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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

Trump Administration Reclassifies State-Licensed Marijuana Products; NYT: Supreme Leader Gravely Injured In Airstrikes; EU: Iran Will Be "More Dangerous" If Nuclear Experts Not Included In Talks. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired April 24, 2026 - 05:30   ET

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

[05:30:00]

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CAROLINA PEGUERO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): They arrive and stand in line, sometimes for hours, and send off their shipments. She claims to always include something essential for Cubans.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking foreign language)

TEXT: The typical Cuban breakfast is coffee with milk. Any Cuban who doesn't get their coffee and milk hasn't had breakfast.

PEGUERO (voiceover): This isn't new. For decades the Cuban diaspora has supported their families on the island but now the need is greater.

PEGUERO: So this is just an idea of what it looks like here in this place where there's a lot of cargo shipments being sent out to different parts of the world, including Cuba. A lot of people have been waiting in line for hours just trying to get a spot in line.

MAYOR BRYAN CALVO, HIALEAH, FLORIDA: You'll see, you know, days where you'll have a couple of hundred people waiting in line to send goods.

PEGUERO (voiceover): Cuba's crisis has deepened under sweeping U.S. economic restrictions, tightening the pressure on an already fragile economy. Fuel shortages and rolling blackouts have intensified and goods that were once hard to find are now increasingly scarce.

RAMON RIZO, MIAMI RESIDENT: (Speaking foreign language).

TEXT: It's terrible. There is no electricity, no gas, no oil, no gasoline. There is nothing and the people are in the dark.

PEGUERO (voiceover): Jose Antonio Govea is sending a generator to his mother.

JOSE ANTONIO GOVEA, MIAMI RESIDENT: (Speaking foreign language).

TEXT: You charge it and then you turn it on when the power goes out. She has one over there, but she broke it, so it doesn't work anymore. PEGUERO: (Speaking foreign language).

TEXT: How much was it?

GOVEA: (Speaking foreign language).

TEXT: Three hundred dollars, plus $104 to send it. That's $404 in total.

PEGUERO (voiceover): Jose Antonio says he'll keep sending essentials, but he hopes Cuba will change.

GOVEA: (Speaking foreign language).

TEXT: God willing, this administration under Donald Trump, our president, brings a change that leads to a solution. We cannot go on like this. The solution is not for us to send support to our families for our entire lives.

PEGUERO (voiceover): Carolina Peguero, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, Carolina, for that reporting.

All right. Coming up in a moment, the tech giant Meta says it plans to cut thousands of jobs. We'll explain who is impacted and why this is happening. Stay with us.

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[05:36:45]

FREEMAN: Welcome back to EARLY START. This is your business breakout.

And let's take a look at where U.S. stock futures stand ahead of the opening bell on Wall Street. So the Dow is a little bit down. The Nasdaq looking good ahead of the opening bell. And the S&P looking fairly flat but trending a little bit downward now. We'll keep an eye on this, of course, as we get closer to that opening bell.

But let's check in some of today's business headlines.

First up, Warner Bros. Discovery's shareholders have cleared the way for CNN, HBO, and Warner's other media brands to join Paramount Skydance later this year. WBD says shareholders "overwhelmingly" voted in support of the takeover deal on Thursday. Paramount now has to secure regulatory approval in the U.S. and other countries.

And to this now. Meta says it plans to cut around 10 percent of its workforce and lay off about 8,000 people on May 20. The tech giant also says it won't fill around 6,000 positions -- all as it invested billions in artificial intelligence. Meta spent $72 billion last year on capital expenditures, including AI infrastructure.

And Republican and Democratic lawmakers have found common ground rejecting the White House's proposed budget for NASA. Now the White House wants to cut the 2027 budget by almost 25 percent. One Democratic lawmaker said that's not a winning strategy.

On Wednesday, NASA administrator Jared Isaacman testified before a House committee. Isaacman said the proposal bounds his agency goals with the White House's spending plans.

The Trump administration has announced it is reclassifying state- licensed marijuana as a less dangerous drug. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche signed the order to move state-licensed medical marijuana products from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule III. Now, Schedule I narcotics are the most restricted and potentially dangerous substances, such as heroin and ecstasy. Medical marijuana will now be in the same category as prescription medications like Tylenol with codeine and ketamine.

Now the change does now make recreational marijuana legal to consume under federal law.

All right, coming up in just a minute we're going to head back to Becky Anderson in Abu Dhabi just ahead as President Trump says he's in no rush to strike a deal with Iran.

