Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Amos Hochstein is Interviewed Gas Prices; Democrats Possible Control of Senate; Beat Blockers for Heart Patients; A.I. Reshaping Shopping. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired March 30, 2026 - 09:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:30:25]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: We continue to follow the breaking news this morning. Oil prices rising once again as Iran and Washington are issuing new threats at each other. Tehran continues, is now vowing to retaliate ahead of a possible ground invasion by the U.S. And just this morning, President Trump is now warning that the United States will attack all of Iran's electric plants and, as he puts it, oil wells if a deal to end the war is not reached and the Strait of Hormuz is not reopened.

Let's take a look at these benchmarks right now. Brent crude, the global benchmark, climbed to $116.50 a barrel overnight. Now you see it falling slightly there. WTI, the U.S. benchmark, is trading still above $100 a barrel. The International Energy Agency is calling the closure of the Strait of Hormuz now the biggest oil shock in history.

With rising oil prices comes rising gas prices, of course. The national average is now sitting at $3.99 a gallon. Analysts are estimating that brent crude could now reach $200 a barrel if the war continues through the end of June. That would equal an average of $7 per gallon for Americans filling up their tanks, which is just part of this whole equation of the shock to the global energy supply.

Let's talk about this. Joining me now is Amos Hochstein, the former senior advisor to President Joe Biden, who knows very much specifically about energy security around the world.

It's great to see you again. Thanks for being here.

You have already declared this is the greatest energy supply shock in modern history. The administration continues to suggest that as soon as they strike a deal, which is a big if, of course, that there would be a positive shock to the global economy. But my question really is, Amos, when you're looking at how long this has been going on, the longer this goes on, it means what, in your view?

AMOS HOCHSTEIN, MANAGING PARTNER, TWG GLOBAL: Well, Kate, it's good to be with you this morning.

Yes, I said a couple weeks ago, or soon after the war started, if the strait's closed, it will be the greatest shock because it takes time for things to -- for this kind of a shock to play out into the market because people have storage capacity and -- so you don't really feel it. But now we're so far into it that you're starting to feel it.

So, as you said, consumers are feeling gasoline price pinch with $4 a gallon today in -- on average, which means some are getting it a lot more than that. Diesel prices are going up dramatically in the United States and around the world, which means that our food and all the stuff that we -- that comes to us on a truck, whether it's from an Amazon delivery truck or through our shopping, is all going to go up in the next several days and weeks. And all -- a lot and fertilizer and all kinds of other chemicals.

What happens when you have a disruption is that when it goes on for a while, when you turn it back on, it's not like flipping the switch and the light goes back on. You now have to start restarting all the production of the oil, the restarting of the production of the gas. Then you have to refine it. Then you have to deliver it. So, it will take a while for that to enter into the market.

We have some airports that -- around the world that may run out of jet fuel in the coming days, and planes will have to be grounded. So, this gets --

BOLDUAN: Wait, full stop. Like, airports are going to run out of jet you're saying?

HOCHSTEIN: Full stop. In about a week or so there will be airports around the world that will run out completely. And we're already seeing it because airports -- some airports in the world are restricting how many flights can take off. So, in some Asian countries, we're seeing them limiting the amount of flights already in order not to get to the point where they run out.

BOLDUAN: Qatar -- this is real -- separate but very related. I wanted to ask you about this. Qatar has condemned today an apparent attack by Iran on a desalination plant in Kuwait. Earlier this month Bahrain said an Iranian drone had damaged a desalination plant there. President Trump, for the first time, I believe, just this morning, is now threatening to launch U.S. strikes on Iran's desalination plants if they don't come to the table and reach a deal. If this becomes strategy, what is this going to do?

HOCHSTEIN: Well, first, I think this is a -- we have two messages coming out. Either we're very close to a deal or we're threatening to take oil wells, bomb oil wells and bomb desalination plant. Doesn't sound like we're very close to a deal.

