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Iran Media: Pakistani Negotiator In Tehran With Message From U.S.; Trump: War Is "Close To Over...We've Beaten Them Militarily"; Vance Heckled On Middle East Policy At Turning Point Event; GOP Uses Tax Day To Celebrate 2025 Tax Cuts; Fox News Poll: 38 Percent Say Wealthy Not Paying Enough Taxes; DOJ Moves To Throw Out Seditious Conspiracy Convictions Of Oath Keepers, Proud Boys For January 6 Insurrection. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired April 15, 2026 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: Very close to over. President Trump looks for an Iran war off ramp. I'm Dana Bash. Let's go behind the headlines at Inside Politics.

We begin with new developments in a possible second round of talks to wind down the war in Iran. This morning, a key Pakistani official who has been a critical mediator between the U.S. and Iran arrived in Tehran with a message from the Trump administration. And we're waiting to see if top U.S. and Iranian leaders will meet again before the current ceasefire expires one week from now.

But in an interview with President Trump that aired on Fox Business this morning, you can hear him. You can see him looking for an off ramp.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I think it's close to over here. I mean, I view it as very close to over. We stop them from having -- they're not going to have a nuclear weapon regardless of whether -- I could leave tomorrow. They would never be able to have a nuclear weapon for years. The leaders they have now, it's a new regime, OK. And we find them pretty reasonable, to be honest with you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: I want to bring in my terrific panel today. Jeff Zeleny, it's just like you can kind of imagine listening to this interview that he's in a car and he's got the shift and he's putting in reverse, and he's just looking behind him and trying to figure out which way to go.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: I mean, look, the blinker to continue your analogy has been on for the off ramp for some time, also signaling the markets. I mean, that is one of the other big reasons he did that interview this morning with Fox Business. But the challenge here for the president is, how many times have we heard him say, almost over soon, the war is won. We have heard this again and again.

The bigger point here is the -- they're operating on very different timeframes. His timeframe is now. He knows that his voters and Republicans are worried about the rising costs of things, diesel, gas, et cetera, and the midterm elections are looming. That is not the timeframe of the leaders in the region.

I mean, if you think about the lack of urgency is far different. I mean, if you think back to the Obama administration, it took, what 18, 19 months of pains, taking negotiations to reach a deal with Iran. So, the idea that this would be happening the weekend is just not mindful of the history. I think the biggest thing is he's signaling to the markets and to Republicans that he wants to get out of it, but that doesn't mean an end is coming soon.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, BLOOMBERG POLITICAL & POLICY COLUMNIST AND CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yeah. And listen in, you know, even if there is a kind of ceasefire, kind of into the conflict, a lot of this stuff, in terms of the prices that our Americans are feeling at the pump in their grocery stores, the fertilizer, it's going to take a while for all of that to settle back down. He's kind of promising, you know, things will get back to normal, that maybe gas prices were below where they were before the war started. It is going to take a while.

And listen, often times when prices go up, they don't always go back down, right? I mean, we've sort of seen that over the last couple of years. So, if you're going to your Walmart or your food line or whatever, you know, you're seeing the sticker shock there, in addition to, obviously, what we see at the pump as well.

BASH: Yeah. He tried to sort of clean up what he told Maria Bartiromo on Sunday when he called in, when he said prices could go even higher. He said this morning, well, I don't expect that I think somewhere around where we were maybe even lower. I want to go back to sort of the last clip that you heard from the president in that interview, talking about in this particular clip, the new Iranian regime, which looks a lot like the old Iranian regime.

He said, I -- excuse me, we find them pretty reasonable, to be honest with you. And just to kind of give our viewers a sense of the people he considers reasonable. Nevermind the current Ayatollah, the son of the former Ayatollah, who is considered by everybody who has any understanding of the Iranian regime to be more hardline than his father.

But look at some other examples. This is from the Wall Street Journal this morning. This is the new national security chief who, before the revolution, was a leader of a guerrilla group that killed an American petroleum engineer. The new head of the IRGC, the Revolutionary Guard's new commander in chief, Ahmad Vahidi, is accused of participating in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people and injured hundreds, and it kind of goes on from there.

