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The Situation Room

U.S. Boards Another Iran-Linked Vessel in Indian Ocean; State of Emergency in 91 Georgia Counties as Wildfires Rage; Trump Admin Reclassifies State-Licensed Marijuana. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired April 23, 2026 - 10:00   ET

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

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PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news, exploding wildfires. Hundreds of people race away from flames in Georgia and Florida and smoke now blankets much of the southeast. Officials are warning the fires may not be contained for a month.

And heightened tensions, the U.S. is boarding another sanctioned ship in the Indian Ocean, releasing this video showing service members landing on its deck.

And ship seized, Iranian state media released this video it says, shows the Revolutionary Guard storming a ship in a critical waterway.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And breaking news, reclassifying weed. How a new order will change how the federal government treats marijuana.

Plus, quote, they suck. Those were Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick's very unflattering words about Canada. The Ontario premier, Doug Ford, is here to respond.

And later, the Stanley Cup also here in The Situation Room. The iconic trophy will be here as my Buffalo Sabres look to go all the way.

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.

We begin with the breaking news. The U.S. military has boarded a second vessel linked to Iran more than 2000 miles away from that nation. The Pentagon released this video from the scene in the Indian Ocean officials saying the ship was carrying Iranian oil.

This comes as Iranian state media airs this video, it purportedly shows Iranian soldiers seizing container ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Given the glossy production values, it's not clear if these images were reenacted for the camera after the actual event.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon tells lawmakers it could take six months to clear mines from the strait.

Also, a Pentagon shocker, the U.S. Navy secretary is fired even with no end in sight to the naval blockade of Iranian ports. John Phelan is the latest senior military leader to leave the Trump administration during the war with Iran.

And the U.S. will host a second round of talks between Israel and Lebanon today as the ceasefire with the Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon is set to expire in three days.

Let's begin our coverage this hour with CNN's Paula Hancocks in Abu Dhabi for us. Paula, first of all, what can you tell us about U.S. forces boarding this ship?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf. This is information coming to us with footage showing the actual incident itself. This was, according to the Department of Defense, a sanctioned stateless vessel. They say that it was carrying Iranian oil. It was in the Indian Ocean at the time that the U.S. Navy intercepted this ship. You see from the images, helicopters hovering above and then personnel rappelling down a rope onto board that particular vessel.

Now, we understand from experts the reason they might do this in the Indian Ocean as opposed to when it's closer to the Strait of Hormuz, for example, of the Gulf of Oman, is because in the open water, it is safer to carry out this kind of intervention.

Now, this comes after we saw just a few days ago, another sanctioned vessel being boarded again, the U.S. saying, that they believed it was carrying Iranian oil. We've also been seeing, and this is becoming tit-for-tat and it's becoming an escalation on the waters here, the Iranians claiming that they have seized two vessels. They have released footage of these events.

Now, we cannot confirm the veracity of the video. It does appear high production value, which suggests that maybe it was even a reenactment after the event. It's just not clear at this point. But the message is very clear. We see masked men. We see them carrying, brandishing guns and coming aboard a ship.

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It is intended to send a message to many other vessels that are trapped and blocked in those waterways at this point.

So, we really are seeing an escalation on the waters. We've heard as well from Iran, the deputy parliament speaker saying just today that the Central Bank has started to receive the first revenue from the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran has been charging boats to go through this area. It's called the Tehran Toll Booth. And they say they are now reaping the rewards of that. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Paula Hancocks in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, thank you very, very much.

I want to go to CNN's Alayna Treene. She's over at the White House for us. Alayna, the president just issued a new order to the U.S. Navy on social media. Tell our viewers what he's saying. ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we're actually seeing two new posts now from the President, Wolf. But I'll start with the one you're referencing. He's -- I'm going to read some of what he wrote. He said, quote, I've ordered the United States Navy to shoot and kill any boat, small boats, though they may be, their naval ships are all 159 of them at the bottom of the sea, that is putting mines in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz. He went on to say there is to be no hesitation. And later in this post said he's ordering that activity to continue at what he called would be a tripled up level.

