Return to Transcripts main page

The Situation Room

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Grilled on Capitol Hill; Trump DOJ Targets Southern Poverty Law Center; Interview With Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO); Interview With Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA); Trump Extends Iran Cease-Fire. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired April 22, 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]

GOV. ABIGAIL SPANBERGER (D-VA): And so, for those who might have disagreed with me on this referendum, I -- there are many other opportunities for them to look at my body of work as governor, the work that I am doing as governor, and see in that work that I am working for them and, importantly, for the commonwealth as a whole.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Are you enjoying being governor?

SPANBERGER: I am loving being governor. I love our Commonwealth, and this job is the best.

BLITZER: Well, good luck to you, and thanks so much for joining us, Governor Abigail Spanberger of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Appreciate it very much.

SPANBERGER: Thanks.

BLITZER: Pamela.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: All right, the next hour of THE SITUATION ROOM starts right now.

And happening now, breaking news: Where do peace talks stand? President Trump says the cease-fire with Iran has been extended, but that the blockade of Iranian ports will remain in effect. Tehran says it seized two ships in the Strait Of Hormuz, and the U.S. boarded a sanctioned oil tanker. We are following all of the latest developments.

BLITZER: And later: raising the alarm about the climate crisis. Scientists are now warning about how fast the ice is disappearing in the Arctic Ocean. Today is Earth Day, and CNN's Bill Weir will join us live from an iceberg.

Welcome to our viewers here in The United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown, and you're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BLITZER: And we begin this hour with the breaking news. Iran now says it has seized two cargo ships in the Strait Of Hormuz. This video from the tracking company MarineTraffic appears to show the vessels being stationary off the coast of Iran.

Iranian media says the Revolutionary Guard targeted a third vessel, and it's now -- quote -- "disabled" off Iran's coast.

BROWN: Iran's military action in the vital shipping route comes just hours after President Trump extended the cease-fire indefinitely.

So, uncertainty hangs over a possible second round of peace talks, and sources tell CNN that the president has a limited time frame for Iran to present a unified proposal.

For more, let's go live now to CNN senior White House reporter Kevin Liptak.

Kevin, what more can you tell us about how long the cease-fire might last?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: On paper -- and, on paper, I mean, on TRUTH Social -- this is open-ended. the president saying that the cease-fire would go on until the talks have concluded.

But in speaking with officials, it's clear that the president does expect this to have a relatively narrow time frame. He wants Iran to come back with what he calls a unified proposal relatively quickly. Of course, the fear is that Iran will use this cease-fire to drag out talks indefinitely.

And that's not something that the president or his advisers want to see happening. There is still a belief here at the White House that these talks could resume relatively quickly if Iran is able to smooth over some of the divides within its leadership that American officials see as holding up some of these talks.

They believe that those in-person discussions could be revived relatively quickly, that J.D. Vance could be on Air Force Two heading back to Islamabad, and the president could avoid resuming this bombing campaign, which, despite his bellicose rhetoric, is something that I think he very much wants to put off.

But, of course, Iran has its own parameters in all this, chief among them that the U.S. lift its blockade of Iranian ports in the Strait Of Hormuz. And what we've seen happening today, the Iranians seizing multiple vessels in that critical waterway I think just underscores that the fight now is very much on the seas.

This cease-fire is in place, but it is relatively fragile. The reality here is both sides think that they have some leverage in keeping a stranglehold over this very critical waterway. It seems to now be a test of which side is able to withstand some of the economic pain that this closure is having on both of their economies.

And the reality is that, unless a deal is put in place, unless both sides come to some kind of agreement, that the Strait of Hormuz will continue to be, I think, the center of the differences between these two sides.

And so how all of this proceeds for now remains uncertain, but I think still a degree of optimism that talks could be revived relatively soon.

BROWN: All right, Kevin Liptak, thanks so much -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And for more on the breaking news, I want to bring in Democratic Congressman Jason Crow of Colorado. He's a key member of both the House Intelligence and the House Armed Services committees. He also served combat tours as a U.S. Army Ranger in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Congressman, thanks so much for joining us.

CNN is learning that the U.S. sent a list of broad deal points it wanted the Iranians to agree to in this next round of talks, but that days went by without receiving any response from Iran.

[11:05:02]

Considering that, was President Trump's decision to call off talks, at least for now, with Iran in Pakistan and the -- and to extend the cease-fire the right move? What's your view?

REP. JASON CROW (D-CO): Well, Wolf, it's almost as if an adversary in the Middle East is just trying to wait us out. If only we had seen this play out before.

This is nuts. We're spending close to $100 billion and counting right now; 13 of our service members have made the ultimate sacrifice. Over 300 have been wounded. Iran now has a more hard-liner in charge. They now control the Straits of Hormuz in a way that they didn't just a month-and-a-half ago. And this president has no off-ramp.

