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Laura Coates Live

U.S. Fighter Jet Shot Down Over Iran; Rescue Mission Underway; U.S. Searching For Crew Member After F-15 Downed In Iran; White House Increase In Defense Spending, $1.5T Budget Request; Artemis Crew Halfway To The Moon; Hershey Faces Scrutiny For Using Chocolate Substitute In Some Candy. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired April 03, 2026 - 23:00   ET

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

[23:00:00]

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR: Worldwide. CNN's Bill Weir dives into how the company has impacted society.

"The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper" airs on Saturday at 10:00 P.M. on CNN. And you can watch it on the CNN app.

Well, thank you very much for watching "NewsNight." Catch our Saturday show, "Table for Five," tomorrow at 10 A.M. Eastern.

And in the meantime, "Laura Coates Live" starts right now.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight, a scramble to rescue a U.S. service member whose jet was shot down over Iran. And that's not the only attack against American aircraft.

Does the military have as much dominance over Iran's skies as the administration claims?

Plus, a massive budget request from the White House. The president wants a 40 percent increase in military spending. And even some Republicans are complaining about what he wants to cut.

And get ready for the dark side of the moon, how astronauts on Artemis II are preparing to see what has not been seen in decades, tonight on "Laura Coates Live."

Good evening. I'm Victor Blackwell in for Laura.

It is a dangerous day for American forces over Iranian skies. And it's threatening to make this war an even more unpredictable one now.

A search and rescue mission is happening to find a U.S. service member whose Air Force fighter jet was shot down over Iranian territory. The status of that F-15 crew member currently unknown.

And it's not just the U.S. trying to find them. Iran has offered a reward for their capture. The other person in the jet was rescued and is currently getting treatment. But there was another incident today involving attacks on American aircraft. This video shows Iranian police shooting in what appeared to be a pair of Black Hawk helicopters. And the person filming the video can be heard cheering the gunfire on.

"The New York Times" is reporting a U.S. Black Hawk helicopter involved in the rescue operations of the down jet was hit by Iranian ground fire. American and Israeli officials say that crew was able to safely fly the -- the chopper to Iraq.

Now, it doesn't end there. We're told Iran hit another U.S. military plane. An A-10 Thunderbolt, the pilot was able to make it out of Iranian territory before they ejected.

Now, a top Iranian official is mocking the U.S. over the service member who is still missing. The country speaker of parliament wrote on social media. And here it is.

"After defeating Iran 37 times in a row, this brilliant no strategy war they started has now been downgraded from regime change to, hey, can anyone find our pilots, please? Wow. What incredible progress. Absolute geniuses."

Now, that taunting comes from someone sources say has also been involved in those indirect messages with the U.S. officials. President Trump has said the downing of the jet, though, will not impact any negotiations.

But in a separate interview, he also said that he could not comment on what he would do if that missing crew member was captured or harmed. He did post this all caps message on social media, "Keep the oil anyone?"

Tough talk. Can't hide a harder reality that this war just took another turn. And it deeply undercuts, deeply undercuts, the Trump administration's claim of total control over Iran's skies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNTED STATES: They have no Navy and they have no Air Force and they have no nothing. And we literally have planes flying over to Iran and other parts of their country. They can't do a thing about it.

PETE HEGSETH, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Iran's air defenses flattened. Iran's defense industrial base, the factories, the production lines that feed their missile and drone programs being overwhelmingly destroyed.

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: U.S. and Israeli joint forces control the skies and have asserted air dominance over Iran.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: My first guest is a retired TOPGUN pilot who flew more than 40 missions in the Middle East. Matthew "Whiz" Buckley is with me now. Matthew, thank you for your time tonight. First, as this search continues, give us an idea of the -- the type of training, specifically survival training that pilots were seeing for this scenario.

MATTHEW "WHIZ" BUCKLEY, RETIRED TOPGUN NAVY FIGHTER PILOT: You bet, Victor. Good evening. Thanks for having me. We go through SERE training, Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape. So we're taught that early in our aviation career.

And then when we get into theater, the Intel folks will give us a local theater brief as well. And we're also briefed on the CSAR, combat search and rescue Capabilities in the region. So we're thoroughly trained.

But, Victor, to be honest with you, when you look down to pull those yellow and black ejection handles between your legs over bad guy territory to choose either death or getting out of the airplane, obviously, no training can fully prepare you for being shot down behind enemy lines.

