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The Brief with Jim Sciutto

CNN International: Iran Says it Seized Two Ships in the Strait of Hormuz; U.S. Navy Secretary Stepping Down "Effective Immediately"; European Union Unblocks $106B Loan for Ukraine; Zelensky: Iran War Takes Focus Away from Ukraine; Tesla Reports Mixed Q1 Results; Democrats Seize Redistricting Fight; HHS Blocks Publication of COVID Vaccine Study. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired April 22, 2026 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR, "THE BRIEF": Hello, and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington, and

you're watching "The Brief."

Just ahead this hour, the White House says Iran's claim that it seized two cargo vessels does not amount to a ceasefire violation. Volodymyr Zelensky

tells CNN that efforts to end the war in Ukraine cannot wait until the conflict in Iran is over. And a top U.S. health official blocks a study

showing that COVID vaccines cut the chances of an emergency room or hospital visit in half.

Well, Iran is ratcheting up pressure in the Strait of Hormuz, saying it has seized two vessels and attacked a third. Those moves come days after the

U.S. took over an Iranian-flagged cargo ship. The U.N. is condemning attacks and seizures in this vital waterway. This, as Iran's top negotiator

says, the U.S. blockade violates the current ceasefire and prevents Iran from reopening the Strait.

Here in Washington, the White House says President Trump has not set a firm deadline for Tehran to respond to proposals to get peace talks back on

track.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president has not set a firm deadline to receive an Iranian proposal. Look, again, I'm not going to

set a timetable for the president. He has not done that, and I won't. I know there's been some anonymous sourced reporting that there was maybe a

three-to-five-day deadline. That is not true. The president has not set a deadline himself. Ultimately, he will dictate the timetable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: He's changed the timetable many times. On top of those developments, we're getting breaking news from the U.S. Navy. A Pentagon

official says that the Navy secretary, John Phelan, is leaving his post effective immediately. His deputy, Hung Tsao, will fill in as acting

secretary.

Kristen Holmes is at the White House. First of all, just on that Navy secretary departure, do we have any idea what's behind this?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: We don't have any details right now. This just happened. They said he was leaving effective

immediately. Just a reminder, this is not somebody who had extensive military service. They were a businessman, a donor to President Trump. And

this obviously, though, coming at a time where the U.S. Navy is critical. They are in charge of the blockade in the Strait of Hormuz. We continue to

see more ships there. They are really running that entire operation.

But, again, it's not clear if this is linked to that or if this is anything, if there is anything else happening. We're clearly trying to get

information from the White House as to what led to this, specifically that language about the immediate departure, which indicates this happening kind

of last minute. So, trying to figure out what exactly is going on there.

But, of course, this is the first really high-profile military cabinet secretary position that we have seen a departure from. And we are trying to

get more details on what exactly that means and what it means for the operation as a whole.

SCIUTTO: An operation currently underway. OK, to the bigger picture now. Is the White House sensitive at all to questions about President Trump's

constantly moving timelines? It was interesting to hear Karoline Leavitt there say, well, you know, the president hasn't chosen a timetable. And I'm

not -- of course, she's not going to get ahead of the president. But the president has not been shy about setting deadlines. Why not now?

HOLMES: I mean, Jim, I think we know why not now, because every other deadline that he has said he has blasted through. I mean, just yesterday in

the morning, he said he didn't want to extend the ceasefire deadline one more time. And then he ended up not only extending it, but extending it

indefinitely.

They clearly don't want to get ahead or get into a position where President Trump is again crossing over this deadline and extending another ceasefire.

And that's why you also saw them pushing back so, so much on this idea of it being days.

We had heard behind the scenes from U.S. officials that they were talking about in terms of the deadline, it being anywhere in the days range instead

of the months range. That was not something that Karoline Leavitt wanted out there.

[18:05:00]

She specifically said that she had seen reporting about three to five days, among other things, and that that was not accurate, that there had been no

determined timeline and that this was going to stay this way until the president decided what the actual timeline was going to be, essentially

saying that they were giving Iran space to kind of figure out what exactly they were going to come back to the table with in terms of this unified

response.

But it is clear that they are actively not setting a deadline for the first time. And that is likely because of what we have seen over and over again,

which is this extension and walking all the way up to it, saying I'm going to blast a civilization and then in the 11th hour saying, actually, I'm not

going to do that. We'll give them another couple of days or another two weeks.

