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What We Know with Max Foster
Trump: Pausing Strikes On Iranian Energy As Talks "Ongoing"; Sources: Pentagon Officials Preparing Plans For Troops To Possibly Seize Targets In Iran; Rubio: U.S. Can Achieve Iran Objectives Without Ground Troops; Investors Nervous About The Prospect Of A Prolonged Conflict; Top House Republican: Senate Plan On DHS Funding A Joke; Savannah Guthrie To Return To Work On "Today" Show. Aired 3-4p ET
Aired March 27, 2026 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:00:24]
MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Deadlines on Iran are sliding and markets are falling.
This is WHAT WE KNOW.
U.S. President Donald Trump has a new deadline for Iran. The president now says the United States will hold off on striking Iran's energy
infrastructure for at least another 10 days as negotiations go on. His previous deadline was set to expire today. If those diplomatic efforts
ultimately fail, CNN has learned that Pentagon officials have drawn up scenarios for deploying troops to seize various targets within Iran.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio believes the war will likely be over in a matter of weeks, not months, and doesn't think the United States will
need ground troops in Iran.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: This is not going to be a prolonged conflict. The objectives I've outlined to you -- again, I repeat them
because I see these reports like the U.S. is not clear on what objectives are. We've been as clear as you can possibly be from the very first night
of what the objectives of this mission are. We're going to destroy their factories that make missiles and rockets and drones. We're going to destroy
their navy. We're going to destroy their air force, and we are going to significantly destroy their missile launchers, so they can never hide
behind these things to get a nuclear weapon.
We can achieve -- we are achieving all those objectives. We are ahead of schedule on most of them, and we can achieve them without any ground
troops, without any.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Well, the secretary of state was speaking after meeting with G7 foreign ministers in France behind closed doors. He was lightly pressed by
allies on the administration's strategy to bring an end to the conflict. Rubio says the U.S. has yet to hear back from Iran in its 15-point -- on
its 15-point peace plan.
Now, that could receive a response from Tehran at any moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUBIO: We haven't gotten it yet. Look, we've got messages. Weve had an exchange of messages and indications from the Iranian system, whatever's
left of it, about a willingness to talk about certain things. We're waiting for further clarification about who will we allow, who is it that we would
be talking to? What would we be talking about, and when will we be talking?
I don't have any news for you on that yet. It could happen at any moment. It could happen today. It could happen tomorrow. We're not predicting it.
And we're going to continue with our operations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: CNN's Kristen Holmes is at the White House for us. I actually thought, Kristen, listening to rubio just there talking about how they are
destroying the navy. They're not going to put a timeline on this, are destroying the installations, which is actually very different language
from the president who said that all of those things have been destroyed and degraded.
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, that's kind of par for the course for President Trump. I mean, a lot of how he speaks is
in bravado and in a bullish tone. It's how he has approached every foreign policy decision that he has made. I mean, I'll just remind you of Venezuela
when he was making those kind of same threats to Maduro.
I will say that when you listen to his cabinet and what we heard in that cabinet meeting yesterday, you get a real sense of where things are, and
particularly just listening to Rubio now. And what we heard yesterday from Steve Witkoff, it is uncertain what's going to happen with these
negotiations. While they do sound hopeful and they are clearly moving forward, nothing is set in stone. Everything is completely fluid.
Now, just a reminder, the White House, of course, has the ability to stand up a meeting anywhere in the world, quick notice, but they still are
uncertain as to what exactly they're getting. And one of the big things that we have been hearing from sources, particularly regional sources,
administration sources who are involved in some of this process was there has been no clear understanding of what would be negotiated. And that's
kind of what you heard Rubio just now admit to. We don't know what we would be talking about.
The idea is that the United States put out this 15-point plan through Pakistan as intermediaries, and that they haven't heard from a response
yet. And the United States goal would be that the discussion would center around those 15 points. This proposal, these expectations from Iran, but
without any kind of clarification from Iran, if they're willing to accept any of them or if they're willing to talk about them, they don't have
anything to negotiate at this time.
So right now, there are a lot of questions, particularly from lawmakers and Americans and Republicans who support Donald Trump as to what the next move
is going to be. Obviously, he has extended that deadline. But what happens if these talks do fall through? And there's a lot of concern that this has
gotten so far, that the only step that is possible next is boots on the ground.
And that is not something that most people, including Republicans, including supporters of Trump's, including what Trump would have said he
wanted, you know, a couple of months ago.
[15:05:02]
That's not something that people want to see.
