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One World with Zain Asher

Loud Booms Heard In Tel Aviv Amid Iranian Missile Barrage; U.S. Supreme Court Considers Future Of Birthright Citizenship; Artemis II Gets "Go" For Fueling Ahead Of Liftoff; Source: FBI Visits Cuba After Florida Speedboat Attack; Italy Fail To Qualify For Third Time In A Row. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired April 01, 2026 - 12:30   ET

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

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[12:30:49]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

ZAIN ASHER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Coming to you live from New York, I'm at Zain Asher.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Bianna Golodryga. You've been watching CNN's special coverage of the Supreme Court's hearing on

birthright citizenship.

The key question before the court today, is President Trump's executive order ending birthright citizenship constitutional?

ASHER: Yes. This case could obviously have enormous impact as the court weighs who exactly should be considered an American. In the questioning, we

heard from the justices, they seem quite skeptical actually of Trump's arguments, although of Trump administration's arguments.

We won't get an immediate decision from the High Court. It's expected to drop some time over the summer.

GOLODRYGA: All right. Turning now to the war in Iran. President Trump says Tehran has asked the U.S. for a ceasefire. That is according to a Truth

Social post from the president, which also says that he will only consider the request after the Strait of Hormuz is reopened. A senior Iranian

official is calling the president unstable and eccentric.

ASHER: And in the region, in just the past few hours, loud booms could be heard in Tel Aviv as Iran fired what an Israeli military official described

as the most significant strike since the early days of the war.

The official said Israel identified 10 missile launchers -- launches, rather, by Iran.

GOLODRYGA: CNN's Jim Sciutto joins us now live from Tel Aviv. And what's notable about this barrage of attacks, Jim, is that it's coinciding with

the start of Passover, as millions of Israelis prepare for the first night of Seder.

You've been on the receiving end there having to go into shelter in place. So give us a sense of what the last few hours have been like.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF U.S. SECURITY ANALYST: Well, I'll tell you, Bianna and Zain, you might say there are two Iranian signals in response to

President Trump saying that they are negotiating a ceasefire right now.

One of those signals has been contradictory statements from Iranian officials. The Revolutionary Guard Corps says that they will continue to

control the Strait of Hormuz.

And a spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry denied that there were discussions, negotiations underway.

But I think the -- the more tactile one, if you want to call it that, was that barrage of missiles, multiple, at least half a dozen air raid warnings

we got here in quick succession. And we heard the booms overhead as the interceptors went up attempting to take them down.

Quite -- quite a -- quite a signal from Iran in terms of where those negotiations might stand, but also that it still has the capability to file

-- fire missiles in numbers at Israel.

And I think to your point, Bianna, it's -- it's hard to believe that the timing is accidental. It was all happening right before and during sunset

here, which, of course, when that Passover Seder meal begins. You have to think that's something of a message to the civilians here in Tel Aviv that

Iran, well, it's keeping up the fight for now.

Could we be surprised by more conciliatory statements or actions from Iranian officials along the lines of those who are hearing from President

Trump right now in the coming days? Possible, but right now, the evidence before us is that the war continues.

GOLODRYGA: All right. Jim Sciutto for us live in Tel Aviv. Please stay safe, Jim.

ASHER: All right. And the energy markets oil prices are down slightly today. A sign of hope that the U.S. could be moving towards de-escalation

with Iran.

[12:35:08]

WTI is the U.S. benchmark for crude oil. You see, it is pretty much even at $100 a barrel right now.

GOLODRYGA: President Trump's approval rating, when it comes to the economy, has plunged to a record low.

A new CNN poll found that just 31 percent of Americans have a positive view of how he's managing the economy.

ASHER: With more on this, I want to bring in CNN politics senior reporter Stephen Collinson joins us live now from D.C.

So, Stephen, we're going to get to the economic stuff in just a moment. But I do want to talk to you really about what we've been listening to as it

pertains to birthright.

You know, if you are from a country that has, you know, limited economic prospects, it is actually very difficult to get a visa to live and work in

the United States. I mean, so many people -- I mean, it's so difficult to even imagine what people have to go through. Oftentimes, try to go through

to get a green card or to get you a citizenship in this country because you cannot put a price tag on it.

And now, you know, this idea, this one loophole that a lot of people around the world had, this idea that if they couldn't live and work in the United

States, at least by giving birth in America, then their children could possibly be set.

The fact that that is now on the table, Stephen, I mean, that really is quite something. I'm from Nigeria. I know so many people who have come to

America to give birth to their children, so that their children can have the potential of having both citizenships, both Nigerian and American.

