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State of the Union

Interview With Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ); Interview With Former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg; Interview With U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz. Aired 9-10a ET

Aired March 15, 2026 - 09:00   ET

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

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(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST (voice-over): Dire straits. As Iran chokes off the global oil supply, the Trump administration says everything's fine.

PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: It's something we're dealing with, we have been dealing with it, and we don't need to worry about it.

TAPPER: But with the war intensifying and gas prices skyrocketing, what is the plan? I will ask U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz.

Plus: endgame. With President Trump sending mixed signals on how and when this war will end...

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I can't touch that. I mean, I have my own idea. It'll be as long as it's necessary.

TAPPER: ... will Congress get off the sidelines? Democratic Senator Cory Booker will be here.

And stalled out. One month in, the Democrats' DHS shutdown drags on.

SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD): They don't even want to sit down and talk.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): OK, that's a lot of bull.

TAPPER: As the impact grows and with rising security threats at home, does something need to give? Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg joins me to discuss that and more.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: Hello. I'm Jake Tapper in Washington, where the state of our union is watching the war with Iran intensify. As the conflict in the Middle East enters its third week, President Trump posted last night that the United States has -- quote -- "beaten and completely decimated Iran both militarily, economically, and in every other way" -- unquote.

But the White House appears no closer to articulating a clear strategy as to when and how the war itself will end. The official American death toll as of now stands at 13 after six U.S. service members aboard a refueling aircraft were killed in a crash.

They are 33-year-old Major John Klinner, 38-year-old Captain Seth Koval, 31-year-old Captain Ariana Savino, 30-year-old Captain Curtis Angst, 34-year-old Technical Sergeant Ashley Pruitt, and 28-year-old technical Sergeant Tyler Simmons.

May their memories be a blessing. The Pentagon says the cause of the crash is still under investigation.

On Saturday, a security official told CNN the two drones struck the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq. An embassy -- the embassy says that any Americans still in Iraq should leave immediately. Meanwhile, President Trump told NBC that he's not interested in making a deal to end the war, even as Iran, which has seen much of its leadership killed and much of its military destroyed, continues to hold a stranglehold over the Strait of Hormuz.

Joining us now to discuss, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, a former Green Beret who served in Afghanistan and the Middle East.

Ambassador Waltz, thank you so much for joining us.

The president just said that the U.S. has beaten and completely decimated Iran, both militarily, economically, and in every other way. Help us understand what that means, that Iran has been beaten. Does that mean that U.S. service members will soon be coming home?

MIKE WALTZ, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: Well, Jake, let's just unpack that for a moment.

Militarily, the U.S. military has decimated Iran's air force, their air defenses, their missile capability, their missile production capability. This has been a dominant victory, the likes of which we haven't seen in modern American military history, economically, the maximum pressure campaign that President Trump put in place his first term and reinstituted the second -- as the second major item, executive order that he signed this term.

Their currency is tanking. Their foreign reserves are completely depleted. And that's why you saw the most recent uprising. You saw the uprising based on economic terms. And then, diplomatically, we just saw this week at the U.N. Security Council 135 nations -- Jake, it was a U.N. record -- 135 nations side with the Gulf Arab countries and condemn the GCC -- excuse me -- with the Gulf Arab countries, the GCC countries, and condemn Iran for its atrocious attacks on civilian infrastructure, ports, airports, hotels, resorts. And, as I pointed out at the Security Council, I don't see how the regime argues that those are military targets. They are clearly not, and they are clearly deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure.

And I have got to tell you, this shoot-in-all-directions strategy that Iran has taken on is backfiring. They have never been more diplomatically isolated. Just one more point. Russia and Iran had an opportunity to veto that measure, and they stood back and did not. They abstained.

[09:05:15]

So, with friends like those, I think Iran is going to stay incredibly isolated.

TAPPER: You said Russia and Iran abstained. I assume you meant Russia and China abstained.

WALTZ: Excuse me, Russia and China. That's right.

TAPPER: Yes. Yes.

