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Oil Prices Soaring as War with Iran Enters 20th Day; Officials: Thousands More U.S. Marines Deploying to Middle East; ABC Cancels New Season of The Bachelorette. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired March 20, 2026 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: As the war with Iran enters day 20 and gas prices surge in the U.S., we're learning new details about how the war is economically impacting countries across the globe. The war in Iran has delivered what economists call a "Black Swan Event", an unforeseen shock so destructive no one is immune from it. The impact is especially significant in Asian countries that rely on oil that travels through the Strait of Hormuz.

In Pakistan, the government has shut schools for two weeks. India is rationing natural gas supplies for manufacturers. South Korea imposed its first wholesale fuel price cap last week, its first in 30 years.

[14:35:00]

Thailand ordered some officials to work from home. And the Philippines has instituted a four-day work week. For Europeans, this energy shock feels uncomfortably familiar. Although the EU buys most of its liquefied natural gas from the United States, the loss of Qatari supplies is driving up global prices.

Consumer price inflation in the European Union, which stood at 2 percent in January, could rise by more than a percentage point if the conflict drags on for several months -- Boris.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: CNN has learned that the U.S. military is sending thousands of additional Marines and sailors to the Middle East. And that major development is coming as the Trump administration is expected to ask Congress for $200 billion to help fund the war, the president calling that a small price to pay.

Let's discuss with Dana Stroul. She's a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East. Dana, did I say it right?

DANA STROUL, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT DEFENSE SECRETARY FOR THE MIDDLE EAST: You got it.

SANCHEZ: Dana, Dana. Sometimes it gets tough.

So as the White House requests this $200 billion from Congress, we're anticipating that it's going to come. How long would that kind of money last? Where do you think it would go? STROUL: Well, we've apparently blown through tens of billions of dollars only in the first couple days of this war, both missile interceptors, so how to defend against Iranian drones and ballistic missiles across the entire Middle East, but also all of those munitions that the U.S. military is dropping in Iran and then all of the costs of this big deployment. So both for all of our service members, but the cost and wear and tear on our capabilities.

SANCHEZ: Does it give you an indication, this deployment of Marines and Sailors, that this is going to be a more prolonged conflict than the White House and the Pentagon have made -- have expressed?

STROUL: Well, if you listen to what President Trump and military leaders said at the beginning, they talked about four to six weeks. We're now heading into week number four. And we know that these Marines who are sailing on their way to the Middle East won't even arrive for about another week, and then they're going to do whatever they've been ordered to do.

So that is pushing against that six weeks and probably past it.

SANCHEZ: I want to ask about the leadership in Tehran, because most of the leadership, for it to be in place, it requires the approval or the appointment of the Ayatollah. Yet we've not seen the new Ayatollah in public. He put out another written statement today, ostensibly some new photos of him.

We don't know the veracity of those photos. How do you assess Tehran's leadership structure right now and its capabilities?

STROUL: Well, what we know is that the leadership from last summer, from that 12-day war that Israel did with the United States last summer, is the leadership realized that they were too centralized in their decision-making. And in anticipation that there might be fighting again, they decentralized how they were going to order strikes, and they planned in advance. So what we think is happening right now is a lot of these military and civilian leaders, the Israelis, keep taking decapitation strikes.

So they can't gather together. They can't communicate the way they were before, and they're probably scared. And yet we see them continuing to get ballistic missiles and drone strikes off, which tells us that they have a pretty resilient command-and-control system.

SANCHEZ: Would you say that we shouldn't read too much in Mostafa Khamenei not appearing in public?

STROUL: It seems like he is both scared -- if he was appearing in public or he was allowing himself to be videotaped or seen, it would suggest that he wasn't scared of Israeli strikes. So he's probably injured and he doesn't want people to see him with injuries, or he's scared and they're really concerned about his personal security. Either way, that tells us something about the psychology of Iran's leaders right now.

SANCHEZ: Right. I wonder how you see this decapitation strategy playing out, because I want to ask which is more likely, that we get to a point where there is a withdrawal of U.S. forces from the area, or I guess a lessening of the footprint in the Middle East with regime heads still in place, the same regime that's been in power, or that someone takes over in Iran who is more to the West's liking. Which do you think is more likely?

STROUL: Well, first of all, what we've seen with this decapitation strategy is that the replacements are even more hardline, and that those Iranian Revolutionary Guards, the IRGC, who are completely anti- Western and not at all interested in negotiations or de-escalation, are the ones that are ascendant right now in the power structure of Iran. And the question about when the U.S. military stops this is on whose terms? On Iran's terms, or on American terms?