So let's hope this air crewman know the weapons systems operator gets home safe and soon.

[23:05:06]

BLACKWELL: Absolutely. Let me also ask you what type of defenses might this person have on his body, a pistol, anything to defend himself if Iranians come and try to -- to capture.

BUCKLEY: I personally flew with -- with my own Glock 9 millimeter. And also in the seat kit so in your ejection seat, there's what we call a seat kit. There's also survival equipment in that seat pan. And there's usually a -- a semi-automatic rifle in there as well.

But, you know, Victor, we had kind of gallows humor as aviators we jokingly said, well, that was just to use on ourselves. We're not going to John Wayne -- John Wayne our way out of this thing.

We're hoping that the CSAR forces come in and rescue us. I mean, the -- the motto of our power rescue force is so that others may live.

Seeing the videos that you're showing right now of that HH-60 Pave Hawks down there at low altitude in the weeds hunting for that downed aircrew just makes my heart smile.

When we lose a crew member in combat, everything stops. These combat search and rescue folks, this is their Super Bowl. They train years for this. And for the past 30 days, knock on wood, that alarm hasn't sounded. They've been sitting there playing cards on the alert runway. And then when the alarm sounded, they sprung into action. And this is a well-oiled machine that has been thoroughly planned out and they're executing to it right now.

BLACKWELL: And they're doing this in a part of Iran, again, Iran is a massive country with really diverse terrain in this region of southwestern Iran, a rugged terrain. How complex is this operation considering that terrain?

BUCKLEY: Well, Victor, it's a lot more complex. I've seen a lot of folks wondering, well, if they ejected together, you know, the front and the backseater in an F-15E go within 0.3 seconds of each other. They explode out of that cockpit. How can they not land near each other?

Well, if you've seen in some of these videos, it's -- it's pretty mountainous. It's -- it's pretty rocky and it's pretty rugged terrain so you might be close in distance but a world apart. But this is what we train for.

And, Victor, you know, a -- a big majority of a brief as a fighter pilot before we went over a bad guy country was search and rescue. Hey. If somebody goes down and you see it, you assume on scene commander. You learn -- you launch the search and rescue effort.

So we've thought through this a lot. And it's -- it's good to see the Air Force Pararescue folks executing to this some of the most elite forces on this planet.

BLACKWELL: Matthew "Whiz" Buckley, thank you so much for setting the table for us.

With me now, CNN military analyst, retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton. And lead global security analyst for "The Washington Post" Josh Rogin. Gentleman, good evening to both of you.

Twelve hours now into this search, Colonel. What's your top concern tonight?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (Ret.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, survival for the remaining crew member, Victor, because, you know, as Whiz was talking about there in -- in his interview with you, it's really important to rescue these people as quickly as possible because the longer that they're out there, the greater the risk is that they're going to be captured by either, you know, some -- a farmer that's out there in -- in a field that sees them or, you know, some policeman or, you know, a member of the military.

So it's -- there's a big -- big risk that the evasion part of this operation is going to, you know, be much harder to achieve the longer -- the longer this takes.

So the quicker they can get them out, the better in a situation like this. Of course, they have to worry about things like weather and they have to worry about, you know, other threats coming in. And the longer that -- that last this, time interval lasts, the more likely it is that the -- the -- Iranians will gather forces that will try to surround an area where they think that crew member is. And they may be right, they may be wrong, but the risk is higher.

BLACKWELL: I -- I listed off the U.S. aircraft that have been attacked by the Iranians and played what the administration said about completely uncontested skies over Iran, clear the air on the capabilities of the Iranians at this point in the war. LEIGHTON: So the Iranians have probably about 50 percent of their missiles remaining. That doesn't mean that they can launch all of those. So before the war, we talked somewhere between 5,000 and 6,000 missiles that they had. Some of those are going to be surface-to-air missiles.

Those surface-to-air missiles are the ones that you have to worry about from an air dominance or air superiority perspective.

When the administration talks about air dominance that would mean that we basically have total control of the skies and there is almost no threat that can actually penetrate the air screen that we would have over that territory.

[23:10:01]

We do have air superiority, but air superiority does not mean that you have complete control over the skies. It means that there are still pockets of basically resistance if you will against us.