Now, look, this post in itself, just to break some of this down for you, is much more aggressive in nature than kind of the rhetoric we heard from the White House yesterday, you know, after Iran had said it had seized two ships near the strait over moose, the White House ultimately came back and said, look, we do not see that as a violation of the ceasefire since they were not U.S. ships nor Israeli ships, but, clearly, the president being much more aggressive with that language today.

And it also comes, of course, is really from all the conversations I've been having, I mean, the blockade, the Navy blockade on the strait has really been one of the key points of leverage that the administration believes it has in ensuring that the Iranians stay committed to negotiations and their ultimate goal of trying to find a diplomatic off-ramp to this war.

But to get to the other post from the president this morning, he also talked about the leadership in Iran. He said Iran is having a very hard time figuring out who their leader is. They just don't know. The infighting is between the hardliners who have been losing badly on the battlefield and the moderates who are not very moderate at all.

Look, this is exactly what we have been reporting, if you will, for a couple days now that inside the White House, they believe that there is a division within Iran's leadership. You know, you have the people on one side, like the speaker of the Iranian Parliament and their foreign minister, and then you also have the IRGC, and they believe that's why it's been so difficult to continue out negotiations at the level they really were hoping they would be this week.

So, a lot still happening behind the scenes, Wolf, today, but for now, you know, hearing from the president with a little bit more aggressive language than we did yesterday.

BLITZER: Tensions escalating clearly.

Alayna Treene at the White House for us, thank you very much. Pamela?

BROWN: Wolf, breaking this morning, fast-moving wildfires burning in the southeast. Right now, 91 counties in Georgia are under a state of emergency, that's more than half the counties in the state. And here, you can see massive flames and thick smoke hovering over the tree line. Here in this video, a hazy orange cloud of smoke captured over Southern Georgia.

The fires have destroyed at least 50 homes and hundreds of people have been forced to evacuate as fires burned with no end in sight.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We tried to save you house. We couldn't do anything. It was too late, man.

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BROWN: Some of the fires spread so fast that people didn't even get a warning. And fire officials say the fires may not be contained for another month.

And just south there in Florida, officials say the state is having one of its worst fire seasons in decades with more than 130 wildfires burning there.

A lot going on, so let's bring in CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam in Brantley County, Georgia. The county is having a record drought as these fires threaten the area, Derek. What more can you tell us?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. So, Pamela, you talked about record drought. Just last week, this county, Brantley County, in southeast Georgia was at 33 percent of exceptional drought. Now, just with the latest numbers that came out about a half an hour ago, 99.8 percent of the county under the highest tier of drought, and that is what's helping fan the flames of the destruction that you see behind me.

We're on the frontlines and the destruction path of the Highway 82 Fire. This is 1 of the 20 large active wildfires burning out of control across the southeast. 5,000 acres have been scorched so far, and over 50 structures and homes have been completely destroyed with, get this, nearly a thousand homes threatened still from this fire that continues to spread.

So, just a scene that this is an old wedding chapel, and you could still see the charred remains, some of the chairs that sit within the foyer.

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And this is a place where people's memories were made, where vows were made. Now it is completely blackened and destroyed.

Just heartbreaking to see the scenes here in Brantley County as this Highway 82 Fire exhibited what is called extreme fire behavior. Some of it described as what's called group torching.

And I'm going to have my photojournalist, Stewart, just kind of pan over here because look at the dry vegetation back there. When we talk about group torching, this means that these trees that are huddled together in this thick Southeastern Georgia vegetation can erupt in flames at a moment's notice and it can spread additional fires and continue that frontline.

Now, we spoke to a public information officer yesterday and he said that last night they had higher humidity values. So, that gave them an opportunity to reinforce the frontlines, take a breath, and get a great strategy in how to battle the fire today.

This is fascinating, just came across us. Now I'm not going to touch it. So, this is a completely torched utility truck or a trailer. But look at what the heat of this extreme fire behavior did. This is what appears to be melted metal on the ground here from the fire. In fact, there are still glowing embers over here, still smoldering smoke and ashes. I mean this ladder from this utility truck, look at that, just completely melted. That just shows you the ferocity and the intensity of the flames that that ripped through here.

