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The Source with Kaitlan Collins
Trump Fires Noem, Taps Sen. Mullin For DHS Secretary; House Rejects Measure To Restrict Trump's War Powers In Iran; Hegseth: U.S. Will Fight "As Long As It Takes" In Iran. Aired 9-10p ET
Aired March 05, 2026 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[21:00:00]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: --that's unusual in ballistic missiles and could be confounding to missile defense systems.
What about range? Can this thing reach the United States? Absolutely not. Not even close. But by best estimates, it could easily go from Iran to Israel over here, a distance from the western edge of maybe Washington, D.C., to Kansas, something like that. And look what's in between. Saudi Arabia, and Yemen, and Oman, and Iraq, and Jordan, and so many other places, every place in the Middle East we ever talk about. That's why there's so much focus here.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, ANDERSON COOPER 360: Tom Foreman, thanks.
That's it for us. The news continues. "THE SOURCE WITH KAITLAN COLLINS" starts now.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, CNN HOST, THE SOURCE WITH KAITLAN COLLINS: It turns out, this was the final straw that led President Trump to fire Kristi Noem, moments before she took the stage at an event.
I'm Kaitlan Collins. And this is THE SOURCE.
For Kristi Noem, it was one controversy too many. And tonight, she is the first Cabinet member to be fired by President Trump, during his second term.
It's a move that one DHS official described to CNN tonight as, quote, Long overdue. In fact, multiple Homeland Security officials actually expressed relief that their boss will soon be gone. A Trump administration official told us here at CNN, This signals the very welcome end of a totally needless, damaging, petty ego civil war within DHS.
The President thanked Secretary Noem, as he ousted her today and said that she will be moving to become the Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas, our new Security Initiative in the Western Hemisphere. That's the President's plan for fighting drug trafficking in North and South America.
But Secretary Noem learned that she was out of job, as she was arriving at an event in Nashville today. She did go ahead and deliver her planned remarks here, but she did not make any mention of being removed just a few moments before by Truth Social post.
Her time at the department had been marked by headlines of constant chaos, tension and confusion at FEMA, security vulnerabilities at airports, battles that raged inside the department between staff, millions that had been frozen in disaster aid, and calls, even from Republicans, sometimes here in Washington, for her resignation.
She'd also been dogged by a flurry of stories about a rumored romantic relationship with one of her chief and principal advisers, Corey Lewandowski, which she refused to directly deny, I should say, when she was asked under oath before Congress this week.
But based on our reporting, that is not why, by the end of this month, she will no longer be the DHS Secretary. Noem has actually been on thin ice with the West Wing after two U.S. citizens were killed at the hands of federal agents in Minnesota, one of whom Secretary Noem described this way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KRISTI NOEM, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: You perpetuate violence against a government because of ideological reasons and for reasons to resist and perpetuate violence. That is the definition of domestic terrorism. This individual who came with weapons and ammunition to stop a law enforcement operation of federal law enforcement officers committed an act of domestic terrorism. That's the facts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Turns out it wasn't the facts. And after Renee Good and Alex Pretti were killed in Minneapolis, the President had started asking people around him what they thought of Secretary Noem. Just never a good thing, given the President, when he's polling people often is wondering whether or not they should remain in their jobs.
He also notably did not ask Secretary Noem to speak during that last Cabinet meeting around that time, which stood out, given how much the President loves the Department of Homeland Security, and often focuses on it because it's one of his key issues.
Instead, it was actually this line of questioning, this week, on Capitol Hill, when Republican senator, John Kennedy, was pressing Secretary Noem about a $220 million campaign that prominently featured the Secretary, sometimes riding horseback, while wearing a cowboy hat, through South Dakota.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NOEM: Why do I love these wide open spaces? They remind me of why our forefathers came here, not just for its beauty, but for the freedom only America provides. I'm Kristi Noem.
But if you've come here the right way, your American dream can be as big as these endless skies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Noem defended those ads while on Capitol Hill this week, and even claimed at one point that she had President Trump's permission to make them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R-LA): The President approved ahead of time you spending $220 million running TV ads across the country in which you are featured prominently?
NOEM: Yes, sir. We went through the legal processes. Did it correctly. Worked with OMB--
KENNEDY: Did the President know you were going to do this?
NOEM: Yes.
KENNEDY: He did?
NOEM: Yes.
KENNEDY: OK.
NOEM: And one thing, Senator, I think would be helpful to know is how effective that communications has been, that overwhelmingly--
KENNEDY: Well, they were effective in your name recognition. I mean, I personally just -- I mean, to me, it puts the President in a terribly awkward spot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[21:05:00]
COLLINS: The President seemed to agree. He said that what Secretary Noem there said and what she testified to, wasn't true. He told Reuters today, quote, I never knew anything about it.
And Senator Kennedy told reporters that the President called him and was pissed about the ad campaign.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KENNEDY: My job is to point out things that I think are detracting from our agenda, the President's agenda.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Senator Kennedy also said that the President asked him what members thought of the Oklahoma senator, Markwayne Mullin, as a potential replacement at DHS.
