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Inside Politics

Trump: Missing U.S. Airman Rescued After Jet Shot Down Over Iran; Trump's New Threat Comes As Gas Prices Surge, Poll Numbers Slip. Trump's Cabinet Members Worry No One Safe after Firings; Will GOP Rift Deepen as Shutdown Continues and Trump Looks On; Trump to Iran: "Open the F-- Strait"; Pope Leo's Easter Message. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired April 05, 2026 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:15]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome to INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY. I'm Manu Raju.

Top priority of the Pentagon the last two days culminated last night in the dramatic and very risky operation to rescue the missing service member whose F-15 jet was shot down over Iran on Friday.

President Trump at 12:08 a.m. this morning, posting that the U.S. military had pulled off, quote, "one of the most daring search and rescue operations in U.S. history". But the incident, the first time a U.S. aircraft was shot down by Iran since the war began more than a month ago also underscored Iran's ability to mount a defense in undercut Trump's claim of a decimated Iranian military.

Meanwhile, this morning, Iranian state media shared video that appeared to show the burnt-out wreckage of several aircraft in Iran's Esfahan airspace. We're working to learn more about those images, all as Trump issued an ultimatum to Iran yesterday, ratcheting up a major threat, pledging, quote, "all hell will rain down if Iran does not make a deal or reopen the Strait of Hormuz by tomorrow."

Let's get straight to Jim Sciutto in Tel Aviv, who has been reporting overnight about the high stakes rescue operation.

So, Jim, what have you learned?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: We're just getting new details as we speak, and these details speak to a highly complex, dangerous operation involving dozens of aircraft and hundreds of U.S. military personnel, including a commando team on the ground, who ultimately and successfully were able to get this pilot out and to safety. For more than 24 hours. The pilot was on the ground on his own. At one point, he scaled 7,000 feet up a ridgeline to communicate, but also to evade potential capture.

At the same time, the CIA was mounting an information campaign inside Iran to, in effect, attempt to throw Iranian authorities off the scent, putting out information inside Iran that both pilots had already been rescued. That, of course, was not true. They were still looking for that second pilot. And that's when this highly complex operation went in.

Ultimately, they were able to get him out and to safety. He was injured, according to the president's account and other details we're learning from U.S. officials. He is expected to recover from those injuries. But, Manu, it was a nervous, more than 24-hour period for U.S. forces. They got their first communication from the pilot several hours after the plane went down, including a report that he had been injured. And during those hours, it was really a race, a race between U.S. forces and Iranian authorities who were going so far as to encourage residents in the area to find and report the location of the pilot, offering a reward as well for that information.

Ultimately, it was those U.S. forces that won this race, and that pilot is now safe. We should note, though highly complex, highly dangerous operation. There were forces on the ground there. And, you know, Manu, you and I and others on CNN have been talking about the possibility of some sort of ground deployment inside Iran. This one necessitated in order to get that pilot home safely.

RAJU: Yeah, no question about it.

Jim Ssciutto with all the inside details, thank you so much for your reporting. Really appreciate it.

And joining me now here in the studio, a retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton, a CNN military analyst, and Zolan Kanno-Youngs with "The New York Times".

Good morning to you both and happy Easter.

Now, just moments ago, Trump just posted this on Truth Social, saying that "we have rescued this seriously wounded and really brave F-15 crew member/officer from deep inside the mountains of Iran." So -- and he also said the Iranian military was looking hard, looking quite hard in big numbers and getting close. He called the F-15 crew member a highly respected colonel.

He said the type of raid is seldom attempted because of this danger, to, quote, "man and equipment, it doesn't just happen".

So, Colonel, you know so much about the military one, I guess it's news here that this seriously wounded. It seems different than the message from the president last night. So hopefully he will recover here.

