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War With Iran; Robert Mueller Dies At 81; CNN Investigates Iran's Underground Missile Cities; Gas Prices Surge Across The U.S. Amid Iran War; Catastrophic Hawaii Flooding Forces Evacuations, Puts Dam At Risk. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired March 21, 2026 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:01:06]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. Hi, everyone. I'm Jessica Dean here in New York.

And tonight, Israeli emergency responders are on the scene where a missile landed in Iran. That's a city in southern Israel. Many people injured there. Earlier another attack on the Israeli city of Dimona, that's also in the southern region of the country. It's home to Israel's nuclear program.

Iranian state media claiming the attack was in response to the US and Israel striking a key nuclear facility in Natanz, Iran. Israel earlier today announcing joint attacks on Iran will significantly increase this week. That despite President Trump posting this on social media yesterday, saying he would consider winding down US military efforts in the Middle East.

For more on the White House perspective, let's bring in CNN's Julia Benbrook, who is in Florida, where the President is this weekend. Julia, we are now entering a new week of this war. What more do we know about the President's thinking and where he is with all of this?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jessica. Right now, President Donald Trump, he is back in Florida. He has spent at least part of each weekend at one of his properties here since those first joint US- Israel strikes against Iran. And he recently, just moments ago now, posted on social media saying that he believes his objectives in Iran have been accomplished and way ahead of schedule.

He added that he believes that Iran wants to make a deal, but at this point, he does not want to make a deal. So as we enter this fourth week of this conflict, there are still a lot of questions. How exactly will this come to an end?

And then there are considerations, will the United States send in ground troops? That's something that we know as top US military officials have in near daily briefings at the White House spoken with Trump. They've laid out a number of options and some of those include sending in American troops.

Now, Trump was asked directly about this just a few days ago and his answer was confusing. He said this. He said, I'm not putting troops anywhere. So seems to be very clear in his answer. But then he went on to say, if I were, I certainly wouldn't tell you.

Now, even though Trump has yet to make a final decision on if he would send troops in, it is clear that the administration is preparing for different options, different contingencies, as we have learned from two US officials that thousands more marines and sailors will be sent to the Middle East and them heading that way. That's been an accelerated process.

Now, the US ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, he participated in a CNN town hall yesterday and he was pressed on this. He echoed that all options are open to the President, but also said that the preferred option would be to continue degrading the country's nuclear capabilities by air and sea. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE WALTZ, US AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: I don't think anybody should expect this to look anything like we saw back in 2003, two decades go with a massive invasion. There are other options on the table but I think if President Trump could avoid that, he absolutely would. If we can do this and degrade those capabilities from the air and from the sea, that would be the preferred option.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BENBROOK: And, of course, there are a lot of things to consider here. Some Trump allies who have so far been supportive of his efforts here, that could be a breaking point if thousands of servicemembers are sent to the Middle East, especially with the November midterms already top of mind for many. Jessica?

DEAN: All right. Julia Benbrook in Florida, thank you so much for your reporting. And we are joined now by career diplomat, five time ambassador Christopher Hill. He served in both Republican and Democratic administrations with his last post being in Serbia.

[19:35:10]

He also served as Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. Mr. Ambassador, thank you for being here with us. We really appreciate it.

The administration has said that one of its core objectives to this war is to degrade Iran's nuclear capabilities. And if indeed they can achieve that, which they said, they've said they're well on their way. But if they can achieve that, do you think that does make the region safer and how does it change that region?

CHRISTOPHER HILL, FORMER ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR EAST ASIA AND PACIFIC: I think clearly you can start to see what the elements of an eventual peace settlement is. And even though it looks pretty bleak right now, I mean, this war will end like other wars. I mean, it eventually ends through some negotiated process. So I think there have to be some assurances on Iran's use of terrorism worldwide terrorism. It has to -- they have to deal with the missile threat and they have to deal once and for all with the nuclear threats. I think Iran wants to see an immediate ceasefire, they'd like to see some kind of reparations, well, that's not going to happen. But you can begin to see what the elements are. The problem is, the mechanism we have on our side, a president who kind of decides all this by himself.

He doesn't seem to have a team of advisers who say, try this, don't try that. He just seems to do things on his own. And meanwhile, I think there are concerns about who be doing the actual negotiating. Probably some third country, probably some Middle East countries, but it's not at all clear how this is going to end.

