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U.S. Drops Bunker Buster Bombs Near Strait; Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) is Interviewed about Iran; MAGA View of Trump; New Guidance on Statin Therapy; Voice of American to Restart; Jacqueline Maguire is Interviewed about Her Op-Ed; Fed Not Expected to Cut Rates. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired March 18, 2026 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: On the activity that we've seen overnight.

Oren, what are we seeing?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: Well, Israel and the U.S. have, and this is no surprise given where we are in the war here as it nears the three week mark, continue to go after Iran's key points. And that's not just military points at this point. We see Israel acknowledging that it's going after energy infrastructure. That in a statement just a short time ago.

But let's look at this strike for a second that the U.S. carried out with 5,000-pound GPS guided bunker busters against Iranian facilities near the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. says these are facilities that housed anti-ship missiles and that Iran could use to hold the Strait of Hormuz hostage.

So, you see the U.S. going after Iran's military capabilities as President Donald Trump and the Trump administration try to put forward some sort of plan to open up one of the world's most critical waterways.

The problem here is that Iran isn't closing the Strait of Hormuz with military power. All it needs to close the Strait of Hormuz --

BERMAN: All right, I could hear Oren there, but apparently the wind in the rain there affecting the audio. We'll get back to him in a second.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, let's talk about the state of things with this war in Iran right now. Joining us now is Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon. He sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Senator, thanks for being here.

SEN. JEFF MERKLEY (D-OR): You bet, Kate. BOLDUAN: I want to read for you what President Trump has said just this morning, a new message today he sent out about Iran. He says this. "I wonder what would happen if we finished off what's left of the Iranian terror state and let the countries that use it, we don't, be responsible for the so-called strait. That would get some of our non-responsive allies in gear, and fast."

I mean he has effectively shamed countries into making deals in the past, talking about, look no further than tariffs and U.S. allies. Do you think that will work here when it comes to the need to reopen and patrol the Strait of Hormuz?

MERKLEY: Well, certainly the president was very bold a few days ago saying that America is the strongest country in the world. We don't need anybody's help. And now he's almost pleading with the world to come assist because his team never evaluated the significance of the challenge of keeping the strait open, which is one of the first things any analyst related to Iran would have raised. So, it's another evidence of the lack of preparation. Certainly those mines and missiles are a big challenge for keeping the strait open. And it's going to be difficult to ensure that it's safe. We keep hearing about, almost every day, one ship or another being hit.

BOLDUAN: "The Wall Street Journal" is reporting -- this new reporting that Russia is expanding its intelligence sharing and cooperation with Iran, even aiding Iran's targeting of U.S. forces in the region. Some of this new reporting is as follows. "In the Gulf, Moscow's aid is believed to have helped Iran with recent strikes on U.S. radar systems in the region." Those -- it goes on to say, "those strikes have included an early warning radar for a THAAD system in Jordan, as well as other targets in Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman."

Russia helping Iran target the United States and thus U.S. soldiers. What should and can the United States do about that?

MERKLEY: No, there's tremendous irony here, Kate, because the amount of increase in the profits for Russia have been enormous with the rising price of oil. So, one of the massive benefits of this situation is Russia. And of course, we have been assisting Ukraine in many factors related to Russia's attack on Ukraine.

I don't really immediately know what we can do in this regard because intelligence is so easy to provide, so hard to monitor how much is being provided. But recognize this, President Trump just basically said, we are taking the sanctions off of Russian oil. In other words, we also need Russian oil on the market to try to keep the prices down because the president, obviously, very concerned. Gasoline has gone up about $0.80 a gallon across America. Huge impact on everyday consumers here in the United States, as well as we're seeing the cost of fertilizer go up for our farmers. And it's a lot going on there.

But I want to come back to how we have seen two big problems that Trump has been unable to solve. And one of those big problems is that 60 percent enriched uranium, that is who knows where it is exactly. Is it in Isfahan? Are we going to go in and are we going to try to dig it up? And second of all, if Trump was to shut down the war now, he would be looking at a world which says, look, you didn't solve this problem with the -- with the straits. Iran stood up to you and they stood up to you successfully.

So, the lack of planning and clarity about what the objective of this war is a classic mistake in warfare. This is why the president should never be able to make the decision to go to war like this.

[08:35:03]

This is why the founders said, come to Congress and have a debate, have a collective discussion of the risks and challenges. The president's made a very big mistake on the international stage. Americans are dying. Americans are being injured. American consumers are having prices driven up. Not good.