Secondly, what does this tell you about how complex this mission was and what goes into the planning and the tactics in pulling something like this off?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yeah, Manu. So happy easter. There are a lot of different aspects to this that are, I think, critical to understand because when you have a mission of this type, you have to bring a lot of different elements together. [08:05:03]

So, you have different aircraft that are being used in order to extract and extricate somebody who is in a position like this. The added complication now appears to be the fact that the colonel was wounded and apparently seriously wounded, according to the president, and that is, of course, significant because that means probably that he had limited mobility. And that would also necessitate extra personnel coming in to not only stabilize him potentially, but also to bring him out.

And that -- that would have been a key element here, because with that extra personnel, there's extra danger. And as President Trump mentioned in the statement that you just read, the Iranians were getting close. So that meant that they may have been thrown off the scent at first by the CIA disinformation and other things that were going on, other deception campaigns that were probably being mounted in this case.

But the aspect of, you know, they were not, you know, they were clearly paying attention to what was going on in their airspace. And to some extent, they were able to follow what was actually happening. And they may have picked up the scent, basically, that this operation was happening at a specific location, but all of the different pieces and parts that come together really mean that every level of command from the squadron that actually affects the rescue, all the way to the commander in chief, were heavily involved in this operation.

And that meant that there was intricate planning. They had to have all the right resources in place, and they also had to be prepared to abort the mission should personnel be in greater danger. But they didn't have to do that in this situation.

RAJU: I want you -- I want you to weigh in on this video from overnight, because the Iranian state media shared these images of this apparent aircraft wreckage after the U.S. rescue operation. You can see it on your screen here.

So, what do you make of these images, Colonel? I mean, because don't Americans have the capability to or don't they have the practice as part of their training to blow up some of their aircrafts if it's in enemy territory?

LEIGHTON: Yeah, absolutely. And what, what you see here kind of reminds me of what happened in at Desert One in 1980, where the failed Iranian hostage rescue mission was taking place. That, you know, the pictures that you see here look kind of like what you saw at that Desert One location in southern Iran during that that period.

But the key thing is that, you know, if these pictures are genuine, what you're seeing is, you know, after -- after effects because yes, the practice is if an aircraft is damaged, if it's not flyable, the practice is to blow that aircraft up. It's better to blow up the equipment as opposed to losing the people. And that's exactly what they probably did in a case like this --

RAJU: Yeah.

LEIGHTON: -- if this video is genuine.

RAJU: Zolan. you covered the White House for "The New York Times". What have you heard from inside the White House? Because we actually have not seen President Trump at all, really since Wednesday night when he delivered that primetime speech. He really didn't make mention of all this rescue operation on truth social. He comments on everything. As we know, he didn't comment on this until last night. Now he plans to have what he's calling a news conference tomorrow afternoon in the Oval Office.

What are you hearing from your sources?

ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: And that parts news, right on the 1:00 p.m. press conference in the Oval Office. We actually haven't seen too many opportunities where the president has taken question -- questions alongside members of his military as well.

You're right. The president did take a relatively low profile. We didn't see him make really a public appearance since that primetime speech on Wednesday, when he indicated that they were close to possibly an end of the war and pulling the United States out. When you have that message of United States of U.S. air supremacy, a moment like this where you have two aircraft shot down, obviously calls to question Iran's air capabilities as well.

Now you have this moment where the U.S. has won this race, this rescue, and the president immediately now framing it as another example of U.S. air supremacy. He kept a low profile. He didn't take the usual trip to Florida, as we usually see him do on these weekends, stayed in the White House yesterday. And you saw him not only monitoring this and eventually posting on Truth Social after remaining relatively quiet. But and I know were going to talk about this continuing also to make threats against Iran when it comes to the Strait of Hormuz as well.

RJAU: We're definitely getting into that in the next segment, very deeply about Trump's weekend threat. I do want to ask you, colonel, about all the fighting that we've seen in the last 24 hours, because Israel attacked a petrochemical plant in Iran that happened yesterday. And then we have seen Iran retaliate again on gulf states over the last day or so.

And, you know, Iran has this ability. You can see on your screen number of the places where Iran has struck -- has struck back. Iran has this ability. Trump is saying that, you know, their decimated, they're beaten up. They're no longer a threat. Obviously, that doesn't seem to be the case given what we saw with this down F-15 jet.

