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Erin Burnett Outfront

Now: Iran Targeting Jerusalem With Multiple Waves Of Missiles; Trump: "We Can Take Out" Kharg Island "Anytime We Want"; Trump Makes Pear Harbor Joke During Meeting With Japan's PM. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired March 19, 2026 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:23]

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:

Breaking news, Iran firing at least three rounds of missiles at Jerusalem in the past hour, a major escalation tonight, after Iran also hits a major refinery and suspected of hitting a U.S. fighter jet.

And the Pentagon tonight is asking for $200 billion to fund the war.

Plus, Trump again says the U.S. should take out Iran's Kharg Island. So why does this keep coming up? How many boots on the ground would it take? And how many are on the way?

And an OUTFRONT exclusive tonight, Governor J.B. Pritzker, this week's Democratic kingmaker, is our guest -- not holding back, slamming the war in Iran and claiming there's something wrong with Trump, which he details.

Let's go OUTFRONT.

(MUSIC)

BURNETT: And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett, and welcome to this special edition of OUTFRONT, "The War with Iran".

The breaking news now, a massive attack in Israel tonight, Israel intercepting three rounds of missiles targeting Jerusalem within an hour. It is a rare attack and the highest density of missiles that we have seen fired at Jerusalem since the start of the war 20 days ago. Now this obviously just happening now. It is a significant move from Iran.

It comes also after Iran is accused of hitting a U.S. Fighter jet, with sources telling CNN that this F-35 jet made an emergency landing at a U.S. air base after it was struck by what is believed to be Iranian fire. Now, that incident took place just before Trump made this claim.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The navy's gone. Their air force is gone. Their anti-aircraft equipment is gone. We're flying wherever we want, Pete. We have no -- nobody even shooting at us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Okay. Well, Iran is also striking a major refinery in northern Israel and Haifa, and also for a second day, Iran hitting energy facilities in Qatar. And that is a major development. An official with the state-owned energy company there saying that the damage could take five years to repair, to think about what that will cost for prices and fertilizers and chemicals and natural gas for a long time.

And that attack came after Tehran threatened, quote, "zero restraint" if Israel strikes its energy infrastructure again, which is something that now both Trump and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, say will not happen again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I told him, don't do that, and he won't do that.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: President Trump asked us to hold off on future attacks, and we're holding out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Obviously, notable there that Prime Minister Netanyahu came out and spoke and said that after Trump said that publicly, it is after Trump posted that the United States knew nothing in advance about the strike on Iran's South Pars gas field, which is the world's largest natural gas reserve. That is what triggered these strikes by Iran. That, of course, came in contrast to significant reporting out there that said he did know.

Netanyahu also said Iran can, quote, no longer enrich uranium. He also said it's no longer able to manufacture ballistic missiles. Now, it's obviously could be important that he says that. But of course, this all matters. The imminent threat posed by Iran is why the administration says it went to war in the first place.

And Trump is tonight talking about that, even as he requests another $200 billion to continue the war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: It's going to be over with pretty soon. We've obliterated their navy, we've obliterated their -- just about everything there is to obliterate, including leadership.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Well, of course, this is the thing -- if all of that has been accomplished and all this obliteration, which I guess started last summer when the nuclear program was supposedly alliterated, if that's happening, then why does the Pentagon now need $200 billion to fund the war?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: As far as $200 billion, I think that number could move, obviously. It takes -- it takes money to kill bad guys.

REPORTER: If the war is almost over, why is the Pentagon going to ask Congress for an additional $200 billion?

TRUMP: Well, we're asking for a lot of reasons beyond even what we're talking about in Iran. This is a very volatile world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: And Jeremy Diamond is OUTFRONT in Tel Aviv to begin our coverage.

So, Jeremy, what is happening on the ground tonight? I know after Netanyahu gave that rare press conference that we did see the most intense series of strikes on Jerusalem since essentially the beginning of the war.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. That's right, Erin. Multiple waves of ballistic missiles fired by Iran towards Jerusalem tonight. No reports of casualties or serious damage as of yet.

[19:05:03]

There were -- there was also in the last hour another barrage of ballistic missiles aimed at Haifa and northern Israel. That's also where earlier today, we saw that the Iranians carried out a strike on an oil refinery in Haifa, the largest in the country here. And that comes amid an intensification of these Iranian strikes on energy infrastructure across the region. We saw yesterday, of course, that they struck Qatari oil infrastructure. They also tried to strike Saudi oil refineries after Israel earlier in the day had carried out those strikes on Iran's, one of their largest natural gas facilities.