So, is he willing, the president, to accept an end to the war that leaves whatever of the regime is left still in place, the new ayatollah as supreme leader? Because it sounds like -- the way you describe it, it sounds like President Trump, with the exception of the stranglehold that the Iranians have of the Strait of Hormuz, it sounds like everything has been achieved pretty much, with the possible exception of a new regime, which was not one of the specific goals.

WALTZ: Well, the president has said he's not happy with this new nominated Mojtaba Khamenei, who, by many accounts, is an incredibly hard-line individual, a hard-line cleric.

We will see if he's actually really in charge. As Secretary Hegseth said, he was wounded during the initial strikes. And it's unclear that he really has control of the country, if he's even alive at this point.

So, look, I will leave it to the president where he decides and when he decides and on what terms he decides as commander in chief to end hostilities. But I think the important point here is, the United States has never been in such a position of strength and the Iranian regime has never been in such a position of weakness when it comes to its options.

TAPPER: Despite U.S. strikes on military targets on Iran's key oil hub of a Kharg Island Friday night, Iran says that oil production on the island is proceeding normally.

If Iran does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz, is President Trump prepared to target those oil facilities, which, as you know, handle 90 percent of Iran's crude oil exports? And, if so, are you worried that that could risk even more of an escalation when it comes to the Strait of Hormuz? WALTZ: Well, President Trump is not going to take any options off the

table, Jake, and he pointed out in his TRUTH where he announced the military infrastructure strikes on Kharg, which, by the way, they use to project their fast boats, drones and other types of attacks on -- into the Gulf, that he deliberately hit the military infrastructure only for now.

And I would certainly think he would maintain that optionality if he wants to take down their energy infrastructure. But we have to take a step back, Jake. I mean, look at what they're doing to global energy supplies. Look at what they're trying to do in terms of constraining the world's economy with drones and boats.

One could only imagine if they had a nuclear arsenal or if they had a nuclear weapon. That's what many of these Gulf Arab countries have woken up to, that they now realize, and why they have been so supportive and are standing with us as we seek to ensure this regime can never have a nuclear weapon, which President Trump has been consistent about for 10 years.

TAPPER: If not longer.

WALTZ: Yes.

TAPPER: President Trump said that the Navy, the U.S. Navy, is going to begin escorting tankers through the Strait of Hormuz and that will begin very soon. And he said -- quote -- "Many countries will be sending warships to keep the strait open and safe" -- unquote.

The administration has been talking about potential Navy escorts for more than a week now. Shipping executives tell CNN that all their requests for escorts have, as of now, been rebuffed. President Trump said -- quote -- "Hopefully, China, France, Japan, South Korea, the U.K. and others will send ships to the area" -- unquote.

Is he hoping that those countries are going to send ships or have they committed to sending ships? And how soon will those naval escorts be ready?

WALTZ: Well, I will leave those conversations to him. The conversations are ongoing.

I think there's an important point that's getting kind of missed in the conversation, that 80 percent of the oil coming out of the Gulf heads to Asia. Only about 7, 8 percent heads to the Western Hemisphere. And thank God for President Trump's energy dominance agenda, everything from opening up ANWR, new pipeline in Alaska, incentivizing fracking, what we're going to see come out of Venezuela and Guyana in the coming months and years.

This is why we have to be energy-independent. And I have to just say it's a little rich coming from the progressive left, who has literally been at war against oil, literally were putting policies in place to drive up the price of oil in order to force Americans to buy E.V.s and go to wind and solar, are now suddenly celebrating it or decrying the lack of it. [09:10:07]

Like I said, it's a little bit rich. We have the energy dominance in place. But, to your point on escorts, look, back, in the '80s, under the tanker wars then, the last time Iran tried to constrain global energy supplies, you had French, United Kingdom, even Soviet Union forces in there escorting their tankers out that were heading to their markets.

And I think that's what President Trump is calling upon the world, saying the entire world is affected. Iran can't hold your economies hostage. And we certainly welcome, encourage, and even demand their participation to help their own economies.

And, meanwhile, the U.S. military will continue to pound the Iranian military, their missile, boat and drone forces to keep the straits open.

TAPPER: Sources tell CNN that Russia has been providing Iran with intelligence to help Iran better target U.S. service members. You said in an interview last week that President Trump will -- quote -- "deal with it accordingly."