And right now, these guys are digging in and doubling down. It seems like they'd rather have all of Iran and the region burn, rather than saying, OK, we're ready to start negotiating with President Trump.

[14:40:00]

SANCHEZ: Dana Stroul, thank you so much for the perspective, appreciate it.

Still more ahead on CNN NEWS CENTRAL, the power crisis in Cuba leaving millions with little to no access to running water. We have the latest there.

And President Trump's push to abolish the Department of Education, reaching the student loan sector. What it means when we come back?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: The new CNN original series, "STANDOFF, THE FBI POWER AND PARANOIA" explores the complex relationship between FBI directors and the presidents they serve. CNN's Josh Campbell worked for three FBI directors. He has an inside look at that complicated partnership between the Oval Office and the FBI.

[14:45:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KASH PATEL, FBI DIRECTOR: Thanks to your brave leadership and the mandate you were given by the American people to not only defend the homeland but crush violent crime.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is a new era at the FBI.

PATEL: We are thankful for President Trump's steadfast leadership, and this FBI will fearlessly follow in his footsteps.

CAMPBELL (voice-over): One of the nation's premier law enforcement agencies, which once prided itself on strict independence from politicians, now taking shape as the political arm of the president. Director Kash Patel often mirroring Donald Trump's own style with the president's perceived political enemies.

SEN. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): What I am doing is protecting this country and combating the weaponization of intelligence by the likes of you.

CAMPBELL (voice-over): But the history of the Bureau has been marked by frequent clashes with the White House. That intense conflict is the topic of a new CNN original series documentary exploring the fragile and high-risk relationship between FBI directors' past and the presidents they served. As the FBI's quest for independence was pushed to the brink.

JAMES COMEY, FORMER FBI DIRECTOR: It was never going to work between us.

CAMPBELL (voice-over): The president did not trust him.

COMEY: Donald Trump wanted an FBI director who he could count on in the political sense.

LEAH WRIGHT RIGUEUR, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST AND HISTORIAN: You have two men who have radically different visions engaged in a standoff over who is the FBI beholden to.

STEVE CORTES, 2016 TRUMP CAMPAIGN MEDIA SPOKESMAN: James Comey's announcement, it absolutely hurt the Trump campaign, and I believe it was intended to.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: The major development here this evening at the White House, the president of the United States has terminated the director of the FBI, James Comey.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It felt otherworldly.

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: This is just the beginning of a complete change in everything that's going on. I mean, it is seismic.

COMEY: Numbness, confusion, because I really not expected to be fired.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It was a great honor for me to fire, I will tell you this, a great honor to fire James Comey.

COMEY: I often joke on the relationship that Trump can't get over.

LERONE A. MARTIN, RELIGIOUS STUDIES PROFESSOR: To understand the FBI and really to understand the 20th century, American democracy, you have to understand J. Edgar Hoover.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hoover started keeping tabs on anyone he didn't like, and he didn't like a lot of people.

ANDREW MCCABE, FORMER FBI DEPUTY DIRECTOR: He was cunning, tactical, terrorizing, vindictive, secretive, closed off. Yes, he was a tough customer. I'm glad I didn't have to work for him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Louis Freeh had the guideposts of faith and family, and Bill Clinton had the guideposts of position and power. LOUIS FREEH, FORMER FBI DIRECTOR: We're conducting a criminal investigation of the president of the United States. I haven't even unpacked my materials yet.

RIGUEUR: Bill Clinton comes to hate his director of the FBI and the feeling is mutual.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Outside of current issues involving national security concerns that the president of the United States should have little or nothing to do with the FBI.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The FBI has a lot of power and put to the wrong ends. Those capabilities can be devastating.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Our thanks to Josh Campbell for that. And that CNN original series, "STANDOFF, THE FBI, POWER AND PARANOIA", premieres Sunday at 9 p.m. Eastern and Pacific only on CNN -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Now some of the other headlines that we're tracking this afternoon. Residents in Cuba's capital are being forced to line up for water amid ongoing fuel and electricity problems. People have been lining the streets with buckets and containers while others have had to haul the water home by handcart.

Water scarcity has been an issue on the island for years. The recent collapse of the power grid has exacerbated the problem.

Also, the Treasury Department will now be managing federal student loans in default, taking on a key function of the Education Department as the Trump administration further dismantles the agency.

The Education Secretary says the move to Treasury will dramatically improve the loan handling process. Consumer advocates, though, are slamming it, saying it will create more confusion. Treasury is expected to eventually take over all of the Education Department's loans, valued at more than a trillion dollars.