So, I think they're being more calculated now in this not putting President Trump at risk of having to deal with that again and having to go through

essentially extending another ceasefire. But there is a real question behind the scenes when you talk to these U.S. officials. They do worry that

without a firm deadline, that the Iranian officials are not going to have really any incentive to negotiate.

But that's also why you're seeing President Trump really leaning into this blockade, because if you talk to the same U.S. officials, they believe

that's the most leverage that the United States has right now.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Kristen Holmes, thanks so much. Well, negotiating with Iran for the ceasefire and for a larger agreement has been, to say the least,

complicated, in part because it's not clear who exactly the U.S. is negotiating with in Iran. It's been almost two months and the world still

has not seen the new Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei. President Donald Trump on Tuesday called Iran's leadership, quote, "seriously fractured." Many top

figures were killed by the U.S. and Israel since the war began.

What does this all mean for the prospects for peace? Joining me now, Alex Vatanka, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute. Alex, good to have

you back.

ALEX VATANKA, SENIOR FELLOW, MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE: Jim, great to be with you.

SCIUTTO: So, the president, in effect, is blaming his own constantly moving deadlines on fractures within the Iranian leadership. Is that what's

delaying this or is Iran simply digging its heels in?

VATANKA: Jim, just looking at the latest in terms of Iranian sources just before I came on, I still don't see this big schism inside the Iranian

regime in terms of whether there is a need to reach a diplomatic deal with the Americans.

I think fundamentally it is true that there are factions in Iran, and it's true that they've always had arguments in terms of policy on certainly on

the question of the United States. But at this moment, when they just came out of this war that cost them, according to themselves, $270 billion, they

don't necessarily at all want to go back into war footing, despite what they're saying. They're saying they're ready for it, but I don't think they

want that.

And I think fundamentally all the factions are in agreement. That's a good thing to do if they can get their bottom line, their minimum demands from

the United States met. They're not sure they will. And they also have this fundamental lack of trust in President Trump because from their point of

view, they're cheating with the Trump administration over the last nine months and twice they got attacked during the diplomatic process. So,

there's a trust that's lacking there.

SCIUTTO: Yes, it's not a crazy point to make. I mean, you argue in your own opinion piece that the regime may appear harder line, but still

operates within a framework of constraints. So, are you saying that this leadership, even with those Revolutionary Guard components, wants to

actually come to an agreement at some point?

VATANKA: Look, I think they want a deal, Jim. And President Trump is right when he sometimes has said that there's been a regime change in Tehran.

Fifty plus senior political military leaders have been killed in the course of the war. So, yes, there's a new sort of set of leaders, but they're not

new. They've been part of the same regime all along. So, I don't see the ideology changing rapidly. The question is more about how do they handle

this war situation right now?

They're essentially consolidating. But again, going back to a point I made earlier, they do want to have a deal from what I can tell if they can get

their basics met. And most important for them right now, it seems to the question of having the right to enrich uranium at some point. They get

willing to suspend it for 5, 10, 15 years, but they don't want to give it up for good, they're saying. And then I think other issues can be solved.

I would also say this. There's a lot of talk about hard liners taking over. There's no evidence of such a thing. The regime more or less is driven by

consensus right now.

SCIUTTO: By the way, that deal you just described there sounds a lot like the 2015 JCPOA. But, you know, I'll set that aside for a moment. Final

question before we go. Is the regime's grip on power any weaker today than it was before the war? Is the regime in any greater danger of falling?

VATANKA: My starting point on that is this is a highly unpopular regime that its own people would not want to see in power if they had their say.

But at the same time, the people are not going to come in the streets at a situation where literally the security forces are in the streets looking

for what they call traitors. Anybody who might express sympathy with the Americans and the Israelis.

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So, the space for political mobilization in Iran right now is extremely limited. But, Jim, the economy is going to continue to deteriorate going

forward. And that means in weeks and months to come, the economic pressure, particularly if the blockade stays on, the government simply won't have

money to pay workers. And that's when you might have people back in the streets demanding fundamental change. And the regime isn't necessarily

ready for that fight.

SCIUTTO: And that's -- we saw that as the root of some of those protests before the war. Alex Vatanka, thanks so much for joining.

VATANKA: Thanks, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Well, the European Union has unblocked a $106 billion loan to Ukraine. It had been approved last year, but vetoed by Hungary. Well,

there's new people in power in Hungary. And Slovakia also against it. And we should note that both Hungary and Slovakia highly dependent on Russian

oil. They were involved in a pipeline dispute with Ukraine, which now seems to be getting resolved.