[08:10:03]

But Iran has the ability the underground bunkers, bunkers and silos that can be appear to be damaged at first and then can -- Iran could quickly dig them out and re -- and use them against their adversaries.

LEIGHTON: Yeah.

RAJU: What do you know about that? And what does that tell you about where this war is headed?

LEIGHTON: Yeah. So, what you're seeing is really Iran is focused on an asymmetric capability. They know that they can't match the United States weapon for weapon, soldier for soldier, airman for airman. They can't do that.

But what they can do is they can do things that are -- that throw you off balance. So, they're kind of taking some of the old ancient military philosophers like Sun Tzu and putting them into practice. And what they're doing is they're using things like the missile capability that they developed indigenously, like cyber capabilities. And like IEDs, improvised explosive devices to throw, throw people off.

And the other thing that they are capable of doing is what you mentioned with the underground tunnels. Those tunnels, Manu, are critical to the way in which the Iranians deploy for war. And they have really practiced their ability to go to war with the United States for basically for decades. And that is what we're seeing now.

So, when we start measuring things like, you know, the navy's decimated or these kinds of things, were actually not measuring the right things. The Iranians are still potent. They're not as good as we are, but they are a critical opponent. And you have to respect your opponent.

RAJU: Yeah. And they've clearly been preparing for this. And so, something you may appear one way, but the reality may not match what appears public -- what's appearing publicly. And that's what we're going to dig into as.

Colonel, thank you for joining us.

Zolan, stand by, because we have a lot more to discuss.

So, the question now, is Trump emboldened or does he have any second thoughts ahead of his major threat to escalate the war tomorrow?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:16:15]

RAJU: More breaking news. President Trump just now with a stunning new threat against Iran, saying, quote, "Tuesday will be power plant and bridge day wrapped in one in Iran. There will be nothing like it. Open the F bleep strait you crazy bastards or you'll be living in hell. Just watch. Praised to be Allah. President Donald J. Trump."

And now that the U.S. rescued that missing U.S. airman overnight, what does the whole episode mean for how the president plans to pursue this war in the days ahead?

To break this all down, we have an excellent panel of reporters. Margaret Talev with "Axios", Zolan Kanno-Youngs with "The New York Times," and Marianna Sotomayor with "The Washington Post".

Good morning to you all.

Okay. Wow, that was -- this just happened.

Trump is making these -- he's been making these threats repeatedly. He has not been carrying through with some of these threats, but he's been talking about going after the civilian infrastructure, electric -- people that -- the people that they presumably want to help here, the civilians in Iran who would be hurt by going after power plants, the water supply and the rest.

What do you make of this threat?

MARGARET TALEV, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: The president is either emboldened by the U.S. ability to rescue this American or very angry at the fact that this American has been apparently seriously injured or just very angry that gas prices are really high, and the American public's roundly against the war, but --

KANNO-YOUNGS: Maybe all of the above.

RAJU: Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

TALEV: We have seen this sort of toggle between saying, this is going to be wrapped up in a couple of weeks and, escalating threats. And this is -- I mean, certainly the most over the top language we've seen so far. It also comes on easter. There are a lot of things to unpack right here, but this is a -- this is a social media communication by a sitting U.S. president. It is laden with the F bomb and, invokes hell and all kinds of stuff.

RAJU: I mean, he's been yesterday he had said that this came after yesterday where he said that remember when I gave Iran ten days to make a deal or open up the Hormuz straight? Time is running out 48 hours before all hell will rain down. And then today he went even further. You'll be living in hell, he said.

So, this is my question because he's been all over the place about the Strait of Hormuz. Just before you jump in here, even Wednesday night, this is what Trump said about whether the Strait of Hormuz was really in the U.S. interest, opening that back up, and whether that was a chief demand of his.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The United States imports almost no oil through the Hormuz Strait and won't be taking any in the future. We don't need it. We haven't needed it and we don't need it.