And there also are elements of the Iranian military and the IRGC that can shoot at our aircraft and they will do so maybe not with the types of signatures that we're expecting. You know, we expect a lot of our whole protective gear is geared to radar and being able to pick up radar signatures.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

LEIGHTON: A lot of what they have is heat seeking or even just visuals. So that could be one guy with a, you know, MANPAD that's out there and can fire that missile because he sees that aircraft.

BLACKWELL: Josh, what is the threat of or the consequence of just the -- the bellicosity of what we're hearing from Secretary Hegseth and from the president when clearly that was undermined by what we saw today?

JOSH ROGIN, LEAD GLOBAL SECURITY ANALYST, WASHINGTON POST INTELLIGENCE: Right. Well, today's attacks have laid bare the obvious fact that the President of the United States and the Secretary of Defense are either unaware or misleading the American people about the vulnerability of U.S. air assets in the Iran war.

And they -- the President of the United States said very clearly that they couldn't do this and then they did it. So that calls into question his own credibility and the strategic credibility of the United States.

And because that premise is what they're basing their theory of the case on, in other words, if that's not right, well, then their whole theory that Iran is weak, that Iran is ready to negotiate, that this provides a path to end the war anytime soon, is also based on a false assumption.

And now the entire world can see it. So we've had about four weeks of the administration telling us everything's fine, everything's going according to plan. And now everyone can see with their eyes that that's obviously not the case.

So now we're back to square one. How do we get out of this? And the president is facing a choice. He can either deescalate or he can double down. He can either admit that the original theory of the case that which is that you could bomb Iran into submission and they're just going to fold and give Trump everything he wants is not true, or he can say, oh, screw us, screw you, and send in ground troops and escalate this thing even further.

Neither of those are good options. But the status quo which is that Trump claimed on national television, just a day ago, that everything's going great and this is going to wrap up very soon, is obviously not true. It can no longer be sustained as a credible expression of U.S. policy or strategy in any way.

BLACKWELL: And so let's talk about this taunting from the speaker of the Iranian parliament. One of the persons that reportedly the president was talking with that he thought was in a position to give him what he wants to be on the other side of an enforceable deal.

And based on what I read, what's your read on that?

ROGIN: Right. It's clear again that the -- the presentation that the Trump administration gave us, which is that there are these moderates that they're -- they're engaging with who are going to make a deal and fracture against the IRGC is just not based in any actual reality or the facts on the ground. The Iranians are being very clear about that.

Now, what does that tell us? It tells us that obviously that this -- the negotiation is not going to end any time soon. The talks in Pakistan are not going well. The Iranians are not going to join them. We're going to have to come up with another plan. That's going to take a lot of time. The sides are really far apart.

And the whole idea that you're going to find some sort of Delcy Rodriguez type figure who's going to make a deal with the Trump administration to hand over Iran's interest and its oil and its -- and its sovereignty to Trump to do whatever he wants with is obviously not true at this point.

And so it makes it very hard for anyone, including Republicans in the Senate, by the way, who've been coming out today very strongly against more funding for this war --

BLACKWELL: Yes.

ROGIN: -- to back the president's claim that everything's going great because obviously everything's not going great.

BLACKWELL: Colonel, let me ask you to fit this -- this Russian piece of the puzzle in because we don't know if what happened today has anything to do with the Russians, but the president has acknowledged that he knows that the Russians are supporting the Iranians with intel.

How should that shape people's expectation or understanding of what the Iranians could be capable of in week six and seven and eight if it goes on?

LEIGHTON: Yes, Victor, that's -- that's a great question because what it really means is that the Iranians become much more capable. They do have some indigenous capabilities. They have a very robust intelligence service that has been active for decades, really.

And one of their key targets is, oh, by the way, the United States. So they do understand how we fight wars. They observed us in Iraq very carefully. They observed us in Afghanistan very carefully, both, you know, the western side of their country and on the eastern side of their country.

So when it comes to the Russians, it is pretty clear that the Russians have provided them with --with key support. Some of it is tactical intelligence.

For example, the strike on Prince Sultan Air Base where the AWACS was hit --

BLACKWELL: Yes.

LEIGHTON: -- and a couple of refuelers were hit.

That, you know, was basically based on a very precise intelligence coordinates that they may not have been able to get otherwise.

What they're doing now, may or may not be based on the Russians, but they have clearly developed tactics and techniques that could have been gleaned from the Russians and their experiences in Ukraine.

[23:15:11]

So there is a -- a clear coordination that is going on between the Russians and the Iranians that even predates this war that we have with them.

