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Peace Talks Saturday in Pakistan; Kara Swisher Wants to Live Forever; Melania Trump Comments on Emails. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired April 10, 2026 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:34:29]

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish. Thank you for joining me on CNN THIS MORNING.

It's half past the hour. And here's what's happening right now.

We've got this multi-day storm escalating the threat of flooding in Hawaii. It has the potential of dropping multiple months -- I said months' worth of rainfall in just a few days. Honolulu's mayor warning residents to be prepared for potential evacuations. The state is still recovering from major storms that happened just two weeks ago that triggered Hawaii's worst flooding in 20 years.

[06:35:01]

That prompted numerous rescues and damaged hundreds of properties.

And defending champion Rory McIlroy has gotten off to a strong start in this year's Masters. The northern Irishman shot an opening five under par round of 67 at the famed Augusta National Golf Club. He's looking to become just the fourth man to claim back-to-back Masters' titles.

And DHS is telling employees that today's paycheck could be the last until Congress votes to fund the department. It's unclear if that warning extends to TSA workers who only started getting back pay last week. And that was for about two months of unpaid work. Many of them say the backpay they received isn't nearly enough to cover bills that have been piling up for weeks. Congress returns to Washington next week.

And peace talks between the U.S. and Iran are set to begin on Saturday in Pakistan with a shaky ceasefire between the two countries barely holding together. Oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz are still disrupted. President Trump is lashing out at Iran for doing a poor job of reopening it. Israeli strikes against Hezbollah, targets in Lebanon are also threatening the ceasefire. The Israelis have agreed to peace talks with Lebanon beginning next week as well.

Now, security is tight in Islamabad as the head -- ahead of tomorrow's negotiations. Vice President J.D. Vance will be heading up this U.S. contingent with Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and the president's son- in-law, Jared Kushner.

The war in Iran has rocked the global economy as well. So, the stakes are high.

Here's the German chancellor, who says they've reestablished communication with the Iranians ahead of tomorrow's talks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRIEDRICH MERZ, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (through translator): We are doing so in coordination with the United States and our European partners. Our goal through this process is also to make our own contribution to the success of the negotiations ahead. This is also the purpose of the phone call I will be having today with Pakistani Prime Minister Sharif.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Joining me now for more, Admiral James Stavridis, CNN's senior military analyst and former NATO supreme allied commander.

Good morning.

I want to talk to you because I'm hearing sort of mixed messages about what's coming through the Strait. You've got countries, I think the Philippines is in a national emergency in terms of energy. Thailand, Japan, South Korea, they're all trying to broker deals. But here is what the deputy foreign minister of Iran has said so far.

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SAEED KHATIBZADEH, IRAN DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER: The Strait of Hormuz is open. Of course, there are technical restrictions because of the war zone and because of many arrangement that Iran did during the war, during this aggression against Iran. So, there are some technical restraints. And this is why that all the ships that they would like to pass through, through the Strait of Hormuz, they have to communicate with our army and our military contact points there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: So, you've sailed through many times. What does he mean? What do you hear in that statement?

ADM. JAMES STAVRIDIS, CNN SENIOR MILITARY ANALYST: It's all nonsense. He is attempting to exert sovereign control over the Strait of Hormuz. That's illegal under international law.

The Strait is narrow. It connects two bodies of international waters and under every, every angle of international and maritime law. Therefore, the Strait enjoys the right of transit passage. Technical term, meaning, any nation can go through it any time, conducting normal operations, including military ships. So, for him to say, oh, it's open, but we've got control and you have to check in with us. And he didn't even mention the tolls that he has been charging the two or three ships that are allowed through. So, his statement is a -- baseless.

CORNISH: Can you talk about this in the context of the upcoming talks brokered by Pakistan? What's a win for the U.S.? Can -- do they even have the leverage right now to get, as you reminded us, unfettered control of the Strait, which is international waters?

STAVRIDIS: The short answer is, we'll see how the talks go. I, for one, am simply watching to see the physical appearance of both U.S. and interlocutors from Iran showing up in Islamabad getting safely into a conference room and having talks.

At the start, Audie, they'll be indirect kind of passing messages back and forth. If they get in the room together, that's a pretty good sign that things are moving in a -- at least a, let's have a talk direction.

