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Iran & Israel Hit Energy Sites, Trump Attempts to De-Escalate; Oil Prices Surging Due to War in Middle East; Former Spy Chief: 'Key Decision Makers' Left Out of Iran Decisions; GOP Chairman Rand Paul Grills Sen. Mullin at DHS Confirmation Hearing. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired March 19, 2026 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:09]

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: So, when will the price of gas go back down? Not any time soon, if this keeps happening.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: We've got a rough road ahead of us for the next few weeks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: So, new attacks on Middle East energy. President Trump says Israel won't hit Iran's gas again, but the U.S. might just blow all of it up if Iran crosses the line.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE KENT, FORMER DIRECTOR, NATIONAL COUNTERTERRORISM CENTER: A good deal of key decision makers were not allowed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: New claims from a former Trump spy boss. So, who did have the president's ear in the lead up to the war?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TULSI GABBARD, U.S. DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: It is not the intelligence community's responsibility to determine what is and is not an imminent threat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: And that is your director of national intelligence. More important than what she said is what she did not say.

And while you're waiting in line at the airport, here's what Congress is up to.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY): Tell me to my face why you think I deserved it. SEN. MARKWAYNE MULLIN (R-OK), NOMINEE, DIRECTOR OF HOMELAND SECURITY:

If I do have something to say, everybody in this room knows I'll come straight to you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: OK. Part of the lifeblood of the Middle East, up in flames. Both sides in this war with Iran are targeting gas and oil.

Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish, and we are following this breaking news on multiple fronts.

And we're going to start with the first known attack on a natural gas facility. Iran says the U.S. and Israel targeted the South Pars gas field on Wednesday, and Iran has vowed retaliation and hit back, striking Qatar's natural gas facilities.

Now here's the thing. This is a key spot. It's the world's largest gas field shared by both Iran and Qatar. On Iran's side, it's the biggest source of domestic energy supply.

And analysts warned that the damage on Qatar's side could trigger a lasting global gas shortage.

Now, President Trump trying to deescalate. In a Truth Social post Wednesday night, he said there would be no more attacks on energy infrastructure.

But he threatened to, quote, "massively blow up the gas field" if Iran keeps up its attack on its neighbor.

Now, he claims the U.S. knew nothing about the attack. An Israeli source told CNN the attack was authorized in coordination with the White House.

So, I'm going to bring in CNN's Oren Liebermann. He's in Jerusalem.

Oren, what more are you learning about the route of this attack and what is looking a little bit like a split between the president and Israel.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: So, Audie, I think it's difficult for President Donald Trump to say the U.S. didn't know about this, and he didn't know about this.

And that's because of the level of coordination at the military and political level that we've seen since the very beginning of this war. That's not only required to carry out a campaign like this, but is also a testament to the relationship, again, at the political and military level between the U.S. and Israel.

The militaries are in touch constantly, and they have to be because of the amount of military assets, Israeli and American, that are operating in the region.

Not to mention the other militaries that are also there in the region with all the Gulf states.

And, two Israeli officials have told us, as you pointed out, that Israel coordinated this strike in the South Pars gas field with the U.S. in advance. And that's, again, the level of coordination we have seen between these two countries.

Of course, Trump now saying as a result of what looks like soaring gas prices, once again, that the U.S. didn't know about these ahead of time.

But, given the level of coordination that we've heard about, including just last night from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's foreign policy advisor, who spoke with our colleague Jake Tapper. Again, that level of communication between the Israel, between Israel and the U.S. remains and has to be at an incredibly high level.

So, I think from where we sit right now, it's simply difficult to believe the U.S. didn't know this strike was coming in advance.

CORNISH: Scale of the attack. I mean, how did it reverberate with these Gulf allies?

ROBERTSON: Well, this -- this reverberated very quickly around not only the Gulf because of the retaliatory attacks we have seen from Iran against both Qatar and Saudi Arabia. But because of how much crude oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, because of the natural gas that flows through that region.

This is something that will and is being felt immediately around the globe. And certainly, in the United States, which obviously has its own domestic political impacts for Trump here.

So, this has worldwide implications. And that likely is -- is why we're seeing Trump post this.

Now, it's also worth making one final post -- point here, Audie.

[06:05:03]

Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu want to continue this war. They have thousands of targets left to strike in Iran, and they said they have weeks of plans left.

Israel is not simply going to go rogue and carry out a strike that's not coordinated with the United States and put all of that at risk as we near the three-month [SIC] -- three-week mark of the war.