BOLDUAN: One of the things -- I was -- I was looking ahead to the fact that Pam Bondi is -- the attorney general is going to be going to speak to the House Oversight Committee and is now being -- facing a subpoena to come over and talk about DOJ's handling of the Epstein files. And I saw that you spoke with a local news outlet last week and suggested during it that the Iran war maybe had something to do with, in your view, with the Epstein investigation.

Let me play what you told a local outlet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Briefly, you mentioned that they're doing everything they can to get this out of the front page. Do you believe the strikes in Iran are connected to that?

MERKLEY: There's a more complicated story about the strikes in Iran, but I think it's one of the -- one of the maybe contributing reasons that the -- that Trump was tempted to go to war without getting an authorization.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Senator, do you really think that he launched a war as a distraction?

MERKLEY: I think it was probably, as I said there, one of many factors. So, I'm not overemphasizing that point. But realize at the start of this war, Epstein was on the front page every single day, or before the war started. The president is cited in those missing 50 pages. We did a press conference over those 50 pages. Eventually those were released. They did show that there was a young woman who was interviewed who said that she was pressured into sex -- she was 13 or 14 years old -- by Trump. That whole story that had been really coming into the front page. And so, it's -- for this president, this president, most presidents not, but with this president, the idea that, hey, here's one more factor. If I launch a war, nobody will be talking about Epstein. I wouldn't be at all surprised if that was partly in his mind.

BOLDUAN: We'll have to get White House reaction to that at some point very soon.

Senator Jeff Merkley, thank you for your time.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thank you, Kate.

This morning, between the war in Iran, the Epstein files and calls for immigration reform, is there a growing divide happening in MAGA world?

CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten joining me now.

So, how are you seeing MAGA feel about the president right now?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Yes, you know, sometimes you look at the polling data and there are numbers that just jump off the screen at you. And this is one of those. Because just take a look here. MAGA GOP view of Trump.

SIDNER: There you go.

ENTEN: Approve, 100 percent, 100 percent. If you are a member of MAGA and the GOP, you approve of Donald John Trump. Zero percent say that they disapprove. You don't have to be a mathematical genius to know you can't go higher than 100 percent. He is the 1972 Miami Dolphins.

Now, there are some Republicans who disapprove of Donald John Trump, but they are not members of the Make America Great Again movement. The bottom line is this, if you are a member of MAGA, you approve of Donald Trump.

SIDNER: It's interesting, though, because there have been a couple of prominent people who have sort of come out online and they're very mad about this war with Iran because he promised no new wars. Is there any sign that people might be leaving MAGA relative to 2024?

ENTEN: Yes, OK. So, you know, I've said it before and, you know, the theme of this segment is Tucker Carlson be darned. And when we look at the numbers, I mean, I've heard some people say, oh, you know, when you look at those MAGA numbers, it doesn't account for those who might have left MAGA.

But take a look here. Americans who identify as MAGA. In November of 2024, it was 28 percent of Americans. Now it's basically the same. If anything, it's slightly higher at 30 percent. The bottom line is this, the MAGA base within the GOP is not shrinking, it's the same size. If anything, it is slightly larger than it was back in 2024 when, of course, Donald Trump won a second term.

So, that 100 percent that Donald Trump has approval among MAGA GOP, that is not an artifact of MAGA shrinking, it's just an indication of how strong Donald Trump's grip is on that MAGA base. SIDNER: And so I guess that begs the question as to what's happening

inside the GOP and if there are any splits there, because with that -- those kind of numbers, they're going to want to retain that, right, so they can retain their seats?

ENTEN: Yes. Yes. And you know what we're talking about, you know, we mentioned Iran in the intro of this segment, GOP on U.S. military action in Iran. Look at this. In MAGA it's 90 percent approval. It's 90 percent approval. Just five percent disapproval. If you disapprove of the job that Donald Trump is doing, or, excuse me, the U.S. military action in Iran and you're a member of the GOP, look at this, it's your non-MAGA, your non-MAGA. It's 36 percent there, 54 percent approve. But the majority of Republicans approve of the job that the U.S. military action is in Iran and the majority of MAGA, which is the majority of the GOP, very much approve, 90 percent.

[08:40:03]

Very little split in Donald Trump's base. Those who disapprove in the GOP, simply put, they ain't (ph) MAGA.

SIDNER: It's really clear, MAGA has the floor here when it comes --

ENTEN: Yes. Yes. MAGA has the floor, 100 percent.

