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Federal Reserve to Announce Decision on Interest Rates; Markwayne Mullin Testifies Before Congress; Senate Holds Worldwide Threats Hearing. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired March 18, 2026 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00]

HANS NICHOLS, AXIOS: And whether or not they're ever going to get paid, right?

(CROSSTALK)

NICHOLS: That's the other big issue with this shutdown here, and the...

DANA BASH, CNN HOST: Which almost every Republican who had a chance to question Mullin made a point of reminding people that the TSA workers and other members of the DHS are not getting paid right now.

SEUNG MIN KIM, AP WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Right.

And yet, despite all that, despite the lack of paychecks, despite the lines at the airports and whatnot, Democrats seemed unmoved because they believe, politically, they are on the right side when it comes to a demanding tougher immigration policies.

BASH: OK. Thank you all for being here. Rock 'n' roll.

Thank you for joining INSIDE POLITICS.

"CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right now.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: The nation's top intel officials just got done testifying about worldwide threats, and the director of national intelligence said it's not her job to determine what's an imminent threat.

Tulsi Gabbard also drawing criticism for skipping over a significant portion of her own prepared remarks. We will explain.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Not like Noem. The president's pick to lead the Department of Homeland Security says immigration officers should not be on the front line, Senator Markwayne Mullin just making his case at a fiery hearing.

And wartime decision. One hour from now, the Federal Reserve reveals its next move on rates and provides some key information about what is next to come for the economy.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SANCHEZ: Top U.S. intelligence officials today delivered their annual worldwide assessment threat less than a week after a pair of suspected terror attacks across the country and as the war in Iran rages on.

In her opening statements, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard appeared to contradict some of President Trump's justifications for initially striking Iran. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TULSI GABBARD, U.S. DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: Iran has previously demonstrated space launch and other technology it could use to begin to develop a militarily viable ICBM before 2035 should Tehran attempt to pursue that capability.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Here's a reminder of what President Trump alleged on the first day of military operations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Instead, they attempted to rebuild their nuclear program and to continue developing long-range missiles that can now threaten our very good friends and allies in Europe, our troops stationed overseas, and could soon reach the American homeland.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: CNN's Evan Perez has been monitoring this story today.

And, Evan, Gabbard was grilled not just for what she said, but that portion of her opening remarks that she didn't actually say aloud, and then also saying that it's not her job to figure out what an imminent threat is.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Right.

There was a lot of dodging and weaving by the director of national intelligence, especially, it appears, because she was trying to avoid contradicting the president, contradicting the White House, and the reasons why we are now at war with Iran, Boris.

There's a part of her written remarks that she just did not give, did not deliver during the hearing. I will read you just a part of what she said in her prepared remarks.

She said: "As a result of Operation Midnight Hammer" -- this is the bombing campaign from last summer by the United States and Israel -- 'Iran's nuclear enrichment program was obliterated. There's been no effort since then to try to rebuild their enrichment capability. The entrances to the underground facilities that were bombed have been buried and shuttered with cement. "We continue to monitor for any early indicators of what position the

current and any new leadership in Iran will take with regard to authorizing a nuclear weapons program."

Now, Senator Mark Warner, the Democrat -- the top Democrat on that panel, seized on that omission very quickly in his questioning of the director of national intelligence. Listen to this exchange.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA): Even in your printed testimony today on page six, and your last paragraph on page six: "As a result of Operation Midnight Hammer, Iran's nuclear enrichment program was obliterated. There's been no effort to try to rebuild their enrichment capability."

You omitted that paragraph from your oral opening. Was that because the president said there was an imminent threat two weeks ago?

TULSI GABBARD, U.S. DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: No, sir. I recognized that the time was running long and I skipped through some of the portion of my oral delivered remarks, sir.

(CROSSTALK)

WARNER: You chose to omit the parts that contradict the president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREZ: And she went on to say that the justification of the war, which was that this was an imminent threat from Iran, is really a decision for the president to make.

