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Inside Politics

Trump: Israel And Lebanon Reach 10-Day Ceasefire Deal; Trump Heads To Nevada Hoping To Turn Page From Iran To Economy; Today: Trump To Talk Tax Cuts In Nevada, Where Gas Average $4. 95; 40 Senate Democrats Vote To Block Some Arms Sales To Israel; RFK Jr. Highlights MAHA Wins In Appeal To Congress; MAHA Moms To WSJ: The Movement Is Splintering. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired April 16, 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]

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DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: Welcome to Inside Politics. I'm Dana Bash on Capitol Hill today, and we start with breaking news.

President Trump just announced a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. He did so on Truth Social. And the president said the leaders of both nations agreed to a 10-day ceasefire starting at 5 pm eastern today. If it holds, and that's a big if, it could lead to a broader peace deal between the U.S. and Iran. He also says, he'll be inviting the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Lebanese President Joseph Aoun to the White House.

I want to get straight to CNN international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson, who is in Islamabad, Pakistan. Nic, what does it say to you?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah. It says a number of things. Of course, the Pakistani lead negotiators, the most powerful politician in the country, Field Marshal Asim Munir and the interior minister have been in Tehran over 24 hours now, meeting with top Iranian negotiators. That we don't know how those talks have been going, but we absolutely know that Iran had explicitly said it wanted a Lebanon ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah to be in place and part of the bigger ceasefire picture.

So, what does this do? This gives the Pakistani negotiators some leverage at the table with the Iranians to get them to soften some of their positions. Because when J.D. Vance left Islamabad just a couple of days ago, early Sunday morning, he said the United States has put its best and final offer on the table. The ball was in the Iranian court. They needed to soften their position. That was the implication that Iranian, the Pakistani negotiators have been there trying to make that happen over the past 24 hours.

But I think one of the key, key takeaway here for the Iranian will be that President Trump played such a prominent role as we had heard about this ceasefire in Lebanon, as being on, as being off, that the Lebanese president wouldn't have a conversation with the Israeli prime minister. It took President Trump getting involved, picking up the phone, calling both.

And of course, the Iranians will have been aware of President Trump's involvement and there's a huge amount of distrust between Iran and the United States at the moment. So, they -- the Iranians, you know, left the talks here disappointed, feeling that the goal posts have been moved. So, they're going to be looking at what President Trump has just done in Lebanon and trying to interpret that, and trying to understand is he also going to be as serious and as committed to meeting some of our aspirations, some of the Iranian aspirations about a long-term ceasefire.

So, I think the President Trump's high-profile involvement is also signaling. It's not just the event itself. It's that signaling that's going to be critical for the Pakistani negotiators in Tehran with the Iranian leadership right now.

BASH: Nic, thank you so much. Really appreciate your reporting. And here where we are on Capitol Hill, congressional Republicans will be happy for any signs that this war could be ending soon. What they want is what we're seeing the president do later today. This afternoon, he is traveling to Nevada to highlight his no tax on tips and no tax on overtime policies, putting more money in some Americans pockets this week when they filed their taxes.

But a war with Iran, higher prices that come with it, it's all putting at risk one of the key pillars of the Republicans pitch to voters for this November. On Capitol Hill, I'm joined by two terrific reporters, including Manu Raju, who is the king of Capitol Hill. Although -- anyway. What is your sense in talking to -- let's just start there on, you know, what the president is doing today, and what you're hearing from Republicans who we know are desperate from leadership rhetorically to talk about the issue that they're hearing the most about from voters, which is their affordability.

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MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. I mean, that's been the number one concern all along that there has just simply did not enough focus from this administration on issue number one, affordability. And that as the Iran war has done the exact opposite of the message that they want to convey to voters that things are getting cheaper, particularly when it comes to gas prices.

So, any move towards the end of this war will be huge welcome news for the Republican Party. But like the time of year, Dana, is so significant because we're about to reach that 60-day mark here in the Iran war. That means, of course, under the War Powers Act, military hostilities have to end without express consent with Congress.

There are ways around that, but that 60-day mark is so significant because that's when you're going to start to see Republicans call for votes, call to authorize the vote, and we're seeing a vote happening right now on House floor as expected to fail. But if we hit that 60- day mark, then you can see more Republicans try to check the president's power, which is why all these suggesting things could be ending. Welcome news, both politically, and also for the Trump -- for Trump, he may not have no other option here.