SIDNER: Yes.

All right, Harry Enten, thank you so much.

ENTEN: Thank you.

SIDNER: John.

BERMAN: All right, there are new guidelines on heart health that suggest treating high cholesterol might need to start sooner. Statin therapy now recommended for people as young as 30 who have higher LDL levels, a strong family history of premature heart disease or a high risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

CNN chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta here to answer your questions.

Sanjay, great to see you.

And Juan in Palmetto, Florida, wants to know, "will doctors begin to incorporate testing Lp(a) levels for their patients?" When I read that first I thought it said IPA levels. I have very high IPA levels if you test my blood. But Lp(a) levels.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so this is a term that I think people should get to know. This testing, a lipoprotein a or Lp(a). This may be something people haven't heard of, but as part of these new guidelines, they're recommending that everyone get this tested.

A couple very interesting things about this. First of all, Lp(a) is largely genetic, OK? So, it's something that you're sort of born with, which means that it's resistant to lifestyle changes, in either direction. Exercise, a diet and stuff like that are not necessarily going to raise or lower it. It's pretty stable over your life. So, you probably only need to get it checked once.

About 20 percent of the adult population has levels that are high. And that increases your risk for having some sort of heart problem later on.

So, for example, if you had bad cholesterol levels that were sort of borderline high, but also had an elevated Lp(a), that might make the doctors more likely to start treating you with statins. This is considered one of those enhanced risk factors.

But again, it's not something you need to get tested every time. If you're in particular worried about heart disease, you got a strong family history, get it tested at least once in your lifetime.

BERMAN: So, I was listening to you yesterday with Sara talk about the side effects -- possible side effects from statins, because I know people who say that their muscles hurt for them.

GUPTA: Yes.

BERMAN: And Ryan from Diamond Bar, California, asks, "how common do each of the side effects from statins occur?"

GUPTA: Yes. So, before I answer that, let me just say, as part of these issues here is the more (AUDIO GAP) people take (AUDIO GAP) statins as a result of these guidelines, you're going to have younger people taking statins for decades longer and seeing some of the benefits hopefully much, much later in life. And I think that's just societally, broadly, probably one of the biggest issues here. There's going to be a lot more medicated people.

To the side effects specifically, muscle pain is probably sort of top of the list. And usually somewhere between, you know, five and seven percent of people do have muscle pains. Some of those muscle pains or muscle aches are significant enough to actually make them stop taking the statins.

Take a look at this graphic here, John. This will sort of give you an idea. It's really complicated. Don't pay attention to all the numbers. But this is how they basically determine side effects. People report certain side effects. They compare it to the general population. People on statins. And they basically came up with a few things that they think are the highest risk.

Muscle pain, that's in the -- in the upper right corner there. It can increase your blood sugar, makes you more insulin resistant. So, some people have even tipped over into diabetes, about 0.5 percent. And then liver abnormalities. If you're starting statin drugs, your doctor may say, we need to check your liver function before you start taking a statin drug, and then a few months into taking the statin drug to make sure it's not having an impact there. Typically around 0.5 percent of people will develop some sort of liver abnormality. So, small numbers. But when you have millions and millions of people

taking it, that's when the numbers, obviously, start to increase.

BERMAN: Yes, it is interesting. And also it gets to the question of how long, because Takbir asks, he takes a statin and he wants to know, "will I need to use it for life or until bringing the cholesterol to lower limits?" And he does note that he takes his doctor's advice on exercise and diet.

GUPTA: Yes. So, look, I mean, diet and exercise are still going to be the first line recommendation for most people. These are for people who are sort of resistant to the lifestyle changes, or they have the Lp(a) elevated. Most people are going to take it for their lifetime. It kind of depends if you're taking it for primary prevention, meaning you've never had a heart problem, you're taking it to prevent that, or secondary prevention. People who take it for secondary prevention, only about one in 100 really come off of those medications.

BERMAN: Sanjay, this is great information for a lot of people. I mean this is obviously something that affects so many people as they approach middle age and beyond. Or, in some cases, much younger now, in their 30s.

GUPTA: That's right.

BERMAN: So, thank you very much for all of this. Appreciate it.

GUPTA: You got it.

BERMAN: Kate.

BOLDUAN: So, a former FBI special agent with the department for decades has a stark and pretty scary new warning. Here's the quote. "Kash Patel is playing a dangerous game."

