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Trump and NATO Chief Meet; Holly Dagres is Interviewed about Iran; Rep. Maggie Goodlander (D-NH) is Interviewed about the Ceasefire Deal; U.S. Sees Challenges after Iran Ceasefire. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired April 08, 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]

ROBERT PEREZ, OWNER OF HOME SECURITY CAMERA: I saw that he had hit the curb, and then his motorcycle flew up in a fireball. And, fortunately, it didn't hit the children that were close by, but it looked like a very close call.

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AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: As you can see, a very close call with a massive fireball. It had slammed into the curb. The children all managed to evade the flames. They all ran for safety. And the rider, well, they were treated for second degree burns and expected to make a full recovery.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hope that's not what you're wearing to the dinner.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's all.

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CORNISH: That's right. "Two Devils in Prada" coming together and sharing the cover of "Vogue." After 30 years behind the scenes, Anna Wintour is now a "Vogue" cover star. She was joined by Meryl Streep, who plays a fictionalized version of Wintour in "The Devil Wears Prada." The sequel comes out in May.

Straight ahead on CNN, how do the people in Iran feel about this whirlwind of the past 48 hours? We're going to talk to a reporter who's been talking to people there.

Plus, the mission back to earth. Where the Artemis crew is now as they head home.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:35:48]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What the president set out to do was decimate the Iranian military, decimate their ability to wage conventional war, and that military objective, as the president said yesterday, as I said yesterday, has been achieved.

The Iranians have agreed to open up the Straits. The United States has agreed to stop attacking. And that -- and not just the United States, but also our allies have agreed to stop attacking. And that is the basis of this fragile truce that we have, which is now, you know, eight to 12 hours old.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: That's Vice President J.D. Vance. He was speaking just within the last half hour about a fragile ceasefire with Iran.

Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish. I want to thank you for joining me on CNN THIS MORNING.

It's 35 minutes past the hour. And here is what's happening right now.

The president has agreed to a two-week ceasefire with Iran, and that came just before a deadline that he warned could, quote, destroy a whole civilization. Now the president says that this pause is contingent on the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's foreign minister is saying their military will coordinate passage of vessels through that key oil route, and Pakistan will be hosting the talks in Islamabad Friday. Delegations from Iran and the U.S. are invited. No word yet on specifically who will attend.

In California, ICE agents shoot a suspect following a traffic stop. The driver was taken to the hospital. The shooting was captured on dash cam video obtained by CNN. Now, according to ICE, the suspect was undocumented and was a suspected gang member wanted for questioning in El Salvador. An attorney representing the suspect disputes ICE's account and says they have his client confused with someone else with a similar name.

And the Orion spacecraft successfully executed its first correction burn last night, putting it on the precise trajectory as it continues its journey back home. The astronauts fired thrusters for 15 seconds to refine its path toward earth, and they're expected to splash down on Friday.

Now, a critical meeting today in Washington. President Trump welcomes NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte to the White House, but he arrives as relations between the president and the transatlantic alliance are at an all-time low over U.S. strikes in Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm very disappointed in NATO. Very. I think that NATO -- I think it's a mark on NATO that will never disappear. Never disappear in my mind. And when we needed them -- we didn't need them, by the way. We didn't

need them, obviously, because they haven't helped at all. Just the opposite. They've actually gone out of their way not to help.

No, NATO is a paper tiger. Now he's coming to see me on Wednesday, as you know. He's a wonderful guy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: CNN correspondent Clare Sebastian joins us now from London.

And, Clare, you just heard that split where the president is very unhappy with NATO, but he likes this guy. So, what does that mean for Rutte today? What is his challenge?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, it is a challenge that he's faced many times before. Trump has often defaulted back to his position of skepticism or even open hostility towards NATO. And look, I've heard from a NATO official this morning who is keeping a -- keeping expectations pretty low for this summit. They said that the aim is to build on the success of the NATO summit in The Hague, that was last June, unlock further cooperation among defense industries on both sides of the Atlantic, and discuss current security dynamics. Of course, Iran and Russia's ongoing war with Ukraine.

But I think, look, obviously there was no mention there of the recent comments from Trump. But I think the mention of the success of The Hague summit, which, of course, is now more famous for the fact that Russia called Trump daddy than it is for the five percent spending pledge from NATO members that it unlocked is a signal, and one of many signals, frankly, that we are likely to see more of this policy from Rutte of friendliness and flattery, occasionally, of course, bordering on obsequiousness. He has backed Trump on Iran, said he applauds the efforts to degrade Iran's missile and nuclear capabilities. He's made it very clear in Europe, amid some opposition, that the alliance is very much not ready yet to defend itself without the United States.

