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U.S. Intel Says About Half of Iran's Missile Launchers Still Intact; Trump Fires Bondi, Appoints Blanche on Interim Basis. Aired 6- 6:30a ET

Aired April 03, 2026 - 06:00   ET

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

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR/CORRESPONDENT: And thank you for joining all of us here on EARLY START. I should also thank our team in Abu Dhabi for joining, as well, with reporting from the region.

[06:00:10]

I'm Omar Jimenez, live in New York. We've got a lot more news from the Middle East and more across the world with CNN THIS MORNING, starting right now.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: A CNN exclusive this morning: U.S. intelligence believes Iran still has plenty of missile launchers in its arsenal, enough to wreak absolute havoc across the war zone.

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DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We blasted the Hell out of them, out of Iran.

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HILL: New questions about Iran's firepower and what President Trump's next two to three weeks could really look like.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ousting the Army's chief of staff and two other top generals. Just how unusual is that in the middle of a war?

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PAM BONDI, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: I'm not going to get in the gutter for her theatrics.

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HILL: Pam Bondi reshaped the Justice Department, doing her best to carry out the wishes of Donald Trump. Could her eventual replacement, though, take those efforts to a new level?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIGER WOODS, PROFESSIONAL GOLFER: Say again?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just keep you down here with us, please.

WOODS: Yes, I was just talking to the president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Tiger Woods, casually dropping the fact that he'd been speaking with the president after his DUI address [SIC]. We'll walk you through what else we learned about the crash.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VICTOR GLOVER, PILOT FOR ARTEMIS II MISSION: This mission will give us one of those that we all can remember and -- and hold onto for the rest of our days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Officially headed for the Moon. Four astronauts reaching for the stars and a place in history. We'll update you on their progress.

CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.

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TRUMP: Their ability to launch missiles and drones is dramatically curtailed, and their weapons, factories, and rocket launchers are being blown to pieces. Very few of them left.

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HILL: President Trump there with his assessment of Iran's missile arsenal. But is that actually the full picture?

Good morning, everyone. I'm Erica Hill, in for Audie Cornish. We do begin this hour with the breaking news.

Iran claims to have just shot down a U.S. fighter jet. Iran's Revolutionary Guard says these images show a wrecked F-35. Military experts, however, who have seen the images say this appears to be an F-15 Air Force jet based in Europe.

CNN has reached out to Central Command for a comment.

President Trump, meantime, touting this strike against a major bridge in Iran on Thursday. Eight people died, not -- more than 95 were injured, according to local Iranian media.

President Trump promising, quote, "more to follow."

Meantime, the claims from Iran are raising new questions about just how many offensive weapons the country still has. Three sources telling CNN that recent intelligence assessments show about half of Iran's missile launchers remain intact. Thousands of one-way attack drones are still in reserve.

That new intelligence is raising doubts about whether the president's timeline of just another two to three weeks of this war is realistic.

One source telling CNN, quote, "We can keep 'F'-ing them up. I don't doubt it, but you're out of our mind if you think this will be done in two weeks."

Joining me to discuss: Peter Bergen, CNN national security analyst.

Peter, good to have you in the studio. So, when we look at -- I was struck by those comments, first of all. You can keep doing this. There's no way this is going to get wrapped up in two to three weeks, based, as well, on this new reporting from CNN, from these intelligence sources. Do you agree?

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, I mean, the president can decide to -- to end the war whenever he wants, but the conflict will carry on.

HILL: Yes.

BERGEN: I mean, merely because we say we're ending the war doesn't mean the conflict doesn't go on. And we've learned that before in other conflicts, Erica.

You know, you recall when President Obama said we're ending the war in Iraq in -- in December 2011. Three years later, ISIS was marching on Baghdad.

And I think ISIS is actually worth a little detour here, because we keep talking about the 12,000 targets that have been taken out.

There were 35,000 airstrikes against ISIS over the course of four years before ISIS was defeated. ISIS wasn't a state in any formal sense, and it certainly didn't have the weapons Iran has as its disposal.

And so, we're kind of -- we've seen this movie before, which is the United States is always tactically and operationally going to, you know, inflict a lot of damage on its enemies. The question is, is it going to do so strategically?