This comes as the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has admitted that the war with Iran has taken the focus away from the war his country is

still engaged in. Zelensky spoke today with my colleague Christiane Amanpour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: We support ceasefire. We're in this case now, America, they shifted to the Middle East and they are deeply

in the Iranian question. And I know that we have communication on the tactical level with their negotiation group and my group. And they have

talks and they had, for example, yesterday, some phone calls and et cetera. But we hope that we can organize the meeting.

I don't see now the -- you know, the opportunity to meet today or tomorrow until the question -- the case of Iran will not be closed or some

fundamental ceasefire or something like this.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Well, that's having to really rely on another war until you end yours. You have said that

President Trump does not want to irritate Putin and is trying to act like a negotiator rather than, you know, to take sides. Tell me what you think now

about the United States, the reliability of the Trump administration. Who are you depending most on now?

ZELENSKYY: First of all, I think that it's another -- it's big risks. When you think that you have to close one war and then, you know, mediate

another. I think that it doesn't work this way because it's -- I mean, this -- you have to think about security. We don't have too much negotiations

group from the United States. And in this case, I think it's a challenge that the same group is trying to manage both. And I think what is important

not to forget about Ukraine, because we have really full-scale invasion and big war on the land.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: No question. Well, the loan from the European Union is expected to cover two-thirds of Ukraine's financial needs for the next two years,

with much of that financing, of course, going to military spending. The U.N. report has found that more than 10 million people across the country

will need humanitarian assistance this year, 10 million.

Joining me now is Yuriy Boyechko. He is the founder and CEO of Hope for Ukraine, a nonprofit focused on delivering humanitarian aid to communities

affected by war. Yuri, it's good to have you back on the show.

YURIY BOYECHKO, FOUNDER AND CEO, HOPE FOR UKRAINE: Good to be here. Thank you, Jim.

SCIUTTO: First, I want to get your sense of the pulse in Ukraine right now, because you heard President Zelensky there saying that Ukraine does

not see an opportunity to conduct negotiations until the war in Iran is over. And he's expressed doubts about those negotiations more broadly. Do

you sense that Ukraine is giving up on these U.S.-led peace talks?

BOYECHKO: Yes, I think we are close to that. We still have hope, because hope dies last. But I think there have been so many promises made, and so

many times Ukrainian people felt so close that there's going to be some kind of breakthrough, and this bloodshed will end, and it's never ending.

And now, with the war on the Middle East, many people on the ground feel like Ukraine has forgotten war.

[18:15:00]

And when you look at the situation right now, I mean, it's worse than ever before. I mean, the amount of drones, the amount of attacks that people

like in Kherson area are facing, like we've never seen something like that before.

So, there's a lot of fear and uncertainty, and we are hoping that things will end positively on the Middle East, and attention will be shifted again

back to Ukraine, because we do need to finish this war finally.

SCIUTTO: Your organization has documented one awful dimension of this war. You mentioned in Kherson and the use of drones there, and that is Russian

soldiers quite deliberately targeting civilians in what's been dubbed a human safari. I mean, hunting human beings on the streets of Kherson. Can

you tell us what you found?

BOYECHKO: Yes. So, Kherson, we still have about 60,000 people living in the city, right? So, Kherson is a city right across the Dnipro River. So,

it's been liberated by Ukrainian army, but Russians have crossed the street, crossed the river, actually, but it feels like it crossed the

street.

So, they've been using a lot of FPV drones, right, to target civilians, and they've been actually doing a lot of remote mining, where they've been

dropping these small mines that locals call gingerbread. So, they are such small mines that it's not going to make much impact on a military vehicle,

but if the civilian vehicle or human beings step on this thing, and it's very hard to see them, right, especially when they're in the grass. So,

this has been a very, very, very difficult situation, especially part of Kherson.

There is an area in Kherson called Korabelny region, like we've seen daily attacks on public transportation, people go try to get bread, try to go to

pharmacy. We do a lot of food distributions in these areas, so a lot of times folks are afraid even to leave their hideouts, their basements, to go

get a basket of humanitarian aid because they don't know if they're going to come back alive.

SCIUTTO: Do you believe Russian leaders or commanders or soldiers will someday face consequences, face a trial for targeting civilians, killing

civilians, war crimes, as have been alleged?

