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The Situation Room

Interview With Kara Swisher; American Journalist Released in Iraq; New Photos of Artemis II Mission; Interview With Sen. Edward Markey (D-MA); State of Iran Cease-Fire Uncertain. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired April 08, 2026 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:01]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: There's a reason we call Iran the number one state sponsor of terrorism, because they took the money they make, and they invest it in tunnels, and they invest it in missiles, and they invest it in launchers and UAVs. And we are destroying and degrading that in historic proportions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: So, today, he said, look, President Trump went to the negotiating table and now, as a result of that, there's a trade-off and Iran can still sell oil and continue to be a state sponsor of terrorism. What do you make of that?

LT. GEN. BEN HODGES (RET.), FORMER U.S. ARMY EUROPE COMMANDER: Well, this goes back to the problem that many people have pointed to from the beginning, is that the end state for this war has never been clearly identified.

We have seen several different reasons or justifications for attacking Iran. All of them are good, by the way, each in their own self, but it's never been put together as a strategic end state that is the objective of the United States.

And so, when you don't have that clearly identified, then you end up justifying doing different things, which ends up being a problem with consistency and resources. I can only imagine the headaches for the planners at Central Command and in the Joint Staff trying to figure out what do they do when they're -- frankly, they're trying to hit a moving target, which is what does the president or Secretary Hegseth say we're trying to do?

The fact that, weeks ago, Pamela, this was about stopping the Iranian government from killing protesters, then it became about nuclear weapons, it was never even about the Strait of Hormuz. Now that has become the main thing. And it's just difficult to win a war if, number one, you don't clearly identify what it is you're trying to accomplish.

BROWN: Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, thank you so much. Appreciate it -- Wolf.

HODGES: Thanks for having me.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Good discussion. Thank you very much from me as well.

Just ahead: The war with Iran has voices from both ends of the political spectrum now calling for President Trump to be removed from office.

We will ask Democratic Senator Ed Markey for his view. That's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:36:37]

BLITZER: NASA is releasing some of the 10,000 photographs taken by the crew of Artemis II during their trip around the moon.

This incredible image shows an Earthset, what appears to be the Earth setting behind the surface of the moon. The crew is now heading home.

CNN's Ed Lavandera has more on their return trip.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is a crew that is on its way back to Earth. The Artemis II crew and the Orion capsule have left the lunar sphere of influence.

Now they're being pulled back to Earth by the Earth's gravity, and they're preparing over the next couple of days for reentry, which is obviously the most critical, the most dangerous part of this mission that is left for them to conclude.

The capsule will be entering the Earth's atmosphere through extreme conditions, temperatures of more than 5,000 degrees, going at intense speeds. Obviously, this is a very intense moment for this capsule and for this crew and for this mission overall.

And preparations are well under way to bring that crew back home. The Navy ship that will be out off the coast of San Diego bringing these astronauts back to land departed out into the waters today, preparing for all of the people and teams that are necessary to get that capsule and those astronauts out of the water and brought back to be checked out in San Diego before they return here to Johnson Space Center, so very critical moments in the days ahead.

And the crew is continuing to do other tests and configurations inside the capsule, and then they will spend the day before the return here to Earth reconfiguring that capsule so that all of the seats are prepared once again so that they can be ready for that reentry, which is expected to happen Friday evening 8:00 p.m. Eastern time, 5:00 p.m. Pacific time, daylight hours.

So we should have spectacular views of this Artemis II team returning back to Earth.

Ed Lavandera, CNN, Houston, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:43:10]

BROWN: Breaking news.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared that the U.S. had planned to hit several targets in Iran if the two-week cease-fire deal had not been reached by its deadline last night. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: If Iran did not come to the table and make a deal yesterday by the deadline, was the president really prepared to wipe out Iran entirely?

HEGSETH: Like I said, we had a target set locked and loaded of infrastructure, bridges, power plants. We had a lot of legitimate targets. They knew exactly the scope of what we were capable of.

Iran ultimately understood their ability, their future to produce, to generate power, to fuel their terrorist regime was in our hands, was in President Trump's hands. That's why they came to the table.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Joining us now is Democratic Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts.

Senator, nice to have you on.

So you called for President Trump to be removed from office for threatening war crimes. What is your reaction to those comments from Secretary Hegseth? And are you willing to consider this was just a negotiating tactic on the president's part?

SEN. EDWARD MARKEY (D-MA): What Trump and Hegseth were planning was a war crime. It was a promise to destroy a civilization, to commit a genocide, to wipe out the capacity for that country, its civilians to be able to operate.

It was a war crime that had been planned, and it was about to be perpetrated. And Hegseth is saying that they were ready to push the button to do it. That is a morally bankrupt policy that Trump was seeking to put in place. We had already lost 13 service persons; 100 Iranian students had been killed.

[11:45:06]

But yet, on top of that, they were planning an actual genocide, an actual destruction of a civilization. That's why Trump should be impeached. That's why Democrats should file impeachment articles against Trump. That's why the 25th Amendment to remove him should be invoked.