[12:05:00]

MICHELLE PRICE, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, AP: Yeah. I mean, these are the kind of comments that are not going to sit well with the president's -- some of the president's supporters, some of his base who want a very hardline toward Iran. But one of the things that was interesting from the vice president talking about those talks in Islamabad. He said that they kind of got the sense that the people who came and spoke to them were not even emboldened to make a deal with them.

And there have been all these questions about who exactly is speaking for the regime these days, and is the U.S. even talking to people who are in a position to cut some kind of deal? But even today, Iran's foreign ministry, they said that they -- that Iran must still be able to enrich uranium going forward. That that is a line that they're holding, and that's a red line for the president.

So, we still seem to be very far apart here on reaching any kind of deal, let alone a grand deal or a small deal. And the idea that this would be wrapped up soon, it seems kind of hard to square how they would reach any kind of agreement when they're not even negotiating with somebody who can cut a deal, it seems like.

BASH: Yeah. The implications and the reverberations go far and wide, obviously on policy, but also just on raw politics. And what happened with the vice president when he was speaking to young people at TPUSA, Turning Point USA yesterday was very noteworthy. He had hecklers who were not happy with the administration's policies in the Middle East. Let's just show you an example.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT: I think that one of these issues here is that there has been -- is again, hey, random dude screaming. I told you I'd respond to your point. I just want to respond to this question first. And by the way, not only was our administration, like the administration that solved the problem, but the president -- the president --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Question Inaudible)

VANCE: Excuse me, sir, right now -- right now, you -- right now, you see more humanitarian aid coming into Gaza than it has anytime in the past five years because we have taken that situation seriously.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: It's fascinating because you could take the vice president out, put the former vice president in, roll back the clock a year, two years, and you would have the same kind of interactions and anger from the crowd, particularly from young people.

ZELENY: Without a doubt. I mean, a, like shows the difficulties of governing versus campaigning, and also, just regardless of which party is in power, the issues in the Middle East and the region largely remain the same. But I think he -- the vice president, it's a reminder that they often don't hear this, this criticism of face-to-face like that.

It's easy to talk to your own supporters and on your own channels and things, but this is something that he heard directly. Then he went on to acknowledge that the young people actually do have a different view of this. I thought that was actually interesting.

BASH: Yeah. He said I recognize that young voters do not love the policy we have in the Middle East. I understand that. I think that's also his way of signaling, you know what, I don't either.

ZELENY: I mean, that is another layer to all of this here. And if there are a second round of a talks and he's leading them, I mean, it's one more example of being vice president. You get a good airplane, but boy, you get some tough assignments.

BASH: Yeah. I mean, he is a voter under 45.

HENDERSON: He is. And listen, I mean those voters under 45 in many ways, particularly men. That's partly why he's the vice president now. You know, you go to Michigan, you go to these different states, they were very much critical of Biden's policy in the Middle East. And now you have J.D. Vance, who wants to be a president. He's going to be saddled, in many ways, with a lot of the same issues. Should he run? And he will run.

BASH: All right, coming up. Republicans are trying to brand today, Tax Day, rebrand it by pushing their new tax cut bill. Plus, I'll speak with the Gen Z influencer who helped drive early attention to the allegations against now former congressman Eric Swalwell.

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[12:10:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: It is Tax Day. April 15 is usually met with groans and stress, but the Republicans are trying to refile today as a win. Thank you, Nia. From the Trump administration officials to Republican senators and House speaker, the party is mounting a full-scale Tax Day blitz.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's tax week, and we're celebrating major tax cuts around this country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why is Tax Day a good day? Because you're going to have $300 more per month to spend. Why? Thank you Republican.

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-VA): Thanks to the working families' tax cuts. Americans in all 50 states are benefiting from taxes that are lower and simpler and fairer for their families.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: The Treasury Department says millions of Americans are claiming at least one deduction from President Trump's so called big, beautiful bill. On tips, overtime, senior citizens income and car loan interest. Average refunds are up more than 11 percent from last year but still falling short of what the Treasury Department originally projected.