BOYECHKO: Yes. I mean, that's our hope, because right now a lot of these crimes, they record and upload online themselves, right? So, there's

footage, there's a proof, and there is an easy way to really figure out who's behind these horrible crimes.

So, at this time, it's a matter of Western, you know, investigators and to really get on top of this and really start prosecuting these crimes,

because right now Kherson looks like one big war crime scene, and there's still, again, 6,000 people that live there.

SCIUTTO: Yes. How do they live there in the midst of this, and how are Ukrainians maintaining hope in the midst of so many, well, disappointments,

right?

BOYECHKO: I mean, they freedom-loving people. I think there's very few nations in the world that would survive such a long onslaught on hope and

on the conditions that people in Kherson live in. It's ridiculous. Most of them live without electricity, water. Most of the time they live in

basements.

Every time you take the public transportation, you don't know, but they have nowhere to go. That's the point. Like a lot of people think, OK, you

can move to some other part of Ukraine, but safer areas are already overbooked.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

BOYECHKO: So, they're trying to hold on to what they have there. So, they're just hoping that things will turn around for them. That's it.

SCIUTTO: Yes, it's hard to be forced from your homes. It must be said. Yuriy Boyechko, we appreciate having you on.

BOYECHKO: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

SCIUTTO: Still ahead, mixed quarterly results from Tesla. Can robots and self-driving taxis save the day? We'll discuss next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:20:00]

SCIUTTO: Welcome back. In today's business breakout, U.S. stocks closed at record highs, once again, after President Trump extended, once again. The

U.S. seized fire with Iran. Brent Crude, however, rose above $100 a barrel, once again, after Iran said it seized two ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

It's new evidence that there is still no end in sight to the conflict, which has led to one of the worst energy crises ever.

On Capitol Hill Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent faced criticism over the Trump administration's move to again extend sanctions relief to

Russia on oil. Bessent defended the move, saying it's helping suppress energy prices.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): I believe that Russia and Iran have benefited from the release of sanctions. And when you said we're not going to extend

sanctions relief and then we're reversed, I was deeply disheartened because we shouldn't be funding Putin's war machine.

SCOTT BESSENT, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: I would like to take that was as a result. Last week was Bank Week, World Bank and IMF week. And on Wednesday,

it was my belief we would not do it. I was approached by more than 10 of the most vulnerable and poorest countries in terms of energy. And they

asked us to extend that sanction. And it's only for 30 days.

COONS: 30 days, $4.5 billion to Putin's war machine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: $4.5 billion. Bessent also said that Gulf nations and other allies have recently requested financial aid from the U.S. due to the Iran

war in the form of currency swap lines to help boost liquidity.

Elon Musk's Tesla reported mixed results after the closing bell today. The EV maker reported better than expected earnings and positive cash flow, but

revenues fell short even as the company cut prices to help boost its sales. After initial bump, shares are now lower just by a bit in afterhours

trading. Investors weighed the prospects for the company's future growth engines, in particular robots and self-driving taxis.

New details emerged on the planned SpaceX IPO, which is expected to launch in the next few months. The tech site The Information says SpaceX has

approved a plan to award Musk 60 million additional shares, 60 million shares in the company if he hits aggressive targets, such as boosting the

company's market cap to $6.6 trillion. You heard that right, trillion.

Musk must also deliver on his promise to build a data center in space. The SpaceX public offering is expected to be the largest IPO ever, and will

surely put Musk one step closer to becoming the world's first trillionaire. That's right, a thousand billion dollars.

Ross Gerber joins me now, CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management. You know, if you could manage his trillion dollars, that'd

probably be good for your business. But let's talk about Tesla if we can for a moment.

[18:25:00]

And first on Tesla, can it benefit in any sort of lasting way from this little bump we're seeing in EVs with the rise in gas prices, or is the

damage too great, not just from his political involvement, but also just the Trump administration's opposition, really, to EVs?

ROSS GERBER, CEO, GERBER KAWASAKI WEALTH AND INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT: Well, you know, economics is economics, and it does drive consumer behavior. And

with gas prices soaring, and, you know, in your spot before, you've got countries in serious trouble because of the price of oil. Like, you have a

solution, Teslas. And then on the low end, you have BYDs in the emerging markets.

So, there's no excuse for these countries that are not employing electric architectures for electric vehicles and charging, that now they have this

oil problem and they go, oh, this sucks for us. Well, why don't you invest in the future, which is EV technology? So, this is wonderful for Tesla as

far as seeing oil prices high and the cost of energy should be high because we need to protect the environment. It's Earth Day today, so I think it's

ironic.