Here's what President Trump had to say about this on Friday.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

BRIAN KILMEADE, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Do you think Putin is helping them?

TRUMP: I think he might be helping him a little bit, yes, I guess. And he probably thinks we're helping Ukraine, right? China would say the same thing. You know, it's like, hey, they do it and we do it, in all fairness. They do it and we do it.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

TAPPER: Do you see an equivalence between the U.S. helping Ukraine defend itself and Russia helping Iran target U.S. service members?

WALTZ: Well, Jake, we have known that Russia and Iran have this symbiotic, have this strategic partnership for some time now.

I will tell you what Russia has lost out of this. They have lost their biggest manufacturer of the Shahed drones. Russia's been licensing those drones for quite some time and hitting Ukraine with it, all the more reason why we need to defang this regime and all the more reason that they cannot have a nuclear weapon.

And I will just point out too, because a lot of critics out there are making hay of this, it was President Trump that put sanctions on Russia's largest oil producer, Rosneft. He also put sanctions on Lukoil. The Biden administration did not do that for many years.

They only did a kind of a pinprick action at the very end of the administration. He also took tough action on India. And now he's put a temporary pause on that in order to calm energy markets. I think these are all pragmatic, commonsense approach -- approaches,

while we deal with the Iranian regime.

TAPPER: But, surely, surely Russia helping Iran target our service members is upsetting and distressing, and action needs to be taken.

WALTZ: Well, I'm not going to get into leaked assessments of what intelligence is being provided or not. I just can't and won't do that.

But I will tell you, if they are doing it, it certainly hasn't been affected -- or effective, excuse me, because the Iranian air force, air defenses, missile forces, and Navy have been completely decimated.

TAPPER: All right, Ambassador Mike Waltz, thank you so much. Appreciate your time today, sir.

WALTZ: All right, thank you.

TAPPER: Democrats say they will not allow business as usual while the war in Iran rages on.

Senator Cory Booker, Democrat of New Jersey, joins me next.

And, later, as another generation of Americans goes to war in the Middle East, I'm going to talk with Afghan war veteran and potential 2028 candidate Pete Buttigieg.

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[09:17:48]

TAPPER: Welcome back to STATE OF THE UNION.

Senate Democrats are threatening to gum up the works to force a public debate on the Iran war.

Joining us now is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Democratic Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey.

Thanks so much for joining us, Senator.

So let's start with that -interview I just did with Ambassador Mike Waltz. What did you think? Was there anything you reacted to in terms of his view of the war in Iran?

SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ): Well, first and foremost, it's outrageous that this is a unilateral war started by one person, the president, when the Constitution clearly says a war, especially something of this magnitude involving 15 countries, not only affecting the region, but really from the war in Ukraine to our posture and positioning in Asia.

We have a massive undertaking right now that has not come to Congress. In addition to that, the president said he was going to focus on costs of the American people. He is driving them up. So not only did he cut millions of people's health care. Not only has he taken steps through his tariffs that are driving up costs and driving out small businesses, but now he's doing something that is further increasing the pain of American people.

So why hasn't this come before Congress? Why are Republicans just lying down and doing nothing and allowing this president to do what he wants? You say gumming up the works. I say trying to get the Senate back to doing its job and Senate Republicans not being a lapdog for the president, but actually doing their constitutional duty.

TAPPER: So you have called the war with Iran unconstitutional and you're working with other Democrats to file a new war powers resolution to rein Trump in.

Past war powers resolutions, as you know, have failed because of a lack of Republican support. Do you have any Republican buy-in here other than Rand Paul?

BOOKER: Well, let's just put it this way.

The Senate should not be operating as business as usual. I mean, the fact...

TAPPER: Because of the war?

BOOKER: Because of the war and because of the extreme crises we have in the country right now.

Remember, millions and millions of Americans are going to lose health care as a result of their failure to extend the Obamacare subsidies. But the other trillion they cut out of Medicaid is going to cause another big crisis. If you talk to any Americans, look at any poll, this is what they're concerned about, rising costs, loss of health care and more.

And so here's the Senate, which swore, as we have seen by the Constitution, which is supposed to provide checks and balances, oversight, accountability to an executive out of control, that has done none of that.