CORNISH: OK, that's Oren Liebermann. Thank you for that reporting on these attacks.

The reverberation of this is also happening through the markets. Oil prices rising, topping $110 a barrel on Wednesday. And that means here in the U.S., some sticker shock at the pump truckers feeling the pinch amid the rising price of diesel.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It costs over $120 a tank. I'm actually looking to sell it, because it costs too much.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now with the diesel prices, what I get for me in clean is almost the same thing that I spend on diesel, like almost $3,000 a week.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Joining me now, CNN anchor and correspondent Eleni Giokos in Dubai.

I want to talk about these oil prices because when I look at the last couple of weeks since these strikes began, you have oil refineries in Bahrain Saudi Arabia, you know, ports, gas fields in Abu Dhabi. There have been attacks going back and forth on this infrastructure.

So, it's not just about the Strait of Hormuz, right? In terms of prices.

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN ANCHOR/CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it has not just been about the Strait of Hormuz, yes. It is really important that it controls sort of 20 million barrels of oil that heads into the international market. But we've been talking about the consistent strikes on energy infrastructure across the Gulf region.

But there's been a big shift and perhaps one big point of escalation in this war, where Iran says the red lines have shifted after Israel struck a very important piece of critical energy infrastructure. And that's the South Pars gas facility.

I have to say, this is the biggest in the world. So, clearly, Iran saying they want to retaliate.

And the damage that we've seen in the past 24 hours, specifically in Qatar and, you know, the attempted strikes in Saudi Arabia, and also the damage because of shrapnel landing at key gas facilities here in the UAE. This is the result.

In just 24 hours, we've seen a big move on Brent crude prices that rose around $10. I spoke to an economist a short while ago, and he says, well, imagine if we have two or three more nights of this. Where do oil prices go from here?

But importantly, that while Iran was starting these retaliations in the Gulf region, an important diplomatic meeting was occurring with Arab leaders at the same time. And the Saudi foreign minister had very harsh words for Iran, because he says the Iranians are clearly not keen on any kind of diplomacy or looking for a diplomatic off-ramp. Audie, take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRINCE FAISAL BIN FARHAN, SAUDI ARABIA FOREIGN MINISTER: The targeting of real while a number of diplomats are meeting, I cannot see as coincidental. And I think that's the clearest signal of how Iran feels about diplomacy. It doesn't believe in talking to its neighbors.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GIOKOS: So, what happens from here? How long is this going to last? And are we in an escalation trap?

At the end of the day, you were hearing from those truckers. People are already feeling the impact.

CORNISH: OK, Eleni Giokos with that update. Thank you so much.

And coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, we're going to talk about the top spy chief who quit, saying that key decision makers could not express dissenting opinions to President Trump in the run-up to the war in Iran.

So, if they didn't have his ear, who did?

Plus, I'm going to talk to an energy consultant who says we are hurtling towards a global recession. So, is there anything that can be done to stop it?

And then, didn't expect to see this quote: "Tell it to my face." Republican Senator Rand Paul calls out Markwayne Mullin during a confirmation hearing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Tell me to my face why you think I deserved it. And while you're at it, explain to the American public why they should trust a man with anger issues to set the proper example for ICE and Border Patrol agents.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[06:13:26]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TUCKER CARLSON, PODCASTER: Was Iran on the verge of getting a nuclear weapon?

KENT: No, they weren't, you know, three weeks ago when this -- this started, and they weren't in June either.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: OK, that's Joe Kent, the top U.S. counterterrorism official who resigned over his opposition to the war in Iran. He's now speaking out. He was a Trump loyalist and appointee.

Kent is the first senior member of the administration to quit over the U.S.-Israeli operation. And, of course, he spoke with conservative commentator Tucker Carlson about the advice, or lack of, that President Trump received.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KENT: A good deal of key decision makers were not allowed to -- to come express their opinion to the president.

There was robust debate and robust discussions leading up to the 12- day war, into Midnight Hammer. But this, the second round to me -- and I'm sure others will refute this and disagree with me. But was conducted by just a handful of small -- of advisers around the president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: President Trump lashing out at Kent, calling the departure a good thing, because he says that Kent was, quote, "weak on security."

Bringing in the group chat now: Tal Kopan, deputy Washington bureau chief at "The Boston Globe"; Mike Dubke, former Trump White House communications director; and Meghan Hays, former Biden White House director of message planning.

