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What We Know with Max Foster
White House: Witkoff & Kushner To Head To Islamabad For Iran Talks; White House: U.S. Has Seen "Some Progress" From the Iranian Side; White House: Vance "On Standby," Will Go To Pakistan If Warranted; Trump: Lebanon Truce Extended Three Weeks. Aired 3-4p ET
Aired April 24, 2026 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:00:33]
MAX FOSTER, CNN HOST: All eyes on Islamabad as delegates arrive for negotiations.
This is WHAT WE KNOW.
It appears there may be a new round of U.S.-Iran peace talks. The White House says President Trump's son in law, Jared Kushner, and special envoy
Steve Witkoff, will travel to Pakistan on Saturday to meet with Iran's foreign minister, who just arrived there a few minutes ago. Not part of the
negotiations for now, U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance and Iran's speaker of parliament. Administration officials say Vance is on standby and will
travel to Islamabad if talks progress.
Our Nic Robertson is in Islamabad for us.
So, a bit of a breakthrough here, Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Diplomatic movement, Max, had been real stagnation over the last few days. In fact, standing on
the balcony here, we could watch the Iranian foreign minister's aircraft as it approached the airport here, came in to touch down. And again, like last
time when the delegation came two weeks ago, there was Pakistani fighter aircraft escort. You could hear the roar of their engines as well. So full
diplomatic throttle and the big guns rolled out on the tarmac to meet the Iranian foreign minister, the defense chief of staff, field marshal Asim
Munir, Pakistan's foreign minister there as well, to greet Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister.
What will happen? What will be the substance of the meetings here? Look, the way the White House is portraying it at the moment is they're saying
that Iran has made some progress. Iran has requested face to face meetings with the U.S. delegation, because it's not at the same level as two weeks
ago, when it was led by the speaker of the Iranian parliament, Ghalibaf. That's the reason, as you were mentioning, Vice President J.D. Vance won't
be coming.
Now, some of the sort of sequencing of events here, we know that the Iranian foreign minister is having bilateral meetings with the Pakistani
mediators while he's here. Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner leaving Washington on Saturday, travel time really doesn't get them here to Pakistan, perhaps
until very late Saturday at the best early Sunday morning.
Now, the Iranian foreign minister had originally in press releases from his office, had said that he was going to have his bilateral meetings here in
Pakistan, go on to Oman for meetings there, then go from Oman to Moscow for more meetings. There is he flying back in? Does he pause and reconnect in
Tehran, the timings of the meetings with the U.S. delegation not clear, the exact sequencing of how these meetings work, but absolutely diplomatic
movement, Max.
FOSTER: Okay. Nick, thank you for that significant update.
Now, any minute now, we are expecting President Trump to depart the White House for Mar-a-Lago. The president's press secretary told reporters a
short while ago, this weekend's discussions in Pakistan are a chance to hear the Iranians out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The Iranians want to talk. They want to talk in person. And so, the president is, as I've said many,
many times to all of you, always willing to give diplomacy a chance. So, Steve and Jared will be heading to Pakistan tomorrow to hear the Iranians
out. We hope progress will be made, and we hope that positive developments will come from this meeting, and we will see.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: To CNN's senior White House reporter Kevin Liptak now.
Obviously, J.D. Vance isn't there nor the speaker of the Iranian parliament, but, um, you know, there needs to be groundwork before any more
substantive deal anyway, right?
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Right. And at least according to the White House, Vance will be on standby to travel to
Pakistan if developments and if progress are made in these meetings.
The press secretary suggested that even President Trump may travel to Pakistan if the deal was at hand. Now, we are many, many steps away from
that, to be sure. But you do hear a degree of optimism here that the diplomatic gears continue to widen. You know, before today, our
understanding was that the U.S. and the president were waiting to hear back from the Iranians, a more solid negotiating position when it comes to some
of President Trump's red lines, whether it's the question of nuclear enrichment, the question of their stockpile of highly enriched uranium, and
the understanding was that they would not travel to Islamabad before hearing from the Iranians more solidly about what they might be willing to
agree to.
[15:05:05]
So, too, were the Americans waiting for some of what they described as internal divides between the moderates and the hardliners within the
Iranian regime to be smoothed over. Now, how that has happened or whether that has happened, I think still an open question. But the fact that the
president now, despite dispatching these two envoys to Pakistan, does suggest that some progress was made, and listening to Karoline Leavitt
today, it did seem evident that the president still seems very intent on finding a diplomatic solution to all of this.
