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What We Know with Max Foster
Source: Trump To Hear Military Options For Iran; Brent Crude Briefly Tops $126 A Barrel Amid U.S. Blockade; Ukraine Strikes Hit Russian Oil Refinery; Trump Takes Questions From Reporters; Former FBI Chief James Comey Indicted For Threatening Trump. Aired 3-4p ET
Aired April 30, 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]
LYNDA KINKADE, CNN HOST: President Donald Trump has a decision to make on Iran.
I'm Lynda Kinkade, in for Max Foster, and this is WHAT WE KNOW.
With the future of the Iran ceasefire in doubt, U.S. President Trump is gathering top Pentagon brass today to discuss military options. That's
according to one of our sources. The briefing is raising concerns that Mr. Trump could restart attacks on Iran as negotiations stall. Iran's president
says the ongoing U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports already amounts to an extension of military operations. He says continuation of the blockade is
intolerable.
Let's bring in Kristen Holmes in Washington, who joins us now live.
Great to have you with us, Kristen.
So, we've already heard from the U.S. defense secretary saying that this war has already cost the U.S. at least $25 billion. What options would
Trump likely consider as he moves to try to stop this blockade of the strait?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Right now, we know that President Trump is looking for an off ramp. Now he's going to continue
to hear any kind of option the Pentagon is willing to give him, which would include resuming those strikes. What it would look like if they took Kharg
Island. All the things we've been discussing for the last nine weeks, those are still potentials. Those are still on the table.
But you've noticed that President Trump, even though that second round of negotiations completely fell through, he still didn't resume the fighting.
And we're told behind the scenes that because he doesn't want to resume the fighting, that he is still looking for this off ramp. And right now, he
does see this kind of extension of the blockade on the Strait of Hormuz as the best way to get the Iranians back to the negotiating table.
We've talked to U.S. officials who say that this is giving them an enormous amount of leverage over Iran. And now, we have these White House and
administration officials who are basically laying the groundwork for what it would look like if this blockade remains in place for an extended period
of time. And that would also mean they're trying to analyze exactly what it will look like for the United States if the Strait of Hormuz remains
closed.
That, of course, is going to be a huge issue for the rest of the global economy because, as we know, so much passes through the Strait of Hormuz.
But when you're talking to these U.S. officials and President Trump himself, they believe the blockade is essentially strangling Iran. And
again, is one of the only things that they have in terms of leverage, particularly when those strikes weren't really slowing anything down. They
weren't changing the dynamic with Iran. They have seen what they believe is moving in a positive direction in terms of these negotiations.
Now, of course, we are still waiting to see if there is another round of negotiations between the U.S. and Iran. Pakistan, they were supposed to
happen and then fell through. President Trump saying they weren't being serious. They can reach us by telephone. We obviously know it's not that
easy. We've been reporting pretty extensively on the idea that the Iranians don't even have the capability to be sitting by a phone, that they are in
bunkers under the ground, that they are hard to communicate, even with the Pakistanis.
So, this idea that they would just call them up is, is not one that President Trump, he knows that that doesn't really exist, but he also is
trying to force their hand and get them to come up with a proposal that works for what he wants.
KINKADE: All right. We'll continue to follow this closely. Kristen Holmes outside the White House, thanks so much.
Well, without an end in sight to the conflict, oil and gas prices are surging. The price of Brent crude briefly reached $126 a barrel today, a
four-year high and more than double what it was in January before the war began. Prices have since come back down.
CNN business senior reporter David Goldman joins us now live.
David, good to have you with us.
So, we saw that briefly that brant crude hit that $126 a barrel, the highest since 2022. What does that signal about the fear we're seeing in
the market right now?
DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR REPORTER: Well, I would actually urge us not to pay too much attention to the 126. So there are some technical
reasons why it hit that this morning, including the fact that this is the last day of the contract for delivery. It's a little geeky, but the real
explanation, the thing that you need to take away is that when you're trading on the oil futures market, you're generally not receiving that oil.
It's a contract that then you sell to someone who is going to get the oil, and so on the last day of the contract, there's a lot of volatility.
But here's what I would urge you to pay attention to. Look how that line is shaping up. It is pointing in one direction, and that is up and to the
right. There was a little bit of a blip, and in the earlier part of the month, and that was when the oil market had believed that the United States
was going to get out of this war.
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It no longer really believes that. But I just want to focus on this one thing.
In 2022, when Russia attacked Ukraine, oil was higher than it is now. And we were talking about taking 3 million barrels off of the market, which
never actually happened because of Russia was able to avoid sanctions. Now we're talking about 14 million barrels a day, and that's actual oil that is
off the market.
Why isn't oil significantly higher? Why isn't it at 126 or even higher right now? And that has a lot to do with what we were just talking about in
the previous segment, which is that there is still this hope that the United States is going to get out of this war at some point. Investors who
are holding that paper oil don't want to be left holding the bag.
