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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Trump: Iran Does Not Have to Make a Deal for U.S. to End War; U.S. Gas Prices Top $4.00 Per Gallon, Highest since 2022; Trump Lashes Out Over Ruling to Halt White House Ballroom Project; Daily Mail Obtains Photos Of Kristi Noem's Husband Wearing Fake Breasts; Tiger Woods Stepping Away From Golf, Seeking Treatment Following DUI Arrest; Trump: Iran War Will Be Finished Within Two To Three Weeks; American Journalist Shelly Kittleson Kidnapped In Baghdad; Iran's President Says Country Willing To Stop Fighting If Not Attacked Again; Pope Led Hopes Trump "Is Looking For An Off-Ramp" To End Iran War; President To Address Nation Tomorrow Night On War. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired March 31, 2026 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Bravo Emily, my applause to you.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: I mean, it is amazing. I think for, you know, for posterity we have to save that chart. Emily Bushey four, Charles Barkley two, Barack Obama two, Hannah Storm, I'm a huge fan of Hannah Storm, but she's at two, too. Emily Bushey, top, I mean it's incredible. All right, so then, Harry, the question is what's going to happen from here? Because from the final four, Emily has UConn and Michigan facing off in the NCAA, UConn winning it all, so it's all in on UConn, championship game is on Monday, there she is, the queen.
All right, thanks Harry, thanks Emily, thanks to all of you, Anderson is now.
[20:00:35]
JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: All right, breaking news. Just moments ago, the White House announced the President will address the nation tomorrow night at 9:00 about the war.
John Berman here in for Anderson, and we will talk about that, more about that this hour. First, though, what the President has already said today on the subject, including who needs a deal to end the war in Iran, who needs the Strait of Hormuz, for that matter, and who needs to change a regime, the President called on Iranians to overthrow within hours of starting the war.
Tonight, the President had stunning answers to all three. Also, on the timeline for ending the war.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I would say that within two weeks, maybe two weeks, maybe three. We're hitting them very hard. Last night we knocked out tremendous amounts of missile making facilities. We, as you probably read or wrote, we knocked out -- excuse me.
REPORTER: Pardon me, the U.S. will be gone or done with the war in two weeks?
TRUMP: I think with two or three weeks, we leave. Because there's no reason for us to do this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Okay, that's not especially surprising. The administration has been talking about a four-to-six-week time scale for combat operations. What is surprising, though, is this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Iran doesn't have to make a deal, no. Yes, I've spoken to a lot of people. No, they don't have to make a deal with me. When we feel that they are for a long period of time, put into the stone ages, and they won't be able to come up with a nuclear weapon, then we'll leave. Whether we have a deal or not, it's irrelevant.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Whether or not we have a deal is irrelevant. That is a striking thing to say, if only because it wasn't so long ago that it seemed like all the president could talk about was talking to Iran.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Well, they want to make a deal so badly, you have no idea how badly they want to make a deal.
So, they want to make a deal. The reason they want to make a deal is they have been just beat ****.
So, we had very good negotiations today with Iran getting a lot of the things that they should have given us a long time ago.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Okay, so negotiations are no longer a big deal. What about securing the Strait of Hormuz, after all, just yesterday morning, the President was saying this online, "If the Hormuz Strait is not immediately open for business, we will conclude our lovely stay in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their electric generating plants, oil wells and Kharg Island, and possibly all desalinization plants." That was the President just yesterday. And today --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I think that the people understand it, we'll be leaving very soon. And if France or some other country wants to get oil or gas, they'll go up through the Hormuz Strait. They'll go right up there and they'll be able to fend for themselves. I think it will be very safe, actually. But we have nothing to do with that. What happens in the Strait? We're not going to have anything to do with it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: The U.S., he says, will have nothing to do with keeping the Strait open. Just a day ago, he was threatening to commit what some legal scholars say would be war crimes to do exactly that. And what about Iran's ruling Islamic Revolutionary Regime? Well, when the war began, he was calling on Iranians to change it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: So that was just hours after launching the airstrikes. A little more than a month later, he dropped this bomb on that notion.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We had to take a little detour because we had a madman named Khamenei who sadly is no longer with us, and we had regime change already. We've knocked out one regime, then we knocked out the second regime. Now, we have a group of people that's very, that are very different. They're much more reasonable. I think much less radicalized. It's a -- we have had regime change. We're dealing with people that are much more rational. And it's amazing what we've done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: What has been done is certainly not nothing between American and Israeli strikes. The entire upper layer of the regime has been eliminated. But the regime remains and the new leaders have not shown themselves to be markedly different from the old ones.