And meanwhile, I think the economic ramifications of it, which were clearly what Iran was driving at to try to raise fuel prices and things like that's kind of working right now. So ultimately, you know, we need to win it, but Iran just needs not to be seen as losing. They have to survive. And I think that's kind of where we're going to end up.

And in the meantime, there are a number of Gulf nations that are getting caught up in all of this. They've tried to stay on the sidelines, but Qatar says, for example, damage to its natural gas production facilities will take five years to fix. Other Gulf nations have been targeted as well.

What is your sense of their role in all this as this continues and do they continue to officially stay on the sidelines?

HILL: Well, I think there's obviously these -- the destruction of these oil facilities, this is not going to -- our oil prices, our gas prices are not going to bounce back down as they were a few weeks ago. I mean, this is going to be last quite a while. It's not going to be five years of dealing with $4 a gallon gasoline, but I think it will be a lengthy period.

And obviously, US political people such as the administration, but also the Democrats, are thinking what is the -- what's going to happen when we have the midterms. So I think it's kind of getting into that area, and I think the President is very worried about it. But, you know, he has a kind of a difficult ally to work with.

Israel has its own views. They think they know the situation probably even better than we know the situation. So it's kind of hard to get into sync with the Israelis on this even hard to kind of figure out what are our objectives in all this.

DEAN: Yes. And staying in the region for a minute, because what is kind of interesting if you zoom out is so many of these Gulf countries, the UAE for example, have been building visions for a Middle East that is forward looking different than what Iran and its government, and its proxies want and are pushing toward. How does that factor into all of this as well? And do you think, you know, we're really seeing a reshaping of the Middle East kind of in real time?

HILL: We are seeing a reshaping of it. I mean, a number of Middle East countries, I wouldn't confuse them necessarily with democracies, but they are countries that, you know, kind of allow people to behave as they want to. And that's a very different situation from this Iranian revolution that's happened since 1979. So one would hope, and hope should never be the basis of policy, but one would hope that amidst the ruins of all this in Iran, there may be an understanding that whatever they're doing, whatever they've been doing with these Revolutionary Guard and this mullahtocracy isn't working.

And ultimately on Iran, Iran needs a good relations with these Gulf states. They've always had pretty good relations with Oman. They've had good relations with Qatar. And that is very much up in the air right now.

[19:10:06]

So Iran has a lot of interest in trying to get this to end. But I just hasten to add, they're very stubborn leadership there and they are not going to declare that they've been defeated.

DEAN: Yes. Ambassador Christopher Hill, great to have you. Thanks for your time.

HILL: Thank you.

DEAN: Expect lines to grow at security checkpoints across the nation's busiest airports as the DHS shutdown drags on. Plus Hawaii dealing with the largest flooding event it's seen in more than 20 years with more than 200 rescues so far. We're following it all right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:15:19]

DEAN: Lawmakers still at a stalemate over funding for the Department of Homeland Security, with each side blaming the other. President Trump now threatening to deploy ICE agents to take over security at airports if Congress doesn't end the partial shutdown earlier this morning, security wait times stretched over two hours at airports in Atlanta and Houston.

I want to go now to CNN correspondent Gloria Pazmino, who's at the airport in Newark, New Jersey. What have you been seeing, Gloria?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jessica, this is probably the calmest we have seen throughout the day today, as we get sort of into the later evening hours of this Saturday. We have seen it significantly slow down in terms of wait times.

But at one point, the wait time here at Newark International Airport was hovering around 30-40 minutes. And that is actually not bad when you compare it to some of the other airports around the nation where were seeing over an hour. For example, at George Bush Intercontinental in Houston, Texas, were seeing over an hour wait time there.

Hartsfield Atlanta also seen significant delays, JF Kennedy Airport seen significant delays throughout the day today, and that meant that many of the passengers that we spoke to here today came prepared on for the possibility that they would have to wait in line for a long time and that they might miss their flight. As a result, many of them came here two, three, four hours earlier than usual just to make sure that they would not miss their flight.