KINKADE: Yeah, exactly. Everyone wants a bit of hope right now.
David Goldman, good to have you with us. Thank you.
GOLDMAN: Thank you.
KINKADE: Well, President Trump has lashed out at German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and signaled the U.S. may reduce troop levels in Germany. In
a social media post, Mr. Trump said Berlin should spend more time on ending the war in Ukraine and less time interfering with those that are getting
rid of the Iran nuclear threat.
Mr. Trump on Wednesday hinted at a possible cease fire plan with Ukraine that he discussed with the Russian leader.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I had a long talk with President Putin. I suggested a little bit of a ceasefire, and I think he
might do that. He might announce something having to do with that. Did he announce it yet?
REPORTER: No, but I was wondering, I was just going to ask --
TRUMP: You know, I asked him about even if it's a little ceasefire, there's so many people being killed. It's so ridiculous.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Well, the ongoing conflict in Ukraine is taking a bigger and bigger toll on Russia's economy and its people.
CNN's Frederik Pleitgen reports from Moscow.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Another day, another massive fire at a Russian oil refinery. This time near Perm in the
Ural Mountains. The installation, hit overnight by Ukrainian drones.
Kyiv has launched a massive aerial war of attrition against Russia's main economic lifelines, oil and gas. A few days ago, drones struck a refinery
in Tuapse in the south, leading to a massive toxic blaze that took days to extinguish.
"Drone strikes against civilian infrastructure are becoming more frequent," Russian President Vladimir Putin admits.
The latest example involves strikes on energy facilities in Tuapse, which could potentially lead to serious economic consequences and serious
security consequences as well. Moscow announcing its drastically scaling back the annual May 9th victory day parade commemorating the defeat of Nazi
Germany, just as first rehearsals get underway in the Russian capital.
Vladimir Putin even offering to observe a ceasefire on that day, as the Kremlin acknowledges, Ukraine's bombardment makes securing a large event
unfeasible.
"Against the backdrop of this terrorist threat, all measures are, of course, being taken to minimize the danger," the Kremlin spokesman says.
Russia's ongoing combat operations also taking an increasing toll on Moscow's economy, recently contracting. Videos like these springing up on
social media. Olga Sidorova (ph) from Chelyabinsk saying she's forced to close down her clothing stores after 16 years.
"I started selling clothes in my apartment. Now it's a chain of stores. Everybody knows my stores in the city. But now the time has come to say
goodbye to my so-called child. This is like a little death for me."
Tatiana Semkina (ph) in Omsk in Siberia, saying she's shutting her cafe after 20 years.
"We've run out of energy and no longer have the financial means to continue," she says.
The Kremlin, though, says it still has both the means and the energy to continue what it calls its special military operation. Vladimir Putin
telling U.S. President Donald Trump all of Russia's goals will be achieved.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Moscow
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: I want to take you straight to the White House now, where U.S. President Donald Trump is speaking. Let's listen in.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think including leadership, I mean, the leaders. But we'll see what happens. It's been an
amazing its been an amazing period of time between Venezuela and where were doing great. We're getting along with them great. We're working very
closely with them.
They're -- they're doing more oil now than they've done in many, many decades, actually.
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And they're making more money. And so are we, you know, we're like, it's like a joint venture, to be honest. And we've paid for the attack many
times over -- the attack, something you've never heard before, probably. I always used to say to the victor belong the spoils, but we paid for the
attack, which is always expensive. But it was a less than one day attack. It was actually a 45-minute attack.
And that's a good -- you know, they have good military in Venezuela. But this -- they did not expect that, and that -- and that -- and that. Other
than that.
But when these suckers come at you at 2,500 miles an hour, at 25 feet off the ground, you say, this is not what I bargained for. This is no good.
Anyway. So, and now, you know, Venezuela was amazing, but now we're -- we're doing essentially its larger, but were doing essentially the same
thing. And Iran -- can't let Iran have a nuclear weapon. And their economy is crashing. The blockade is incredible. The power of the blockade is
incredible. They're not getting any money from oil.
And, hopefully it can be worked out very soon. Yeah.
REPORTER: Iran is proving to be very stubborn. The talks seem like they are stalled. Are you getting antsy to break the ceasefire?
TRUMP: Well -- I mean, I don't know what stubbornness because really, nobody knows what the talks are except myself and a couple of other people.
They want to make a deal badly.
We have a problem because nobody knows for sure who the leaders are. It's a little bit of a problem. You know, the leaders have been wiped out along
with their military. Almost all of their military.
I mean, think of it, 159 ships was their total navy, 159 ships are gone. They're underwater. They're way below sea level. Sea level is big
difference. Pretty deep waters over there, too.
So, I don't know that we need it. We might need it.