Iran does not rely on desalinization of water from -- for a significant portion of its water. They have a lot of other water resources. But the -- but the Arabian gulf countries, they do. There are certain cities, major cities in the gulf, that if you take out the desalinization, will have to evacuate the cities. There will be no water.

[09:35:09]

So, it's an asymmetric in the wrong direction. If you attack -- now, Iran committed a war crime by attacking a water desalination plant. We should probably not do the same because it will open -- I fear that it would open the door for them to escalate that tactic back. And that's not a good thing for any of our allies.

BOLDUAN: Let me -- speaking of escalation, the Houthis, the Yemen- based Iran-backed militia, they have now entered the fight, which now has a lot of people talking about another critical shipping channel is now in danger. If the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait between Yemen and Africa gets effectively shut down, which is what they've suggested they could start attacking, what happens to this greatest energy supply shock in modern history then?

HOCHSTEIN: Well, exactly, Kate. Houthis get into the war, but really lightly. They attacked the south of Israel with a few missiles. Not very many. And not to great effect, because Israel was able to easily shoot them down.

But if they start shooting where they did before a couple years back and they shut down the Bab-el-Mandeb, what it means is that you're starting to choke all the different avenues from the region. So, even if you're able to get around the Strait of Hormuz, but you cannot go through the Bab-el-Mandeb, that will restrict things further, make them either not navigable at all, or delay and take longer to get through. And every day of delay costs more money. So, any product that's on those ships, whether its oil or container ships, now gets more expensive. When ships take longer to voyage, they also mean they're not available as often because they reach destinations later so they can't turn around. So, the whole system is getting bogged down.

This started as a crisis in Asia because of how reliant they were on the Middle East. It's now spreading to Europe, where jet fuel prices are now double the price they were a month ago. Double. And they will run out of fuel. And then it's already starting to come to the United States.

Any American that is thinking about traveling this spring and summer is going to have a rude awakening if they haven't bought their tickets yet. Those plane tickets are going to cost a lot more money. And it's going to take a long time for that to happen.

And there's one other point, Kate, that you have to always think about. When you get so tight, like in the United States, where we're almost self-reliant, we're not really, any one accident can take us off kilter. And last week there was an accident at the Valero refinery in Texas that took out a significant part of the facility. Accidents like that will now hurt us and hurt our ability, because we don't have the ability to then import anything from outside, because it will cost a fortune. So we're living on a knife's edge in the U.S. economy itself on relying on no accidents and the ability to resolve this. So, if it doesn't get resolved quickly, the next week will be very, very difficult. BOLDUAN: You literally took the words out of my mouth, it sounds like

we're living on a knife's edge is exactly what I was just about to say.

Amos, thank you so much for coming in. I really appreciate it.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right a possible big change to one of the most common treatments for heart attack. A new study raises questions about beta blockers.

And even if you have already seen it, you need to watch again. The most stunning end, I think, to a college tournament game ever.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:43:09]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right, this morning, you don't have to listen very closely to hear Democrats talking about the Senate. The whispers are getting louder. Could Democrats take back the Senate? A year ago it seemed like it was an impossible task. What about now?

With us, CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten.

They need to gain quite a number of seats. What are the prediction markets saying about whether it can be done?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Yes, I've never whispered once in my life, John Berman. But, look, the voices are getting louder and louder and louder. They may be, in fact, a Festivus miracle for Democrats because just take a look at the Kalshi prediction market. This is the Dems chances to win 2026 Senate races. And these are all GOP held seats.

Look at this, in North Carolina, what are we looking at? Roy Cooper, the Democratic nominee there, an 84 percent chance. In Maine, could they knock off Susan Collins? That, of course, was a state won by Kamala Harris, a 71 percent chance there. Alaska. Alaska, which hasn't, in fact, elected a Democrat to the Senate since 2008, a 56 percent chance there. And then Sherrod Brown, the very likely Democratic nominee, a 54 percent chance in Ohio. Of course, Sherrod Brown was knocked off back in 2024. But he -- I will note, he was re- elected during a Trump midterm back in 2018.

