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Laura Coates Live
U.S. Questions Whether It's Dealing With Right Iranian Officials; Michigan Synagogue Attack An Act Of Terrorism Inspired By Hezbollah; Gas and Oil Prices Surge As War Enters Fifth Week; Multi- Million Dollar Heist Stolen In Just Three Minutes; Former Janitor At Yale Hospital To Return As Doctor. Aired 11p-12a ET
Aired March 30, 2026 - 23:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[23:00:00]
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR AND SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Florida's governor, Ron DeSantis, just signed a bill that could rename Palm Beach International Airport to Donald J. Trump International Airport. That, of course, is where Air Force One lands whenever Trump goes to his Mar-a-Lago resort. And if the FAA approves it, the name change would take effect on July 1st.
Thank you very much for watching "NewsNight." You can catch me any time on your favorite social media, on X, Instagram, and on TikTok. "Laura Coates Live" starts right now.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Tonight, President Trump says talks with Iran are going well, but his own administration is not even sure they're talking with the right people. Plus, a terror attack that was planned for days. The FBI lays out how the Michigan synagogue attacker looked at Hezbollah material and bought an AR-style rifle before crashing his truck into the building. And call it the Italian job. Four hooded art thieves steal a Renoir, a Cezanne, a Matisse from a museum in Italy in three minutes. Tonight on "Laura Coates Live."
Good evening. I'm Victor Blackwell, in for Laura. In order to make a deal, any deal, you have to know who you're talking to. And that if both sides agree, that it means something. And that's what makes CNN's new reporting tonight so significant. It says that the Trump administration is unsure if they're speaking with the right people in Iran, which you'll remember does not line up with what the president has been claiming for the past week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: It's really a new regime. It's a new group of people, people that we've never dealt with before, that are acting very reasonable.
We have very substantial talks going on with respect to Iran with the right people.
We're actually talking to the right people, and they want to make a deal so badly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Yes. See, the problem is no one seems to know who holds the cards right now in Iran. Top leadership has been wiped out. It's not clear if the new supreme leader is even dead or alive. Communications within Iran have been decimated. And mediators from other countries are having trouble contacting top Iranian officials who are avoiding phones because they're afraid of being trapped and killed. Secretary of State Marco Rubio put it this way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARCO RUBIO, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE: It's very opaque right now. It's not quite clear how decisions are being made inside of Iran.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: So, who is the Trump administration actually talking with? The sources tell CNN they've been indirectly exchanging messages with Iran's foreign minister and the Iranian speaker of parliament.
But publicly, the Iranians are telling a very different story. The foreign ministry says there are no direct negotiations with the U.S. so far, and a spokesperson described Trump's 15-point plan as unrealistic and unreasonable. Iran speaker parliament is not putting it quite as diplomatically. He posted this today: "Iran's enemies pass off their wishes as 'news' while simultaneously threatening our nation -- they're dead wrong. If they strike once, they'll get hit several times back."
The White House claims the public rhetoric does not match what they're hearing privately.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Despite all of the public posturing you hear from the regime and false reporting, talks are continuing and going well. What is said publicly is, of course, much different than what's being communicated to us privately. And these folks are appearing more reasonable behind the scenes privately in these conversations than perhaps some of the previous leaders who are now no longer on planet Earth because they lied to the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: And now, there's another layer. We're learning that some Iranian officials just don't trust that the U.S. is negotiating a good faith because earlier rounds of talks appeared to make progress right before Trump approved a massive wave of airstrikes.
Social media posts from the president this morning, they probably don't help. He's talking up what he calls great progress with discussions. At the same time, he's threatening to strike Iranian energy infrastructure and desalinization plants, which is considered civilian infrastructure. And tonight, there are more than 50,000 U.S. troops in the region. The president's deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face attacks on energy sites is April 6. So, that's one week to answer the question his own administration cannot answer. Are they talking to the people who can actually make a deal stick?
Let's bring in now CNN national security analyst and Director of the Atlantic Council's counterterrorism program, Alex Plitsas, and former Black Hawk pilot and senior director on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracy, Brad Bowman. Gentlemen, welcome to you both. Alex, let me start with you. U.S. officials are not sure they're talking to the right people. So, how will the administration be able to enforce a deal if they, in fact, reach one?
[23:05:04]
ALEX PLITSAS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST, FORMER DEFENSE DEPARTMENT AND PENTAGON OFFICIAL, SENIOR NON-RESIDENT FELLOW AT ATLANTIC COUNCIL: Well, that's part of the problem with the opening strikes and taking out most of the senior leadership. It's a question of who can bridge both the civilian and military divide in the governing structure.