You know, remember, he has not put a timeline on the cease fire that he extended earlier this week. He said just yesterday that he was in no rush
to see this deal finalized. I think in reality, there are pressures on the president here, whether it's the rising cost of gas in the United States or
the rising unpopularity of this war among the American public, we are now almost at the eight week mark. Of course, the president said at one point
that this conflict would last between four to six weeks.
He shrugged off those timelines yesterday. But I still think it's very clear that the White House understands that the longer this war goes on,
the more problematic it will be for him politically. And so, getting these talks back on track, getting his envoys on a plane to head to Pakistan, I
think, is just a step in the direction that the president wants us to see heading, Max.
FOSTER: There must have been something that shifted, right? Or do you think it was just the idea that the Iranians agreed to send someone and it wasn't
a J.D. Vance level. So that's why he didn't go.
LIPTAK: I mean, I think just at a basic level, that's how they have gotten Vance and Witkoff on a plane to head over to Pakistan.
The way Karoline Leavitt described it, though, was that there was some development on the side of the Iranians that prompted them to agree to this
meeting. I think the question will be, once they get there, once they look at what the Iranians have put down on paper in terms of what they're
willing to agree to, is this everything that they have seen previously that they could not agree to, or was there some significant notable shift?
Have they agreed, for example, to pause enrichment of uranium for a set time period that the president can agree to? You know, 20 years had been on
the table. The Iranians came back with five years. There has to be some gap in there in the median that both sides can agree to. Is that something that
they saw?
Similarly, have the Iranians agreed to give up that stockpile almost more than 400 kilograms of highly enriched uranium that's buried deep
underground? That's something they had not been willing to do previously. Is there something in there that the U.S. sees that they can agree to? And
for the Iranian side, what has the U.S. agreed to do in terms of sanctions relief or unfreezing some of the assets that they say are necessary to
agree to any sort of deal? All of those questions, I think the -- what President Trump wants to see is some significant movement.
You know, he has said very explicitly that this has to be a deal that's better than the 2015 Obama era deal that he withdrew from and that he
continues to deride in every public appearance. If what's on paper in Pakistan that Witkoff and Kushner are looking at this week doesn't seem as
if its noticeably better than that deal, I think they're going to come back and say, J.D. Vance, you need to stay in Washington. There's nothing that
can be accomplished here.
But if they do see some progress made, then I think that will be where the rubber really hits the road and they can really get cooking on some kind of
deal.
FOSTER: Yeah, absolutely. Kevin, thank you so much from the White House.
Meanwhile, the fighting in southern Lebanon goes on despite a newly extended cease fire there. Even whilst the agreement was announced in
Washington on Thursday, there were military exchanges. And today, the IDF said it hit Hezbollah structures in southern Lebanon for what it called a
ceasefire violation a day earlier. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will continue striking any threat.
For its part, Hezbollah says the extended ceasefire has no meaning in light of continued Israeli hostilities. The Shia militants say they shot down an
Israeli drone, which was confirmed by the IDF.
Now, President Trump says the Israeli and Lebanese prime ministers will be coming to Washington over the next couple of weeks, as Oren Liebermann now
explains, there are plenty of potential sticking points in any lasting peace deal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: The agreement itself, one that was largely imposed by President Donald Trump, is between Israel and the
Lebanese government. It doesn't involve, and it was not signed by Hezbollah, Iran's proxy in Lebanon. And that's where this becomes
incredibly difficult.
Israel and Lebanon can make all the agreements they want. But Hezbollah very much has a say here, and they have not agreed to the ceasefire.
Meanwhile, we have seen Israel carry out a series of strikes. In fact, they announced some a short time ago in what they say is a response to Hezbollah
violations of the ceasefire.
Hezbollah has continued to launch some rockets and drones, accusing Israel of violating the ceasefire.
[15:10:05]
And that is the difficult scenario in which the U.S. is trying to make progress here.
It is fairly significant that they got an extension of the ceasefire, in addition to the first ten days we saw, were now looking at about a month,
but given the difficulties here, the diplomatic challenges between trying to get a permanent agreement between two countries that have not had
diplomatic relations in decades, this could very well take much longer as they try to work out all the issues.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: The criminal investigation of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is now closed. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced the news just a
short while ago. The Justice Department was looking into allegations or accusations that the president made about Powell as the Fed chair oversaw
expensive renovations at the headquarters in Washington. Dropping the probe clears the way for President Trump's pick, Kevin Warsh, to get confirmed as
Powell's successor.
