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White House: 'Left-Wing Cult' to Blame for WHCD Shooting; Florida's GOP-Led Legislature Pushing New Map to Flip Four Seats; Putin to Iran: Russia Will Do Everything That Meets Your Interest. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired April 28, 2026 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:00:00]
BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR: Brielle Renee Blair was born mid-flight after her mom actually unexpectantly went into labor.
Luckily, there were two paramedics on board, and they quickly volunteered, improvising by borrowing blankets from other passengers and a shoelace to tie off the umbilical cord.
The flight landed shortly afterwards, with an extra passenger on board, and both mother and baby Brielle are reportedly doing well.
Quite the delivery story to tell for that baby when she grows up. Where were you born? On a plane. No big deal.
Thank you for joining us here on EARLY START. I'm Brian Abel in Washington, CNN THIS MORNING with Audie Cornish starts right now.
All right. We're going to talk about the political blame game after a gunman tried to attack the White House Correspondents' Dinner. Aren't both sides being a little hypocritical about dangerous rhetoric?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, ABC'S "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE!": It was not, by any stretch of the definition, a call to assassination. And they know that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: But the first lady wants Jimmy Kimmel fired. New overnight, the comedian claps back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have to be smarter. We have to be more vigilant, and we have to be more prepared..
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: And the obligatory calls for change after Saturday's shooting. Would a new ballroom at the White House help solve the problem?
And another big security challenge today. King Charles in Washington. Can His Majesty help the U.K. mend ties with President Trump?
And Vladimir Putin, meantime, has entered the chat. What is Iran seeking from Russia as talks with the U.S. falter?
Plus --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's frustrating, you know, but it is Mother Nature. That's what it is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Bracing for dangerous weather. Strong winds, tornadoes and large hail. There's already damage across the Midwest.
CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY; The left-wing cult of hatred against the president and all of those who support him and work for him has gotten multiple people hurt and killed.
REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): Get lost. Clean up your own House before you have anything to say to us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: All right, so if words inspire political violence, don't both sides have a problem to address? We're going to ask that question this morning.
Hello, everybody. Welcome to CNN THIS MORNING. I'm Audie Cornish. And I'm going to start with this finger pointing.
President Trump and his party responding to the shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, basically by decrying Democrats and the media for rhetoric.
And then late-night host Jimmy Kimmel is having to push back on calls for his firing. See what happened, as days before the dinner, Kimmel made a joke about the first lady.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KIMMEL: Our first lady, Melania, is here. Look at her. So beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: So, days after the shooting, the first lady posted that those words were, quote, "corrosive" and that they deepened political sickness.
Now, here is Kimmel, actually, just a few hours ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KIMMEL: It was a very light roast joke about the fact that he's almost 80, and she's younger than I am. It was not, by any stretch of the definition, a call to assassination. And they know that.
I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject. I do. And I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: OK. Today in the group chat, Sabrina Rodriguez, politics reporter with the "Wall Street Journal"; Chuck Rocha, Democratic strategist and former senior adviser to Bernie Sanders's presidential campaigns; and Ashley Davis, former White House official under President George W. Bush.
First, I want to come to you, Ashley, because even as we talked about the fact that we were going to talk about this on the show, you said Kimmel was in the wrong. Can you talk about that?
Because originally, his jokes were made way before the dinner, and I think it will be pretty easy for people to call up clips and tape of -- of all kinds of people on the political spectrum, making all kinds of inappropriate jokes that look different today.
ASHLEY DAVIS, FORMER WHITE HOUSE OFFICIAL UNDER PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: Actually, just -- I did whisper, I don't think he's funny, but I don't -- that's what it was more than anything.
But no, I -- listen, obviously, I do not think he said that to call action to an assassination. I mean, I think that's a very big stretch.
But I do think that, first of all, he's going to get cancelled anyway eventually, because he doesn't have any viewers. I mean, that's going to be his real problem more than he made inappropriate comments.
But I think that them calling for him to step down, whether it's the first lady or the president, it's really not in their position to be able to do that. And so, it's going to be a back and forth.
[06:05:02]
I'm actually very disappointed. I mean, I was at the dinner. You were at the dinner -- that they -- I thought it was going to be a little bit better, that we were going to have a little bit more. We were going to start treating each other --
CORNISH: Yes.
DAVIS: -- a little bit better since that. And it's already now even going -- it's almost even worse. CORNISH: Yes.
CHUCK ROCHA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: There's something going on that we haven't talked about enough. For the last three days, we've talked about how both sides, whatever.