And amid all of this, we've had this back and forth between the United States and Israel over who knew what, when and whether the United States was involved in those Israeli strikes on Iran's oil facilities. And tonight, we had an opportunity to ask the Israeli prime minister about that. He said that he had heeded President Trump's commitment, commitment to not strike Iran's oil and natural gas facilities in the future. I also asked him whether that means that he would also end the war, should President Trump ask him to do so. He kind of demurred on that point, but he said the United States is the leader and we are the ally.

I also had a chance to ask the prime minister about any cracks in the Iranian regime. He told me that he is seeing cracks in the regime, despite the fact that analysts have indicated that Israeli assassinations of senior Iranian leaders may be leading to the hardliners being even further emboldened in that country -- Erin.

BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Jeremy. We've got just the people here to talk about all of that news that Jeremy made with the prime minister.

Everyone is here with me.

Nicholas Kristof, let me just start with you and that U.S. F-35 hit by suspected Iranian fire. And you know, damaged obviously, Trump says we have nobody shooting at us. You know, going through the detail of what's been obliterated as he describes it.

But today, obviously someone did shoot at an F-35

NICHOLAS KRISTOF, NEW YORK TIMES COLUMNIST: Well, I mean, we should have learned by now that you can obliterate a navy, you can obliterate an Air Force. And the essence of asymmetric warfare is that you don't actually need those tools to cause significant damage. You know, we could have learned that from the Viet Cong during the Vietnamese War. We could have learned that from Afghanistan, the Taliban obviously didn't have an air force or a navy, and that they did enormous damage.

And, you know, the truth is we have done incredible damage to Iranian armed forces and to their capabilities. But as long as they still have missiles and drones and they have a, you know, a ton of drones, then they can cause enormous damage both to military assets and to gas and oil infrastructure and to the region, to the -- to the global economy.

And, you know, so long as they have, you know, small motorboats, even dhows, they can lay mines.

BURNETT: Yeah. Well, it's interesting when you talk about also the asymmetric costs, right, that we're using multi-million dollar missile interceptors to take out just a couple thousand drones.

And, General Marks, to that point, the F-35 is $100 million airplane. And that's not the only thing that's been taken out. I mean, one of our, what, eight THAAD batteries around the world as Seth was laying out was taken out. I mean, billions of dollars. I mean, that there, there has been a lot impacted.

MAJ. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS, U.S. ARMY (RET.): This is the future of this conflict. I think the damage that's been done over the course of the past three weeks is significant. But Iran still has the capacity through, as we've just -- just seen and just heard, these asymmetric applications of capabilities which will always have a level of effectiveness, those will not alter the outcome of this engagement. It will -- it will simply extend it and make it a little more difficult.

But clearly, the overpowering capability of this alliance has is quite phenomenal. But we're all David in a sling, there's always a small individual, a small capability that can achieve some damage.

BURNETT: And when it comes to shutting down something like the Strait of Hormuz, it matters so much, right? It doesn't matter. You don't -- you don't need to be an equal army. You just have to have enough to cause fear to shut it down

MARKS: Exactly. Correct. BURNETT: So, Karim, I also just interested -- Prime Minister

Netanyahu says, okay, we've been asked and were going to stop. Now the way he phrased it he that was someone who had been chastised, okay, in a very serious way.

However, I'm just thinking back I have a memory to a couple of weeks ago when the Israelis hit an energy, an oil facility in Tehran and the U.S. administration was livid and said, don't hit that stuff anymore. And then I guess a few days later, memory is all forgotten. They went and did it again in a different area, and now again, they've been told not to do it.

So, I guess what I'm asking is do you think that this whole were going to have restraint and not do this is going to hold?

KARIM SADJAJPOUR, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: I think the United States and Israel have really two different agendas here. If you listen to Secretary Hegseth's press conference this morning, he made it explicitly clear the U.S. agenda here is not regime change. It's regime degradation.

I think if you listen to the language of Israeli leaders and you look at their conduct, it is regime implosion for them and they're now systematically assassinating senior Iranian officials who are implicated in repression. I think they have a different endgame here than the United States.

BURNETT: Well, and assassinating officials who might have been the very ones that that Trump would have been happy to work with and in fact, were because at least on the very first day, we know because Trump said so himself, that several individuals that he would have been fine with replacing the supreme leader were killed.

SADJADPOUR: Because of the fact that Israel is in missile range of Iran. I think they have different calculations. President Trump's goal was to have a Venezuela outcome, a deal that he could do business with. For Israel, they would obviously like to see a friendly regime in Iran, but if they can't achieve that, and Iran, which looks more like a Syria, is something they could also live with.