And Iran has learned from -- you know, previous -- it's had some time to prepare for this.

HILL: Yes.

BERGEN: And the fact that were reporting now that thousands of one-way drones are still in the arsenal, that missile launchers are -- quite a number of them are still available, shouldn't in some ways, be surprising. It's a good piece of reporting, but it's not necessarily surprising.

HILL: Not surprising. I am struck by -- I would say, also not surprised -- but struck by, in some ways, the continued rhetoric that we're seeing from the president.

So, you know, celebrating that bridge, which we just saw, then -- then noting in another tweet afterwards -- or sorry, a post on Truth Social -- that there would be more, right? Threatening that the electric power plants are next. There would be more to come.

Once again, trying to get the Iranian regime to capitulate with this threat of additional inflicting -- inflicting additional harm, and specifically on more civilian targets. That seems to be having the adverse impact right now.

[06:05:11]

BERGEN: Well, I mean, there's also a debate about whether it's a war crime or not.

HILL: Yes.

BERGEN: You can hit a civilian target if there is a, you know, if it's a proportionate response, if it really has a military advantage.

But you can't just willy-nilly go around blowing up, you know, things that have important civilian aspects.

And also, I don't -- I mean, you know, blowing up one bridge is not going to win the war.

And, you know, the Trump administration has, in the past, rightly criticized other administrations for putting timelines on military operations or signaling what we're going to do to the enemy. And here we are.

And so, I think the Iranians, if -- they obviously know the polling data.

HILL: Yes.

BERGEN: They obviously look at gas prices.

And, you know, I mean, I go back to the Iran-Iraq war, which is almost a decade long war. They lost -- a million people were killed in the 1980s. They would send 15-year-old boys into minefields to clear them. They really believe God is on their side. That's a pretty powerful form of belief. And you know, they're going to wait Trump out.

HILL: And, and also, from their perspective, you mentioned they see the polling.

BERGEN: Yes.

HILL: They also see the fact that the secretary of defense just ousted -- right? -- the Army chief of staff, two other generals. This is in the middle of a war. They see some of this reporting, too. They see the way this is playing out both in the U.S. and globally. And they also see that they are still controlling the Strait of Hormuz.

BERGEN: Well, Erica, in the -- when you were mentioning General George being ousted --

HILL: Yes.

BERGEN: -- you were saying it's unusual in wartime. And I was doing some math.

The last time that a general was relieved in the middle of a war, it was 15 years ago during the Afghan war, when Obama basically replaced the -- a general and put in Stan McChrystal as the general. So, it's been at least a decade and a half that I can think of where you've had a senior general, a four-star, being essentially fired. It's highly unusual.

HILL: Highly unusual. Yes. And all being taken into account.

BERGEN: Yes.

HILL: What are you -- before I let you go --

BERGEN: Yes.

HILL: -- based on what we have seen over this past month and, certainly, over these last couple of days, where is your focus in this moment as you try to determine how or when this will play out?

BERGEN: Well, you know, my one focus is how serious is the president about withdrawing from NATO? It's something he talked about a lot in his first term.

John Bolton, his secretary, national security advisor, always said he -- he really wants to do this. And it seems that he is inching towards that, even though that makes, really, no sense at all.

HILL: We'll be watching. Well, appreciate it. Always good to have you with us, Peter. Thank you.

Just ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, Pam Bondi out as attorney general. The focus now on her replacement. So, could this next pick actually take the trust [SIC] -- the Justice Department even further?

Plus, a major crackdown on hospice fraud in California. Investigators say patients and families may have actually been scammed out of millions.

And the new CNN polling which shows frustration, perhaps not surprisingly, with both political parties. Voters say neither side is connecting with what matters most.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Freaking House, the Senate, the Republicans, the Democrats, they all yap, bro.

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[06:12:50] HILL: She was highly loyal to the end, highly focused on the president's retribution. But Pam Bondi's botched release of the Epstein files and her failure to effectively prosecute Trump's perceived enemies wound up getting her fired as attorney general.

There is some speculation about the timing here. Could her removal be tied to her upcoming deposition? She, of course, is supposed to testify before a congressional committee in less than two weeks about her handling of the Epstein files.