The President loves watching Senator Mullin on TV. He is often on TV. He often praises his appearances when he goes on and defends the President and his agenda. He's become quite common, of a fixture on cable news. All of these that you're seeing now were since Saturday, five days before he would eventually replace Noem as the President's next pick to run the Department of Homeland Security. Something that Senator Mullin himself found out about today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MARKWAYNE MULLIN (R-OK): Listen, I am super-excited about this opportunity. It came at a -- not a complete surprise, but it came at a little bit of surprise for us. And so, the President and I, as you guys know, we're great friends, and we get along great. I look forward to working with him in his Cabinet. Of course, we still got to do this little thing called confirmation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: One Republican senator who also grilled Secretary Noem this week was Thom Tillis, who criticized her for what she wrote in her book about killing her young dog. Tonight, he tweeted that, Senator Markwayne Mullin is a great guy and a great choice to lead DHS, restore competence, and refocus efforts on quickly distributing disaster aid, keeping the border secure, and targeting violent illegal immigrants for deportation. Tillis added, Another big positive: he likes dogs.
My lead source tonight is CNN Political Analyst, and New York Times White House correspondent, Maggie Haberman.
And Maggie, I mean, obviously you know, as well as I do, how resistant the President is, to firing people in his Cabinet this term. It's why we haven't seen anything like what we saw his first time in office. I wonder what it says to you that he took this moment, where he's got so much going on. Obviously, a lot of focus right now is on Iran, inside the West Wing. And still, still went through with this today.
MAGGIE HABERMAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: I think there's a couple of reasons why, Kaitlan. I mean, one is, as you noted, this has been the trajectory for Kristi Noem for some time. But really, it -- and it does predate the end of last year. I mean, there were conversations about the fact that she might be in trouble.
It is true that, yes, the White House had made a decision that they were going to try to not fire people, because that was a headline constantly throughout Trump's first term. He didn't like it. A lot of people left feeling angry at him. He would fire back at them. This was something that we haven't seen.
But after the killing of Alex Pretti more, frankly, than the killing of Renee Good, it just became unsustainable. And she did say a lot of things that the White House was very upset about. Stephen Miller, who is the architect of Trump's immigration policies, said similar things on Twitter, not identical, but similar, about Pretti, and a little bit less so about Renee Good. But this became very clear where this was heading. There had been a lot of issues.
So no, I'm not surprised, because this is when the hearings took place. But what I am struck by is Senator Kennedy making clear how coordinated, if I'm understanding what he's saying, what he was doing was, with how President Trump felt.
COLLINS: Yes, and he basically said to reporters that he told the White House he was going to be asking Secretary Noem tough questions, like he gave them a heads-up, basically, that they should be paying attention to what he was going to ask her.
HABERMAN: Correct. Look, the situation with Secretary Noem and the situation with her adviser, Corey Lewandowski, has been a source of concern for a while for the administration, putting aside the questions about allegations about their relationship, but just that inside DHS, morale was very low. People complained about Lewandowski's approach to his authority, how much authority he had. There were concerns about leaks and angry accusations related to leaks.
And then there was the contracts that you heard talked about. Noem said that Lewandowski played no part in the approval process, and that, according to ProPublica reporting and lots of other reporting, is not the case. That he was involved, at least in some contracts. And so, we'll see what comes out in the coming days.
[21:10:00]
I will say, though, Kaitlan, I'm still not clear what happens to Corey Lewandowski, who is a special government employee, who notably praised Trump in an interview with the New York Post, not long after this firing, and who has survived more dismissals of his own in Trump's orbit, over the course of the last almost exactly 10 years than I can count. So, we'll see.
COLLINS: Yes, that's a really good point, obviously. He has a long history with the President.
HABERMAN: Yes.
COLLINS: And the whole thing about the anger? Clearly, Trump was really upset about her saying he knew about the ad campaign. He told Reuters outright today that that wasn't true.
HABERMAN: Yes. Absolutely.
COLLINS: ProPublica reported on that back in November, and it took this long, though, for it to kind of reach.
HABERMAN: Yes.
COLLINS: I mean, people have been trying to get this in front of the President for months, people who wanted Kristi Noem out or Corey out. But it took a while for it to actually really resonate, it seems like with him. HABERMAN: I think, yes, that's definitely true. I think it took a while for it to be front and center. I do think, yes, I think that he has a tighter circle by which he gets information. But also, to be fair, there has been a lot happening in the last three months or so.
I think when it was clear that this was heading for hearings, there has been a crush of reporting recently around this, including from The Wall Street Journal, not just ProPublica, but about how her expenditures, about private planes, about, more recently, an inspector general saying that she was obstructing an investigation into -- or their investigative activities into her agency. All of this just came to a head.
But it is notable, Kaitlan. I don't know how much -- it wasn't just that he approved of the spending that she was claiming. But these ads are her. These are just her. The words, Donald Trump, don't appear in there. And it was, I think, a combination of her saying that he had signed off on all this, not just the contract piece, but about the specific visuals here.
COLLINS: Yes, it's basically, too close to the sun.
HABERMAN: Correct.
COLLINS: When it comes to all of this. I mentioned Iran. And obviously, every time we've seen the President, he's talked about Iran. Even briefly today, he was doing it at an Inter Miami event at the White House.
HABERMAN: Correct.
COLLINS: He told Jon Karl today, as he's been doing a series of phone interviews on this about Iran. I hope you're impressed. How do you like the performance? I mean, Venezuela is obvious. This might be even better.
When Jon Karl said the concerns about what happens next, the President replied, Forget about next. They are decimated for a 10-year period before they could build it back.
