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Trump To Other Nations: "Go Get Your Own Oil" From Strait Of Hormuz; TSA Workers Facing Financial Struggles As They Receive Overdue Pay; Pfizer Seeking Approval Of Vaccine As Lyme Disease Risk Grows. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired March 31, 2026 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Almost no oil has passed out over the last month and without that, oil prices around the world have been rising.

Now, The Wall Street Journal reports this morning that President Trump is considering ending the war without reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

And just moments ago President Trump put out a statement on social media that doesn't exactly contradict that report.

The president wrote, "All of those countries that can't get jet fuel because of the Strait of Hormuz -- like the United Kingdom, which refused to get involved in the decapitation of Iran -- I have a suggestion for you. Number one, buy from the U.S. We have plenty.

And number two, build up some delayed courage, go to the strait, and just take it. You'll have to start learning how to fight for yourself. The USA won't be there to help you anymore, just like you weren't there for us. Iran has been, essentially, decimated. The hard part is done. Go get your own oil!" And then it's signed "President DJT."

All right, let's get right to CNN senior national -- chief national security analyst Jim Sciutto who is in Tel Aviv this morning. Jim, it's a pretty remarkable statement from the president, which almost seems to confirm that he's considering leaving the Strait of Hormuz to somebody else.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well John, you see a great shifting of the responsibility there, right, to solve a problem that didn't exist before the war -- that is the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. President Trump, after raising the possibility of forcing it open, threatening Iran in various ways, positioning forces in this region to take it by force as well as Iran's oil facilities on Kharg Island, he is now saying in so many words not our problem.

Now, the president could change his mind again. He's changed his mind multiple times in his public statements since the start of this war. But it at least appears to be laying the rhetorical groundwork to end the war, declare victory perhaps, but without solving that key problem which is now causing major, major global economic implications, including for America's allies, particularly those in Asia that depend on oil from here.

Meanwhile, the pace of attacks on Iran has not slowed down. Overnight, reports that the U.S. used a massive bunker buster bomb on an ammunition depot in Isfahan. The pictures of that explosion just enormous.

Iran is at least claiming of a strike at or near a desalination plant, crucial in this part of the world because they use those plants to get drinkable water as do many Gulf allies. Now, President Trump raised the prospect of such strikes, but we don't have any confirmation from U.S. or Israeli officials that they indeed struck such a site. It is Iran claiming that at this point.

So the pace of the war continues. Iran's facilities and capabilities certainly impacted.

But I'll tell you once again John -- and you and I have talked about this virtually every day -- here in Tel Aviv we continue to see Iranian missiles get through Israeli defenses. In fact, just this morning one of these cluster munitions came through and one of the explosive devices landed about 100 yards in this direction. We saw -- we saw emergency services responding.

So the many fronts of this war remain active. President Trump seems to be laying the groundwork, at least rhetorically, for a pullback.

BERMAN: Yeah, that's so interesting the way you put that. Laying the rhetorical groundwork, maybe, to leave without opening the Strait of Hormuz.

Jim Sciutto in Tel Aviv this morning. Thank you very much for that report -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And let's talk about just this right now.

Joining us right now is Congresswoman Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, the second-ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives. Congresswoman, thank you so much for being here.

Let's start where John and Jim just left off with what is the newest statement from the President of the United States. We can put it up once again. I don't need to read it back in full.

But essentially saying -- calling out the U.K. Also, later in a subsequent social media post, calling out France. And saying essentially, "If you're running out of jet fuel, buy from the U.S. And number two, build up some delayed courage, go to the strait, and just take it. You'll have to start learning how to fight for yourself. The USA won't be there to help anymore."

What do you think the president is saying here? What do you read to this?

REP. KATHERINE CLARK (D-MA): You know, we have heard so much from this president except what is the clear reason we got into this war, what are the objectives, and what is the exit strategy. So now we are supposed to understand from him that he went into this

war. Took the American people, our sons and daughters, into this war without a clear objective. The Strait of Hormuz was closed, spiking gas prices at the pump to over $4.00 a -- you know, average across the country. And now he's saying we're going to pull out of there, leaving the strait closed? I mean, what is this?