On the other side of the coin, people hate Elon Musk so much that they don't want to buy his vehicle. So, we're seeing the push and the pull of,

you know, I would rather save money and I'll just hold my nose and buy a Tesla. And I'm happy about it because I'm in the electric vehicle business.

That's why I originally invested in Tesla and I want to see them sell as many as possible. So, that was the upside of the report was that they are

having more demand because of oil prices.

SCIUTTO: Yes, and there are of course other EVs and I hear that used EVs are doing particularly well in the midst of this.

GERBER: Very well.

SCIUTTO: When it comes to Tesla, I mean, how important are EVs to its present and future or do investors increasingly look at it more as a, well,

I don't know, a robot company? What?

GERBER: Well, you know, there's -- my belief system and what the sort of the public's belief system, which is a little bit different. I loved the EV

business where you sell services and charging and battery storage. I had no problem with that business and it's great. And I have no problem extending

those brands into things like robo taxis, but that's not what the company wants to do. And because of Elon's divisiveness, it's very hard for them to

sell products. That's the bottom line.

So, they've sort of just pivoted into this, everything is about robotics. So, we have the robot car that will drive you around and eventually we'll

have some sort of robot that will fold your clothes, which I think is about the least important thing that I'm worried about.

So, you know, I think investors who want the stock to go up want you to really buy into this amazing abundance future. And investors like myself

that originally invested in Tesla because they make the best vehicles and there's just massive demand for electric vehicles globally, we're sort of

been sort of pushed aside.

So, I found it ironic we're talking about EVs again and I'm really excited about that because I think Tesla could be way more successful if they just

focused on selling their EVs globally and really repaired the brand and it's a great business.

SCIUTTO: Yes. OK. So, let's talk about SpaceX because, I mean, I guess it's going to be the biggest ever.

GERBER: Yes.

SCIUTTO: I mean, does it still command that kind of -- I mean, listen, it's obviously booming in, you know, so many government rockets and

military -- satellites, rather, go up on SpaceX rockets. I mean, is there any other competition there from others that are eating into its business

or is it dominance kind of unchallenged?

GERBER: No, they definitely have competition in space. And one of them is Amazon, Jeff Bezos is not just rolling around in his billionaire boat,

happened with his wife. He's like, I want to launch rockets like Elon and he just landed a rocket like Elon has done, you know. So, that -- I give

him credit. And competition does create results actually. So, I'm happy about it.

And then you have Northrop and, you know, the Artemis people and the traditional sort of NASA people that are also doing a lot of things in

space. And I think there's a lot of new players in space like Rocket Labs and some other companies that -- so, you know, I personally think spaces

are extremely tough way to make money. And I get when your government's sponsored by SpaceX where you have your commercial business with Starlink,

which is just a phenomenal business. And then you have their government, you know, like launching business, which is a good business because they're

very, very good at this. So, SpaceX is a unique asset. Our biggest issue is the valuation seems crazy.

Now, because I own SpaceX, I'm not so sad about that when it goes public, but as an individual investor who might be buying post IPO, I would be very

cautious about buying in right at the IPO. And we typically tell our clients to wait about six months after IPO when all the lockups expire for

employees, because remember there's thousands of employees at SpaceX that have never really had a chance to sell their stock. And we work with a

whole chunk of them and they want to sell some of their stocks.

SCIUTTO: Sure.

GERBER: So, you know, you got to keep that in mind.

SCIUTTO: Yes, you're going to see that with a lot of these companies after these big IPOs --

GERBER: That's right.

SCIUTTO: -- in the A.I. space. Ross Gerber, thanks so much for joining.

[18:30:00]

GERBER: Yes, thank you.

SCIUTTO: Coming up after the break, when President Trump pushed Republicans to redraw congressional maps, Democrats didn't sit on their

hands, they responded in kind. What a new map in Virginia means for this year's midterms, that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Welcome back to "The Brief." I'm Jim Sciutto. And here are the international headlines we're watching today.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard says it has seized two vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, ratcheting up tensions along the critical waterway. U.K. maritime

officials say the Iranians fired on one other ship without warning. A third ship, which is Greek owned, is now disabled off Iran's coast after it was

targeted by the IRGC.