Republican Senator Thom Tillis has been blocking Warsh's nomination until the investigation, there was ended.
Evan Perez is standing by for us.
I mean, it's interesting, isn't it? You know, in terms of consequence for both men
EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR U.S. JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. And let's be clear, this has not been a very normal investigation. And that's one reason
why Thom Tillis and other critics of it have been raising the concern that it is really more about pressure. Right? It's been a political pressure
ploy by the president, by the Justice Department, by Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney, to put pressure on Powell, who obviously has his term, is
ending next month.
And the president has made clear that he dislikes Powell. He thinks that Powell should have been lowering interest rates much more quickly here in
the United States. And so, that's what this has always been about.
What we finally saw, though, today is that Jeanine Pirro surrendered to the inevitability that this was going nowhere. First of all, last month, at a
hearing here in Washington, the Justice Department, their own prosecutors acknowledged that they had no evidence, actual evidence of wrongdoing by
Powell. The judge tossed the subpoena that they had issued for information from the Federal Reserve, saying again that they had no evidence.
And despite the fact that Jeanine Pirro said that she was going to appeal that ruling, they never actually did. And so, today, on -- she took to X
and acknowledged that this investigation was closing. She said she was going to wait for a review that was being done by the inspector general of
the Federal Reserve. That has been going, by the way, for months. And so that is not a new thing. And then she said that she would not hesitate to
restart the investigation if there's any facts that come from that.
And, Max, remember that this is really about, you know, hundreds of millions of dollars of cost overruns on a multibillion dollar project to
renovate the historic headquarters of the federal reserve building here in Washington, D.C. And, you know, there have been problems there, but so far
has no has not been any indication that Jerome Powell lied to Congress about that or that there is actually been any crime committed in some of
those cost overruns. So, it looks for now that this is over and that Kevin Warsh and his nomination can now go ahead after this move by the -- by the
Justice Department -- Max.
FOSTER: Okay. Evan, thank you so much for that update.
Meanwhile, the Justice Department has announced it wants to bring back firing squads for federal death penalty cases as part of an ongoing
campaign to restore death penalty policies that were rolled back during the Biden administration. Those include expediting death penalty cases and
allowing more ways to execute people. Five states currently allow for death by firing squad. A man in South Carolina was put to death by firing squad
last month, in fact becoming only the fourth person to be killed in that way since the 1970s.
Coming up, a betting scandal online prediction markets facing intense scrutiny. We'll take a look at one case involving a U.S. soldier, after the
break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:17:16]
FOSTER: Online prediction markets are facing renewed scrutiny after a U.S. Special Forces soldier involved in the capture of a former Venezuelan
president, Nicolas Maduro, allegedly bet on the top secret mission. The soldier is now facing federal charges after allegedly betting on Polymarket
that Maduro would be out by January. Prosecutors say his long shot bet made him $400,000 in profit. He appeared in court today, paying a $250,000 bond.
Kara Scannell has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A major arrest tied to a suspicious $32,000 bet that paid out in January by a trader who used the
name Burdensome Mix. The bet was a long shot that longtime Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro would be out by the end of January.
Shortly after it was placed, a covert U.S. military operation ensued, extracting Maduro.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump says the U.S. carried out large scale strikes on Venezuela overnight.
JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: Captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro arriving in New York.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is unprecedented. This is history in the making for Venezuela.
SCANNELL (voice-over): Law enforcement now alleging that the trader who made over $400,000 is U.S. Special Forces Soldier Gannon Ken Van Dyke, and
that he was involved in the planning and execution of the Maduro raid. Van Dyke is alleged to have misused classified government information for
personal gain.
And more bets and trades timed suspiciously around major news developments are in question.
Fifteen minutes before President Donald Trump posted on Tuesday that he would extend a ceasefire with Iran, traders placed a whopping $430 million
bet that oil prices would drop. The trade is one of four massive bets that preceded major announcements in the U.S.-Iran conflict since late March,
according to "Reuters", raising concerns about potential insider trading.
Last Friday, investors bet $760 million that oil prices would drop. Twenty minutes later, Iran's foreign minister said the Strait of Hormuz would
reopen. After the post, oil futures fell 11 percent.