[07:35:00]

And it is -- it is so irresponsible and such a dangerous position that he has put the United States in. And instead of leaving -- telling us what the strategy is and how we get out of this, he is blaming it on allies who were not consulted before he made this war of choice.

BOLDUAN: Does -- that also seems to speak to reporting that has also come out. The Wall Street Journal reporting that the president -- the way they write it is, "The president has told aides he is willing to end the U.S. military campaign against Iran even if the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed, which would then likely extend Tehran's firm grip on the waterway leaving a complex operation to reopen it for a later date."

And that the reporting from the Journal is that he'd be OK with taking out the Navy, which they seem to -- the military seems to have largely done -- and also missile stockpiles, and then begin to withdraw and try to leave it then for diplomatic talks to somehow end the war.

CLARK: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: Would you support that? If he states that is the now end game of this war, would you support that?

CLARK: You know, what I would support is for this president, for once, to put the American people first. He took them into this war. He is now proposing to pay for this war with further cuts to their health care. He's put a further strain on this by jokes (PH).

BOLDUAN: This is him saying how we're leaving the war. What do you say to that?

CLARK: Well, let's have him, for once, lay it out for the American people. What is the exit strategy? How do you make sure the American people are safe? What are our national security interests? How are -- do you make sure you are leading with those?

I don't -- I have heard nothing from the White House about any kind of exit strategy. They owe the American people that. But what they are willing to do is use the American people and their opportunity, and they are telling us over and over they are not making it in this economy.

And if he leaves that region with the strait closed and says we'll deal with that some other day, what does that do to small businesses? What does that do to the American family who are seeing this additional spike in costs that he's already put on them with tariffs, by taking away their health care, soaring housing, grocery, and utility costs?

And so this is a mess of his own making that he must come to a rational exit strategy.

BOLDUAN: And so many American people that you're speaking to are also additionally suffering right now, which would be TSA workers, which would be other DHS federal workers who are still not getting paid. The problem though we are seeing backpay showing up in bank accounts for some TSA workers. We're seeing security lines getting shorter at airports across the country.

The problem is not fixed. And in light of that it's still a mess of Congress' making that has still not been fixed.

And the head of TMZ has taken it upon himself to essentially put a call out to the public to call all of you out for leaving Washington while this mess is still in place.

Let me play what Harvey Levin has said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARVEY LEVIN, FOUNDER, TMZ: And the point of this is to show how fed up the American people are -- because we are. And this -- it's so insulting that they are -- you know, the Republicans blame the Democrats. Lindsey Graham was quick to say it's the Democrats' fault. No, it's both your faults because two sides have to come together to compromise. They are unable to do it.

And yeah, one can blame the other, but the bottom line is you've got to figure out how to do it in order to run government, and they haven't done it. And not only have they not done it, they just threw up their hands and said we're leaving.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Lindsey Graham was seen photographed in Disney. You were -- I saw a video. You were tracked and filmed walking through an airport leaving Washington. Respond to the criticism.

TSA workers have had their lives upended. People have missed family moments because they've been stuck in four-hour-long lines at airport security and missed their flights. And you all could not miss a two- week recess. Respond to that.

CLARK: We should be in Washington today. I agree with everything he just said.

And what did we get to? We got to a bipartisan agreement. There is one segment of Congress that wouldn't come and take a step forward to agreeing to put TSA workers --

BOLDUAN: Um-hum.

CLARK: -- put Coast Guard, FEMA, our cybersecurity, those working at our ports and in customs first, and pay them for the work they are doing -- and that's House Republicans. Unanimous in the Senate, Republicans and Democrats. That is what the people are hungry for -- for us to come together --

[07:40:05]

BOLDUAN: But people are just also feeling like you guys just don't get it. I mean, over and over again. This is not the first shutdown that they've been dealing with. And at some point, this will get fixed. How much pain will be felt and how that lingers is unclear.

But going forward -- like, do you support the idea -- I've seen some efforts, they've never gone through. It's like the conversation of term limits. Everyone wants it but it's never going to happen. That members of Congress should not also -- should also not get paid if there is a shutdown or there is a default.

Do you, like, at some point, feel the pain the people are feeling?