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REP. RO KHANNA (D-CA): She has questions to answer. We've interviewed former officials before. We need to ask her ,why did she cover up some of the files? Why are some of these files not being released? Why was there no prosecution of individuals who have committed these heinous acts?

It frankly has nothing to do with whether she was attorney general or not. She should be more free to speak her mind and tell the truth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: So, Bondi is being replaced on an interim basis by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, the president's, of course, former defense attorney.

Joining me in the group chat on this Friday, Elliot Williams, CNN legal analyst, former federal prosecutor; Bryan Lanza, senior advisor to the Trump 2024 campaign; and Jerusalem Demsas, founder and editor of "The Argument." Nice to see you all this morning.

Elliot, I'm going to start with you, my legal friend over here.

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Thank you.

HILL: So, when we look at how this is playing out, there are a lot of questions about the timing, right? But let's just look at the history, too --

WILLIAMS: Of course.

HILL: -- that Pam Bondi has had at DOJ and what this means moving forward.

What are you watching? Because she did try really hard to carry out what seemed to be the president's agenda. But if the facts aren't there, it's hard to bring charges.

WILLIAMS: Right. Let's just put this in perspective. The president has been president for five years, about four years in his first term and a little over a year now.

Ten people have served either as attorney general or acting attorney general in that time. It is a remarkably hard job, even for people who are loyalists to the president and carrying out some of his kookiest missions and visions of prosecuting opponents and gutting the Justice Department.

It's -- it puts even people who are loyal to him in a tremendously difficult position.

Now, there were certainly serious gaffes and failures of hers along the way, most notably in her handling over the Epstein files and going public about what she had, and so on.

[06:15:02]

But again, a big problem here is how the president treats the role of attorney general and sees it as carrying out his own personal mission. That is going to doom just about anybody who's going to fill the role. And I think it will probably pose challenges for whoever her successor is.

HILL: As we look at -- so Todd Blanche, who will be interim, right, who's currently deputy A.G., he spoke out about Bondi's tenure. Take a listen.

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TODD BLANCHE, INTERIM U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: She is a friend, and she did a great job in the first year of this administration. And people should not forget what -- what -- the Department of Justice that she came into just over a year ago.

And so, we are a -- we are a better Justice Department. We are safer as a nation. And we should all be very grateful to the attorney general.

I have never heard President Trump say that the attorney general was -- that anything that happened to her had anything to do with the Epstein files.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: So, Bryan, what do you think it was?

BRYAN LANZA, SENIOR ADVISOR TO THE TRUMP 2024 CAMPAIGN: In my opinion, it was probably all her congressional testimony. I mean, it became very theatrical. It became, you know, "Saturday Night Live" special moments.

And -- and that's part of the thing that sort of -- that sort of -- you know, when Trump was watching, you have that audience of ones. When he sees those performances, and if they're not good performances, that's going to stick with you.

And I think part of her performance was when she testified before Congress, stuck with her in a negative way in the president's eyes.

Some people have figured out how to do it masterfully. You know -- you know, Secretary of State Rubio can testify before Congress and sort of be that, you know, pugnacious. But she just wasn't able to execute that. HILL: When -- when we look at where things go from here, we just heard

from Ro Khanna. A number of Democrats also speaking out. Nancy Mace, as well, saying, Look, we still expect her to come and testify, because we want to know more about what did or did not happen.

But James Comer, not convinced that she needs to come back. How do you see that playing out? Because this -- that fight is not going to go away.

JERUSALEM DEMSAS, FOUNDER/EDITOR, "THE ARGUMENT": No, its not going to go away. And it's also that the -- I mean, there's speculation now that the Trump administration is considering removing even more people.

They removed the -- the chief of staff of the Army. There -- there talks about removing the labor secretary, the Army secretary, Kash Patel.

I mean, this is sort of a thing where it might spiral into a bigger conversation about a remake of the -- of the cabinet.

But for her, in particular, I mean, the Epstein stuff is just not going to go away at all. I mean, this is something where, if you're scrolling through social media and places that are not usually very political, people are still very interested in what happened there and whether she is a scapegoat for the situation or whether there's going to be more coming out from the administration.