The countries of the world that do receive oil through the Hormuz Strait must take care of that passage. Go to the straight and just take it. Protect it. Use it for yourselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP) RAJU: I mean, so what is it, Zolan? I mean, is it the -- is that the objective now? Because he's been saying, we don't need -- he just says -- he said it in a primetime address. "We don't need it. We haven't needed it and we don't need it."

And now he's saying, "Open it or there will be a living hell."

KANNO-YOUNGS: The president has been delivering, issuing conflicting messages throughout this more than a month-long war. At this point, sometimes in the same sentence, right? And right, just this week, you have had him, you know, earlier in the week, the message was this essentially isn't the United States's problem. It's not the U.S.'s responsibility to solve other nations that rely on oil from the Gulf more should be addressing this.

And then you also have him post on social media. Even before these statements, actually no cease fire deal until the strait is opened. Right?

And you have both of those messages going out, right? And now also you have this escalating language, which again is unusual even for Trump standards, right? This recent post.

So, you're absolutely right. We've had these conflicting messages of, on one hand, the president trying to frame this war as an overwhelming success that could end in saying, we don't even need the strait on the other end, knowing that, you know, the price of oil is priced on global supply and demand, what's happening with the strait is going to impact economic anxieties in the United States, and reacting to.

RAJU: And the politics, of course, and the gas prices as we head into the midterm elections. Just look at how gas prices have spiked in most states. Trump won in 2024. This is as of Saturday in Utah, a buck 42, up since the war began, or Arizona over $1.42 increase. Florida, Nevada, Idaho, Tennessee and the rest, and that's really the story. Marianna, across the country. And there is no sign that this is going to slow down anytime soon.

MARIANNA SOTOMAYOR, WASHINGTON POST CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Absolutely not. And that is what is front of mind for Republicans on Capitol Hill. This -- to many of them, though they might not say it publicly, maybe could have been preventable. We may not have had to go into Iran and to do this.

And the question that remains front of mind for lawmakers and Republicans, this they are saying publicly is, what is the plan? We talk about mixed messaging.

There are lawmakers on the hill who are so upset by this, who have been pressing in private-closed door meetings the administration and saying, what is the goal? Why are we sending men and women? Are we going to put them, you know, boots on the ground?

And also, if you're asking us to possibly fund send $200 billion in supplemental to fund this war, how long are -- how long is this going to go? How much more money do we have to send? And why do we have to continue to do this?

That is all front of mind. Of course, that backdrop is how is this going to impact the midterm elections? And if you ask members in the House, especially House Republicans from leadership all the way down, they're kind of preparing for the minority. Senate Republicans are starting to wonder whether they, too, will possibly lose.

RAJU: And their plan to deal with it is that we think the war is going to end and gas prices will come down very soon. Everything will be back to normal. Of course, gas prices oftentimes take a very long time to come down. They go up very quickly with how quickly they'll come down, when will this end?

And how much will this cost? As you just pointed out, because there's this discussion about this massive package to pay for this war, $200 billion. We'll see. They haven't officially proposed that yet, but that number is staggering. It's been kicking around Washington.

This was a question that the CNN poll asked this week. Should congress authorize $200 billion for further Iran military action, 62 percent of Republicans support it, and that's low for Republicans. Typically, in the era of Trump.

Look at that independent number, 78 percent of independents oppose whether Congress should authorize that amount of money. And then over the weekend, there was a comment from Utah Republican Senator John Curtis, a freshman Republican, really making a pretty stark point. I cannot support funding for military, further military operations without a former -- formal declaration of war from Congress.

That's a serious threat.

TALEV: Yeah. Coming from a Republican, it absolutely is.

My colleague Zach Basu at "Axios" had an incredible story and like the chart tells the story yesterday, called "Trump goes all in on war" and it shows how domestic program funding would decrease while defense funding would explode under this proposed budget.

And the point of this is to say that this is a political leader who has cut his teeth, made his base making the opposite argument. Let's get out of these engagements in other regions of the world. Let's stop the wars and focus on the U.S. this budget, drastically cuts U.S. health care, social services, programing, domestic spending in order to fuel the war.