BURNETT: General Marks, I'm also curious, as you know, you see the U.S. and Israel working together and now, Netanyahu having been uncharacteristically quiet, okay, now coming out and saying, no we're on the same page. And even notwithstanding what Karim is saying, but the U.S. is so alone on this. I mean, they are alone wandering in the desert if we're going to continue with biblical analogies here, except for with Israel.

How close is that coordination militarily?

MARKS: It has really -- to what Karim said, they need to be on the same page, and that page needs to be at the end of the book. What is the desired outcome? And Israel's got some capacities and some intelligence, and they'll certainly share that with the United States. But they have some abilities to go after some of these leadership targets that the United States right now -- BURNETT: Does not have.

MARKS: -- does not have, nor will they do that even if they had the capability, because they have other tasks and other capabilities that they want to utilize. So, you have this air tasking order. You have set missions that you go after then you have these time sensitive missions, which the Israelis capture very, very well and can execute against. So --

BURNETT: So, the two militaries can work together arm in arm, even though one military might go out and do something completely off.

MARKS: Well, as long as, Erin, as long as the desired end state, they agree to what the confines, the four corners of that desired end state looks like, they've got a word picture and they say yeah, we agree. And if you're going to do political stuff and we do military stuff at some point, there's got to be an agreement. We're good. We're good here, right?

That's the challenge. Have we had those conversations?

BURNETT: So, Nick, what stands out to you when you hear Prime Minister Netanyahu come out and make it clear -- yes, Trump told me, I couldn't do this and I'm going to come publicly and say, he told me that, and I'm not going to do it again. What does that say to you?

KRISTOF: Well, I mean, I think more broadly that we're just seeing this intensifying -- intensification of the war, you know, bit by bit into energy infrastructure and now, you know I fear with the marines coming to perhaps seize either Kharg Island or some of these little islands in the strait or to make an effort to recover the highly enriched uranium.

And so, I just what I fear is, you know, waiting more deeply into this. You know, with them both talking about this.

BURNETT: I mean, General, to that point, you know, on the eve of the Ukraine war, everybody was, was hoping maybe, maybe it was a stupid hope, but they were hoping that Putin was doing it to get leverage and get what he wanted. And then those of us in the country heard what happened that night.

Okay, Trump just put all the military might there, and everybody was hoping it was a bluff and it wasn't. So when he's sending more than 2,000 marines, if not more, coming into the Middle East right now, is -- isn't -- it would seem kind of credulous to say that he isn't going to use them, wouldn't it?

MARKS: I don't disagree. What you have with this, this amphibious ready group, this marine expeditionary unit, which has immense capabilities to do over the shore operations and to protect themselves and achieve some objectives. I can only hope because it can't get inside the head of the president, but that is a capability that that CENTCOM commander will have available if the president says we need to do something ashore. I can only hope that that's not one of the options that he would want to exercise.

That becomes increasingly more difficult once you're ashore. How do you come off the shore? You get entangled in this, and we've talked about how difficult all this can look like.

BURNETT: Karim, you know, the context here is Netanyahu also said he's not sure who's running Iran right now. And maybe a few days ago, before the assassination of Larijani, he might not have said it the same way. But that's how he said it.

And yet you also had today three horrible executions by hanging in Iran by the regime. So, what -- what does all that say to you?

[19:15:00]

Is there someone in charge? And is something so public that they did for the world to see like that right now? Is that a sign of resilience or desperation?

SADJADPOUR: It's very difficult to measure regime cohesion and resilience from faraway, from afar right now, it looks like it's a regime which believes if it loses power, it's going to be killed and so therefore, they have enormous will to continue to stay in power.

And really, their only way of doing that, Erin, is via brutality, because the gap between them and Iranian society is virtually irreconcilable so they have no hope to be liked by their population. They want to continue to be feared by their population.

BURNETT: And that's why what we saw today.

All right. Thank you all very much. I appreciate you.

And next, our breaking news coverage continues. The situation deteriorating in the second front of this war, an incredible loss of life. Dramatic new video of a strike near reporter. We're going to bring that to you next.

And President Trump tonight claiming he can seize Iran's crown jewel, Kharg Island. Again, still with the drum beat there. He says it's not even protected. Is that really the case though? We're going to show you at the magic wall with General Marks.