Tal, I want to come to you, because it's not a surprise that he went to Carlson, right, who has been against the war in Iran and that sort of wing of the party.

But it was interesting how he talked about the idea of an imminent threat, which Democrats have been preoccupied, as well. Let me play that for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[06:15:12]

KENT: There was no intelligence that said, Hey, on whatever day it was, March 1st, the Iranians are going to launch this big sneak attack. They're going to do some kind of a 9/11, Pearl Harbor, et cetera. They're going to attack one of our bases. There was none of that intelligence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAL KOPAN, DEPUTY WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, "THE BOSTON GLOBE": Well, you've seen the president's sort of shifting explanations for the war over time. They -- you know, why exactly we got in. Over --

CORNISH: The definition of imminent is vastly different than we all thought in January.

KOPAN: Yes. And, you know, I mean, but even the -- the notion of imminence was only one piece of the ways that the president had described this war.

So, I don't know that this is, you know, out of step with what we've seen publicly. We've also seen, you know, that the president stocked his

administration with a lot of, you know, officials and representatives of this very hesitant to go to war wing of the Republican Party. And then, really didn't necessarily listen to them.

And you've seen pictures from the sort of Mar-a-Lago Situation Room that they've set up. I mean, those people are not in those pictures, right?

CORNISH: No. No. You don't see that.

KOPAN: So, again, you know, and -- and when we -- we hear from Joe Kent, I mean, we -- the folks who are talking about him resigning sort of don't mention a lot of his history on this issue and other issues. But he definitely came from that wing of the party.

CORNISH: Yes. We talk about this a lot on this show. But Mike, I have to come to you, because you know what it's like to leave the Trump administration, OK?

MIKE DUBKE, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Yes, I do.

CORNISH: Not an easy decision, but --

DUBKE: It's not an easy decision to leave any administration.

CORNISH: Yes. That's fair.

One of the things I noticed between Trump one and Trump two, is that back in the first term, Trump was saying, Hey, my intelligence officials are wrong on Iran. They should go back to school.

I don't know if anyone remembers way back when, him sort of saying this publicly. He didn't agree with them. Is it a surprise that they are again, the people who are intelligence aren't in the room or don't have his ears?

DUBKE: Well, I actually am -- what surprises me and what was my experience is that Trump loves the debate. So, to hear Joe Kent say these people weren't in the room.

CORNISH: That there was no debate.

DUBKE: I just don't buy it. I don't buy that they're --

CORNISH: He's saying people did not -- that dissenting opinions were not allowed in the room.

DUBKE: Were they? I don't buy that.

CORNISH: OK.

DUBKE: I actually think that that is most likely not true. That is not my experience. Now, does Trump decide to go his own way? Yes, absolutely. But not

having people in the room? I mean, this guy with -- any random, random person walking into the room, the president would ask the most detailed, like, Hey, what do you think about invading Iran?

CORNISH: OK. Well --

DUBKE: I mean, literally, people that had no business giving him an answer, he would ask that question. So, this Joe Kent stuff, I -- it doesn't ring true to my ears.

MEGHAN HAYS, FORMER BIDEN WHITE HOUSE DIRECTOR OF MESSAGE PLANNING: Also, if this guy had a real problem, he should be talking to Congress, not on Tucker Carlson's show, spilling the state secrets here.

DUBKE: Yes.

HAYS: So, I mean, he is known to be a conspiracy theorist who travels in conspiracy theories. So, it's not saying what he's saying is not true. It should be investigated. But Congress should be the ones looking into that and asking these questions.

CORNISH: Can I ask about that? Because Democrats are kind of embracing it or trying to pull, like, a broken clock situation. Like, I don't like this guy, but --

And I saw Senator Mitch McConnell, in a social media post, basically saying that -- that -- that Kent's resignation reflected virulent antisemitism. And that he talks about it, him being a guy who traffics in "baseless and incendiary conspiracies" and don't believe this guy is some truth teller. That's from Mitch McConnell.

So, what do Democrats do with this information that they want to use, that they want to talk about?

DUBKE: Desperately want to use, yes.

CORNISH: But it comes from, let's call a flawed messenger?

HAYS: Yes, I think that's right. I think it is a flawed messenger. But that's why you bring them up to Congress, and you ask him questions there. And they --

CORNISH: Under oath.

HAYS: And under oath, and they ask these questions there.

But the fact that the -- the podcast bros and all these other people online are platforming this person, who is a known conspiracy theorist and antisemite, you don't give him a platform. You -- you ask him questions under oath, and you ask what he knows.