My panel is back now. There's rebranding Trump style, and then there's this.

[12:15:00]

PRICE: Yeah. I mean, the communicator in chief, the president, whether he sticks to this message, is the big if here. We saw the early taste to that this week when he had the DoorDasher come to the White House to deliver, you know, burgers to the president and talk about no tax on tips and he handed her $100 bill. But most of that encounter ended up being about the Jesus picture that

the president posted.

So, whether he can stick to that message. He's going to Las Vegas tomorrow. He's supposed to be talking about this. We've seen this movie before where the president is supposed to pivot and focus on his economic policies. He's supposed to not be launching personal attacks or just crazy posting things on the internet. Big if and whether we're actually going to get there today.

HENDERSON: Yeah. And listen, this was supposed to be something that was key to Republicans messaging for 2026 around affordability heading into the mid-terms. The problem is, America is at war, and prices are higher as a result of that. So maybe you get $300 extra a month, and certainly, lower than what they promised.

It's going to be eaten up pretty quickly because you're paying over four bucks at the pump at this point. So, they're sort of like, they wanted to do one thing in terms of focusing on this, but you know, circumstances change because of the choice that Donald Trump made to launch a war.

BASH: So, you saw some of those social media videos that are out today. Here are some paid videos by the national republican congressional campaign, the arm that tries to get House Republicans elected. I want to play that, and then, also the Democratic candidate for Senate in Texas to see the contrast.

(PLAYING VIDEO)

BASH: And let's look on this Tax Day at how people are feeling, certainly versus last year. Check this out. The question in this Fox poll was our taxes too high or about right? Let's look at 2025, so this is the year that the president's big, beautiful bill passed. The answer to too high was 59 percent. Now 2026, just a year later, it's gone up to 70 percent, so it's gone the wrong way.

ZELENY: Look, it's a great indicator of how people are feeling about their bottom line. And to Nia's point earlier, it's the money that you're spending every day, you see those prices at the gas station. I mean, there's no better advertisement for just the real economy than that. So, I think that probably explains it. I mean, obviously, thinking back to the beginning of this year, so many Republican strategists were telling us, by April, by April, the affordability message is going to be front and center. The president is going to have crossed that hurdle. He's going to be, you know, traveling across the country, talking about this circumstances changed, which often happens in politics and sometimes with things out of your control. This is an example of something in his control.

He decided to launch this foreign policy challenge in Iran, and this is where people find themselves. But I think just as a broader point there, perhaps people are getting money back in their refunds, but it's an open question how long they're going to remember that when they have to get gas next week, the next week, the next week, et cetera.

BASH: Yeah. And then there's the question of sort of the haves and the have nots. And the one of the big issues the Democrats have been pushing because they're hearing about it from people back home, is the fact that rich people aren't paying enough in taxes and just the opposite. So, we have a poll on that. What bothers you most about taxes?

The question, rich people not paying enough, 38 percent. So, a third of people are saying, yeah, rich people aren't paying enough in taxes. To be honest, I thought it would be higher than that, but it is telling when it comes to what Democrats are looking at and trying to craft and already crafting on their message.

PRICE: Right. And as we get closer to November, we're going to be hearing a lot more of those messages. Looking at like the CBO studies from the one big, beautiful bill about what those impacts will actually be long-term, and who was really benefiting from it. You know, those returns this year are higher, but they're not expected to be quite so high next year.

And you know, as Jeff was pointing out, by November, are people still going to be remembering that? Are they going to be looking at, you know, gas prices still might be high. Housing costs are still high in many places. Mortgage rates are still higher than maybe the president has been talking about, trying to fire Jerome Powell because he's been putting this pressure campaign. But that's one that's still a sticking point. You talk to people out. They want to sell their home, their kids want to buy a home, but it's a general feeling of just things are hard right now.