[06:40:01]

And I think while we have, of course, seen frustration from NATO members, Macron, France, last week criticizing Trump for his ongoing criticism of the alliance, saying that it threatens to undermine it, of course, open hostility from Spain. We are also seeing calls for calm from other quarters within the alliance.

The Finnish prime minister spoke to Trump last week and said problems are there to be solved pragmatically. So, I think there is an effort to salvage this relationship, to salvage the appearance of unity, which is, of course, in itself a cornerstone of NATO's deterrent.

Audie.

CORNISH: OK, that's Clare Sebastian with that meeting up ahead. We'll be hearing more reporting from her later.

I want to turn to this, the reaction in Tehran after the announcement of this fragile ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Whatever our leader says goes. We are obedient to him. Whatever his excellency says, we obey the leader's command. Not a step ahead of the leader, nor a step behind. If he deems it appropriate, we will have a ceasefire. If not, we're ready to stay in the streets and fight forever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: So, in the streets of Iran, you're seeing their U.S. and Israeli flags being burned. We're going to talk more with an expert on the region,

Holly Dagres, who's an Iranian-American and analyst and curator of "The Iranist" Substack.

Thank you so much for being here.

So, you just heard someone on the street on camera saying obedience. That sounds on brand for this regime. What were you hearing from people or in the diaspora ahead of the ceasefire, when the president made that threat about dropping bombs, about attacking a civilization?

HOLLY DAGRES, IRANIAN-AMERICAN ANALYST: Yes. So, Audie, it's now day 40 of a state imposed internet shutdown. So, a lot of what I'm hearing is anecdotally from inside Iran, from the diaspora. There was a real worry about what the president was saying.

Just in January, there was this unprecedented massacre of Iranians in response to an anti-regime uprising. And the president said, help is on the way. Now, he was saying that a whole civilization, meaning the Iranian people, not the Islamic Republic, was going to be targeted. And so, there was a real worry what that meant. Did that meant they were going to drop a nuclear weapon?

And I say this because I had Iranian-Americans with families in Iran actually asked me this. And then we heard from the White House themselves denying that they were not going to use a nuclear weapon on Iran. So, there was a real worry what that looked like.

I even had -- there were people actually saying their goodbyes, not necessarily because they thought they would get killed, but because they were, like, I don't know if you'll ever hear from me again. If the internet -- the internet will ever come back online. Would that mean the telephones stop working? So, there was a lot of concern about what this would look like.

CORNISH: In the meantime, you have a regime that has, as we heard, different faces, different people. But I want to play for you this Iranian in the U.S., who was talking about what he's hearing, which is that the people living there are just hearing a lot of propaganda about the U.S. and its aims.

Let me play that for you. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is what is happening right now. They are promoting that the United States is not here for you. They don't care about your life. They don't care about your loved one. They're just here to kill you and they're after your oil and your resources, and they are -- they don't care about you.

So, this is their propaganda and Tehran narration right now is actually feeding this regime.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: The regime is claiming victory this morning.

DAGRES: Yes. So, I mean, this was something we predicted. The fact that the Islamic Republic survived this war and, separately, because it was able to close the Strait of Hormuz, meant that this was victory. And I think that's some of the mentality.

But to push back a little bit on the Iranian-American protester, Iranians aren't watching state media unless you're pro-regime. Mostly everyone's tuning in to diaspora satellite channels like Iran International, BBC Persian. And so hour by hour, minute by minute, they're getting exactly the information that we're hearing here in the United States. So, every post that's on Truth Social by President Trump, they know what's happening. And that's why they were able to actually understand that President Trump said that -- this famous tweet about targeting a whole civilization.

CORNISH: What are you thinking going into these talks, kind of organized by Islamabad? Do you have a sense that Iran -- you said the regime is basically in place. And I think the White House would say, no, they've done a lot to kill a lot of commanders, leadership structure, of course the supreme leader. The White House is saying they're coming to the table with a lot of leverage. What are you seeing?

DAGRES: Well, you know, in this moment, this is a ceasefire and it's supposed to be a two week one. I know that they're going for talks, I believe, in Pakistan on Friday. I don't -- I don't understand how they're going to meet halfway on this because I think that while the United States is saying that they've destroyed a lot of its military infrastructure, the fact that it still can, at some point, rebuild its military -- ballistic missiles, its nuclear program.