[13:05:02]

Of course, we have seen these hearings over the years, Boris, and we have seen that the director of national intelligence, certainly the intelligence community, does usually provide an assessment of the imminence of the different threats that the United States faces.

I should point out that really a lot of this -- really the focus on her is because of the resignation of one of her closest aides, Joe Kent, who yesterday spoke about how -- that there was no imminent threat from Iran to the United States and questioning whether this war was really with cause, right, there was a reason for the United States to go to war in Iran.

And that has really shined a light really on Gabbard and the security of her position there. She is very, very -- her position is very tenuous, because there's a lot of dissatisfaction in the White House with the way she has done her job over the over the last few months.

SANCHEZ: Evan Perez, thank you so much for catching us up on that -- Brianna.

KEILAR: We're also keeping a close eye on the active threats in the Middle East, the U.S. and Israel stepping up military strikes across Iran and Lebanon today.

This Israeli strike in Beirut destroyed a high-rise building near the Lebanese government headquarters and Israel says that it was targeting Hezbollah in that. The IDF also claims a strike in Tehran killed Iran's intelligence minister, Esmail Khatib.

It's the latest high-profile assassination in recent days, part of a systematic effort to eliminate Iran's remaining leadership. And in a significant escalation, Iranian media say -- says powerful explosions from U.S. and Israeli strikes damaged critical energy facilities, including at South Pars, the world's largest natural gas field.

U.S. Central Command announced the U.S. military dropped 5,000-pound guided bombs to penetrate Iran's underground missile sites along the Strait of Hormuz.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is live for us in Tel Aviv.

And, Jeremy, a lot of activity there today. What are you seeing?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Brianna.

These appear to be the largest attacks that we have seen so far on Iran's oil and natural gas infrastructure. And it would be particularly a real turning point in this war if the United States is indeed involved in these strikes, which is the allegation being made by Iran, which says that U.S. and Israel struck these facilities, both the South Pars facility, as well as the Asaluyeh facility.

An Israeli source is also telling us that Israel was responsible for the strike on the Asaluyeh facility. And a second Israeli official tells us that the strike on the South Pars facility was coordinated with the United States.

We haven't yet gotten any official confirmation of those strikes from either the Israeli or the American governments. But, again, in particular, if the United States was involved, that would really kind of change the game here, because the United States has really avoided carrying out those types of strikes so far.

Even when they struck Kharg Island, through which 90 percent of Iran's oil ultimately flows and is processed before going out to the rest of the world, the United States only struck military targets on that island and not the oil and gas facilities.

This action so far, these strikes on these oil facilities, appear to have sent oil prices spiking about 5 percent already, sending crude oil prices to over $108 per barrel. And the Iranians are already saying that this is crossing a red line and warning of additional strikes that they would carry out on other oil infrastructure in the region.

We're also hearing from other countries in the region, like Qatar, which shares that offshore oil facility in South Pars with Iran, calling this strike reckless and expressing serious concerns about it. This also feeds into the broader questions about the impact that this war is having on oil prices and ultimately on prices at the pump for Americans back in the United States.

And it's all related also to the Strait of Hormuz, which continues to be blockaded by Iran. We heard today from the head of NATO, Mark Rutte, who says that allies are working on a plan to try and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

But, as we've seen so far, President Trump's entreaties to his allies to send minesweepers or other naval assets to that Strait of Hormuz, so far, those are not getting responded in kind -- Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, Jeremy, thank you so much live for us from Tel Aviv.

And still to come, we're following the fallout from another critical hearing on Capitol Hill today. Hear how Homeland Security Secretary nominee Senator Markwayne Mullin says he'll manage DHS differently than outgoing Secretary Kristi Noem.

Plus, we're waiting to see if the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates amid surging gas prices.

And then, later, how a new agreement between the VA and DOJ could put homeless veterans at risk.

We will have that much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:14:28]

SANCHEZ: Today on Capitol Hill, President Trump's new pick to lead the Department of Homeland Security, Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin, made clear that he will run things differently than Kristi Noem if he's confirmed.

