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The Situation Room
Vice President Vance in Hungary; New Video of ICE Shooting Incident Released; Lunar Flyby; Oil Prices Surging. Aired 11:30a-12p ET
Aired April 07, 2026 - 11:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:30:00]
VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: If you look at this line chart that hopefully we can put on screen, you can just see how the price of oil has taken off in the last month.
That is trickling down directly to consumers, first via gas prices. As you mentioned, another 2 cent increase overnight; $4.12 is the national average. That's well over $1 up from just a month ago.
But, also, diesel prices have increased at a faster rate than gas prices. Diesel is $5.65 a gallon. That is just about 20 cents shy of the record that was set in 2022. So, because of those higher diesel prices, now companies, shipping companies, are having to make a decision about adding fuel surcharges, Amazon adding a fuel surcharge temporarily of 3.5 percent to any third-party sellers that are using their shipping service.
You also have the U.S. Postal Service for the first time adding an 8 percent temporary fuel surcharge for packages. And then you have the airlines who are grappling with higher jet fuel prices, doubling again in the last month. Jet fuel accounts for about 20 to 30 percent of what airlines have to pay.
And instead of passing that down directly to consumers via ticket prices, you have Delta, United, JetBlue increasing their baggage fees by about $10. And then you have United, for example, saying that they're going to have to cut the number of flights by 5 percent over the next six months.
So we know that businesses are really trying to absorb as much as they can, Wolf, with these higher energy costs and not pass it down to consumers. But, ultimately, guys, they are just burdened by these higher prices and have to figure out where to pass that buck somewhere, trying to do it delicately.
But you can see there that airlines in particular are doing it in more creative ways, where hopefully the U.S. consumer doesn't feel it as much, Wolf.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: All right, Vanessa, thank you very much.
Vanessa Yurkevich reporting for us -- Pamela. PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: All right, the war with Iran has sparked the
biggest oil supply shock in history. It has sidelined an estimated 12 to 15 million barrels of crude oil per day.
CNN business senior reporter David Goldman is here to make it make sense.
David, today's question is, are we facing an oil shortage?
DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR REPORTER: Well, it's a great question, Pam, because I think that a lot of people are wondering, well, if prices are this high, are we actually running out of oil? What's going on?
Well, the oil market is telling us yes. So take a look at this. We already know oil is very expensive today, $111 a barrel. That is the highest in four years. But what is going on with actual oil? This is on paper. What happens if you want to buy a barrel of oil?
Look at this, $141 if you want an actual barrel of wet oil for your factory. What is going on with this? It's a $30-per-barrel increase over what the market is telling us oil is worth. Why is that? Well, imagine that you are on a desert island and there's only one bottle of water left, one bottle of water. You would pay anything for that.
That's what's going on in the market right now. That's not the only thing that's telling us that the market believes that there's an oil shortage. Look at this. In May, for may delivery of oil on the futures market, $111, that's the price today if you want a barrel in May.
But if you go out to June, it's $101. That's a huge difference. And then look at this, July, $93. What is going on here? Why is it so much cheaper? That's because we believe that, in May, there's going to be oil available, maybe not so much in June. And so the contracts are getting front-loaded.
They want their oil right now. Now, what are they worried about? Look at this, jet fuel 94 percent higher. That's extraordinary. Just in the past month-and-a-half, since this war started, we are now paying $4.69 per gallon for jet fuel. Back in February, it was only $2.42.
This means that you and I are going to be paying a lot more for airfare, and it means that airlines can't afford this. They are going to cut flights. So there's a huge problem going on in the jet fuel market. That is real money for consumers.
It's not just in America. Look at all these countries, Russia, China, Pakistan, South Korea, Thailand all restricting petroleum exports. They're saying, we're concerned about a shortage. And this is the one that I really want to highlight. Bangladesh and Myanmar, both of these countries say they are going to ration fuel, Pam.
[11:35:18]
BROWN: Wow. And our inbox is filling up with questions we're hearing from viewers who want to just make sense of all of this. Jim from Tennessee asks: "Most of this Hormuz oil goes to Asian
markets, not to us. So why are our gas prices going up?"
I know it's a question a lot of people have.
GOLDMAN: Yes, Pam, take a look at this.
So, U.S. oil, this is what we produce, OK, 23.6 million barrels per day. We produce this, but we only use 20.6 million. OK, so where's the supply crunch? Why -- if we're producing more than we actually use, what's going on?