SEUNG MIN KIM, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, AP & CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right, right. I mean, to that point, Senator Thom Tillis told me yesterday, and I know he's obviously been against this administration on a lot of things, but he spent three things, but he's been very supportive of the president's strategy so far as it relates to Iran. But I asked him specifically about that 60-day threshold. And obviously, there are exceptions for perhaps a 30-day extension, but he's like, once we get to that point without any, you know, it's time to fish or it's time to, you know, fish or cut -- or fish, I screwed that.

RAJU: Upgrade or fish. That was (inaudible)

KIM: Yeah, yeah. But it was really time to get going --

BASH: Fish or cut bait.

RAJU: Fish or cut bait. That's what I was asking. That's right.

KIM: But it's really time to get going on, you know, either an authorization or just to get out all together because there are huge domestic implications. And I would say that this was -- this week even with the Iran war going on, it would have been a really ripe time for the White House to reset their messaging.

They had, actually, frankly, a very, you know, brilliant stunt on Monday at the Oval Office with the DoorDash driver coming delivering McDonald's to highlight no tax on tips. Obviously, he's going to, you know, Nevada later today, but he keeps doing things, whether it's posting these means on social media, or getting overtaken with questions on Iran, the Federal Reserve that really gets them --

BASH: Attacking the pope.

RAJU: Yeah.

KIM: Yes, attacking the pope that really gets them off the message that Republicans want him to convey.

BASH: Yeah. And I should say, just on that message, gas prices, which are on everybody's mind. Today, they're at $4.09, that is down from last week. It was $4.17, but still up from under $3 before the war started.

RAJU: Yeah. And that's obviously why there's a big push on the Hill for this to end. What will be interesting too is that there's also here on the Hill, there's they're trying to figure out what their next legislative fight is in the Capitol. How to convey that message of affordability to voters that they actually care about these issues, and that's what the debate is in the party right now, because there's a focus to try to focus exclusively on immigration enforcement in the Senate.

That's what the Senate majority wants to do. But there are a lot of members who want to deal with issues like gas prices, like affordability, because they're hearing that from voters, they're worried about the mid-term elections. But that just adds more complications to the politics, the policy, and that could undermine their agenda, that debate.

BASH: And I should add that again, the president is going to Nevada today. It is one of the swing states, and it is a place where gas prices are pretty high there. They're $4.95 on average, according to AAA. I want to change subjects but also talk about what happened here on Capitol Hill yesterday, and that is, there was a measure by Bernie Sanders in the U.S. Senate to block the sale of $2.95 million worth of military bulldozers, is Israel, excuse me, has used to demolish homes in Gaza, West Bank and Lebanon.

This was significant because of the number of Democrats who voted, yes. It's kind of certainly at a high-water mark, the highest that we have seen, 36 Democrats, all but four. Also, by the way, voted to block the sale of 152,001,000 pound bombs. This is the list that you're looking at. The people who you should really focus on are the ones who have shifted, including Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Padilla of California, Booker of New Jersey, and it goes on and includes Elissa Slotkin from Michigan.

And I do want to talk about her because she put out a very nuanced and lengthy statement explaining why she voted this way for the first time to block anything when it comes to funding for Israel. Just part of her statement. My entire life, I have been and continue to be, a strong supporter of a Jewish and democratic state of Israel. But being pro-Israel today is not about simply supporting the political or military agenda of Prime Minister Netanyahu, just like being pro- American should not be equated with loyalty to President Trump. I can support the security of a country without supporting the specific policies of one political party or leader.

[12:10:00]

KIM: Right. It was really fascinating. You hear more and more Democrats make that distinction between being a broad supporter of the state of Israel and really criticizing the policies and the actions of Prime Minister Netanyahu. And those are the points that, obviously, Elissa Slotkin had made. I would also be watching Mark Kelly, who was another one of the Democrats who flipped, and it really is a sea change. Because you had, you know, Bernie Sanders has been pushing these types of votes very free, you know, fairly frequently over the last, you know, year, year and a half.