So, again, it seems very fluid. It seems very tentative, and it certainly seems as though we are unsure. We, being the United States, are unsure that
these talks are even going to happen.
FOSTER: Okay, Kristen, thank you.
Israel's defense minister says the IDF will escalate and expand attacks against Iran to include additional targets and areas that assist in weapons
production. He says the escalation is in response to Iranian missiles fired against civilians in Israel.
CNN's Jim Sciutto is following the story for us from Tel Aviv.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF U.S. SECURITY ANALYST: I think it's important to note, first, that President Trump is really just pausing an escalation of
the war, right? U.S. strikes on other targets continue, as do Israeli strikes. So, he's just holding back on expanding to energy infrastructure,
which, of course, is rife with its own risks, not just for Iran, but also for the price of oil. The world economy, et cetera.
So many of those things going into the president's calculations, it seems from Israels standpoint, because Iran is still attacking Israel. And we saw
that today we had more air raid signals here in Tel Aviv. We had a peek of those air raid signals yesterday, really one of the busiest days of the war
for Iranian attacks on -- on Israel. You hear now from the defense minister saying that because Iran continues to attempt to strike civilian targets
here in Israel, that Israel, for its part, is increasing its attacks on Iran.
Here's how Israel Katz put it earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ISRAEL KATZ, ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER (through translator): Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and I warned the Iranian terror regime to stop the
missile fire directed at Israel's civilian population. Despite the warnings, the firing has continued and therefore, IDF strikes in Iran will
escalate and expand to additional targets in areas that assist the regime in building and operating weapons used against Israeli civilians. They will
pay heavy and increasing prices for this war crime.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: What's been interesting to me this week is that Israeli residents here in Tel Aviv, they're listening to those warnings. They are heading
into the shelters, and that, as Israeli officials say, contributed to the relatively low number of casualties here in Israel.
But there are also signals that that Israel wants to strike more targets in Iran while it has time to do so, that if the U.S. and Iran were to come to
some sort of ceasefire agreement in the near term, Israel wants to do as much damage as it can. In the meantime, two ballistic missile sites, et
cetera in effect, squeezing in as many attacks as they can if this war is going to come to an end or to a pause any time soon, still very much an
open question. But if that were to be the case.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Jim Sciutto there.
So, oil futures actually up at this point. That's despite President Donald Trump's words saying he'll hold off on striking Iran's energy sites for a
little while longer. He also said that he had expected oil and gas prices to rise even more because of the war in Iran. So, the U.S. benchmark is
moving higher, as you can see here quite significantly.
Let's take a quick look at what's happening on Wall Street. All three major indices sharply down.
Vanessa Yurkevich joins us now.
I mean, there does feel like there's a bit of a shift here, Vanessa. So perhaps the markets not taking what Donald Trump says as read at this
point. Whereas last week, perhaps when he said something positive, the price would come down of oil, for example.
VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, investors I've been speaking with have been saying that it's obviously encouraging to
hear things about de-escalation, but ultimately, they're looking for a long-term resolution and they're just not seeing that picture. And I
believe if you look at the Dow right now, you have it down more than 700 points. That is because of a selloff.
Yeah, look almost 800 points there. A selloff that's happening on Wall Street. As investors going into the weekend look to derisk a little bit.
And this is happening because of just what you said, where oil prices are right now in the last 48 hours, oil prices have ticked up pretty
significantly.
You're looking at WTI. That's U.S. crude hovering around about $100 a barrel there. You can see, up more than 5 percent. And then Brent crude,
that international benchmark. Look at that, $112 a barrel. That is up from where it was just a few days ago, when it was trading just below $100,
maybe even around $100 range.
But what that has meant for investors is they are clearly still in extreme fear mode about where this is all going. How long is this war going to go
on? And is there an end in sight?
You look at that right there about an extreme fear level 10 out of 100.
[15:10:02]
That's not great. Just in this over the summer, investor sentiment was in extreme greed. So, now, we're actually back where we were a year ago, right
as the trade war kicked off, where investors are feeling extreme fear about where this war is going. And that's obviously playing out on Wall Street,
markets down, oil prices up.
But at the pump for everyday American consumers, a glimmer of good news, at least in the past day or two. Look at gas prices, $3.98, falling short of
that $4 a gallon that we have been tracking towards. That's the same as yesterday. So that's good in terms of leveling off of prices.
Part of that, Max, is because of something called price cycling. As gas stations try to edge out the competition and maybe can shave off 1 cent to
3 cents in terms of prices to draw in consumers. But also, before the last 48 hours, oil prices were kind of stuck at that $90 a barrel or so range.