BERMAN: OK, so if this were to hold, if the prediction markets were to be right and go four for four here, what would that mean for the U.S. Senate?

ENTEN: If Democrats pulled off the Festivus miracle and went four for four, with the Kalshi prediction market says, hey, is a real possibility, look at this, they would, in fact, get to 51 Senate seats. You win up in Maine, OK? You win in Ohio. You win in North Carolina. And you win the big state of Alaska, which we got all the way back, what, in 1867. It's so large. That would, in fact, get you to 51 Senate seats. So, you know, it was something that was whispering about, but like me, getting louder and louder and louder.

BERMAN: OK. And one of the reasons is maybe how the president is doing in some of these states.

[09:45:01]

ENTEN: Yes, OK. So, what are we talking about here? Well, let's take a look at Alaska, North Carolina, Ohio. Let's take the aggregate totals in all of them.

Look, back in the 2024 election, across those three, Trump won by seven points. But look at his net approval rating now. His net approval rating, way down. He's no longer popular in these states. He's at ten points underwater. So, all of a sudden you're thinking to yourself, hey, you know what, these are Trump won states, but he's no longer popular. He has become quite unpopular. And the other little nugget I'll note is, you know what, we said four for four, but there is a fifth possibility because you got a Texas backup, right? Choice for Texas senate, James Talarico versus John Cornyn. Cornyn's only up by a point. Ken Paxton only up by two. So, maybe you lose in a state like Alaska, but, hey, you get (ph) some (ph) into Texas and still get to 51 for Dems. So, it's not so much of a longshot, at least anymore.

BERMAN: Not at -- certainly not as long as it was, which is why those whispers from others --

ENTEN: Have become loud.

BERMAN: Thank you very much, Harry Enten.

ENTEN: Thank you.

BERMAN: We got a lot of news. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:50:33]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: For decades it's been standard treatment. You have a heart attack. You're prescribed a beta blocker. But now the medical community is stepping back and some doctors are asking, are beta blockers always necessary?

CNN health reporter Jacqueline Howard joining us now.

Why is this being questioned now? Because it really was the standard of care.

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: That's right, Sara. And in many cases, when patients are prescribed beta blockers after a heart attack, it's a lifelong prescription. But the reason why that's now being questioned is there's more research showing it may not be necessary for everyone. And just this morning, moments ago, a new study published showing that it could be safe to discontinue beta blockers in the long term. This study looked at more than 2,000 patients in South Korea. Some of the patients were asked to continue taking their beta blockers. This is after they were already taking them for a year. Some were asked to discontinue taking them after a year. All of these patients did have a history of heart attack, and they were all in stable condition.

But the researchers found after about three years went by, the patients who stopped taking the beta blockers, they did not appear to be at an increased risk of having another heart attack, being hospitalized for heart failure, or, sadly, even dying, compared with the patients in the other group who did continue them. You see there on the screen, about seven percent of patients who stopped the medications did experience one of those tragic events, having a heart attack or dying, nine percent in the group that continued the medications also experienced one of those tragic events of having a heart attack, being hospitalized or dying. So, this shows there really is no increased risk.

Now, we often know, Sara, people will stop a medication if it costs too much, or if there are significant side effects. With beta blockers, they are generally affordable and the side effects are mild. But this study just adds to the conversation of maybe what's good for one patient may not necessarily be optimal for the other, and so it's important to have a conversation with your doctor, Sara.

SIDNER: That is always the key.

Jacqueline Howard, thank you so much.

John.

BERMAN: All right, this morning, a growing number of retailers have been racing to develop A.I. tools to enhance the consumer experience.

CNN's Hadas Gold has been shopping along with your new A.I. best friends. These are like A.I. personal shoppers.

HADAS GOLD, CNN A.I. CORRESPONDENT: they are A.I. personal assistants.