HILL: It is -- it is fascinating as we watch this all play out, because there is also now the parlor game of who's next, right? So, a lot of talk about Lee Zeldin, former congressman, current EPA administrator. The trick for anybody is going to be those Senate confirmation hearings.

WILLIAMS: It's going to be the Senate confirmation hearings. And -- but again, the -- the sole criterion for qualification for the role is how loyal are you to Donald Trump, right? That gets people in the door, but clearly, does not get people to stay once they have the role.

Look at what happened to Jeff Sessions, who was as conservative as anybody, probably, who could have been appointed into the role. And he flamed out in not much time. It's -- just a little over a year that he had the role.

Pam Bondi is another person who was unabashedly loyal to the president.

So yes, whoever it is could be someone that the president likes, trusts, and so on. But -- but the realities of being attorney general, even when they are trying to serve the president, just seems to not work well for people once they have the job.

HILL: Right. All right. Well, we'll be watching this space, as we say.

So much more to come here on the show. Ahead this morning: from the front lines to your front door, how Amazon is now passing on the cost of the Iran War to you.

Plus, the Artemis astronauts now in that next leg of their journey to the Moon. The updates on what that will look like.

And a good morning to our friends here in the nation's capital. It's been a lovely week with you all here in D.C. We're told some warm weather is coming with the sun this morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:23:10]

HILL: Twenty-two minutes past the hour now. Five things to know to get your day going.

Doctors and nurses are among those arrested in a Justice Department crackdown on alleged healthcare fraud in Southern California.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Defendants recruited beneficiaries who were not terminally ill and paid them to pose as patients receiving hospice care.

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HILL: Eight defendants, including three nurses, a chiropractor, and a psychologist, are charged with defrauding the healthcare system out of more than $50 million.

Amazon will start charging a 3.5 percent fuel surcharge to third-party sellers this month. The company says that's because of the increased cost tied to the war with Iran.

The fee could lead to higher prices for consumers, should sellers decide to pass those costs along.

A key federal commission headed by President Trump's allies has approved now his plan to continue with that massive White House ballroom. The president appointed many of those members of the National Capital Planning Commission.

The vote, coming just days after a federal judge ordered construction to stop until there was approval from Congress. The project is still facing legal challenges.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REID WISEMAN, ASTRONAUT: And I don't know what we all expected to see in that moment, but you can see the entire globe from pole to pole. You can see Africa, Europe. And if you looked really close, you could see the northern lights. It was the most spectacular moment. And it paused all four of us in our tracks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: I mean, quite a view. Four astronauts there. They are, of course, on the Artemis II mission, now on their way to the Moon.

They're going to go around the Moon after successfully conducting a trans lunar injection burn. They're expected to spend eight more days in space.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the Apollo on the right side. And it's -- and it's the past Moon mission. And this is the space launch system.

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HILL: The Artemis II also has a little stowaway on board, not just four astronauts.

[06:25:01]

Lucas Ye, who's a second grader from California, won an international contest to create a mission mascot. It was based on the Apollo 8.

Lucas said he's always had a passion for space. He said he wants to work at NASA or maybe be an astrophysicist when he grows up.

I think that mascot is adorable. So cute. Thanks, Lucas.

I don't know where we can buy one. I don't know that we can, you guys. Unfortunately.

DEMSAS: One of a kind.

HILL: One of a kind.

DEMSAS: Welcome to space.

WILLIAMS: It's a reminder that, you know, I think my kids are very impressive, but I also have an 8-year-old who does not design anything that's going to end up in outer space.

HILL: Mine are 19 and 16. I don't see any of that happening, boys.

DEMSAS: You're putting pressure on him already? Eight years old. Where's your NASA space --

WILLIAMS: Immigrant household, man. The pressure starts early.

HILL: That's how they grow up to be Elliot Williams. That's -- see, it's worth the pressure.

WILLIAMS: Look at that.

HILL: Still to come here on CNN THIS MORNING, oil prices surging again overnight. We'll tell you what that could mean for your wallet, coming up.

Plus, the double haters. The new poll showing just how critical those double haters will be, come November. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)