And earlier this month, less than three hours before President Trump announced on Truth Social a U.S. ceasefire with Iran, traders had bet $950
million that oil prices would fall. That bet paid off as well. Oil futures fell 15 percent after the post.
SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): This is corruption. This is just astounding corruption.
SCANNELL (voice-over): These are not isolated incidents. Democratic Senator Chris Murphy called out a $580 million bet, placed 15 minutes before Trump
posted on Truth Social he would delay striking Iran's energy infrastructure.
[15:20:08]
It was another winner. Oil futures plummeted 15 percent.
MURPHY: That kind of scale never happens on a Monday morning at 6:50. But it was happening for a reason, because people that were making those bets
knew that a few minutes later, Donald Trump was about to post something on social media.
SCANNELL (voice-over): There are no obvious ties between the trades and White House officials, and a White House spokesman told CNN, "Any
implication that administration officials are violating the law is, quote, `baseless and irresponsible'."
ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: The key phrase that makes something insider trading under the law is if somebody is trading based on material,
nonpublic information, the question is essentially, is this information that was known to the general public outside the halls of Congress, outside
of the White House, outside of government itself.
SCANNELL (voice-over): Last month, the White House sent a memo to staff reminding them that, quote, "The misuse of nonpublic information by
government employees for financial benefit is a very serious offense and will not be tolerated."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: That was Kara Scannell reporting for us there.
Now, this incident is the latest in a series of high profile cases concerning online prediction markets. French authorities have opened an
investigation after multiple successful bets on Polymarket on unexpected temperature spikes. They suspect a weather sensor, the Paris-Charles de
Gaulle airport, was actually tampered with. Kalshi has suspended three political candidates from its platform after an internal probe found they
bet on their own campaigns.
These online markets have exploded in popularity in recent months. CNN is amongst companies that has a partnership with Kalshi, which provides data
that journalists can use in covering stories.
U.S. President Donald Trump says he is concerned about the growing trend of betting on geopolitical events.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The whole world, unfortunately, has become somewhat of a casino. And you look at what's
going on all over the world, in Europe and every place they're doing these betting things. I was never much in favor of it. I don't like it
conceptually, but it is what it is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: So, what we want to know is, are prediction markets turning the world into a casino?
Joining me now is our global economic analyst, Rana Foroohar.
Thank you so much for joining us. I mean, he's right, isn't he? The more people find out about these markets, the more involved they get. And you
can literally bet on anything.
RANA FOROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMIC ANALYST: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you know, I would actually pull the frame back and look at Polymarket as one of
the, the sharp end of the spear of, of something that has really been with us now for years, even decades. And you can go back and look at the rise of
hedging -- hedge funds, short, short funds, long funds and say, well, what's hedging? What's speculation? Then you go into the world of social
media.
And I remember, you know, over a decade ago when Carl Icahn, the robber baron, started tweeting for Tim Cook, then president of Apple, to, to give
back more money to shareholders. That's a signal.
What the president has been doing, what Trump has been doing, I think, is different in two ways. He's clearly, you know, has his own businesses, has
been much more reluctant than other presidents to kind of pull back from commerce in general. There's been a lot of deregulation of financial
markets under Trump two, in particular, but we also have this rise of average people doing online trading.
And the game of (AUDIO GAP). Polymarket is definitely a part of it too. I don't see it going away anytime soon.
FOSTER: I mean, it's -- how do you regulate it? You know, hedge funds, there aren't as many of them as there are Polymarket gamblers, right?
FOROOHAR: Yes.
FOSTER: And -- but there is, there's a very clear line, isn't there, between, you know, a soldier involved in the Maduro mission being paid for
by the government should not be sharing that information. You and I shouldn't be sharing embargoed information that were given by governments,
for example. There are some clear lines, but there's also a really big gray area where someone who's just done a lot of research, perhaps joined a club
in order to make these bets.
I mean, how on earth do you manage it?
FOROOHAR: Yeah, absolutely. Well, you know, that's always been the big question when you're looking at speculation insider trading, what did you
know? When is it really materially different than what other smart people or market participants as a whole could have come to on their own?
I think that it's pretty likely that that you are seeing some illegal behavior here, how you're going to prove it, and then how you're going to
create regulations that, you know, cut through those nuances. It's very, very difficult. I mean, I remember covering the financial crisis and
thinking how incredibly difficult it was to regulate complex securities.