What are you hearing about his mindset on how Iran is going for him so far?
HABERMAN: Look, he was very happy with the military campaign initially, just as he was with Venezuela. These are not identical military campaigns. It's pretty important to point that out. These are also not identical countries.
That having been said, I think that we will see where it goes if gas prices continue to rise. And they've risen incrementally so far. But if the trajectory continues, it could -- it could increase, and some analysts think it will.
If there are a number of other American deaths, that will be another factor. The President talked about that with time, and suggested he's anticipating that. I think he's said that in other settings too. But if they do knock out some of Iran's capabilities, I think you will see him say that, you know that is a win. I don't know how much longer he will stick with the campaign beyond several weeks. I'm not sure that he feels the need to. And you can see him sort of suggesting that.
Look, there are a lot of people around him who are quite concerned about what this means for the midterms. They've been quite concerned about what a lot of things mean for the midterms.
I will say that I have been surprised at how many people who are often very critical of the President -- and I'm not just talking about people sort of in the in the John Bolton wing of the Republican Party from 20 years ago, although he obviously has been pretty happy about going at Iran, even if he's worried about how long it took.
There are a lot of average Republicans, regular Republicans, just -- you know, what we would call normies, who are not tuned into everything about politics in Washington, who have been hearing for a long time that Iran is a concern and they're not unhappy about it.
So, I know what the public opinion polling is showing right now. We will see where it is in a few weeks.
COLLINS: Yes. John Bolton said his only regret was that he didn't do this sooner--
HABERMAN: Correct.
COLLINS: --or when John Bolton was there.
HABERMAN: Exactly.
COLLINS: Maggie Haberman, it's always great to have your reporting.
HABERMAN: Exactly.
COLLINS: Thank you for joining us tonight.
HABERMAN: Thanks, Kaitlan.
COLLINS: Also here is Democratic senator, Andy Kim of New Jersey, who sits on the Senate Homeland Security Committee.
I'm assuming you probably don't have the same views of John Bolton. But I want to ask you about Iran in a moment.
But on Kristi Noem being fired. Do you believe the President made the right call here?
SEN. ANDY KIM (D-NJ): Well, absolutely. I mean, I think Kristi Noem, this was probably the best decision of Trump's presidency so far. I mean--
COLLINS: His best decision of his presidency was to fire his DHS chief? KIM: At least the most popular. I mean, it's something that I'll tell you, back home, in New Jersey, I mean, everyone, from Democrats to Republicans were saying, she needs to go. But what I will say is that it doesn't just stop with her. I mean, as you just heard, I mean, the phrase, Domestic terrorists, that Kristi Noem used, about Alex Pretti, Renee Good. I mean, that's the same term that Stephen Miller used.
[21:15:00]
And I'll be honest, as someone who's had an up close and seen how this has unfolded, at the Department of Homeland Security, it's Stephen Miller who's in charge, you know, and it's Stephen Miller that needs to be held accountable. So, this is not a place where I want the American people to think, OK, Kristi Noem's the fall person. You know, she got her participation trophy. Now she's out the door.
Stephen Miller, Tom Homan, they still need to be held accountable for what they've done to this country.
COLLINS: What do you make of, given everything though, that the DHS has faced scrutiny for, from the killing of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, to FEMA funds to how they've handled so much. What do you make of the fact that it was that Senate testimony that was the final straw for the White House here?
KIM: Well, look, I think it shows just how much this is just about Trump and how he sees this as his own personal team, and how he felt that she embarrassed him.
The fact that it wasn't the issues that she did that held up so much of the FEMA funding, for instance. We just released a report about how much of FEMA she has decimated. It's not the fact that CISA, which is in charge of our cybersecurity, has been gutted, while we are seeing this war with Iran right now, and leaving America very much vulnerable.
But I'll be honest, it's just, it's -- it's just part and part with this president. He literally just gave an interview today, I think, to Time Magazine, where they asked him about whether or not we should be worried about homeland attacks here in America. And he said, We're at war, some people will die.
I mean, he is somebody that so clearly doesn't seem to care about the actual job that Homeland Security is supposed to do. It's just a matter of whether or not these people that he puts in charge are willing to just continue to fawn over him, as they often do in these Cabinet meetings.
COLLINS: Yes, I was just looking at those quotes before we came on the air, and the President acknowledged the possibility of retaliatory tax. He said, I guess. I think they're worried about that all the time. We think about that all the time. He said, We plan for it. But we expect some things. Like I said, some people will die. When you go to war, some people will die.
On this overall. And what you're seeing. The votes to limit his war powers have failed now, not just in the Senate, but also in the House. And I think it raises a question of, is there anything else that your colleagues who are against this believe they can do?
KIM: Well, we have to, because this is something that the American people are very concerned about. I mean, I was on the phone, all morning, with constituents of mine, in the Middle East, panicked by whether or not they can get the safety that we see is -- you know, six American service members killed so far, and the President saying, there's more to come.
And I'm in a briefing the other day, with the Secretary of Defense, saying that the biggest waves of these strikes are still coming forward.
So, this is something that I've seen as someone who worked in Afghanistan and Iraq, this -- the fact that we are in a war, is so clearly a war, as the Secretary of Defense is bragging about how it's twice the number of firepower as shock and awe, the American people are very concerned about this, and we need to shine a light on. We need public hearings. This administration cannot continue to hide behind these classified briefings.