But, of course, in the last 48 hours, prices have just taken off. Again, that will ultimately trickle down to gas prices once again. Consumers, you
know, really feeling the pain at the pump. Sentiment is not great. Gas prices up more than a dollar in the last year.
Of course, the president trying to quell fears -- fears on Wall Street and also for everyday consumers. But investors just looking for that real
resolution rather than headlines about talks or de-escalation, Max.
FOSTER: Yeah, it's just that constant uncertainty, isn't it?
Vanessa, thank you so much.
YURKEVICH: Yeah. Thanks.
FOSTER: A deal to finally pay TSA agents who have gone weeks without paychecks appears to have fallen apart. Now, the U.S. Senate passed a bill
overnight to fund parts of the Department of Homeland Security, including the TSA. But House Republicans are balking at that bill because it does not
include funding for Border Patrol operations and ICE. Instead, the House now plans to pass their own bill different from the Senate version. That
move could delay getting TSA agents paid by days, maybe even weeks.
Speaking to reporters a few minutes ago, House Speaker Mike Johnson was scathing about the bill that his senate colleagues had agreed on.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: This gambit that was done last night is a joke. I'm quite convinced that it can't be that every
Senate Republican read the language of this bill.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Well, even if Congress cuts a deal to fund the TSA, don't expect those long security lines to go away any time soon, because it often takes
more than a week for the government to issue paychecks. And federal union officials say many TSA workers will not be able to return to the job until
they have their money in their hands.
Now, the warning comes as travelers brace for what's likely to be another weekend of terrible lines at the nation's airports, like in Atlanta, where
we find Ryan Young.
Hi, Ryan.
RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR U.S. CORRESONDENT: Hey. What's going on?
So far, our lines are not too bad right now. A little ATL magic going on. They've been able to knock the lines down. I mean, we're talking about
four-minute wait times right now. It's almost like before all the issues happened with security. But people are worried about that, especially after
that latest news that you shared with everyone.
Let me show you the lines right now. This is what we're dealing with. But a lot of these TSA workers and the folks working behind the scenes do not
know about the announcement that was just made.
And Sunday is the busiest day. In fact, for 24 hours on Sunday, it was almost an over two-hour wait here at the airport. Sunday is always the
busiest day. Friday is also a very brisk day.
We had lines outside the building earlier and I'm telling you, they are concerned and we talked to so many people who were upset with Congress
because they felt like this has gone on for too long. TSA representatives, somebody who worked with the union, talked to us and said, it's still going
to take some time for the money to even filter down to the folks working here.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE BOREK, TSA UNION STEWARD: Until this is over, because we're still not going to know what officers come back. So certainly, I would say, you
know, listen to the airlines, you know, listen to what they're telling you. They're telling you get here two, three hours, four hours before certainly,
you know, do that because again, its going to take a couple of days before we get back to some type of normalcy.
You know, my estimate from the last time, it's going to probably be a week, you know, so, but, but then the fallout is we don't know who's coming back.
So if we're short, it's going to have an impact how we do our jobs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YOUNG: Yeah, Max, we could be in dire straits. When you think about this, so many people have quit. Yesterday was at 40 percent call out. People
thought less people called out today because of the words about the Senate passing that bill, that resolution. But that went away now.
So, what happens on Saturday and Sunday? Could we be back to those numbers? Let's not forget, in Houston, they're still waiting over four hours to
check in and get through lines like this. This is the shortest lines that we've seen in quite some time, but it only takes a little bit to push the
system overboard.
And on top of that, spring break hasn't even started for most of the kids who live in this area.
[15:15:03]
That's going to be happening over the next week and a half or so.
And that could really put a lot of stress with all the families that are coming into this airport. On top of all that, just to give you an idea of
how bad it was here on Sunday, had more than five people pass out while they were waiting in line and had to get attention from authorities because
of them standing in line so long.
So that's kind of what we're dealing with here. The people who are traveling are angry and they're tired of the backup in D.C., and they're
asking for people to stop this. But we see that it's going to continue a little longer.
FOSTER: Yeah, you can see the frustration, can't you? And also, for the workers there, I mean what a terrible situation.
Ryan, thank you so much.
More unexpected drama at a U.S. airport this morning. A Secret Service agent protecting the former first lady, Jill Biden, accidentally shot
themselves in the leg. This happened at the Philadelphia International Airport. Biden was at the airport but not present when the incident took
place. The agent was taken to hospital where they're in a stable condition. No one else was injured, thankfully.