And so, at this point, it looks like the speaker of the parliament, Ghalibaf, might be the one to do that. The foreign minister was largely seen as a mouthpiece before this started. He really didn't have the confidence of the supreme leader in terms of being able to make decisions.
And the new supreme leader, which is Mojtaba Khamenei, hasn't been seen or heard from. And speaking to mediators in the region earlier today, their speculation that at least he probably is alive and wounded could be dead, and that's because the inner circle of his is largely who has assumed power right now. So, the IRGC's intelligence branch has assumed a massive amount of power. They've got great relationships with Turkish military intelligence as well as the Pakistani ISI, which is why both of those countries have stepped in a mediating role. But it's unclear if they've assumed that power because he was appointed or if he's actually alive, and that's still an open question.
BLACKWELL: Brad, there's new reporting from "The Wall Street Journal" tonight that the president told his aides that he's willing to end the war even if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed. And if diplomatic pressure to reopen the strait does not work, the White House would tell Europe and the Gulf states to take the lead. CNN has reached out to the White House for comment. Haven't heard back. How do you think that sits with Europe and with the Gulf states?
BRAD BOWMAN, SENIOR DIRECTOR OF CENTER ON MILITARY: Not well. You know, the United States has undoubtedly dealt serious blows to the Iranian military and its nuclear program, blows that make the Middle East safer and make Americans safer.
But when this ends, if Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz, that would be an embarrassment for the White House, it would be a negative development for U.S. national security interests, and it would set a horrible precedent that others would say that if you can just outlast the Americans, we can get good things, and that maybe America is not so serious when it talks about the importance of freedom of navigation and maritime trade.
After all, we are a global trading power, we are a maritime power, and having freedom of access, freedom of navigation through one of the world's five most important energy chokepoints is a core American interest.
BLACKWELL: And then there's the economic implications on top of that. Let me ask you about what happened tonight, the breaking news, Iranian strikes hit a Kuwaiti oil tanker in the port of Dubai. The president, the administration, they talk about the Iranian navy being decimated. But this still shows that they have quite influence even without some of those military assets.
BOWMAN: Yes. I mean, their air force is destroyed. We've destroyed a large majority of their large vessels. The Iranians still have a lot of small boats. They still have a lot of drones. They still have a lot of ballistic missiles. We've destroyed -- we've seen a 90 percent or more reduction in ballistic missile and drone attacks. But they still have a lot, and they still continue to launch them, albeit at lower rates.
And so, we hear a lot of terms being thrown around in Washington, destroying versus degrading. In the Pentagon, as you know, those two terms have very different meanings. So, we need to avoid hubris here. The Iranians are going to continue to push back. And there's a mixed picture here: Positive military progress, unsatisfactory situations, Strait of Hormuz, and uncertain diplomatic path forward.
BLACKWELL: Alex, the Associated Press reports that Gulf allies are telling President Trump to keep fighting until there's meaningful leadership change. You surprised by that?
PLITSAS: I would have been at the beginning of the war because prior to this, the Gulf states were trying to mediate. They were trying to stop this from happening. And I was in the region with mediators probably a week before the attacks happened. I actually ran into Ali Larijani by accident in Doha while I was there when the negotiators were around. And the position was that the Gulf states were concerned about the non-state actors, right? The proxies in the region. The U.S. was concerned about the nuclear program. The Israelis' primary concern was the ballistic missile attacks.
Now that the Iranian strategy has moved to an asymmetric counterattack, in the sense that they realized they can't defeat the U.S. militarily, conventionally, so they've tried to put pressure on the Strait of Hormuz, raising prices, and then attacking their Gulf neighbors.
They've actually moved the Gulf neighbors into a position where they're actually siding more with the U.S. and the Israelis on seeing the threat as not just the proxies but also the missiles and the drones and potentially the nuclear program. So, as a result of that, they're the ones who are left being hit by this. So, at the end of this, they want to make sure that there's not a residual threat to them and to their security and safety. BLACKWELL: Meaningful leadership change. I wonder what goes through your mind when you hear the president say, well, it is a new regime, that this is a new group that's in power when it literally is the late supreme leader's son who is in control.
PLITSAS: Yes. I mean -- so, what I hear again from mediators in the region and folks who are passing messages back and forth, they have confirmed that Ghalibaf is, in fact, who they are speaking to and the foreign minister as well. They are getting different messages in private than they are getting in public. He's described as a little bit more pragmatic. But I like to describe that as like saving up to be poor. I mean, you're still dealing with, you know, the regime at this point. The people in Iran want to see a transition to democracy just like they did in Venezuela.
But President Trump has made it clear that he doesn't want to engage in state building, which would be rebuilding an Iranian government, and he would prefer to find some charismatic figure that he can work with to meet him on middle ground, on policy.