And I think for Trump, the dilemma is you can't leave Iran until the Straits of Hormuz are opened.

RAJU: Yeah.

TALEV: And he's trying to get a deal, a negotiation. This may be just about trying to get that deal, but if the Iranians don't blink, he's going to have a decision to make by Tuesday.

RAJU: And Iranians are showing no signs of blinking. Just very quickly, Marianna, if they do propose this massive package, can this pass Congress?

SOTOMAYOR: I mean, it looks like there is opposition and Republicans --

RAJU: Republicans in the House and the Senate.

SOTOMAYOR: Exactly. And they just want answers.

And look, the White House already proposed a completely separate budget, a yearly budget. It's the largest number in modern history for defense spending, $1.5 trillion. And they're also requesting over $70 billion in domestic cuts. As Margaret was just saying, this goes against what Trump campaigned on. America First, invest in America and making sure that the economy is greater.

[08:25:04]

But you see what the priorities are from this White House and what they're telling Congress.

RAJU: Which is why some of those MAGA Republicans are the ones in particular who are pushing back. We'll see, ultimately, how this plays out.

All right. Coming up, Washington is seeing pink. But it's not those famous cherry blossoms. No, it's pink slips at the White House. But will this all be fleeting like those fickle cherry blossoms? Or are more Trump officials about to get the ax?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:29:58]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: fantastic cabinet. We have unbelievable bench. And one of them is Attorney General Pam Bondi.

You know, they were saying about Kristi Noem yesterday, I did the Super Bowl interview, "Sir, are you going to relieve Kristi Noem of her duties?"

No. No, I said, why would I do that?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANU RAJU, CNN HOST: Oh, how times have changed. That was just about two months ago. But soon after, he did find a reason to fire Kristi Noem as Homeland Security Secretary. And then just Thursday, Pam Bondi out as Attorney General.

Firings were par for the course in President Trump's first term. But this time he's largely held off until now. Now, there's buzz in Washington that others are on the chopping block.

But what does Trump really intend to do?

My excellent panel is here with the latest.

So, here are some possible names that have been floated out there. Of course, the White House has defended a lot of these people publicly, so it's unclear where Trumps mind really is.

There's Lori Chavez-Deremer, who's Labor Secretary; Kash Patel, the FBI director; Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence; Howard Luckman is Commerce Secretary. They all have their own individual controversies, Zolan.

Lori Chavez-Deremer is one that has been overlooked, given the significant controversy that she has faced. Her husband was banned from the home -- the Labor Department's headquarters, accused of sexually assaulting two staffers and criminal investigation was closed into that.

There are two top aides are forced out amid misconduct allegations. There was investigation, allegations of drinking while working, accused of having an affair with a security officer.

The Labor Secretary, now she has denied everything. Ok, so let's just make that very clear. But the allegations are the allegations and they're very serious.

What are you hearing from your sources about whether she's in trouble or really any of those, any of those other members?

ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, "NEW YORK TIMES" WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So I have heard from officials familiar that there have been discussions where the Labor Secretary's name has been mentioned as her job being at risk.

You have a situation right now where President Trump is doing that thing we've seen him do at times while he's in office, which is, you know, in conversations with allies and officials quizzing them on what they think about certain officials. Lori Chavez-Deremer's name has come up, right, in those discussions.

Now, no decisions are final at this point. He's asked his peers and allies about other officials as well.

Howard Lutnick being one, but you know, other Trump allies are saying that he is safe right now and that the president does have that personal relationship with him.

RAJU: And him, of course, because of Epstein Island, he had denied really having many interactions with Jeffrey Epstein. And then it turned out he did have some and also visited Epstein Island.

He said with his family. He said it was just for a lunch visit, but still, that is not great optics.

