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U.S.-Iran Talks Uncertain as Ceasefire Deadline Looms; Top Tech Boss: Bring Back the Draft. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired April 21, 2026 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:11]

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump insists Iran is going to negotiate, but have his strongarm tactics turned the Iranians off to making a deal?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: He's the negotiator in chief.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: So, can Trump get Iran back to the table before the ceasefire expires tomorrow?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Palantir and the rest of these A.I. companies are one of the biggest threats to this country, and the entire world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: The boss at a big tech company with ties to the Defense Department is saying America should bring back the military draft. So, we're going to talk about whether or not that could happen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, you kind of had a sense that this was going to happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Another exit from Trump's cabinet. The labor secretary is out. Is there a different standard for women in the White House?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): I still have deep concerns that, if he is confirmed, he will be Donald Trump's sock puppet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Trump's pick to lead the Fed is saying he will stay in his lane. Does that mean he'll lead independently? Well, CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEAVITT: Thanks to the success of the military operation and his hardline negotiating style, we're on the brink of a deal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: So far, the art of the deal has eluded Donald Trump when it comes to Iran. Why is that?

Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish, and we begin with these breaking developments.

The ceasefire with Iran expires tomorrow. Vice President J.D. Vance is due to leave today for talks in Pakistan. And what's unclear is when, or if, Iran will show up. President Trump is sure they will.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT (via phone): Well, they're going to negotiate. And if they don't, they're going to see problems like they've never seen before. And they're going to negotiate.

And hopefully, they'll make a fair deal, and they'll build their country back up. But they will not have -- when they do it, they will not have a nuclear weapon. They will have no access to, no chance of having a nuclear weapon. And we can't allow that to happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Now, that's not exactly what we're hearing from Iran. I want you to look at these statements from Iranian leaders yesterday, the president saying that they do not submit to force. Their Parliament speaker, saying they don't accept negotiations under, quote, "the shadow of threats." And then the foreign minister saying they are talking [SIC] all aspects. They're taking all aspects into consideration.

So, in the group chat today: Isaac Dovere, CNN senior reporter; David Sanger, CNN political and national security analyst and, of course, "New York Times" White House and national security correspondent; Chuck Rocha, Democratic strategist and former senior advisor to Bernie Sanders's presidential campaigns; and Ashley Davis, former White House official under President George W. Bush.

Welcome back to all of you. I want to start with you, David. You've been doing a lot of writing, and I just showed the audience what the Iranian leaders are saying.

You were telling me earlier that you do believe they're going to show up, but what is it that they want? Are they going in thinking they have leverage, despite the president's threats?

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Oh, they know they have leverage, and they've discovered it, Audie. And -- and that leverage is the Strait of Hormuz.

Let's remember, the strait was not closed when the war started, right? It was not a cause of the U.S. attack on Iran.

CORNISH: Right. But here we are, yes.

SANGER: That was about the nuclear program, about missiles. But this was the Iranian response.

And what they discovered was that it gave them far more leverage than they knew. This was a superpower they had been sitting on for 47 years; discussed, but largely untouched.

So, even if there is a deal, what have they discovered now? That they can turn the strait on and off unless the United States and the rest of the West have a permanent presence around the strait.

So, that's -- that's the first change.

The second is I think they recognize that their -- their smoothest path here is to have some kind of a framework agreement that President Trump can declare as the greatest deal ever. And that may or may not rank up against what President Obama got in 2015.

I was there for those two years of negotiation, and it was long and slogging. And the long slog this time will come as they try to play this out into a real accord.

[06:05:09]

CORNISH: Hold on. I want you to stay with the slog, because we're just entering that part with the negotiation.

I know in your writing, you were talking also about "The Art of the Deal" and the negotiation and his approach. And when we went to look in his book from '87, he wrote, "The worst thing you can possibly do in a deal is seem desperate to make it."

I don't know, Isaac. For you, as you look at how the administration is approaching this process, they're not desperate, but what David said has really kind of brought some things into relief here.

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, I mean, No. 1, the president didn't actually write that book. It was ghostwritten.

But we --

CORNISH: Fair.

DOVERE: We are now eight weeks into what the president said was an excursion that we won in the first hour. And we still don't have a clear explanation that the president has made to Americans of what -- what the intent was, what the reason really was for the war at this point.