Coming up, Sarah Ferguson's name has come up quite a bit in the Jeffrey Epstein files. Now, a U.S. congressman wants to know what she knows about
his crimes. I'll speak to the congressman next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: Nearly two months after her mother went missing, NBC anchor Savannah Guthrie says she will return to "The Today Show". Nancy Guthrie
disappeared from her Arizona home on February the 1st. Since then, there's been a highly publicized search for the 84-year-old. But she remains
missing.
Brian Stelter has more on Savannah Guthrie's return.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Yeah, Savannah, you know, you think about the last two months and how we've all been covering this shocking
mystery, this disappearance. Savannah Guthrie had her mom stolen from her, and now she doesn't want this kidnapper, or whoever it was to steal her
life and her livelihood.
[15:20:01]
She says she has to figure out a path forward, partly for her own kids and for her family.
And so, in an interview with her colleague Hoda Kotb, Savannah talked about why she wants to return to work at "The Today Show", and she recalled a
formative experience from her teenage years. Savannah was in high school when her dad, Charles, died, and Savannah watched how her mom, Nancy,
worked through that, how her mom was shattered, but how her mom was also resilient and found a way forward.
And so, as Savannah figures out how to, quote, get up, she says she's relying on her mom's inspiration to do that. And here's what else she said.
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE, NBC ANCHOR: I can't not come back because it's my family I think it's part of my purpose right now. I want to smile. And when I do.
It will be real.
And my joy will be my protest. My joy will be my answer and being there is joyful and when it's not, I'll say so. I don't know if I'll belong anymore
but I would like to try. I would like to try.
But I'm not going to be the same. But maybe it's like that old poem. More beautiful in the broken places.
STELTER: It's the perfect quote. The perfect poem. You know, there have been some speculation among TV news types that maybe Savannah would never
return to work, but she clearly views the show, as she said, as a family and as a comforting daily routine.
At the same time, she is continuing to hold out hope that someone who knows something about her moms disappearance will come forward. You know, just
last week, her family issued a new statement specifically reaching residents in Tucson. It is the belief of the family that someone in the
Tucson area does know something and should come forward. And so, she's using this interview this week to once again amplify that message.
As we approach the two-week, excuse me, the two-month mark of her mom's disappearance. But NBC says she will return to work on the today show on
Monday, April 6th, the day after Easter.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Brian Stelter there for us.
Now, Amazon's data centers provide the backbone for nearly every major site that you use on the Internet. Now, the company is focusing on powering
artificial intelligence.
CNN's Lisa Eadicicco went to Amazon headquarters in Seattle to get the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LISA EADICICCO, CNN BUSINESS TECH EDITOR: Amazon Web Services, which is the company's cloud computing unit that just turned 20 this month, has really
become the company's key to cashing in on the A.I. boom. Over the last two decades, AWS has really become essential to the web, as we saw last year
when AWS went out, when there was an outage, a lot of online services that really impacted everyday life for people went down as well.
And now, Amazon's future could depend on whether AWS can become just as essential to A.I. companies as it is to the web today. And right now, it's
doing that by striking partnerships with companies like OpenAI and Anthropic and launching new tools for companies that want to build A.I.
agents. These are some of the efforts that amazon has made in recent years.
But unlike 2006, when AWS launched, Amazon is facing a lot more competition today, particularly from Microsoft and Google.
I had the chance recently to sit down with the CEO of AWS, Matt Garman, and we talked about the company's plans in A.I. and his thoughts on whether
we're in an A.I. bubble. And I was really interested to get his perspective on that because as the leader of AWS, he speaks with companies all the time
about how they're adopting and using A.I. and kind of has this insider perspective into what's happening across industries.
And one of the things he told me when I asked if he's seeing any signs of an A.I. bubble, he told me about this meeting that he was in with around
150 senior technology leaders. He asked them if they planned to see a return on investments in their A.I. investments in the next six months, or
if they're seeing any of that today.
And he said 90 percent of the hands in the room went up when he asked that question. So that was part of his attempt to kind of illustrate why there's
so much spending happening in A.I. right now. And last month, amazon said it plans to spend or expects to spend 200 billion in A.I. infrastructure
this year, which is way higher than its other competitors in the space and way more than it spent in 2025 and in previous years.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Lisa Eadicicco there for us.
Now, a group of Jeffrey Epstein survivors are suing the Department of Justice and google over their private information being included in the
Epstein files.