And I think that's only been further a debt cooperation between both Russia and Iran. And we can see that in the way they're acting and in how they're employing their forces.

BLACKWELL: All right. Colonel, Josh, thank you both.

Next, with the service member still missing, a retired general is warning. Secretary Hegseth's rhetoric could lead to torture or death for U.S. troops.

Lieutenant General Russel Honore joins me. And ahead, we're going where no one's gone before. We'll check in on the Artemis II crew as they make their way to the far side of the moon.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:20:16]

BLACKWELL: Well, there is rarely a good time to do a shakeup in the military. And now Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has pushed out three generals during wartime.

First, U.S. Army Chief of Staff General Randy George was ordered to retire yesterday. And now, we've learned two more generals have been forced out; Major General William Green Jr., who served as the Chief of Chaplains, and General David Hodne, Commander of the Army Transformation -- Transformation and Training Command.

Now the military is missing critical combat experience as the war with Iran enters week six.

And joining me now, retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General Russel Honore. General, good to see you again.

I want to start, though, on -- on something else. And you posted this on -- on social media, specifically as it relates to this mission to rescue this fighter pilot who was shot down over Iran.

And you make a -- a direct connection between this mission and the rhetoric from the Secretary of Defense a few months ago about providing no quarter to U.S. enemies.

How does one influence the other if -- if this service member or any other is captured by Iran?

LIEUTENANT GENERAL RUSSEL HONORE (RET.), U.S. ARMY: Well, it's a direct relationship. The concern we had at the time the Secretary of Defense made that statement that we will give no quarter is a violation of our rules of war that we have trained our soldiers on that -- and it was practiced when we shot the Iranian warship off the Indian Ocean, we gave no quarter.

We did not provide assistance to the survivors. And the double strike on the small boats in the Caribbean gave no assistance by and large. And there was talk of a second strike.

So the Secretary of Defense language and his rhetoric about giving no quarter would have direct impact on our airmen that's on the ground somewhere in Iraq -- Iran right now trying to survive. That if he's caught, if the Iranians were to use the Secretary of Defense's rule that -- that aviator will end up being treated very bad or even killed on the spot because that's the way that's translated, give no quarter to the injured or those who are no longer can fight. So it's a direct relationship.

I think the good news is that inside the formation of the military, people know better in these type of situations, and they won't necessarily execute what the secretary is saying.

BLACKWELL: Yes. But you can only imagine what those U.S. service members who are heading over to the region who heard what the Secretary said, what they imagined the interpretation might be by the Iranians.

Let me ask you about these -- these three generals who have been pushed out by Secretary Hegseth. The Pentagon has not given explicit reason for why they were fired. What do you make of the dismissals? HONORE: Well, I've been quite a too traditional as well as decisions about the going into boots on the ground in Iran that the secretary -- the -- the Chief of Staff of the Army would have had some major input on the -- the boots on the ground decision when and where. His job is to prepare.

His job is to make sure all the air defenses that's been defending our allies are prepared. And sometime I've served on the Joint Chiefs of Staff as a two-star general.

The service chiefs do have a vote and try to influence the decisions made by the Secretary of Defense and by the president.

And I've -- I sense with this secretary of defense disagreement means a dissent. And that if there's not good discussions on what decisions going to be made, not going to do it, then this serve no purpose.

I think what he's looking for is yes people, loyalists who will do what he says, and how he said do it as opposed to following the customs and traditions of the military that we want to have active debate before we do something.

I don't think he tolerates that if you go question him or why did you take those officers off the promotion list? Why are we changing the rank of the chaplains? Maybe we ought to discuss this.

He does not tolerate any discussion. He's got a big ego problem. And that could have a longstanding impact to our military.

[23:25:06]

BLACKWELL: General Russell Honore, thank you so much for being with me this evening. Always good to see you.

HONORE: Good evening. God bless America and hopefully they can find that pilot.

BLACKWELL: Indeed.

Next, Secretary Hegseth's approval hits rock bottom, as the president tells Congress he wants one and a half trillion, trillion with a T, for defense.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Well, today, we got a first look at President Trump's wartime budget request and its opening number, more than $2.2 trillion. The vast majority will be for defense spending, $1.5 trillion of that. That's up more than $444 billion from last year. And it will come at the expense of many domestic programs, more than $73 billion.