[23:10:00]
The question is, who is that and who can actually speak on behalf of the country? And that again spoke to your earlier question about who is actually in charge and are we speaking to the right people. We basically have about two weeks left in the bombing campaign, and that's also about how much time we have left before economic pressure really hits. So, at that point, it's going to be clear we have about a week left to figure out whether or not there are real viable diplomatic options or we're going to have to take additional military action.
BLACKWELL: Brad?
BOWMAN: I'll just add that we should not confuse regime decapitation with regime change. Those are two very different things. And perhaps some folks in the White House don't appreciate the depth of institution in Iran. Iran is not Venezuela. There is this thing called the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Tens of thousands of individuals harbor sick ideology and guns, who have proven a willingness to murder Iranians by the tens of thousands to retain their grip on power.
BLACKWELL: Well, let me stay with you for this. The president warning that he will obliterate Iran's energy infrastructure if the Strait of Hormuz does not open. Compare that with "The Wall Street Journal" reporting that maybe he's going to just get out and leave the strait closed.
But one of the things that he named specifically was the desalinization plants. Iran doesn't really rely on them for the majority of their water. But the GCC countries, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, they really do. So, if Iran goes after those, those plants, how does even the threat resonate in some of those countries from the president? BOWMAN: I really try to call balls and strikes regardless of who's pitching. So, let me do that now. I think targeting Iran's desalination plants would be unnecessary, cruel, unlawful, and counterproductive. The people that will suffer most from a lack of water will be the elderly, children, the ill.
And you're right, the Gulf countries rely more on desalination plants. But you know how Iran gets -- Iranians, the Iranian people who were siding with, how they get their water? They get it from aquifers, that they use electricity and pumps to get it to.
So, if you hit the electrical plants, you're going to deprive the Iranian people who were supposedly supporting of the water they need, and they're going to start to think that we're the villains rather than this regime. So, they're going to rise up on our behalf or their behalf if we're depriving them of water to drink. And if they finally have a government that represents their interests, what are they going to think of us if we did that to them?
So, you know, this idea of deliberately targeting the means of water for people, that sounds more like Vladimir Putin. I think America should be better than that.
BLACKWELL: Alex?
PLITSAS: Yes. I mean, I think even if you could find some sort of legal ground where this was permissible under the law of armed conflict, it then becomes a question of what Iran does afterward. And we've seen from the U.S. strikes on Kharg Island where we didn't hit the oil infrastructure, where we hit the military targets there, they responded against Gulf targets. When the Israelis hit the South Park gas field, natural liquid natural gas field, the Iranians responded by hitting the Qatari side of that. And that was 17 percent of liquid natural gas output.
If they were to retaliate, which they've threatened to do against the Gulf neighbors, even if you get the Strait of Hormuz open afterward and you start hitting oil and gas production, you could have economic impact for months if not a year afterwards that would be detrimental to the economy and potentially send the world into recession. So, the consequences from that, from the retaliatory strikes, even to your point if we can get past the legal hurdle, could be severe.
BLACKWELL: Well, let me finish up with this destruction of critical U.S. radar jets and the strike on the Saudi Arabia base. Analysts say that that could weaken the military's ability to spot Iranian threats early. Talk to me about the significance of the destruction of this asset. Can it be replaced quickly?
BOWMAN: These things can be replaced, but it takes time. This is, you know, the loss of life of American service members. These are people who are not returning home to their families. You know, these aren't statistics. These are real people.
And let's remember that some of these strikes are being formed by Russian intelligence. And let's remember that Moscow is providing support for Iranians' drone program. And so, when we end sanctions on Russian oil exports, like we've seen in the Cuba situation, we saw earlier this month, you're providing Putin more revenue. He's going to use that revenue to support his war against Ukraine, the largest invasion in Europe since World War II. He's going to use that to provide additional intelligence to Iran that they're using to target and kill American service members.
Some things in foreign policy are hard. This is not hard. When our adversaries are deliberately trying to kill American service members, you don't give them more money to do it.
BLACKWELL: Right. Brad Bowman, Alex Plitsas, thank you both.
Up next, new details released today about the Michigan synagogue attacker, inside his days of planning and the message he sent his sister just minutes before the attack. Andrew McCabe will break it down for us.
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[23:15:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: Tonight, federal prosecutors are confirming what was widely suspected, that the attack against the largest synagogue in Michigan was an act of terror.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENNIFER RUNYAN, SPECIAL AGENT, FBI DETROIT: Based on the evidence gathered to date, we assess this attack to be a Hezbollah-inspired act of terrorism, purposely targeting the Jewish community and the largest Jewish temple in Michigan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: And they released new images showing Ayman Ghazali at a gun range and later loading up his vehicle with explosives before the attack last month. Now, the FBI says he sent a video to his sister right before the attack. "God willing, I will kill as many of them as I possibly can." Ten minutes later, Ghazali drove into Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan.