And an OUTFRONT exclusive, I'll talk to Governor J.B. Pritzker, who's been crowned Democratic kingmaker, and he has a lot to say about Trump and his war.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:20:46]

BURNETT: Welcome back to a special edition of OUTFRONT, "War with Iran".

The breaking news, dramatic new footage of a close call on the front lines. RT correspondent Steve Sweeney and his cameraman, Ali Rida, narrowly escaped death today. I mean, that is just frightening. He was reporting on Israeli missile strikes in southern Lebanon. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE SWEENEY, RT CORRESPONDENT: Further rocket attacks were reported against Nahariya and the minute --

(EXPLOSION)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: And just the speed, right? The no warning that you get. Now, we've reached out to Rida and I just want to let you know, they've confirmed that they -- they are safe, they are okay. CNN is also reporting from inside Lebanon tonight.

And Isobel Yeung is OUTFRONT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, Yasmina and Malika. I swear, she was like the moon, her face so bright.

ISOBEL YEUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This mother is carrying the body of her six-year-old daughter Yasmina. Israeli bombs pierce her grief. She's also burying her three other daughters, nine-year-old Malika, Zahra, 12, and Zainab, 13, along with their cousin 11-year-old Sadiq.

YEUNG: Just absolutely heartbreaking scenes as body after body after body. Tiny little bodies, these ones having to be carried on the bed because there's just only parts and remnants and pieces of them left.

YEUNG (voice-over): These are just five of over 110 children killed this month. The IDF say they're targeting Hezbollah infrastructure and that Hezbollah are using civilians as human shields.

CNN obtained permission from Hezbollah to film in southern Lebanon.

YEUNG: It is just apocalyptic around here. And to think that I mean, just a couple of weeks ago, this was a buzzing, lively neighborhood with shops and these were people's houses. And now, it's just all been turned to rubble. It must be so eerie staying here and yet you still do see people. You see people in their homes.

What are you still doing here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I stay here.

YEUNG: Why are you staying?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I go where? This is my house.

YEUNG: Are you the only person who stayed or is there other families who stayed as well?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I no get family, I no marry. You want to marry me? (LAUGHTER)

YEUNG: These kids obviously have been out of school for the last two weeks. Since the beginning of the war and this group now is trying to do some activities with them, try to have some semblance of normalcy.

ANGIE, SHELTER RESIDENT: I like we are scared and terrified and displaced.

YEUNG: What are you scared could happen?

ANGIE: I'm scared one of us will be killed.

SANAA GHOSN, SHELTER RESIDENT: Lebanon used to be prosperous. The whole Lebanon is finished. Completely. There is no Lebanon anymore. Hopefully what happened in Gaza doesn't happen to us.

YEUNG: What would you say to the people who have power over this war right now?

ANGIE: What do you want from us? Children can't continue their education or do anything. You've ruined our lives.

YEUNG (voice-over): It's a pain no child should know, a generation who should have their entire lives ahead of them, now pulled into a war they never chose. And crushed beneath the violence that engulfs them.

Isobel Yeung, CNN, Beirut.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BURNETT: The incredible suffering.

Well, next, President Trump is addressing what's happening around the world with oil prices.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I thought it would be worse, much worse.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: So how much worse will it get?

And an OUTFRONT exclusive tonight, the Illinois governor, J.B. Pritzker, is our guest, weighing in on Trump wanting $200 billion for his war on Iran.

[19:25:03]

And why he says he believes something specific is wrong with the president.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Welcome back to a special OUTFRONT, "War with Iran".

The breaking news, President Trump tonight with a fresh threat to quote, take out Iran's Kharg Island. He keeps saying this. He's been bringing it up since 1988. So, what is it? It's an eight square mile island that handles virtually all 90 percent of Iran's oil exports.

[19:30:08]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We can take out the island anytime we want. I call it the little island that sits there, so totally unprotected

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Now, Trump today insisted he is not deploying troops to the Middle East. However, we've reported on a marine expeditionary unit, which is more than 2,000 marines, up to 2,200 that that has already been deployed to the Middle East and is en route.

Now, Kharg Island is one place where ground troops like that, a unit like that would be able to operate. It's not the only one, though. The Strait of Hormuz and that mountainous region, alongside and also jobs missions like trying to find Iran's enriched uranium. Those are all things on the table that would require significant U.S. soldiers on the ground in Iran.

Now, retired Major General "Spider" Marks is OUTFRONT with me now.

So, General Marks, you know, when we talk about this marine expeditionary unit on the way perhaps more boots on the ground. And, you know, that would be in theater to do a mission.