COLLINS: Pete Hegseth was asked today about those potential concerns of attacks at home, and he talked about Noem. He also praised Senator Mullin.
You voted to confirm Noem. Do you plan to vote to confirm your colleague, Markwayne Mullin, who is the next DHS Secretary?
KIM: No. I mean, look, what I -- what I saw, and what I've learned, and everything -- everyone has learned, over this last year, is that this is a referendum upon the Trump administration, what they have done when it comes to immigration, what they have done when they gutted FEMA. And so, I don't support this policy.
We're currently in a shutdown with DHS. The White House has clearly signaled that they don't want to move forward on the types of reforms that are needed to be able to push forward on.
And, as I said, the person really running the show here is Stephen Miller, and we see just how dangerous his policies are.
COLLINS: So, you're a no, on Markwayne Mullin?
KIM: I cannot support this administration's immigration policies that the vast, vast, vast majority of Americans, especially in my state, as ICE is trying to start a detention facility, in Roxbury, at a warehouse that's the size of eight football fields. Nobody wants it there. Not even the Republican leadership of that town wants that immigration detention facility there. This is so far out of exactly what the American people want, and they need to be held accountable.
COLLINS: Senator Andy Kim, thank you for joining us tonight.
KIM: Thanks for having me.
COLLINS: And up next here. We'll continue to follow that.
Also those new comments that the President made to Time Magazine. He didn't only talk about potential deaths. He also said he personally should be involved in picking the next leader of Iran. General David Petraeus is here to weigh in, right after this.
And also, this hour, I'll speak to the first Iranian American Democrat who's elected to Congress, as they are continuing to push messaging on why the United States went to war in the first place.
[21:20:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Moments ago, the U.S. military announced it has struck an Iranian drone carrier, roughly the size of a World War II era aircraft carrier. You can see the multiple impacts and the explosions here. It was posted by CENTCOM earlier today.
I was in the White House East Room just a few hours ago, as the President came in, he provided a brief update during this event, and praised the U.S. military operation, as he described being, quote, Far ahead of schedule.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Their Navy is gone. 24 ships in three days. That's a lot of ships. Their anti-aircraft weapons are gone. So, they have no air force, they have no air defense. All of their airplanes are gone. Their communications are gone. Missiles are gone. Launches are gone, about 60 percent and 64 percent respectively. Other than that, they're doing quite well.
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: I say, What's left?
But they're tough and they want to fight. And they're calling, they're saying, How do we make a deal? I said, You're being a little bit late. And we want to fight now more than they do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[21:25:00]
COLLINS: The President also said today, in several different interviews, that he plans to personally be involved in choosing who leads Iran next. He told Axios, quote, They are wasting their time. Khamenei's son is a lightweight. I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy Rodriguez in Venezuela.
This comes as tonight, Iran announced an attack on the heart of Tel Aviv. CNN caught this on camera, as you can see here.
As this has continued inside the Middle East, I want to go to Nick Paton Walsh, who is live there for us tonight. Nick, can you tell us what you've been seeing on the ground so far?
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, it's important to make people understand that the attack over Tel Aviv that we saw was ultimately on the ground where we went -- the result of debris from interceptions landing. Where we went to, a lithium solar panel storage warehouse, where there was no real sign of any injuries at all. In fact, we've seen over the past day or so, significant salvos trying to get through Israeli air defenses and not succeeding.
What was particularly interesting to those in the sky was that the warhead that came in appeared to split into multiple separate things that may have landed and caused damage around this part of Tel Aviv, but there'd been no significant reporting of that. So, something of a sense of Iran constantly trying to penetrate Israeli defenses.
But a very different picture, frankly, on the Iranian side of all of this. We've now got the 14th wave of Israeli strikes being announced. We had the 12th this morning, the 13th in the middle of the day. Now the 14th. Clearly, the Israelis using this moment to push as hard as they possibly can. The death toll, according to a U.S.-based human rights group inside Iran, a 1,100. So, a very different picture over in Tehran.
And you mentioned the drone carrier that the U.S. took out there. Look, we're hearing remarkable numbers here, from the United States, about the damage they're doing to Iran's military capability. 80 and 90 percent reduction in missile and drone strikes since the beginning of the war. And you heard President Trump there talk about how, you know, that they're tough, they're fighting, et cetera.
Look, it sounds that we're beginning to get something of a narrative of the United States saying that they're accomplishing a lot of their military goals. There are constant suggestions that this could go on for many more weeks or days. But the numbers we're hearing, simply, of the depletion they're doing to Iran suggests that they're trying to form a narrative of getting closer to where they want to be.
You add to that as well, the startling admission, after days of President Trump hinting coyly that he knew who was going to succeed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader killed by an Israeli air strike, on Saturday. Now, the notion, after saying that the second and third choice had been killed as well, that he wants to personally be involved in choosing the new Supreme Leader or leader of Iran. Look, that is wildly ideologically incompatible with hardline Iranian thinking here. But it is perhaps the first glim, as we get, maybe of a political solution to parts of this.
I say that though, there were suggestions of diplomacy yesterday, between the Qataris and the Iranians, and then phone calls between Emmanuel Macron and President Trump, linked with some of that diplomacy too, and then we saw a wave of strikes across the Gulf, again, dragging us back to the early days, really, of the conflict.