[09:20:10]

And so, from its military, everything from the beginning, when they were using Signal to send out war plans, to even now, Republicans time and time again don't do their constitutional duty of checks and balances, oversight.

What they do, do, though, is just lean over, an advanced form of yoga, bending over backwards to do whatever the president wants.

TAPPER: Yes.

Presidents on both sides of the aisle have authorized serious military operations without seeking the authorization of Congress, as I don't need to tell you. The actual last time that Congress declared war was World War II.

BOOKER: Right. TAPPER: Korea was a police action. Vietnam was a conflict. President Obama didn't seek authorization before engaging in military action in Libya in 2011.

Wouldn't you say that Congress, regardless of party, has kind of self- emasculated itself when it comes to this, I mean, it's taken away its own powers and ceded it to the executive branch, mainly because they don't want to be on record pro or con for any war?

BOOKER: Well, listen, I'm going to be one of those Democrats that say I think both parties have been feckless in allowing the growth of the power of the presidency.

But let's put this into perspective. Nothing Obama did, nothing Trump did even in its first term are in any way relation to what we're seeing right now, the biggest military engagement of our country since the war in Afghanistan. Literally, you see with what's going on in the Strait of Hormuz right now as the biggest gumming up of the oil markets we have ever seen.

The consequences strategically for us moving so many assets in the region means that we're endangering the assets we have necessarily and potentially in other areas. This is a massive military undertaking, costing American taxpayers billions and billions of dollars and tragically costing 13 lives.

So I understand past presidents have drifted and taken power from the Article I branch of government. But at this scale, at this magnitude, at this cost, why is Congress just laying down and doing nothing? Because, if we allow this to happen, then we give Trump the permission to say, OK, finished with Venezuela, I went to Iran, now I'm going to go to Cuba, now I'm going to go to North Korea.

It is outrageous and never conceived of that we could have this level of a military engagement without the people's house, Congress, doing something about it.

TAPPER: You need 60 votes, right?

BOOKER: Again...

TAPPER: Do you even have 50? I mean...

BOOKER: Well, again, the chance for success. I really believe what a great faith leader once said. I was called to be faithful, not to be successful.

We need people that are going to stand up and fight for the Constitution and stay faithful to the oaths we swore, not be complicit in a reckless, out-of-control president who's causing chaos abroad and rising costs at home.

But one more point here. I have seen time and time in my short time in Congress that the power of the people is greater than the people in power. One of the reasons why I want us to make -- do what the American people want is center this debate in Congress. It's because it informs the American people, and also I think can

inspire more action. People are giving up on Congress right now because it's not doing its job. We need to show them that we're fighting in hopes that we will see more activism as well to hold people accountable.

As we get closer to the November election, I'm telling you right now, I'm hoping Republicans will find their backbone and realize that Donald Trump is an anchor around the neck of the Republican Party as he -- continually prove to be a liar to the American people, not focused on their costs and their issues, but his adventurism abroad.

TAPPER: So let's turn to domestic issues, because, in Michigan, this week an attacker rammed a vehicle full of explosives into a synagogue and preschool, was only prevented from carrying out a mass murder because of the quick action of security officials.

Your wife -- congratulations on your marriage. By the way, your wife is Jewish. So I'm sure you would have cared about this before, but you have a Jewish wife and presumably will have a Jewish family. So this is personal.

Do you think -- there's a lot of antisemitism on the right and the left, both. Do you think that your party, that leaders of your party are doing enough to call out antisemitism within the Democratic Party?

BOOKER: I think whenever you take hate -- no religious group in America has seen the spike of antisemitism we're seeing, but I also see rising hate against other religious groups as well.

As soon as you try to lay a partisan lens over it, you weaken the moral call for America to reject hatred. This is outrageous to me that we have allowed a president who is literally saying, when asked about the cost of domestic terrorism at home, saying, this might happen, war has costs.

That, to me, shows you again how dangerous Donald Trump is, chaotic corruption, cruel, and is indifferent, it seems, to the crisis going on at home, which are continuing rising attacks.