KANNO-YOUNGS: It's not great optics. And the president doesn't like when his cabinet officials are bringing negative attention as well. Big picture. There was this unwritten rule for most of the past year

almost of we're not going to do the firings of the first term. The repeated cycle of the ousters, you know, as you sort of design a Trump 2.0 that's based off of loyalty, really giving tests on loyalty as well to come into this administration.

(CROSSTALKING)

KANNO-YOUNGS: He didn't want those ousters, the headlines that come with it, you know, than former officials that may dissent against the administration.

It appears now that that sort of unwritten rule, that era is over.

RAJU: Yes.

KANNO-YOUNGS: And it really does cast this cloud of uncertainty over the cabinet on who's next.

RAJU: And if the Labor Secretary goes, the optics of that may not be the best for the White House, because so far the women have been the ones who have been pushed out of the cabinet. And that's something that's been on the minds of people inside the White House based on variety of reporting, including at CNN.

This is what one source told our colleagues ousting Chavez-Deremer could cause a headache for the White House. One source noted, suggesting the media reaction would focus on the fact that all three of Trump's first high-profile firings were women.

MARGARET TALEV, DIRECTOR, SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE FOR DEMOCRACY, JOURNALISM AND CITIZENSHIP: Yes, he could fire a man for number three and then fire the woman for number four. And that could solve that problem.

RAJU: Right.

TALEV: I'm not trying to be facetious, but look -- look, I think in the case of the first two firings, these were not cases of insufficient loyalty to the president. These were cases where they had become toxic enough within the Republican Party that he was hearing pressure from Republicans to get rid of them.

And you have to just look at the data. If President Trump's approval ratings were high, if gas prices were low, if the economy was in good shape, if there were no war or if people supported the war, he might not be under any pressure to make any of these changes.

[08:34:45]

TALEV: But he is not on the ballot but he is the referendum in the midterm elections. And if some of these cabinet officials can be replaced, in theory that gives him the potential to say, I'm being responsive.

RAJU: Yes. TALEV: They're the ones who had the -- it was their problems and I'm going to replace them with somebody else.

RAJU: But replacing is not that easy, Marianna, particularly does Trump want a big confirmation fight over the attorney general nominee in a midterm election year?

I mean, presumably he could decide to have an acting AG like he's doing with Todd Blanche and just avoid the confirmation fight. Does he want to put this issue front and center before November?

MARIANNA SOTOMAYOR, WASHINGTON POST CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: I mean, the question is, is the Senate going to stay in Republican control after the midterms, right.

KANNO-YOUNGS: Tick that box.

SOTOMAYOR: So if you're weighing that, then you might -- your only option may be to have this fight now until November, because we just don't know what the Senate is going to look like after that.

If the Senate does stay in Republican hands, yes, maybe not the best time to keep having all these battles and all of these headlines ahead of the midterm election, especially when voters are already feeling uncertain on economic reasons. They don't necessarily want to be seeing all the chaos or negative headlines in the White House that they can't necessarily get their cabinet straight.

(CROSSTALKING)

RAJU: And Zolan, I do want to ask you about the Hegseth -- Secretary Hegseth firing the top army general, two other senior army generals. There are a bunch of people who have exited, top ranks of the Pentagon under Secretary Hegseth, and this has been, of course, several of these during a time of war. What is your takeaway from that?

KANNO-YO9UNGS: That this is also interconnected with tension between Hegseth and other army leadership as well, right. Mainly the Secretary of the Army, Driscoll, as well.

You've had this sort of tension between them and in between, you know, these firings, in the midst of that tension. And not just the ouster of the chief of staff, but also you have these generals whose promotions are still getting held up as well. It comes after really a year of internal chaos, you know, at the Pentagon.

RAJU: Yes. We have absolutely seen that.

All right. Coming up, speaking of chaos, the infighting in the GOP is getting ugly as the Homeland Security shutdown drags into day 51. So why has Trump been on the sidelines?

Plus, we're in Rome with Pope Leo's Easter message as the war in Iran rages on.

