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Allergy Season; Virginia Murder-Suicide Investigation; Atlanta Attacks; Will Iran Negotiations Resume?; Camp Mystic Investigation. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired April 16, 2026 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:00]

MIKAL WATTS, ATTORNEY FOR CAMP MYSTIC: The tragedy is, the water was coming from behind them from a creek that had never flooded like this before.

And you can see in the Polish videos the direction of that water that is trapping everybody in the Twins 1 and 2 and the other cabin where all these girls died.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Between Tweety Eastland, for her part, had to be evacuated by helicopter when she was going to give birth because of a flood in years past. I mean, why wasn't there more of a written evacuation plan for such a scenario?

WATTS: Well that's with respect to how do you get out of the camp itself.

As you know, having been in that camp, to get from Highway 39 into the camp, you go across the Guadalupe River, a low water crossing. And so that river floods, and so you can't leave. One of the disagreements that I had with Mr. Beckworth is he says, well, just bus them all out.

Well, you would have had them all drown in the bus, just like what happened in Comfort in 1987. You can't do that. But what we did have is, you stay in the cabins until somebody comes and gets you. Hundreds of girls were saved with that procedure.

What was unusual was, the water came from the opposite direction.

BROWN: Well, they had -- many had to evacuate through the window with their counselors, though. Many did have to take their action into their own hands with their counselors and evacuate through these windows to safety.

WATTS: Yes, the...

BROWN: Mikal, I really appreciate your time.

WATTS: The water came so, so quickly, it was necessary. I agree with you.

BROWN: Yes, it came very fast. WATTS: Yes, it did.

BROWN: There's no question that the water came very fast.

But, Mikal Watts, we appreciate you coming on to get Camp Mystic's side of the story in all of this. And we will have much more...

(CROSSTALK)

WATTS: Pam, I share Kyle's view. We appreciate your continued interest in this story. Thanks for having us on. I appreciate it.

BROWN: Thank you. I appreciate that.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: ... with Pamela Brown, and you're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

We begin with the breaking news.

The White House now says it's optimistic that negotiations can end the war with Iran. And, this morning, the U.S. defense secretary says, Tehran would be well advised to pursue peace as the cease-fire is due to expire next week.

Here's some of what Pete Hegseth had to say. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: You, Iran, can choose a prosperous future, a golden bridge, and we hope that you do for the people of Iran.

In the meantime, and for as long as it takes, we will maintain this blockade, successful blockade. But if Iran chooses poorly, then they will have a blockade and bombs dropping on infrastructure, power, and energy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The defense secretary also said that China has assured the U.S. it will not send weapons to Iran. It's the first Pentagon briefing since the U.S. Navy began blockading Iranian ports in and around the Strait of Hormuz.

And, this morning, we heard this warning from the U.S. military's Central Command to ships in the area:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do not attempt to breach the blockade. Vessels will be boarded for interdiction and seizure transiting to or from an Iranian port. Turn around and prepare to be boarded. If you do not comply with this blockade, we will use force.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: And in Tehran today, Iranian officials and Pakistan's key negotiator are due to meet for the second day in a row. Pakistan has kept communications open between the U.S. and Iran, and the White House has voiced optimism for a deal to end the war.

Turning to Israel's strikes on Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, this morning, CNN has learned that Lebanon's president has declined to speak with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. That's despite reports on would have been the first -- what would have been the first direct talks in decades between Israel and Lebanon.

[11:05:01]

Meanwhile, Lebanon state media is reporting that Israel has destroyed the last bridge over the Litani River, isolating thousands of people in Southern Lebanon from crucial aid.

BLITZER: All right, let's discuss what's going on.

Joining us now, Leon Panetta. He served as the U.S. defense secretary under President Obama. He was also the director of the CIA. Also with us, CNN political and national security analyst David Sanger of "The New York Times."

Secretary Panetta, I will start with you.