And the fact that that could now be taken away, even the possibility of it, that is, I mean, it's earth-shattering, really. Just -- just give us your

take on what we've been hearing.

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: Yes. And that, I think, is something that everybody that lives outside America sees as part of the

promise of America. And that is what the Trump administration wants to do by fundamentally changing what many see as a core principle of the United

States. And it has been so ever since the end of the Civil War.

The question of the humanitarian dimension of this was actually brought up by Justice Samuel Alito. The Trump administration lawyer punched back on

that by saying, well, the United States is one of the very few countries where you have birthright citizenship.

But in some ways, I think that didn't really rebut the point. It actually made the point. And I think it was one of the instances where the

government's position here was treated quite skeptically, even by some of the conservative justices on the court. It's not always indicative of how

the court will rule, but this is an exceedingly long-shot case.

And I think you can argue, and this was underscored by the president's presence in the Supreme Court to watch the style of the arguments today,

that the administration probably doesn't believe that it has a good job of overturning birthright citizenship, but it's something that's caught to

Trump's base. And he's gone against his base on many issues recently, not least by starting a new war in the Middle East.

So even a loss on the legal merits here, he could, at least, get some kind of political capital by continuing to stand up for hardline immigration

policies.

GOLODRYGA: And unprecedented move at that with the president actually sitting there in the courtroom for the oral arguments. And he's just posted

on Truth Social, perhaps in response to what all analysts say seems at the very least a -- a skeptical Supreme Court across the board in terms of

their questioning, really raising the prospect of the Supreme Court ruling against the president.

He posted on Truth Social, saying that, we are the only country in the world stupid enough to allow birthright citizenship. Now, that is factually

not true. There are -- there are a number of Western countries that do not allow it.

Let me turn to what we're expecting to see from the president tonight, Stephen, and as that relates to that poll that we mentioned earlier about,

I think, the lowest approval rating he has received thus far as it comes to the economy.

The president, from reporting, is expected to announce that this war will wind down in the next two to three weeks.

And the president, from my understanding, thinks that he can withstand even a low approval rating temporarily, that he thinks once this comes to an end

and he declares victory can rebound. Walk us through what you're hearing.

COLLINSON: Yes. The problem with that assumption is that when a president's approval ratings, especially in their second term, really start to go down.

There is not much precedent for them coming back up.

And I think if you look at this poll, the fundamentals of this poll really challenge Donald Trump's political standing here. Thirty-one percent of

Americans now give him a good approval rating on the economy.

[12:40:02]

Two-thirds of Americans say that his policies are responsible for the bad state of economy. What that does is it completely undermines the central

pillars of his argument going into the midterm elections. First of all, that he's ended the affordability question and that Americans are in a new

golden age. And also that all of the economic problems in the United States are still the fault of former President Joe Biden. Those are his two key

arguments and both of them are rebutted about how Americans are feeling about the economy.

And also, these numbers help explain why it looks like the president wants to get this war over as soon as possible. Gas is up at more than $4 a

gallon. That may not sound much to people abroad and in Europe, but that is very high historically in the United States.

And that is putting pressure on the president's economic approval rating as well. So he has a lot of problems. And you could argue just on the narrow

window of the economy, his war in Iran, whatever else he thought it might do, has really hurt him among voters on what will be the key issue in the

midterm elections in November.

ASHER: All right. Stephen Collinson, live for us there. Thank you so much.

GOLODRYGA: Thank you, Stephen.

COLLINSON: Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: We are less than six hours to launch. What a busy day.

NASA's Artemis II rocket was given the green light for fueling ahead of its 10-day journey to the moon and back.

ASHER: Yes. Let's listen to the crew getting ready for that mission.

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REID WISEMAN, ARTEMIS II COMMANDER: It's the first time we're going to try this. It's the first time we're loading humans on board.

And I will tell you the four of us, we are ready to go. The team is ready to go and the vehicle is ready to go.

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GOLODRYGA: Team is ready to go, so is CNN's Jackie Wattles live from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

So, Jackie, a 10-day flyby, they won't be landing on the surface. They're strictly testing Orion's spacecraft deep space life support system. So that

having been said, what should viewers be watching for in terms of what will be viewed as a successful mission for these astronauts over the course of

the 10 days?

JACKIE WATTLES, CNN SPACE AND SCIENCE WRITER: Right. Yes, absolutely. Well, there's a number of hugely important milestones set out here. And you know,

NASA's going to be hoping to hit each and every mark, because any missteps during this mission will likely mean extensive delays for future missions.