To answer the question, what looks like a win, job one, open the Strait. And open it fully for all ships passing through. That may require some pre-work by various navies to ensure there are no mines in it, sweep it for mines, and then put guided missile ships going through first, because I don't think there are many merchant captains who are going to put their hand in the air and say, sure, I'll lead the charge through the Strait of Hormuz.

[06:40:18]

So, I think that's job one. And then job two is to secure some kind of agreement about the enriched uranium sitting in the middle of Iran. Those are the two high points of the unfinished business of this war.

CORNISH: OK, Admiral Stavridis, thank you so much. Great, great analysis for us to look ahead.

STAVRIDIS: Thanks, Audie.

CORNISH: Now, in the meantime, I want to tell you guys about something. There's a new CNN Original. Our own Kara Swisher is investigating the ins and outs of the longevity industry. Her new series, "Kara Swisher Wants to Live Forever," takes you along as she tests out some of the hottest anti-aging techniques on and off the market. And some of them are actually available, of course, to just the super wealthy. So, the show is inspired by Swisher's experiences with her mortality.

Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KARA SWISHER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Are you worried about the stream divides between the ultra-wealthy and everyone else? Not everyone can spend what you spend. I mean it's $2 million a year, is that correct?

BRYAN JOHNSON, TECH ENTREPRENEUR AND LONGEVITY INVESTOR: Yes.

SWISHER: What do you say to those who can't? If your goal is to lift everyone up, why not focus on those underlying issues of poverty, broken health care system and the environment?

JOHNSON: Even those in poverty can go to bed on time.

SWISHER: Though sometimes they can't.

JOHNSON: A portion of their challenges is their suffering from societal addiction systems that they're trapped in. Phones, porn, gambling, junk food, fast food. And they say, how do I get out? I try to give them a path. Here's some basic rules of how you can try to wrestle a little bit of power against these systems.

SWISHER: You know, I had spent time with Bryan, so I think he's sort of a cartoon character to a lot of people of this narcissistic (EXPLETIVE DELETED) old tech bro. He's not that. You know, he's just trying to broadcast his journey. And because these people never can shut up, they need to do that. And he's one of those. He's very typical of that group.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Kara is here to talk about it.

KARA SWISHER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Hi.

CORNISH: She's also, of course, the host of the podcast "On" and "Pivot."

And, Kara, you got me, man. That's the exact person I was thinking about when I think about these aging treatments.

SWISHER: Yes.

CORNISH: And I just think they are vampires who want to go to Mars and leave the rest of us in the dust with our disease and health problems.

SWISHER: Yes.

CORNISH: So, after that personal attack from you --

SWISHER: Yes, although accurate (INAUDIBLE).

CORNISH: Tell me what you were able to learn when you actually got to put these questions to them directly.

SWISHER: Well, my whole question was, this is an interesting thing to do an experiment of, one, spend $2 million a year on it, but how can you help more people? And I think they don't really have an answer for that. If you take all the money they're spending on their own self- care, and you really did apply it to a lot of people, you could have some real impact.

You know, I'm thinking of MacKenzie Scott, who is -- used to be married to Jeff Bezos. She's employing her money right now to help people's lives get better. And this guy is spending a lot of time measuring himself. Now, it's interesting, and he could probably do it himself, but it doesn't help anybody. And that was what I was trying to pursue with him.

CORNISH: You know, I have talked to you in the past about your past health struggles --

SWISHER: Yes.

CORNISH: Which came on really suddenly. Once when you were traveling. And I know that had a lasting impact on your life. And is that a little bit of what drove you into doing this?

SWISHER: Of course. Yes, of course. You know, I had a stroke when I was 48. And it was sort of shocking to have that happen. And I was one of the lucky ones. I got treated immediately. There were no repercussions. But there's all kinds of health issues. In that case, I had a hole in my heart, which a lot of people could tell you. But they -- that was -- that was -- I was able to treat it. But there's a lot of stuff that we have that we should be able to treat well before it or know about it. And then, therefore, we can mitigate the problems later. And that's what I want to talk about is, what can we do now, especially around preventative health, and all these incredible developments in medicine, to help the most people?