KEILAR: Of course, under Noem's leadership, immigration officers have carried out highly visible sweeping immigration operations in several American cities, leading to tense clashes with protesters.

Here's what Senator Mullin said:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARKWAYNE MULLIN (R-OK), DHS SECRETARY NOMINEE: But I do believe there is a better approach. And I think, working with municipalities, I would love to see ICE become a transport more than the front line.

[13:15:03]

If we get back -- if we can get back into just simply working with law enforcement, we're going to them and we're picking up these criminals from their jail, one, they're -- we're going to reimburse them for having the person there. And to have partnership is vitally important.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is with us now for more on this hearing.

Really interesting where the senator is there before Congress, before his colleagues.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

KEILAR: What are you -- what really stood out to you?

ALVAREZ: Well, and, of course, the reason that he's there is because President Donald Trump decided to remove Kristi Noem from her position as secretary of homeland security because it had become untenable.

There was so much controversy and scrutiny, which you were alluding to there in the open. And so the task for the Republican senator today was to distinguish how he was going to be different from Secretary Noem. And he did that on a few issues.

For example, there, when he was talking about working with local law enforcement agencies, he was sort of suggesting a return to traditional immigration and customs enforcement operations, where there is more cooperation on the ground, going away from those broad immigration sweeps, which would again be in more alignment with White House border czar Tom Holman.

And recall he did that in Minneapolis after he was dispatched there. He also was asked about administrative warrants. Under the tenure of Secretary Noem, there was another interpretation of those administrative warrants that would allow officers to go on to private property. That is usually reserved for judicial warrants.

And he sort of said that that was not going to be the case. He didn't foreclose it all together, but certainly struck a different tone. With quotas, he said that he works according to the president's policies.

Remember, Stephen Miller had put that immigration -- daily immigration arrests at 3,000 a day. And then on contracts, this is a big one. The secretary has a policy of every contract over $100,000 is reviewed and approved by her, which really slow-rolls the entire contracting process.

Her argument was that it was to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse. Of course, contracting was one of the issues that led to her ultimate downfall as secretary. He said during the hearing that he would remove that $100,000 threshold. So, already, he was showing where he was going to be different as secretary of the department if confirmed.

SANCHEZ: He was also asked whether he would take back remarks that he made about Alex Pretti...

ALVAREZ: Yes.

SANCHEZ: ... the protester who was killed in Minneapolis earlier this year. What did he say? ALVAREZ: Well, he echoed what the secretary was saying at the time,

calling him a domestic terrorist. This was his response when Alex Pretti was asked.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MULLIN: Those words probably should have been retracted. I shouldn't have said that. And, as secretary, I wouldn't.

The investigation is ongoing. And there is -- like I said, there's sometimes I'm going to make mistake and I'll own it. That one, I went out there too fast. I was responding immediately without the facts. That's my fault. That won't happen as secretary.

SEN. GARY PETERS (D-MI): So, you regret that statement?

MULLIN: I already said that. Yes, sir.

PETERS: Would you want to apologize to the family of Alex Pretti?

MULLIN: Well, sir, I just said I regret those statements.

PETERS: Is that the same as an apology?

MULLIN: I haven't seen the investigation. We'll let the investigation go through. And if I'm proven wrong, then I will, absolutely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Now, from the get-go, the senator said that he would own up to mistakes. He also said that he didn't want the Department of Homeland Security to be the lead story every day six months from now.

So it tells you a lot about the style being different. The substance, however, is probably still quite similar. Nobody that I've talked to expects that the immigration crackdown is going to soften in any way. They anticipate that it's going to be aggressive, that Markwayne Mullin is a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump.

But it always came down to how the department goes about executing on that agenda. So that is where I do think he was trying to distinguish himself. Again, this is a massive department. Immigration is not their only mandate.

They have multiple agencies, 260,000 employees. Many officials I was talking to today are also still trying to get acquainted with him and absorbing this hearing to try to understand how his management style may also differ from Secretary Noem.