[15:25:01]
According to the complaint, the documents contain the private information of around 100 survivors, while the DOJ says it removed any documents
flagged with errors, the complaint says that Google continuously republished it. CNN has reached out to the Department of Justice and Google
for comment.
Meanwhile, Sarah Ferguson, the ex-wife of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, has been asked to submit to questioning before a congressional committee as
part of its Epstein investigation. Ferguson has been sent a letter by the House Democrat, Suhas Subramanyam, asking for her cooperation. CNN reported
earlier this month that Ferguson remained in contact with Epstein after his conviction in 2008, showering him with praise and asking him for financial
help.
Ferguson has not been accused of any crimes in relation to Epstein and appearing in the files doesn't suggest criminal wrongdoing. We haven't had
a response from her team at all since all this broke.
So, what we do want to know is how could Sarah Ferguson help the Epstein investigation?
Joining me now is Congressman Suhas Subramanyam.
I really appreciate you joining us, Congressman.
And you were the one that sent the letter. What was it about her entries in the Epstein files that really you want to ask more about?
REP. SUHAS SUBRAMANYAM (D-VA): Yeah. Well, for context, we're trying to talk to, any people that we see in the files that we think might have
pertinent information, you know, right now the Trump administration is withholding a lot of files. So, we're doing our best by having these
interviews.
And in Sarah Ferguson's case, she has intimate knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. She clearly, through her association with the former
Prince Andrew was spent a lot of time with them. She knows a lot about, their dealings. And she even received wire transfers from them according to
documents that we have.
She shows up in these files, and we want to know what she knows. And I think she would be helpful to our case as we continue to investigate this.
And certainly, we still want to hear from the former Prince Andrew as well.
FOSTER: Yeah. And have you managed to locate her, do you think? Because you know, very few people seem to. She's lying low, obviously, but you
obviously had an email address, and I wondered if you had any response. Are you sure it got through?
SUBRAMANYAM: Yeah, we were given -- yeah -- contact information. We used that contact information to send her a letter by email and physically. We
have not heard back yet. We have not located her ourselves.
We hope that she'll respond. We can talk to her under any format she wishes. And we don't even have strict jurisdiction over her. And so, we
cannot compel her to testify. However, if she has any desire to clear her name and any desire to do right by the victims and survivors in this case,
then she will come forward and talk to us under circumstances that she accepts.
FOSTER: I know that speaking to many survivors and speaking to you before, it, is the survivors that come first here. And there's a distinct lack of
awareness of that, isn't there, by many of these accused. They seem to be spending all their time defending themselves when the survivors just want
them to appear in front of your committee. And as you say, just share what they knew at any context because it all adds to the picture around Epstein,
doesn't it?
SUBRAMANYAM: Yeah. You know, a lot of the people who are being named in these files are not used to getting this kind of negative publicity. They
were not expecting to be exposed the way they're being exposed in these files. So, it's a deeply uncomfortable situation, but it's exactly what
people all around the world want. They want to see people held accountable or at least asked for questioning no matter how rich and how powerful they
are.
And certainly, the survivors, you know, survivors are not people of means or power. And -- but they're starting to become powerful by using their
voice and speaking up.
FOSTER: Do you think the only way they can really rehabilitate at this point is by coming to speak to you? Because if that's what the survivors
want and, you know, it would be very difficult for them, frankly, won't it, going in front of any of these committees can be a really tough experience.
And we've seen how Andrew in particular isn't very good with his interviews.
But do you think that is the only way that they can really come back from this by just sharing everything in a public way with you?
SUBRAMANYAM: I think that - as far as the public is concerned, they want transparency and they want to hear what people like Sarah Ferguson know.
Certainly, if she cooperates with the criminal investigation and helps identify perpetrators, that would also be a big step forward. And
certainly, at least a step towards exonerating herself.
But it's pretty striking to see some of the people who have avoided us, they continue to come up in these files. It seems like they have something
to hide, but we're going to find it because we're going to continue our investigation.
[15:30:03]
FOSTER: Okay. Well, let us know when she gets back to you, if she gets back to you.
Congressman Subramanyam, really appreciate you joining us tonight. Thank you.
Still to come, the head of the FBI has security issues of his own now. Iran-linked hackers target Kash Patel's personal emails.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: Hackers connected to the Iranian regime have accessed the personal email account of the FBI director, Kash Patel. They published photos of
Patel taken before he was in charge of the agency. A source familiar with the incident confirmed the authenticity of our images.
Our cybersecurity reporter, Sean Lyngaas, is in Washington with more on this. We should note, as fascinating as these images are, they are all from
before his time in post, right?