"The Washington Post" is reporting that the Pentagon is now getting ready to send more than 10,000 additional U.S. troops to the Middle East. This comes as the White House is voicing optimism of an eventual deal. And, today, Pakistan's key negotiator is meeting with Iranian officials in Tehran.

What does all this signal to you?

LEON PANETTA, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: I think what it signals to me, Wolf, is that we're just not sure where this is headed at this point.

Obviously, the president and the secretary are continuing to send additional forces to the region. The signal on that is, if we don't get an agreement, that, ultimately, war can return.

But I think the reality is, we are at a stage now where the president continues to say, the war is going to come to an end. Everybody is assuming that we're going to be able to end this war quickly, although we really don't know what the terms of that would be.

I would feel a lot better if our negotiators were there in Abbottabad basically being part of this discussion, but they're not. So I really am not sure that we have any firm understanding of where this is going at this point.

BLITZER: David, what do you think? Do you believe Iran is getting ready to potentially strike a deal?

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I think they'd like to strike some kind of a framework deal that they could then drag out the discussions. We have seen that happen before.

Look, the process of closing down a nuclear program in Iran is enormously complex. The process of closing down the missile program or putting limits on the range and number of its missiles, which was the U.S. objective during the talks before the war, is enormously complex. Inspecting all of this is enormously complex.

And that's why it took the Obama administration two years and a 150- page agreement to be able to go make that all happen. I'm not suggesting that it's going to take two years this time, but it's also a really hard thing to go do in two weeks and have the assurance that it is enforceable.

And, of course, that's the key question. And there's the additional problem for the administration that they have to actually show they have gotten -- they got more than President Obama got in 2015, because that was the agreement that President Trump declared was insufficient and, ultimately, I think put us on the pathway to these attacks.

BLITZER: Iran -- David, let me follow up. Iran has warned that, if the U.S. blockade of its ports continues, Tehran is prepared to block -- and I'm quoting now -- "all exports and imports across the region." That would include the Red Sea and the Gulf of Oman.

Does Iran, you think, have the military assets to actually enforce that?

SANGER: I don't think they do. And I'd be interested to hear Secretary Panetta on that question. But I don't think they have got -- I don't think they had the capability before this war broke out, and I would doubt they would have it today.

But the reaction itself is what's telling here, Wolf, because one of the conditions that I think the administration wants to have for this agreement is that the Iranian blockade on the strait ends completely. And what the Iranians are signaling, perhaps just for leverage, is going in the other direction.

BLITZER: Well, let me get Secretary Panetta's quick reaction. Go ahead, Secretary.

PANETTA: Well, look, I have been concerned about a blockade on top of a blockade, because the point, frankly, is to open up the Straits of Hormuz. That's what needs to be done, because, right now, we're getting the worst of all worlds.

The American people are paying a lot more at the pump. The straits are totally closed now by both Iran and the U.S. I think you can only go so far with that tactic. Ultimately, we have got to arrive at an agreement. We're in the sixth week of this war.

The president has said that this war would come to an end almost two days after he attacked Iran. He continues to say we're there. But, very frankly, it's hard to trust his words. It's hard to trust the negotiators involved. And there are a lot of questions about whether or not we can really arrive at the kind of very complex agreement that David outlined.

[11:10:21]

This takes work. It takes negotiations. It takes experience. It takes ability. And, frankly, that's not at the table right now.

BLITZER: We also just learned, and this just coming in the CNN, that Lebanon's president just had a phone call with President Trump, that according to the Lebanese presidency.

Their call came after the president declined to speak -- the Lebanese president declined to speak with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a Lebanese official told CNN.That contradicted earlier claims by Israeli officials and from Trump, for that matter, that the two leaders would actually hold historic talks maybe as early as today.

What do you make of this back-and-forth that's going on between Israel and Lebanon, Secretary Panetta?

PANETTA: Having worked with the parties, this is going to be a very tough challenge to try to bring everybody into the same room and be able to work out some kind of agreement.

