because a lot of people felt like it sounded dismissive. And here is how she defended it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: That's not what the secretary said, Kaitlan, and that's not what the secretary meant, and you know it. You know you are being disingenuous. There is not -- we've never had a secretary of defense who cares more --

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: He said, "when a few drones get through, or tragic things happen, it's front page news. I get it, the press only wants to make the president look bad."

[06:45:02]

As you know, we cover the deaths of U.S. service members under every president.

LEAVITT: Yes, the press does -- the press does only want to make the president look bad. That's a -- that's a fact.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Can you talk about this response?

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, first, Audie, it was a little bit shocking when you -- when you first heard this. The press is there to cover this war. To cover it by the facts. Those facts are going to include what the U.S. is accomplishing. It's going to include what the U.S.' motivations were in going in and choosing this moment to go do it. And it's going to include casualties. And when the government --

CORNISH: Which the president has said multiple times, right?

SANGER: Right.

CORNISH: That that can happen, which the people have also questioned the tone.

SANGER: And think about what happened right after Secretary Hegseth spoke. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Dan Caine, got up. And before he gave any kind of war discussion about what progress they've made and so forth, he went and named those who had been identified already, thanked them for their service. He put that --

CORNISH: And said he wanted to honor the fallen, yes.

SANGER: That's right, put that at the beginning of his briefing. I'm not sure that the U.S. press has done a single thing different than what the chairman of the Joint Chiefs did, nor -- you know, what's he thinking we should do? That we should try to pretend that along the way that there aren't casualties here? It's actually been astounding to me that there have only been six so far.

CORNISH: Yeas.

SANGER: And I, you know, that's a -- that is a significant accomplishment.

CORNISH: And I don't want to get too tangled up in making us the story.

SANGER: Right.

CORNISH: As you said, we just heard from someone's sister. This is going to hit home.

Earlier in the week I think the president said something like Starmer, you know, we're not dealing with a Winston Churchill. And I thought about that when I was watching Hegseth. And I thought, we're not dealing with the Donald Rumsfeld. Like, what is he doing here?

DUBKE: I think both of these things can be true at the same time.

CORNISH: Yes.

DUBKE: First of all, Hegseth -- I'm just going to call it out. Hegseth was out of line with his comments. He was. I also, though, at the same time, think the media is being a little thin skinned about being called to task by the secretary of defense, or whatever we're calling it right now, for these comments. In the past there has been, I think to Hegseth's point, an overemphasis on the media of trying to denigrate President Trump. That having been said, these are six people we should honor. Yes, it

is amazing, I think, that only six American service members have perished so far in this war, and it was in one strike. And yes, it is important for us to talk about superiority in the air and the sea.

But at the same time, we need to honor those who are defending our country. So, both of this can be true. I just wish --

CORNISH: Yes. It feels like a no brainer.

DUBKE: Well, I --

CORNISH: Let me -- and we'll get to coverage because I think --

DUBKE: Both sides need to have a little thicker skin.

CORNISH: Yes, go on. What are you hearing?

AARON BLAKE, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes, so when I -- when I saw that press conference on Tuesday, I thought back to 2015 with the first kind of major controversy of the Trump campaign, which was saying that John McCain was not a war hero because he likes people who weren't captured. There are a number of instances over the past decade of Trump talking awkwardly, not very empathetically, in strange ways about dead and injured service members. I think the main example we talk about is "The Atlantic" story about the suckers and losers during the trip to the cemetery in Europe.

CORNISH: Right.

BLAKE: But there are many other examples of this. And I think what we're seeing now is, we are in a war that is more of a war of choice. This is a situation where Donald Trump has decided to send American troops to fight a battle that is of his own volition.

CORNISH: Right. And so, how are you going to own --

BLAKE: And that creates a situation where he has to account for those casualties in a way that he hasn't before.

CORNISH: Right.

BLAKE: And given the past, that's going to create some awkward situations. I think that's what happened with Hegseth.

CORNISH: Let me bring up one more thing because we are -- when Hegseth is up there, I don't feel like I'm looking at an architect of this war, so to speak. And I know, David, you have done some reporting on the decision making of how we got here. What have you learned in the last day or two?

SANGER: So, the president is obviously somebody who operates largely from instinct. And he said it himself yesterday. He said that he had a feeling that the Iranians were going to attack the U.S. first. Well, it's interesting that he had a feeling because the intelligence that we have seen does not suggest that the Iranians, who are weak economically, weak politically and certainly weak militarily after last June's war, were about to go give the United States the chance they wanted by striking out first.

Why do we see so many people in the administration rushing to make an argument that this was a war of preemption? Because wars of preemption are considered internationally to be legal, right? If I see that you're getting ready to strike me, there's sort of an understanding in international law that I can strike first.

[06:50:06]

But if you don't have that, then it's a preventive war. Sounds like I'm just splitting hairs here. Very different thing. It means it is a war of a strong nation against a nation that they consider to be weaker. And if you had nothing but preventive wars, if every time a strong nation wanted to go after an adversary that was weak, you would have a world of continuous war. That's more like Putin going into Ukraine.

CORNISH: Yes. And to add to that I think for the U.S., if it is a war of choice, then it is the war of President Trump. There will be no other person to blame, even though I know people have said, look, going back 47 years, Iran is a problem. The choice made here is a choice he will have to own, regardless of what happens next.

SANGER: Yes.

CORNISH: I want to stay here with this breaking news coverage. Coming up on CNN, the House is going to vote on an effort to potentially rein in war powers when it comes to Iran. We're going to talk about what Democrats could do next if it fails, like it did in the Senate. Democratic Congressman Joe Morelle from New York is here after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CORNISH: So, in just a few hours, the House will vote on a war powers resolution on whether to curb the president's actions in Iran. A similar effort actually failed last night in the Senate in a largely party line vote. One Republican in the House is co-sponsoring the resolution that they'll be voting on today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. THOMAS MASSIE (R-KY): If American lives are to be risked and American blood is to be shed, that decision must be debated and voted on by the representatives of the American people.