REPORTER: And on Iran a little while ago, the president of FIFA said that when the World Cup is here in the us, the team from Iran will be playing in
the games.
TRUMP: Well, if Gianni said it, I'm okay. Are you kidding? Did Gianni say it?
REPORTER: He did. What if --
TRUMP: Gianni Infantino, that's a piece of work.
REPORTER: What if they win?
TRUMP: Well, if they win, we'll have to worry about that. That's not -- I'm going to have to worry about that one. That would. Look, you know what?
Let them play.
Well, Gianni's fantastic. You know, he's a friend of mine and he -- he talked about it. I said, you do whatever you want. You can have him. You
don't have to have him.
Probably have a good team. Do they have a good team? Do you have any idea?
REPORTER: I have no idea.
TRUMP: Would be hard to believe, actually, but, I think let them play. Right?
REPORTER: Mr. President, a little bit different. But what is your take on these reports that your show, "The Apprentice", is going to come back,
could come back on Amazon with host Donald Trump, Jr.?
TRUMP: Well, well, I've been hearing it. Look, we had a great success, 14 seasons. And "The Apprentice" was a tremendous success. So I've been
hearing that a little bit. So we'll see what happens.
He's good. He's a good guy. He's probably good. He's got a little charisma going. You need a little charisma for that sucker. So we'll see what
happens.
Yeah, they told me about it. We'll see.
REPORTER: Mr. President --
REPORTER: Thank you, Mr. President. There's been some talks about changes to your security after what took place.
TRUMP: Changing my security.
REPORTER: Changing your security after what --
TRUMP: Well, they did a pretty good job, actually. You know, they stopped the NFL running back. I mean, he was like a running back. In fact, if he
ever got out, they're probably going to sign him. He was a speedy guy, but he was stopped. And they had many levels in front of him before he would
even come close.
You know, you could be a baseball team and win 19 to nothing. And somebody could say, you should have won 21. You should have gotten 25 runs. The team
was no good or something. So, I don't know. I can only say that I know a lot of those people that secret service, and they were they were good and
they were forceful.
And, I saw the guys in front of me. They were powerful looking guys. I said we could send them to Hollywood. They could make -- they could make movies.
I think that, there's always room for improvement, right? And he got into the building. The problem is the -- I know that's what I do. I build
buildings like that.
Much nicer, actually, but I build buildings like that. And, you know, when you have 1,000 rooms sitting on top of a ballroom and you have the
elevators coming down right near the entrance, it's a pretty tough situation. Now, right outside, we have something that's on time, on budget,
actually ahead of time in, ahead of budget, depending on finishes.
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You know, finishes is a big difference between marble and onyx in price. But it's right on budget, right on time. And that's built to the highest
standards of security. No units on top, no hotel built on top where an elevator comes right down through the middle of it. It's a -- it's a tough
location. It's a -- that's a tough location.
So, I think I know the people at Secret Service, I think they're great. And I think the congress has to take care of those people. You know, we're
talking about ICE. We're talking about Border Patrol, Secret Service, everyone.
It's -- the Democrats essentially want to defund the police, just so you know, they want to defund law enforcement. It's crazy. These people have
gone crazy.
I heard Hakeem Jeffries, a low IQ person. He's a very low IQ, screaming today that the Supreme Court is illegitimate. I mean, that's a dangerous
statement. Then if I say something modest, they say, oh, he's a king, he's a king. They're sick.
But Hakeem Jeffries said the Supreme Court is illegitimate. That's a rough statement. If I made that statement, it would be the biggest story out
there. Bad things would happen.
REPORTER: One of the ideas -- the average price of a gallon of gas is now $4.30 in this country.
TRUMP: And you know what? And we're not going to have a nuclear weapon in the hands of Iran, but the gas will go down as soon as the war is over.
It'll drop like a rock. There's so much of it. It's all over the place, sitting all over the oceans of the world.
And it'll be -- it'll go down. But what won't happen is, if Iran had a nuclear weapon and used it, then the whole world is a different place.
You're not going to have to pay a little bit more for gasoline. The gasoline, the oil will go down rapidly as soon as the war is over.
REPORTER: Good to see you, sir. I've got two questions.
The first one to follow up on Daniel's question. I've described you as the peacemaker. You're achieving peace around the world due to these latest
policies. Big, Beautiful Bill, no tax on tips, no tax on Social Security, no tax on overtime. Now the Trump account and then the IRA account. Could
we describe you as the wealth maker?
TRUMP: Well, I'm helping people out. It's a nice question actually, but I'm helping people. These people are with me. You know, these are great
people. And feel free to speak up if you'd like, because they wanted this to happen. And we got it done.
And the Republican people, I think in all cases, right. This guy's crazy. We have -- we need, like always unanimous because the Democrats, they will
vote against anything, no matter how good. If they had their favorite thing in the world. And we happen to want it. But we found a new strategy. We're
going to oppose every single thing that we want, and we'll get unanimous votes.