[12:20:00]

BASH: Yeah. And on that, you mentioned refunds. So, we do have another graphic that we want to put up, which is the question of whether or not these the gas prices, which have spiked when -- on people's actual wallets, whether or not, they cancel out the refunds that the administration is understandably and Republicans touting today. And the answer there, you see it --

HENDERSON: Eight bucks.

BASH: Is yes.

HENDERSON: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, you get -- yeah. I mean, it's all -- it's all canceled out. And it's -- there is a pressure and a strain that Americans are feeling right now. My wife talks to me all the time about the price of gas, right, the price of groceries, everything and, you know, we're doing pretty good relative to other Americans. So, I can imagine, if you are in a lower economic bracket. How this pressure feels and this sort of branding that Republicans are trying to do, you can't really do that, because people experience economy every single day.

Plane prices, my goodness, you know, we're trying to go to, you know, Chicago, and it's like the prices that we're paying this year versus what we paid last year, or just, you know --

BASH: You know, what, you know, planes get up in the air.

HENDERSON: I think it's - yeah --

BASH: Fuel.

HENDERSON: Fuel, yeah, that's right. That's right, yeah, it's not magic, right?

BASH: Thers is a lot. OK, guys, don't go anywhere. I have spoken to presidents, world leaders, lawmakers. It's pretty hard, though, to compete with this special guest I got to meet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to see something cute. Here it comes. 430 pounds of joy. Linn Mai, good girl.

BASH: How are you, Linn Mai?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: My exclusive with the National Zoo's newest edition, later.

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[12:25:00]

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BASH: President Trump pardoned nearly 1600 participants in the January 6 attack on the Capitol. Now the administration is moving to wipe away the final 12 convictions that still stand. The Justice Department is asking an appeals court to throw out the seditious conspiracy convictions of far-right militia leaders who helped lead the January 6 insurrection.

These are members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers who were convicted by a jury of fellow Americans of planning, arming and organizing a quick reaction force with the intent of stopping the lawful transfer of power. President Trump already commuted their sentences, but this would erase the convictions altogether.

CNN's senior justice correspondent Evan Perez is here and joins the panel. Evan?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is the most -- these are the most serious charges that some of these members of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers faced. We're talking about seditious conspiracy, the charges that they were facing. And I should remind everybody that these -- these were charges that are actually originated with the Trump appointed U.S. attorney here in Washington who was pushing for this before he left the administration or early in the Biden administration.

And what this represents really is the Justice Department and Todd Blanche, who is the acting attorney general. Their attempt to erase the last vestiges of what happened on January 6. And obviously, Todd Blanche is campaigning for this job, he wants to keep this job permanently. And so, what we're seeing here is this among a number of other moves that we're going to see in the next few weeks and months, as he tries to make sure Donald Trump and the president and his allies understand that he is fully on board with the MAGA world.

I will remind, you know, people about the seriousness of these charges, though, because Amit Mehta, the judge who oversaw the Oath Keepers' trial and against Stewart Rhodes. I'll read you just a part of what he said to Rhodes at his sentencing. He says, I dare say, Mr. Rhodes, I never have said this to anyone I have sentenced. You pose an ongoing threat and peril to our democracy and the fabric to the -- of this country.

And he also said. A seditious conspiracy, when you take those two concepts and put it together, is among the most serious crimes an American can commit. It's an offense against the government to use force. It is an offense against people of our country. That's what these people were accused of and were convicted of.

You're talking about people who were among the first to break windows at the Capitol, which caused, obviously, some of the damage that happened thereafter, with people rushing into the building. So, you know, Todd Blanche is speaking with what he has done here, which is to say that all of this is just never happened.

BASH: Yeah. And just to underscore what you're saying is that not only was it a judge, not only was it a prosecutor in the Justice Department, they were a jury of people in the United States of America. How the system is supposed to work, who convicted these 12 individuals of the crimes that you were just discussing?

PEREZ: Right, exactly. And, you know, for the Trump administration to look at this as a Biden administration thing. These are again, jurors and judges who oversaw these cases. So, it's not just that.

[12:30:00]