[08:37:09] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RAJU: Speaker Mike Johnson has a decision to make. When will he put the bill, now passed twice by the GOP-led Senate, on the floor of the House to end the longest shutdown in American history? Senate Republicans are pressing their colleagues to act, including Republican Kevin Cramer, who told me this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. KEVIN CRAMER (R-ND): Well, listen, having been a House Republican, I know how easy it is to be critical of the Senate.

But I would remind them that this bill passed unanimously. It's not like it was a close call, because at some point, the adults in the room have to behave like adults in the room. And I think that's what Senate Republicans and Democrats did last week.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: But will Trump intervene? My panel is back.

Ok, Marianna, you covered the Capitol with me. What is Mike Johnson doing here? Because first he -- the bill passed initially in the Senate to reopen the government. That was what now, about two weeks ago. And then they passed their own short-term bill.

Then he and John Thune had a side conversation and said, ok, we'll deal with immigration issues related later, since this bill that passed the Senate did not deal with immigration-related issues like ICE and CBP.

And now that bill again passed the Senate last week, and now it's sitting on his lap and he's trying to pass it out of the House, but he's facing resistance within the ranks.

So how is he going to handle this?

SOTOMAYOR: Yes, he's definitely stuck in a corner. It's been a minute since he's found himself there, but it might be a comfortable place for Johnson since he's always backed into a corner from his own members.

But look, the time to watch is maybe tomorrow. There's a pro forma session. If the House really wanted to try and pass this through unanimous consent, they could. But it's unlikely since you have the hardliners who absolutely do not want to vote for this piece of legislation.

You have moderates who do not like this other plan of, hey, maybe we'll use this very long-term process called reconciliation to get the Senate.

RAJU: Very complicated too --

SOTOMAYOR: Complicated. RAJU: -- to pass along party lines, but it requires so many hurdles and --

SOTOMAYOR: Yes.

RAJU: -- very narrow majority in the House.

SOTOMAYOR: Yes. You have the moderate saying, shouldn't we be using that mechanism to vote on, I don't know, housing, permitting reform, things that are going to help us during the midterm election?

Johnson's not going to bring the House back to vote on this bill this week, if that is any indicator of how quickly things will resolve. Of course, the House and the Senate will be back next week.

RAJU: Yes.

SOTOMAYOR: But I'm hearing that Johnson might not even put this bill on the floor because there is so much opposition.

At some point, he's going to have to wrangle those Republicans and maybe put them before Trump so that Trump can force it.

RAJU: Yes. And that's a big question. What is Trump's role? Because he is now head -- these are the longest shutdowns in history by the number of days. 51 days, the number of shutdowns -- remember there have been three so far in the second term of Trump. And in the -- this is -- this current one 51 days. But then there's a 42-day one from -- 43 from the fall. And then others as well including in 2018. Trump owns the three longest shutdowns in history, Zolan.

[08:44:44]

RAJU: So why is he, you know, playing both sides here?

KANNO-YOUNGS: Yes.

RAJU: He could have gotten this bill passed in the House initially and they could have stayed unified --

KANNO-YOUNGS: Right.

RAJU: -- and taken the fight to Democrats. Now they look like they're in disarray.

KANNO-YOUNGS: Yes, yes, they do at this point. And you know, you have something, it's worth the reminder, you have an issue here that is really at the heart of his political identity and that being one of immigration policy, this whole congressional fight started over potentially restraining ICE, right.

Now, you have a situation where, yes, he initially seemed to come around to supporting the latest plan here, but still criticized the fact that you wouldn't fund the immigration enforcement agencies immediately. Now you have a different response where, yes, he's looking on at this

congressional fight and not getting immediately involved. But you have seen him get involved in the sense of trying to work around Congress to --

RAJU: Yes -- paying, paying --

KANNO-YOUNGS: -- circumvent them, yes.

RAJU: -- paying them. All these DHS employees. It's not even clear he has the legal authority to do that without Congress passing a bill.

TALEV: Yes. Leading through compromise and negotiations is not really his thing. He's swinging big. He wants the thin side of the aisle of the building to blink, and he's created a crisis for the leadership to solve.