So, it's hard to know exactly how this slows down. But it does seem increasingly clear that the Americans here are now talking about how successful this war has been so far, without suggesting necessarily they're willing to wind down yet.
But so much damage done inside Iran, it is quite extraordinary, Kaitlan.
COLLINS: Yes, that's a good point, when you look at the numbers that we hear every day from CENTCOM, of what this looks like.
Nick Paton Walsh, on the ground for us in Israel. Thank you for that report tonight.
And also, to analyze the latest that Nick just laid out there. General David Petraeus is joining me now, the retired Commander for U.S. Central Command, and the former Director of the CIA.
Ad it's just great to have you here on all of the developments that we've seen. Just first off, on what the President is saying about choosing the new leader of Iran.
I mean, he has said this now, in I think, three different interviews. And he told Time tonight that he's going to be working with them on choosing a new leader. He said, I'm not going through this to end up with another Khamenei. I want to be involved in the selection. They can select, but we have to make sure it's somebody that's reasonable to the U.S.
Is that possible, in your view?
GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS (RET.), FORMER CIA DIRECTOR, FORMER COMMANDER, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND, CHAIRMAN, KKR GLOBAL INSTITUTE: Well, I'd love to see that aspiration come true, but I think that Nick's observation on that earlier is probably the reality.
COLLINS: That it's -- the Iranians are not going to go along with someone that the United States finds ideal?
[21:30:00]
PETRAEUS: Look, I'd love to see us have a veto. They have a process. There is a constitutional process. Right now, there is a trio that is in charge in the wake of the demise of the Supreme Leader. That's what's supposed to happen, whether he dies of natural causes, or being killed by a missile. And then there is a selection by the Assembly of Experts of who is going to follow him.
We can certainly hope that there might emerge a pragmatist out of this who will realize how terribly the regime has done for the people at home, and how they have been isolated abroad, how they've squandered the incredible energy resources and talented population that they have. But at the end of the day, I think that's a bit more aspirational than as I said, realistic, sadly. I'd love to see President Trump have some say over who it is that becomes the next leader.
COLLINS: Yes, he's made clear he wants it. We'll see if he gets it. You famously said, Tell me how this ends, during the early days of the war in Iraq. When you look at where this stands tonight, and what Nick was saying there about the signaling of how much the U.S. has depleted what Iran has. Do you think it's clear to the Trump administration yet, how this ends?
PETRAEUS: I think it's clear to the military.
And I should just note for the watchers, I said that I was watch -- as I was commanding the 101st Airborne Division during the fight to Baghdad, and watching as the assumptions we had been provided in Kuwait were being invalidated one by one. And it was a bit of a rhetorical question, and I forgot that I was on the record with my embedded reporter at that time, Rick Atkinson, the great journalist and historian.
Look, in this case, I actually see the military missions being accomplished fairly steadily here. The trajectory is very good.
First and foremost, of course, they went after the air and ballistic missile defenses. Took those down, whatever had been reconstituted after the Israelis took them apart in the early days of the 12-day air campaign.
And that's crucial, because we don't want to be restricted to just the F-35 stealth fighter bombers and the B-2 stealth bombers. We want to bring in the big ones, the B-52s, the B-1 bombers, and they are flying now almost at will. I would argue that we have actually achieved air supremacy, not just air superiority. But, again, I think people are cautious in making that declaration.
Second, take down those elements that can retaliate. Of course, along with this, obviously, take the shot, if you have the experts' (ph) intelligence, that we had on the Supreme Leader, so many of the other leaders. Obviously, that was a priority at the outset, and I suspect it determined part of the timing, part of the decision to go at that moment, on that day, along with the frustration with the nuclear talks, and a recognition that the missile stocks had been reconstituted, Israel is going to go do that regardless.
So now we're talking about what they can use to retaliate. We've seen that. All the Gulf states. Unwisely, Iran has actually widened this war from just retaliating against U.S. assets and Israeli facilities, to going after hotels, airports, fuel loading docks, natural gas and energy and so forth. A huge mistake, in my view, because they were trying to sit on the sidelines, they didn't let us use their bases as a result of that. Now they're being drawn into it, and at some point they may actually enter the offensive operations. The Emirates in particular, have very impressive capabilities in that regard.
So, we're going after the missile launchers. That's target number one, because without those, the missiles don't get in the air.
COLLINS: Yes.
PETRAEUS: The missile stockpiles, obviously, some of those are reportedly underground. We're going to have to pile drive down into those with the Massive Ordnance Penetrator, the 30,000-pound precision munition that we have, and only we have the plane that can carry it, and then the manufacturing facilities. Take it all down.
The drones. The drones have proven to be problematic. Of course, it was a drone that killed our six soldiers in Kuwait. And, in some cases, we're having to launch where the host countries are having to launch $2 million Patriot interceptors--
COLLINS: Yes, can I ask you about that--
PETRAEUS: --to take down a 20,000 pound -- $20,000 drone. That is not a good exchange.
COLLINS: Yes.
PETRAEUS: I just had an article come out, actually, in foreignpolicy.com on this, called The Drone Attrition Trap. You've got to have very, very substantial counter-drone capabilities to complement your anti-ballistic missile defenses.
COLLINS: But I think this is actually really important part of this.
PETRAEUS: But go ahead. You want to -- yes.