[20:05:10]
Perhaps the President sees something in Iran's new rulers that the rest of the world does not, or has not yet. That's unclear. What we do know is what the President does see. And this could be driving his decisions as much as anything else is tonight. The price of gas today hit $4.02 a gallon. That is the highest it has been since early in Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine 2022.
Markets have been down sharply over the last month, although they were up today. Polling shows the already low public support for the war further dwindling. And, of course, the midterm elections are approaching. It's enough to make any President, not just this one, reassess priorities and maybe want to talk about them tomorrow night again at 9:00 addressing the nation.
Starting us off tonight, Fareed Zakaria, host of "Fareed Zakaria GPS".
Fareed, I want to start with the new timeline the President gave tonight. Among many of the things he said about the war in Iran. He said it will be done in two to three weeks. What does that tell you?
FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST, "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS": It tells me that President Trump is trying to find a way to end this war unilaterally. The problem he has is that he wants to end the war, clearly, at this point, the Iranians have get a vote and their vote seems to be to continue it because they want to exact a price by stressing the world economy, driving the price of oil up, keeping the Strait of Hormuz closed.
So, the President seems to be, in a sense, unilaterally saying, look, we are going to wind down activities. My guess is what he's doing is saying two to three weeks, because that gives him enough time to pummel the Iranians even more, which is what his Gulf state allies want. Saudi Arabia, the UAE and then it seems as though they're preparing for a strategy where they simply leave and maybe the Strait of Hormuz is still closed. Maybe it's not. Maybe they get an agreement, but it's a way out.
It doesn't -- it strikes me as a rather bizarre situation because you would have the Strait of Hormuz closed. Oil would still be extremely expensive, but it appears that the White House is searching for a way out. And as they have through this entire process, they're sort of freelancing and throwing stuff up and seeing if it will work. And that seems the new idea just quit and go home after a few more weeks of this pounding.
BERMAN: And as for the Strait, he really seemed to confirm all the reporting over the last few days that he'd been telling aides that we can end this without reopening the Strait of Hormuz. He flat out said, tonight, what happens in the Strait, it's not going to be us. It has anything to do with it. Basically, saying the United States will not be the one to open the Strait. So where does that leave things?
ZAKARIA: Well, as I say, it's completely bizarre because not only are the strategic objectives of the war, they're not achieved. You have the same Iranian regime in place with even more hardliners, with the Revolutionary Guards in place, they are earning twice as much from their oil as they were before, because the price of oil has almost doubled and they are making potentially hundreds of millions of dollars charging fees two million dollars per boat that goes through the Strait of Hormuz.
In that way they are holding hostage the Gulf states, Saudi Arabia and so you've created a situation which is much, much worse for America and its allies, much, much better for Iran. Yes, they are militarily in very bad shape, but they have enough power to do what I just described, which seems to me to be a very, very difficult situation to spin as a win for the United States or its allies.
BERMAN: You say Iran, they have enough power. The question is, who is they? Because the President I think the third bit of news he made tonight is he flat out said what others have been saying for the last few days. He said there has been regime change. The regime has changed in Iran. And he's claiming the regime now is much more reasonable. So, how accurate is that assessment? ZAKARIA: Well, I mean, it frankly makes absolutely no sense. I don't
mean to be disrespectful, but look, when you say regime change what you are referring to is the system of government, the system of government in Iran is fully in place. The people who have replaced the old office holders appear to be more hardline, more militaristic. They are the ones who block the Strait of Hormuz. They are the ones who attacked Saudi Arabia and the UAE and Qatar. They are the ones who are refusing to open the Strait of Hormuz.
So, how you can claim this is a new regime? I don't understand how you can claim they're being more being more reasonable, while at the same time you're admitting they're not coming to a deal, how can they be so reasonable if they're not coming to an agreement? The whole thing makes no sense. And I think, frankly, it's just a -- it is political spin. It would be like saying that the United States had a regime change when, you know, when one party changes control of the House of Representatives, that is not what regime change means.
[20:10:43]
What regime change means is what President Trump implied in his declaration of war, which was that the people of Iran will rise up, throw out this regime, put in place presumably a democracy. I'd say there's a very simple test of whether there is regime change in Iran, whether it has taken place. Go ask an Iranian in Tehran. Go ask any of the people who have suffered through this regime for four-and-a-half decades, whether they think there's been regime change. And I think they will tell you no, the same clerical military regime that has been oppressing them for the last 47 years is still firmly in place.