I want to bring in now former deputy FBI director and CNN senior law enforcement analyst Andrew McCabe. Andrew, good to see you. First, how were FBI agents able to pinpoint all this evidence?
[23:20:02]
ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST, FORMER FBI DEPUTY DIRECTOR: Yes. So, this is exactly the sort of investigative work you would expect to see from the FBI. And it starts at the point of the attack, and then they begin walking backwards.
So, search warrants at his residence, his vehicle. Search warrants deployed to all of the internet service providers that he uses, recovering all those electronics devices, going through all of that data, everything from search histories to contact lists, people he has been interacting with. From there, you develop leads like the location where he went to practice shooting with the gun he bought for this attack. And it's just the scope continues to widen as you go out.
BLACKWELL: And so, we know that Ghazali's brother was a commander for Hezbollah. Ghazali himself had been flagged in government databases. Considering all that's public now --
MCCABE: Right.
BLACKWELL: -- was this a failure not to figure this out before the attack in West Bloomfield?
MCCABE: You know, that's a good question, and it's one I expect the FBI is probably pouring over right now. So, we know they've said publicly that he was known to them. So, he was in FBI databases as somebody who was connected to Hezbollah-affiliated people. This is probably his brother that that reference is referring to. So, I would hope that they're going back and taking a hard look at, did we consider Ghazali himself as a terrorist or a terrorist-inspired actor who might present a threat to the homeland?
BLACKWELL: So, the U.S. attorney says that Ghazali was under, his words, direction and control of Hezbollah, but he didn't explain how. What do you make of that?
MCCABE: You know, there's a little bit of a -- a little bit of a difference between how the U.S. attorney made that statement and what the FBI has said. The FBI pretty clearly stated they consider him to be inspired by Hezbollah and carried out this attack on the synagogue in pursuit of that inspiration. That's a very different distinction than someone who has taken direct orders from the terrorist organization.
So, we don't have the evidence that the U.S. attorney is basing that comment on but, at this point, I think it's interesting that it is very different from the way the FBI is referring to Ghazali.
BLACKWELL: OK. So, let's say we take the FBI characterization and he's inspired by Hezbollah, and that puts us in the lone wolf conversation.
MCCABE: Correct.
BLACKWELL: How concerned should people be as this war is now in week five and we expect that it will go into the next one? Should people be concerned about lone wolf attacks as the war goes on?
MCCABE: Absolutely.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
MCCABE: Absolutely. And this attack is a perfect picture of that. We think about Iranian actors or Hezbollah operatives who may have been sent to this country to act, to wait until this moment when we're in the middle of hostilities. And those are absolutely real threats. We have discovered people like that in this country before.
But in addition to those very trained and connected operatives, you also have a much broader potential population of people who are just motivated by their affiliation, their aspirational connection to the terrorist organization. They're outraged by what they're seeing. Some of them have been injured personally in the way that this attacker was or this family members being killed in the conflict. And all of those people could be inspired to act out in violent attacks.
BLACKWELL: We talked about the preparation for days before the attack, but we've also learned today about some activity as early as January before the start of the war. Fit that piece into the puzzle.
MCCABE: Sure. So, back as early as January, we know from the FBI's review of his internet search history, he was looking up Hezbollah favorable media entities, he was looking for Iranian news outlets, things like that. Now, it's hard to say how much of that was unique only to January, if that was a new development or not, and how much of that was truly terrorist propaganda or was it merely government propaganda.
But we do know that by March, by March 9th specifically, he is committed to taking this action. He finds his target on March 9th. He identifies the synagogue. And he also goes out on March 9th and purchases -- after two failed attempts, he finally purchases an AR-15.
BLACKWELL: Andy McCabe, thank you.
MCCABE: Thank you.
BLACKWELL: All right, next, a new low. President Trump's poll numbers scraping the bottom of the barrel as fuel prices surge and the cost of this war is starting to show. Plus, TSA agents, they're now getting paid, but that DHS shutdown is still going on, even as lawmakers hit the casino and Disney World on spring break.
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[23:25:00]
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BLACKWELL: The war in Iran is causing gas prices to soar and there is no end in sight. The average price of a gallon of gas is now almost $4. That's a dollar more than before the war and that alone will cause transportation costs to rise. But truckers, truckers especially, they're really feeling the squeeze with diesel prices now at $5.41 a gallon. The White House was asked about that today. Their message essentially was thoughts and prayers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNKNOWN (voice-over): The cost of diesel is averaging at $5.38 a gallon right now. What's the message from the Trump administration to truck drivers who are dealing with those high fuel costs right now?