So, I'm going to come up and oppose everything, Brian, from this point forward, and they'll vote for it. Go ahead.
REPORTER: Second question. You created space force on the second end -- towards the end of your first administration, right? You just had the
Artemis II crew in here. I know it's a big accomplishment.
What do you see moving forward? The duration of your administration in terms of space exploration? I know that was a big moment for you.
TRUMP: Well, doing space force is I think is going to go down as one of my more important things. It's turning out even a lot of these great military
operations that we have right now. When you look at Venezuela, when you look at like the decimation of Iran, which was considered powerful, it was
the bully of the Middle East. And a lot of that took place so effectively because of what's coming out of space.
When we did Space Force, when I did Space Force, I'm very proud of it. Space was like we were third. China was first, Russia was second. Now we've
leapfrogged. We're way ahead of China. We're way ahead of Russia. And we made some great choices.
The first person that headed Space Force, and really, after that, we had a couple of really great people heading it. Very always very important. And a
new person is heading it now. I think he has a chance to be as good as anybody, as good as maybe better, I don't know. But we've had great people
heading up Space Force.
It's been very important. It's been very important for what we're doing with respect to the different places. And as far as peace, I settled eight
wars and people trying to dispute it, but then they go over them.
And almost in every case, they sent letters thanking me and letters to the Nobel Committee. I don't care about that, Maria was very nice. She gave me
her Nobel Peace Prize because she said she didn't deserve it. She was very, very nice.
But I settled eight wars.
[15:20:01]
And in every case, the people, the prime ministers or presidents wrote letters thanking me. In the case of India, look, the biggest one would have
been Pakistan, India. The prime minister of Pakistan said, I saved from 30 to 50 million lives, but it could have been more than that. Two nuclear
nations were going at it, eleven airplanes were shot down.
They were in the first week of what would have been a very bad war. And I got it solved. You know how I got it solved? By the use of tariffs. I said,
I'm going to charge you tariffs if you guys keep fighting. And they said, oh, please don't do that.
REPORTER: You just went right on -- you just looked at some tariffs on whiskey. Is that correct?
TRUMP: Yeah. What I'm doing is for as long as I've been here, they've wanted to, you know, Kentucky, which is a great place. And I also won,
Jason, by a lot, but Kentucky, with the bourbon, and Scotland with the whiskey. And they've had trade for years and years and years and a lot of
restrictions, a lot of different restrictions took place that didn't amount to much.
And it really stopped then -- I don't know if, you know, it's a barrel trade. They used the barrels from the one to take care of the other. And
the barrels are only good for one unit. In other words, they can't be used twice. They can only be used once.
But the once makes -- it makes it a better substance. I'm not a big drinker, so forgive me, but it makes them a big substance and a better a
better taste. But they dealt for years. This was Scotland and Kentucky, mostly Kentucky.
And I took -- I just took all the restrictions off. So, Scotland and Kentucky can start dealing again. And I did it in honor of the king and
queen who just left. They're heading back. And it was a big deal. They've been trying to get this for a long time.
REPORTER: You talked about possibly pulling out some troops out of Germany. Would you be considering the same thing for Spain and Italy? I
mean, they haven't been exactly on board.
TRUMP: Yeah, probably. Yeah, I probably will. Why should I, you know, look, why shouldn't I -- Italy has not been of any help to us. And Spain
has been horrible. Absolutely horrible. You know, it's NATO.
It's not even the fact that they're bad. It's one thing if they said nicely or if they said, okay, we'll help. But the help is a little slow. But the
level and we help them with Ukraine, you know, they made a mess out of Ukraine, a total mess.
And we helped them with Ukraine. Ukraine has nothing to do -- you know, we have -- we're an ocean apart. It has to do with them. It's like for them,
it's their front door. We help them. And Biden gave them $350 billion, which was insane. It's one of the reasons the war went on.
But when we needed them, they were not there. We have to remember that. And so, if we ever have a big one, because we didn't need any help with Iran,
we had Iran right from the first day it was over. It was over. And now it's even more so. We're so locked and loaded. If we want to do.
But we didn't need the help. And to a certain extent, I asked him, I didn't need the help, but I said, yeah, we'd love to have you help because I want
to see if they do it and they in all cases, they said, we don't want to get involved. And, you know, the amazing thing is they use the Strait of
Hormuz. We don't.
We don't use it. We don't need it. We have a lot of oil. Well, wait a minute. And they use it. We don't.
And you would have thought they would have said, we would love to help you, but they didn't, which I think was perverse.
And Germany, I mean, he's doing a terrible job. He's got immigration problems. He's got energy problems. He's got problems of all kind. And he's
got a big problem with Ukraine because they're in that mess.