I'm glad that they're talking. I'm glad that the president is trying to encourage discussions. That's all good news. But, from my own experience in the Middle East, we are a long way from resolving the issues between Israel and Lebanon.

BLITZER: Yes, I think you're right.

Leon Panetta and David Sanger, to both of you, thank you very much.

This note. David's book "New Cold Wars: China's Rise, Russia's Invasion, and America's Struggle to Defend the West" is now out in paperback with new insight, including on the first year of Trump's second term. Good book. You should read it.

Thank you very much once again to David and Leon Panetta.

And still ahead, Pamela.

BROWN: What the Trump administration is saying, Wolf, this morning after a man who immigrated to the U.S. is arrested in a deadly shooting spree.

BLITZER: And, later, a CNN exclusive, the incidents that now have federal authorities investigating a shelter for migrant children.

Stay with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [11:17:03]

BROWN: New this morning, a 26-year-old man has been charged in a string of violent and deadly attacks that took place in the Atlanta area this week. One of the victims has since been identified as Department of Homeland Security employee Lauren Bullis.

Her death prompted DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin to take to social media and note the defendant's previous crimes, as well as the fact that he became a citizen during the Biden administration. Mullin wrote on social media -- quote -- "These acts of pure evil have devastated our department and my prayers are with the families of the victims."

According to "The Atlanta Journal-Constitution," court records showed the defendant has prior convictions in Georgia and California, but they came after he was naturalized as a U.S. citizen.

So let's bring in our senior national correspondent, Ryan Young, from the Atlanta suburb of Decatur.

Ryan, what more are you learning about this suspect and the charges he's now facing?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Pamela, we're still digging into his background. We know he's 26 years old, Olaolukitan Adon Abel.

Of course, he was arrested and charged with malice murder, aggravated assault and firearm counts. And, of course, there's a lot of discussion about his background. We do know that he waived his hearing yesterday, his first appearance. So we don't have video of him, but we do have a picture of the suspect.

And what we do know, according to police, is, he went on a shooting spree in the DeKalb County area that lasted several hours. Where I'm standing right now, this is the crime scene, the final crime scene where the last victim was shot, that DHS employee.

But we know of his three other locations that he went around for several different hours. It was at one point around 1:00 a.m. where he shot a woman outside of a restaurant. She died. Then he went to a second location and shot a homeless man, according to police, outside of a grocery store, that man still in critical condition.

And then the last person he shot was right around this area, where neighbors tell us they are shocked by this. The woman who was walking here with his dog was shot and stabbed. We talked to a neighbor just in the last 10 minutes or so, who told us they can't believe this happened in this neighborhood.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It just shocked the nation about that. I mean, wow, just walking your dog, man. And I'm like, it kind of -- it sat on my heart. And it's real bitter. (END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Yes, Lauren Bullis worked for the Department of Homeland Security. She was an auditor. And you can understand why people in this neighborhood are angry. I talked to one neighbor who said she heard the gunshots.

The administration, of course, reacted pretty quickly. They said this Atlanta man is actually mentally ill. They said he's a psycho career criminal who just brutally murdered three innocent Americans. So, you understand the anger here.

Of course, we will have to wait until the next court case to figure out whether or not police know more about a motive. But, at the time he was captured, apparently more than 30 miles away from here near the Alabama line, so there's something they have to, of course, figure out, detailing where he was, whether or not there was any cameras in the area that could catch some of these shootings and try to figure out exactly what motivated him to kill these three innocent people in the suburb outside of Atlanta.

[11:20:07]

So many questions right now, so many things that we don't know, but, at the same time, he's now charged with murder into the DeKalb County Jail -- Pamela.

BROWN: It's awful.

Ryan Young, thank you so much -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Up next, there's more breaking news we're following. Police are investigating a murder-suicide involving Virginia's former lieutenant governor and his wife. We're live at the scene.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:25:14]

BLITZER: Breaking news.