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[05:43:27]

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. I'm Becky Anderson. Here are some of the stories that we're watching today.

And a U.S. special forces soldier involved in capturing former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is now facing federal charges for allegedly betting on the top-secret mission. The soldier is accused of misusing classified information after allegedly betting on Polymarket that Maduro would be out of power by January. Prosecutors say his longshot bet made him $400,000 in profit.

Well, Lebanon and Israel have agreed to extend their ceasefire by three weeks. Each side accuses the other of sporadic violations of that truce, including cross-border strikes while talks were underway at the White House. Lebanon reports nearly 2,300 people have been killed since early March.

Well, multiple sources tell CNN that the U.S. military is now developing new plans to target Iran's capabilities in the Strait of Hormuz in the event the current ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran falls apart. The new plans call for a much more concentrated bombing campaign against Iranian assets around strategic waterways -- namely the Strait of Hormuz, the southern Arabian Gulf, and the Gulf of Oman.

Well, The New York Times has new reporting from inside Iran, including details about the mysterious supreme leader who hasn't been seen since taking over the country. Journalist Farnaz Fassihi spoke with CNN about her reporting.

[05:45:00] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FARNAZ FASSIHI, U.N. BUREAU CHIEF, THE NEW YORK TIMES: And Mojtaba Khamenei was gravely injured in the airstrikes on February 28 that started the war and killed his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

He has suffered from a severe leg injury. His leg has been operated on. There are suggestions that it may even be amputated and he's waiting for a prosthetic leg. His hand has been operated on and it's gaining functionality. And more importantly, his face and lips have been severely burned to the point where it's difficult for him to speak and he will require plastic surgery.

So we know that he -- that he's gravely injured. We know that there's -- the president of Iran, President Pezeshkian, who is a heart surgeon, and the health minister are in charge of his health care. And he's mostly surrounded by a medical team in a hiding place and access to him is incredibly difficult.

And that's probably one of the reasons why we haven't seen the new supreme leader in any video messages -- nobody has -- and his voice has not been heard. To the extent that he's communicated, it's been with written statements read on state television.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: That's the latest from The New York Times reporting.

Well, Pope Leo is denouncing the Iranian regime for killing antigovernment protesters, but he stressed that he cannot support the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran and he urged all parties to work towards ending the conflict.

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POPE LEO XIV (through translator): I would like to encourage the continuation of the dialogue for peace and urge the parties involved to continue their efforts to promote peace and to ensure that the threat of war is addressed in accordance with international law. We must be able to think in this way. As a church, I say, once again, as a pastor I cannot support war. I would like to encourage everyone to make every effort to seek answers that stem from a culture of peace rather than hatred from a vision of peace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, the pope's remarks follow President Trump's attacks on the pope's stance on the Middle East war.

The pontiff has wrapped up his visit to Africa after traveling to four countries, including Equatorial Guinea, which is ruled by one of the most repressive regimes in the world.

Well, let's turn our attention now to a European lens on the war with Iran. Frederica Mogherini is a former European Union high representative and the former Italian foreign minister and she's with us from Brussels. A very good morning to you from Abu Dhabi.

Let's first get your reaction to what we've been seeing of late in the Strait of Hormuz and its very direct impact on Europe.

FREDERICA MOGHERINI, FORMER EUROPEAN UNION HIGH REPRESENTATIVE, FORMER ITALIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: Well, of course, this war has an impact -- an economic impact not only on Europe but on the rest of the world -- and not only an economic impact. It's a little bit sad from my personal point of view to see that the focus is so much on the economic effect, but let's not forget that there are many people dying in this war. And in the last decades we have never seen a military intervention actually bring a long-lasting resolution to any kind of crisis.

So I think the words of the pope that we just listened to are not only morally valuable but also wise from a political point of view.

ANDERSON: OK.

I want to get back to how Europe might actually act to help ensure freedom of navigation because at present this is -- you know, waterways are effectively closed.

But I do also want to discuss with you a key issue here -- Iran's nuclear program. We've just heard from Kaja Kallas saying that Iran will be more dangerous if nuclear experts are not included in the talks as they were back in 2015 with the JCPOA.

As someone very familiar with that previous agreement, what's your reaction to that new warning from the EU's top foreign official?

MOGHERINI: Kaja Kallas is perfectly right on this. Nuclear negotiations with Iran needs to have in the team nuclear experts. We had nuclear experts in the team and sanctions experts in the team not only at the European level but also in the U.S. team there were nuclear experts that were negotiating the technical details not only for reaching an agreement -- this is very important -- but also for the implementation of the agreement. Because then, if an agreement is reached, it will have to be implemented and it will need to have a lot of technical support for doing that.