And, you know, just less than a year ago, in July 2025 it was 27 Democrats who voted with Bernie Sanders. I mean that was -- that seemed like a high number of the time, because three months before that, it was only 15. So, now that we're at 40 Senate Democrats voting in this way to block arms sales to Israel, it really shows a sea change from the party. It clearly is going to be a litmus test in 2028 for these presidential candidates. Obviously, a lot of senators in consideration for that.

RAJU: And I mean, Michigan too is just ground zero for this debate. There's a huge Arab American community in Dearborn. There's a big Jewish voting block in Macomb County, and there's this big debate over Israel, and how -- whether to aid Israel. That's playing out in the Michigan Senate primary in the Democratic side right now.

BASH: OK. And as we go to break, a note on Secretary Hegseth's comments today about the press. He spent a considerable amount of time during what was supposed to be an update on the war in Iran, complaining about the media. He does that a lot. But today he did so referencing the Gospels.

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PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: This past Sunday, I was sitting in church with my family, and our minister preached from the book of Mark, the third chapter. And in the passage, Jesus entered a synagogue and healed a man with a withered hand. The Pharisees came to watch, but their hearts were hardened. Even though they witnessed a literal miracle, it didn't matter. They were only there to explain away the goodness in pursuit of their agenda. As the passage ends, the Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel against him. How to destroy him. I sat there in church and I thought, our press are just like these Pharisees.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: I just want to be clear what you just heard from the secretary of defense. He compared journalists scrutinizing the war something journalists have done to every administration that uses military force to attacks on Jesus in the Bible. What we try to do every day has uphold our role designed by the U.S. constitution, which is to be an independent press corps dedicated to holding powerful people and their policies to account.

Up next. HHS Secretary RFK Jr. is also on Capitol Hill today as his controversial vaccine policy gets a congressional checkup. Plus, Congress is reeling from two resignations, deeply disturbing allegations. I'll speak to two lawmakers each on other opposite sides of the aisle about what can be done about it.

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BASH: Right now, Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., prepares for round two in a marathon of hearings over the coming days. Kennedy testified for the first time in months before House lawmakers this morning. It's all to get budget approval, trimming 12 percent from a department already been slashed. One of the lightning rod issues since his confirmation, of course, has been vaccines.

Listen to his message so far.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: Our children of the sickest generation in modern history, and decades of failed policy, captured agencies and profit-driven systems have caused it. Parents across the country demanded change and we are delivering it. Americans no longer pay more than other people in wealthy countries for the same medication. We flip the food pyramid upside down and send a clear message to the American people eat real food.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: CNNs Meg Tirrell joins us now. Meg, it was notable that it wasn't just the clips that we played. It was in the opening statement and what he prepared for his later hearing. He didn't really mention vaccines.

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: No, Dana. I mean, he has been trying to stay away from that question, and it's been really interesting to see that he has had this marathon hearing this morning. He's got another, as you mentioned, this afternoon, he's got another tomorrow, and he's got four more next week.

During this time that we have seen that the White House has been trying to pivot him away from talking about vaccines because it's seen as such a politically unpopular issue. Democrats, however, this morning, are not having -- not letting him talk about vaccines and the measles outbreaks.

Take a listen to this exchange with Representative Sanchez this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KENNEDY JR.: There's a global measles epidemic. We've done better in any --

REP. LINDA SANCHEZ (D-CA): There is no --

KENNEDY JR.: -- in any country (inaudible)

SANCHEZ: There is no country that has seen a bigger percentage increase than us.

KENNEDY JR.: That's not true. Mexico has three times our measles --

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: President Trump approved your decision to end the CDC's pro vaccine public message.

KENNEDY JR.: Canada has --

(CROSSTALK)

KENNEDY JR.: One-third of that -- one-eight of our populations.

(END VIDEO CLIP) [12:20:00]

TIRRELL: Now, we should know this is a common defense that Secretary Kennedy and others use for, the measles response in the United States saying that other countries are doing worse. But if you compared to the United States to itself, you can see that we have the most cases here in the U.S. over the last two years, and we've seen in any decade since we declared measles eliminated in the year 2000. And so, by that count, measles is not going well here, and that is attributed, of course, to lowering MMR vaccination rates.