[06:45:07]

I think unless it does away with these things, I don't think the United States is going to be able to be satisfied with an agreement, especially since the Iranians are seeing leverage now. Any time they disagree, they can close the Strait of Hormuz.

CORNISH: OK. Holly, thank you so much for being with us. I appreciate your time. If you want to catch what Holly had to say or any of our conversation

earlier, we're a podcast, which means if you scan this QR code, you can find it, you can share it. CNN THIS MORNING is available anywhere you're listening to podcasts.

And next, we're going to be talking about the ceasefire. More specifically, what's next for the day, the week, the months after.

Plus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have a good leader. They just go crazy. It's the madness of a king.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: The people who are actually calling on Trump to be removed. We're going to talk to one Democratic lawmaker. Would she support that?

And later, we're live from Islamabad with how Pakistan is helping coordinate talks between the U.S. and Iran.

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[06:50:16]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Most Americans don't support this war. Most Iranian-Americans don't support this war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: OK. So, an unpopular war conducted by a president whose moves have seemingly gone unchecked.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ): The Congress has failed to do its job. And now this president, who is acting more like a mad king, is threatening societal elimination. This is a moral moment, and we must reject it. And Congress must do its job. I joined with my colleagues here and other colleagues around this country who are saying that the Senate and the House should be back in session.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: So, I'm going to talk about this with another Democrat, Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire, a member of the House Armed Services Committee.

Thank you for being with us.

You just heard Cory Booker there saying Congress should come back. You're on the Armed Services Committee. Are you feeling good about this ceasefire this morning?

REP. MAGGIE GOODLANDER (D-NH): Well, thanks so much for having me.

I'm not. Look, Congress should be in session right now. We haven't had a single public hearing with the secretary of defense since this war began on the Armed Services Committee. The president continues to be unable to answer basic questions. And the ten-points that became public this morning are points that should give pause and deeply concern every freedom-loving American and every member of Congress.

So, the speaker of the House should stop obstructing our most basic constitutional responsibilities, and we should absolutely be back in session. And every member of Congress should be forced to vote on this war every day that it continues.

CORNISH: Once you're back, where do you want to focus? Because in the last 24 hours, you saw more than 70 Democrats calling for the presidents' removal, talking about invoking the 25th Amendment, particularly sparked by his Truth Social post threatening Iran.

Here's Representative Ro Khanna, just to give an example.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. RO KHANNA (D-CA): We need to remove this president. We need to use all options, whether its impeachment, whether it's the 25th Amendment. The reality is, he's threatened war crimes. He has undermined everything this country stands for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Is that something you support? Is that how Democrats should spend their time now?

GOODLANDER: Look, I believe sunlight is the most powerful disinfectant in government. And I believe that the Congress' role in oversight requires us to use every tool available to us under the Constitution and under federal law. The most basic responsibility we have when it comes to the conflict in Iran is the power to declare war. And the speaker has stood in the way of votes on a war powers resolution. We've had to use every procedural tool in the toolbox to try to bring to light and to execute on our most basic responsibilities.

What the president has said, really every day since this war began, but especially what we heard from him yesterday, was completely unhinged, downright dangerous, and he should be held accountable by the Congress. Our power of the purse -- you know, we've seen in the last week a proposal for $1.5 trillion for our defense budget. Meanwhile, this is a Pentagon that hasn't passed a clean audit ever. It's consistently failed clean audits. We've got serious work to do, and we've got fundamentally unserious people at the helm who are driving us more into a --

CORNISH: I think what I'm -- what I struggle with is, Democrats don't actually have an alternative vision. I don't see Democrats saying, this is what we would do instead. And now you have a moment where markets have rallied, right, oil, at least for a minute, they took a beat. The White House is claiming that it has brought Iran to the table, brought us to this moment in the ceasefire. So, what would you like to see next?

GOODLANDER: I would like to see --

CORNISH: It looks like we may have lost the congresswoman for a moment. I'm going to see if we can get her back. But that was Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire.

Now, I -- while we're waiting for that, I want to come back to the panel for a second and talk about end game options going forward. Earlier, we heard the issue about nuclear material. And we heard a former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. saying, look, it's buried. Don't worry about it.

[06:55:00]

And you guys were sort of shaking your heads.

So, let's get this out of the way. What are you thinking about what Iran wants versus what the U.S. wants in this moment?

GARRETT GRAFF, JOURNALIST AND HISTORIAN: Well, I think, regardless of where -- how long the ceasefire holds, you know --

CORNISH: Oh, hold on. We got her back. I'll come back to you. Hold on one second. I want to take advantage of good tech here.