SEAN LYNGAAS, CNN CYBERSECURITY REPORTER: That's right, Max. The -- we reviewed the emails, the stolen emails and the photos, and they stretch
from about 2011 to 2022. So, well before he was FBI director.
But it's not a salacious as the Iranian hackers would make them out to be. But this is one of the many components of this psychological part of the
war going on between U.S., Israel and Iran. We've seen propaganda from all sides.
But in this case, it's an embarrassing security breach for the FBI director. It is his Gmail account. It is not his FBI account. But, you
know, it's a way of the Iranian hackers to boast and to try to get some clout out of this and taunt America.
We've known for a while now that the Iranian government, particularly the ministry of intelligence and security, which was the culprit in this case,
has been after senior U.S. officials, whether it be for intelligence gathering or for more nefarious means.
[15:35:08]
We know in the past that the Indian government has allegedly tried to kill certain U.S. officials in retaliation for the Trump administration's
killing of a top Iranian general. So, this goes back a long ways. But right now, in the midst of this very brutal war that's going on, this is an
attempt by the hackers to, to intimidate, to, to boast and to remind American government officials that, their accounts are not as secure as
they might think, Max.
FOSTER: Yeah. I mean, remarkable for the FBI.
Sean, thank you so much.
Now, Marco Rubio has once again called for regime change in Cuba as the U.S. continues to block some fuel supplies to the country. The secretary of
state explains why a change in the Cuban government is the only way its economy can improve.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUBIO: Look, Cuba's economy needs to change, and their economy can't change unless their system of government changes. It's that simple. Who's going to
invest billions of dollars in a communist country? Who's going to invest billions of dollars in a communist country run by incompetent communists,
which is even worse than communism? The only thing worse than a communist is an incompetent communist.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: It's the final moments of trade on Wall Street. The stocks are in deep red. Actually, the Dow's losses have only intensified as well. As the
session goes on. So down one and two thirds of 1 percent the Dow.
This is our Business Breakout.
American confidence in the U.S. economy is slipping. Consumer sentiment fell by 6 percent this month, according to the University of Michigan. It's
now at its lowest level of the year. Americans are also expecting higher inflation than anything seen two years ago, anything seen since two years
ago.
Now, U.S. President Donald Trump is urging Congress to pass a bill to support American farmers as he promises more funding for the agriculture
sector. Farmers have been hit by uncertainty over tariffs, as well as rising fertilizer costs due to the war with Iran.
And U.S. dollar bills will soon feature President Trump's signature. That's according to the U.S. Treasury, which says the move is in honor of the
country's 250th anniversary, the first time a sitting U.S. presidents signature has actually appeared on paper currency and breaks a 165-year
tradition since.
CNN's Tom Foreman joins us from Washington with more.
I guess this is a real honor for him, and he'll be very pleased.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm sure he'll be very pleased. I'm not sure -- you know, the question, the honor here. I don't think there are
many people in dc who doubt that all of this is simply being engineered by Donald Trump, because in his private life, beforehand, as a -- as a real
estate person, a TV impresario, he was a big believer in the idea that his name was incredibly important. That's why you see it on all of the Trump
buildings, and you see him selling naming rights to things and various Trump projects.
This will be a real change, though. They say it's all about the 250th anniversary of the country, but for all that time, for hundreds of years
since the civil war, really, the only names that have appeared have been those of the generally the treasury secretary and the treasurer himself.
Those are the people who tend to sign the bills.
Now, Trump wants to put his name on it, certainly not the sitting president as my point. So now he wants his name on this, but he's put his name, Max,
on the Kennedy entertainment center here. He's put his name on the Institute of Peace here. He's had various programs put into place, like
having his face put on passes to go to national parks on a health care program. He's started called TrumpRx.
He's made noise about wanting his name put on an airport here. He's talking about building a big arch across the road, which in this new ballroom,
which undoubtedly there are people who will refer to as the Trump property.
So, Max, this is all about the Trump legacy getting bigger and bigger, at least in his mind.
FOSTER: It's about legacy as well, isn't it, something that you leave when you leave office?
FOREMAN: It is. But typically, as you know, those legacies come from other people stepping up and saying, we should honor, for example, the airport
here named after Ronald Reagan. That happened after he passed. It was done by Republicans who said, let's do it then.
It also is an interesting choice to literally put his name on bills that people will have in his pockets. And the California Democratic governor,
Gavin Newsom, jumped on that right away. I'm thinking about the numbers you had on a minute ago with so many people in this country right now upset
about the cost of fuel and the cost of food and the cost of rent and the cost of health care. Gavin Newsom sent out a post that said, now Americans
will know exactly who to blame as they're paying all those bills.