[23:30:17]

The White House wants to slash spending to FEMA and NOAA, HUD grants, the National Institutes of Health, the low-income home energy assistance program.

Now, this is just a wish list from the White House. Congress, of course, will have a say. And some key Republicans are already skeptical.

Maine Senator Susan Collins says, "The request, quote, has several shortcomings." And the chair of the House Appropriations Committee Tom Cole asked, "Does this put America first?"

Joining me now is Sabrina Singh, CNN political and global affairs commentator. And Rick Tyler, former spokesperson for Senator Ted Cruz's presidential campaign. Welcome to you both.

Rick, let me start with you, and maybe this is cynicism talking.

RICK TYLER, FORMER SPOKESPERSON FOR SENATOR TED CRUZ'S PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: OK.

BLACKWELL: Is the purpose of this to give Republicans on the ballot an opportunity to create some distance from the White House? Because otherwise, it just doesn't make political sense.

TYLER: It is a cynical place.

BLACKWELL: Yes. I mean, it just doesn't make political sense otherwise.

TYLER: It doesn't -- it doesn't make sense. Well, let's be clear. This is a -- this is a political document. This -- it's -- it's a war footing document.

And I think both Republicans and Democrats would be smart to force the president to bring the Wars -- War Powers Act to Congress and people should vote on this.

The American people don't support this war by 62 percent. And I think in order for you to conduct the war of this nature over the long term, which will be, because you can't -- Victor, you can't have regime change, which the -- which the administration has said off and on, that's what they wanted and no boots on the ground. Those two things are incompatible with each other.

So if you are going to have -- if you're going to finish the job, then I think you need to go to the American people and get approval and that means the president's got to stand in the well of the House and explain to the American people and not like he tried to do the other night, which I had no idea what he was trying to -- who he was trying to win over.

BLACKWELL: So, Sabrina, let me bring it to you. And the reason I started with that cynical point is because --

SABRINA SINGH, CNN POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Yes.

BLACKWELL: -- it doesn't make political sense to tie in knots Michael Whatley in North Carolina by cutting FEMA. SINGH: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Like how does he defend that? How does Susan Collins defend cutting -- yes, to Tlaib?

SINGH: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Or the eventual nominee in -- in Michigan? It just doesn't seem like it would make sense for those candidates.

SINGH: Well, what's interesting is what the president, this White House before at this budget actually has bipartisan support against it, against this request.

Now, I think there is a case to be made that this war is now costing probably $1 billion a day. We are expending through our stockpiles at an incredible rate.

At the same time, you have a carrier that's been extended out for 11 months. So there is a request that needs to be made to backfill stocks, absolutely.

But it should not come at the expense of healthcare, housing, FEMA, things that Americans need. And, frankly, this was the president that came in on the idea that we're going to lower costs for you, that this is about affordability.

So I think you are actually seeing bipartisan support against this and saying that they need to do better. Obviously, I think Democrats are going to be more outspoken about it.

But it is, you know, to -- to the point you were making earlier, it is tying Republicans in knots because how do you defend that? It is a pretty indefensible number.

BLACKWELL: Yes. With the increase in the cost of oil and --

SINGH: Right.

BLACKWELL: -- heeding oil to say we're going to cut the support so you can heat your home in Maine, in Michigan, in these states that are toss-ups for the election.

Rick, you -- you brought up the point that the president should take his case to Congress. Why isn't he?

TYLER: wars are -- look, wars aren't popular. During the first Gulf War, George H.W. Bush had great poll numbers. His -- his numbers were way up. And then they went down.

And as the wars dragged on, we went through a cultural shift about the idea of war and how long it was. And that hasn't really changed. This war is not making the president more popular. It's making him less popular. And so that's -- that's the change.

This is also a president who promised no new wars. He's also a president who said he was going to address the affordability issue. This is the president who said he was going to increase the economy.

On the affordability issue, Trump's in a 20 percent approval rating. On the economy overall, his in the 30s.

And so -- and the difference seems to be right now is if -- if you have capital, right, you're invested, then -- then the last eight years or less, you did pretty well.

If you don't have capital, you're in real trouble because car payments have gone up, gas has gone up, rent has gone up, affording a home is really a huge problem for many Americans. And -- and Trump said that he would deal with those issues by not getting into these new wars and he's doing exactly the opposite.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Let me ask you about the Secretary of Defense. We heard from the reporter who did that "Time" cover piece yesterday that there were -- you had on one side, Netanyahu telling the president that this is going to be existential for the Iranians. They're going to fight this time.