[15:25:03]
Add on to that data markets, social media, and, you know, hundreds of millions of retail traders that are now in a game that used to be played
mainly by professionals. And it's become a real witch's brew.
FOSTER: They've been very effective, haven't they? I mean, we've done reporting on how they predicted some elections better than the pollsters.
Do we now know why?
FOROOHAR: Yeah. Well, you know, there is -- there is this kind of classic financial truism about the wisdom of crowds. And you really -- you do have
to believe it. And I think that, in this day and age, the wisdom of crowds, particularly given that there is so much going on in the world, these
prediction markets do have an edge. They have a place.
You know, how to police them is the question, how to make sure -- particularly that retail investors that may not know what they're doing,
maybe they're just going on for the first time to experiment. They don't know that there's, you know, potential insiders trading information in
milliseconds. And what happens when they end up, you know, making big losses? These are the things that regulators worry about, but really,
really tough to tackle.
FOSTER: Rana, appreciate it. Thank you. It's a fascinating topic.
Still to come, who's in -- who's out, what we know about the negotiating teams that are expected to take part in the next round of peace talks
between the U.S. and Iran.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: Let's go back to our top story then with Iranian officials already in Pakistan, we now know who the White House is sending for new peace talks
as well. Special envoy Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump's son in law, Jared Kushner, will hold talks this weekend with Iranian foreign minister.
Vice President J.D. Vance, on the other hand, is not going.
[15:30:02]
The reason is that Iran's parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, isn't attending either. The White House sees him as the head of the Iranian
delegation. So, Vance is staying home as well. So, what we don't know is, will these talks strike a deal without the delegation leaders actually
present?
Joining me now is our national security analyst, David Sanger.
Thank you so much for joining us, David.
I mean, does the fact this this level meeting is taking place just show that the two sides are willing to meet more than anything?
DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL & NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I think it shows a little more than that. The Iranians have come back with some kind of
written proposal. It must have been good enough for Mr. Kushner and Mr. Witkoff to decide it was worth going. But I think they never wanted to get
Vice President Vance into the position that he was in two weeks ago, where they sent him right away for these very complex, high stakes talks, only to
have it fall apart while he was still there. You usually bring a vice president or a president in only after the entire thing is cooked.
FOSTER: Trump's even thinking about going as well. We seem to be hearing from the White House.
SANGER: Well, to meet whom? To do that, he would probably have to meet the Iranian president who would be his closest to an equivalent, the supreme
leader, the new supreme leader, we believe, is so badly injured. He hasn't been seen in public since he was named to the post. And we think he's under
constant medical care from the same attack that killed his father, his wife and his child.
So, it's a little hard to tell right now who it is that President Trump would meet, and he'd only want to go do that if there was a full agreement.
I don't think we're anything close to that. I think that, you know, the most you could imagine them coming up with this weekend or in coming weeks
would be a framework accord, which was similar to what happened with the Obama administration before they began a year and a half of specificity --
of specific, detailed negotiations.
FOSTER: I know you wrote a piece on Wednesday, which struck me as a really good example, because I think I'm right in saying you're saying that
Trump's been exposed through this affair. He's talked about them surrendering. He's talked about them agreeing to everything, you know,
turning everything to nuclear dust in terms of their program, which hasn't happened. And then, you know, he has to sort of step back from that.
But actually looking back at his -- the way he does things, he quite often says things have happened before they have happened, but then they do end
up happening. So, then he can claim credit, but it hasn't worked in this case.
SANGER: No, it hasn't worked because the Iranians are, you know, a long time, pretty good negotiators. To them, this is another form of the bazaar.
They have been through many different administrations in which they have either negotiated halts or negotiated away part of their nuclear program,
only to rebuild it.
They started rebuilding most recently when President Trump pulled out of the 2015 Obama era accord. He did that in 2018. So, basically, everything
you're seeing, the Iranians discuss giving away at this point or negotiating away or diluting is, is material that they built up only after
President Trump withdrew from the last agreement.
So, it would suggest that they've got a pretty long game view of this.
FOSTER: Yeah. David Sanger, appreciate you as ever for coming on to the show. Thank you.
The U.S. appears to be considering taking action against allies it says are not supporting the war with Iran. "Reuters" has obtained an email
circulating at the Pentagon that discusses punishment for both the U.K. and Spain.