So, I don't know how this is going to play out for Trump. And I must say, I also don't know how much of this will last when he put his name on the
Peace Institute here, for example. He's done so much of this by fiat, by basically just saying, let's do it. Or because a handpicked group of his
has said, let's do it to honor the president.
[15:40:03]
I think on that basis, this could all be reduced, removed very quickly when he leaves office. And I suspect it likely will be, especially if Democrats
take over.
FOSTER: Yeah. Tom. really interesting. Thank you so much.
Still to come, CNN visits the West Bank. There has been a surge of settler attacks on Palestinians there. So, they're encountering Israeli soldiers
who are clearly taking sides as well. We'll get into that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: The Israeli military's chief of staff says he's raising 10 red flags before the IDF, quote, collapses. He warns the military is under
severe strain from personnel shortages as it operates on multiple fronts, including the occupied West Bank, where settler attacks on Palestinians are
surging.
Our Jeremy Diamond just visited the West Bank. We warn you, his report is disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Seventy-five year old, Abdullah Daraghmeh (ph) moans in pain. His breathing is labored, his
face bloodied, bruised and swollen, bones broken.
His family and multiple eyewitnesses say Israeli settlers stormed into his home in the middle of the night and beat him to a pulp. In his West Bank
village of Tayasir, those same settlers have now established an outpost considered illegal even under Israeli law.
Soldiers standing idly by until something else draws their attention.
Producer Abeer Salman (ph) identifies us as journalists before translating the soldiers' commands.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sit down, sit down, sit down, sit down.
DIAMOND: So, the soldiers just immediately came up and started pointing their weapons directly at us, telling everyone to sit down immediately.
Obviously, we're not posing any threat here.
[15:45:02]
DIAMOND (voice-over): The commander comes straight for our camera and within seconds.
DIAMOND: What are you doing? We're journalists. What are you doing?
DIAMOND (voice-over): A soldier has just put photojournalist Cyril Theophilus (ph) in a chokehold, forcing him to the ground.
DIAMOND: Don't touch him like that. Don't touch him like that. Give me my phone.
DIAMOND (voice-over): The soldier who assaulted Theophilus continues to demand he turn off his camera before another smacks my phone.
DIAMOND: So as you can see, what we have seen happen in the last 24 hours is that settlers came to this area. They settled that hilltop, and now you
have a lot of soldiers coming to this area with the Palestinians in this area. They're on top of the home of Emad, the man that we were just
speaking to. And were seeing the soldiers treat the Palestinians in the area as a threat when really what started this problem was obviously the
settlers who came in the middle of the night and took over land that's not theirs.
DIAMOND (voice-over): The Palestinians here are detained and questioned. Soldiers detain us, too, and walk us back to our vehicle. They say they're
trying to establish order between settlers and Palestinians. But as the cameras keep rolling, it becomes clear these soldiers are here in service
of the settler movement.
IDF SOLDIER: We are here because this is our place.
DIAMOND: Is this your village?
IDF SOLDIER: The land is ours.
DIAMOND: So, all the West Bank is yours?
IDF SOLDIER: Of course. And not just for the soldiers, for the Jews!
DIAMOND (voice-over): They also say it's personal. These soldiers tell me they were friends with the 18-year-old settler, who authorities say was
killed last week by a Palestinian driver. Palestinians dispute that account.
IDF SOLDIER: If you had a brother and they kill him, what would you have done?
DIAMOND: So that's a revenge?
IDF SOLDIER: Revenge.
DIAMOND: You're talking about revenge. But you're a soldier, is this normal to carry out revenge? As a soldier?
IDF SOLDIER: Listen, at the end of the day, if the state doesn't address what they did those who murdered the youth, the settler last week,
remember? What do you expect us to do?
DIAMOND: So, we're currently detained by the Israeli military. They've told us to sit in our cars and wait. As you can see, one of them is right here.
And you know, what's really quite striking is the fact that so many of these soldiers are clearly manifesting the same kind of settler ideology.
DIAMOND (voice-over): This soldier, Mehr (ph), makes that crystal clear.
DIAMOND: They don't have permission to be here. Even under Israeli law, this isn't a settlement. This isn't a legal settlement.
IDF SOLDIER: That's right. But it will be a legal settlement.
DIAMOND: Ah, it will be. How do you know this?
IDF SOLDIER: Slowly, slowly.