I also heard a lot of frustration from passengers, not because they had to wait in line, but because they realized that this is all happening as a result of this government shutdown. Frustration with lawmakers as well as the White House because they have not been able to resolve this impasse. And of course, a lot of sympathy for these TSA workers, many of them who are not able to come into work.

Hundreds of them have been calling out in the past few days, and that is part of what is causing the long wait lines at the airports. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARRMAAN BAINS, TRAVELING TO SACRAMENTO: It seems that the people that are working here, they come in for free, which we greatly appreciate. But I hope that, you know, it must be very difficult for the personal situation. And I think we all have to thank them to come in under these circumstances.

I mean, I want these guys to get paid for their -- for doing work. And, I mean, if I wasn't getting paid for my job, I wouldn't show up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAZMINO: More than 61,000 TSA employees estimated to be affected as a result of this partial government shutdown, which is, of course, as lawmakers debate over funding for the Department of Homeland Security and larger immigration debates and how to do immigration enforce. So a lot of sympathy, as I said, from travelers here today, and also hearing from the TSA workers who have a hard time getting even into work, many of them saying that is part of the reason they're not showing up, they can't afford to do so. Jessica?

DEAN: All right. Gloria Pazmino with the latest, thank you for that. News of the passing of former special counsel, Robert Mueller, rocks the political world and so does President Trump's reaction to that news. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

[19:18:37]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: Robert Mueller, the former FBI director who led the historic probe into the alleged collusion between Donald Trump's 2016 campaign and the Russian government, has died at the age of 81. Mueller's family says he died Friday night. A cause of death has not been released. But last year his family also announced he'd been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.

Joining us now, CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig. He's also a former state and federal prosecutor. Elie, thanks for being here with us.

I know you have some thoughts and memories to share about Director Mueller's career in law enforcement. What can you tell us?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, Jess, first of all, before we even get to the investigation of Donald Trump, it's important to know Robert Mueller was an American hero. This is a man who, after he graduated from college, voluntarily enlisted in the Marines, went off to fight in Vietnam. He was a combat infantryman.

He, at one point, rescued a person who had been wounded from the battlefield, a fellow Marine. At another point, Mueller himself was shot through the leg. He had the option of returning to the United States and instead chose to go back into combat in Vietnam. He was the recipient of the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.

Now, after that, Robert Mueller spent the better part of the next four decades as one of the top prosecutors and law enforcement agents in this country. And here's a fact that I think tells you a lot about Robert Mueller. He was the only person, and I believe will remain the only person in US history who was nominated to different leadership posts in DOJ and the FBI by four consecutive US presidents, two Republicans and two Democrats, Bush, Clinton, Bush and Obama. And every time he was confirmed unanimously by the Senate.

In fact, he was made FBI director by George W. Bush in 2001. When his 10-year term came up in 2011, Barack Obama went to Congress and asked for permission to extend him for two more years. And Barack Obama called him the, "gold standard" in law enforcement. So no matter what anyone's politics may be, he's an American hero.

DEAN: Yes. And I know he was the FBI director while you were a Prosecutor in the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. Did you get to spend time with him? Do you have any personal memories?

[19:25:06]

HONIG: So Robert Mueller was way above my pay grade. He was the director, I was just a rookie prosecutor, but I have a couple specific memories. One, in about 2005 or 2006, he came and addressed our whole office, that's the NY US Attorney's Office. And we all piled into the ceremonial courtroom and he gave us a speech, the essence of which was, you are here because you are doing the work.

You are here to do these jobs. You're lucky to have these jobs. It's not about you, it's not about your personal aggrandizement. It's certainly not about politics. The other thing I can tell you is, I worked every day with FBI agents who were in Mueller's FBI, and he was seen as tough and demanding and at times rigid. But I can tell you for sure, he was universally-respected within the FBI itself.

DEAN: Yes. And I think that goes a long way. And you're just describing a, you know, we don't see people getting unanimously confirmed by the Senate all the time anymore, serving under Republican and Democratic presidents. It's amazing. Just lastly, before we go, you covered his special probe of the Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, extensively. You wrote about the probe in your latest book, what was a takeaway do you think?

HONIG: So, Jess, for the book, I interviewed four different members of Mueller's team. I interviewed FBI agents who worked on that case. I actually interviewed members of Donald Trump's defense team. What was unanimously agreed on is that, Robert Mueller was the right person for that job.