CLARK: Yeah, and I do feel the pain that people are feeling, and I hear it every single place that I go in my district. And this is a hardship. And what we want to do is come together and actually govern, and there is one segment of Congress that rejected that this week and then sent us home. And then sent us home. So, of course, people are angry. Of course, they are.

And it's -- you know, the TSA workers have this public facing problem, so Americans see them.

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

CLARK: But there are so many other workers at DHS that need to be paid. We have made the proposal to open up every part of DHS. We already know that ICE and border patrol are being paid.

BOLDUAN: Right.

CLARK: What we said is not an additional dime for them until they act like every other police department and have common sense reforms. But we were willing to say those negotiations will be ongoing as DHS reopens. That has been rejected by the Republicans and using these workers as political pawns.

BOLDUAN: And something's got to give. Hopefully, it gives soon.

Thank you for coming in. I appreciate your time.

CLARK: Thanks, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. As they were just talking about, tens of thousands of TSA workers have begun trying to regain some sense of normalcy this morning. The financial pain they are feeling though isn't over. This even though yesterday, backpay finally began flowing into the bank accounts of TSA employees. Sixty-one thousand TSA workers missed two full paychecks and a partial

paycheck during the partial government shutdown, which is still ongoing. DHS has said it is still working on sending the balance of that partial check and it's unclear if TSA workers will receive their next paycheck in two weeks.

Joining us now is Tatiana Finlay, a TSA officer and union representative.

We talked to you just last week. When you told us that you had to skip meals so that your children were able to be fed it stunned us. It really stunned us all. Now that you are getting paid do you feel the relief or are you still in a hole because of how long this went on that you're still struggling? And is it the same for other TSA workers, too?

TATIANA FINLAY, TSA OFFICER, UNION REPRESENTATIVE (via Webex by Cisco): Uh, for us -- I mean, in my household we feel a little bit of a relief but now we're just trying to play catchup. So now we're having to, you know, make sure that we use our -- whatever we received to pay the April expenses in case no more payment comes our way after this.

The idea of the memorandum though signed by the president is that we should continue receiving payment because it shifted our status to exempted employees, but we're still on the fear that can be rescinded and then we're right back in that never-ending cycle of not getting paid.

SIDNER: Look, this is a complicated thing going on where President Trump actually helped you all get paid, right, but he also helped tanked a bill that could have passed. House Republicans tanked a bill that the Senate unanimously voted on for funding DHS. And now Republicans and Democrats have left Congress for recess without making an agreement to fund DHS still.

So I guess the question to you is who do you see as -- to blame for the mess that you and so many other thousands of families are in?

FINLAY: It's both parties. There is no single person to be blamed. I think it's every single one of our elected officials who are over in Washington -- oh well, they're now in either recess or back in their districts. It is -- it is their fault. They should be working towards getting a resolution to get the federal workers who are impacted by this shutdown paid.

[07:45:00]

SIDNER: Yeah. There's lots of other workers -- the Coast Guard -- yeah.

FINLAY: Because currently, as it seems --

SIDNER: Go ahead.

FINLAY: Yeah. Currently, as it seems -- I mean, we got some type of relief by getting a paycheck but even now most of the officers -- many of my colleagues didn't even receive the two pay periods that were supposed to be paid. Many of them ended up just getting a partial pay because now they're also facing consequences for not being able to show up to work and those consequences are attached to disciplinary actions.

They were unable to show up to work because they didn't have the money to put gas in their car or pay their babysitter. And these are, you know, long-lasting effects of not being paid. Now they're having to have another financial, you know, problems that they may not recover from.

SIDNER: Wait, it sounds like you said that they are getting punished for not being at work. Is that a threat of being fired or some other kind of disciplinary punishment?

FINLAY: So many of the grievances that we've heard from our officers is that they received a check, but it wasn't complete. Many of them were given hours of absence without leave, and absence without leave -- it's attached to disciplinary action, and it could put their jobs in jeopardy.

SIDNER: Wow. There is a lot going on. I am sorry to hear that and the struggles that you and your family have been through as well. We'll keep in touch with you to see how this all plays out. I do appreciate it, Tatiana -- John.

BERMAN: All right. New this morning a possible vaccine for Lyme disease. Cases of the tickborne illness -- they are growing. It affects nearly 500,000 people a year, including me. Pfizer says it plans to seek approval for a vaccine but getting it through may not be so simple. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., of course, has questioned vaccines even as he vows to fight Lyme disease.