In the case of Britain, the U.S. could reconsider its stance on British sovereignty of the Falkland Islands. British officials brushed that off,
saying no action by the U.S. would affect Britain's status with the Falklands. The Pentagon email suggests the U.S. may push to have Spain
expelled from NATO. Spain's prime minister said he's not concerned with emails. He only is interested in actual policies and international law.
Pentagon Chief Pete Hegseth now says the Strait of Hormuz is a problem for the rest of the world to solve, not the U.S. in a briefing earlier today,
the U.S. defense secretary said that because the U.S. doesn't use much oil from the Gulf, Europe should take the lead on getting it reopened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: Europe and Asia have benefited from our protection for decades, but the time for free riding is over. America
and the free world deserve allies who are capable, who are loyal, and who understand that being an ally is not a one-way street.
[15:35:09]
It's a two-way street. We are not counting on Europe, but they need the Strait of Hormuz much more than we do and might want to start doing less
talking and having less fancy conferences in Europe and getting a boat. This is much more their fight than ours.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: One longtime European leader and diplomat thinks calmer heads will prevail. Speaking to CNN just a short while ago, former Swedish Prime
Minister Carl Bildt said the U.S. still needs the U.K. and Spain.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARL BILDT, COCHAIR, EUROPEAN COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: There's a state visit to Washington by King Charles coming up next week, to start to
question the territorial integrity and sovereignty of territories of the Great Britain, prior to the state visit. It sounds to me extremely unwise
in the extreme. So I would think they will roll back some of the more stupid aspects of it.
And then I think when they start looking at these things, bases in Spain, for example, I think they will very clearly see that these are arrangements
that fundamentally are in the interest of the United States. So rocky period ahead, lots of confused discussions, lots of difficult discussions,
but let's see where it ends.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: President Trump is also brushing off remarks by Prince Harry after the British royal called for more U.S. action to end the war in Ukraine.
Prince Harry made an unannounced visit to Kyiv on Thursday, calling on Washington to increase its support for Ukraine and urging Vladimir Putin to
choose a different course.
Here was Donald Trump's response
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Prince Harry today has said that he would like to see you do more to end the war in Ukraine. Do you think it's appropriate for a royal to
make those comments ahead of the visit on Monday?
TRUMP: Prince Harry?
REPORTER: Yes, sir.
TRUMP: How's he doing? How's his wife? Please give him my regards. Okay?
No, no, I don't know. I think I know one thing, Prince Harry is not speaking for the U.K., that's for sure. I think I'm speaking for the U.K.
more than Prince Harry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Well, this comes as King Charles and Camilla, Queen Camilla are set to visit Washington next week.
It's the final moment of trade on Wall Street. Stocks are pretty mixed. The Dow's been in the red for most of the session.
This is our Business Breakout.
U.S. consumers are still in the doldrums over the economy. That's according to the University of Michigan's monthly survey. Consumer sentiment picked
up slightly in April after a ceasefire in Iran was announced, but it's still hovering at the lowest levels on record.
Shares in Intel are surging up more than 20 percent after its earnings showed strong demand in the A.I. space. Shares are now at an all time high.
That's good news for the us government, which took a 10 percent stake in the company last summer when it was struggling for market share.
China's A.I. company deep seek has unveiled its new model, known as V4. DeepSeek took the version of the industry by storm last year when it
launched a model that could operate much more cheaply than its American rivals. Unlike most competitors, this new model is also open source.
Now, there's one open source A.I. platform that's drawn some big praise in recent weeks. Open Claw has been heralded as a paradigm shift by the head
of Nvidia since it released a few months ago.
But as Hadas Gold explains with high praise, comes high concern
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JENSEN HUANG, CEO, NVIDIA: Every company in the world today needs to have an OpenClaw strategy and a genetic system strategy. This is the new
computer.
HADAS GOLD, CNN A.I. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): That's Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang recently praising OpenClaw, the most popular example of how A.I. is
shifting from something you talk to, to something that proactively works for you.
HUANG: OpenClaw is the number one. It's the most popular open source project in the history of humanity, and it did so in just a few weeks.
GOLD (voice-over): It's an open source platform released just in November, that lets users run an autonomous A.I. agent locally on their computer.
OpenClaw was created by this man, Austrian developer Peter Steinberger, who was recently hired by the ChatGPT maker OpenAI.
Instead of simply responding to prompts, an OpenClaw agent can carry out multi-step tasks over time. Think of it less like a chatbot and more like a
digital assistant living on your laptop.