So, the entire state of Georgia now at 71 percent of extreme drought conditions, that's the highest since 2012. So, you know, it's not going to get any better until rain, substantial rain moves into this area. And we don't see that pattern change until next week. Pamela?

BROWN: All right. Derek Van Dam, thanks for bringing us the latest. They're definitely in need of rain, that's for sure.

We also have this stunning new video of a dramatic rescue in Australia. Officials in New South Wales say three children and four adults were stranded along this cliff. You see it right here in the video, they were trapped by a high tide and had to climb the cliff so emergency responders could get to them. The rescue service said the endeavor took more than three hours, and each person was pluck to safety one by one, adding that everyone was in good spirits.

BLITZER: Thank God for that.

And still ahead, breaking news, the U.S. Justice Department makes the first move to reclassify medical marijuana, but not recreational use. Dr. Sanjay Gupta will join us after the break to explain what's going on.

BROWN: And Spirit Airlines could land a massive bailout. What we're learning about the deal.

You're in The Situation Room and we'll be right back.

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BLITZER: Breaking news, state-licensed medical marijuana has been reclassified. The acting U.S. attorney general, Todd Blanche, signing an order this morning that changes the classification of state- licensed marijuana to a less dangerous drug.

CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is joining us. Sanjay, explain what this means.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think there's two big headlines here, Wolf, and this is something obviously we've been reporting on for a long time, but I think the big headline is that this rescheduling basically is now saying that cannabis has an accepted medical use, which is, you know, something that a lot of people in the world of cannabis have been saying for some time. Again, we've been reporting on this, showing some of the medical applications of cannabis.

And I think we can put up the drug schedule here, just to give context here. For a long time, it was considered a schedule one substance, so that puts it in the same category as LSD and heroin and ecstasy. Schedule three, you can see there on the third line, Tylenol with codeine, ketamine, anabolic steroids. It's now going to be in that category. So, that's the big headline, an accepted medicinal use.

I think the second part, and you alluded to this in the lead-in, Wolf, is that this is not legalization. We are talking about medical applications here, not recreational. So, even the substance that you see in schedule three, they're still heavily regulated substances. So, you know, that should be clear, when something like this happens, that it's not a huge transformative change in terms of the recreational applications. This is medicinal.

And in some ways, you know, you have, I think, 45 states or so in the country that already have medical marijuana legalization or permission. This is in some ways bringing the federal government more in line with that. Wolf?

BLITZER: Is this order, Sanjay, universally accepted as at least a move in the right direction?

GUPTA: That's a great question, Wolf. You know, it doesn't seem like anything is universally accepted. There are some people who would say, this does not go far enough, that this should be de-scheduled and should be treated more like alcohol. And there are other people who say this is going too far. These are the prohibitionists who believe that, look, this is a problem when you're basically scheduling something like this in an otherwise unregulated market. You got super high doses of THC out there. Does this become too permissive an environment?

I think for researchers though, to your question, Wolf, it does seem like a move in the right direction. You know, it's been really hard to do research and there's been this conundrum, I think, with cannabis research, hey, look, we will think about allowing more medical applications if we have the research done.

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But at the same time, when it's a schedule one, it's already been preordained as having no medicinal use.

So, I think for researchers, for a long time, they've been sort of caught in the middle of that. I think this will help change that and it may help research funding as well as they start to look at this sort of more broadly around the country. Wolf?

BLITZER: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, as always, thank you very, very much.

BROWN: No one better to speak to this issue than Sanjay. Happening now, the long, frustrating waits at the airport could be coming back. The Homeland Security Department says it's running out of money to pay TSA officers amid the partial government shutdown. The department has been using funds from President Trump's big, beautiful bill to pay them and also from emergency funds. But Secretary Markwayne Mullin says that money will be gone soon.