And that has continued to be an issue for him, especially as because of what's happening in the Strait of Hormuz, gas prices have gone up. And this has just continued on and on.

He would obviously like to wrap this up.

CORNISH: Yes.

DOVERE: But he is finding that that is not just up to him at this point.

CORNISH: And he is hoping to make a deal that he said would be far better than Obama's nuclear deal. He told Bloomberg, "I'm not going to be rushed into making a bad deal. We've got all the time in the world."

Here is the former ambassador to the U.N., giving their assessment of what they think will happen if Trump extends the deadline once again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BOLTON, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR TO TRUMP DURING FIRST TERM: So, they're in a situation where, as with the last time they went to Islamabad, they're right up against the deadline.

I think if Trump extends the deadline again, the Iranians will really feel they've got the upper hand; that he's so desperate to avoid resuming military action that they just have to keep pressing on him, and they'll come away with a pretty good deal from their point of view.

That's why I think this approach was fundamentally flawed. I think the ceasefire itself was a mistake.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Just a familiar face for you, Ashley.

ASHLEY DAVIS, FORMER WHITE HOUSE OFFICIAL UNDER GEORGE W. BUSH: Yes, yes.

CORNISH: So, I thought I'd bring up John Bolton. You're twitching.

DAVIS: Yes.

CORNISH: So, what are you thinking when you hear that? Because the deadline, yet another deadline. People often talk about Trump's deadlines and whether or not, either the market or enemies, so to speak, believe them.

DAVIS: Yes. And I think his audience are two things. Exactly what you said. Obviously, Iran and the ceasefire, but also the markets.

But in regards to negotiating the art of the deal, I think that we're missing a big piece here, which is he's negotiating with terrorists that have wanted to kill Americans for 47 years at least. So, I mean, that's actually a hard person to actually negotiate with.

I do not think that -- I think there's going to be some sort of agreement with the ceasefire, or at least with some sort of plan moving forward. Whether it's a big part of the plan or not is yet to be seen.

But we have two weeks before the Congress has to vote on a War Powers Act. And I think that that's a very big --

CORNISH: And that should be a real deadline, frankly.

DAVIS: Yes. And I mean, some people say it's the 28th. Some people say it's 1st of May. It doesn't matter.

CORNISH: Yes.

DAVIS: The point is, is he's not going to probably get that vote in Congress. So, something needs to happen in the next two weeks.

CHUCK ROCHA, FORMER SENIOR ADVISOR TO BERNIE SANDERS' PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNS: There's definitely a clock ticking. And Isaac said something really important, which was gas prices are moving around so much that the American public have a lot of anxiety.

They -- they agree that they're terrorists. They agree that they shouldn't have a nuclear weapon. But that's not what's driving the electorate right now towards the midterms.

And that's the real clock starts ticking, because every day that this is not settled as we get towards the midterms, it doesn't give them enough time for the economy to quote, unquote, "recover," where there's some normalcy to the economy.

And folks right now feel an overwhelming anxiety. And I see it in all of our polling, to where the president feels like he's being wrung out in a wringer. And I think that's what's happening.

CORNISH: Yes. And it keeps the war in the forefront of their minds. It's not that they're sitting around going, sorry about your war. My gas prices are bad. It's like it keeps this whole conversation in front of their mind.

And if you actually want more context as to what's going on, please, please check out David's piece. It's in "The New York Times" today: "'Immediate Results' vs. 'The Long Game,'" talking about the U.S. and Iran and this coming to the table.

Now, coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, we want to turn to this. A gunman opens fire at Mexico's iconic pyramids. Several Americans are among the injured.

Plus, one small step for man getting back to the Moon. A first look at the Artemis III rocket.

And it's a crucial vote that could change the midterms. And yet, some voters say they are confused by the conflicting messages.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:13:51]

CORNISH: Hey, it's almost 15 minutes past the hour. Here are five things to know to get your day going.

We learned, actually, in Mexico, a gunman opened fire on a crowd of tourists visiting the historic pyramids in Mexico. Authorities say the suspect shot and killed a Canadian woman before taking his own life.

At least 13 people were injured, and that included six Americans.

At Apple, Tim Cook is stepping down after 15 years. Cook oversaw Apple's growth into a $4 trillion company.