JASON MELLER, VP OF PRODUCT, 1PASSWORD: Is it actually does things. You text it like a coworker, and it handles emails, calendar, errands on your
computer. Instead of requesting permission for every little thing, what if OpenClaw just went and did it, and it was really up to the user to decide
whether or not that was good or bad.
GOLD (voice-over): Once installed, OpenClaw is always on. It can keep running in the background as system level software. You give it
assignments, not just questions, and it keeps working on its own within the rules you set, even when you're not watching. For example, it could check a
website every day, tracking prices and sending updates automatically. Behind the scenes, OpenClaw connects an A.I. model like large language
models from OpenAI or Anthropic to your personal computer.
[15:40:05]
You can control it through a browser or even remotely through messaging apps like Telegram or WhatsApp.
HENRY SHEVLIN, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, LEVERHULME CENTER FOR FUTURE OF INTELLIGENCE: What OpenClaw did was create a pretty easy to use framework
for accessing these large language models and integrating them into something like a more coherent agent that could operate really for extended
periods without human input.
GOLD (voice-over): It runs locally on your own device, having direct access to your files if you allow it, and it can take action persistently without
constant input. But with that power comes risk because it can access, file and take actions, security becomes a major concern.
SHEVLIN: Worries about prompt injection, or the idea that someone could include malicious instructions in the way they communicate with Open Claw,
pretty serious.
MELLER: We also have to make sure that the artifacts that its producing are stored in a safe place, and that they don't end up becoming the fodder for
a criminal to really blackmail us or do things to us that previously weren't possible.
GOLD (voice-over): OpenClaw is one of many new ai agent systems, and though the technology is still early, many experts say OpenClaw points to a future
where ai agents could fundamentally change how we use computers and how much control were willing to hand over to machines.
SHEVLIN: I do think this is another ChatGPT moment. I do agree with Jensen Huang that this is another real paradigm shift, another real -- a real
milestone.
GOLD (voice-over): Hadas Gold, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Still to come tonight, some people are now able to go back home to southern Lebanon because of a ceasefire, but their homes are no longer
there.
We'll share their stories.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: Thousands of people displaced from southern Lebanon by the Israeli military have been trying to return home in recent weeks, as a ceasefire
remains in effect. Lebanese officials say more than a million people have fled their homes since the start of the conflict.
[15:45:00]
Israel's strategy in Lebanon is drawing comparison to its operations in Gaza.
Jeremy Diamond reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ISRAEL KATZ, ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER (through text translation): All houses in villages near the border in Lebanon will be destroyed. According
to the Rafah and Beit Hanoun model in Gaza, in order to permanently remove border-area threats from the residents of the north.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After leveling homes, neighborhoods and entire cities in Gaza --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through text translation): Four, three, two, one.
DIAMOND (voice-over): -- Israel is exporting that model to southern Lebanon, raising civilian infrastructure in towns and villages near the
border to carve a buffer zone out of Lebanese territory, which the Israeli military says is aimed at distancing Israel's northern residents from the
threats posed by Hezbollah.
But in one town after the next in southern Lebanon, rows of homes have been flattened. Shops torn to the ground, entire neighborhoods erased. Over six
weeks of war, the Israeli military systematically demolished the town of Al- Shaybah, now practically wiped from the map. Along this street in the
border town of Adisa, which once held a pharmacy and auto repair shop, one building after the next has been reduced to rubble.
Even the local mosque was not spared. Steps away, an excavator and alongside it a multi-story building not yet destroyed.
To Hassan Ramal, it represented plans for the future, a building he erected in his hometown, apartments on top, with shops on the ground floor. It had
been partially damaged in a previous Israeli strike. Construction was underway just one month before the current war broke out. Those dreams
dashed the moment Ramallah saw this video confirming the worst.
HASSAN RAMAL, SOUTH LEBANESE (through text translation): Somebody sent me images and I saw that the building I was renovating had been destroyed. I
felt that the hope that once existed had diminished. For you to build, only to be demolished. Build, demolish.
DIAMOND (voice-over): There are countless stories like Ramal's in South Lebanon, a Shia majority area where many, like Ramal, support Hezbollah. In
the town of Bint Jbail, fierce fighting with Hezbollah militants soon gave way to controlled demolitions, razing the city's old quarter and buildings
beyond.