This is why you don't stumble into wars without a strategy, without talking to Congress, without Congress having to debate and authorize it. And here we are coming up on 60 days.

BLITZER: Do you give President Trump, Congressman, any credit at all in holding firmly on the U.S. military's blockade of Iranian ports while Iran chokes off the critically important Strait of Hormuz?

Do you believe that it is keeping Iran away from -- what the U.S. is doing with the blockade, keeping Iran away from the negotiating table?

CROW: The blockade doesn't make any sense. We're actually blockading Iran's blockade. They were already blockading the strait. And then we put a blockade in on their blockade.

And, in addition to that, Iran has already mined the Straits of Hormuz, right? So we don't even know, sitting here today, how long it's going to take us to clear those mines, to open up the strait, to make it passable again.

So this blockade is, I believe, just him trying to assert himself and have some kind of public excuse or demonstration that they're doing something, when Iran is actually the one holding the cards right now, right?

Meanwhile, Americans are paying $500 million more per day because of increased energy prices. And those are not likely to come down any time soon because of the reasons I just mentioned, that the mine -- the strait is mined. Iran is already controlling it. And they're controlling it in a way they didn't 45 days ago.

So they actually have more firm control today. This is a disaster by every metric.

BLITZER: Sources familiar with the situation, with the internal Pentagon stockpile assessment specifically, tell CNN that the U.S. military has significantly depleted its stockpile of key missiles during this Iran war that's been going on for a few weeks.

The same sources are also saying this created a near-term risk of running out of ammunition in a potential future conflict. How concerning is that to you? And I know you're well-briefed as a member of the Intelligence and Armed Services committees.

CROW: Yes, it's very concerning.

This is exactly why Americans are pretty done with conflict in the Middle East, because they know that it costs them exorbitant amounts of money. We have over the last 20 years already spent $5 trillion to $8 trillion in conflict in the Middle East to -- in Afghanistan's case, to replace the Taliban with the Taliban, and, in Iraq's case, to replace Saddam Hussein with ISIS and now a struggling government.

So, this never turns out well for us. Americans are done spending exorbitant amounts of money and always backfilling. And if I had a dollar for every time some general or some admiral came to me and said, we have a new strategy, we need one more troop surge, we have a new way of approaching this, and it went on and on and on endlessly.

This is why people on the right and the left are pretty much done with it. We want to pull out. We want to divest ourselves of conflict in the Middle East.

BLITZER: Before you go, Congressman, on another issue, I want to get your thought.

Your now former Democratic colleague Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick became the third member of Congress to resign in recent days. Their seats, in the face of serious allegations, were given up.

The Ethics Committee is probing whether Republican Cory Mills violated disclosure rules and engaged in sexual misconduct. Do you believe Congressman Mills should resign or face expulsion?

CROW: The allegations against him are very, very serious, should be taken extremely serious.

And the process now that the House is set up to make sure that all that information comes out, that it's verified, and then a recommendation comes to the House, that is -- that process is ongoing. We're going to see what the recommendation is. And if they find there were major problems, that the allegations are verified, then we will vote accordingly.

And I would vote in that instance, given the allegations, for expulsion, but we have to let that process play out.

BLITZER: We will see what happens.

Congressman Jason Crow of Colorado, thanks so much for joining us.

CROW: Thanks.

BLITZER: Pamela.

BROWN: All right, Wolf, up next, what we know about the new federal indictment against the Southern Poverty Law Center and how the civil rights group is responding.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:14:49]

BROWN: Happening now: A federal grand jury indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center, and now it's facing several charges, including bank fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Alabama-based civil rights group allegedly used funds to secretly pay leaders of violent extremist groups to act as confidential informants without telling donors.

[11:15:11]

The SPLC's interim president is denying any wrongdoing on behalf of the organization.

So let's bring in CNN's Evan Perez with the latest on this.

What does the indictment tell us about these allegations, Evan?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the -- what this indictment tells us is really a lot a story about the politics of this era, right?

The -- on the conservative side of politics, they have long accused the SPLC of being -- essentially of tarring the reputation of conservative groups, of being biased against conservative groups. The FBI cut off all interactions with the SPLC in the past few months, as the Justice Department prepared to bring these charges.

And what these charges allege is that, over the -- over the course of years, the SPLC paid, according to the Justice Department, as many as -- as much as $3 million paying informants to infiltrate some of these groups, including the KKK, including far right groups, for instance, the group that did the 2017 Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

What the Justice Department says is that constitutes bank fraud, wire fraud, money laundering. And, look, I'm not sure how well this case holds up, but what it tells you a lot about is really the bigger story of the Justice Department.

Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, is under pressure to bring some of the cases to appease the president and his allies. And so you're seeing a lot of activity on things like this.