BERMAN: Fareed Zakaria, thank you so much for being with us.
ZAKARIA: As always, a pleasure.
BERMAN: And with us now, "New York Times" White House correspondent Maggie Haberman. Maggie, the White House announced just a few minutes ago the President is going to address the nation tomorrow night at 9:00 P.M. on Iran. I know this news just broke a few minutes ago, but do you have any idea what we can expect him to say?
MAGGIE HABERMAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I don't think that he is likely to say. But again, John, its President Trump, and we have heard various versions of what the U.S. could do over the last, days and weeks, frankly. And as you noted earlier in the show, it is still within the four-to-six-week time frame. I don't expect that he is going to say, yes, we are there for the long haul. I don't expect that he is going to say were going to go, you know, send ground forces into overtake Kharg Island, but obviously anything is possible.
Everything that he has indicated, including what he said today, is that he wants to start wrapping this up in terms of the U.S. involvement. There are, you know, aspects of this campaign that the U.S. can point to as a success in terms of degrading aspects of Iran's military equipment, in terms of degrading aspects of their, of their navy, their air fleet, but you know, is it, is it a regime change, as Fareed said. Certainly not, in terms of, you know, what the country actually looks
like. This doesn't seem like its trending toward a democracy. It's a theocracy of 90 million people and has been for many decades now, number one.
But number two, Iran does have a say in this. And so, if what ends up happening is the Strait of Hormuz is still closed, even if, you know, there are some permissions allowed that's different than what it was before. And if there is no agreement about the nuclear enrichment stockpile, the U.S. is going to be back here at some point, most likely, no matter what.
BERMAN: Maggie, what are you hearing is going on behind the scenes with the mix, sometimes conflicting messages. Just take the Strait of Hormuz, for instance. Yesterday morning when I was on T.V., he put out this statement saying if Iran doesn't open it immediately, we're going to bomb oil plants, desalination plants, et cetera, et cetera. And today he's saying really the exact opposite, that we don't need the strait open. It's not our problem.
HABERMAN: I don't think it is a deep strategy, John, other than the fact that the President on a basic, you know, cellular level, likes to keep people off balance and likes to preserve what people have known him for a long time would describe as optionality. And that certainly is optionality. It's just hard to do optionality moment to moment with a military that has to go, you know, to the Middle East. And that takes days to get a fleet in place and people can track movements and so forth.
I know you see this; we all see this. This is much more of a one-man band presidency than what we saw in term one. It is a very small group of advisers around him. There are fewer leaks that come out. It doesn't mean that they don't happen at all. But you know, it is a tighter group and in general, they want to see him succeed. Unlike, you know, term one where people either, you know, actively wanted to stop him or disagreed with what he was doing.
In this case, he is running his own show. You will notice that you do not see a lot of people leaning out ahead of him, other than when you see Pete Hegseth, who is clearly, very strongly a voice for military action against Iran, and you've seen that over and over again, that's also true behind the scenes. But he doesn't say anything that would upset the President or jostle the President.
Generally, what you see, either the White House press office, say, or the, you know, the Secretary of Defense say or others say is the press is trying to harm President Trump by, you know, evaluating this war as anything other than the success that he says it is.
So, there's not some grander thing happening here. He is reacting and he is engaging, and he is trying to keep people off balance. And we will have a better sense of what his plan is tomorrow night. Again, I just don't know what it means in terms of what Iran will do.
[20:15:15] BERMAN: Yes, there's no way of knowing, at least at this point there's
no way of knowing what he'll say tomorrow night as what he plans to say right now for tomorrow night.
HABERMAN: Right, correct.
BERMAN: Maggie Haberman, thank you so much for being with us, appreciate your reporting on this.
HABERMAN: Thanks, John.
BERMAN: All right, a federal judge tells the President to stop building his ballroom. What the President has to say to that and what the law says about it all. Jeffrey Toobin joins us.
And later, the personal life of former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem's husband, now under scrutiny with the photos of him reveal, that's ahead on 360.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:19:55]
BERMAN: The President and First Lady tonight at the Kennedy Center for a performance of "Chicago." Putting a damper may be, though, on their night out, a federal district judge ordered a stop to construction on his new ballroom, which the President, as you know, has been showing off a lot lately, even while talking about the war as he was there on Air Force One just the other day.