And he criticized me for doing the whole thing with Iran. But I said, would you like to have a nuclear weapon in the hands of Iran? He said, no, I
don't. I said, well, then I guess I'm right. He didn't have any answer to that.
The bottom line is, for this world, for our country, but certainly for Israel, the Middle East and Europe, much closer, you cannot let Iran have a
nuclear weapon. And if you agree that Iran can't have a nuclear weapon, which most people agree, almost everybody. It should have been done a long
time ago. But if you agree they can't have a nuclear weapon, then what I did has been executed perfectly because our military has decimated them.
Yeah. Please go ahead.
REPORTER: Mr. President, two questions for you, (INAUDIBLE) from "The Daily Mail". You have called this the new regime before in Iran. But I
speak to Iranians on a daily basis, and they tell me that these are the same people that have murdered them, executed them, repressed them.
[15:25:02]
I talked to them through the blackout, and they wanted me to ask you this question.
And second of all, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, how come he's not involved in these conversations?
TRUMP: He's very much involved. Marco, he's totally -- he's negotiated with (INAUDIBLE) time. No. Look, Iran killed 42,000 people over the last
two months. Protesters, they were going to kill eight women whose lives I saved. And I appreciate that they didn't do it. I asked them not to do it.
They didn't do it. They were getting ready to hang the women.
They were going to hang eight beautiful women that were just caught the imagination of a lot of people, people were talking about it, you know, it
was inconceivable. You saw those eight beautiful people and they were going to be executed that evening. This was a week ago.
And I got on the phone very quickly and I said, don't do it. Don't do it. The whole world is watching. Don't do it. And they didn't do it. I
appreciate it.
I guess four were released and the other four are going to be released in a month. They were ready to be executed that night. So, they take a tough --
you know, they knocked out the wrestler they killed. They killed the wrestler's teammates.
He was a -- he was a world champion wrestler. He was a great wrestler, great talented wrestler. They killed him because he protested. He spoke.
He didn't -- he wasn't wrestling. What he did is he spoke negatively about the regime. And they killed him. They executed him along with his friends.
They killed 42,000 people. So, when you say about -- they say that I do the same. I don't do the same. I'm trying to -- I'm trying to save that country
in a certain way.
And, nobody's ever seen anything. Think of it. They killed 42,000 innocent, not weapon-carrying people for protesting, 42,000. And the number they say
is a lot higher than that. Its a rough group, but we have decimated them. And their economy is a disaster. So we'll see how long they hold out. Well
see
REPORTER: Mr. President --
REPORTER: President Trump, Saudi Arabia is pulling the plug on LIV golf. Once that tour is gone, do you think the PGA tour should welcome the
defectors back with open arms?
TRUMP: Well, I do. It's a great question. In fact, if I had time, I'd love to watch television today because the PGA tour is playing at Doral, the
Cadillac championship, and I said, who's winning? I don't get a chance. I can't even look.
REPORTER: Jordan Speith was in the lead.
TRUMP: Who is?
REPORTER: Jordan Spieth.
TRUMP: Oh, that's good. He's good. Great guy. Good putter to put it mildly. Right. He's very great guy. Chipper putter.
No, it's -- they're at my tournament right now, the PGA. In two weeks, LIV is going to be at my course right here on the Potomac. No I'd love to see
LIV.
But I do believe that all of the golfers should be playing. The great golfers should be playing against each other. I do believe, you know, it's
sort of they were viewing something as a monopoly, but it's way -- in a way, it should be the opposite of a monopoly.
All -- I want to see Rory playing Bryson DeChambeau. I want to see big Jon Rahm playing Scottie, who is so great, right? Scottie Scheffler is great
and I want to see him play Jon Rahm and Bryson and all the different guys. They have great players on the LIV, but it's almost like people want to see
that.
That's why the Masters were so good, because you saw everybody together. Patrick Reed played great. You know, he's on LIV and he played great and
they all did. They all played. They're great players. I play with them. They're very good.
When I think I'm a good player and then I play with them. I don't think I'm that good. But there's something nice about all of the players playing
together now. They'll all be accepted by the tour, there's no question, because they're great. If they weren't, you know, but the tour really will.
The tour wants to have the best player.
You can't have the best player that they're boycotting now. They may do something, you know, a little bit, but they'll all be back on tour and
it'll be great. And you know, having won two now, I don't know that what's happening with LIV. I'm not sure what's happening with LIV, but they are
playing in my course in two weeks on the Potomac, beautiful course.
But right now, they're playing at Doral, which I own. And if I ever -- if we end this early, I'll be able to watch for about three minutes before I
get back onto the economy. And every other subject that we have, including Iran, which were doing so well with Iran. So I thin so.
REPORTER: I just want to --
TRUMP: Please. Yes.
REPORTER: Thank you so much, Mr. President. Jennifer Schonberger with Yahoo Finance.