[23:35:02]

And the other year, you had Secretary Hegseth telling the president that it's going to be like Soleimani from the first term, or it's going to be like Operation Midnight Hammer. They'll do something, but it's not going to be consequential. And that he was caught off guard. What do you make of that?

SINGH: You know, the president has at his disposal some of the best people in the country that gather intel and that can brief him. So there's no excuse that -- that there are people around here that I think did present a -- a very clear picture of how difficult this war would be.

I -- I've heard that, you know, Chairman Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, outlined how complex this was going to be. And frankly, it was going to be a long haul.

I think the president uses the military as a way of political wins for him. And you saw that with -- I mean, Operation Midnight Hammer was a success tactically, but also the -- the operation with Venezuela and seizing Maduro.

I mean, these were big wins for the president, but they were not as complex as the operation that you have ongoing in Iran.

And so I -- I do think the president has been misled by those senior leaders that are advising him and saying, this is going to be quick. We are going to go in and out.

You want to go in and out and have regime change at the same time, I mean, it just doesn't work and it doesn't make sense without putting boots on the ground. And so that's how we're in this bit of a quagmire that we're now left in.

Because at the end of the day, if the president tomorrow declares victory, is it though? I mean, we still have the stockpiles of uranium and enriched uranium still left in Iran. That was exactly what you wanted to get. So, how can you declare victory when that still remains on the ground?

BLACKWELL: Noem is out. Bondi is out. And now the president has an unpopular war and all the secondary and tertiary elements of the war that are unpopular. You think Hegseth is in trouble?

TYLER: Well, Hegseth -- look, Hegseth is supposed to be the Secretary of War. He's supposed to be -- but he seems to be -- he seems to be more at war with the press than anybody else. His performance as a communications person when he comes from the media has not been stellar. And that has led to his own -- he's more unpopular than (INAUDIBLE) in his worst days. He's more unpopular than Cheney in his worst days.

And you need to have people to have a positive opinion. I think people have a positive opinion about the military, but there seems to be a lot of chaos. I mean, he just got rid of his army chief of staff. And there's a lot of shake up going on over there. He doesn't like dissension and disagreement.

I can understand when people -- when -- when the secretary says, this is what we're doing. Go do it. That's one thing. But not to take any feedback or not to take any advice, you know, I don't know.

You know, if -- if we have more days like today and yesterday --

BLACKWELL: Yes.

TYLER: -- where two -- I think three jets --

BLACKWELL: Three. Yes.

SINGH: Three, yes.

TYLER: -- were hit and Black Hawk chopper --

SINGH: Two, yes. Yes.

TYLER: -- was also hit, this is not -- this does not comport with what either Hegseth or the president have been telling us over and over again that we dominate the skies at 100 percent, their radar is down, that they have no capability to shoot. Those things are not true.

And now we know they're not true. And that's a dangerous thing. When the president says things that are not true and they're proven not to be true, then how can we trust the next thing? Like he says, the war is going to be over very soon. Nobody believes that.

BLACKWELL: Well, yes. Rick, Sabrina, thank you both.

SINGH: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Next, to the moon and back. This hour, the crew aboard the Orion capsule. They're reconfiguring their spacecraft, getting ready to observe the dark side of the moon for the first time. And we're going to give you an inside look.

Plus, the grandson of the man who invented Reese's is taking on big chocolate and he's here to talk about it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[23:40:27]

BLACKWELL: And that was the Artemis crew waking up this morning to "In A Daydream" by the Freddy Jones Band.

And judging by the new pictures NASA released of their view of the earth. Look at that. They are in a daydream.

Tonight, the Artemis is now half way to the moon. The crew is. NASA says, the mission is smooth sailing and the Orion even skipped a scheduled correction burn because in NASA's words, the trajectory is so precise there was no need to correct it.

And right now, the astronauts are reconfiguring their capsule so that they'll be able to observe the far side of the moon when they reach it in a few days. And the capsule needs reconfiguring because it's a really tight space.

CNN's Tom Foreman gives us a virtual look at what life is like up there for the crew.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What is life like for the Orion crew right now?

Well, I can tell you, it is busy and it's really interesting. Let's get rid of the service module for a moment here, although it will stay with the crew capsule for almost the entire mission.