[08:45:01]

What she says is happening that is putting the country at risk.

Plus, Venezuela upsets the United States to win their first ever world baseball classic title.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Voice of America, the U.S. funded international broadcaster, could be back up and running by next week. A federal judge now says that the Trump administration must let more than a thousand employees return to work by Monday. This ruling comes almost exactly a year after President Trump had set out to dismantle the broadcaster, which broadcasts to countries with limited press protections, including Iran.

CNN's Brian Stelter has been tracking this and is joining us now.

So, Brian, what are you learning about this? How is this going to play out now? [08:50:00]

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Yes, the big question now is about a possible appeal. The Trump administration has not yet said if it will appeal these rulings, although that seems likely. I've been asking for a comment and haven't heard back from the parent agency.

But let's just sit with these rulings for a minute. This is a major repudiation of Trump's VOA takedown. It was almost one year ago today that Trump signed an executive order saying that he wanted this parent agency, the U.S. Agency for Global Media, to be dismantled down to its, quote, "minimum presence and function required by law." Right away more than 1,000 VOA staffers were put on paid leave with an eye toward terminating them, and Trump's pick to run VOA, Kari Lake, started to make massive changes at the agency.

But this judge is saying Lake was there unlawfully. Judge Royce C. Lamberth, who was a nominee of Ronald Reagan's in the '80s, he says the Trump administration is, quote, "unlawfully withholding mandatory agency action." After all, VOA was set up by Congress. And he is saying this is a checks and balances situation.

We heard overnight from the former VOA White House bureau chief, Steve Herman. He had a lot to say about this, referring to Kari Lake and other lackeys from the Trump administration, including the Elon Musk DOGE lackeys who, quote, "sought to eviscerate the Voice of America."

So, he is celebrating this ruling. So are the staffers who sued to get their jobs back in the first place. And now the question becomes whether the Trump administration will continue to fight this battle and try to keep VOA off the air.

If you go to voanews.com, you'll see the website has been dark for a year. It's like frozen in time from March 15, 2025. And this is all interesting at a moment when VOA is under pressure to deliver information to countries, like Iran. Kari Lake and others have said that VAO has partially come back online to broadcast in Farsi inside Iran, but not at the -- at the weight that it was before.

You know this week a report out from an institute in Sweden, V-dem (ph), showed democracy declining in the United States on many different levels, press freedom, freedom of expression, et cetera. But the report also said the judicial system is likely to be vital in stopping the Trump administration's autocratic advances. So, this institute in Sweden say the U.S. is rapidly autocrocizing (ph) and yet the judicial system will be the main way to push back. And this might be one of many examples. It seems every day, Kate, we see another example of the courts pushing back against the Trump administration.

BOLDUAN: So interesting. And quite a development for Voice of America.

It's great to see you, Brian. Thanks for bringing us these details.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you so much, Kate. Just as the head of the Trump administration's counterterrorism center resigns over the war, a former FBI official is sounding the alarm about the leadership inside the FBI. In a "New York Times" op-ed, former FBI special agent Jacqueline Maguire is warning that Director Kash Patel is playing what she calls a dangerous game. She says, "Kash Patel is consumed by politically motivated revenge and conspiracy theories, distracting the FBI once again from the danger of terrorism. The FBI must return its focus to its core work, protecting Americans from terrorists and cyberattacks, and halting foreign intelligence operations and espionage.

Jacqueline Maguire is joining me now.

First to you, why did you write this op-ed?

JACQUELINE MAGUIRE, FORMER FBI EXEC. ASSIST. DIRECTOR, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY BRANCH: Hey, good morning, Sara.

I think the time was right to write this op-ed between the war in Iran and the continued actions by Kash Patel at the FBI to dismiss experienced, talented and dedicated personnel.

SIDNER: Recently, Kash Patel fired at least ten FBI agents that were involved in the investigation into Donald Trump's handling of classified documents. There are others at high level positions who were also fired over this past year. What impact have these firings had?

MAGUIRE: I think the impact is twofold. First, you're losing, again, dedicated, skilled, talented, experienced personnel. That's a brain drain from the FBI. People who have been through threat situations before, people who have the repetitions under their belt of what to do in these sorts of situations.

And then second, you have a bit of a chill on the workforce in being perhaps concerned about what work they're doing. I think that that could have a negative impact that people are not as bold, as innovative as they can be and as they should be in their investigations because they're afraid that they could be next.

