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Melania Trump's Rare Address Returns Epstein Case to Spotlight; DOJ: Bondi Won't Appear for Epstein Deposition; Vance Travels to Pakistan for Iran Talks. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired April 10, 2026 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Be a statement and not an announcement. And a senior adviser to the first lady had told the New York Post that its substance would, quote, "spread internationally." Complete silence in the White House cross hall, a very notable and official formal space to deliver this announcement, as the First Lady walked in and sought to place distance between herself, Jeffrey Epstein, and Ghislaine Maxwell.

Now, she has been very litigious on this issue in the past, but she has not spoken about it publicly, ignoring a shouted question on the issue as recently as February. Now, what is most notable here is that the first lady is directly undercutting the messaging coming from her husband, his West Wing, and some of his top lieutenants, including former Attorney General Pamela Bondi.

This is something that Trump and Bondi have repeatedly and emphatically sought to tamp down, saying that the country is ready to move on. And you might remember that very notable moment at a hearing back in February when Bondi was asked to turn around and apologize to Epstein survivors. But on Thursday, Melania Trump once more showing her independent streak with this call for action, public hearings from survivors with transparency in Congress.

Now, one source familiar with the matter tells us that President Trump did get a heads up that this was coming. However, the president spoke by phone to a reporter from MS NOW and said he didn't know what this was about. So, as his team has urgently tried to shift the attention elsewhere, this issue now once more gaining momentum.

Betsy Klein, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Well, this month, it's brings new testimony in the House Epstein investigation. The Justice Department announcing Pam Bondi does not, of course, have to appear for her upcoming deposition before the House Oversight Committee about the release of the file, saying she doesn't have to appear because she's no longer attorney general. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, though, is scheduled for a voluntary interview with the panel on May 6. The files showed Lutnick communicated with Epstein more than a decade after he claimed to have cut off all contact.

Still to come here, we'll ask Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi from the Oversight Committee about the first lady's statement there, her call for a public hearing for Epstein survivors and also his call to have the president removed from office.

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[10:35:00]

HILL: Happening now, Vice President J.D. Vance is on his way to Islamabad, Pakistan, where he's going to lead the negotiating team meeting with Iranian representatives this weekend. President Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, are also involved in those discussions.

Joining us now is Democratic Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois, who serves on the House Intelligence and Oversight Committee. Congressman, it's good to have you with us this morning.

REP. RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI (D-IL): Thank you so much.

HILL: So, J.D. Vance, now leading this team. Of course, we know he was not really a big fan of intervention in the first place, perhaps the most resistant within the administration, according to our reporting. Sources telling CNN last month as well that CNN, that Iran rather, had said they're done talking with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, but they would engage with the vice president. Is J.D. Vance the right person right now to be in this key position?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: I don't know. I think that J.D. Vance or whoever is going to be negotiating has to face one reality which is that Iran believes that it has a lot more strategic leverage, especially economically, than it ever did before. I think the biggest problem right now is that we've exposed a huge weakness and the Iranians know they control the Strait of Hormuz, they control our oil supplies.

And as a consequence, I'm concerned that they're going to use that leverage to ease pressure on them with regard to their nuclear program or their ballistic missile program or their proxies. And in the meantime, we are engaged in an illegal, unconstitutional war that has to end right now.

HILL: So, let me just press you on that. You said you believe Iran has more strategic leverage than it has before.

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Yes.

HILL: You're saying you believe they're going to use that. So, are you saying that this is going to lead to a weaker deal, put the United States in a worse position than we were before the war?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Absolutely. I think that we should have used our diplomatic efforts in concert with our friends, partners and allies to bring to bear maximum pressure on the Iranians at a time when we could have done a better job of basically avoiding the economic costs that have now accrued to the United States.

Look, the Iranians know that Americans are reeling under $4, $5, $6 gas prices at this point, 3.3 percent inflation that was announced today, potentially higher interest rates, and they're going to use that against us. And those facts were not present before the start of this war.

HILL: You called earlier this week for President Trump to be removed from office following his threat to, quote, "eliminate -- to eliminate" rather a whole, quote, "civilization in Iran." There has been a significant amount of reaction to those comments, of course. I want to play what one of your Democratic colleagues had to say about calls to invoke the 25th Amendment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)`

REP. ADAM SMITH (D- WA): Yes, I think the 25th Amendment should be invoked. Of course, the people who have the power to do that aren't going to do that anymore than we have the votes for impeachment. So, spending a lot of time focusing on, gosh, we have to remove him from office and coming up with a specific plan for it, we don't really have a path.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Adam Smith there. Congresswoman Madeleine Dean, also echoing a similar statement, saying a sentiment -- rather, saying that pursuing the 25th Amendment, she believes, is not the best use of Democrats' time. Do your colleagues have a point, Congressman?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: They might have a point. But remember, Marjorie Taylor Greene completely disagrees. She also called for the invocation of the 25th Amendment.