Judge Richard Leon, a George W. Bush pick, said that his ruling, "The President of the United States is the steward of the White House for future generations or first families. He is not, however, the owner."
The President, for his part, said this.
[20:20:33]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: He said we need Congressional approval. Well, we built many things at the White House over the years. They don't get Congressional approval when they build in the White House. It's totally separate, and especially when it's a donation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: The administration is appealing the decision and whether or not this spoils the President's enjoyment of "Chicago" tonight, we're going to talk about all that jazz, it had to be done with bestselling author and former federal prosecutor Jeffrey Toobin. His most recent book is "The Pardon: The Politics of Presidential Mercy."
Good to see you, Mr. Toobin. So, the President claims he doesn't need Congressional approval because people have done renovations on the White House without it before. JEFFREY TOOBIN, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Well, there are two
statutes involved here, two laws, one that says, any building on federal land has to be specifically authorized by Congress and that's the law that Judge Leon said it was violated here.
There is another law that says the President is allowed to do maintenance on the White House. And that was the law that they were saying -- that the administration was saying permitted them to build this enormous, you know, ballroom. And the Judge Leon said, this is not maintenance, building this enormous facility is not maintenance. It's not like putting in a new air conditioner. It's not like new wallpaper. You need specific authorization and you don't have it.
BERMAN: So, what happens now? Because I don't know if you've seen the buildings knocked down.
TOOBIN: Yes. It's a hole in the ground, right.
BERMAN: So, what happens?
TOOBIN: Well, I think for 14 days nothing happens. The judge stayed his order for 14 days. So, construction can continue until then. But the administration will run to the D.C. Circuit. The court, that appeal that, you know, that deals with appeals from the District Court in Washington and try to get some sort of stay of the order.
But if they don't get a stay, they're going to have to stop in 14 days and, you know, just figure out a way to keep it safe in the meantime.
BERMAN: Ultimately, Congress can act here if it wants to. Congress doesn't act on much as we all know. President signed an executive order. That was where we saw him actually talking about Iran earlier at the White House today, aimed at what he calls rooting out fraud in mail-in voting, of which we also know is very little.
A White House aide said the order will use federal data to verify eligible voters and direct the U.S. Postal Service to take measures to verify that mail-in ballots are being sent to eligible voters. So, what's going to happen here, considering the states run elections?
TOOBIN: Well, that's the key point is that the states run elections and the federal government has limited authority over how these elections are run, the way they're trying to get around that is by involving the Postal Service, which is part of the of the federal government. Certainly, there will be lawsuits by blue states trying to invalidate this.
I think we're going to have to know more about precisely what they expect the Postal Service to do. But, you know, it is just a weird obsession that the President has with mail-in voting, considering "A" he does it himself and "B", it's often been of benefit to Republicans even more than Democrats. So, it's just a very, it's a strange obsession.
BERMAN: Very quickly, this is important. Tomorrow, the Supreme Court hears arguments on birthright citizenship, the President's effort to overturn birthright citizenship, the idea that if you're born in the United States, you're automatically a U.S. citizen.
The President told us today he's going to go to the arguments at the Supreme Court. How unusual is that?
TOOBIN: Very unusual, I don't think it's never been done. But certainly, you know, since I've been covering the court, which is basically goes back to Reagan, it hasn't been done since then. There's certainly nothing improper about it. I mean, he certainly, it's a public proceeding. It's obviously an attempt to show how important it is to him. But it's worth remembering that every single judge that has considered this so far, Democrat or Republican, has said that birthright citizenship is part of the Constitution. The 14th Amendment speaks of people born in the United States. It uses the word born.
There is an 1898 Supreme Court opinion that very specifically authorizes birthright citizenship. I think it's going to be a heavy lift, even more difficult than tariffs for the President to win this case. So, he may be in for a disappointment tomorrow.
BERMAN: And he's already, in some ways, laying the groundwork to lose by criticizing the Supreme Court before they hear the case. Jeffrey Toobin, great to see you covered a lot of ground tonight.
TOOBIN: All right, pal.
BERMAN: Okay, new photos emerging of former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's husband and they are raising questions tonight.
And later, a big announcement from Tiger Woods just days after his rollover car crash.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:29:56]
BERMAN: Tonight, the personal life of a top Trump administration official is under scrutiny. Photos obtained by "The Daily Mail" show the husband of former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, wearing fake breasts, raising concerns about potential blackmail attempts and the vetting procedures used by the White House and Congress.