Question on clarification of the Trump IRAs versus a regular IRA.
TRUMP: Right.
REPORTER: Does it come down to the difference of a federal match? Who would qualify for that?
[15:30:00]
And secondly, do you have any reaction to Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell staying on the board of governors? Were you prepared to take any action on
that?
TRUMP: No, I don't care if he stays on, he stays on. That doesn't -- I just wanted to make sure that Kevin became the head. It's very unusual that
they stay on, you know.
KINKADE: You've just been listening there to U.S. President Donald Trump speaking largely about the war in Iran. He said that the U.S. has decimated
them and that Iran want to make a deal badly. But he argued that the issue is that the U.S. doesn't know who the real leadership is in Tehran, raising
questions about who would actually be able to negotiate a deal and deliver a binding agreement.
Now, he was also asked about those record high oil prices we are seeing today. He said as soon as the war ends, that oil prices will drop like a
rock in the ocean.
He also referenced Venezuela, saying that the country is now producing the most oil they have in years, and that the U.S. is profiting from that. Like
it's a joint venture.
And Donald Trump also claimed that he has settled eight wars.
Now, speaking of battles, James Comey is at the center of a new federal criminal case brought by the Trump Justice Department. The former FBI
director's next court appearance is scheduled for May 11th, and it is set to happen in a North Carolina federal court after an initial appearance in
Virginia.
Now, Comey was indicted earlier this week for making alleged threats against President Trump.
Now, the U.S. president claims an Instagram post by Comey, which said "86 47" refers to a code used by organized crime to put out a hit on someone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: You ever see the movies? Eighty-six him, the mobster says to one of his wonderful associates, 86 him. That means kill him. It's -- I think of
it as a mob term. I don't know -- people think of it as something having to do with disappearing, but the mob uses that term to say when they want to
kill somebody, they say, 86 the son of a gun.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: A CNN legal analyst who has dealt extensively with mob cases isn't so sure about that. He said it may be a challenge to prove what Comey
meant with "86 47".
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: There was a point in my life where I spent the better part of my waking hours either talking face to face with
real world mobsters, or listening to them talk to each other over wiretaps or body wires or bugs. I dealt with all five families, Gambino, Genovese,
and Lucchese, Colombo. I dealt with bosses, underbosses, consigliere, capos, soldiers, associates all the way down the line.
Never, ever, not once did I hear any real world gangster use the term "86" to refer to a murder or anything, and god knows these guys had colorful
lingo, but never that phrase "86".
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Well, so what do we want to know right now is how strong is Donald Trump's case on the number "86"?
Well, joining me now is legal analyst Joey Jackson.
Great to have you with us, Joey.
JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Good to be with you, Lynda.
KINKADE: So the former FBI director posted this photo using seashells of the number "86", which in American slang can mean to get rid of someone.
And the number 47, which Trump's team claims references the president being the 47th president.
Is there an established federal precedent when the word "86" alone can be used to establish a criminal threat
JACKSON: Well, Lynda, I think the federal precedent is to prosecute cases that are prosecutable. That means that you can prove beyond a reasonable
doubt. Now, in society, certainly, there's no place for violence anywhere, at any time, at any place. But I think when you bring forth a prosecution,
you need to do it, not because you're being vindictive, not because you don't like someone who happens to be the former FBI director whom you
fired, who there was a prior case against, which got dismissed. And so here we go.
And so, no, there's not a precedent for prosecuting someone on such an ambiguous term. It's used all the time. And it's a term, in my view, and in
so many others view, which means, as you noted, right, to get rid of in some ways, not necessarily the way of killing them, right?
If you look right now, Lynda, and you just went, for example, just say any site, Amazon, you went to Amazon, you went to Etsy, you went to the
internet, you will see "86 45". That was when he was the 45th president of the United States. Apparel aplenty. You get a hoodie, you want a coffee
mug, you want a hat, whatever you want -- a shirt, a t-shirt. It says that.
In addition, it goes both ways. And relating to Biden, who was president, 46, you'll see things out there aplenty, merchandise that say "86 46" and
then, of course, you'll find the same thing as it relates to the current president, again, president, "86 47". And so, it's clearly a term that is
not used as it relates to, I'm going to kill you and I'm going to kill you now. It's a term to express major displeasure.
[15:35:02]
And that's the issue with this case. It's not a term that's so clear that you would know. And everyone, right, from a reasonable perspective, would
look at that and say, oh my gosh, Lynda, could you believe this? He just threatened -- Comey -- to kill the president. That's not at all what it is.
And so, we have a system of justice that needs to work, but it needs to work because people are actually guilty of crimes, not because I don't like
you. I'm going to punish you, and therefore, I'm going to indict you and try to convict you. This case goes nowhere.