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MARKWAYNE MULLIN, DHS SECRETARY: That money is dried up if I continue down this path the first week of May because my payroll through DHS is just over $1.6 billion every two weeks. So, the money is going extremely fast.

I've got one payroll left and there is no more emergency funds. So, the president can't do another executive order for us to use money because there's no more money there.

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BROWN: All right. So, let's bring in CNN Aviation Correspondent Pete Muntean.

No one wants to see those long TSA lines again, and no one wants to see these TSA employees not getting paid. Tell us more about the window we're working in here.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: So much has been tied to pay here of TSA workers. And when the money dries up and they don't get paid, that's when the sick calls go up. That's when the headaches at airports go up.

We've seen those long lines at airports, like Houston, Atlanta, Baltimore, and New York, and you just heard that sound by from DHS Secretary Mullin that the DHS will run out of money because of this partial government shutdown by early May. We're talking maybe only a week away.

Here is the state of play. TSA workers were being paid $10 billion siphoned off from the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act. As of early this week, the Office of Management and Budget data said that fund has only $1.4 billion remaining. So, this is getting pretty dire.

Congress could step in, but things are still pretty stalled. Democrats universally opposed to any DHS funding bill that also funds ICE, meaning there is no deal.

TSA workers are getting a normal paycheck this week. But a union official tells us there is a 50-50 chance they will receive their next full paycheck, which is due on May 8th. The problem here is that so many TSA workers live paycheck-to-paycheck. So, if they're not getting paid, union officials say many simply need to stay home because they can't pay for things like childcare or even put gas in their cars for their commutes, leads to these short staffing issues and long lines at airports.

You have to remember, about 800 TSA workers have quit the job since February when this partial government shutdown began.

BROWN: And you imagine how many more would quit if, once again, they don't get their paychecks.

MUNTEAN: Yes.

BROWN: I want to turn to something else that's going on with Spirit Airlines. It's close to securing this $500 million bailout from the Trump administration, right?

MUNTEAN: And President Trump essentially opened the door to this on Tuesday. And just yesterday, senior administration officials tell us that it is likely that the government will bail out Spirit Airlines with a $500 million stake in the company. That deal could come as soon as today.

Any way you slice it, this will be a significant economic event. 14,000 workers at Spirit Airlines, a lot of people have credits on Spirit or trips coming up, so that's a significant thing here. We'll see essentially how this plays out.

There is a lot of pushback to this, even from members of Trump's own party. Texas Senator Ted Cruz said the airline being acquired by the federal government is a terrible idea, and the federal government doesn't know a damn thing about running an airline, like Spirit Airlines. It's been on the ropes for a long time, emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy just last year. Now, though, the war in Iran has caused these fuel prices to surge and that has really put the airline in a very dire state of play here. We'll see how this ends up.

BROWN: And we're seeing other airlines make other adjustments, right?

MUNTEAN: Yes, raising fairs.

BROWN: Raising fairs, and other fees and so forth.

So, all right, Pete Muntean, thank you as always. We appreciate it. Wolf?

BLITZER: No one better than Pete to explain all this stuff. Thank you, Pete.

BROWN: That's right.

BLITZER: Coming up, breaking news, a man was just arrested for allegedly planning a mass shooting in New Orleans. What we're learning, that's next.

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BLITZER: Breaking news, CNN has learned a man has just been arrested in Florida for allegedly planning a mass shooting at a festival in New Orleans.

I want to go straight to CNN's Omar Jimenez, who's covering the story for us. What are you learning, Omar?

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, a few things here. One, we're too often covering incidents where things like this actually do happen, and a lot of times we're trying to piece together how someone actually slipped through the cracks of law enforcement. Here, that is not the case. Law enforcement was able to track down this person before any sort of action, at least according to investigators who say, Christopher Gillum of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, was planning to travel to a festival in New Orleans to carry out a mass shooting and then planned to get killed by police in the process.

We're still trying to get more information there, but he was taken into custody in Destin, Florida, without incident, as we understand, at a hotel. But in that hotel room, law enforcement recovered a handgun and about 200 rounds of ammunition.

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