[09:25:00]

All of us have a moral obligation to stand up against antisemitism, to stand up against hate, and to stand up against political violence. And the silence that we have from the White House regarding these tragedies and the growing concerns you even see amongst law enforcement about the security of our home, it's unacceptable to me.

TAPPER: So, in terms of the security of our home, there have been a number of attacks, the ISIS-inspired bombing attempt in New York City outside Mamdani's house, a shooting target at an ROTC class at Old Dominion, and on and on and on.

Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security is still shut down because Senate Democrats are blocking the funding bill over the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. Given the security concerns you just expressed, and given the fact that, honestly, Secretary Noem has been fired, Tom Homan took over from Greg Bovino and Noem in Minnesota, you could argue Democrats won the debate.

Isn't it time for Democrats to reopen and refund DHS?

BOOKER: So, first of all, Democrats have tried multiple times to try to get TSA, CISA, the Coast Guard funded. Republicans have refused time and time again to fund...

TAPPER: Yes, they want the whole agency funded.

BOOKER: They want the whole agency.

ICE is still out there doing reckless things in communities. ICE is still arresting and detaining American citizens. ICE is still having unmasked people jump out of unmarked cars abducting people from the streets, barreling into homes. Even Americans, even veterans are being swept up in ICE's chaos.

I will not approve another dollar for ICE, given all that they're doing, but we should be funding those TSA agents that keep us safe, CISA, Coast Guard. And for Republicans to refuse to do it is unacceptable.

TAPPER: All right, Senator Cory Booker.

BOOKER: And I will make one last point. It's important, Jake. They have cut the people out of FBI and other agencies that should be protecting our homeland.

This is a president that is not keeping America safer. He's making it more dangerous, has the lawless people in our communities doing lawless things. And his operations overseas, for the things that he's doing there not to be debated in Congress is outrageous. And this is what the work of this week in Congress, is going to be focusing it back on the people's concerns, public safety, and the rising costs.

TAPPER: Democratic Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, thanks for being here.

Coming up: He's campaigning across the map with an eye on the midterms and maybe beyond. Past and possible future presidential candidate Secretary Pete Buttigieg joins me next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:31:29]

TAPPER: As the war in the Middle East escalates, my next guest says that we have seen this movie before.

Joining us now, former Transportation Secretary and Afghan war veteran Pete Buttigieg,

Secretary Hegseth. I want to play something that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said earlier this week about how this war differs from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HEGSETH: This is not 2003. This is not endless nation-building under those types of quagmires we saw under Bush or Obama. It's not even close. Our generation of soldier will not let that happen again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: You're also a part of that generation of soldier. What's your take?

PETE BUTTIGIEG, U.S. TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: What I'm worried about is not the soldiers and the people who are serving. What I'm worried about is their political leadership, like Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump.

We lived through a war that was sold to us on false pretenses when I was younger. This war has not been sold on any pretense. The president just went ahead and did it.

Here's the biggest thing that has not changed since the war in Afghanistan or the war in Iraq. The biggest thing that has not changed is who pays the price. We have now seen 13 American service members killed. And when you prepare to go to war, the thing you think about, the thing you most dread is your family being the ones to get that knock on the door.

More than a dozen American families have now gotten that knock on the door. And the president has basically assured us that there will be more where that came from. And while they're paying the ultimate price, every American is paying some price. Right now, mortgage rates are up because of this war.

Food is going to be more expensive because of this war. And, of course, the price of gas that we're paying at the pump is more expensive because of this war.

TAPPER: So the Trump administration argues that they needed to take action to take out Iran's nuclear weapons program and Iran's ballistic missile program, because, when they came into office, the Biden administration, your administration had done nothing in four years to stop Iran from building a nuclear weapon, developing ballistic missiles, funding terrorism around the world.

Are they wrong?

BUTTIGIEG: Yes, of course they're wrong.

I mean, for one thing, the president assured us that the nuclear program, President Trump assured us that the nuclear program was, in his words, obliterated just a few months ago. And let's also remember that, in the past, Iran's nuclear program was contained without a shot being fired.

I think President Trump thought he could get a better deal than the Obama administration did. He failed to get that better deal. And he went off and launched a war without planning, without being ready for even some of the most basic things.