He will become executive chairman of the company's board. And then John Ternus is his replacement, Apple's senior vice president of hardware engineering. And he's been with the company for 25 years.

He will step into the role of CEO in September.

And a Wisconsin school is now closed for weeks after last week's severe storms left it flooded. The elementary school in Janesville is home to some 400 students, and the district is working on finding an alternative space until the school is cleaned up.

And another step forward in getting Americans back to the Moon. A key component of Artemis III is on its way to the Kennedy Space Center, and this is called the core stage. It is the largest section of NASA's space launch system, and it's also the backbone of the rocket.

[06:15:09]

And Artemis III is scheduled to launch in mid-2027.

One more thing. Democrat -- another Democrat drops out of the California governor's race.

Former state controller Betty Yee announced Monday she is suspending her campaign. Her decision comes just days after fellow Democrat and former U.S. Congressman Eric Swalwell left the race following sexual assault allegations, which he has denied.

Even with Yee's exit, it's still a crowded field, with six Democrats still in the race. The contest has no clear leader ahead of the primary in June.

And I saw you lift up that hat. How is that possible, Chuck?

ROCHA: Because California has a crazy primary system where the top two, no matter how many people are running, get to make it to the end. And so, you have two Republicans and 1,500 Democrats running in California. That's put us in this position.

CORNISH: Fifteen hundred. We didn't -- we didn't fit them all in.

ROCHA: We only had room for six.

CORNISH: Yes.

CORNISH: But there's a lot of people. And guess what? You can vote forever out there over a long period of time, and people start getting ballots in California in, like, two weeks.

OK, we're going to check back with you about this.

After the break on CNN, we want to talk about this manifesto put out by Palantir, saying that maybe the U.S. should bring back the military draft and why people are paying serious attention.

Plus, President Trump is fed up with the Fed. Will the person he's picked to run it prioritize independence? In the meantime? Good morning Vegas. I know someone is waking up, or going to bed.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:20:55]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This company and all these tech oligarchs are (EXPLETIVE DELETED) insane. They absolutely cannot have power. They need to be stopped.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You will never convince me that Palantir is not an evil anti-human cult.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do ICE, the U.S. military, and FBI all have in common? They're all increasingly relying on the same A.I. company, Palantir.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: All right, so the co-founder and CEO of A.I. defense, surveillance and analytics company Palantir has laid out his vision for the future. And his vision matters, because his company has billions in government contracts.

Palantir published a 22-point summary of Alex Karp's new book, "The Technological Republic," and the post has been viewed more than 30 million times. You've heard some of the reactions there.

Among the 22 posts, a return of the military draft, saying, quote, "National service should be a universal duty."

The company also claims the atomic age is ending, replaced by a new deterrence built by A.I. The list also defends the creation of A.I.- powered weapons and calls for Silicon Valley to play a role in addressing violent crime. For Germany and Japan to be rearmed after both countries were demilitarized at the end of World War II.

So, this is how Karp pitched his overall vision to investors last year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ALEX KARP, CEO, PALANTIR: Palantir is here to disrupt and make our -- the institutions we partner with the very best in the world. And when it's necessary to scare enemies and, on occasion, kill them.

And we hope you're in favor of that. We hope you're enjoying being a partner, and we're really happy and very, very focused on what we're doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: So, the group chat is back, but I'm bringing in Maria Curi. She's a tech policy reporter at Axios. She's also coauthor of the Axios A.I.-Plus government newsletter.

And you're very much a Karp watcher, right? I mean, you've been following him for a long time.

MARIA CURI, TECH POLICY REPORTER, AXIOS: Yes, absolutely. You know, Michael Steinberger wrote his biography last year, and I'm reminded of Karp telling Steinberger, you know, being unpopular pays the bills.

This is a CEO who used to be a Democrat, who used to have more liberal views of immigration, but he is now running a company that is poised to benefit from the vision that he has laid out here.

CORNISH: Yes.

CURI: This company's main function is to sell software to the military, to ICE, and to the police. So, these are exactly the kinds of world views that would benefit this company.

CORNISH: Right. Thinking about the ICE when looking at one of those 22 points: "Certain cultures and, indeed, subcultures have produced wonders. Others have proved middling, worse, regressive and harmful." Talking about culture, I guess. He's against pluralism.

And we heard what he thinks about the military.