Dana, other questions we've been hearing about this afternoon have been vacancies at the top a lot of the health agencies that RFK Jr. oversees, including at the CDC, which is now being run by the NIH director, also the FDA vaccines chief position is the person is leaving. They haven't announced a replacement, and of course, Dr. Casey Means, the Surgeon General nominee has not yet had a confirmation vote scheduled. One of the Congress people this morning attributing that to a what they called poor performance in her confirmation hearing, especially the way she waffled on vaccines. Dana?

BASH: Meg, thank you so much for that reporting. My friends and colleagues are here with me on this beautiful day on Capitol Hill.

RAJU: Especially in the shade.

BASH: Yeah, why not, well.

RAJU: And with this view.

BASH: It means, there's nothing beats the view. Let's talk a little bit about more about RFK Jr., and just the reception that he is getting and will get, not just from Democrats, but from Republicans in this marathon series of hearings that he's going to attend.

RAJU: Yeah. I mean, his views on vaccines in particular are a minority of the Republican Party up here. There's no question. Yes, there are people in the MAGA movement, the MAHA movement, who do subscribe to a lot of things that he has said. But overall, even the senators who voted for him are skeptical about the things that he stands for and the commitments that he made going into this job, about how he would not try to undercut a key advisory panel in the CDC, which he ultimately did.

And how -- so, a number of his actions have undercut the faith of vaccines among the American public. So, expect that to be do some fireworks on the Republican side of the aisle, because yes, he was confirmed by the Senate, but barely by the slimmest of margins. And a lot of those senators, they may not say it publicly, those Republicans have second thoughts and regrets.

BASH: So, one of the coalitions that helped get Donald Trump elected. No question was the so-called MAHA moms. And even within that movement, there already were different -- differing opinions on vaccines versus some of the food additives and things of that nature that they really wanted to focus on they wanted the government to focus on.

But now there are even splits within that movement on what he is doing in the administration with regard to pesticides in particular. The Wall Street Journal talked to a few MAHA moms, people who have been leaders in the movement. I want you to listen to what some of them said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is a split, though, in the MAHA movement with the glyphosate issue that has really caused a big --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let's talk about.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- fissure in the group. The E.U. didn't phase glyphosate, you saw it overnight. It's a plan, right? I think it culminates in the mid-2030s at some point, right, where they're working towards facing things up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Also, you don't want to lose that faction of MAHA that's, you know, because a lot of the beauty of the MAHA movement is that, at least the events I went to, it was like the blue collar workers, the, you know, the people that are the spiritual is, the health movement. It was all these different factions coming together, and I feel like it's sort of splintering off into all these other groups.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KIM: Yeah. I think what the last woman said was a really important point politically, because that was kind of Donald Trump's power. He was able to bring together these unusual coalitions, particularly in his 2024 reelect to vote for him. And you know, the mid -- the Republicans are facing such challenges in the mid-terms with the issues that we discussed earlier, particularly on the economy. So, they really do have to marshal support from these unusual coalitions that the president was able to build.

But whether it's, you know, the pesticides issue, there's also splintering over the war in Iran, in the MAHA movement. Obviously, their top priorities including getting Casey Means confirmed as surgeon general, which her nomination is stalled because of some Republican skepticism and apprehension. I mean, this is a movement that I don't think is seeing the attention that they want to see from the president right now.

RAJU: So many people see such that they've had, the RFK has done so much and impacted the American society on so many different levels who may not be part of the MAHA movement, there are so many people in the MAHA movement who don't think he's done great (Ph) now.

[12:25:00]

BASH: Real quick. Before we go to break, one of the things that I'm curious to see if he's asked about is some of the information that is in a new biography that is coming out. This author apparently, he said, got access to RFK Jr.'s diaries. One, this is just a headline from People Magazine. Quote, the biggest bombshells from RFK Jr.'s diaries, slicing off a raccoon's penis, flying with Epstein and listing the women he bedded.

Now I should say, CNN has reached out to HHS for comment. We are not able to verify the authenticity of the journal entries that were allegedly written by RFK Jr., taken by his ex-wife and then supposedly given to the author.

RAJU: Yeah. I'm not even sure what to say but just leave it there.

KIM: I think he can leave it there.

RAJU: I mean, the senators should ask him about any of this, and he should have to explain it. Why not? He's testifying in the public hearing.

BASH: All right. Up next. We're tracking a horrific story out of Virginia, a one-time rising Democratic Party star and his wife are found dead in an apparent murder suicide.

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