I mean, it is a certainty that the military would have advised him that the Straits of Hormuz would have been closed, that that was a likely scenario. And yet they're talking about this and clearly acting as though they didn't think this would happen.

Secretary Hegseth went so far as to say that the Straits of Hormuz is open, other than the fact that there would be fire against vehicles transiting the strait. This is clearly amateur hour at the Pentagon and in the White House. And, again, the price is being paid by all of us.

You can also just tell from the administration's attitude toward this war, the fact that they're putting out videos treating this like a video game. It's not a video game for the families of the fallen. And then, just this week, we saw campaign fund-raising materials being put out, e-mails, where the president's committee, the president's political operation was raising money off of images of him at a dignified transfer.

Any politician who does that has no business leading American troops in a war. If the president is willing to raise campaign funds over the bodies of America's war dead, he is unfit to be the commander in chief.

[09:35:13]

TAPPER: You live in Michigan now with your family. There was this horrific terrorist attack or antisemitic attack, whatever the motivations were, out on a synagogue outside Detroit.

In addition, there is this partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security; 61,000 TSA employees just missed their first full paycheck as the shutdown of DHS because Democrats want changes and demanding changes to ICE policies until they fund the whole DHS, stretches into another week.

You're a former transportation secretary. You know all too well the kind of strain that this is putting on airports. And I wonder. Secretary Noem has been fired. Greg Bovino has been replaced. Tom Homan seems to have changed how things are being done, to compliments from Democratic officials at the state and local level.

Don't you think Democrats should just take what's something of a win and start funding DHS again?

BUTTIGIEG: I think Republicans should stop blocking the Democratic proposals to fund all of DHS, including TSA and other parts, except for the parts that should be negotiated over, which is ICE and Customs and Border Patrol.

Remember, ICE has already gotten tens of billions of dollars of funding. It's larger than many of the world's militaries through the president's budget. And Customs and Border Patrol has yet to face real accountability for killing an American in Minneapolis, which, last time I checked, is nowhere near the American border.

So, there are very clear issues that need to be addressed. We cannot continue to have masked government federal agents pulling people off the streets, harassing American citizens. And this is something that the American people agree with.

None of that has to result in what's going on right now with TSA workers, for example, not getting paid. The lines are getting longer. Every time I'm in one of those lines, whether it's yesterday, or today later, I will be, I think about how much I appreciate the work that those officers do to keep this country safe.

And, again, Democrats have repeatedly -- I believe, five times last week alone, Democrats have proposed to get those TSA officers paid, to get all of DHS funded, except for those two pieces where the Republicans just refuse to come to the table. They would rather see this shutdown continue than negotiate a commonsense outcome with their fellow members of Congress on the Democratic side.

TAPPER: One of the reasons you're in airports so much is you're traveling across the country. You're currently in Georgia. You campaigned yesterday with Shawn Harris, who is running for that open House seat vacated by former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.

I want to play something that Shawn Harris said about you at the event.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHAWN HARRIS (D), GEORGIA CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: I see something in the future. This piece is not finished. I got a fun and feeling that this piece that's come to the stage right now might be your president someday.

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: You have also been in New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, states that are important for any presidential -- presidential -- any potential presidential candidate.

Is what you're doing entirely about the midterms, or are you also setting a stage for a possible 2028 run?

BUTTIGIEG: Look, I have also been in states like Alabama and Ohio. I'm going where I think I can make myself useful to candidates and causes that I believe in.

Obviously, 2028 will come, but, right now, we're in 2026, and we have got an amazing groundswell of support, but we have got to keep pushing on that. That event yesterday was extraordinary. As you mentioned, this is a very, very conservative district.

Shawn Harris, who's distinguished himself as a veteran, in general is leading a great campaign for Marjorie Taylor Greene's former seat. The really incredible thing to me was -- and you could hear it in that crowd -- there were hundreds of people there. This is in Northwest Georgia, again, extremely conservative area.

I'm told that was about twice as many people as came to see President Trump himself when he was there just a few weeks ago. So what that tells me is, there's a different kind of coalition coming together right now, Democrats, independents, lots of people who normally vote Republican who agree that we need balanced government, we need some kind of check on this reckless, out-of-control administration.