BERMAN: And you've gone all in.

GOLD: Yes. And so, the retail landscape is shifting from search engine optimization to agent optimization, where people are -- businesses are building their websites to optimize it for an A.I. agent who will be shopping on our behalf. And this is really where we're headed. When people think about artificial intelligence, they still think of the ChatGPT chatbot.

But what's really happening is the shift to A.I. agents. And these are agents that will act on your behalf. Think of giving something to a personal assistant. They can complete multiple tasks on your behalf. You just say, hey, go do my grocery shopping for me. They have a list. They go do it. A.I. agents can do this today. And so, I wanted to show you guys where we are now, to show you that

where we are with these tools that consumers can use today to give you an idea of what the future might look like where everybody is using an A.I. agent to do shopping for them.

So, what I have here is I have on my Google Chrome browser a Claude extension. Claude is from Anthropic. It lives on my browser and it can take over my browser, just like if you ever had like a tech help, like a guy remotely operating your computer on your behalf. This does the same thing.

So, here I am. I'm going to go and I'm going to tell Claude to go to Whole Foods, get me a gallon of milk and two dozen eggs for pickup today from the upper west side location. And you're going to see how it's able to work and how it's able to do this for me. And it's first going to ask for permission before it does anything. So, you give it permission. None of what you're seeing on screen right now, I typed, I clicked, I did none of that. This is the A.I. agent working on my behalf, selecting things. I could have also given it specifications. I could have said, find me the cheapest milk. Find me the best reviewed milk. I've gone on to sephora.com and had me -- had it find for me the best moisturizer per the number of reviews.

BERMAN: That's what I would use it for.

GOLD: And it will set it all up for you.

Now, in this example, I keep it very simple. I'm just doing milk and some eggs. I could have given it a whole list of 20, 30 even more items with specifications, and it would have put them all into my basket for me.

And now Anthropic has a safety mechanism. It will not complete a financial transaction on your behalf. It wants you to click "buy." That's just for protection. It could. It has the capability to do that for you.

[09:55:01]

And eventually we will get to a point where these A.I. agents will be completing full financial transactions for you. You will get up in the morning. You will type into your A.I. agent, do my grocery shopping for me, pick up my kid's birthday present with these specifications. It will do it for you in the background. And at the end of the day you will have it all done and ready for you. And so, I think that's really important for people to realize where this is going.

And this is something that you can start playing with today. You can install this. It does cost money. But you can install this and start working with it today and getting to understand, it can do things like optimize your email inbox. I've had it go through and say, go through my inbox, find --

BOLDUAN: Wait, I'm listening now.

SIDNER: Tell me what trash is. GOLD: No, it'll -- you'll say like, find me an email that I have not

-- find me, you know, a sender who I've not opened their emails in more than three months. Delete all of them for me and unsubscribe from that email.

SIDNER: Wow.

GOLD: And it will do so for you in the background. So, think of these rote tasks that would take you hours to do just clicking through. And an A.I. agent can do it for you.

And what's more important other than just it's going to save us time, it's going to change shopping and change, you know, shopping online and change businesses.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

SIDNER: I'm just saying you're getting to shop at work and I'm a little jealous, but I am -- I'm going to do the delete email thing. If I don't reply, my bad.

BERMAN: I mean that never happens. We never shop at work. You've never shopped at work ever.

BOLDUAN: Not. Look over.

BERMAN: Hadas, this is fascinating.

SIDNER: It's really interesting.

BERMAN: And I do think this is obviously something we have to pay a lot of attention to because it does raise a whole ton of questions.

SIDNER: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Wow.

BERMAN: Thank you so much. A great demonstration.

SIDNER: Thank you so much.

BOLDUAN: That's, Hadas.

Thank you all so much for joining us.

CNN -- this is CNN NEWS CENTRAL. "THE SITUATION ROOM" is up next.

(CROSS TALK)

BERMAN: I got to go finish shopping.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)