BROWN: Obviously, Senator, the president did not kill an entire civilization last night. Is impeachment really a productive or even feasible tool at this point with Republicans in control of Congress?

MARKEY: Democrats must proceed with the filing of the impeachment articles.

We need to work as hard as we can to put the Republican Party, which is morally bankrupt, which is spineless, which wants to be in a witness protection program even as moral atrocities are being planned in their name -- we must proceed towards the goal of removing Donald Trump from office, and we must do this now. And that has to be the Democratic agenda.

BROWN: But just to follow up on the question, how is this a feasible or even productive tool at this moment, particularly when Democrats are still in the minority?

MARKEY: The goal that we must have is to put this on the table, to press it as hard as we can, and to ask the questions, are we better off today than we were 40 days ago?

No. A morally bankrupt policy was put in place. The Strait of Hormuz is now in control -- is controlled by the Iranian army that's going to turn it into a toll road. That is going to raise prices around the globe. The uranium is still under the control of the Iranian army. The people in Iran are not free.

This has been a complete and total failure militarily, but it has also been a moral failure for our country. And the Democrats must push in order to ensure that we have this impeachment proceeding begin in the House of Representatives.

BROWN: GOP Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, often a Trump ally, told "The Wall Street Journal' yesterday that the president -- quote -- "loses me if he attacks civilian targets" like infrastructure.

Does it give you any comfort that some of your Republican colleagues share your perspective on this issue?

MARKEY: The problem is that the Republican majority was silent for 40 days.

And maybe there were a few voices at the very end, but it wasn't enough. The Republican Party right now needs to grow a spine. They need to stand up against Donald Trump. They need to take control of the agenda of their party, because they are going to otherwise pay a tremendous price this fall, because the voters are going to be coming with pitchforks for the Republican and House Senate members who have allowed for Trump to engage in these policies that harm us internationally and harm us domestically on a daily basis.

And there is a big bill that's going to come due, and it's going to be the Republican House and Senate members who pay it at the ballot box this November.

BROWN: We will see how that plays out.

I want to ask you what Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said. He says that Congress should ultimately approve any proposal to end this war. Do you agree with that assessment?

MARKEY: We should -- we have been having votes on whether or not this war should even start. And the Republicans led by Lindsey Graham have voted not to invoke the War Powers Act, not to give the Congress any role in this conflict whatsoever.

So they have had chance after chance after chance in order to vote to have Congress with a role. If they want to have a vote, let's have a vote on the first use of nuclear weapons, because Trump was threatening to use nuclear weapons in this conflict.

And no president, no president should have the authority...

BROWN: Well, Pete -- Sec -- the White House said that's not true. And Pete Hegseth also said that they had certain targets, infrastructure targets. He did not indicate that they were going to use a nuclear bomb, just to point that out, Senator.

MARKEY: That is not the very strong impression which J.D. Vance left yesterday. He left a completely different impression, that nuclear weapons were on the table for use.

And that's why we need to debate in Congress immediately the no first use of policy for nuclear weapons. The use of nuclear weapons cannot be part of the madman theory of negotiation in a modern nuclear era. And it's time for Congress to assert its authority that no nuclear weapons can be used without the express consent of Congress if we are not being attacked with nuclear weapons.

[11:50:23]

BROWN: And the White House had said that it was not going to use nuclear weapons. But, of course, there was that TRUTH Social that went out saying that he would destroy an entire civilization, leaving many questions.

Senator Ed Markey, thank you so much. We appreciate it -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And there's more breaking news. An American journalist kidnapped in Iraq has now been released and is preparing to come home.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the U.S. government is working to support Shelly Kittleson's return. She was kidnapped last week near Baghdad by a pro-Iran militia.

CNN national security analyst the former Pentagon official Alex Plitsas is joining us right now. He's now director of the Counterterrorism Program at the Atlantic Council.

Kittleson, I understand, Alex, is a personal friend of yours. She listed you as her emergency contact before she was kidnapped. Have you had a chance to speak to her yet? And, if you have, what can you tell us about how she's doing in her release?

ALEX PLITSAS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Hi, Wolf. Thanks so much for having me.

Yes, so about a week ago this past Friday, Shelly had reached out and let me know that there was a potential issue and asked if I would be a point of contact. And I said sure. I have known her for years. She's an incredible human being, a wonderful frontline journalist. And she just does amazing work.

Unfortunately, a week ago this past Tuesday, she was taken hostage and held for about a week by Kataib Hezbollah, the Iraqi branch of Hezbollah that's local there. And the Iraqi government was able to sort of step in and negotiate, in coordination with the United States. And it was absolutely fantastic.

And the work that the U.S. government has done over the last week has been unprecedented in terms of the time frame to get this release effected. So she has been -- she's been transferred. She's in U.S. custody. She -- I'm expecting a phone call hopefully this afternoon to hear from her as she's transiting.