And that's the critical part is, why aren't -- why isn't this country a healthier country? We spend double what they do in Europe, double what they do in Europe and other peer countries, and we get -- we're near the bottom of health outcomes on every single metric. And I want to know why that is.

CORNISH: What's the weirdest health trend you got to jump on?

SWISHER: Oh, it -- every day there's a new one. There's one where you wear some electric vest right now. And, I don't know, it doesn't shock you, but it gives electric pulses. You know, obviously, peptides are right now the trendy thing. But some of them that became trendy, like GLP-1s, are really going to be significantly important across a much broader population if we can get the price down and get -- and get it to people. And then combine it with nutrition and exercise too at the same time and remove ultra processed foods from that. I think that's a really important one.

But there's all kinds of weird -- you know that. You sort of sit next to people and they're like, today, you know, I'm eating only grapefruit seeds or whatever, whatever it happened to be.

CORNISH: Right.

SWISHER: But that's -- you know, that's the old diet industrial complex too.

[06:45:03]

CORNISH: Is there some benefit to it? I'm thinking about how like when the space program, you know, in the process of what they do, they end up bringing technologies back to us, right?

SWISHER: Yes. Yes.

CORNISH: And I wonder if the super rich are, in effect, still doing what he's saying, which is the further they go, there is some technology that can be unveiled or brought to the rest of us.

SWISHER: Some of it. Some of it. We'll see. I mean, I think the real technologies that are happening, and that's what I wanted to focus in on is, OK, we talk about A.I. a lot and what is really happening with A.I. in cancer. They use it as a marketing tool, like, oh, we're going to solve cancer. Well, are they? What's going to happen? I, you know, I'm a reporter at heart and so I want to know if it's working.

Same thing, mRNA technology around vaccines, like vaccines for cancer. I went to visit a Nobel Prize winner in this to talk about where it's going. And so, I wanted to sort of separate -- there's so much noise out there, Audie, online and all these wellness grifters. I wanted to sort of separate what's real and effective for the broadest amount of people versus what's just a trendy thing. And that's always been with us forever, like since Ponce de Leon, but he didn't find that fountain of youth, by the way, FYI.

CORNISH: Kara, I want you to stay with us because you said you are a reporter at heart.

SWISHER: Sure.

CORNISH: We need your help.

SWISHER: OK.

CORNISH: But in the meantime, for you folks at home, if you want to watch "Kara Swisher Wants to Live Forever," it's going to be on Saturday at 9 p.m. on CNN, and then you can watch it the next day on the CNN app.

And if you missed any of that conversation or any part of this show, know we are a podcast. Scan the QR code to find it. "CNN THIS MORNING" is available anywhere you get your podcasts.

And next on CNN, President Trump says he didn't know his wife was going to make a surprise statement about Jeffrey Epstein. So, we're going to talk about how the White House is going to be responding today.

Plus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD BLANCHE, ACTING U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: The Epstein files was a part of the past year of this Justice Department. It will -- should not be a part of anything going forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: OK, so that's Todd Blanche. He's saying that the Epstein probe is done. Is this about to change?

And later on CNN, a crumbling ceasefire talks begin tomorrow. Congressman James Walkinshaw joins in the next hour talking about what he hopes to hear from it.

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[06:51:24]

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MELANIA TRUMP, FIRST LADY: I never had a relationship with Epstein or his accomplice, Maxwell. My email reply to Maxwell cannot be categorized as anything more than casual correspondence.

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CORNISH: OK, that was First Lady Melania Trump in a surprising statement addressing this email that she wrote to Ghislaine Maxwell that was found in the Epstein files. And in it the first lady had signed off, "love, Melania."

Now, she also spoke out against what she said were, quote, "lies" circulating that link her with the convicted pedophile.

Joining me now is CNN's White House correspondent, Alayna Treene.

Alayna, I'm really glad you're here. We've all talked about the surprise. Can you talk about the response? What happened here?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, I think we were told by a number of White House officials after this, Audie, that they were just stunned by this statement. And it actually, in fact, sparked kind of this widespread belief inside the White House that perhaps she was trying to get ahead of a potential story that was coming out that many of them must have not known about.