KINKADE: Yeah. It's interesting. You point out the amount of times we've seen that sort of phrasing used over the years. The Acting Attorney General
Todd Blanche was asked specifically about a MAGA influencer who used a similar term, "86 46", to reference potentially Joe Biden during his last
term in 2022.
Does the fact that similar political language has not been prosecuted elsewhere weaken the government's case?
JACKSON: I think it certainly does. Now, look, every case is based on the merits of that case. And this will be a case where the government will have
to show that there was intent on the part of Comey to actually kill the president. Does any reasonable person, which will be the standard, believe
that because you're walking by. Oh, and if that's what happened because he was interviewed, that is Comey by Secret Service. This happened last May, I
believe May 15th of 2025. And he's interviewed and he sat for an hour and he said, hey, I saw these seashells.
And he put something, hey, cool walk at the beach today. And he puts it there. Does any reasonable person believe and any juror is going to believe
that, you know, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, when he took a photo and posted it on Instagram, he meant to kill the president. That is abhorrent,
ladies and gentlemen. He needs to be convicted now.
It's not going to go to a jury because it's not going to survive a motion to dismiss. Why? Because of the ambiguity, excuse me, related to the term
"86", because of the fact that I don't believe any reasonable person could construe it that way.
But there's also something else. The law requires the government to prove the subjective intent. Meaning, what did Comey mean? And was he reckless?
Did he recklessly disregard the fact that people might really think that that's what he was thinking about? No.
And so, it's protected speech. And so, you know, I just don't know that there's a lane for a case like this in light of the fact that we are a
country in the United States, that freedom of speech abounds. You could be crude, you could be satirical, you can be in jest in all these other
things.
It doesn't mean that you meant to do what the essence of what the post suggested, and especially when it's used in so many ways. And there's
merchandise all over the place, are we going to find everyone who was wearing a hat, who's wearing a shirt that might say something like that and
prosecute them? Or what about?
KINKADE: Yeah.
JACKSON: Now, the Justice Department going to go after everyone on Biden? It just doesn't make sense. And I just don't think the Justice Department
should be used as a vehicle for political retribution. It should be viewed and looked at as a vehicle for justice.
KINKADE: Especially when taxpayer funding is being used for this case.
CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson, thanks so much.
JACKSON : Thanks, Lynda.
KINKADE: Well, still to come, without an end in sight to the war between the U.S. and Iran, energy costs are soaring. Next, why the United States
might soon face something known as demand destruction.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:41:35]
KINKADE: Welcome back. I'm Lynda Kinkade.
As the standoff in the Strait of Hormuz drags on, the world is facing a major energy and economic crisis. That's the assessment of the world's
leading energy economist. After another huge spike in oil prices. Brent crude hit a four year high of $126 per barrel at one point earlier today,
before dipping.
What we don't know is how long can the global economy sustain these kinds of oil prices.
Joining me now is Joe Brusuelas. He is the chief economist at RSM. Good to have you with us.
JOE BRUSUELAS, PRINCIPAL AND CHIEF ECONOMIST, RSM: Thanks for having me on, Lynda.
KINKADE: So, you've said, Joe, that understating the scale of supply shock is what is happening right now. So, what are markets missing? Could this
get worse?
BRUSUELAS: I think what markets are missing is that with the constraint on supply of oil and refined products out of the Middle East, we're on the
clock. We know that there's a problem in Asia. And right now, that just seems so distant. But within the next six weeks, its going to roll right
into Europe. And as those prices rise, even the United States is going to have a problem keeping oil at home due to the very attractive export prices
that are going to be available abroad.
In fact, we saw this week an epic increase in oil exports out of the United States. So, this is something that now is destroying demand across the
global economy. And it will show up even in our most wealthiest markets, that being North America and northwestern Europe.
KINKADE: Joe, you previously have flagged that $4.25 gasoline is the tipping point for what you're calling demand destruction. With prices now
above that in many places right across the U.S., what are you seeing in terms of consumer behavior?
BRUSUELAS: All right. So, we can already see this moving, you know, in what we call down market households, the lower 40 percent of income earners
demand destruction already started. But what this potential threshold point being breached, we think that the scale of this now is going to broaden and
deepen. You'll see -- we've already seen income allocation, excuse me, allocation of spending on discretionary services like airfare really begin
to bite so we can see it happening.
In our seven-channel framework, the first two channels you'd see it in is in basically gasoline related spending, and then a much sour consumer
sentiment, which then bleeds into services. So, we're already there. But we should do is prepare for a pivot that's likely to happen, which will cause
demand for a durable goods really to begin to ebb because as we move three months into this supply shock, this profound global inflationary event,
real wages will turn negative.
And then when we get into June, July and August, we're going to be having a very different discussion a little bit more intense about how this is
adversely impacting not just Americans, but wealthy Americans, Europeans and Asians.
KINKADE: Joe Brusuelas, appreciate your analysis. Thanks so much for joining us.