But you don't take what he says on Tucker Carlson and then do it in truth. And that's why people think the Democrats have Trump Derangement

Syndrome, because they just grasp onto anything that disagrees and adds to their messaging. And that's not the way this works.

What he's saying could absolutely be true, but we don't know that.

CORNISH: Yes.

HAYS: And he is a very flawed messenger.

DUBKE: Here's my very detailed analysis of this.

CORNISH: Oh, boy.

DUBKE: What she said.

CORNISH: Yes. You guys stay with me. We've got more to talk about on this and other topics.

Coming up next on CNN, both sides in this war hitting the Middle East energy infrastructure. But who is that going to hurt in the long run?

[06:20:00]

Plus, a college kid on spring break goes missing overseas. What is known about his disappearance?

And here's a live look at the Arch in Saint Louis. Good morning to folks there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:24:32]

CORNISH: It's now almost 23 minutes past the hour. Here are five things to know to get your day going.

So, an Iran-backed Iraqi militia has said it will stop the attacks on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad for at least five days if the U.S. and Israel meet certain conditions.

Those conditions include an end to the bombardment in Beirut and airstrikes on residential areas in Baghdad. And they say if those conditions are not met, they promise to intensify their attacks.

[06:25:01]

Here in the U.S., labor leader Cesar Chavez, now being accused of decades of sexual abuse allegations. "The New York Times" investigation uncovered the allegations of the late Latino civil rights icon.

They report that he abused and molested women in the movement for years. Those include activist Dolores Huerta, who came forward, saying that she was among them.

Annually planned celebrations of Chavez now being canceled nationwide.

And a 20-year-old University of Alabama student, James Gracey, is missing. He'd been on spring break, visiting friends in Spain, according to his family. And he was last seen by a friend around 3 a.m. outside a Barcelona nightclub.

Now, according to his mother, police have his phone. They actually recovered it after it was stolen.

And in Orlando, the Pulse nightclub being demolished. A $12 million memorial will open in its place next year.

Forty-nine people were killed in an attack at that LGBTQ club near -- nearly ten years ago. The gunman was killed after a standoff with police.

And no friendly welcome for Senator Markwayne Mullin. The Republican- led Homeland Security Committee had his confirmation hearing yesterday. Mullin is Trump's top choice to lead DHS, and it looks like Rand Paul isn't happy about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: You told the media that I was a freaking snake and that you completely understood why I had been assaulted. I was shocked that you would justify and celebrate this violent assault that caused me so much pain.

Tell me to my face why you think I deserved it. And while you're at it, explain to the American public why they should trust a man with anger issues to set the proper example for ICE and Border Patrol agents.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: I had never heard that in a hearing: "Say it to my face." And I have sat through a lot of hearings. Did any -- did you see that coming?

DUBKE: No, I did not see that coming. But when I look at my Congressional bracket, Oklahoma versus Kentucky, I should have seen that coming.

CORNISH: Here's the thing. Because Markwayne Mullin has actually threatened a witness in a hearing before --

DUBKE: Yes.

CORNISH: -- and said, take them outside, which Rand Paul rolled tape on that.

KOPAN: Oh, yes.

CORNISH: He couldn't exactly roars (ph) his way out of this.

DUBKE: That video board was new. KOPAN: The witness happened to be behind Markwayne Mullin.

CORNISH: Yes.

KOPAN: Apparently, they -- they have buried the hatchet. Rand Paul and Markwayne Mullin have not buried the hatchet. And in fact, under the pointed questioning from Rand Paul, who it's worth noting, is the -- is the chair of this committee.

CORNISH: Yes.

KOPAN: Not just a Republican on the committee. But the chair of the committee.

CORNISH: With friends like these. Yes.

KOPAN: He pointedly sort of asked Mullin, do you want to apologize? Asked -- you know, gave him a chance to take it back. And Mullin did not. He said, I did not endorse the attack. I just said I understood it, and he left it at that.

CORNISH: Yes. But what happened is he ended up making the personal, political and as you see, sticking the landing on saying, if you are mean-spirited, can you really run ICE, which people are complaining about its tactics.

Listen, straight ahead on CNN, we are going to be turning back to intelligence and the threat from Iran. Whose job is it to determine what is and is not an imminent threat?

Plus, fertilizer prices go sky high as the war on Iran rages on. Some farmers say that it's an issue of national security.

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[06:30:00]