Such massive destruction of civilian infrastructure is considered to be a violation of international law and a potential war crime. The aftermath is
both apocalyptic and yet terrifyingly familiar, revealing the same kind of systematic destruction Israel carried out to create a buffer zone in Gaza.
And, like in Gaza, the fragile ceasefire in Lebanon doesn't mean Israel will cease demolitions. Israeli officials say they will continue. In videos
filmed by nearby residents post ceasefire, the ruins of this Lebanese village give way to more destruction.
Excavators working to tear down more buildings. Lebanese communities within this roughly five-mile wide buffer zone now controlled by Israeli troops
are facing more of the same. That buffer zone means Ramal hasn't been able to return home, but he remains defiant.
RAMAL (through text translation): Israel can say whatever it wants. There will be no buffer zone.
DIAMOND (voice-over): And refuses to give up on his dreams of homecoming.
RAMAL (through text translation): This land is dear and precious. Even if we build a tent, I will continue so I can smell the soil of my village.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Jeremy Diamond, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:51:31]
FOSTER: World Cup ticket prices are back in the spotlight today after four tickets for the final were put up for resale on FIFA's official website.
The price, more than $2 million each. The category one tickets for the July 19th final in New Jersey are seated behind one of the goals. The seller is
asking for close to $2.3 million seats two rows ahead are fetching just $16,000.
Brynn Gingras is looking at this for New York.
I'm baffled. Explain. Explain it.
BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Max, you can't -- you can't buy those tickets? Come on. What's wrong?
FOSTER: No.
GINGRAS: Yeah, no one can. That's the whole entire point, Max. Yeah. These tickets are just absurd. And a lot of fans are reacting, as you can
imagine, people really pissed off that the ticket prices are so high.
Just to give you a sense of where those tickets are, that is for the final game at the New York New Jersey stadium. That is about behind the goal line
on the lower section. That's in that category one ticket, that we've learned about how the FIFA has -- you know, the different price ranges, but
it's quite a hefty price. And even more upsetting is the fact that there are restrictions in both Canada and Mexico for these prices to be raised in
the resale marketplace. So, it really does also give the USA -- a bad look.
FIFA, as you can imagine, they're getting a cut of this price because these tickets are for resale on the FIFA marketplace. They get 15 percent from
the buyer, 15 percent from the seller. And they say they're a nonprofit. So, it's going back into the game.
But still, another reason why people are just angry with FIFA, who, you know, pegged this world cup as the most affordable World Cup in history.
Also, to give you some perspective on this, the ticket prices for the 2022 final game in Qatar, those pegged at $1,600. So, this is a real difference.
And again, as I mentioned, people not happy about it because the whole point of the World Cup is to be able to go to the game, bring your family
and of course, cheer on your country in these incredible games.
FOSTER: Yeah, it's just unbelievable. Brynn, thank you so much for that. I mean, amazing.
Meanwhile, a major tennis star will not be playing in the French Open, two- time champion Carlos Alcaraz says he will not try to defend his title. Alcaraz posted a message on X saying the decision is due to a wrist injury.
He also will not play in the Italian Open another tournament he won last year. The number two ranked star was injured earlier this month during the
Barcelona Open.
Finally, tonight, in the USA and Canada, Take Your Child to Work Day is a chance for kids to see what their parents do all day. Well, on Thursday,
U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries got in on the fun by taking questions from children of members of the Capitol Hill press corps.
One of the toughest questions came from Sonya Raju, whose dad is CNN's very own Manu.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SONYA RAJU, DAUGHTER OF CNN'S MANU RAJU: Why do voters view Democrats so poorly?
HAKEEM JEFFRIES, U.S. HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: Did your dad give you that question?
(LAUGHTER)
JEFFRIES: It's a great question in that --
(LAUGHTER)
JEFFRIES: I'm going to have words with you after this, Manu.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Good way to get out of it as well.
Jeffries went on to say there's frustration with both political parties, and that's up to Democrats to convince voters that they can make their
lives better.
Now, before we go, take a look at these new images out of Everest base camp, hundreds of climbers and sherpas now playing the waiting game due to
a massive block of glacial ice, is blocking a route to the summit.
[15:55:05]
In response, specialized high-altitude workers known as icefall doctors are working to map out a solution. Meanwhile, more people are arriving at base
camp. This is raising concerns that when the route does eventually open, there could be traffic jams near the summit. It's happened before.
I'm Max Foster. That's WHAT WE KNOW. Stay with CNN.
END
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