The Gates Foundation is launching an independent investigation into its ties to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Foundation provides

billions of dollars in charitable donations. It says the review will assess past engagement with Epstein and examine its vetting procedures. No word on

whether the findings will be made public.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer faced tough questions in Parliament about why he appointed an Epstein associate as his now former ambassador to

the U.S. MPs heard yesterday from a former official who vetted Peter Mandelson. He told them that Starmer's office pressured him to speed up the

process and treated the appointment as a done deal.

Well, Democrats here in the U.S. are hopeful they can win back the House in November's midterm elections. And now, a redistricting win in Virginia is

pushing their optimism into overdrive. On Tuesday, voters approved, narrowly, a new congressional map which could turn four seats from

Republican to Democratic hands.

[18:35:00]

Nationwide, Democrats may net one additional seat with their gerrymandering in California and Virginia, offsetting Republican efforts in Texas,

Missouri, Ohio, and North Carolina. The wave of redistricting begun, we should note, by Donald Trump and Republicans. This was the president's

reaction to Virginia today. He claims, without offering any evidence, the vote was rigged. Of course, he's made that claim about numerous elections

that he has lost.

The war in Iran and inflation are drags on the Republican Party, where Catholic supporters of Trump feel conflicted over the president's ongoing

public spat with the Pope.

Joining me now, Democratic Congressman Eugene Vindman. He represents the 7th District in Virginia, but is now running in one of those new districts

following yesterday's vote. Congressman, thanks so much for joining us.

REP. EUGENE VINDMAN (D-VA): Thanks for having me, Jim.

SCIUTTO: So, you know, I get the Democratic position here. They said, listen, Republicans were redrawing maps. We saw that in Texas. We were

going to lose seats unless we did the same thing. But do you worry that this will undermine confidence in the voting system in this election and in

coming elections?

VINDMAN: Well, Jim, last night and yesterday was a historic day and it sent a seismic shock to the political landscape, certainly for the midterms

in the United States. The president started a gerrymandering war and not for the first time, the president started a war without having a clear

strategy and a plan to win. And he was dealt a decisive defeat in Virginia. Over 3 million Virginians voted and the margin was 90,000 votes in favor.

And so, I think it's pretty clear that the will of the people was presented last night and it was as a result of what the president has wrought in the

last 16 months, that he's been in office. It's the chaos, the cruelty and the corruption. Virginians were fed up with it and the American people are

going to demonstrate that they're fed up with it in November.

SCIUTTO: Let me ask you this though, because you know the numbers in Virginia. Yes, Virginia went to the Democrats, but not by much, a handful

before 5 percent. And now, it's a 10-1 state, I believe 10-1 Democrat, Republican. And it's not the only state like that with that sort of

mismatch.

But should Democrats make promises to reverse this at some point down the road to say, listen, when we have power, we're going to make the system

fair again, we're only going to redistrict after the census, you know, every decade, which had been the previous practice. Do you think that's a

commitment Democrats should make now?

VINDMAN: Well, that's exactly what this was. This is a temporary measure. It actually resets to the nonpartisan redistricting board after the next

census. And I would sign up and all Democrats would sign up today for a nationwide ban on gerrymandering.

But that's not where we find ourselves. We find ourselves with a president that's trying to rig a midterm election, understanding how unpopular he

was. And the people of Virginia spoke loud and clear yesterday that they were tired, they've had enough of the chaos, the cruelty and corruption.

And frankly, the fourth C, costs, what the president was hired to do, bring down costs. He's actually skyrocketed costs with his war in Iran, that

there's an A to B relationship, direct relationship between the price of fuel and the war in Iran. With tariffs, there's a direct relationship with

the president's tariff policies and what people are paying. Virginians are fed up with that.

And I'll mention here a significant factor. We have tens of thousands of federal employees in my district and in districts around Washington, D.C.

And the president's policies were DOGE, harmed those people and they spoke out loud and clear. That's what we heard. And that we're going to carry

that energy, that passion into the midterms and we're going to win back the house.

SCIUTTO: The president, of course, claimed that this election was rigged. He does that -- he has a habit of doing that for elections he loses. Go

back to the popular vote in 2016, the electoral vote in 2020, again, without basis. Do you fear though, that following the midterms in the fall,

that the president will again, not just claim they're rigged but attempt to overturn them or block the results in some way or pressure the house

speaker not to seat democratic candidates who win? Do you worry that he will not give up when November rolls around?