LEAVITT: Again, we understand, we hear you, we see you.
[23:30:00]
We are fully tracking this short-term fluctuation in oil and in diesel prices. And that's why the president and the administration have continually announced robust actions to provide stability in the global energy market.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Let's talk about it now, the politics of war, with former Illinois Republican turned Democrat, Joe Walsh, and Republican strategist and founder of the Endeavor PAC, Tiffany Smiley. Welcome to you both. Tiffany, let me start with you. The plan to deal with the gas hikes, again, no end in sight. And we hear from Karoline Leavitt, wear your seatbelt, be safe out there.
TIFFANY SMILEY, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST, FOUNDER OF ENDEAVOR PAC: Yes. Well, first, I want to preface this, that for the 50 years, every single president has said that Iran needs to be dealt with. And President Trump took that on his shoulders, knowing that it would raise the price of gas for American workers, for American families. But he made that tough decision. No other president was willing to do it. He was willing to do it.
But I'm not going to sit here and sugarcoat it and say that these new polling numbers that we're seeing are not a problem and that the White House should really look at them and course correct, and think of ways to connect with the voters on their level with what they're really feeling because at the end of the day, in these midterms, voters will vote based on how they feel at the kitchen table, based on how their pocketbook feels, and the future for their kids, that they have hope.
What was interesting in that polling as well though is that the voters that voted for President Trump, 83 percent have confidence in him and would vote for him again. I think the trouble is going to be or the challenge is going to be reaching independent voters and bringing them in.
BLACKWELL: Yes. Before we get to the poll because we will get to it, the numbers that people are seeing and feeling right now are these billboards of gas prices that they drive past on a daily basis. Are you surprised that the administration seems to be so flat-footed on this?
JOE WALSH, PODCAST HOST, FORMER ILLINOIS REPRESENTATIVE: Yes.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
WALSH: And in their defense, Victor, I don't know what their messaging is. Like the tariff madness, Donald Trump was single-handedly responsible for the tariffs that created all the uncertainty. This is Trump's war. And he chose this. And it's almost like they didn't factor in at all what would happen at the pump. It's weird.
SMILEY: No. I think he knew what would happen. I mean, he was very clear about it, that he understood that this would happen and it was a tough decision that he had to make knowing that this short-term pain, and like the press secretary said, this is -- this is short-lived.
BLACKWELL: It's short lived but --
SMILEY: But that's hard to say to American families who are filling up their cars and seeing the price rise.
WALSH: To Tiffany's point, Victor, part of the problem is -- and I'm an old fart. I'm older than you two. In my lifetime, I've never seen an American president take this country to war and not do that. Sit us down before the war or right after he started and said, this is what we did, this is why we did it, we're all in this together. Trump did none of that. And for the past five weeks, it has been a different message every hour.
BLACKWELL: Yes. Let me ask you about the Strait of Hormuz, which is at the center of this conflict now.
SMILEY: Right.
BLACKWELL: Because so much hinges on that, I want you to listen here to the Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, what he said about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT BESSENT, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY: Over time, the U.S. is going to retake control of the straits and there will be freedom of navigation, whether it is through U.S. escorts or a multinational escort.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Over time. It's kind like when the president said, eventually, it'll open itself up. I mean, does that instill the type of confidence that you'd want to hear from this White House?
SMILEY: Well, I think Trump was clear in his goals and his objectives in this war. It was, you know, very well laid out. Number one, Iran can never have a nuclear weapon. We need to destroy their missile capabilities, and we need to dismantle their Navy. That has implications in the strait. So, that's what we are doing. I think they don't have a timeline because they don't really know, and that creates uncertainty here back at home. But I think what he is saying is they are meeting their objectives and they are doing what they laid out to do.
WALSH: You can -- you can support this war. I don't. But I don't know how anyone can say Trump has been clear about why we did it. I mean, Victor, the strait was open before Trump decided to go to war. Now, it's closed. There were reports out today that he may walk away and keep it closed. He has told advisors that. Or if he reopens them and then walks away and declares victory. That's odd. The strait was opened before he went to war.
BLACKWELL: Yes. So, the polls show that most Americans do not support the war. Even cheerleaders now like Senator Lindsey Graham is starting to sound like he has some serious concerns. He posted on social media, "Keep it up, Mr. President. Wind down the war and wind up efforts for a historic peace deal." Joe, if he's losing Lindsey Graham --
WALSH: Oh my God, Victor.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
WALSH: Lindsey Graham wants to declare -- he wants to go to war everywhere.
[23:35:00]
That's a clear indication that this war is not popular. And it's not a surprise. We don't know why we're there and it's driving the cost of everything up.