I talked to Rod Rosenstein, the person who appointed Mueller as special counsel, and Rosenstein told me essentially if Mueller had not taken the job, he might not have appointed special counsel at all, because in Rosenstein's view, there was no other person in this country who was up to the task.

Now, ultimately, there was controversy about Mueller's investigation because he did not say explicitly whether he found Donald Trump had committed the crime of obstruction. Critics said he should have said that straightforwardly. I'll tell you what, Mueller's team said, though, in his defense is that, he was not allowed to indict Donald Trump because Donald Trump was the sitting president, and that Mueller believed it would have been inappropriate for a prosecutor to essentially accuse someone of a crime publicly without indicting them.

So there's a fair debate to be had about that. But one thing, again, from both sides, even the people who were defending Donald Trump said the man was absolutely fair in how he went about his business. And I think that's a real tribute to him.

DEAN: All right. Elie Honig, great to have you. Thank you for those reflections. We really appreciate it.

Mountain hideouts are making it difficult to gauge just how much firepower Iran has left in this war. We're going to take a look at the so called missile cities after the break here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

[19:27:43]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:32:06]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: For the second time in less than a week, the entire island of Cuba is under a nationwide blackout. Cuba's ministry of energy making that announcement just a short time ago. And CNN Havana Bureau Chief Patrick Oppmann is joining us now with the very latest. So, Patrick, bring us up to speed. Obviously, it is still daylight there, but what more do you know?

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN HAVANA BUREAU CHIEF: So, you know, the only reason I'm able to speak to you is I have solar panels and batteries at my house, which is not a common thing in Cuba. The vast majority of the 10 million inhabitants of this island are in the dark now, I've told neighbors about the disconnection, because otherwise people don't know. They don't have data on their phones. They don't necessarily, you know, they're not able to watch the news. And blackouts are so common right now.

So, a lot of people just think it's a blackout in their neighborhood, in their area of the city they live in. They don't realize, once again, it is the entire island why that is so concerning is that it takes longer, of course, to get in the entire country back online. It can take days sometimes and this keeps happening.

Second time in a week, the second time since Donald Trump placed an oil embargo on Cuba. No oil is able to come into this country. It's been blocked by the U.S. It's a country that's running out of oil. The power system here runs on oil. It's also a power system that is incredibly old. It was already collapsing.

And it appears at this point that it will just keep collapsing. And this is why Cuban officials have continued to negotiate with Donald Trump about trying to find an exit to this crisis, even as he says that he's going to take Cuba, he's going to replace the leadership here, comments that have enraged them, but at the end of the day, this really is checkmate for the Cuban government.

They have to keep negotiating because we are in the dark right now. There is no power, and the vast majority of the inhabitants of this island will be in the dark again tonight, and probably for the nights to come.

DEAN: All right, I'm sure we'll be talking to you in the days to come as well. Patrick Oppmann, thank you so much. We really appreciate that reporting.

President Trump says he thinks the war with Iran has already been won, claiming the U.S. and Israel have wiped out Tehran's missile and drone capabilities. But mountain hideouts across Iran showed a large portion of the country's weapons from aerial strikes and CNN analysis of satellite images show Iran has quickly moved to recover its so-called missile cities.

CNN's Tamara Qiblawi has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TAMARA QIBLAWI, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER/WRITER: (voice over): An Iranian underground missile city buried deep inside a mountain, a show of force aimed at Iran's enemies. A contingency plan to protect its precious arsenal from being eradicated by massive bombardment. Dozens of these subterranean fortresses are spread across the country. It's proof that Tehran has been preparing for a war just like this one for years, and possibly decades.

It's also from these mountain bases that Iran stores its mobile missile launchers, taking them out, firing before hiding them back into the mountain to reload and avoid detection. The U.S. and Israel want to destroy this threat.

PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE SECRETARY: Just like Hamas and their tunnels, Iran has funneled decades of state resources not to their people, but into missiles and drones and proxies and buried facilities. But we are hunting them down.

[19:35:25]

QIBLAWI (voice over): We wanted to find out how. Examining satellite images from 27 underground bases, including 107 tunnels. What we found was evidence of a rapid fire American-Israeli campaign to trap a large number of Iranian munitions underground blocking entrances and exits to these bases, like here, here, and here. Access points to these facilities blocked.