VINDMAN: Look, I have no doubt the president is going to attempt to fiddle with elections. He did that in January 6th. He attempted to interfere in

free and fair elections. He may attempt to do that.

[18:40:00]

And that's why it's so important that large, large swaths of voters came out in the redistricting referendum here in Virginia. And then, in the

midterms, it can't be close. It can't be two or three seats, and there are four seats now that are more competitive in Virginia. It's got to be 20 or

30 seats, and the president's going to have a much harder time fiddling with elections in that context.

Look, the American people, again, are fed up with the president's policies. They're fed up with this chaos every day. There's a new claim of, you know,

election fraud today, but war in Iran, and that's what it comes down to.

SCIUTTO: Before we go, CNN has reporting that Trump advisers are now strategizing for a midterm push with the message, essentially, that things

will be worse under the Democrats, and I know you disagree with that, but I just wonder, do you believe that Democrats have a convincing message for

the fall beyond Trump is a problem?

VINDMAN: Absolutely. In fact, we are developing an agenda under the leadership of Hakeem Jeffries that will be a positive agenda, an agenda

that will address costs for the American people, that will address health care, restoring health care, these massive cuts that we've seen under this

Republican-controlled rubber stamp Congress, cutting health care for millions of Americans, whether it's in this terrible bill passed last

summer, H.R. 1, or the ACA tax credits that expired. We're going to have a positive agenda.

Obviously, this is a referendum, and the midterms will be a referendum on Donald Trump's performance and the rubber stamp Republican Congress, but it

will also be a positive agenda from Democrats, and I look forward to presenting that to Virginians and to the American people.

SCIUTTO: Congressman Eugene Vindman, appreciate having you on the program.

VINDMAN: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: You are watching "The Brief," and we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: The head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has blocked the publication of a major study on the COVID-19 vaccine.

Sources say the study found that COVID-19 vaccines dramatically reduced the chances of a patient needing emergency room or hospital care in vaccine.

The article had apparently been scheduled for publication in the CDC's flagship journal.

[18:45:00]

The Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC, said the article was rejected because of concerns about its methodology. It did

not, however, respond to a question about what those concerns were.

Joining me now, CNN medical analyst, Dr. Jonathan Reiner. Doctor, good to have you.

DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Hi, Jim.

SCIUTTO: So, is the CDC rejecting science here?

DR. REINER: Oh, absolutely. And I think this is an unforced error on the part of the acting CDC director, Dr. Bhattacharya.

Look, what the -- apparently, what the article in, the MMWR, which is this 150-year-old publication from CDC, said was when they looked at this study

using this CDC network called the Vision Network, which uses data from nine hospital networks around the country, places like Kaiser and California and

Columbia and New York. And they look at real-world data.

And in this particular study, they looked at adults who sought care in emergency rooms for respiratory illnesses. And they compared the

vaccination rates for things like COVID and influenza and RSV for people who tested positive for one of those viruses and those who tested negative

for those viruses. And that study suggested that the COVID vaccine reduced the incidence of ER visits by 50 percent and hospitalizations by 55

percent.

So, why would you suppress this from the public? And the reason that they would potentially do this is that the HHS secretary does not believe in

mRNA technology, and particularly the COVID vaccine. In 2021, he quoted the deadliest vaccine ever. So, the reason you would suppress this is that it

flies against the wishes of RFK Jr.

SCIUTTO: Which was to say politics over science. Given we've already seen the effects of anti-vax or vaccine skepticism on measles cases in the U.S.

and declining measles vaccination rates, what effects might this have on COVID cases in terms of public health?

DR. REINER: Well, what HHS policy has done has been to discourage COVID vaccination in the United States. In May of last year, CDC announced that

they were no longer recommending COVID vaccination for kids, for pregnant women, and really mostly recommended it with shared decision-making for

people over the age of 65. So, they've been trying to make it harder for, not just dissuade people from getting it, but make it harder for people to

access the COVID-19 vaccine.

RFK Jr. thinks it's a deadly vaccine. He's wrong. His anti-vax stance has been shown to be politically very unattractive. The White House knows this.

And they can't be happy that the acting CDC director is suppressing this kind of data, and now it's coming back into the news.

SCIUTTO: How long is the hangover from this kind of thing? I mean, damage to the confidence in vaccines, damage to vaccine uptake rates, not just

with COVID, but with measles, even in schools among young people. How long is that hangover? I mean, you could have a new administration, I imagine,

with a different view in a couple of years, but I imagine the impact lasts.