[20:30:00]
With us now, CNN Correspondent Tom Foreman. Tom, good to see you. What more can you tell us about these photos?
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, this news about Bryon Noem is ricocheting all over D.C., and so are these pictures as they appeared in the Daily Mail, which show him dressed in costume with extremely large breasts. This is the husband of Kristi Noem, who less than a month ago was fired from her job as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security for President Donald Trump. She's now a special envoy appointed by Trump as part of a security initiative aimed at combating drug cartels. The New York Post says a representative for the Noems said Kristi Noem is devastated by this news and her family was blindsided by it. There is no indication that this has anything to do with her dismissal from Homeland Security, John.
BERMAN: So has President Trump reacted to any of this?
FOREMAN: The Mail says Trump told them he is surprised by the family's statement about Bryon's behavior. They confirmed it. The Mail says Trump said, "Wow, well, I feel badly for the family if that's the case. That's too bad. I haven't seen anything. I don't know anything about it. That's too bad, but I just know nothing about it."
Of course, this is precisely the kind of matter that security experts have long said must be ferreted out during the confirmation process for cabinet members because it presents such an obvious target for bad actors who might want to blackmail or leverage that information against Kristi Noem in this case.
Undoubtedly, there will be a lot of questions from Congress now about why the White House seemingly knew nothing about this or if they did know, why it went ahead with Noem's confirmation in the first place. CNN has reached out to Bryon Noem for comment. We have not heard anything back yet. John?
BERMAN: All right, Tom Foreman, thank you for covering this for us. Appreciate it.
Legendary golfer Tiger Woods says he is stepping away for a period of time to seek treatment days after he was found at the scene of a rollover car crash, allegedly with prescription painkillers in his pocket. He wrote on social media, quote, "I know and understand the seriousness of the situation I find myself in today. I am stepping away for a period of time to seek treatment and focus on my health. This is necessary in order for me to prioritize my well-being and work toward lasting recovery."
The 82 time PGA Tour winner has pleaded not guilty to driving under the influence. That's according to court documents.
All right. Coming up, former Trump National Security Adviser John Bolton on all the President said today about the war and what he might say tomorrow night when we have learned he is going to address the nation at 9:00 p.m. on Iran.
And later, what Pope Leo said to CNN about the war.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:37:29]
BERMAN: All right, more on the breaking news tonight. The White House announced that tomorrow night at 9:00 Eastern, the President will give an address to the nation to provide an important update on Iran. Again, that was a statement for the White House press secretary. Earlier this evening, the President put out a new timeline on the war when he spoke to reporters in the Oval Office.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I would say that within two weeks, maybe two weeks, maybe three, we're hitting them very hard. Last night, we knocked out tremendous amounts of missile making facilities.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The U.S. will be gone or done with the war in two or three weeks?
TRUMP: I think with two or three weeks, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That three weeks --
TRUMP: We'll leave. There's no reason for us to do this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: The President also lashed out at European allies for their perceived lack of support for the war, posting on social media today that all of the countries that refuse to get involved with the decapitation of Iran should take back the Strait of Hormuz themselves to get their own oil. He also, again, said tonight when he gave the two to three-week timeline, said the U.S. will not be involved in opening the Strait.
Perspective now from former Trump National Security Adviser John Bolton. He was also the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during the George W. Bush administration.
Ambassador, good to see you. So the President can address the nation tomorrow night at 9:00, given that just today he said the United States doesn't need to open the Strait in order to end the war, doesn't need to make a deal with Iran to end the war. And that regime change has already happened. What do you expect the President to announce tomorrow night?
JOHN BOLTON, FORMER TRUMP NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: I think he's going to announce that the victory has been achieved. The war is over and Americans are coming out. I think he's not doing this on anything related to strategic concerns. He's worried about the price of gasoline at the pump in this country and the political ramifications.
We have done a lot of damage to Iran. That's all to the good. It has destabilized the regime. Even Marco Rubio said that yesterday. The conditions are moving in the direction of possible regime change. Apparently, we're going to abandon that as an objective, if it ever was an objective.
And I think it's going to leave Iran, unfortunately, although badly wounded, in a stronger position. They have shown they can close the Strait of Hormuz. They're cooperating with Russia much more closely than before. Russia's providing them intelligence to target American facilities and personnel. And I think the Chinese will be more than happy to invest in Iranian oil infrastructure if we walk away from this.