COLLINS: Because in terms of how Iran is responding. The Pentagon, today, was saying, just how depleted they are. Everything they've taken out. It's an impressive list when you heard what CENTCOM was saying.
But Iran is responding, and they're using these $20,000 drones that these billion dollar air defense systems are trying to shoot down. I think there's a question of, how that math adds up when you're looking at this from your perspective. I wonder, what you think.
PETRAEUS: Well, there's bigger missile math. The missile math that matters most is in constantly trying to calculate this, I think at the end of the 12-day war campaign, that missile math was getting worrisome for Jerusalem.
In this case, what we're trying to do is determine how many launchers do they have, how many missiles do they have? And how many missile interceptors do we have?
[21:35:00]
There are reports today in the news that some of the host nation countries, they all have our Patriot system, some have the THAAD system, the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system.
And these interceptors, look, the biggest number we ever made in a year was last year, 620. We're going to try to go to 2,000 tomorrow. This is why President Trump is bringing the industrialists to the White House tomorrow, to dramatically ramp up production of Patriot interceptors, the THAAD interceptors, the Maritime -- the SM-6, that's another version, essentially, of a Patriot. And so, all of that. But that math is being carefully done. And this is why the priority is to take down the missiles. Because if they get through?
I was just in Tel Aviv about four or five weeks ago, and I saw what those missiles did. About 5 percent, 7 percent of them got through even the sophisticated, layered air defense that they had with our help with the THAAD battery that shot $1.2 billion worth of interceptors in 12 days.
So, this is a big issue, and what you don't want to do is have to resort to, again, $1 million, $2 million interceptor to take down a $20,000 drone.
COLLINS: Yes.
PETRAEUS: We're going to learn lessons out of this. We haven't learned sufficiently. And I make this point in this article that came out today, we have not learned sufficiently from the Iran -- the Ukrainians, who have gone through this themselves, and have constructed a very comprehensive counter-drone defense.
In fact, I went out on a counter-drone mission, in the middle of the night outside Kyiv, frigid night, where you actually have drone operators who are hitting the Russian drones with their drones, and they have a very high success rate, together with electronic warfare--
COLLINS: Yes.
PETRAEUS: --together with machine guns, and all the rest.
But so then you go on from the drones are taking down the Navy, that's very important. We've got to eliminate all of that we can to eliminate the threat to the Strait of Hormuz, make sure it's not mined, and make sure there's no interdiction of the freedom of navigation, which right now--
COLLINS: Yes.
PETRAEUS: --does not exist.
COLLINS: Yes, it's a big concern for the White House.
PETRAEUS: And the price of Brent crude was up in the $80 -- $83 -- $85 per barrel today, having been at low-60s to mid-60s just a few weeks ago. So that's a concern.
COLLINS: Yes. All of that is a big concern for the White House.
PETRAEUS: We're going after the remnants of the nuclear program.
COLLINS: Yes.
PETRAEUS: That's hugely important as well. There's a report from the International Atomic Energy Agency that there may be some 60 percent enriched uranium that was in tunnels underneath Isfahan. I'm sure we're going to pile drive those Massive Ordnance Penetrators and make sure that that is never accessible either.
COLLINS: Yes.
PETRAEUS: So, all of these different objectives, and I think we are making very impressive progress in that regard.
We have also continued to go after other leaders, headquarters, the facilities, now, the infrastructure of the security forces, which generally, by the way, have dispersed and have delegated authority to continue to carry out strikes, even in the absence of what must be very limited central control, given the damage done to the leadership, headquarters, communications and so forth.
COLLINS: Yes.
PETRAEUS: So all of that, I think, is proceeding very impressively.
COLLINS: Absolutely.
PETRAEUS: Keep in mind, though, there's a reality, and the reality is that there's about a million regime security force, if you include the regular Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, they're about 400,000, but they have the Revolutionary Guard Corps, 150,000, 200,000, the besieged militia, two -- 200,000. And you just added it all up, National Police, 250,000, that's a lot of individuals still, even if dispersed. So if you're--
COLLINS: Yes, and we'll see obviously how they handle that, and--
PETRAEUS: And the military mission that the President has clarified--
COLLINS: --what that looks like.
PETRAEUS: The President has said, Look, the military is going to set the conditions for a possible political transition, but it's up to the Iranian to carry that out. We've heard about the Iranian Kurds may be mobilizing. We may be providing some support.
COLLINS: And obviously, we will see what they -- what they do here.
PETRAEUS: Yes.
COLLINS: Yes.
PETRAEUS: That's a small number.
COLLINS: General -- yes.
PETRAEUS: So, again, where does the opposition force come from? That's the big question.
COLLINS: Yes, it is a huge question, and obviously we're going to be following that.
PETRAEUS: Can it rise up before we achieve all the others?
COLLINS: Yes, we'll be following that very closely.
I have a lot more questions for you, General David Petraeus. Love to have you back, obviously, as we watch all this closely.
PETRAEUS: Sure.
COLLINS: Thank you so much for your time tonight. Thank you for joining us.
PETRAEUS: Privilege to be with you, Kaitlan. Great to see you. Thank you.
COLLINS: Up next. Here in Washington, the Republican-led House just gave the president the green light to continue his war with Iran without congressional approval. We'll speak to a congressional source about what exactly went down, next.
[21:40:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Tonight, for the second time in as many days, lawmakers here in Washington rejected an attempt to rein in President Trump's authority to wage war in Iran without their approval.