We have a statement from the SPLC, which says -- as you pointed out, denies all these allegations. They say: "We are outraged by the false allegations levied against the SPLC, an organization that for 55 years has stood as a beacon of hope fighting white supremacy and various -- and various forms of injustice to create a multiracial democracy."

They point out also that this program, which is no longer existence -- in existence, saved lives. The SPLC has been known, as you know, Pamela, for decades. They really became known back in the civil rights era when they infiltrated the KKK and other white supremacy groups.

Conservatives say, though, that, in recent years, they have really been more targeting conservative groups, mainstream conservative groups, and not necessarily just the white supremacist organizations that are out there.

BROWN: All right, Evan Perez, thanks for breaking it down for us. Good to see you.

And new this morning, conservatives who have pushed for more religion in the classroom are celebrating a win. A federal appeals court has ruled that Texas can require public schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms. The decision sets up a potential First Amendment battle before the Supreme Court.

And other states, including Arkansas and Louisiana, have passed similar laws that have also been challenged in court.

We're going to have more when we come back. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:22:43]

BLITZER: Just moments ago, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren questioned the health and human services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., about TrumpRx, the president's direct-to-consumer prescription drug Web site.

I want to play this rather tense exchange they have. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): For these scam discounts, President Trump has exempted these drug companies from his 100 percent tariffs. So, think about that. Big pharma makes billions of dollars in tariff

relief by listing their drugs on TrumpRx, and then they don't even lower the costs on many of these drugs. That is a great deal for big pharma.

So, Secretary Kennedy, here's my question. Did you sign off on these sweetheart deals for big pharma, or was this all President Trump's idea?

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., U.S. HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: The tariff relief is only applicable if the company has agreed to produce the drug in America. They have one year to do so.

WARREN: Well...

KENNEDY: And then they get -- and then they don't get the tariff relief, and then it would -- is going to bankrupt them.

WARREN: So you're the one who negotiated these?

KENNEDY: Did I negotiate the deal?

WARREN: You negotiated these deals. Will you make those deals available to us so we can see them?

KENNEDY: I didn't personally negotiate them.

WARREN: All right. Did your team negotiate these deals?

KENNEDY: Yes.

WARREN: Will you make those deals available to us so we can see them, a little transparency?

KENNEDY: We will make the deal -- I -- well, I have already said this. I'm happy to make the deals available, except for proprietary information and trade secrets, which, when you passed the IRA...

WARREN: I will hold you to that, Mr. Secretary, because, if these deals with big pharma are so great for Americans, then we should be able to see what promises have been made.

KENNEDY: You have the power to make this deal yourself. Why don't you do that? Why did you -- we did this because you refused to do it.

(CROSSTALK)

WARREN: I think what we have got is Trump...

(CROSSTALK)

KENNEDY: You have a lot more power to negotiate than we do.

WARREN: ... Trump Water, Trump Steaks.

KENNEDY: We have got the lowest prices in history. WARREN: Americans are getting crushed by health care costs, and you

and Donald Trump are actually making the problem worse. The American public deserves better.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

KENNEDY: The millions of people who are using TrumpRx disagree with you.

WARREN: (OFF-MIKE)

[11:25:00]

KENNEDY: I said the millions of people who are using TrumpRx disagree with you.

WARREN: They have got a better than one-out-of-four chance of paying more at TrumpRx than they would if they went to Costco. That's not much of a deal for the American people.

KENNEDY: Not on branded drugs.

(LAUGHTER)

WARREN: Oh, so your answer is, Americans should just not take prescription drugs?

(CROSSTALK)

KENNEDY: We are directing people -- we will be directing people to the generics, to the cheapest available, but a lot of doctors prescribe the brands. And we're giving them massive reductions in the brands.

WARREN: So, those mass, mass discounts...

KENNEDY: Massive.

WARREN: ... are that people can pay...

(CROSSTALK)

KENNEDY: Six hundred percent.

WARREN: Six hundred percent.

KENNEDY: Yes.

WARREN: They can pay hundreds of dollars...

KENNEDY: Or more.

WARREN: ... on TrumpRx, or they can get it for 12 bucks at Costco.

SEN. RON WYDEN (D-OR): This is the second instance of the secretary denying the public's right to know. That's all that the members on this committee have asked for.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, thank you Senator Wyden and Senator Warren.

At this point, to the rest of...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: A pretty lively exchange there.

BROWN: Yes, I mean, not surprising in many ways, but certainly fiery. It's not, clearly, his first time...

BLITZER: Yes.

BROWN: ... being under scrutiny, and a tough line of questioning from senators. So we will continue to monitor that hearing, for sure.

And just ahead here in THE SITUATION ROOM, Christiane Amanpour will join us here to discuss her brand-new interview with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Why he says efforts to end Russia's invasion cannot wait until after the war with Iran is over.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)