Let's go through what they could do. Now, Kharg Island we've talked about, he has been talking about Kharg Island by name, Donald Trump since 1988. So, when he says now, he could take Kharg Island anytime we want, what would it look like to take it? It's small, but that is not everything.

MARKS: No, it's not. It's offshore. As you can see right here. The -- let me get this thing to cooperate with me. Kharg Island is really very, very close to the shoreline, but it is the main terminal for all oil exports coming out of Iran, about 20 percent for the world comes through the straits.

The challenge with this mission is that coming ashore here, even though it's probably not contested right now, now, because the military capacity has been reduced. But we don't know. And as an intel guy, I would want to know what has Iran done in the interim between the reduction of that military capability a number of days ago and where we are today?

BURNETT: Yeah.

MARKS: So, there's always challenges associated with coming ashore. And you've got this terminal that is going to be used. I think primarily that's all about leverage more than it is bringing in a capacity to get that thing up and running.

BURNETT: Right. And so, you would put it would require obviously significant boots on the ground to take that and hold it in the sense of, you don't know what could be coming in, coming, especially because it's so close to shore. So, there's that.

Then, you know, you and I talked about securing the Strait of Hormuz quite a bit because you were talking about the very mountainous terrain, which would give Iran. It's also on the other side, but that's not the side where the fire would be coming from. The -- on the Iranian side, the benefit of height. So -- if, how would ground troops be used in the street?

MARKS: Yeah. So, what you have in route is an amphibious ready group, marine expeditionary unit. It's a mouthful. And what that means is this is an incredibly capable force that can get itself, can force itself on shore. And it's comprised of elements like this. This is CH- 53, heavy lift helicopter, grabbing this artillery piece, which is an M777. This is what we call the beginning of an artillery raid. You take this thing off a ship, you land it where you want it to go to shore.

BURNETT: So, then you have artillery capability.

MARKS: Then you've got counter fire capability within minutes.

Also within that capability, these things called AMTRACs, incredibly capable. They swim. As you can see. And inside this is about 28-plus marines. They will disembark to begin their missions.

Also they have obviously is vertical lift gunships, the Cobras, incredibly dependable. And also the Osprey. Again, vertical lift, you don't need a runway you can come off the deck of a ship, you can land anywhere, and then you disembark, about 30 to 40 marines.

BURNETT: Okay, so that's what they. So -- they would be able to move quickly. Although obviously when you meet with resistance, there is the risk of real loss of life. And also, how do you get offshore once you get on, as you mentioned a moment ago in our conversation.

Now, today, Netanyahu says Iran no longer has the ability to enrich uranium which is obviously significant obviously, Trump had said the program was eliminated last summer. It was obliterated last summer, actually. So, it's unclear what those terms at this point really mean.

However, there are three main nuclear sites and I say main for a reason, because we only know what we know in terms of where, say, enriched uranium could be stored. We know those. But if we understand it's in those canisters, it could be a lot of different places. And that would change the whole calculus for boots on the ground, wouldn't it?

MARKS: Absolutely. First of all, look at the distance that we're talking of. If we had forces here or we -- or if the U.S. came ashore here and you were going to try to put forces there now, you certainly wouldn't have to drive up there. I mean, you could -- you could have some aviation airborne operation that dropped them in.

[19:35:00]

But the challenge is these are monstrous facilities. And to your very point, the enriched uranium isn't necessarily here. It could be dispersed into military compounds, into somebody's backyard, into a garage, under underground facilities, which are all along the mountains here.

So, if you get there and let me show you the significance of this, this is Natanz. This is a monster facility. This would eat up ground forces. Marines would have to guard intersections. They'd have to be here. They'd have to go into each one of these buildings. Is anything there?

And then once they get in a building, they don't know what they're looking at.

BURNETT: You have to clear it -- you have to -- then there's -- then there's what's underneath it, and then there's the other ones, Fordow.

MARKS: Who's going to come in and say, yep, that's radioactive or no, that's inert. And that takes other experts to have to be a part of this endeavor.

We did this in Iraq. The sensitive site exploitation mission. We did this in the early stages of Iraq. We found all those sites. It became very, very difficult and every time we got one, we put experts in there to determine this equals something. This equals something.

BURNETT: Painstaking and excruciatingly time consuming.

MARKS: And detailed. Yes, ma'am.

BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, General Marks.

And I want to go now to Jim Bianco, economic analyst and president of Bianco Research.

And, Jim, you know, what General Marks is talking about -- just about, you know, what it would actually take if this is where the direction this goes for boots on the ground, whether it be to secure the strait, Kharg Island or the uranium itself. Kharg Island, which he began talking about, 90 percent of Iran's crude oil exports come there.