BLACKWELL: Yes. Tiffany, this new poll that you mentioned, and this is from the University of Massachusetts, 89 percent of self-identified MAGA Republicans support the war, 71%, as we have it up on the screen, of all Republicans. When you've got three out of 10 Republicans who don't support it, do you think this is hurting the president?
SMILEY: Well, look, obviously, they have a messaging issue, and they will need to address that.
BLACKWELL: Is it just messaging, though?
SMILEY: But let me back up because as a mom of young kids, I look at this in a very different way. Like I started when I said, you know, it has been 50 years and every single president has said they have to deal with Iran. President Trump finally did it. So, if this is the scrutiny that he needs to take to make our country safer, to make the world safer, I mean, Iran is the state -- the largest state sponsor terrorism in the world. They were forming alliances with China and Russia, which is extremely problematic to the future.
When I think of my boy's future, I don't want them having to deal with Iran. If this is the hard steps that we have to take now to deal with it, which most U.S. presidents were never willing to take --
WALSH: I oppose the war. But if Trump had done a tenth of what Tiffany just said before or right after he did it, he'd be in a different place. He never did any of this. And every single day, we're hearing a different thing.
BLACKWELL: Yes. And what do you think those Republicans who were facing election and primaries in the summer and general election think about this? You say that the president is willing to take this. He's not going to be on the ballot again. They will.
SMILEY: No, he's not. But again, at the end of the day, voters are going to vote mostly on domestic policy when it comes down to it. And to counter that, the Democrats have a problem, too, because all they are talking about is what they are against. So, they're not talking about what they're for. And the Republicans have these messaging issues when you look at the war and you look at gas prices. So, I think if the White House can really rethink it and double down on how they're messaging and talking to the American people, it could change the trajectory of the midterm.
WALSH: It's so bad for Republicans. Most Republicans aren't running for re-election. They're retiring and running for the Hill.
BLACKWELL: And you say --
SMILEY: Democrats, though, too, in historic numbers.
BLACKWELL: That's true. You're saying domestic policy. But the price of gas, the inflation, the housing market, all of those are domestic policies that are influenced by what's happening in the strait and really what's not happening in the strait.
SMILEY: Right.
BLACKWELL: Let me ask you, Joe, about Cory Booker, Senator Cory Booker. He is criticizing his own party, says that Democrats, your party now, has failed. Let's play that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ): Look, I'm proud of so many things that my Democratic colleagues are doing. But as a whole, our party has failed this moment. It's why I've called for new leadership in America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Does have a point?
WALSH: He's right. He's right. I would say Cory Booker hasn't met the moment. Most of my new party's leadership has been utterly clueless into how unprecedented everything Donald Trump is. And they have not met the moment. They're going to take back the House and maybe the Senate. Tiffany is right.
SMILEY: We'll see.
WALSH: It will have nothing to do with the Democratic Party.
BLACKWELL: When you say meeting the moment, what should they be doing? What should you all be doing?
WALSH: It needed to start from the beginning. Donald Trump is everything our founders feared. And Democrats at the get-go. When Trump declared war on everything, they just tried to get along with him. Instead of understanding what he's doing, they didn't try to stop the damage he has done.
BLACKWELL: Speaking of meeting to the moment, TSA employees are now getting paid, but the Coast Guard, CISA, FEMA, some of those employees are not getting paid. And the president says that the break should end and Republicans should come back. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEAVITT: And so, again, the president has stepped in to do the right thing at this moment in time. But the president is also encouraging Congress to come back to Washington to permanently fix this problem and to fund and reopen the Department of Homeland Security entirely.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Republicans, last time I checked, they're in control on the Hill. Why aren't they working to get this done now instead of being at Disney World or at the casino or wherever they are?
SMILEY: Well, all of Congress should be back here working for the American people and for TSA agents to get their paycheck. But I think President Trump did something that was very, very good. He kind of sidestepped the Democrats because the Democrats are, to your point, Joe, that they're really the party of their anti-common sense. It seems like they would want to fund DHS, which was founded and created after 9/11 to protect us from terrorists. And now, we have real threats and we have real issues going on here.
So, you know, Congress needs to be held accountable on both sides of the aisle. But Donald Trump sidestepped the Democrats who were trying to portray chaos and trying to hang it on Republicans.
[23:39:57]
And he was able to get DHS agents their paychecks through the big, beautiful funding that was already available.
WALSH: The speaker of the House is a Republican. He could have kept them there.
BLACKWELL: I will add that every Republican, along with every Democrat in the Senate, voted for that deal that did not fund ICE and purchase CBP.
SMILEY: The Democrats have voted seven times against fully funding DHS.
BLACKWELL: Joe, Tiffany, thank you both.
WALSH: Thanks.