In the House today, a War Powers Resolution, as it's known, failed, 212 to 219. Two Republicans voted in support of it. That was Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky. May not surprise you. But also Warren Davidson of Ohio, which might surprise you. Four Democrats voted, No.
One Democrat who voted Yes, on that measure joins me now. Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari of Arizona who, I should note, is the first Iranian American Democrat elected to Congress, and also a member of House Oversight.
Also, my political sources, Kate Bedingfield and Doug Heye are here with me.
Congresswoman, just I want to start with you, just in terms of overall, given your family's history, your parents who fled the regime, and what you've seen play out in this debate on Capitol Hill, what your takeaway is?
REP. YASSAMIN ANSARI (D-AZ): Well, thanks for the question.
Look, yes, my parents came to the U.S. in 1979. And after that, in the midst of the revolution, my grandfather was imprisoned by this regime. I've had cousins who were murdered by them. So, I have always opposed the Islamic Republic regime, as do the vast majority of Iranian people.
[21:45:00]
As an American congresswoman, elected to represent Arizona's 3rd district, I am deeply concerned that Donald Trump has decided to wage an illegal war against international law, without coming to Congress, without making a case to the American people, and so callously speaking about the possibility of American lives lost, about American service members, six of whom have already been killed throughout this process, without any plan whatsoever to get Americans who are stuck in the Middle East out of the country.
I have constituents reaching out to me, trying to get help. And here we are, having nothing to offer them, because the State Department is being unresponsive. And it is terrifying.
And I can say wholeheartedly that my constituents oppose this war.
Now, from the perspective of somebody who is very in touch with the Iranian American diaspora, and people inside the country, I will admit that many are celebrating, and are feeling a mix of anxiety and potential hope for the future.
COLLINS: Yes, do you feel conflicted when you look at this?
ANSARI: Yes.
COLLINS: Because obviously, no one supports the Ayatollah. No one thinks that, you know -- these people are repressed. But looking at how it's being done, you disagree with?
ANSARI: I'm conflicted, because, again, from the American perspective, because it's illegal, and there was no case made.
But even from, if I was purely looking at it from the perspective of Iran's future. You have Pete Hegseth in charge of the Department of War. And Donald Trump, who, within just a few days, murdered a 160 school children and have basically not apologized for it. Have done nothing to get internet access for free. And you have Donald Trump today saying he wants a hand in picking the next leader, just like Venezuela.
The Venezuela outcome would be devastating to Iranian people, who want democracy and who want to choose their own leader.
COLLINS: Yes.
ANSARI: They don't want Donald Trump choosing their own leader.
COLLINS: I mean, I wonder how the two of you see this, as we've been watching it play out on Capitol Hill.
KATE BEDINGFIELD, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Well, I think that the Democrats have an incredibly forceful case to make here, one that, as the Congresswoman said, that the way that Trump and the administration have pursued this is illegal.
But I also think as a political matter, what people say their biggest frustration with Trump, average voters, people who aren't really dialed in on politics, their biggest frustration is they feel like Donald Trump isn't focused on the things that matter to them. He's not focused on bringing prices down.
And so, for Trump to spend his time and energy and capital focused on this war, rather than making a case for what he's doing to try to bring costs down. Democrats have an absolutely, phenomenally wide political lane here, to prosecute that argument, and I think that will be a major piece of the argument from here until the midterms.
COLLINS: I mean, Warren Davidson, who often votes with the President, he told my colleague, Annie Grayer, he voted against it because he wanted to remind Trump he was once vocally against endless wars.
The White House is saying, this is not going to be an endless war.
DOUG HEYE, FORMER RNC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Yes, well, we don't know.
And I think the State of the Union was a missed opportunity for the President to lay out exactly what Kate was talking about, and on the economy as well.
Voters will follow you, they'll give you some benefit of the doubt, if they see that you understand the problem, you have a plan and action, and you also know how you're defining success, a plan to get out. Whether you're talking the economy, or this, or any other issue, if they know what you're doing, they have buy in, and they'll give you some leeway, which can help you if this goes longer than they think it will.
The reality is we just don't know, at this point. And that's why, on Capitol Hill, even among Republicans who voted with the President today, there's still some trepidation on what exactly is the game plan.
COLLINS: Our lead story tonight was about a huge decision the President made amid all of this, which is firing his first Cabinet Secretary of his second term, Kristi Noem. Can I get a thought from each of you on the implications of that?
Congresswoman?
ANSARI: I mean, I think it was long overdue that Kristi Noem needed to go. The way she handled the murders of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good was absolutely atrocious, by labeling them domestic terrorists. But that is one of many examples.
I think the problems go much deeper than Kristi Noem, however. I think Stephen Miller really is the one who is the architect of Donald Trump's mass deportation agenda, and instructing whoever is in charge of DHS on what to do. So, my thoughts on ICE remain the same.
BEDINGFIELD: Yes, I would agree. And I would expect that Democrats will continue to focus on the architects of these policies. Noem was obviously one very problematic face, but not the only architect. And I would expect that you're going to hear Democrats continue to make that argument.