[10:40:00]

I think there's a growing awareness on the part of my colleagues on the other side that this guy is losing his marbles. He is not mentally in the right place to discharge the duties of his office. And so, as that chatter grows on the other side, even publicly, I think that we should, you know, call a spade a spade and say, you know, look, I don't think that this person should be, you know, running our country now.

Remember, talking about eliminating a whole civilization in and of itself erodes our national security because it gets to our adversaries and the bad guys to think, OK, well, maybe we should take preemptive action of some kind that could harm Americans and our interests around the world.

HILL: There does not seem to be a lot of appetite within President Trump's cabinet to use the 25th Amendment. We'll continue to follow that, see where things go. I do want to get you, though, on these latest developments when it comes to the Epstein files.

So, the comments that we heard from the first lady yesterday seemingly coming out of nowhere. There are a lot of questions about the why, which still have not been answered. But in terms of what she was calling for, she's calling on Congress to hold public hearings with Epstein survivors. Is that something that the Oversight Committee has plans to follow up on?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Well, I'm glad that Ranking Member Garcia echoed her sentiments. I think we should call these survivors to Congress, and I hope that Jim Comer, the chairman, listens to her call.

I think that -- remember, let's level set why we're even here. It's because the survivors, more than 1,000 victims of this ghastly child sex trafficking ring perpetrated by Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein, then-girls are now middle-aged women who have yet to receive a single measure of justice. And so, that has stiffened the spines of a lot of Republicans and Democrats to finally resolve this issue, shed sunshine on what happened. But yet, numerous pieces of evidence and numerous documents have not been disclosed by the Trump administration. And so, I think Melania's call yesterday was very important.

HILL: It will be interesting to see how that plays out, especially given comments that we heard from the acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, about the Epstein files just in the last week. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD BLANCHE, THEN-DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL: And so, I think that to the extent that the Epstein files was a part of the past year of this Justice Department, it should not be a part of anything going forward.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. I'm not sure you totally get what people feel about that, but I want to move on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: This should not be a part of the DOJ moving forward is what we heard from him. Is that realistic?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: No, that's crazy talk. That's just a talking point from Donald Trump, kind of uttered by Todd Blanche. I know that Donald Trump wants this to go away. And in part, I think he started this Iran war and other foreign military adventures to avoid coming to grips with this Epstein issue.

Look, millions of pages of documents have yet to be released by the Justice Department, despite the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Witnesses have not come before the Oversight Committee yet as they should, including Pam Bondi, who, by the way, I believe should be held criminally in contempt if she does not appear before the committee as she has been subpoenaed. And so, this issue is not going away. Republicans and Democrats are calling for full transparency and bringing justice to the survivors of this ghastly sex trafficking ring.

HILL: Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, we appreciate your time this morning. Thank you.

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Thank you, Erica.

HILL: Coming up here, a journey that spans truly a lifetime. A woman born at Yale New Haven Hospital, later worked there as a janitor for 10 years. Now, she's returning as a doctor. She's with us next.

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[10:45:00]

HILL: This morning, an inspiring story for you. Shay Taylor-Allen, you're going to meet her in just a moment. After high school, she worked as a janitor at Yale New Haven Hospital. And then her mother became sick. And after seeing what her mom went through in the health care system, Shay said she decided she wanted to advocate for patients like her mother. She went back to school while still working full time. She's now getting ready to graduate from Howard University School of Medicine. And her next stop --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two, one.

DR. SHAY TAYLOR-ALLEN, RESIDENT, YALE HOSPITAL: I've got Yale. Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: that is right. She is headed back to where it all started. Back to Yale New Haven Hospital. Right where she worked, where she was actually born. This time, she will be there as a resident in anesthesiology. Dr. Shay Taylor-Allen here to share her story. It is so great to have you with us this morning.

You -- I mean, the reach of your story, I have to say, you were inspiring so many people. That moment when you found out you had matched with Yale. I love your reaction. But just walk us through what that was like for you. What it's still like a couple of weeks later.

DR. TAYLOR-ALLEN: Well, thank you for having me. This is an amazing opportunity right now. But that day was just, I always say it was just so surreal for me. I couldn't imagine that I was finally getting the answers that I needed and it was like a sign of relief once I seen that Yale was on that paper.