BLACKWELL: Up next, the art thieves who made millions in minutes. They stole Renoir, Cezanne, and Matisse paintings from an Italian museum. But can they actually now do anything with them? Can they sell them? I'll ask an expert after this.
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[23:45:00]
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BLACKWELL: It hasn't even been six months since robbers broke into the Louvre and stole the French crown jewels and art thieves have struck again. Authorities say three paintings worth nearly $10 million by Renoir, Cezanne and Matisse were stolen last week from a museum in northern Italy.
How'd they do it? Well, the details still are not entirely clear, but police say four thieves wearing hoods forced their way through the front door overnight, and then ran off with the paintings across the museum's gardens after they triggered the alarms. And check this out. They did it all in three minutes. No arrests have been made so far. The museum is open to the public while investigators work to track down the paintings.
With me now is retired FBI special agent Ronnie Walker. He spent 20 years solving art crimes, often going undercover to retrieve missing paintings. Ronnie, good to see you. Three minutes and they got out with millions of dollars. In less than six months from the Louvre heist, I would have expected, most people probably would have expected, that these museums would tighten security. How do you think they manage to pull this off?
RONNIE WALKER, RETIRED SPECIAL AGENT, FBI: Victor, it's not too difficult to break into any building, especially a museum. These buildings are built to be open to the public. So, they're not hardened like they were Fort Knox. So, getting in and out of these buildings is pretty simple if you have the willpower to do it.
BLACKWELL: So, the three paintings, as I said, worth about $10 million. The Renoir alone is about $7 million. How do they profit from these paintings?
WALKER: They don't. It's not the right crime to be committing if you want to make your millions. It's hard to move these paintings. These are major artists. These paintings are well-publicized. They're going to have a real difficult time monetizing them.
BLACKWELL: Yes. I mean, unlike the crown jewels, and I don't imagine that people would have done this to disassemble them because those gems can go anywhere, those paintings are identifiable. You can't just hang it over your fireplace. And a year later, people don't realize they were stolen from a museum. So, what do they even do with them now that they're on the radar of law enforcement?
WALKER: Usually, the thieves that do these types of crimes haven't really thought that far ahead. They don't have necessarily someone in the wings to buy them. They know they're valuable, they know they're a soft target, so they take them. But the selling part is usually where the plan falls through.
BLACKWELL: And so, I understand that you worked undercover in trying to retrieve stolen paintings. Part of your job was convincing thieves that you were a would-be buyer or a dealer of stolen art. Where should investigators be focusing right now to try to find these thieves?
WALKER: Well, when it comes to art crime, everything is on the table. These paintings will ultimately end up in a market like the U.S. consumer market, a market that looks for valuable paintings. But the police are doing everything right now, getting the publicized theft out there so that they get that tip to break this open.
BLACKWELL: So -- but they waited about five or six days before going public with this. This happened last week. What do you think explains that?
WALKER: They waited a week and it was probably because they were chasing leads. They didn't want to risk the public interrupting that investigation.
BLACKWELL: So, most art museums with these expensive collections, as you said, they have robust security. But as they're public buildings, the point is to get people to come in. Is there anything more that they should be doing to safeguard against this that they're not doing now?
WALKER: You know, it sounds like this museum had excellent security systems in place. It prevented a larger loss. They only got three paintings. They could have taken many more. They didn't get the most valuable paintings in the museum. So, whatever disrupted this theft did its job.
BLACKWELL: I mean, maybe they didn't get the most valuable ones, but $10 million in three minutes ain't nothing to sneeze at. Ronnie Walker, thanks so much for being with me.
Next, some good news. And we need some good news, don't we? My next guest cleans rooms, offices, wards at Yale New Haven Hospital for a decade. But soon, she'll be walking through those doors as a doctor. Stick around. You got to hear this story.
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[23:50:00]
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UNKNOWN: I finally did it! (ph)
(SHOUTING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: That was the sound of a dream come true. The moment that Shay Taylor learned she matched for residency at her top choice, Yale New Haven Hospital. For 10 years, Shay walked the halls of that very hospital not as a student, not as a patient, but as a janitor. She started when she was just 18 after graduating high school at the top of her class. But, at the time, being a doctor was nowhere on her mind.
[23:54:58]
But then her mother got sick, and Shay says no doctor took her condition seriously. So, it became her mission to fight for patients just like her mom. She enrolled in classes while still working as a janitor to pay the bills. She graduates from Howard University Medical School this spring before heading back to where it all began, this time as an anesthesiology resident. Shay Taylor is with me now. First of all, HU.
SHAY TAYLOR, RETURNING AS DOCTOR TO HOSPITAL WHERE SHE WORKED AS A JANITOR: You know.
(LAUGHTER)
BLACKWELL: Class of 2003, so I had to do that first.
TAYLOR: I love that.