Congresswoman, I wanted to make sure you got to answer that question, and people don't think you ducked out of it. What is the Democratic vision for what to do in this moment now that the strikes have brought Iran to the table in this way?

GOODLANDER: Well, Audie, I'm looking at the ten points. The gulf between what President Trump is saying and what Iran has put forward as the ten points they agreed to is enormous. You know what -- it starts with Iran asserting that they have agreed to a continuation of Iran's control over the Strait of Hormuz. So, let's just start with that basic point, which is really now the president's responsibility to reopen the Strait. It was a direct result of launching this war of choice. It was completely predictable. And it's been absolutely devastating to our country and to the world.

This is -- this is the president's responsibility and imperative. And it's on the Congress to use every tool at our disposal to force this basic point. Iran is also saying that we're going to continue to lift all primary and secondary sanctions, that we accept enrichment.

Look, this war -- one of the predicates for this war was Iran's nuclear program. There's absolutely no evidence, right now, to me, this is a huge concern. You would have had strong, bipartisan, bicameral support in the Congress if the president had actually made his case to us, made his case to the American people, about an imminent need to take military action. That just never happened, Audie. CORNISH: Yes.

GOODLANDER: And that should concern every American.

CORNISH: OK. Well, hopefully Congress will be back soon. In the meantime, Maggie Goodlander, thank you so much for talking with us, Congresswoman.

GOODLANDER: Thank you.

CORNISH: She brought up the issue we were just about to talk about, right, nuclear material.

GRAFF: Yes.

CORNISH: You want to follow?

GRAFF: Yes, I think that the challenge is, regardless of sort of where things go from here, the U.S. has lost, in many ways, major strategic ground in the Middle East in terms of instability among sort of people -- or countries that we think of traditionally as our allies.

CORNISH: Who are upset with Iran, but now question whether the U.S. can protect them.

GRAFF: Yes. And we -- we're going to see prices higher for months, if not years. It's going to take years to rebuild the energy infrastructure just to where it was pre-war. We're talking -- we've talked about the Strait of Hormuz and that challenges. The -- and enormous challenges to the U.S. reputation globally out of this war.

CORNISH: Yes. You've written so much about how we got to this point, right? What was going on in the White House. So, what are you going to be listening for today? I mean, we even have, I think in an hour we're going to hear from Pete Hegseth, who's going to be speaking in a press conference.

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, I think you'll see Secretary Hegseth talk about how military power led them to the ceasefire. But the purpose of this conflict was not to bring about a ceasefire. It was not even to reopen the Strait, which, as the congresswoman was saying, was a result of this war. It wasn't one of the -- one of the reasons for the cause of it.

The nuclear material was one of the causes of it. The president was saying there was an imminent threat that the material, which is near bomb grade, could be turned into a weapon if they could dig it out of this rubble. So, the first test in this negotiation is, do they get that material out of the country? And not only that, there's lesser --

CORNISH: I feel like the first test is, does Israel sign on, right?

SANGER: Oh, Israel --

CORNISH: Like, we're not even at the point -- we don't even know if they're -- they are saying the ceasefire does not count their strikes on Lebanon. I mean, I'm trying to get through the next ten days.

SANGER: Yes.

BECCA WASSER, DEFENSE LEAD, "BLOOMBERG ECONOMICS": And there's also a question of, does Iran fully sign on. As we've been sitting here on this panel, you know, you've had various air defenses engaged in the UAE, in Kuwait, as well as Saudi Arabia. So, there's still a potential for an active Iran threat as well.

So, right now, it's an incredibly fragile ceasefire. And it's a question of whether it will last. But also looking to negotiations, the chasm between the U.S. side and what Iran's maximalist demands are, it's too wide.

CORNISH: Yes.

WASSER: So, how are they going to bridge that, especially when, if you're looking at that rack and stack that David laid out, has the U.S. gained in any of them from the start of this war to this position right now.

CORNISH: Right. So, I think by the end of this hour we can say, Iran may be diminished in many ways, but has the U.S. gained?

SANGER: We are -- in the negotiations, we're exactly where we were before the war started, except that we've lost the leverage of free passage in the Strait.

[07:00:08]

CORNISH: OK. A lot of questions today. And as we said, going to be a press conference today from the defense secretary. We've got this meeting between the NATO leader and Trump. So, I hope you're going to stay with us for all the reporting today as we bring you the updates.

Thank you so much for spending time with us. I know you can choose many other places, and I'm glad you're here with me. I'm Audie Cornish, and the headlines are next.