I just want to talk about the crew capsule now though and give you a sense of what they're dealing with.

First of all, this is a big capsule, 23,000 pounds at liftoff, more than 11 feet tall, 16 feet wide. So that's big. And the interior is bigger than anything NASA has put up in space since the space shuttle.

But this is all a relative thing. If you were to come inside here, you would say, well, they have a lot to get in here, too. All four people have to live here. They have to have places to be strapped in or sit.

They have communications equipment, they have control equipment, they have emergency supplies, medical supplies, food, water, waste facilities, exercise equipment, even some things for entertainment.

[23:45:11]

So, yes, it's a lot to get into this space is as spacious as it is. If you look at this NASA video, you can get a sense of what it would really be like inside. Although, I should point out, you're not stuck to one space. Remember, in microgravity, they can use all of this space to do what they want to do.

Still, it's four people in this space for 10 days. That's not a whole lot of room. And they have to all work in concert to make it work properly. And interestingly enough, that includes sleeping at the same time.

Yes, that's right. At the same time, they will all strap in for the night, close their eyes and they will sleep and dream as they drift through the cosmos from the earth all the way up to this historic return to the moon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: All right. Tom Foreman, thank you.

Here with me now is Dr. Robert Satcher, former NASA astronaut and founder of OrbitalMed. Dr. Satcher, good to have you.

So, the crew is halfway to the moon. NASA says everything's going great. Are you surprised? I mean, of course, we're all glad that it is. But are you surprised that this mission has gone so smoothly, fairly, apparently, effortlessly so far?

ROBERT SATCHER, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: No. I think it's been years in the making. And, you know, it's been over fifty years. I think it's 54 years since we've launched people to the moon.

And so we've had a lot of time in between to do planning and to prepare for this mission. And NASA does a fabulous job of basically getting everything and de-risking things to maximum extent.

But we know that there are maybe things that happen. This is an experimental mission. And it's the first time that we've had people go back to the moon. So there may be some, you know, things that happen, but that's okay.

I think, you know, the approach to it by NASA is to tackle these problems head on.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

SATCHER: And we have a fabulous group of engineers in Johnson Space Center that are coordinating this mission. And we full well expect that it's going to be a successful endeavor.

BLACKWELL: So let's talk about what we're hoping to learn from this. Because, yes, we are focused on the history and the distance and the far side of the moon. But what are you expecting to learn from -- from this mission?

SATCHER: Well, the Orion spacecraft has to be tested and proved before we send people to the moon to stay there and permanent or to establish a base on the moon.

So that is what this mission is about. It's making sure that the spacecraft performs as expected. And the next steps will be people going and establishing a base on the moon, as was described by the administrator. So this is a -- an exciting time. It's -- it's going to be a lot.

Let's learn from this mission that is going to be paid forward. And establishing a base on the moon will be another fantastic step in the evolution of space exploration. So --

BLACKWELL: How far do you think we are from that?

SATCHER: -- it's very important.

The plan is to have boots on the -- on the moon by 2028. It could slip some, depending on what is found out during these missions, whether or not anything needs to be re-engineered or whatnot. But that's the time frame which has been laid out. So I think we'll see something in -- in that timeframe, probably latest 2029.

BLACKWELL: And so talk to me about the significance of -- of the firsts on this mission. The members of this crew, of course, we talked to Victor Glover Sr. yesterday.

What's that feel like and the -- and the importance here in 2026 have seen it?

SATCHER: Yes. It's exciting for the crew members. They -- they've been training for this for a long time. I know, you know, each of the crew members and, you know, probably the last person I talked to was Victor Glover.

But really excited to be going. And it's, you know, service to the country, it's service to the nation. It's expanding boundaries of space exploration. So it's a great honor to -- to be going.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

SATCHER: And I know that they're really excited to -- to be there and -- and to be the first people to really get a good look at the -- at the dark side of the moon.

[23:50:04]

BLACKWELL: Yes. A service not just to -- to the country, but to the world, to humankind. Dr. --

SATCHER: Yes.

BLACKWELL: -- Robert Satcher, appreciate the conversation. Thank you, sir. Up next, Are Reese's still as good as you remember them? Well, the grandson of the inventor of Reese's doesn't think so. And he's here taking on Hershey to demand change. Brad Reese is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:55:07]

BLACKWELL: Well, it's Easter weekend and there's going to be a lot of candy unwrapped, including the classic, you know, a little of my chocolate and your peanut butter. A little of your peanut butter and my chocolate You know what I'm talking about? Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. They're iconic.