DR. REINER: Yes, the water has been poisoned. And what we've seen over the last five years, for instance, you mentioned measles, is that the percent

of kindergartners who are vaccinated for measles has dropped from over 95 percent now to about 92 percent, below the threshold that is thought to be

necessary for herd immunity.

And that drop has come about because of this withering barrage of misinformation, a lot of it coming from RFK Jr. and the group that he

founded, Children's Health Defense, casting doubt on the safety of the MMR vaccine. And it's going to take a lot of time to make that better. The

other problem is that they're also casting doubt on science.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

DR. REINER: And they're asking people to ignore what our career scientists are telling us. They're suppressing -- now we're seeing they're suppressing

data from a career CDC scientist.

[18:50:00]

One other thing I'll say about that quickly is that if I publish a paper, if I send a paper to a journal and it's rejected, I can just pick another

journal and send it. But the career scientists who work at CDC have to seek approval when they send an article to an outside journal. So, it's not just

simply that, oh, CDC declined to publish this data. This is basically killing the data.

SCIUTTO: Yes, yes. Well, let's hope we find our way to the other side of it. Dr. Jonathan Reiner, appreciate having you on.

DR. REINER: My pleasure, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Still to come, Manchester City on its late season rise to the top of the English Premier League. That and the World Cup just after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Well, the FIFA World Cup is just 50 days away now. It's the first time three nations are co-hosting the world's largest sporting tournament.

There are some games scheduled in Mexico and Canada, of course, most of them, however, taking place in the U.S., where fans are already feeling the

sticker shock. It's big. On some resale websites, the cheapest tickets for the final round are north of $10,000 each. Even some preliminary round

seats are a few thousand bucks.

Speaking of football, Manchester City is now at the top of the table in the English Premier League. Over in London, Chelsea fired manager Liam Rosenior

after less than four months in charge. Patrick Snell has the details.

PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Hi there, Jim. Yes, a very, very busy Wednesday indeed in England, I can tell you. Let's start with action from

the Premier League. Man City looking to go top, and they've just about done it at the expense of title rivals Arsenal. But it's ever so close. We've

got just a handful of games left, Jim, on the current season.

You know, it's just over a week ago that their star player, Erling Haaland, and his teammates were nine points behind Arsenal. But City have reeled the

Londoners in. Just over five minutes gone here on the clock against Burnley. And sure enough, it's Haaland himself scoring the only goal of the

match against the second from bottom team Burnley, the Norwegians, 24th of the season. It's a terrific finish. The only goal of the match.

City had their chances, I will say, to boost their goal difference, but they could not take them. And at the full-time whistle, you can just see in

the end the relief on the faces of the City players, their head coach there, Pep Guardiola, because, you know, 1-0 always a dangerous score line.

Burnley are officially relegated to the second tier as a result of this loss. And Man City end the day top of the table for the first time since

August the 21st.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PEP GUARDIOLA, MANCHESTER CITY MANAGER: It's a Premier League for five games. So, this is a reality. Five games. And now, we have a semi-final

very tough on Saturday. And I do have time and time to prepare the next games.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[18:55:00]

SNELL: Yes, just look how close this is. Both teams now level on 70 points. Identical goal difference as well. City ahead by virtue of goals

scored. Next match for Arsenal in the Premier League is Newcastle at home on Saturday. City, they're in FA Cup semi-final action this weekend and

resume league play away to Everton on May the 4th.

Now, that story you mentioned about Chelsea once again looking for yet another new head coach. On Wednesday, Chelsea will get their chance to play

at the Premier League. Liam Rosenior dismissed after only just under four months in charge. It follows a really dismal run of results, I will say,

for his team. Five league defeats without even scoring a goal. That's the first time it's happened in almost 114 years. His departure coming just

days before the Blues take on Leeds in the FA Cup semis.

The final straw really for Liam Rosenior was Chelsea's 3-0 loss at Brighton on Tuesday night, that seventh defeat in eight matches across all

competitions, with his club Chelsea, Jim. It's pretty well documented. They do have a habit of not giving their managers many time. It is a results

business, not too much time. And Liam Rosenior, he's a good young manager. So, I think his chance will come again, no question about that. But for

now, back to you.

SCIUTTO: Patrick Snell, thanks so much. And thanks so much, all of you, for joining. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington. You've been watching "The

Brief." Please do stay with CNN.

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[19:00:00]

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