CNN medical correspondent Meg Tirrell is with us on this. You know, half my house has had Lyme disease, including me. It's really everywhere.

MEG TIRRELL CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: No, it's everywhere John and it's getting even more prevalent.

So this is a look at cases. So this is where we are now. We're going to go back to the beginning here, 2002. So this is a disease, of course, that is spread by these ticks. They're called blacklegged ticks. If we look about 20 years ago you can see the concentration in the Northeast, in the north central parts of the United States.

But if you look over the years this starts --

BERMAN: Wow.

TIRRELL: -- to grow. These ticks are growing into new areas as they get warmer. They support the tick season --

BERMAN: Wow. TIRRELL: -- and they can bite for longer so that allows them to get their blood meals, which is so gross, and they can spread Lyme disease.

So you can see this is where we were in 2023.

As you noted John, 476,000 estimated diagnoses and treatments for Lyme disease in the United States every year. This is CDC estimates based on insurance data.

The symptoms, of course, that sort of classic bullseye rash. But only about 70 to 80 percent of people actually get that rash and so you have to be aware of potential tick bites and other symptoms -- fever, fatigue, chills. And, of course, if it's untreated it can be really devastating, affecting your joints and causing arthritis. Getting to other parts of the body as well. And so when we're talking about Lyme disease that's the characteristic rash that folks get.

And as you noted, a lot of people deal with this --

BERMAN: Yeah.

TIRRELL: -- and we don't have a vaccine.

BERMAN: Yeah. Didn't have the rash, did have the symptoms, and then ultimately got tested for it.

So what's the word on the vaccine?

TIRRELL: Right. So there is a vaccine that we just heard about last week from Pfizer and its partner Valneva. They are saying they're applying for regulatory approval now.

They had a phase three study, but the results weren't a clear home run. They essentially said they missed one statistical bar in the study. They met another. They're confident enough in those results they're going to proceed.

Four doses of this vaccine given over two seasons, 75 percent effective in reducing cases of Lyme disease.

But there is a complicated history in our country of Lyme disease vaccines. We actually had one that was approved in 1998, but it was pulled from the market in 2002 because the maker, GSK, said it had low use. And that one was three doses and about the same efficacy. After it got on the market though people were concerned it caused arthritis. Experts say there was no evidence it actually did cause arthritis, but lawsuits piled up. It was pulled off the market in 2002.

So now we're in a situation where we have a Department of Health and Human Services secretary who is not a big fan in past of vaccines. He's totally upended our vaccine policy and infrastructure. But he's really committed to Lyme disease. He held a roundtable in December about it. He says he's had it. His entire family has had it. So we're going to see what the path for this vaccine is going to be.

BERMAN: Yeah. We'll see what the science says on this.

Meg Tirrell, really interesting. Thanks so much for that.

TIRRELL: Thank you.

BERMAN: Kate.

BOLDUAN: Flames shooting out of a Delta plane engine and video of passengers calling for the pilot to turn around.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DELTA PASSENGER: Turn around! Turn around! Turn around!

(Screaming)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[07:50:00]

BOLDUAN: My goodness.

And $10 million worth of art stolen in three minutes. News of another huge museum heist.

(COMMERCIAL)

BOLDUAN: New strikes overnight in Iran and neighboring Gulf nations, and it's not just threatening oil anymore. It could also have a major impact on AI.

Last spring President Trump toured Gulf States -- you're looking at video of it here -- with big tech CEOs pushing for the region to jump into the global AI race.

Now critical data centers, some of the backbone of AI -- they're being hit by Iranian strikes in this war.

CNN's Lisa Eadicicco has much more on this and is tracking this. What are you learning about what this could mean?

LISA EADICICCO, CNN TECH EDITOR: So I think, you know, what you're saying here is that there's a lot of questions that are being raised about the future of these massive investments in AI that we've been seeing in the Middle East, which has really been shaping up to be a big hub for AI. Data center spending in that region is way up -- up 70 percent in 2025 compared to the previous year.