The key to this is, there's rewards for that. And that's what we haven't talked about; is in my world, in politics every day, the more crazy you can be talking about the way you feel about Donald Trump, or the crazy Democrats can be talking about whatever the thing is, in the algorithms, and even in Democratic and Republican fundraising, you're literally rewarded for saying hateful stuff on the Internet. That wasn't around 15 years ago.
CORNISH: Let me just -- to talk about that. I'm glad you brought it up. In a Gallup poll from October 2025. I'm going to put this up for folks. When the public was asked what factors are to blame for political violence, here's what you told Gallup at that time.
No. 1, extremist viewpoints on the Internet. Inflammatory language by politicians was, you know, a decent second.
And then other things that we're not even touching on in this debate: mental health system and easy access to guns. Politically, these two conversations --
ROCHA: Right.
CORNISH: -- seem to be completely moribund for reasons that I don't know.
But we are talking a lot about the president's ballroom and his push security-wise now. He has a reason to go to the court and say, well, look, now I really need it. It's not just esthetic.
SABRINA RODRIGUEZ, POLITICS REPORTER, "THE WALL STREET JOURNAL": I mean, I think just one fact check for us on that is the fact that even if the WHCA, the White House Correspondents' Association, said that they wanted to do the dinner in this White House ballroom, they would not be able to do it. It's too small for the size of the event. Just -- just --
CORNISH: Yes, we should say. No, no, no. The plans -- to let people know, the plans are supposed to be a -- for a ballroom that will hold --
RODRIGUEZ: Up to a thousand.
CORNISH: Yes, around 1,000 people.
RODRIGUEZ: Nine hundred and ninety-nine guests.
CORNISH: And this dinner, which is a frankly, cattle call, is more than 2,000 people jammed into that room, which is --
RODRIGUEZ: Yes. DAVIS: Insane.
RODRIGUEZ: Which you very much feel --
CORNISH: Yes.
RODRIGUEZ: -- the presence. But -- but that's like a minor factor to all of this. But I think we're seeing so many tweets about this and saying, this is why we need the ballroom. This ballroom would not address this, in particular.
But I think that there needs to be a larger conversation, like Chuck said about the social media of it all. I think that, unfortunately, there have been many shootings in America, and more political violence --
CORNISH: But that's not what's happening. Can I just play for you something? These are Republicans blaming Democrats. First of all, I just want to give you a mash of sort of the last couple of days of how this has been playing out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. ERIC SCHMITT (R-MO): Why are we here? The Democrats have used rhetoric referring to ICE agents as the Gestapo, Trump's secret police. They can't help themselves. Like, this is a real sickness.
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): They've incited violence, in my view. I mean, you have some of the -- the most prominent figures in the House and the Senate on the Democrat side, effectively, you know, calling for -- for -- for war.
TODD BLANCHE, ACTING U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: When you have reporters, when you have media -- media just being overly critical and calling the president horrible names for no reason and without evidence, without proof, it shouldn't surprise us that this type of rhetoric takes place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: And then I want to play for you one more. This is from Charlamagne tha God. Using this, because this is a person, right, who's speaking to the public back and forth, being in that dialogue, especially on social media. And he responded this way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHARLAMAGNE THA GOD, RADIO HOST: Whenever there is some type of political violence that happens that, you know, one of these events, people always say, So are we going to tone down the violent rhetoric towards Trump? Stop it. Like, I'm sick of that narrative.
I need every single media personality to direct that energy and that question towards one person and one person only. And that person is President Donald J. Trump. At what point do people simply say, "Hey, Trump, it's clear that you're the drama"? (END VIDEO CLIP)
RODRIGUEZ: Well, I will say, I mean, Jimmy Kimmel, in speaking last night, one of the quotes that he said was, he said to Melania Trump, to the first lady, he said, Why don't you talk to your husband about that? And I think it speaks to that.
CORNISH: Yes, I was playing that one, because it's like -- it feels -- it also feels like a very common sentiment, that after more than a decade, the sense is when Trump says something, it's supposed to be like, look, it's Trump being Trump. He just says things, you know, like that civilization, wipe it out. Whatever it is.
And also, the way lawmakers kind of collapse into a nonsensical debate about rhetoric after every violent event. Like I think the public feels like we're over it.
DAVIS: I'm actually surprised that we were not having more conversation about gun control, because that's not even -- I'm not even hearing that at all.
CORNISH: Are you surprised? Really?
ROCHA: That's so 2010. But go ahead.
CORNISH: Yes.. I feel like that, now, that's out the window.
ROCHA: You're right. You're right. We used to talk about that all the time.
CORNISH: Exactly.
ROCHA: As soon as this happened, like I was looking in the paper --
DAVIS: Now it's about political rhetoric.
ROCHA: -- a while ago, and it showed his gun.