But Hershey, the owner of Reese's candy, started substituting chocolate products in some of their candies, including the Reese's Heart candies. And that's called the attention of one of the grandsons of Reese's Creator.

Since February, he's been trying to appeal to Hershey's to preserve Reese's legacy. Earlier this week, Reese's announced they'll use the classic milk and dark chocolate in all recipes by 2027, according to Hershey, that changes only three percent of the Reese's recipes.

The company said in a statement that Hershey is committed to making products consumers love, and that means continually reviewing our recipes to meet evolving tastes and preferences.

Well, joining me now is Brad Reese, his grandfather is H.B. Reese, the founder of Reese's. Brad, hello to you. Thank you for your time.

You call this a P.R. stunt. What else are you pushing for?

BRAD REESE, GRANDSON OF REESE'S PEANUT BUTTER CUPS INVENTOR H.B. REESE: Well, it's brilliant. What they've done is they -- they -- they basically declared that the consumer has won, a victory. And -- but I -- I think it's just total bunk. I don't think it's going to happen.

There's red flags in everything that they've said. One -- one example is the fact that the CEO said that he came to this decision last summer. Well, if that's true, then for months, they've knowingly allowed degraded products on shelves.

BLACKWELL: Let me ask you this, Brad.

REESE: That's not --

BLACKWELL: Many people, and I hate to interrupt, but many people love Reese's. Even the ones that you say are degraded.

What is the difference between what we eat today that people love and what you remember from your grandfather's recipe?

REESE: OK. Well, my older sister stopped eating Reese's Peanut Butter Cups five years ago because she said she no longer enjoyed them. What people -- I'm 70. What people my age believe is that their taste buds have changed. Sometimes they will also believe they got a bad batch and it's not their taste buds. It's not a bad batch. They're actually de -- degrading the ingredients, even in the original Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.

And let me explain that. For example, all the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups that are sold in England and Europe, they're manufactured in Mexico. And on the wrappers in England and Europe, you no longer see milk chocolate on the front of the wrapper, like you do in the United States.

And if you look at the ingredients on -- on those England and Europe Peanut -- Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, the ingredients will say, milk chocolate flavored. And then it will also say, peanut butter cream center.

BLACKWELL: Now, Hershey's denies that there's a difference between the ones that are sold in Europe and the ones that are sold in the United States. I know you disagree with that.

Let me ask you this, what -- why are you so adamant about this? Because you have no stake in the company, you don't benefit from it anymore. There's some who are critical of you. Why are you so passionate about this?

REESE: Well, I helped --I helped stop the sale in 2002. And that was a done deal. And I worked 24 or seven for months to stop that sale. And not me, but everybody.

And -- and since stopping that sale, the Hershey cash dividend has increased by 800 percent. Now it increased by 800 percent because of the quality of the Reese's brand. And the products that I'm specifically calling out besides the peanut butter cups, that's -- they're -- they're doing the minimum. They're doing the minimum on the peanut butter cups, just enough.

They've been working for quite some time, Hershey. Back in 2005, the chairman and CEO of Hershey was Richard Lenny. He also, simultaneously, was the Chairman of the Grocery Manufacturers Association. And he was secretly lobbying the FDA to change the standard identity of chocolate.

And I helped work with Gary Guittard of Guittard Chocolate Company in San Francisco. Gary Guittard stopped Rick Lenny from changing -- from getting the FDA to change the standard at getting the chocolate.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

REESE: So this has been ongoing. And specifically what's happening now, the favorite line extensions, for example, the Reese's Fast Break, no longer milk chocolate. I'm talking about the king size bars.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

REESE: It's sold in stores and checkout counters. Also, Reese's Sticks, no longer milk chocolate.

The Reese's Take 5, the very first Super Bowl ad.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

REESE: -- that Hershey ever did in February 2020, no longer milk chocolate. It's now a coated -- compounding coating. Chocolate candy.

The same thing with Mounds --

BLACKWELL: Well, Brad --

REESE: -- and Almond Joy.

BLACKWELL: Brad, I know that this is something you're passionate about. A lot of people will be talking about this weekend. I thank you for your time tonight. And there's still people who still love Reese's.

Brad Reese, thanks so much. That does it for me. "The Story is with Elex Michaelson" is next.