We found that the U.S. and Israel bombed at least 77 percent of the tunnel entrances that we were able to review satellite images of. Here we see rockets fired from mobile launchers, towed out of tunnels. The images are from propaganda video released last year. We geolocated this video to here, a large underground city with many of the access points ravaged by U.S. and Israeli bombardment earlier this month.

Here we see huge craters surrounding a tunnel portal. Here, a destroyed rocket launcher, and a reddish cloud of highly toxic rocket fuel. But less than 48 hours after the site was first bombed, evidence of Iranians already digging for access to their munitions underground. And this isn't the first time Iran's jumped to repair its underground facilities.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tehran is completely filled with smoke.

QIBLAWI (voice over): After the 12-day war with Israel last June, Iran repaired missile production facilities and industrial complex linked to uranium enrichment centrifuges and subterranean medium-range missile sites. Like this one, where Iran reopened access points to those munitions, again, starting to repair them just 48 hours after that war ended.

The U.S. and Israel continue to score tactical successes around underground facilities, but these might be temporary solutions as Iran continues to adapt.

Tamara Qiblawi CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: CNN military analyst Colonel Cedric Leighton is joining us now. Good to have you here. CENTCOM announcing today Iran's grip on the Strait of Hormuz is degraded. That's' partly because of recent strikes targeting one of Iran's underground facilities that discreetly stores anti-ship cruise missiles and other weapons.

We just saw Tamara's reporting there. What kind of challenges do these underground facilities present?

CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, there's several challenges, Jessica, it's great to be with you again. One of them is that they're underground. And so, that makes targeting a lot more difficult. But here's the thing, when it comes to these Iranian sites and the way they're constructed, the unique nature of the Iranian construction apparatus is that they actually have the capacity to produce hardened concrete.

So, for some of their sites, they've been known to actually develop a type of concrete that is harder than most forms of concrete, with the idea that they become less ready to or less accepting of the kinds of bombs that we have. So, in other words, if you have a site like this and you have hardened concrete, it becomes more difficult in theory to use a massive ordnance penetrator bomb against that site.

So, what CENTCOM is saying is basically they're using bombs like the GBU-72, which is the 5,000-pound bomb that we use nowadays against these sites. And according to what they've told us, they have used the GBU-72 and other bombs like it to try to penetrate those sites into at least seal off the tunnels, as Tamara was saying in her reporting.

DEAN: Yes, and there is evidence of repairs at some of those destroyed tunnel entrances. How difficult is it to actually destroy them? I think that's what you're getting at. It's really hard to do that.

LEIGHTON: Right, so when you aim for the destruction of one of these facilities, it's really hard to hit it in the center so that the whole thing would collapse, for example. That's practically impossible to do. So, what they try to do is they try to hit the entrances so that they basically block everything that's inside of it and make it much more difficult to get out.

The fact of the matter is, is that the Iranians have been pretty good at practicing their recovery operations. And so, what they try to do is they try to dig their equipment, their missiles, their bombs, their mines out of those tunnels that have been sealed off. At least we think they've been sealed off by our bombing operations.

DEAN: And Iran also launched missiles at a U.S.-U.K. Military Base in the Indian Ocean and that was unsuccessful. But the base is over 2,000 miles off the coast. What is that telling us about Iran's capabilities? Because that's what seems to be catching everyone's attention.

[19:40:10]

LEIGHTON: Yes, and it should catch everyone's attention because up until this point, the Iranians declared that their missile ranges were limited to about 1,250 miles, or 2,000 kilometers, while Diego Garcia, the base that you're talking about is about 4,000 kilometers, or 2,500 miles away.

And so, that means that they have basically developed a medium range missile that exceeds the range that they've said publicly that they have.

It's not a surprise. They actually work with the Chinese, for example, and the North Koreans to establish these types of capabilities that those countries have and potentially there was enough technology transfer so that they could actually use either a Chinese missile or an adaptation of a Chinese missile to conduct this these strikes. So, they actually had two missiles that they fired against Diego Garcia, one of which was unsuccessful and apparently the other one was intercepted by U.S. missile defense systems.

DEAN: All right, Colonel Cedric Leighton, always good to have you here. Thanks so much.