It's like the old Senator George Aiken statement on Vietnam, when he suggested for the United States to get out of Vietnam, they should just declare victory and go home. Is that what you think the President is basically doing here? And how much of a victory would it be?
[20:40:11]
BOLTON: Well, I think he's been preparing for it for a long time. He said some weeks ago, it seems like a long time, but he said something like, I'll feel it in my bones when it's time to end the war. This is not strategy. Let's be very clear here. This is somebody who's not thinking in long-term American national interests. He's thinking day- to-day about his political circumstances.
And I think the negative effect it will have with all of our allies, not just in NATO, but our Pacific allies, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, others who buy so much of their oil from the Gulf, and maybe most of all, the Gulf Arabs, who are now, apparently, as we walk away, to be left to deal with Iran on their own.
Much smaller countries, now, having seen what Iran can do to intimidate the United States, close the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, and dominate traffic in oil. This is going to leave the Gulf Arabs in a terrible quandary.
BERMAN: Yes, Richard Haass, the President emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, called this a "we-broke-it-you-own-it strategy." To what extent -- I mean, the Europeans and the Asian allies --
BOLTON: Yes --
BERMAN: -- they don't want to own it. Go ahead.
BOLTON: Yes, Winston Churchill had the word for this. He's scuttling. He's scuttling out of the area. And I think it's the damage done to American credibility, not to mention his credibility, but let's worry about America's credibility. For what we ever do on a long-term basis with anybody again, they're going to say, but what about Trump? I mean, the downside for the United States here, if he does this, is just incalculable.
BERMAN: And just before I let you go here, though, to be clear, you do believe that Iran, whatever regime is running the country, is severely weakened. What's their capacity to hurt the United States going forward?
BOLTON: Well, it depends on how long it takes them to resume oil sales and to rebuild. And that's what a wounded regime, it's not replaced, as he has said and as others have said. It's the same regime. It's the same ideology, just different faces.
And they will rebuild their nuclear program and they will rebuild their ballistic missile program. They will rebuild their terrorist networks. And they do have the capacity to close the Strait of Hormuz. It's in a finite period of time. We've mowed the lawn. That's great. But the lawn's coming back.
BERMAN: Ambassador John Bolton, thank you for being with us tonight.
With us now, Retired Army Lieutenant General Karen Gibson. She's a former Director of Intelligence for U.S. Central Command. Also with us, CNN National Security Analyst Beth Sanner and Alex Plitsas. Alex, you're right here with me, so let me just start with you.
The President said, again, before he announced that he's giving his speech tomorrow night, we don't know if he's going to say we're done. But before that tonight, he said the United States could be finished in the next two to three weeks. What do you think of that timeline?
ALEX PLITSAS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: So I think it makes sense if we're going to pursue the original objectives that the Pentagon, the White House laid out before we had mission creep with the Strait. So the Pentagon -- or excuse me, the CENTCOM commander laid out that we'd taken about 13,000 targets. There's about 3,000 left, about two to three weeks left of bombing in order to accomplish that.
And then the President started making some comments that leads me to believe that we could end up walking away, saying to the allies, we need you to step up. We need you to take responsibility for it. And then today there was a comment that, hey, going after the nuke stuff might be a little bit dangerous. So I think he's leaving himself room to leave.
BERMAN: General, let me ask you, what options do you think the President is leaving himself here? You know, supporters of the President always like to say he's unpredictable. He'll say things like, I'm moving troops in there. I'm going to bomb the oil facilities. On the other hand, I want to make a deal and we might leave without the Strait being open there. But what options truly exist tonight?
LT. GEN. KAREN GIBSON (RET.), FMR. DIR. OF INTELLIGENCE U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: That's a great question. So certainly, we've started to see the movement of some elements of ground forces, principally amphibious Marine forces, some rapid reaction Army elements, as well as some elite Special Forces units. So there are a variety of things that they could be used for, but it would not be a wholesale invasion of the Republic of Iran.
It might be seizing the Kharg oil terminal and restricting Iran's ability to use those facilities to raise money. It might be for seizing some of the islands in the Straits of Hormuz, the territorial area. Those are excellent missions for the U.S. Marines. It's what they're designed to do. All of those missions would come with some element of risk, both politically and operationally.
The troops would be subject not just while they're conducting the seizure and seizing that terrain, but for the enduring time that they are occupying it, they would probably still be subject to strikes by the remaining missiles and drones that Iran's been using against extra elements. And that would require the application of other things like a combat air patrol from fighters or intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance and really tying up a large number of portions -- forces for the duration of the time that they are there.