So just welcome news at this point that she was OK. There was a horrific car crash when she was initially taken. So we were concerned about her well-being. But she appears to be in good health at this point.

BLITZER: Do you know exactly where Shelly is right now and when she will be coming home?

PLITSAS: She's in U.S. custody in terms of the U.S. government having control to make sure that she's safe for the moment. And she will be transiting shortly.

Her exact location is not being transmitted right now until she's effectively and safely moved.

BLITZER: Well, we hope she's home soon.

CNN reported, as you know, Alex, that the U.S. government warned Shelly Kittleson about an active plot to kidnap or even kill her before she was taken. That's when she designated you as her emergency contact in case of an emergency like this.

What sort of precautions was Shelly actually taking, knowing that she was under some sort of threat?

PLITSAS: I mean, she's a very cautious individual. She's somebody who's been reporting from the region for quite some time. She's been living in Iraq, reporting from Iraq and Syria. She was in Afghanistan prior to the end of the war, also reporting from there.

And so she's somebody who's culturally astute. She's aware of her surroundings. She was in a major city. And she had taken precautions and was sort of checking in with folks to make sure that she was OK. But at the end of the day, she is a frontline journalist. And there was a lot of focus from folks online on the fact that she had been warned.

But these are the same people who turn in to see our colleagues overseas, including yourself, who have been immensely successful in your career bringing that real transparency and information that's just not made available without folks like yourself there to provide it for everybody. And she's been doing that as an independent journalist, without the benefit of having a major network behind her.

So it's a trade-off between ensuring transparent and free information is flowing to the people and at the same time her own safety. And she chose to make sure that free flow of information, transparency and accountability was there for the greater good of everyone else over her own safety.

BLITZER: And we are so happy she has been freed and that she will be coming home very, very soon.

Alex, thanks for all you have done. Appreciate it very much.

PLITSAS: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: And we will have more news when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:57:02]

BLITZER: CNN's new original series "KARA SWISHER WANTS TO LIVE FOREVER" follows Kara on a journey to discover the fact and the fiction about longevity industry -- the longevity industry.

BROWN: Kara explores the ethics, science and technology behind the quest to live longer and how some countries are using it to keep people healthy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KARA SWISHER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Kimchi, of course. Of course, oh, an actual apple. Thank you. Tell me what you do. You put meat, all right, and some sauce, right? Oh, my God, that's so good.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (OFF-MIKE) eat it.

SWISHER: That's amazing. You get this free every day of your lives before you finish school.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

SWISHER: You guys eating this -- I can't imagine young people in the United States eating any of this at all, especially vegetables. How can we get American kids to eat like this?

What would you tell them? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE)

SWISHER: Great idea.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (OFF-MIKE)

SWISHER: Oh, that's a good idea. How long do you all want to live?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One hundred years.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE)

SWISHER: What?

(LAUGHTER)

SWISHER: You probably will.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: I can't wait to watch this.

Kara Swisher joins us now. So we just saw you, Kara, try this typical school lunch in South Korea. I have to be honest, I couldn't hear the tips. It was hard to decipher, but I'd love to know what those are for my kids.

SWISHER: Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: Tell us more about them. Yes, what long-term effects does preventative health care have, especially on our gut health?

SWISHER: Well, hugely.

They're eating fermented foods there. They're eating whole foods. They're eating vegetables. They obviously have a starch in rice, but they combine it in a way that's incredibly healthy. And the important thing is, every school has a nutritionist who then designs these lunches.

And the government pays for it, and everybody gets it. And they start from a very early age thinking about what good food is, as opposed to being attacked with Doritos and all manner of processed foods that we do in our system, which we have the least possibly good food served to our children in early age.

And so they develop a taste for it, which is really important.

BLITZER: I can't wait to watch your special, Kara, and hopefully it will help all of us live a little bit longer.

How do you think healthy options like this can become more mainstream in the U.S.? SWISHER: You know, Wolf, it's not about living longer. It's about

living longer better, right, essentially. And so we have a health span and a life span, and they're very far apart by about 15 years.

And so many people spend the last years of their life quite sick in a sick care system. And so what's important is to bring the health span in line with the life span, and the life span will increase because of that. And so that's what's really difficult. And so preventative health is critical to doing that, doing all manner of exercise very early on.

[12:00:00]

There's obviously amazing scientific breakthroughs around using A.I. in cancer that we will be getting around or GLP-1s. But it's also in terms of -- it's almost like savings. Once you start in the beginning, it compounds over a lifetime.

And it matters in the time where everybody does start to break down inevitably, because that's ultimately what happens.

BLITZER: Great advice. Kara Swisher, thank you very, very much.

And don't miss the premiere of the all new CNN original series "KARA SWISHER WANTS TO LIVE FOREVER" this Saturday 9:00 p.m. Eastern. You can see it on CNN. You can also stream it on the CNN app. Starts on Sunday on the CNN app.

And, to our viewers, thanks very much for joining us this morning.

BROWN: "INSIDE POLITICS" with our friend and colleague Dana Bash starts now.