RAJU: Yes, no question about that.

Ok. All right, guys. We've got to stand by here because were going back to our breaking news in the Middle East.

President Trump has a new threat against Iran. Reading, quote, "Tuesday will be power plant and bridge day wrapped in one in Iran. There will be nothing like it. Open the F-- Strait. You crazy bastards will be living in hell." Those are the president of the United States' words.

David Sanger with "The New York Times" is joining me now. So David, talk to me about this threat. What it actually means. There are some people who say that this could amount to war crimes as well. And it could also have a dramatic and drastic impact on the Iranian people.

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: It could, you know, used to be the time when on Easter mornings, you saw presidents walk across Lafayette Park to the church. This was sort of an unusual way, I think, to start off the, the morning and an unusually vivid even for the presidents Truth Social posts.

Here's the issue. The president has varied in the past week between demanding that the strait be opened to saying it's not my problem. The United States doesn't get very much of its oil out of the strait anyway. So the Europeans should go in and get this open. Or the Chinese should or others.

He clearly now is back at the threat that he had made more than a week ago. If in fact, he goes after power plants and bridges, I'm sure his lawyers will make the case that these are essential to Iran's missile and nuclear program.

But they're also important to supply civilians. And that's why there is a potential for war crimes here.

RAJU: What is the likelihood? David, I guess we have to leave it there. Thank you so much for joining me. And still ahead for us on this Easter Sunday, the first American pope just delivered his first Easter address, and he had something to say about the war in Iran.

[08:48:03]

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RAJU: This morning, Pope Leo became the first American pope and Chicago pope to lead Easter mass at the Vatican. After this past Friday, the Colosseum in Rome, he became the first pope in decades to carry the cross for the entire Good Friday service, where worshipers heard prayers from deported migrant children, along with a warning that world leaders will be judged for their actions.

And today, the pope continued his recent pattern, making the case against war amid the escalating conflict in Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE LEO XIV, ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH (through translator): Let those who have weapons lay them down. Let those who have the power to unleash wars, choose peace. Not a peace imposed by force, but through dialog. Not with the desire to dominate others, but to encounter them.

We are growing accustomed to violence, resigning ourselves to it, and becoming indifferent, indifferent to the deaths of thousands of people, indifferent to the repercussions of hatred and division that conflict sow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: CNN's Vatican correspondent Christopher Lamb is in Rome outside Saint Peter's Square. So, Christopher, the Pope has not shied away from some hot button issues like the war in Iran.

So walk us through the Pope's message today, how it was received from the crowd and how it fits in with his approach to the war.

CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well Manu, I think we can say that this Holy Week and Easter, Pope Leo has really stepped into the shoes of being pope. You know, he has been really quite outspoken on the war in the Middle East.

And, you know, it's not a surprise that popes talk about peace. But it's different with this pope because he is the first American pope. And of course, he's speaking out at a time when there's a U.S. military intervention in Iran.

And furthermore, attempts to co-opt God by U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to defend the military action. And Leo has really pushed back on that.

You know, on Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week, he said that God does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war. And he repeated the message for peace today in Saint Peter's Square. [08:54:54]

LAMB: There was a big crowd out here. There were people holding up a banner saying, "We're with you, Pope Leo. Guide us into the future."

There's a sense that people are looking to this pope for leadership, for the kind of global statesmanship that for some people is missing right now. And I think Leo is stepping up to try and offer that to be a messenger of peace at this time of growing conflict, Manu.

RAJU: Christopher Lamb in Rome, thank you so much, and happy Easter to you and happy Easter to all of you who celebrate.

That's it for INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY. You can follow me on X @mkraju. Follow the show @INSIDE POLITICS. You can also follow me on TikTok and on Instagram.

And remember, you can now stream INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY live then catch up later on the CNN app.

Up next, "STATE OF THE UNION WITH JAKE TAPPER AND DANA BASH". Jake's guests include Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock and NASA administrator Jared Isaacman.

Thanks again for sharing your Sunday morning with us. We'll see you next time.

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