BLACKWELL: Put that moment into words for me.
TAYLOR: First, I want to say thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be here, especially with you being a Howard alum.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
TAYLOR: But the moment was just so exciting. I can't even explain it. Obviously, from the video, I was just jumping up and down to the point I think I was going to break the concrete, I always say all the time. But it was a surreal moment, and I get to relive it every time people on the internet see it or I do interviews. And I'm just so amazed by how much the country loved the story.
BLACKWELL: Yes. And I read that being a doctor was something you considered. It was nothing on your radar. If someone told you when you left high school that this is where you'd be today, what would you think?
TAYLOR: I'd say no.
(LAUGHTER)
I definitely did not know that this was my destiny. When I started the job as a janitor, I only wanted to make some money for me and my family. I never thought in a million years that I would do this. I didn't know what I wanted to do for a while. It wasn't until my sophomore year of college that I was like, OK, I can obviously see myself doing this because my mom got sick and she was dealing with health care disparities. However, I knew I wanted to do something. I just didn't know it was going to be a doctor.
BLACKWELL: Yes. Talk to me about the influence of your mother's treatment that -- we talk about implicit biases that happen, especially in Black communities and specifically to Black women. How that influenced the decision on what you're doing now?
TAYLOR: So, originally, I thought my mom had a mental illness, which she did not. She has vocal cord dysfunction. However, they kept saying that it was a mental illness. And when I went home that night, I actually started to research why are they asking why my mom has a mental illness. I couldn't understand why that was a question instead of they trying to figure out what was wrong.
And I got to see that so many Black women specifically deal with these things. They'll go to the emergency room, they'll think it's a mental illness or they say you're not hurt or you can't feel pain. And that for me was the driving force. And I got to see my CEO advocate for my mom. And I got to see that firsthand. And I knew I wanted to do that for other patients.
BLACKWELL: Yes. You were balancing your classes in Connecticut at school while working as a janitor. Talk to me about keeping all the plates spinning as it were.
TAYLOR: I'm actually happy you asked me that because a lot of people are confused with my story. I see the comments all the time. And I'm just like I worked for 10 years, and I went to school. So, I worked full time while helping my family.
BLACKWELL: Yes. This is not linear.
TAYLOR: No. This is all at the same time. And I think so many people get confused about my age. They're like when was she a janitor? I'm like the entire time that I was an undergrad, I got my masters at Quinnipiac, and I was a janitor full time. So, it definitely was a lot at the time, but looking back, I wouldn't change my story at all.
BLACKWELL: How did you keep it all going?
TAYLOR: I can't even tell you.
(LAUGHTER)
I just knew I had a mission.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
TAYLOR: I knew I wanted to help other patients, people who were like my mom, other people in our country that might be dealing with the same situation, and that kind of was the battery in my back that I needed to keep going.
BLACKWELL: How does it feel to go back to the hospital, not only where you were a janitor, but I read where you were born.
TAYLOR: Yes.
BLACKWELL: Yes. And to serve your community, as you say.
TAYLOR: It feels amazing. I always say that everybody that steps into Yale is my family, whether we're related by blood or not. We are such a small community that everybody in that town is going to be either my uncle or my cousin or my brother now. And I feel like I have a stronger sense of community there and the type of love that I have for my community. So, I think it's just different. And I believe that hospital all the way through. Obviously, I was born there. So, I definitely am excited. BLACKWELL: Talk to me about the lesson you want people -- split this question into two. First, the lesson you want people to take from not accepting the diagnosis that was given to your mother, right? And making sure that you and she were both advocating for her.
TAYLOR: So, I think the lesson here is always speak up. I always tell my patients or my future patients, it's OK if you have your mom with you when you come for a visit. It's OK if you have your father, any family member. I expect that and I want that. I want to explain anything that they need answers to, and I'm here to do that. And I want them to have that connection with me. I want the family to have that connection with me. So, if I could tell anybody, just please speak up if you think something is wrong. We're not always right as doctors.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
TAYLOR: No one is always right. And we can be wrong. You can tell us that we're wrong, and we're here to help. So, speak up for your family members, be there for your family members if you can because that definitely helps.
[00:00:02]
BLACKWELL: And the message of your story for people who think maybe this is not for me.
TAYLOR: It's for you.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
TAYLOR: I mean, I show that the sky is the limit, as cliche as it sounds. And being in this country, I continuously show that if you put in the hard work, you can definitely do it. And it's not where you start. It's always where you finish. And just keep going no matter what losses you take.
BLACKWELL: Shay Taylor, I've enjoyed this. This is the good news we needed tonight. Thank you.
TAYLOR: Thank you so much.
BLACKWELL: All right, that does it for me. "The Story Is with Elex Michaelson" is next.