DAVIS: What somebody is saying.
ROCHA: And as the redneck here, I was like, how did he get this shotgun? And he didn't have A.K.
[06:10:03]
DAVIS: Can we talk --
ROCHA: Anyway, go ahead.
DAVIS: Go. No, go.
ROCHA: Go ahead.
DAVIS: We need to talk about the ballroom for a second. Well, first of all, no one likes the ballroom on the left, because it's Trump's ballroom. And how he did it. He just kind of forced everybody. ROCHA: Bulldozed the White House. Right.
CORNISH: For sure.
DAVIS: However, from -- from a security perspective, when they do the dinner with even the king, they're going to do it outside on the lawn.
The security -- when, when obviously, the West Wing and the White House is one of the most -- the safest places in the world.
However, they're going to be on the lawn tonight under a tent when we now have warfare that is done by drones.
CORNISH: Yes.
DAVIS: And so, I 100 percent, especially because it's paid for by private sector money. It's not --
CORNISH: Although we'll see, given the security concerns. If all of a sudden, that rationale changes.
DAVIS: I think that every president moving forward, on the right and the left, are going to be very happy this ballroom has been built. But the rhetoric right now is just because he did it.
CORNISH: Well, I'm glad you got the ball rolling. We're going to be talking about the visit of -- the U.K. visit and the event today.
And coming up on CNN, we're also going to talk about the war with Iran and how it's affecting the global economy. Is it going to pay off for the president, for the U.S. economy in the end? "Shark Tank's" Kevin O'Leary will be around to talk about it.
Plus, Democrats call it the DeSantis Dummymander. Will Florida now join the redistricting war?
And terrifying video out of Spain. This is a slingshot ride that snapped in mid-air.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:16:05]
CORNISH: It is now 15 minutes past the hour. Here are five things to know to get your day going.
Now, sources are saying that CNN saying -- telling CNN that the president appears unlikely to accept the latest peace plan submitted by Iran.
Tehran's new plan would reopen the Strait of Hormuz. It would also leave questions about its nuclear program for later negotiations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: If what they mean by opening the straits is, yes, the straits are open as long as you coordinate with Iran, get our permission; or we'll blow you up, and you pay us. That's not opening the straits.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: New polling out of California showing 26 percent of voters are still undecided on who they plan to vote for to be the next governor. Forty-one percent say they wish other candidates were running.
Republican Steve Hilton leads the pack with 16 percent, followed by Democrat Tom Steyer and Democrat Xavier Becerra.
Next week, CNN will host the next primary debate, and that's on May 5 at 9 p.m.
Now, wildfires are still burning across South Georgia after already destroying more than 100 homes. Crews have been battling more than ten large wildfires over the past week.
Georgia's governor is expected to survey some of the damage later today.
And you're watching the moment that a slingshot ride snapped in midair. Then it crashes to the ground. Now, this happened in Spain. Four people were hurt, including two children who were inside the ride. Everyone is expected to be OK.
Another battle today in the nation's coast-to-coast redistricting fight. The Republican-controlled legislature in Florida will consider a new congressional map proposed by Governor Ron DeSantis, which is designed to try to flip four seats red.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEFFRIES: The so-called map, which is a DeSantis Dummymander, actually is blatantly unconstitutional. The Florida Constitution is pretty clear, as a result of the Fair Districts Amendments that were enacted back in 2010. It explicitly prohibits partisan gerrymandering.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: So, what is a dummymander again?
RODRIGUEZ: So, dummymander is a play on, obviously, the word "gerrymander." But essentially, as we have this whole debate about redistricting across the country, it's this concern that what they thought was going to benefit their party will ultimately benefit the opposite.
CORNISH: So, it's not just that like, oh, you're gerrymandering isn't going to work. It's like you're actually going to make it --
RODRIGUEZ: Well, then it backfires.
CORNISH: -- backfire, and we're going to benefit. RODRIGUEZ: Yes. I mean --
CORNISH: Is DeSantis going to be able to get this through?
RODRIGUEZ: It's very probable that he is going to he's going to be able to push this through.
I mean, this is something that Republicans in the state of Florida do not want to be dealing with. We saw, in months prior, as this conversation started, that state legislators, Republican state legislators, did not necessarily have an appetite to do this.
CORNISH: And here they are.
RODRIGUEZ: Knowing that Trump wants this, knowing that Governor DeSantis is trying to push this through. And have --
CORNISH: And knowing that the voters in Virginia approved new maps.
RODRIGUEZ: All the more likely that it will go through.
ROCHA: This is the big difference there. Let me say this, because it's different than Virginia and California. In Virginia and California --
CORNISH: Voters did it.