And I'm going to be doing everything I can to support and build that coalition every day until the election comes.

TAPPER: Secretary Buttigieg, thanks so much for joining us today. Safe travels.

Coming up: President Trump says we have won the war, so why isn't the war over? My panel joins me next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:43:59]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We have won. Let me tell you, we have won. Most people say it's already been won. It's just a question of when. When do we stop? We have already won in many ways, but we haven't won enough.

KILMEADE: When are you going to know when it's over?

TRUMP: When I feel it.

KILMEADE: OK.

TRUMP: When I feel it in my bones.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Let's talk about the status of the war. My panel joins me now.

Congressman, I mean, President Trump just said a few hours ago on social media that Iran has been beaten. So why are we still there?

ADAM KINZINGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Right. Yes.

This has been the big mistake of the administration. You could argue we never should have done anything with the war, but I would say the biggest mistake is just not preparing the American people for it. And then when you realize this is going to take a few days longer than you think, right now, a couple of weeks longer, then it's just constantly, oh, that's all right, we already won, though. Don't worry. Tomorrow, it'll be better.

And I think the president in his own way -- and we have seen this before -- is panicking because the market takes a hit, because people are turning against him, and he wants to live in this world where we're right on one -- being successful in one day.

I just think he needs to level with people and say what the truth is. Hey, we may be done tomorrow. This may go on for a few more weeks. The Strait of Hormuz is going to matter.

[09:45:07]

TAPPER: That's the leveling with the American people.

KINZINGER: Right.

TAPPER: What about the Iranian people? Because, in January, President Trump was saying, help is on the way, right? And now it seems pretty clear that regime change is not necessarily in the cards.

NAZILA FATHI, FORMER TEHRAN CORRESPONDENT, "NEW YORK TIMES": Yes.

And the Iranian people are squeezed between the airstrikes and a regime that is extremely brutal. I mean, people tell me that there are roadblocks everywhere in the country. An 88-year-old was telling me that he was made, forced to get off his car, to open up his trunk at a gunpoint.

So, yes, it's not a good situation. Tehran was under intense bombing last night. And so was the city of Isfahan. And people are just waiting, waiting to see what's going to happen.

TAPPER: Where are we in the war?

BRAD TODD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think the president's faced -- the reason you're hearing some uncertainty or mixed signals is because they have two choices.

The first choice has already been made. We're going to end Iran's military capabilities and end their ability to project terror and force abroad. The second choice is whether you take their oil infrastructure out, their oil export infrastructure.

You don't take it out if it looks like there's going to be a regime that rises in place in Iran that we could deal with and that would be peaceful for the region. You would leave that infrastructure intact if that's going to happen.

If it's not going to happen, it's not going to happen. Then we have to take out the oil.

TAPPER: I'm just telling you, it's not going to happen.

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes.

TAPPER: Like, I mean, just I don't sense, at least at this point, any notion that there's going to be some sort of reasonable government.

TODD: Well, but -- then, in that case, we have to leave it decapitated militarily and unable to export oil to China and Russia.

TAPPER: You have been out there talking to people in the field about the midterms. Are -- is this coming up at all? Are the American people engaged in the war?

FINNEY: It's really interesting. So I did spend a couple of days with -- these are organizers who are in communities, and you would think it's housing, it's health care. And those are concerns.

The war is coming up. It's percolating in a couple of ways, young people who are angry -- and similar to our own polling, angry that he broke his promise, worried that they could be...

TAPPER: Broke his promise about taking the country...

FINNEY: About taking the country to war.

And I should mention these are like black and brown young people, some of whom are in the military or come from families that have military service. And parents are worried about their kids being sent. And they're not buying it. They know it's a war. They're not buying it.

Politically, the president is trying to and the Republicans are trying to not say it's a war. But they know it's a war, and they know our troops are in danger. And so it's just interesting that, in a time -- in communities where you would think these cost issues would be top issues...

TAPPER: Yes.

FINNEY: ... that actually people are -- I mean, they even asked one of the senators this week about the war powers resolution, which, you know...

TAPPER: Really?

FINNEY: Yes, I mean, they -- it was like, oh, this housing bill is great, but, wait, we want to talk about the War Powers Act, which when do you ever hear that from activists on the front lines?