HEYE: Yes, look, Donald Trump removing DHS leadership from what was happening in Minneapolis was a real vote of no confidence, and this is the end result for it. And what's going to be interesting to watch, over the coming weeks, is the machinations on Markwayne Mullin's nomination. Peter Welch, a Democratic senator from Vermont today, who served with him in the Senate, obviously, but also in the House, said he's competent and honest. That's not something you typically hear Democrats say about Trumpy Republicans. It's a good place for Mullin to start as a nominee.
COLLINS: Yes, we'll see how those dynamics play out by the end of the month.
Great to have all of you here, especially you, Congresswoman, given your family's history. Thank you for joining us tonight.
[21:50:00]
Up next here. The Defense Secretary said the timeline in Iran is, Ours alone to control, referring to the U.S., as concerns are growing about what the exit strategy is going to be. David Frum is here, right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: The dumb, politically correct wars of the past were the opposite of what we're doing here.
Our munitions are full up, and our will is ironclad, which means our timeline is ours and ours alone to control. As long as it takes, to ensure the United States of America achieves these objectives, and as we flow more forces, and as we flow more capabilities, and as our munitions, as we're flying over the top, have even more devastating effects, we set the tempo, we set the timeline, led by the commander on the ground.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: That was Secretary Hegseth, offering an update this afternoon, not putting a timeline on the war in Iran, after he said, yesterday, could potentially go on as long as eight weeks. That's the longest timeline we've heard so far.
Perspective now from David Frum, who's a former speech writer for President George W. Bush, and staff writer for The Atlantic.
I think a lot of people are looking at this, and trying to pay attention to these updates every single day. Where are you at, in terms of what you're hearing from the administration, so far?
DAVID FRUM, STAFF WRITER, THE ATLANTIC: There are -- you've been telling tonight two stories. One about the war in the Middle East, and one about the DHS at home. And it's very important to understand these are, in fact, one story.
The United States is now engaged in a big global war against the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism. There is, of course, a real risk that that state sponsor of terrorism could do terrorism inside the United States, and an even bigger risk that the administration could claim that there are acts of terrorism coming.
It has never been more vital to have professional, responsible, competent, honest, trustworthy leadership at the Department of Homeland Security, that is committed to respecting the freedom of Americans, and not in any way allowing that department to be used to tamper with the 2026 elections. But that's not the leadership it's had, and that's not the leadership that the President would like it to have.
COLLINS: So, what is your concern about -- do you have concerns about Markwayne Mullin specifically, or just in terms of how they plan to use the Department of Homeland Security?
FRUM: People close to the President are circulating plans to issue -- use emergency powers to, in some way, shut down free and fair elections in 2026, because they know that the President's party will lose badly.
COLLINS: Yes, and Trump said he didn't know about that.
FRUM: He didn't know about that, of course. Well, he says a lot of things.
But he has himself, in 2020, tried to do it. So, this is a real risk. In time of war, the President's powers grow. In time of war against a terrorist state, of course, the DHS' powers must grow. We all understand that.
[21:55:00]
The idea that they would have this kind of person anywhere near the repressive apparatus of the American state at this time, you're going to hear a lot of concerns about terrorism, and some of them may be valid, and some of them may be -- may not be. You need to have those concerns filtered through the expertise of competent, professional, trustworthy, honest people, who respect rights and are going to protect elections, not try to tamper with them.
COLLINS: What do you make of -- I mean, one thing that stood out to me is, I've covered a lot of Trump's firings. He's giving Noem though, until the end of the month before she leaves. Presumably, it might take a little bit for Mullin -- Senator Mullin, if he's confirmed, to get confirmed.
FRUM: Yes.
COLLINS: I mean, that is a gap in leadership of overseeing the department.
FRUM: Look, the Noem story is such a scandal, and it goes to questions of financial integrity, and it goes to the rule in Trump world that President Trump can help himself to everything that isn't nailed down, but don't let his supporters do it, unless they kick up to the boss. But financial irregularity, financial scandals, that's not unique in this administration. But what is unique is the officials who are in charge of protecting the United States, against terrorism, by the world's leading state sponsor of terror, with whom the United States is now in global war? You need to have somebody professional there, and not bozos.
COLLINS: You mentioned the midterms. One thing that the White House really felt like they had going for them was gas prices were down significantly. It hasn't been a week since this war started, and they've increased 26 cents on the gallon. They're at their highest level in 11 months.
FRUM: Yes.
COLLINS: The President says they could come down quickly. That might be true. But I wonder what you think of -- if that's a -- should be on the concern radar for the White House.
FRUM: I have enough respect for the political competence of this White House to believe that they don't believe that, that is to know -- they knew if the elections were free and fair in 2026, they were heading for disaster, and that their -- their concern was not gas prices. Their concern was finding a way to tamper with the elections. That's always been priority one.
President Trump, at the very beginning of this administration, said he wanted to put authority over elections into the President's personal hands. Now that fell apart in the courts, mercifully. But he knew from the beginning, the only way he could keep his majorities in Congress was by cheating. Not by gas prices, doing this or that. Every price is up. Electricity prices. Food prices. It's an inflationary disaster made worse by the tariffs.
COLLINS: Well, we'll see. Obviously, they are concerned, certainly, about the political aspect of the midterms, and we'll see what that looks like.
David Frum, thank you for joining us tonight.
FRUM: Thank you.
COLLINS: Great to have your perspective on this.
And thank you all so much for joining us.
"CNN NEWSNIGHT WITH ABBY PHILLIP" is up right after this.
FRUM: Thank you.
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