[10:50:00]

HILL: Yes, I'm sure. You know, I was really struck by, and I think so many people can relate to, that your inspiration, as I understand it, to become a doctor, to go into this field, started with your mom because of what your mom was not getting as a patient. Where the system was failing her. Can you talk to me a little bit more about how that not only inspired you, but how you're sort of using that in the hopes of making a change to some of the systems that are still in place? DR. TAYLOR-ALLEN: Of course. So, my mom went through a healthcare disparity that a lot of people in America, unfortunately, do go through and I use that as a sense of strength. I reached out to my CEO at the time because I was actually cleaning her office. I would take out her trash and I got this bright idea of let me email her to see if she could help out in some way. And she did that. And I got to see advocacy firsthand through my CEO. And I just knew I wanted to help more people. So, that's when I decided that I wanted to become a doctor. I went home to Google, how do you become a doctor? And I wanted to help people that were like my mom.

HILL: And here you are helping people just like your mom.

DR. TAYLOR-ALLEN: Yes.

HILL: You know that you share a lot of your story on social media, which is so engaging. And you have a number of followers, I think who would agree. But part of that message that you also have is to not be afraid of no. You weren't afraid of the no, right? When you reached out to the CEO for help with your mom. How do you think that's continued to serve you?

DR. TAYLOR-ALLEN: I think it continued to open more doors for me. I wasn't scared of doors shining in my face. I wasn't afraid of failure, right? Failure was a big part of my journey. I felt so many times before I got here. And a thing I did not allow is for people to make me believe that I didn't belong here. So, I became so skillful and knowledgeable and the things that I needed to learn so I wasn't dismissed or denied. So, I kept opening those doors and I kept kind of putting down those walls so I can be where I am today.

HILL: You've talked about the importance of mentors and how they have really served you. And I can see you paying it forward, right? Even just in what you're putting out on social media. How important is that to you? And also, just even in the form of representation, what that can mean.

DR. TAYLOR-ALLEN: It's extremely important. We need people that look like us in order to mentor us through this process. My mentor is not a woman of color but she helped me so much to get through this journey and to refine my application and help me with things with how to become more professional in these spaces. So, I think having people who look like you or even people who want to help you because that's just what they want to do is extremely important in this journey.

HILL: Shay, thank you for giving us a bright spot. The news cycle can feel pretty rough I know for a lot of people. This is the kind of good news that we all need. Thank you and best of luck to you.

DR. TAYLOR-ALLEN: Thank you so much. Thank you for having me.

HILL: Absolutely, absolutely. Connecticut's lucky to have you.

DR. TAYLOR-ALLEN: Thank you.

HILL: Still to come here in the Situation Room, how about another bit of good news? The countdown to Splashdown. Hours away now from Artemis II's return to Earth following this historic mission around the moon and it is a big day ahead for the crew. The alarm goes off for them just about 40 minutes from now. We're going to be live from Mission Control in Houston ahead.

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[10:55:00]

HILL: The breaking news. We just got in important new numbers which show consumer sentiment plummeting to the lowest level on record. CNN Senior Business Reporter Matt Egan joins us now with these numbers. That is quite the superlative, Matt. Walk us through what this is telling us.

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Erica, this report is telling us that war-driven price hikes in this economy have really darkened the mood on Main Street. So, these new numbers show that consumer sentiment at the beginning of this month unexpectedly plunged to all- time lows since they started tracking this shortly after World War II. You look at consumer sentiment falling by 11 percent just between March and April. Sentiment is now 9 percent lower than it was at this point last year.

And look, this really shows two things. One, I think how shocked people are by skyrocketing gasoline prices, but also just how sensitive Americans are to any sort of price increase right now, especially highly visible ones like gasoline. And the fact that we're talking about record low consumer sentiment really does say a lot when you think about the fact that this means that sentiment is now lower than it was back in 2022 when gas prices were at $5 a gallon, lower than even the lowest points of COVID or after the Great Recession. And the University of Michigan, which puts out this survey, it said that this really was across the board. This was a widespread breakdown in sentiment. They said it was across age group, income groups, and political affiliation.

Now, I should note that 98 percent of these interviews were done before the ceasefire was announced. But Erica, as you know, we're not expected to go back to those pre-war gasoline prices anytime soon. Back to you.

HILL: All right. Matt. Appreciate it. Thank you.

EGAN: Thanks.

HILL: The next hour of the Situation Room starts right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

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