I want to show people just the spread of contracts that Palantir has right now, so you can understand why so many people are responding to this, whether it be ICE, whether it be DHS.

And frankly, this is not all that unusual for a software or tech company.

CURI: Right.

CORNISH: What do you know about what Palantir does that is unique?

CURI: Right. And just to go back really quickly on those points, you mentioned, Audie, about the cultures and the subcultures. That is getting a lot of backlash online for being potentially supremacist and xenophobic.

On the contracts, you're right. There are a lot of tech companies that do work with the military. This is not unusual. One of those companies, interestingly, is Anthropic, which has, you know, gotten into this massive dispute with the Trump industry for being, quote, unquote, "ideological, woke leftist liberal company."

But here, we have a clear example of how ideology, in and of itself, is not necessarily a reason for this administration to not work with you. It has to be the ideology that fits the moment and the politics that we're in. And Palantir is certainly doing that.

CORNISH: When Eliot Higgins, I think of Bellingcat, he's kind of like a tech -- I don't know how to describe him. Activist, maybe.

CURI: Sure.

CORNISH: but he looked at those 22 points from Palantir, and he said, "Palantir sells operational software to defense, intelligence, immigration and police agency." And he says, "These 22 points aren't philosophy floating in space. They're public ideology of a company whose" -- and this is the important part -- "revenue depends on the politics it's advocating."

[06:25:04]

Is there a connection there, or are they just a regular -- It's like providing electricity to the government?

CURI: It means a $30 million contract with ICE -- right? --underway right now. So, I do think --

CORNISH: But when we say that, is it surveillance? Is it, like -- is it something to be worried about? Or is it, like, the backend of a spreadsheet?

CURI: There are a lot of people who are worried about it, who do view it as surveillance, as helping ICE figure out who to target for deportations.

And it is creating a lot of fear in communities, as we've seen throughout this second term. And so, I do think that having the right politics matters in this climate, and Alex Karp certainly has figured out how to do that.

CORNISH: Can I ask you guys about this? Because I don't think it was an accident that two out of three of those clips were young men who were watching very carefully, frankly, for any news related to the idea of a draft.

And then in the meantime, this kind of overall public sentiment that is deeply skeptical of A.I. CEOs.

ROCHA: Can I jump in real quick and say that there's another part that I think we're all missing in my world? They are also now the heaviest investors in campaigns.

So, they're out now, influencing elections so that these electeds get to Congress will have a favorable, I would assume, thinking about whatever this technology does for them. There's a super PAC right now that's funded by A.I. that's got $166

million that they're playing on Democrat and Republican sides, as long as they're agreeing with them.

DAVIS: Yes, A.I., crypto, I mean, they have the most money going into the political world right now.

I don't really think there's going to be a draft, but all that's doing is causing chaos. Like, I got the text from my mother, like my grandchildren are going to be, you know. I just -- you're kind of talking about -- out both sides of their mouths, because if you're saying A.I. is like kind of taking over the future of the military, and then you're saying we need a draft. I mean, in theory, the A.I. world wouldn't need more boots on the ground. So, I just think it's noise.

CORNISH: It doesn't help, you're saying, when you're connected to the administration, because this is also a company co-founded by Peter Thiel.

CURI: Right. And this is -- ultimately, would require an act of Congress to bring back the draft.

CORNISH: Yes. Yes.

CURI: But I think what Chuck is raising, too, about the elections is really important. You have the A.I. lobby funding members on both sides of the aisle here. Tech is not a partisan issue. A.I. is no different than that. Crypto was no different than that.

And when these folks do get into Congress, that then does have a greater impact, too, on -- on A.I. and how it impacts all of us.

CORNISH: All right.

DAVIS: The one --

CORNISH: Sorry, sorry.

DAVIS: No, no, no, I just -- go ahead.

CORNISH: I have to go, but --

DAVIS: Go ahead.

CORNISH: But this is a sign that Maria needs to come back, because, obviously, you're all out there paying attention to this. And you should be.

Now, straight ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, we've got some more changes that are happening to the president's cabinet. The labor secretary is out. There's some allegations surrounding her exit.

Plus, we're going to talk about those of you who are feeling the pinch. Will this tanker bottleneck all the way in the Strait of Hormuz cripple global energy supplies even more and hurt your wallet? (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:30:00]