[07:55:10]

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

EADICICCO: But I think, you know, what I'm hearing from analysts is that it really depends on how long the war lasts. If this is something that manages to get resolved in a matter of weeks it might not have a huge impact, especially because a lot of these new projects that were announced, like the ones that you mentioned that Trump helped broker, might not even be in development yet, right --

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

EADICICCO: -- because those are brand new.

But the bigger impact based on the analysts that I've spoken to is not even necessarily just the potential physical threat to this infrastructure as we've seen earlier this month, but what the economic impacts of the war could mean for tech spending.

That is something that I think a lot of analysts are going to be watching for. We're expecting to get a little bit more color about that next month when a lot of these hyperscalers -- these big tech companies report earnings.

BOLDUAN: Um-hum.

EADICICCO: A lot of analysts are going to have questions about how inflation and the rising prices of oil are going to impact their spending plans. So that seems to be the bigger issue.

But, of course, these potential physical threats are something that these companies are not used to dealing with as much, right? They're used to protecting against cyberattacks and things like that but not really physical attacks in this way. So that is going to be challenge and that is something these companies are going to have to think about a lot moving forward it seems.

BOLDUAN: Yeah, a very different type of threat that they're now also having to face down.

It's good to see you, Lisa. Thanks for coming in.

EADICICCO: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: John.

BERMAN: All right. New this morning the Army is investigating after Kid Rock posted video showing Apache helicopters hovering around his Nashville area home. You can see it right there. The longtime Trump supporter posted the video bragging about the Apache -- that it was a sign of respect for him.

Now an official with the 101st Airborne Division said a review is underway to assess the mission and verify compliance with regulations and airspace compliance. CNN has reached out to Kid Rock's representatives for comment.

So this morning not something you want to see just after takeoff. Passengers there on this Delta flight from Sao Paulo to Atlanta spotted flames coming from the plane -- again, just after takeoff. They started screaming for the plane to turn around. The pilots were able to land back safely. Delta said it was a mechanical issue involving the engine that caused the fire there.

And word this morning that thieves in Italy made off with three paintings worth millions of dollars. The paintings -- the artists, we should say, like in the pantheon of all-time greats -- Cezanne, Renoir, Matisse. These paintings now on the move -- on the run somewhere. Officials say the heist took just three minutes. No arrests have been made. We are told as of now the museum remains open -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Thank you, John.

Happening today, the son of a Hawaii doctor accused of trying to kill his wife on a birthday hike may take the stand at his father's attempted murder trial. Prosecutors say the defendant called his teenage son shortly after the attack.

Jurors saw this graphic body camera footage of the defendant's wife bleeding as bystanders rushed to help her. You see her there.

DNA evidence from that day taking center stage in court and CNN's Jean Casarez watching all of this unfold.

What are you learning? First of all, what have you been hearing from this trial and what are you learning will happen going forward?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this was supposed to be a birthday celebration. They had been having marital issues -- serious marital issues. She had been -- it's not contested. She had been having an emotional affair with a coworker. They'd gone through counseling.

They lived on Maui. They flew to Honolulu -- a little bit out of Honolulu -- the Pali Puka Trail. And it's a very steep trail and that is where all of this happened.

But the prosecution's case is winding down. We believe they could close their case either today or tomorrow. We'll see. There is going to be a witness -- we believe an older son. He was in his teens -- about 19 -- from his first marriage of the defendant -- take the stand. His father contacted him on Facetime right after this happened and confessed to him. The defense, I think, will turn that around.

Now what is the defense because it's going to be the defense turn sooner or later?

SIDNER: Right.

CASAREZ: It's self-defense. It's that I wanted this to be a wonderful hike and all of a sudden, she turned on me and I had to fight to save my life. And there's the cliff and one person is going to go over, and I had to save myself. So we've got to see where that goes. But that means the defendant most likely will take the stand.

And I heard an oral argument. They talked about him taking the stand outside of the presence of the jury. So when you have self-defense, you've got to tell your story, right?

But it was all forensics yesterday. Let's look at that very quickly here. First of all, the alleged murder weapon was a rock and that rock was

front and center in that courtroom. And there it is right there. And the prosecution and Arielle, the victim -- the alleged victim is testifying that rock was what Gerhardt used to hit her head over and over and over again. And we know from the emergency room physician the skull was split open.