LEIGHTON: You bet, Jessica.

DEAN: And the war with Iran is having a ripple effect causing gas prices to spike ahead. How that could impact upcoming midterm elections. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:45:49]

DEAN: Gas prices are surging across the country as the war with Iran rages on. And of course, that's because the Strait of Hormuz has effectively been shut down since the start of the operation three weeks ago.

The nationwide average has gone up nearly a dollar per gallon and one analyst tells CNN a household with two cars is now spending an average of $20.00 to $40.00 more per week, and it comes a few months ahead of the midterm elections. Those are happening in November, where affordability will be front and center for voters.

University of Virginia Center for Politics Director Larry Sabato is joining us now. Larry, good to see you. Listen, these gas prices $20.00 to $40.00 a week for an average family that has two cars that's real money that they don't have in their pocket right now. How much of an issue do you think this will be? We're still several months from the midterms. But how much of an issue do you think this could be?

LARRY SABATO, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA CENTER FOR POLITICS DIRECTOR: If it continues, it could end up being the top issue because affordability already is. Prices already are and increased gas prices also means increased food prices, increased airfares. It affects everything that moves. And so, it's bound to have a major impact on the midterms if it continues. And of course, even if the war ends the lingering effects of high gas prices will continue for at least a couple of months, maybe longer.

DEAN: Like in just in terms of affordability, that continues to be a huge issue for voters. It's why so many of them decided to vote for Donald Trump because they believed he would be better equipped to bring the cost of living down. Is that still what you're hearing from voters?

SABATO: Oh, absolutely. That's often the first thing they mention, and they give the specific example of food costs and gas prices. And they weren't mentioning gas prices weeks ago because of course, gas price was very low or relatively low, and it was below $3.00 a gallon. But now were seeing, were almost there at $4.00 a gallon and there are some analysts suggesting it could go a lot higher than that, unless the problem with the Strait of Hormuz is solved and it's going to take a while potentially for that to get back on stream even if the war ends.

Also, one other point, even trump's strongest supporters, the MAGA Republicans, while 90 percent of them are backing the war in Iran and 90 percent of them are still with Trump, they don't approve the war strongly, they just approve of it. And that means that if the prices of gas and food continue to rise, probably that percentage will decline.

DEAN: We had a CNN Town Hall last night, and a college student who also works as a waiter asked Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz, who was part of the Town Hall, how the war, which he noted was being funded by his taxes, is helping him. And the ambassador responded by highlighting some other Trump policies on housing and taxes, but justified the threat. He says Iran poses to the U.S. What are your thoughts on how the administration is messaging this to voters like that young man?

SABATO: It reminds me so much of what the Biden administration tried to do as Americans we're saying very clearly through polls and in other ways that they were most concerned about prices and the Biden people argued with the voters, oh no, things aren't that bad. In fact, they're getting better. Look at this indicator. Look at that indicator. Well, we all know it didn't work. And I don't think it's going to work any better for the Trump administration than it did for the Biden administration.

DEAN: And at what point do you think Republicans who are looking to the fall, when all of those House Republicans will be up and then some members of the Senate as well? When did they start getting nervous about this, or do they get nervous about this?

SABATO: Well, they're already nervous. Believe me, they're very nervous about it. And they will continue to be nervous so long as this war is going on and so long as the effects are being felt at the pump and the grocery store, because it's just fundamental to politics. I don't care what the other issues are, the big issue is always the economy. It always comes down to the economy and it comes down to the basic concerns that voters have, average voters have. They go to the grocery once or twice a week, they go to the to the gas stations once, twice, three times a week, and they're paying a lot more. And believe me, they recognize it.

They know how much they paid the last time. They know, they always look at the pump to see what the price per gallon is and it's going up, up, up.

DEAN: All right, Larry Sabato good to see you.

SABATO: Thanks, Jessica.

[19:50:33]

DEAN: And this just in, President Trump posting, "If Iran does not fully open without threat, the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours from this exact point in time, the United States of America will hit and obliterate their various power plants, starting with the biggest one first".

Again, that coming from the President just at 7:44 P.M., he's giving them 48 hours. And then threatening to hit their various power plants. We will note that and continue to follow it.