So, you use a football term. You describe Kharg Island the Hail Mary for the Trump administration. What do you mean by that, Jim?

JIM BIANCO, ECONOMIC ANALYST; BIANCO RESEARCH PRESIDENT: This is the only thing that seems to be working for the Iranians right now. They are loading ships in Kharg Island, and we are allowing them to come out. And if the Trump administration is looking to put the final piece of pressure on the Iranians, it would be to cut off that one flow that they have right now and stop those ships. Now they could either blockade them or they could do as we were discussing, possibly taking Kharg Island and preventing those ships from even being loaded in the first place.

BURNETT: So -- all right, so that -- and but you call it a Hail Mary in the sense of -- I mean, obviously its complete unknown and a risk, right? Which obviously, from military perspective, it is -- it is, as General Marks laid out. So crude oil prices.

Okay, usually in the old world there would be Brent, you know, the heavy sour crude, right? And then there would be West Texas light, sweet crude, and we would know the difference between the two prices is sort of the quality of the oil. And that and it was relatively simple.

It is not simple right now, Jim. Right now, you have oil crude oil prices. Dubai at $117 a barrel. West Texas which is what we use primary benchmark in the U.S. light sweet crude is less than $100. Have you ever seen a spread like this before?

BIANCO: No, I have not. I have not seen it. Usually, you're right that the crude oil market is a global market. All the prices trade close to each other, with the differing qualities being the only difference.

Right now, it seems to be breaking into three different markets. There's the market for Asian crude oil, which comes primarily from the Middle East, which is being clogged up in the Strait of Hormuz, and that's why it is commanding such a huge premium to get any of it that they can into Asia.

The European market, which is Brent and that is trading at about 17 or 20 percent higher than the U.S., which is the West Texas Intermediate. So, we've got three different markets right now for crude oil now that is unusual as I said.

And it does pretend that there is going to be a lot of economic stress differentiated throughout the world. It's much worse in Asia right now than it is, say, in the United States, even though it's not great here with crude oil prices nearly $100.

BURNETT: So how much worse do you think it will get? And I guess from this, I'm saying, do you think the markets, as some argue, suffer from a complacency and a lack of imagination because so many who are trading in that market have not lived through a period of incredible disruption, and nobody could imagine the Strait of Hormuz being closed. So therefore, no one can truly imagine it remaining closed or what the impacts would be. Or are you in the camp that, no, look at the market. If there are some calmness there, that's a sign of where we're going.

BIANCO: Now, I think it's -- I think it's more of the former that, you know the market is of the belief that there's always a -- we're a week away or ten days away from some kind of resolution to this, that there will be either an opening of the strait or at least a pathway to opening the strait and getting that 20 percent of world crude moving again. And that's why it sort of dribbles down every single day. It doesn't sell off like it was right when we got COVID. And it doesn't, you know ignore the issue right now.

So, it's always trading on this hope that maybe in a week or so, we'll get some kind of resolution or signal that things are going to start to go back to normal.

BURNETT: Yeah. Now, of course, we'll see. You know, if hope is actually a market strategy. As you know, economically irrational as it may be recently, obviously, for lack of a better word, bailouts come.

[19:40:04]

This situation may be that. It may be different.

Jim, thank you.

BIANCO: Thank you.

BURNETT: And next, President Trump making a shocking quip about Pearl Harbor to the Japanese prime minister while defending his decision to keep his attack on Iran a surprise.

And an OUTFRONT exclusive. I'll talk to the Illinois governor, J.B. Pritzker, the tough talking Democrat who is now in an escalating feud with Trump over the Iran war. He's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Breaking news, President Trump right now hosting Japan's prime minister for a White House dinner hours after he was criticized for making these comments when asked why he didn't inform European allies in advance about his decision to strike Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We went in very hard and we didn't tell anybody about it because we wanted surprise. Who knows better about surprise than Japan?

[19:45:02]

Okay? Why didn't you tell me about Pearl Harbor? Okay?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Well, Trump made those comments and he is demanding allies like Japan help the U.S. secure the Strait of Hormuz. And the Pentagon is now planning to ask Congress to approve $200 billion in funding to pay for the war with Iran.

OUTFRONT now, the Democratic governor of Illinois, J.B. Pritzker.

And, Governor, I appreciate your time.

Is there any scenario where you would support another $200 billion as is being requested by the president for the war with Iran? GOV. J.B. PRITZKER (D), ILLINOIS: We need to end this war. And it never should have happened. In fact, they should have gone to Congress anyway to get approval. And so, the question of spending another $200 billion. Clearly, we've already spent billions and billions.