BERMAN: So, Beth, the President said today that regime change has been affected, that there is a new regime, he says. He says the United States is dealing with more rational people. And now he also says that a deal, though, is not necessary. It's irrelevant at this point. How much sense does that make after these 32 days?
[20:45:13]
BETH SANNER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, I mean, I think Ambassador Bolton pretty much wrapped up that idea of this is obviously not regime change, you know, when you just have different people who have the same ideology. But I think that this whole idea of, you know, where are we right now? Iran does get a vote here.
And, you know, one of the things that we're seeing today with the kidnapping of an American journalist in Iraq, with IRGC threats against U.S. businesses in the Gulf. We've had a number of terrorist groups wrapped up in the region. And we've had cyberattacks in the United States.
So, you know, we -- Iran can still conduct the asymmetric warfare that they were designed and built to fight. And we should expect them to do that from the Strait to terrorism to cyber.
BERMAN: We are seeing it. It does seem tonight. And Alex, I know this is something that is close to home for you because U.S. journalist Shelly Kittleson has been kidnapped, apparently in Baghdad. She's been working in Iraq, in Baghdad. You know, the suspected kidnappers are affiliates, basically, of Iran.
I know you're friends with her and have been in contact roughly with people around the margins here. What do you know?
PLITSAS: So it's unclear exactly who took her at this point. You know, it's clear the U.S. government did provide warnings that there was a potential for a kidnapping plot that could have been, you know, conducted by proxy forces by Iran. But it's unclear exactly who has her at this point.
She's a journalist. She's been operating in the region for a long time, generally one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. The government's been incredibly, you know, responsive to it. She designated me as her emergency point of contact. I believe the family will be taken over shortly, so I don't speak for them or anybody else. But in the interim, the government's really doing a great job.
BERMAN: If it is a proxy, does it show that Iran is trying to maybe, you know, spread their tentacles?
PLITSAS: Well, it's unclear because there could be two different scenarios. This could be in response to actions in Lebanon or it could be in response to Iran. So it's really unclear. And until they, you know, formally identify who the kidnappers are, they make some demands. We're kind of left guessing at the moment. BERMAN: Wishing them the best, obviously, here. General, I want to ask you about the President now saying that the Strait of Hormuz, the United States, whether it's open or not, it's not a U.S. problem. So if the United States does effectively end its role in this conflict, the Strait still closed, what happens? How would European nations or Asian allies work to open it?
GIBSON: Well, I would say first, technically, the straits are not closed. But there have been commercial entities that have made the decision that the risk is understandably too high, commercial entities and insurance providers, that the risk is too high to conduct business there. So the decision to reopen the straits is not really a military or a political decision, it is the decision of those commercial risk owners.
And what they'll be looking for is a sustained cessation of hostilities that Iran is no longer threatening, not only the straits themselves. It's important. It's not just that narrow transit corridor, but it's their ability to affect any kind of shipping in the Gulf, as well as we've seen targets on the other side in, you know, Bahrain, Qatar, the Emirates, et cetera.
And so they'll be looking for decreased number of strikes, as well as diplomatic indications that lead them to believe that it's not a temporary peace, that it is something that is enduring enough for them to take on the risk that it entails.
BERMAN: Yes, Beth, diplomatic sort of indications, which is a good segue to this. The Iranian President today apparently said that Iran might be willing to stop the fighting if they are not attacked again. And that was in a conversation with a separate leader there. How do you interpret messages coming from inside Iran, whether it be the President, who may not have that much power right now to begin with, or the foreign minister?
SANNER: Yes, exactly. Well, I think that this is one of the things, right? We know, I think, from what Rubio has said, that the regime is fractured. But what they're asking for is a guarantee that this won't happen again. But the one thing that we have to remember is now that they've held the hostage, the strait hostage, they can go back and do this again at any time.
And I think no matter how this ends, Iran will be able to and will want to exercise some control over the strait. And as the President said today, it only takes a mine dropped there or a guy shooting off a missile.
BERMAN: Beth Sanner, Lieutenant General Karen Gibson, Alex Plitsas, thank you all very much.
So it has been nearly one year since the first American pope was elected. Coming up, Anderson's conversation with CNN Vatican Correspondent, Christopher Lamb.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:54:36]
BERMAN: All right, it has been nearly a year since the first American pope was elected. His heritage, though, has not stopped Pope Leo from expressing the church's difference with the Trump administration's on issues like immigration and war. Today, he sent this message about Iran.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have a message with the war escalating in the Middle East? Do you have a message for the leaders of the U.S. and Israel, President Trump at this time?