Meantime, residents are being forced to evacuate their homes as catastrophic flooding hits Hawaii. The latest happenings across the islands after the break, you're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:55:35]

DEAN: Catastrophic flooding not seen in a generation is hitting the Hawaiian Island of Oahu.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(VIDEO OF CATASTROPHIC FLOODING IN OAHU, HAWAII.)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: This man saw two homes washed away Friday in the Town of Waialua. State officials estimate more than four feet of rain has fallen over several days, leading to several thousand evacuations, hundreds of rescues but thankfully no deaths.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JOSH GREEN (D-HI): We've had 40 to 50 inches of rain. It's the largest flood that we've had in 20 years but we've had no loss of life. People have pitched in. Incredible work by our, you know, our first responders. We have the National Guard called up over 200 people have helped us on that side.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Emergency teams are now monitoring the Wahiawa Dam, which they fear could burst from the flood waters. Joining us now, Molly Pierce, spokeswoman for Oahu's emergency management. Molly, thank you so much for being here with us. Tell us the very latest. I know you all are focusing on rescues and evacuations.

MOLLY PIERCE, SPOKESPERSON, HONOLULU EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: Thank you so much for having me.

We are focused primarily on rescue and evacuation at this time. Conditions are improving so we are considering letting some folks back into the area to start seeing what damage has come to their homes and come to the area. But we do ask that folks are still very vigilant. We do have areas that are unsafe to return. So, those evacuations are dynamic.

We're also looking at issues potentially with our water quality as a result of power outages and system damage from the flooding. DEAN: Yes, it's just so much water. I know the governor said earlier here on CNN that the waters at the dam have come down. But he also added, you all continue to be in the throes of this weather system with more rain coming. So how are you monitoring the risk there at the dam?

PIERCE: So, the dam was our primary source of concern for quite a while. We had a lot of flooding in these areas as a result of water coming over the dam spillway, just combining with the massive amounts of rain that we've had.

Fortunately, we are seeing those levels come down at Wahiawa Dam. And so, we think that we're starting to be out of the woods with Wahiawa Dam but we do know that we have a lot of rain yet to come.

And so, we're monitoring, those levels really closely. We have the National Weather Service and our dam safety experts in our emergency operations center actively monitoring the levels at the Wahiawa Dam, as well as all the other streams and regulated dams around the island. Because we do have a lot of areas that could potentially be of concern if we had another really huge downpouring of water like we've had over the last couple of nights.

DEAN: Yes, we talked to the mayor a couple hours in the last couple hours, and he was just making the point that with so much water that you have any more rain is so much more rain, right? Because it's just compounding on already what you've got. Knowing all of that, what's your biggest concern now? What are you guys watching the closest?

PIERCE: Right now, we are really watching to see what those rain bands do to develop if we see a lot more water come down. Because we want to really balance that safe reentry into those areas. We want to be able to get folks back in as quickly as we can, so they can start to really survey the damage and see what they're going to need to do to recover. But we want to make sure that as we do that as we do that, we're really focused on the safety of those people who are in the area, both the residents and first responders who might be assisting them.

So, we're watching those bands of rain that might be coming in through the night and into tomorrow. To really see if it is safe to let folks reenter the area knowing that any amount of rain that falls at this point could cause future flooding. But we want to make sure that we are also giving folks the access back into their properties. If were able to do so safely.

DEAN: And I've got about 30 seconds left, but it sounds like the first responders and you all have just, they've been amazing in all of this.

PIERCE: Yes, we've had an amazing heroic response, both from our first responders. They've they rescued over 230 people across the island over the last couple of days, but also from community members. And I think this is something that really needs to be said is that we've had an amazing response from our community, both in rescuing their neighbors, their loved ones. But also, in everything that they're trying to do to help initiate and begin recovery. We're seeing the true aloha spirit come out here. We're seeing the Hawaii community get together and do what we do best. And that's help each other out.

DEAN: Well, I wish you all dry weather very soon. Molly Pierce, thank you so much.

PIERCE: Mahalo, thanks for having me.

DEAN: And thank you for joining me this evening, I'm Jessica Dean, I'm going to see you again tomorrow night, right back here, starting at 5:00 Eastern. "Real Time" with Bill Maher is headed your way next. Have a great night.

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