DIAMOND: Thanks to your help, right?
IDF SOLDIER: Of course. I help my people.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Mehr is describing the settler playbook and the role Israeli soldiers often play in propping it up. The Israeli military did not
respond to CNN's questions about soldiers conduct in the West Bank, including our detention.
Amid the war with Iran, those efforts are intensifying, with at least four outposts established this week alone, land often taken with the blood of
Palestinians.
"I didn't expect this," Abdullah's son says this is not normal.
DIAMOND: So just as we're visiting one patient in the hospital from a settler attack, we've just learned that there have been multiple other
settler attacks in the area, and one of the patients is at this same hospital.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Twenty-nine-year-old Sukhar Salman (ph) says a scuffle broke out after settlers came onto his land, and one of them
clubbed him in the back of the head. When soldiers arrived, he says, they arrested him and beat him with the butt of their guns.
The soldiers are a protection for the settlers. I would tell the soldiers that they stole my sheep and they would say that I'm lying and that I'm the
one who attacked them. And every time I try to say something, the soldiers would beat me.
Settlers, he says, always go free.
Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tayasir, the West Bank.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:51:43]
FOSTER: This just in. Then police in Florida say Tiger Woods has been involved in a rollover car accident on Jupiter Island. That's according to
one of our local affiliate stations. The accident happened around 90 minutes ago.
It's unclear if Woods was injured. Woods only returned to competitive golf on Tuesday in Florida. He's been recovering from back surgery in October
and struggles to walk.
In 2021, he injured both his legs in a rollover car accident just outside Los Angeles. His car was the only vehicle involved here. We're waiting for
a deeper police update.
At this hour, actors, musicians and other cultural leaders are gathered at the Kennedy Center in Washington to oppose what they call political
intimidation and censorship in the arts. The event featured speeches and dramatic readings from celebrities like Jane Fonda and Sam Waterston. It
comes as multiple departments are dealing with significant layoffs. This includes some employees and senior roles.
Let's discuss with Betsy Klein live just outside the Kennedy Center.
And the whole dynamic of the place has just been just different these days, isn't it?
BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Certainly, Max, this protest wrapped up just a few moments ago, and this is kicking off what is expected
to be a weekend of No Kings demonstrations across the country. But this one, organizers say, was aimed at what they describe as censorship in arts,
media and culture. And, of course, the backdrop for this protest just across the street from the Kennedy Center.
Very symbolic. It's where President Trump has sought to make some of his most significant changes to culture in this country. We heard from artists
like Jane Fonda, Joan Baez, Maggie Rogers. Baez is actually a 2021 Kennedy Center honoree, and she said that she considered giving up her award, but
decided to keep it as an act of resistance.
And Fonda said that there is what she described as a growing effort to reshape American history and culture through fear and attacks on our First
Amendment. Listen to more about what she described as this symbolic backdrop here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JANE FONDA, ACTRESS AND ACTIVIST: We chose to hold today's action in front of the John F. Kennedy Center, that's right, because this beloved citadel
of the arts has become a symbol of what is happening.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KLEIN: Now, Trump has gutted the Kennedy Center board of directors. That board installed him as chairman, and they've overseen significant changes
to staffing and leadership, which has led to major artists canceling and slumping ticket sales, which some saw as driving the desire to temporarily
close over the next two years for major renovations.
Now, the expected layoffs at the Kennedy Center continued today, and this is going to be very significant. It started on Thursday, and we do expect
between 75 and 175 of the Kennedy Center's 300 staff members to be laid off over the course of the next couple of months.
This is -- comes as the center is facing a series of lawsuits.
[15:55:03]
One from the Democratic Congresswoman Joyce Beatty of Ohio. She is an ex officio member of the Kennedy Center's board, as well as a consortium of
the country's top historic preservation groups. Both of them are asking federal judges to halt this closure and renovation until they get approval
from Congress and other key groups that are expected to sign off on projects like this, Max.
FOSTER: Okay. Betsy, thank you so much for bringing us that.
Finally, tonight, stranded at a popular seaside resort doesn't sound like the worst thing that could happen. But for a humpback whale, it's extremely
dangerous, of course. The whale spent days trapped in shallow waters in a Baltic resort in Germany as crews worked to free it. Eventually, excavators
dug an escape channel, allowing the massive mammal to swim to safety. Still, the whale does have a long way to go before reaching its home, which
is the Atlantic Ocean, but at least it's out of danger right now.
I'm Max Foster. That's WHAT WE KNOW. Do stay with CNN.
END
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