TAPPER: Brad, do you disagree with Congressman Kinzinger that there wasn't enough preparation in terms of communications to the American people about why this is happening, how long it's going to take, et cetera?

TODD: I mean, I think -- I wish the president had talked about it in the State of the Union address, but he has spent seven months telling Americans that we have to take out Iran's ability to project power abroad.

And for -- frankly, this is seven presidents too late. He's the first president who's had the guts to take out the force that has caused chaos in mayhem and killed Americans in almost every administration going all the way back to Jimmy Carter.

TAPPER: And we're seeing a different threat environment right now, attacks on the synagogue at Old Dominion University. I mean, there is -- I'm not blaming it on President Trump, but there is now this cost at home.

KINZINGER: Yes, there is.

And this is -- I don't think this is necessarily Iran projecting its power, but any time you have a big thing that is religiously -- could be interpreted as religious, you have a chance that somebody gets radicalized.

And I think that's what we're seeing, these lone wolf radicalizations. And I will also say what Brad was saying makes sense, and the administration should actually hire you to come out and lay that out...

TODD: Yes.

KINZINGER: ... which is, we will take out your oil if you're going to be bad. We will leave it if you're going to be good.

That's -- I think Americans need to hear that. Are we going to occupy Kharg Island or not? Are we going to hold it hostage while we kind of figure it out?

TAPPER: Yes.

What happens in Iran if the U.S. takes out the oil?

FATHI: Kharg Island specifically is the economic lifeline of the Islamic Republic and of Iran.

Just to make the threat, it has a psychological impact on the Iranian regime. Let's not forget that Kharg was under intense bombing during the war with Iraq, and ultimately was one of the key reasons that Iran surrendered and agreed to sign a peace deal with Iraq; 90 percent of Iran's oil is exported from that island.

TAPPER: Yes.

FATHI: And if it comes under attack, it will retaliate.

[09:50:03]

TAPPER: All right, thanks, one and all, for being here. Really appreciate it.

When we come back: President Trump and his administration still not happy with the news media reporting on the war with Iran.

We will talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: President Trump and his allies are still frustrated with journalists for having the audacity to report on the war with Iran in ways that they do not approve of, rather than simply cheering it on. Take President Trump baselessly claiming on Truth Social that: "'The

New York Times' and 'The Wall Street Journal' and other low-life papers and media actually want us to lose the war."

The most surprising attack on the news media, however, might have come from former Bush White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer. Now, you might think that someone who was part of an administration about whom President Trump said -- quote -- "They lied, they said there were weapons of mass destruction, there were none, and they knew there were none" -- unquote -- you might think somebody like that might sit this one out.

[09:55:08]

But, no, Mr. Fleischer accused the media of constantly painting a picture of America losing when it is actually winning. And his proof was this October 2001 "New York Times" article about Afghanistan by the late Johnny Apple, and specifically about the risk of Afghanistan becoming a Vietnam-like quagmire, an idea that Fleischer found preposterous since key cities such as Kabul fell to the U.S. just days later.

Of course, the war didn't end after Kabul fell. Bush put boots on the ground and Afghanistan became a 20-year quagmire. Quagmire is a word that Secretary of Defense Hegseth used this week to describe it.

And, remind me, who controls Kabul right now after we beat the Taliban? The story that Fleischer disapprovingly cited concludes -- quote -- "In Afghanistan, as in South Vietnam, there is a huge question about who would rule if the United States vanquished its foe. Washington never solved that issue satisfactorily after the assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem in 1963. And solving it in Afghanistan, a country long prone to chaotic competition among many tribes and factions, will probably not be much easier" -- unquote.

Every reporter that I know wants the United States to succeed in every way. And the way that reporters help that happen is by asking questions of people in power and not blindly cheering on leaders who take the nation to war.

I guess, when it comes to Ari Fleischer versus Johnny Apple, you can say that the Bush White House and its spokespeople are the ones who got it right about the war in Afghanistan. You can say that. That, of course, is not what the facts and history say.

Thanks for spending your Sunday morning with us.

"FAREED ZAKARIA GPS" is next. He has an exclusive interview with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.