Now, I will say, we did talk to people, of course, who are close to the first lady as well, and they said for them it was less surprising. This was really something that she has been growing, Melania Trump, increasingly frustrated with over the past year or so, and that she wanted to get out there and on the record issue these denials and things that she has been reading about online,

Now, I do want to read for you what we were told from one White House official. They put it this way. They said, quote, "Melania is not political. She does not care about the politics angle of this. She was seeing these stories being amplified and wanted to respond."

Now, I will say, I think, of course, one of the big questions here and the main thing I've been hearing in my conversations with people in that building behind me, Audie, has been that they have spent so much time, this Trump administration and this White House, trying to get away from this story. And they've really only been able to do that successfully over the last month and a half or so amid, of course, the war that is ongoing with Iran. And so, this almost had a bit of a Streisand effect, some people were arguing, for the first lady to come out here and do this.

The other part of this as well is that part of the reason it's so remarkable is because she doesn't make statements like this. The first lady is very, very intentional about what she does. And there was a question of whether even President Trump knew about this.

Now, one source in the -- in the White House told us that essentially he was not aware of the exact thing that she was going to say. And we did hear the president do an interview with M.S. Now, essentially claiming that he was not, you know, made aware that she was actually going to do this. We do, though, have one source in the West Wing who said that the president was aware of these statements.

All to say, it's kind of unclear where this is going to lead, of course, and whether or not I think a lot of people are worried it's going to -- kind of opened a can of worms again.

CORNISH: Yes.

TREENE: Trying to bring everyone's attention back to the Epstein investigation. But again, just stunning and I think a lot of people caught off guard in the West Wing, Audie.

CORNISH: OK, that's Alayna Treene, outside the White House.

Now, I want to follow up on this because with the first lady delivering a call to action, how will the acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, respond?

The group chat is back.

And, Kara, I asked you to stay --

SWISHER: Yes.

CORNISH: Because we know the first lady and the Trumps, they have been litigious about people reporting, people writing books.

SWISHER: Yes.

CORNISH: And you heard Alayna Treene say something like, people wondered if she was trying to get ahead of some claims. What are you hearing kind of in your world?

SWISHER: Well, it's interesting because, you know, they're very -- they use online quite a lot and there's been a lot of online chatter about this whole thing and her involvement in it.

[06:55:04]

And what's incredible is that this was going away, right, with the war in Iran, as appropriately people should be focused on the war in Iran. But a lot of people online are like, now she's using this to distract from the war in Iran. Like that -- its -- these people live, you know, extremely online. And she's probably obsessing over something like this. I know she's in some litigation over the issues, but it seems to me that they don't -- a lot of people are like, what's the strategy here? Maybe they don't have a strategy. Maybe they just are it (ph) people and they can't stand not saying something.

And so, in the online environment, this is the kind of thing. And you're seeing the tit for tat between the MAGA online media people and the White House. And it just goes on all day as if we're in a reality show. And, guess what? We're in a reality show. And especially when they can do this online all day and create all manner of nonsense and chaos. It's --

CORNISH: Yes, and this also puts, I think, Todd Blanche in the hot seat.

SWISHER: Yes.

CORNISH: He had just taken over from Pam Bondi. I want to ask you, Elliot, about this and play for the group. This was Blanche just on April 2nd, OK, just a few days ago, when he was asked about what happens now with the Epstein files.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD BLANCHE, ACTING U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: And so I think that, to the extent that the Epstein files was a part of the past year of this Justice Department, it will -- should not be a part of anything going forward.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. I'm not sure you totally get what people feel about that, but I want to move on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: You laughed at that. I have to ask.

NOEL KING, CO-HOST AND EDITORIAL DIRECTOR, "TODAY, EXPLAINED": I mean he does -- he does not get how people feel about this.

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: No.

KING: Come on. There is no --

CORNISH: Well, he gets how the president feels.

KING: Yes, he does. He does.

CORNISH: And is that the most important thing?

WILLIAMS: That's, literally, one thing matters and one thing matters only for Todd Blanche's fate, for how Todd Branche puts (ph) his job is what's Donald Trump wants, not, what's best for the Justice Department, not what is legally sound for these survivors? No, it's being driven by what the president wants.

And to pick up on Kara's point from a moment ago, no, there's no grand strategy here. This is all being run on vibes and --

CORNISH: No 4D chess?