[05:50:00]

So, indeed, I believe the thinking of negotiating a nuclear agreement with Iran or even more a comprehensive agreement with Iran without the technical nuclear expertise presence around the table is not going to lead to anything and it's very naive.

ANDERSON: This is a direct criticism it sounds of the U.S. team here -- very specifically, the small team working so many files at this point -- but the small team of Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

Do you not think that this sufficient?

MOGHERINI: Of course, it's not sufficient. Also because even if keeping -- even keeping the team small let's not forget that on the Iranian side the team on the top level has some nuclear expertise. The current foreign minister of Iran was part of the negotiations back then in 2015 and before. He knows the file very well.

So even if you restrict the team to three or four people only the Iranian side has much more technical expertise around the table than the U.S. one. And let's not forget as Europeans as rightly pointing out the U.S. expertise alone is not enough in this respect.

So yes, I think the U.S. team is too limited but also the U.S. approach to these negotiations is I think completely wrong. The idea behind this administration seems to be that the more pressure militarily or economically is applied to Iran the more Iran is going to concede. I don't think this is going to work. Iran has nothing to lose. Has a lot of damage to create, as we see -- first of all, economic but also in the region -- in the wider region. And from the Iranian perspective respect and their own pride is key and needs to be recognized.

And also let's not forget the key failure points of the JCPOA was when Trump first got out of the deal -- pulled out of the deal a few years after it was fully implemented on the Iranian side. So the key element from the Iranians' point of view will be why should this time be different? Even if we reach an agreement who guarantees that the U.S. would not pull out?

And without an international guarantee keeping this negotiation purely bilateral will not -- will not make any assurances for the Iranians. They -- I think they would need to have much more than only the Pakistani assurances to trust that any agreements, even if reached, will then be kept.

ANDERSON: The view of Frederica Mogherini in Brussels this morning. Thank you very much indeed for joining us.

I'm Becky Anderson live from our Middle East programming headquarters in Abu Dhabi. Danny Freeman will be back with more news after this.

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[05:57:20]

FREEMAN: Day one of the NFL Draft is in the books and the top pick was no surprise.

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ROGER GOODELL, NFL COMMISSIONER: With the first pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, the Las Vegas Raiders select Fernando Mendoza, quarterback, Indiana.

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FREEMAN: I love that so much.

Fernando Mendoza is headed to the Las Vegas Raiders. The 22-year-old quarterback led the Indiana Hoosiers to a perfect record and a national championship. And, of course, he also won the Heisman trophy.

Meanwhile, the New York Jets took defensive end David Bailey from Texas Tech as number two. The Arizona Cardinals picked Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love at number three. And two Ohio State Buckeyes round out the top five. Wide receiver Carnell Tate goes to the Tennessee Titans, and linebacker Arvell Reese to the New York Giants. Congrats to all those guys on a huge achievement.

And, of course, we are now less than 50 days away from the beginning of what is widely considered the world's biggest sporting event. The FIFA World Cup kicking off on June 11 -- hosted, of course, by the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. The last U.S. World Cup was back in 1994.

Now, most of the upcoming matches -- 78 out of a record 104 are being held on American soil.

FIFA's president says ticket demand is off the charts. I can confirm that, trying to get one myself. The equivalent of the request for 1,000 years of World Cups all at once. But there's been a lot of controversy over the very high ticket prices. I can confirm that one as well.

And a very special birthday to Britain's Prince Louis. The young royal just turned eight years old. There he is right there. The Prince and Princess of Wales released this new portrait to mark the occasion. They release one each year to celebrate the birthdays of their three children. Now, Louis is the youngest of the trio and fourth in line to the British throne. Happy birthday, Louis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Clip from Amazon Prime Video "THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS."

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FREEMAN: All right, now this is going to be a fascinating one. A classic story is getting new life. "THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS" was written more than 40 years ago by Chilean American author Isabel Allende and it was made into an English language film back in 1993. Well, this new version is in Spanish and was shot in Chile with a Latin American crew. I love that.

[06:00:00]

It is an eight-episode miniseries starring actor Alfonso Herrera and Delores Fonzi. "THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS" streams globally on April 29 -- April 29, I should say, on Amazon Prime Video. This is going to be a great one. I cannot wait to watch it. Glad it has that Latin American crew and shot on scene.

All right, thank you all so much for joining here on EARLY START as always. I am Danny Freeman live in New York. "CNN THIS MORNING" starts right now.