SANCHEZ: Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much for that reporting.

So, after saying he didn't need help from allies and then asking for it and being rebuffed, President Trump once again changing his tune on the United States' role in the Strait of Hormuz, as gas prices continue to climb.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:24:56]

SANCHEZ: In just minutes, the Federal Reserve will announce the latest interest rate decision, the first since the war with Iran began nearly three weeks ago.

And we have watched energy prices soar. AAA is reporting a 5-cent jump in gas prices. The cost of a gallon of regular unleaded is now averaging $3.84, the highest in more than two years. Experts are warning that prices will now only climb until Iran stops blocking the critical shipping lane of the Strait of Hormuz.

And, today, President Trump posted this -- quote -- "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."

Let's turn now to Bob McNally. He's the founder and president of the Rapidan Energy Group.

Robert, thank you so much for being with us.

What are your thoughts on the president's statement there that the U.S. should just finish off Iran and then essentially walk away from the Strait of Hormuz?

BOB MCNALLY, FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT, RAPIDAN ENERGY GROUP: Well, I'm not going to get into parsing what the president meant there, Boris. Good to be with you. But all I can say is, we can't walk away from the oil price impacts of Iran controlling the strait.

[13:25:06]

It's true that Europe, especially Asia, relies on oil and LNG from the Gulf much more than we do. The United States does not physically import much, I think about 7 percent of its oil. We can easily replace that.

However, you mentioned the pump price. What we pay at the pump depends on whether there's a disruption in the Strait of Hormuz. And so we can sort of hand over the military responsibility of opening it, but as long as it's closed or disrupted, we're going to be seeing ever higher distillate and gasoline prices here in America.

SANCHEZ: There are reports out of Iran that energy production facilities have for the first time in the war been struck by U.S. and Israeli forces. What would that signify?

MCNALLY: Yes, that's a sign that the restraint that both sides have practiced so far in not targeting each other's critical energy infrastructure, critical, that restraint seems to be eroding. Iran started by attacking Emirati gas infrastructure.

So Iran is by no means innocent. And it has started the tit for tat. And now there's been a retaliation against Iran's critical gas production facilities. Iran's promised to retaliate. So I'm afraid, Boris, what we have here is eroding restraint and an escalating tit for tat that hopefully won't involve targeting critical energy infrastructures and destroying them, such as Kharg Island or Ras Tanura or Abqaiq.

Because, then -- we can reopen the strait eventually and flows can resume, but if there's physical damage to some of these facilities, it'll take a lot longer to recover.

SANCHEZ: There seems to be an effort by Iran as well to attack U.S. currency in a way. And I want to get your thoughts on that, because an Iranian security force official confirmed that Tehran is working with eight countries outside the Middle East to grant safe passage to oil traded in Chinese currency.

Do you have a sense of which those eight countries might be and how a deal like this might impact markets and the U.S. dollar?

MCNALLY: Well, so Iran is just showing that it has control. It's flaunting its dominance. It can hit ships and then decide which ones to leave.

And I think it's mainly aimed at pleasing China there. China has long desired to see the yuan used in more transactions, at the expense of the dollar. So other big countries that depend on the Gulf, India, other Asian countries, maybe even South Korea and Japan. I don't think that will happen.

And so what the Iranians are saying is, hey, if you stop using the dollar and start using the yuan from our friends in China, we will be happy to let your ships out. Now, I don't think many are going to go for that. China's yuan is not convertible. It's not an attractive international asset for a lot of reasons.

However, it just shows that Iran's sort of almost taunting the United States with comments like that. I don't think it's too meaningful. I don't think it's going to happen. But it's a sort of a taunting and demonstrating there who controls the strait for now.

SANCHEZ: Interesting.

Bob McNally, thanks so much for sharing your expertise.

MCNALLY: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: So, Israel says it's killed another high-ranking Iranian leader, as we learn the U.S. is now dropping 5,000-pound bombs along the Strait of Hormuz to target missile sites that are deep underground.

The latest on the war when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)