WILLIAMS: No, 4D chess. And now it works with the segment of the population. There are people that, you know, that love the president. But this is not, a, you know, a grand genius strategy that's playing out here. This is Todd Blanche following what the president wants.

ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Todd Blanche, just earlier this week at a press conference, also talked about how, you know, there was this focus on the Epstein files in the past year and now moving forward there shouldn't be as much of a focus. We've talked about how also President Trump has tried to, like, move on from this chapter and essentially say, this is over, even though for many Americans it isn't.

Melania Trump's speech today -- or remarks yesterday, not only an effort to distance herself, but also she called on for the survivors to be able to testify. This is going to keep the spotlight on this issue.

CORNISH: Yes. Kara, what do you think of that, about her going on an extra beat there?

SWISHER: Yes. Well, of course, but that's the natural thing, because if she hadn't said it, people would have said, well, why not let the survivors talk? I mean, and why not let Donald Trump? Why not have him in to testify about this? Because clearly they had a relationship.

I think what is the real problem, and I said this at the very beginning when everyone thought it would go away. If you spent any time in these kind of chat rooms with this group of people, this is their -- this is their bearing wall, the Epstein issues, is of everything. And at one point they're like, oh, it'll go away. I'm like, oh, no. No, no, no. This is at the center of this -- I don't -- I don't want to call it a religion, but this obsession with this group of people. And it was -- and you see it magnified with these MAGA people that aren't letting it go away.

Same thing with the war in Iran. They're America first. They really were, right?

CORNISH: Yes.

SWISHER: And so you'll -- that's why you'll have them do it. But Epstein was at the dead center and now it sort of moves to maybe Donald Trump should testify. I think that's the real danger here for him. But this is never going away for him.

And the last thing I'd say is, you know, there is a silent person in these rooms when every decision is being made and it's Jeffrey Epstein, right, in terms of where it goes. And if they were smart, they'd understand it's not going away.

CORNISH: OK, Kara, thank you so much. Congratulations on the doc.

SWISHER: Thank you.

CORNISH: I'm excited to watch. Appreciate it.

We've got a moment left. Does anyone have anything fun for their group chat?

KING: Fun? No.

Elliot.

CORNISH: Anything not utterly depressing?

WILLIAMS: Mine's not fun. Mine's not fun but it's interesting.

CORNISH: Yes.

WILLIAMS: It's the NFL being investigated for anti-trust.

CORNISH: OK. I'll take it.

WILLIAMS: And, no, no, no, no, no.

CORNISH: Yes.

WILLIAMS: And here's the thing. This is not about antitrust. This is about how we now consume information. Everything is streaming. Streaming. It leads (ph) all of us. And just think about, the NFL's not one big business. It's 32 competitors that are somehow allowed to escape antitrust -- antitrust law and negotiate with Apple and Amazon and so on. Well, that makes, according to the Federal Trade Commission, makes you have to pay $1,000 a year if you want to watch all NFL games. It's just a different world.

CORNISH: I'm surprised this is coming under scrutiny. They wield so much power.

WILLIAMS: It's just a different world than 1961 when these laws were written for television. Everything has to change.

KING: The U.S. is in her antitrust era.

WILLIAMS: Yes.

KING: Yes. This is a moment.

CORNISH: Really? Still?

KING: Yes.

CORNISH: I wasn't sure that was really going to happen. Like, even though J.D. Vance and their -- that wing of the party had talked about it, I didn't know if it was actually turning into that.

[07:00:03]

KANNO-YOUNGS: There was some support for Lisa Khan as well, you know, one of those --

CORNISH: Yes, Yes, Lina Khan, sure.

KANNO-YOUNGS: Yes, Lina Khan, sorry.

KING: Yes. I think we're all just angry enough. I think antitrust --

CORNISH: Hits us.

KING: Hits us in the heart.

KANNO-YOUNGS: Yes.

WILLIAMS: But again, things are different than they used to be.

KING: Oh, yes.

WILLIAMS: And we just live in a highly technological world that our laws that were set to govern how businesses interact with each other are different. And you just got to modernize them.

CORNISH: All right. Well, thank you. Thank you for that. And thank you for being with us here on a Friday morning. I'm Audie Cornish, and the headlines are next.