Police say Virginia's former Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax shot and killed his wife and himself inside their home overnight. Authorities say the shooting stemmed from an ongoing domestic dispute over what seemed to be -- and I'm quoting now -- "a complicated or messy divorce."

CNN's Brian Todd is on the scene for us with the latest.

What are you learning now, Brian?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, we will show you the scene behind us. Our photojournalist Khalil Abdallah will zoom over my right shoulder,

show you where police and other investigators are still in the home. They're processing evidence. We saw police come out a short time ago with some tools that are used to process evidence. We also did see the two bodies being removed from the home just a short time ago.

Some new information on the shooting here from Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis, as we continue to show you images of the house, Davis saying that Justin Fairfax did shoot and kill his wife, Cerina Fairfax, inside the home, then killed himself.

The couple's two teenage children were inside the home when the shooting occurred, according to Chief Davis. And it was the son, the teenage son, who called 911 and reported the murder, suicide.

We do have a clip of the 911 dispatcher audio. Take a listen to that.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

EMERGENCY DISPATCHER: Caller stating that his dad might have stabbed his mom, saying that she's laying on the ground bleeding, can see holes in her shirt.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's going to look like an obvious DOA. I don't have a pulse. Alpha, we got another subject down in the bedroom upstairs. I think this is going to be our subject. He's got a firearm with self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

TODD: Cue me.

And other details from the Fairfax County police chief, Kevin Davis, he said that the shooting stemmed from an ongoing divorce proceeding dispute, what seemed to be, he said, a -- quote -- "complicated and messy divorce."

Detectives have reviewed this incident, according to Chief Davis, using a lot of cameras which were inside this house at the time of the shooting. Those cameras, he said, were placed there as part of the divorce proceedings.

Chief Davis also gave additional detail of the shooting, apparently based on what they were able to see from those cameras that were in the house, Chief Davis saying that it appeared that Justin Fairfax shot his wife several times in the basement of the home, then ran upstairs to the primary bedroom of the house, where he then shot and killed himself.

According to Chief Davis, there was a call to police in January by Justin Fairfax alleging assault by his wife. That was not corroborated. We have also, of course, in recent years have reported that Justin Fairfax was the subject of sexual assault allegations against him by two women in the early 2000s. He has -- he had vehemently denied those allegations -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Brian Todd on the scene for us, horrible, horrible development, thank you very, very much -- Pamela.

BROWN: The poor son having to see that and call 911.

Just ahead here in THE SITUATION ROOM, CNN's exclusive new reporting that details serious allegations of abuse at a New York shelter for migrant children.

But, before we go to break, Dr. Gupta has today's "Chasing Life," and he's talking about something millions of people, especially across the Southern U.S., are feeling right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta, host of CNN's "Chasing Life" podcast.

Spring is in full swing. You know that, warmer weather, blooming flowers, but for millions of people, it can also mean allergy season. But here's a question. What is an allergy?

DR. ZACHARY RUBIN, PEDIATRIC ALLERGIST: An abnormal immune system response to a foreign substance. That's what allergy is.

GUPTA: Pretty simple, right? But, for many, this can mean triggering symptoms like congestion, itchy eyes, headache, fatigue.

So when it comes to seasonal allergies, I want to give you a few precautions that you might take this spring. Check the daily pollen counts and limit going outdoors when those levels are high. Keep your windows closed during high pollen days. And also shower after being outdoors to remove pollen.

Now, you may be wondering, at what point should I actually see a specialist?

Dr. Zachary Rubin says:

RUBIN: So, from the seasonal allergy side, this is somebody who's having chronic sinus headaches, pain and pressure, terrible nasal congestion. They're not sleeping well. They have tried all the over- counter medications and they're not getting quite relief from it.

GUPTA: And you can hear more about how to optimize your health and chase life wherever you get your podcasts.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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