BRUSUELAS: Thank you.
KINKADE: Still to come, the terrorism threat level is raised in the United Kingdom after an attack targeting Jewish Londoners.
We'll have that story, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:48:02]
KINKADE: Well, the terrorism threat level in the United Kingdom has been raised for the first time in four years after a terror attack targeting
Jewish Londoners on Wednesday. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced more than $30 million in new funding to help increase security after two
Jewish men were stabbed in the Golders Green neighborhood.
Now the frustration in Britain's Jewish community is palpable. Take a look at the front page of today's "Jewish News", a community newspaper based in
London. It reads B.S. bingo and shows a bingo card of what it calls cliches, including, "Our thoughts and prayers are with you" and "this is
not who we are as a country".
Britain's chief rabbi also told the BBC, quote, "If you are visibly Jewish, you're not safe in Britain."
Well, joining me now is Phil Rosenberg. He's the president of the board of deputies of British Jews.
Thanks so much for your time today.
PHIL ROSENBERG, PRESIDENT, BOARD OF DEPUTIES OF BRITISH JEWS: Thank you for having me on.
KINKADE: So, this attack, this most recent attack is one of many stabbing attack, followed by after a string of arson attacks on synagogues. Give us
a sense of how the Jewish community in Britain is feeling right now.
ROSENBERG: The Jewish community in Britain is anxious and angry. We've seen far too many of these things, and were anxious and angry, not just
about our own safety, but about the state of our country. How could it be that these things could cook up to this?
In a way, we know. We've seen these hateful slogans pushed on marches and online. We've seen that turn into graffiti. We've seen it into normalized
discourse in some of our political parties. We've seen it then as arson attacks, as stabbing attacks. And of course, just a few months ago, the
deadliest attack in centuries on a synagogue on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year, at Heaton Park in Manchester.
So, we kind of see how we've got here. But we're angry because not enough has been done about it, neither by government, neither by civil society.
KINKADE: Yeah. I want to ask you about the response. I mean, how would you describe Prime Minister Keir Starmer's response to this string of
antisemitic attacks?
[15:50:08]
ROSENBERG: He has been trying to do things that I think are decent and principled in terms of investing in protection and security. And he's
raised funding levels to the highest they've ever been. But I think what we need to do is change gear and move, if you like, from protection to
prevention and from defense to attack.
Clearly, antisemites want to raise the cost of being Jewish. We need to raise the cost of being antisemitic because this is an attack not just on
our community, but on our country and on our values. And nothing short of that will do.
KINKADE: And talk to us about the prosecution. Do you believe that attackers are being promptly prosecuted, and quickly enough to avoid sort
of copycat incidents?
ROSENBERG: It's been patchy. To be fair. A lot of the people have been arrested and have been moved through court systems quite quickly. I welcome
the fact that the prime minister today spoke about expediting those court processes, something we've been speaking to the government about in recent
days in the way that they did during the riots in the summer of 2024. That's really important.
But I think we probably need to go harder and further on those who are spreading this hatred. A series of similar arson attacks in Australia just
a year or so ago was linked back ultimately to the Islamic Republic of Iran. We saw them both prescribed Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and
expel the Iranian ambassador.
And after a series of threats we know about from the Iranians. And just two days ago, the Iranian embassy calling here for martyrs, just the day before
the stabbing attack. We think it's time for the government to take a harder line on Iran and its emissaries. It's for terrorist groups that are
operating in the U.K. and other places, and certainly, the proscription of the IRGC, like other countries, including the U.S., have done.
KINKADE: Yeah. We wish you all the very best and appreciate your time today. Phil Rosenberg, thanks very much.
ROSENBERG: Thank you very much indeed.
KINKADE: We are going to take a quick break. We'll be back in just a moment
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KINKADE: Well, for the second time, Donald Trump has withdrawn his pick for the U.S. surgeon general. And again, he's nominating a Fox News
personality to be the nation's top doctor. Mr. Trump announced that Nicole Saphier is his new nominee for the post. She is a radiologist who appeared
regularly on Fox News. She replaces Casey Means as Mr. Trump's pick, whose nomination had been stalled on Capitol Hill.
Mr. Trump's first pick before Means had been Dr. Jeannette Nesheiwat, a New York doctor who was also a Fox News contributor. The role of surgeon
general is focused on educating and advising Americans on their health.
Well, finally tonight, a new Banksy statue has popped up in central London. The statue was seen early Thursday morning in waterloo place. It appeared
on a platform with Banksy's name scrawled on the base of the installation. The piece depicts a man in a suit carrying a flag, which covers his face
while walking. Banksy confirmed the work was his in a video on Instagram.
That is WHAT WE KNOW. I'm Lynda Kinkade. Thanks so much for your company.
Do stay with CNN. We're going to have much more news in just a moment.
END
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