[20:55:00]
POPE LEO XIV, HEAD OF CATHOLIC CHURCH: I'm told that President Trump recently stated that he would like to end the war. Hopefully, he's looking for an off-ramp. So I would certainly continue to give this call to all leaders of the world to say, come back to the table to dialogue.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: The Pope was talking with CNN Vatican Correspondent, Christopher Lamb. He is the author of a new book about the pontiff, "American Hope: What Pope Leo XIV Means for the Church and the World." It was released just today, and Anderson spoke with him recently about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Chris, it's been nearly a year since Pope Leo XIV was elected on May 8th. How has his first year been, especially compared to Pope Francis?
CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Anderson. And no one was expecting Leo to be a photocopy of his predecessor, Pope Francis. He has his own style. It's very clear. He's a bit more formal in the way he approaches the role. He wears slightly more formal dress.
He is quite a kind of process guy and methodical leader. And Pope Francis, of course, was a big disruptor who shook things up, whereas Leo is someone who's trying to, I think, build on what Pope Francis has started.
COOPER: From reading your book, one of the things I learned, among many, is that one of the last things that Francis put out was a letter, which was very critical about the U.S. policy on immigration. And that's a letter that Leo had a big hand in writing.
LAMB: Well, that's right. And I was told by two sources that he was very involved in that letter. And, you know, immigration, the plight of migrants has been a big concern for Leo. He's spoken out about what he says is the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the U.S. recently. And, you know, that letter also took issue with Vice President JD Vance, who is a Catholic and had used the teachings of St. Augustine to justify the crackdown in the U.S.
COOPER: Well, it's interesting because -- and you write about this in the book as well. Pope Leo's brother is well known as a very big supporter of President Trump, as is in your book, says his wife. They were actually invited to the White House by the -- by President Trump. It's interesting that, obviously, Pope Leo does not seem to share that same enthusiasm.
LAMB: Well, that's right. And it's interesting that Pope Leo's brother has been to the White House and has been in contact with President Trump, whereas, as far as we are aware, there's been no direct contact between President Trump and Pope Leo since his election.
In Pope Leo's own family, and I think he can relate to many other families, there are sharp political disagreements. But I think the key thing for Leo is that he doesn't want differences over politics to damage relationships.
COOPER: Does the Vatican feel different with an American pope?
LAMB: I'd say, yes, it does. I mean, certainly, Pope Leo has brought an American flavor to the papacy. You know, we see him with his white socks, baseball cap on at times, even from the Pope talking about baseball results. And also, of course, we have a Pope who speaks English as a, you know, mother tongue. And that's the first time for, you know, many years that that's happened.
COOPER: The Vatican's confirmed that the Pope is not going to be coming to the U.S. in 2026 or for the 250th anniversary of American independence. Is that surprising at all?
LAMB: Well, I don't think it was that surprising. I think, you know, it does send a signal, though, that the Pope, you know, has decided for 2026 he's not going to come to the U.S. Instead, on July 4th, he's going to be in Lampedusa, the island in southern Italy, which is a main entry point for migrants coming across the Mediterranean.
COOPER: That's where Pope Francis went on his first trip.
LAMB: That's right. And that was a hugely symbolic and important trip. It placed immigration, the plight of migrants, really at the heart of his papacy. And clearly that's something that Leo wants to follow.
COOPER: Does he live in the papal apartments? Because famously, obviously, Pope Francis chose not to. But where does Leo live?
LAMB: Well, Leo has actually moved back into the papal apartments, which is very interesting. But he's not simply living in the old apartments. He's making use of them. He is living in basically the attic space above the original papal apartments. And I'm also told he has an exercise bike there. It's very important for Leo to keep mind, body and spirit together.
COOPER: I'd be very curious to know if it's like a peloton. He's actually taking classes with like various instructors and stuff. That would be quite something. It's a fascinating book, "American Hope." Thank you so much, Christopher.
LAMB: Thank you very much, Anderson.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Right quickly, before we go tonight, a reminder about tomorrow night, 9:00 p.m. Eastern, the President will address the nation. The White House tonight says it will be an important update on the war in Iran. CNN will, of course, bring it to you live.
That is all for us tonight. I'll see you again at 7:00 a.m. Eastern tomorrow. In the meantime, The Source with Kaitlan Collins starts now.