And Nextstar Media Group says it's completed its acquisition of Tegna, uniting two of the largest TV station ownership groups in the country. The deal still faces legal scrutiny, though. Eight state attorneys general have filed an antitrust lawsuit attempting to block the deal.

The state officials, led by California's attorney general, say the merger will hurt consumers by hiking prices and weakening local news coverage. President Trump publicly endorsed this deal last month.

Still ahead, ABC pulling one of its most popular shows right before a new season was set to air. Why the network canceled the new season of The Bachelorette. We'll be right back.

[14:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) KEILAR: Just days before The Bachelorette was set to return to TV, ABC announcing the new season has been canceled. That decision follows controversy surrounding the star of the show, Taylor Frankie Paul.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAYLOR FRANKIE PAUL, BACHELORETTE: For those of you that don't know me, I'm Taylor Frankie Paul, your new bachelorette. I'm so nervous.

I've been criticized, I've been judged, and I've been rejected.

But anyone that takes the time to know me will see that I'm actually a genuine person, and I mean well. And a person that deserves another chance at love.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: ABC says it scrapped the new season after a video showing Paul throwing objects and yelling at her former boyfriend was made public.

[14:55:00]

The footage emerged in the wake of news that Paul is a subject of a separate, ongoing domestic violence investigation in Utah. CNN has not independently verified the authenticity of that footage.

We should note The Bachelorette franchise is produced in part with a division of Warner Brothers, which is, of course, CNN's parent company.

We're joined now by former litigator and entertainment attorney Lisa Bonner. All right, Lisa, this is huge. This is huge, right, to scrap something like this just days before the premiere.

I wonder what you think about what ABC should have realized going into this.

LISA BONNER, FORMER LITIGATOR: Well, good afternoon, Brianna. Well, a couple of things. As a lawyer, I always read the verbiage. Right.

So they said that they are not going to air it at this time. So there is a possibility that they could air this at a later date.

However, getting into what is happening on Sunday, I can say equivocally, unequivocally that this is a disaster of ABC's own making. Right. Taylor appeared in The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, which is a Disney produced show.

And this kerfuffle was featured on a previous season of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. So they knew what they were getting into. That's the first thing.

The second thing is I have represented people who have appeared on The Bachelorette particularly. And I can say without equivocation and 100 percent fact that they do extensive background checks on these people. So they knew what they were getting into. They do background checks. They do health evaluations. They do mental health evaluations.

So this was no surprise what Taylor's background was. And they assumed the risk. They bet on the crossover appeal of her and they lost.

So there's that.

KEILAR: So you think they should have known. So then what really made the difference here? The video.

BONNER: Yes. I believe the video was something that really tip the scales in the favor of not -- deciding not to air it because this was not made public until yesterday. However, this video was a part of the investigation and a part of her probation that was going -- that she was placed on. Was it 2023?

So that had not aired at the time. But when you see the video and you see her hurling metal chairs at her ex-boyfriend, not only that, but in front of her child. That is a bridge too far. I think for even ABC, who prides itself on being a family values network.

So once that footage aired, I do believe that they really had no decision not -- except not to air it at this time.

KEILAR: Could ABC sue Taylor Frankie Paul for breach of contract? Or do you think they knew sort of what had happened? The difference is just the seeing it on tape.

BONNER: Yes, they assumed the risk. And that is a very legal phrase for they knew exactly what they were getting into. They decided to just sweep it under the rug.

All of this stuff was public knowledge. They knew because it came up in the background check. But until you see that video and we've seen the video make a difference right in the Sean Combs investigation.

So once you see the horrific actions that she was involved in, that really -- there was no way that they could air that. So I do think that that was the tipping point for ABC and Disney, that they had to scrap it at this time.

KEILAR: So take us behind the scenes. What are the broad implications of this decision? Because this is a big decision.

BONNER: Yes, it is. Well, the most unfortunate thing is going to be the people in post-production who are actually working on the show. Because from what I understand and my sources tell me that only one episode at this point had been cut and in the can.

And there were up to, I think, maybe three more that were being worked on. So it really depends on what the crew's contracts state. They could have been paid per episode, per project, or pay or play.

But regardless, most of these people who appear on the season of The Bachelorette are protected by IATSE, which is a guild. And the guild does call for them to be paid on work that is performed. So if they have cut one episode or two episodes or three episodes, they will be paid for that.

But I think it was 12 episodes that they were scheduled to air. So they have nine episodes where the crew most likely will not be paid. So that is the most telling implication and the people that will be affected.

Now, the brands will be affected as well. But when you have so-called -- what we call trade-out agreements where a brand like the hotel gives, you know, hosts them ...

END