Here's the answer. We export a bunch of this oil. We import oil into this country. So we are trading on a global market. And so the price around the world affects what we produce. Look at this. That's how much, $190 per family per month because of the added cost of jet fuel, gas, oil. All of that is what we're paying today -- Pam.
BROWN: All right, David Goldman, as always, thank you so much.
And if you need David to make it make sense, you can e-mail us. Send us a selfie video of your question to MakeItMakeSense@CNN.com.
BLITZER: He always does a great job.
There's more news coming up, including from the historic Artemis II mission, the stunning views from the far side of the moon that human eyes had never seen until now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:41:07]
BROWN: Well, right now, astronauts on the Artemis II mission are just waking up after a tremendous day for the history books, reaching more than 250,000 miles from Earth during Monday's lunar flyby.
Christina Koch shared this message after the crew's extraordinary journey into deep space.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINA KOCH, ARTEMIS II CREW MEMBER: We will explore. We will build. We will build ships. We will visit again. We will construct science outposts. We will drive rovers. We will do radio astronomy. We will found companies.
We will bolster industry. We will inspire. But, ultimately, we will always choose Earth. We will always choose each other.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: And we're also getting a new image of the solar eclipse the crew observed from the Orion spacecraft. Look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REID WISEMAN, ARTEMIS II COMMANDER: The surprise of the day we just came out of an eclipse, where the sun (AUDIO GAP) moon and the entire dark moon about that big right out the window that we were watching, we could see the corona of the sun, and then we could see the planet train line up.
And we (AUDIO GAP) Mars, and all of us commented how excited we are to watch this nation and this planet become a two-planet species.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: And they also gave touching suggestions to name two lunar craters, including this one from astronaut Jeremy Hansen:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEREMY HANSEN, ARTEMIS II CREW MEMBER: We lost a loved one. Her name was Carroll, the spouse of Reid, the mother of Katie and Ellie.
It's a bright spot on the moon. And we would like to call it Carroll. And you spell that C-A-R-R-O-L-L.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: What a moving moment. You hear his voice shaking there, so emotional. Mission control observed a moment of silence in Houston as the four astronauts embraced in Carroll's honor.
BLITZER: CNN national correspondent Randi Kaye is over at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Randi, NASA is sharing yet more images from yesterday's flyby. Walk us through what we're seeing.
RANDI KAYE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we're really anxious to get more and more of these in today, Wolf.
We have seen a couple of dozen or so of them. They took about 10,000 images, apparently. So, if you look at what we have here so far, there is the Earth just dipping behind the lunar horizon, just such an incredible photo. You can see some detail of the moon there. Just the texture of it is really something.
There's another one, where the Earth looks so small. I mean, Reid Wiseman talks about being in between these two celestial bodies and how incredible it was to be there. We also have a close-up of the texture of the moon. If you look at that, you can see the craters there.
Apparently, the far side of the moon, according to the lunar scientists I spoke with, is really rugged and really mountainous. And you can see that. Then there's the eclipse that you mentioned. It's interesting. They didn't think they got a good picture of the eclipse apparently. Well, they sure did.
Those tiny little specks are planets around them, around the eclipse. That is just a stunning photo. And you could hear from the crew they were so amazed to be there. And we have a few more photos of the eclipse as well.
And there's the crew donning their eclipse glasses, so they could make sure that they looked at it safely through the windows of that Orion capsule, just an amazing sight, and so incredible that they're able to bring these photos and these images to us.
They're going to have a debrief with the lunar scientists here in Mission Control later this afternoon and also a phone call with the astronauts on the International Space Station. However they do that, they will make it work -- back to you.
BROWN: They will.
Randi Kaye in Houston, thank you -- Wolf.
BLITZER: And we're getting some breaking news coming into THE SITUATION ROOM.
The president of the United States, President Trump, just called into an event where Vice President J.D. Vance was speaking in Budapest, Hungary. I want you to listen to what the president said on the speakerphone during that event.
[11:45:03]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Progress.
J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Hello, Mr. President. How are you?
(CHEERING)
VANCE: Mr. President, you are on with about 5,000 Hungarian patriots, and I think they love you even more than they love Viktor Orban.
(CHEERING)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I can't believe that. I can't believe that, because I love Hungary. And I love that Viktor.