SIDNER: I'm curious if you're hearing from your former colleagues inside of the FBI and what they are feeling and thinking at this point in time as they're trying to do their work and, as you mentioned, we are now at war with Iran.

MAGUIRE: Well, after having spent 25 years in the bureau, I could say this. I know that the workforce there is talented, is dedicated. I have full trust in their work and their continued work against the threats that the country faces.

[08:55:05]

But again, I think the leadership at the very top is concerning, the actions that they're taking, the negative actions against the workforce. So, I think that, again, the personnel of the FBI is very committed. But I just wish, and I think they deserve. better leadership at the top.

SIDNER: Would you say we're less safe since Kash Patel has taken the helm as the director of the FBI?

MAGUIRE: I hope we're not. Again, we have that workforce there. We have approximately 36,000 people in the FBI who are career officials, who are career public servants, who are doing their job every day. My fear is that we are becoming less safe because of the leadership, because of the lack of focus, because of the distractions that we see play out on social media and on the news seemingly every week and sometimes every day.

SIDNER: The head of the National Counterterrorism Center, as we mentioned at the top here, has resigned. Joe Kent, a Green Beret combat veteran, was a big supporter of Donald Trump until the war with Iran. He left saying this on X, "I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation." And he goes on to say that it was because Israel pressured the United States to get into it.

I am curious what your assessment is. Did Iran pose no imminent threat? Because you have said there is a longtime threat that Iran has posed.

MAGUIRE: That's a hard question to answer. I don't have access to current intelligence right now. That is hopefully being seen within the government. What I can say is that Iran has historically been the biggest state sponsor of terrorism, has long posed a threat, has killed hundreds of Americans over the past decades, has most recently targeted Americans, including Donald Trump, here in this country for assassination, and that's not even to mention their cyber threat in attacking our critical infrastructure and attacking our banking system. So, they pose a threat over many different aspects of our society and they pose a threat to Americans both here and abroad.

SIDNER: Jacqueline Maguire, thank you for letting us know what your thoughts are as a former FBI agent, high ranking. Appreciate it.

John.

BERMAN: All right, this morning, new video of an Oklahoma City police officer chasing down a teenager on a minibike who led him on a chase across several neighborhoods. The officer said he tried to pull over two minibikes who were riding without headlights. They took off, he said. So, he chased them down in a car until they went off the road. Then he started chasing them on foot through a bunch of yards. Ultimately, he had to commandeer another car by jumping on the hood of that car. Eventually, he caught up with one teenager and arrested him.

This morning, Venezuela, champion of the world, at least the World Baseball Classic. They held off a late comeback from Team USA. Bryce Harper actually tied the game with a two-run homer in the eighth. You can see it right there. This was a little redemption for Harper, who had a pretty bad World Baseball Classic. U.S. did not last long, though, because Venezuela driving in the game winning run in the ninth inning. This was Venezuela's first WBC championship. You can see the jubilation there. That man, Wilyer Abreu, by the way, member of the Boston Red Sox, he had a homer early in the game. Aaron Judge, three strikeouts.

Sara.

SIDNER: If we're going to do baseball, we're always going to mention the Boston Red Sox. It's --

BERMAN: They had good and bad yesterday. It was a Boston Red Sox, the last player to strike out, and who gave up the winning hit to Venezuela.

SIDNER: He's a true fan, guys.

BERMAN: Yes. Yes.

SIDNER: You're never taking that away from John Berman.

All right, a big decision looms for the Federal Reserve to cut or not to cut interest rates today. Right now all signs indicate that Jerome Powell and the Fed may just leave things the way they are.

CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich is live in Washington ahead of the meeting today.

What are you watching for here?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, as you mentioned, the Federal Reserve is expected to hold interest rates steady. You have 99 percent of investors believing they're going to do just that. You have a small percentage, actually one percent of investors now believing that the Federal Reserve actually could hike rates. And that is -- and that is -- excuse me, cut rates there. I believe it's actually a hike there. But the point is that there is a concern about inflation on the horizon. Right now we have a softening labor market, sticky inflation. But even just this morning, Sara, we got a report about producer prices, what producers are paying, and that jumped by 0.7 percent. That was a little bit unexpected. And that is ahead -- that is before the war in Iran took place.

Obviously, these higher oil prices, these higher gas prices are concerns about what that will do for inflation. So, a little bit of a tricky position for the Fed. But historically, Sara, what they have done is taken this posture of wait and see.

[09:00:02]

How long will this war go on? What will it mean for inflation?