We want to support our troops. We want to make sure that no one's, you know, putting -- being put in harm's way as a result of not being supported. But on the other hand, we need to pull the troops back.

We need to get out. Frankly, I think this was another one of his adventures around the world that doesn't make any sense. And that's illegal in my view. So I believe that they shouldn't if they can -- you know, now pull the troops out and not have to spend that money. That's the time to do it.

BURNETT: And yet there are more troops going in, right? I mean, the question of boots on the ground is very real. There's more than 2,000 marines on their way to the Middle East, right? Marine expeditionary unit. Right? They specialize in boots on the ground, and they're on their way.

Everything else that was sent in before ended up being used. So, whether it's being sent for bluff certainly doesn't fit with what's happened most recently. But when President Trump was asked about boots on the ground a few days ago, he didn't rule it out.

Now, today, the wordsmithing is a bit different. Let me play it for you, Governor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I'm not putting troops anywhere. If I -- if I were, I certainly wouldn't tell you. But I'm not putting troops.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: So does that mean anything? Sort of saying, well, I'm not, but if I were, I wouldn't tell you. So, there's 2,000 on the way. I mean what do you think's about to happen here, Governor?

PRITZKER: Look, you never know with Donald Trump. And frankly, it's not because he's being wily. It's because there's something wrong with him, honestly.

So, I'm very fearful that there will be more troops sent or that they'll go into combat anyway. You know, we've got Illinois National Guards people, men and women on the front lines out there. Weve got members of the military from Illinois also in harm's way and we don't need to be in this war. This should end.

Now, everybody's going to suffer, not just the people who are on the front lines, but also people all across the United States who are paying higher prices for gas. Oil prices are going to affect inflation. Weve already seen that in the numbers. We didn't need to be in this position. But Donald Trump has put us here. And contrary to what he promised when he ran for president. BURNETT: Governor, at the beginning of your answer, you said

something that just stood out to me. You said there's something wrong with him. What do you mean by that?

PRITZKER: I mean, it's clear that he's not sure what he's saying from moment to moment, and then he'll promise something and then not deliver it. He'll say something, then he'll say something completely contrary to that. And I don't know anybody that acts like that, that doesn't have some kind of a problem. And some kind of issue thinking things through.

That is what I think. And I've been saying that for some time. I think he's got some dementia.

BURNETT: Do you think he's got dementia? That's what you think we see when we see sentences like, I just played there, then?

PRITZKER: Exactly. And then you know, you're hearing contrary things from one hour to the next. And not just about war, about lots of other things. You might think, oh, he's being secretive. Well, not when he's talking about, well domestic cost of goods, for example, or tariffs or other things.

The man -- there's something wrong with him. I can't diagnose it, but I'm sure other people can.

BURNETT: Yeah. And obviously, we don't -- we don't have any reporting on that. But I just wanted to understand exactly what you were saying there.

I want to ask you about the other big event for you right now and on national politics for Democrats. Youve gotten a lot of credit for your lieutenant governor, Juliana Stratton. She won the heated senate primary in your state. It was heated. It was obviously significant win.

Some of the headlines, Governor, one of them was "Politico" called you King of Illinois. "The New York Times" says, "Pritzker's gamble to become a kingmaker pays off". "Chicago Sun-Times," "Flex of your political muscle." Those are just a few of them.

You know, I spoke to her last night, and, you know, her wish list is clear. She wants Medicare for all. She wants to abolish ICE. She wants to raise taxes on people who make more than $1 million a year.

[19:50:03]

Obviously, she's your lieutenant governor. You supported her in a big way in this race. Do you also back all those positions?

PRITZKER: Look, she cares deeply about the people of Illinois and fighting for them in Washington, D.C. I think that with all the special, you know, special interests and super PAC money that came in after her, the voters voted for her anyway. And I think that she has now demonstrated on the policies that she ran on, the kind of candidates she's been that she will carry out those and do the best she can for the people of our state.

You know, it's not when I support somebody and I think this is true, when you go to the voting booth and you vote for somebody, you don't necessarily agree on everything. But think about the issues she's talking about -- lowering the costs for people in their everyday lives, making sure that you're keeping people safe from the, you know, the attacks on their rights, like due process, like the president has come after them on.

And I really believe she is somebody who brings her whole heart to the job. And so, I was pleased to support her and very pleased she will become the second black woman to be a United States senator from Illinois, the only state that's ever sent to black women, to the United States Senate.