I have a theory. I think my colleagues don't want to go on record because we have a terrible track record of meddling in the Middle East. They don't want their name associated with this when it doesn't turn out well.

[06:55:05]

But Congress cannot be bothered with its constitutional duty, because for many in this chamber it's easier to simply allow someone else's sons and daughters to be sent to combat without their vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Joining the group chat now, Congressman Joe Morelle, Democrat of New York.

What do you think of that theory?

REP. JOE MORELLE (D-NY): I agree with my Republican colleague from Kentucky.

Look, I -- the framers put Congress in a position, not because they cared about an institution having to sign off, although I think they did. But this is more to Congressman Massie's point. This is -- we represent the American people. In November, zero presidents will be elected. A third of the United States Senate. Every member of the House of Representatives. So, between now and November, in the next several months, we are going to hear every single day from people we represent on what they think about spending the kind of money, the kind of blood, treasure, American lives when they're very concerned about health care in the United States and they're worried about the cost of day care and groceries, et cetera.

CORNISH: Yes. Well, let me get to the money, because you're on House Appropriations.

MORELLE: Yes.

CORNISH: Not just any part of appropriations, right?

MORELLE: Right. Defense appropriator.

CORNISH: You are actually looking at defense.

MORELLE: Yes, that's right.

CORNISH: Here is Tom Cole talking to our own Manu Raju about what you guys are hearing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: How much is this going to cost?

REP. TOM COLE (R-OK): A lot. I mean these are expensive operations. But we still haven't gotten an estimate from the Pentagon. We haven't gotten a formal request yet. But I would expect that those things will be here before too long.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Do you have a sense of what it will cost to continue strikes in an attack on Iran?

MORELLE: Yes, I think if you're looking back at the envelope -- and again, like Tom, I'm waiting to hear from the Pentagon. They've been completely unresponsive in requests. But I -- it's --

CORNISH: Meaning you've asked?

MORELLE: People have asked. Yes, we have asked repeatedly. But I wouldn't be surprised if it's $1 billion a day

CORNISH: I want to say, $1 billion a day?

MORELLE: A day to the American -- on the American side, yes.

CORNISH: What can you guys do? Are you going to be demanding, like, a kind of classified estimate or something? I ask because Senator John Thune, in talking about the war powers vote, sort of said, look, we think the president is within his legal authority right now. And then he said that thing lawmakers often say, but we have the power of the purse.

MORELLE: Which is only a power if you choose to use it -- utilize it. So, if they're just going to accept what the president says, as they have done, it's not really much of a power. You have to employ it.

So, when they make a request, we'll make a decision on whether or not we think, and whether the American people, by extension and most importantly, think this is a good investment of their money.

CORNISH: Yes.

David.

SANGER: You know, a year ago on this show we were talking every day about DOGE, right? They'd just come in, closed USAID, other parts. Nobody was discussing saving even anything close to $1 billion a day. In fact, it's not clear DOGE saved very much at all. And so, you know, when we look back at this era, are we going to say in the end that we closed USAID, we closed other parts of the government, that maybe they did, or maybe they did not need to be cut back, but that the money essentially was moved for the war. But larger case, beyond this itself is, we've heard from Secretary Hegseth that he wants to increase the defense budget to $1.5 trillion. It hasn't quite --

CORNISH: $1.5 trillion. Let Joe -- let Joe answer to that.

SANGER: Was not quite hit a trillion.

CORNISH: Yes, is that a number you're hearing?

MORELLE: No, it's also -- yes, we -- yes, we've heard it repeatedly. We haven't seen any formal requests. But it's important to remember too, this administration has increased the federal debt by $4.5 trillion, largely for tax cuts. Now we're going to be spending money that we clearly do not have.

OK, if it's a national emergency we do what we have to do. But is the American public OK with this kind of expenditure? I'm not getting that sense back home. Different communities are different. They'll have different perspectives. But right now, I think the fact that there has not been a clear rationale by the White House. In fact, it keeps changing the reason why we did this and why we're there, what the mission is, how do we know when the mission ends? I think the American people are going to be incredibly unsettled and unwilling to give license to the president to conduct this.

CORNISH: Give me intel about in Appropriations though. Is there -- Thomas Massie is always saying things that the administration doesn't like. Are there any other Republicans who are starting to raise at least an eyebrow?

MORELLE: Well, I don't know because we haven't met formally. When Appropriations starts to meet, when we consider the request from the president should it come, you'll start to hear.

I think largely Republicans have agreed with whatever President Trump says. I mean this is the history, the ones that speak out are actually an active revolt against the president or are retiring. Retirement (INAUDIBLE) --

CORNISH: Yes, but are Democrats actually against this war or just against President Trump and the way he got into it?

MORELLE: Oh, I think right now what Congress wants is an understanding of what we're doing, what the mission is, how long is this going to last, expect -- and, look, it's war, so you never know. And what's the rationale? And it has just been all over the map.

[07:00:01]

And the president himself doesn't say, hey, look, I was acting on actionable intelligence. And I got this from reports around the world. And my national security adviser said -- he just said, as he said again yesterday, it's just my gut and my feeling.

CORNISH: OK.

Well, thank you for being with us, because we are all going to be watching if that information comes out of the Defense Department.

MORELLE: Thank you.

CORNISH: I want to thank you guys for being with me. Great context today.

I want to thank you for waking up with us. I'm Audie Cornish, and the headlines are next.