I will tell you, he's a fantastic man. We have had a tremendous relationship. And he does a job. Remember this. He didn't allow people to storm your country and invade your country like other people have and ruin their countries, frankly.
He's kept your country good. He's kept Hungarian people in your country. And he's done a fantastic job. And let me tell you, I like him a lot. But if I didn't think he did a good job, I wouldn't be making a call like this.
But, boy, that sounds like a big crowd. And that sounds like my kind of people.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: (OFF-MIKE) a response. I guess, how did J.D. do? Did he give a good speech, everybody?
(CHEERING)
(CROSSTALK)
VANCE: It's very early, sir.
TRUMP: It's early. OK.
Well, I just want to tell you, I'm a big fan of Viktor. I'm with him all the way. The United States is with him all the way. And it's a real honor to talk to you. You're really incredible people with great enthusiasm and brilliance, because you're brilliant people.
And I really love it. You have a man that kept your country strong and he kept your country good. And you don't have problems with all of the problems that so many other countries have because they let their countries be invaded.
And you don't have that problem because of Viktor Orban. That's the only reason you don't have that problem.
(CHEERING)
TRUMP: There was a lot of pressure on him to do it. And those other countries made big mistakes.
So, I wish you a lot of luck. And I love you all.
(CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Vice President Vance's visit to Hungary, by the way, this week, only days ahead of the country's national elections, is officially intended to deepen ties with the nation of some 10 million people.
Lots more coming up. We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:52:10]
BLITZER: New this morning, video from a city camera in Minneapolis shows the moments of a shooting involving an ICE agent and two Venezuelan immigrants. It also suggests why ICE's initial account of the events that night in January that the man violently attack the agent eventually fell apart. CNN's correspondent Priscilla Alvarez here with us. She's been looking
at the video.
Walk us through what we're seeing in this new video.
PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, and to start, Wolf and Pamela, we knew that something was off because, a month ago, the Justice Department dropped the charges against these two Venezuelan migrants and ICE said that its two agents had made false statements.
And now, through the release of this video, city camera video, we're starting to understand why that is. Now, when you watch the video, it's a nine-minute video, there's a struggle that ensues. And it's about 12 seconds.
Now, you're seeing the video there as it is happening. One of the things that had been said in the aftermath of this is that the struggle was about three minutes. But that's not true when you see this happen. The other really critical thing about this video is that it shows that a shovel is dropped before there's a struggle.
The shovel is important, because, in the initial statements from the Department of Homeland Security, they said that these two migrants had attacked the ICE agents with the shovel. But what this video shows is that that was not the case. The shovel was not part of the struggle.
There was a shovel present, but it was dropped on the ground. Now, all of this was during Operation Metro Surge. That was that unprecedented federal agent surge to Minneapolis. And this was when there were multiple incidents, of course, the two fatal shootings of the two U.S. citizens.
But this was also an incident that got a lot of attention. At the time, the Department of Homeland Security said and the secretary at the time said that these two migrants were trying to murder law enforcement. But ever since then, what we are learning is, again, that the two ICE agents made false statements under oath and that this video now shows that the way the struggle was described by these agents was not accurate.
And, therefore, the way the Department of Homeland Security described this was not accurate. Now, what we know from an ICE spokesperson in a new statement on Monday is that these agents could face termination, they're currently on administrative leave, or criminal prosecution. So this is still very fluid, because it is now a situation where two agents lied under oath.
BROWN: This isn't an isolated incident in terms of DHS officials not being fully forthcoming about what happened in a particular incident, right?
ALVAREZ: The conflicting narratives...
BROWN: Yes.
ALVAREZ: ... is something that occurred multiple times over the last year, but especially in January in Minneapolis. We even saw that in the case of the two fatal shootings of the U.S. citizens.
We even saw the White House say that they were getting conflicting information from the U.S. Border Patrol, which was a huge admission and concession from the White House at the time, because it spoke to the fact that they were coming out ahead and talking about incidents that still had not been investigated and that we did not have enough details on.
[11:55:10]
And this is one of those situations where, out of the gate, the Department of Homeland Security gave a statement that ended up not being true. And now that there is some backpedaling, we're realizing that that -- the originated -- the statement originated from false statements from the ICE agents.
BLITZER: Priscilla Alvarez, we can always count on you for the latest reporting. Thank you very, very much.
And, to our viewers, thanks very much for joining us this morning.
BROWN: "INSIDE POLITICS" with our friend and colleague Dana Bash is up after a short break.