BURNETT: So members of the Congressional Black Caucus had some frustrations specifically with you and how much you did to help your lieutenant governor win. The CBC chair had accused you of tipping the scales by pouring millions into the race.

And then Congressman Bennie Thompson came out and told "Politico", I don't know if you saw this, Governor, but he said, "He has to justify what he did. I'm sure at some point, if he decides to run," and he was referring to you possibly running for president, he then said, "He'll have to come with that justification."

Do you feel that you have to come up with a justification for your support for your lieutenant governor?

PRITZKER: Well, look, people say things in the heat of a battle. And, you know, even in the wake of that battle, in a primary in particular, when the differences between the candidates are not fabulously big, and I don't think people mean them. And afterward, of course, we all come together to support that candidate. And that is what's happening. I've gotten a number of calls today from members of the Congressional Black Caucus to that effect.

I'll just say this -- I was very proud to have supported Juliana Stratton. She will make a tremendous United States senator. And as I said before, she'll be -- well, not just the second black woman senator from Illinois, but also the sixth in the entire history of the country. And so, proud to have supported her. And I'll be proud when she becomes the United States senator.

BURNETT: So, legendary Democratic strategist James Carville has been talking about, obviously, the presidential race. And he said that of all the Democrats out there, and we do anticipate that it will be a very wide field, right? When it comes around to the next election season, he would put his money on you for 2028. And I just wanted to play a bit of the detail of what he said as to why, Governor, because there are some things in here that really stood out to me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES CARVILLE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: If I had to say one guy, I really don't know him very superficially, but if I were like betting the Kentucky Derby and I saw this 12 to 1 horse and I said, yeah, I want to get a price. I take J.B. Pritzker.

HOST: This is a multi-millionaire. How does he resonate with the Black community?

CARVILLE: They like him, man.

HOST: Why?

CARVILLE: He campaigns hard. I bet you there's not a Black church in South Carolina J.B. is not part of the building fund committee. Okay?

I mean, and he's got -- he's bigger than life but wait, he won a million and a half -- he's worth $3 billion and won a million and a half dollars shooting craps and blackjack in Las Vegas. That makes people like him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: What do you think?

PRITZKER: Well, there are a lot of assumptions in all of that. I'm obviously flattered to be considered somebody who could run for president of the United States. James Carville has a lot of knowledge, has been around presidential politics a lot. So that makes it even more flattering.

And, and I, you know, I look, I have won when I run for elections and I've done that twice as governor. I've won more than 90 percent of the Black vote. I'm very proud to have aligned with me a whole bunch of people who really care deeply about lifting up the Black community.

So -- so I think that may be what he's referring to. And it's true, I go to Black churches all the time. I get invited to speak all the time and, and I enjoy doing it.

BURNETT: And what about the other part, 12 to 1? I want to get a prize. I take J.B. Pritzker, the running for president part

PRITZKER: Well, again, I'm flattered to be considered. I appreciate, you know, that he said that. I really don't know James Carville.

[19:55:00]

I have met him, I don't know, once somewhere.

BURNETT: Oh, that's funny. It's what -- it sounded like you did. Yeah.

PRITZKER: Yeah. So no, he -- I think he just has observed people from afar and me from afar. Which I appreciate, but anyway, I -- all I can say is we've got a great bench in the Democratic Party, and I think it will be spirited in 2028, but the important thing is that we've got hyper qualified people. We need to change the direction of this country. It needs to be a Democrat who becomes president of the United States.

BURNETT: All right. Well, Governor Pritzker, I appreciate your time tonight, and thank you so much.

PRITZKER: Thank you.

BURNETT: And next, breaking news, a tragic update tonight on the missing U.S. college student in Spain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: A nightmare. A 20-year-old American college student found dead in Spain while on spring break. James Gracey called Jimmy never returned to his short-term rental after attending a beachfront nightclub in Barcelona earlier this week. He was reported missing on Tuesday his family had been hoping for a miracle, but his body we know today was found in shallow water steps from the club where he was last seen.

Spanish authorities believe it was a tragic accident, not a criminal act. The Gracey family is saying that they're, quote, "heartbroken, struggling to come to terms with this unimaginable loss." No other way to describe it for any child.

James Gracey was the eldest of five children, four siblings, an honor student at the University of Alabama, he was the philanthropy chairman at his fraternity a hockey player and also the nephew of CNN senior producer David Gracey who is mourning with his family.

And our thoughts are with all of them.

Thank you for joining us.

"AC360" starts now.