ROCHA: We went -- the voters went and voted.
CORNISH: I know. OK. We'll come back.
ROCHA: Here, there ain't no voters.
CORNISH: I know, I know.
DAVIS: Got your talking point.
CORNISH: After the break on CNN THIS MORNING, we want to talk foreign policy. Iran and Russia, they're actually kind of cozying up this morning.
Plus, we've got days of severe weather. When will these dangerous and deadly storms come to an end?
In the meantime, I just want to say good morning to Memphis. This is a live look at the riverfront.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:24:00]
CORNISH: So, Iran is rallying Russia to their defense as peace talks to end the war drag on with the U.S. Iran's foreign minister met with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, for a summit in St. Petersburg on Monday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): You see how courageously and heroically the Iranian people are fighting for their independence and sovereignty.
We will do everything that meets your interests and the interests of all peoples in the region in order to ensure that this peace is achieved as quickly as possible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Joining me now, Ian Bremmer, of the -- who's the president of the Eurasia Group and G Zero Media. Good morning.
I want to talk to you, because Putin is stepping in publicly now, which is interesting. Because I feel like I just saw him putting medals on North Korean soldiers that are helping Russia in Ukraine.
But can you talk about what Iran wants from Moscow, whether this is a diplomatic conversation or more?
IAN BREMMER, PRESIDENT, EURASIA GROUP: Most of the North Korean soldiers helping the Russians in Ukraine are being put in boxes. So, that that hasn't worked so well for them.
But here, I think Putin's intervention is because he feels that his friends, the Iranians, suddenly have some momentum. And that's why he's stepping in, because the strait remains closed. The ceasefire is holding.
The Iranians have basically stared the Americans down and are now making tougher demands on what one might require in order to get the strait reopened.
Putin feels like, here's a good opportunity for him to step in diplomatically and publicly. Why? Because he thinks that this is likely to look good for him.
Not -- Not because he's putting in a meaningful play to determine the outcome. He's been a marginal player on the diplomatic front, compared to Pakistan, compared to China. That will continue.
CORNISH: It's interesting when you said it feels like Iran is who has momentum here. It sort of reminds me of what we heard out of the German chancellor. And I want to play that for you. He was just speaking a few days ago about how he sees this negotiation between the U.S. and Iran.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRIEDRICH MERZ, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (through translator): At the moment, I cannot see what strategic exit the Americans are now opting for, especially as the Iranians are obviously negotiating very skillfully or rather very skillfully not negotiating and letting the Americans travel to Islamabad, only to leave again without any results.
This entire nation is being humiliated by the Iranian state leadership, especially by these so-called Revolutionary Guards.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: I thought "humiliation" was a strong word. Can you follow up on what he said and the context for that?
BREMMER: I was a little surprised to see the German chancellor use that word, though that -- that feeling reflects the conversations I've had with world leaders over the last weeks without any question.
This is a close and strong ally of the United States, at least historically. But the Europeans are so angry at the U.S. for having unilaterally entered this war, a war that is causing much more economic damage, energy damage, other issues, for the Europeans than it is for the United States.
And then, Trump calls them cowards for not getting involved. So, the emotions are raw. They're angry.
I don't think they're happy to see the Americans lose here, even though there's no love lost for Trump. But the point here is that whether you're Germany, the German chancellor, whether you're Putin and Russia leaders all over the world see the Americans as losing here.
The regime will not be changed. It's the same as the one that Trump said he was going to rescue the Iranian people from. The economic damage is real, and global, and lasting.
The Iranian influence over the strait is much more realized and problematic than it was before the war started.
And at this point, not only does the deal the Iranians were offered in Oman, with Kushner and Witkoff, look much better than what the Americans will eventually get.
But also, the Iranian nuclear deal, the JCPOA that Trump unilaterally withdrew from in his first term, looks like a much better outcome than what the Americans will ever have -- will receive here.
So, I mean, this war is not only a war of choice, but to -- to allies and adversaries of America around the world, they believe this war looks like a crushing failure from almost every angle.
And that's assuming that it ends now.
CORNISH: Yes.
BREMMER: And that it doesn't further escalate.
President Trump looks like he understands that he does not have good military options and doesn't want to return to direct fighting with the Iranians. But -- but we still don't have any off-ramp towards an actual deal.
CORNISH: OK. That's Ian Bremmer. Thanks for that view. And straight ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, protecting big events from gun
violence. Is the risk part of the price that we pay for living in a free society?
Plus, can King Charles smooth things over on his royal visit to D.C.
And then, new meaning to baby on board. A pregnant mom goes into labor at 30,000 feet.
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[06:30:00]