And like you said, we're still trying to get to that touchdown on the moon in these next few years.

But, yes, things to watch out for. When these astronauts get to space, they're going to immediately start testing some of the primary objectives

here. You mentioned the life support systems. That's huge.

Last time this capsule flew, it flew without people and it flew without that life support system. So it'll be a crucial moment seeing how well that

works. And they're going to do those checkouts while the capsule stays pretty close to Earth so that at any time they could choose to abort and

come back home early. And NASA's definitely reserving that right.

And they've also said, they won't consider this an outright failure if they do have to take that abort. They are considering this a test mission. So

any new data is good on -- on their -- in their minds.

And then also crucially Victor Glover, the pilot of this mission, is also going to take over and actually manually pilot this spacecraft for the

first time that coming up about three hours after launch. And that'll also be an enormous milestone.

GOLODRYGA: All right. We'll be watching. Jackie Wattles, thank you.

ASHER: And don't miss CNN's special live coverage of the Artemis II launch. It starts Wednesday, today, at 5:00 P.M. Eastern. That's 2:00 P.M. Pacific

Time, if you're watching from the West Coast.

We'll be right back with more.

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ASHER: All right. Some breaking news out of Cuba, where the FBI is actually investigating a deadly shootout from February. This marks a rare visit from

U.S. law enforcement.

GOLODRYGA: That attack involved Cuban soldiers and the crew of a boat from Florida. Now, five survivors face terrorism charges on the island.

ASHER: Let's discuss all of this with our Patrick Oppmann, joining us live now from Havana.

I mean, obviously, the FBI visit to Cuba does come at a bit of an awkward time, given what's going on in its relationship with the United States. But

just walk us through what more we know, Patrick.

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely. They have an FBI technical team here investigating carry-on investigation certainly closely

monitored working with Cuban authorities.

But doing what FBI agents do around the world, taking evidence and -- and coming up with essentially a narrative of what took place here.

So just to remind viewers, you know, in February, you had this very strange but not unprecedented scenario where you had people coming into the country

by boat with guns trying to carry out some sort of armed attack, according to Cuban officials.

And -- and, you know, you had all these guns that Cuba officials said that this group brought to Molotov cocktails, other weaponry, a lot of hardware

for the small boat that they were in, frankly. And they were intercepted by a Cuban government boat, a border guard boat, and the shootout ensued where

five people ended up dying from -- from their wounds. You had one Cuban soldier who was wounded. And this very strange shootout took place between

these two different groups, a group of Cuban-Americans, and of course, a group of Cuban soldiers defending their country.

So now you have five Cuban-Americans who are in custody here looking at terrorism charges, potentially spending the rest of their life in Cuban

prison, if not worse circumstances.

And the U.S. officials saying they're really not able to determine what happened. So Cuban officials said that the FBI team could come here, could

potentially speak to some of the survivors, talk to some of the Cuban crew, you would imagine, that engaged this group of boaters that came in from

Florida, and try to come up with their own narrative of what took place.

But what U.S. officials are telling us is they are not relying on Cuban authorities word at this point. The tensions are so high. And that they're

going to come up with their own idea, their own investigation of what took place here. And so this is all happening it all is really quite remarkable

as U.S. and Cuban tensions are at such a -- a worse point.

But, you know, if you have any event like this, and we've seen it happen in the past, it can really lead to something much worse because this is a

situation where you have Donald Trump talking about bringing down the government of Cuba, not weighing out, potentially not ruling out,

potentially using military action against the Cuban government here. And so, you know, any little spark like this could -- could lead to something

much worse.

So, at this point, the government's working together, and Cuba offering what is really rare, almost unprecedented access, allowing the FBI team to

come here and investigate a case in Cuba. It's -- it's something that just does not happen very often if ever at all.

ASHER: All right. Patrick Oppmann, live for us. Thank you.

We'll be right back with more after this short break.

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[12:50:14]

ASHER: The sense of absolute joy. Apparent -- obviously, here in Baghdad, as Iraq qualifies for the first men's FIFA World Cup in four decades.

GOLODRYGA: That's just a -- a sample of what it was like in our producer Camille's house watching this victory.

ASHER: We have an Iraqi -- an Iraqi producer here and she is so happy.

GOLODRYGA: And we mentioned -- we mentioned her support of the team yesterday. And congratulations to Camille and the team, they beat Bolivia

two to one. They become the last team to qualify for the tournament, joining Congo, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Sweden, and Bosnia.

Iraq's head coach said that it's a moment for the entire country to cherish.

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GRAHAM ARNOLD, IRAQ HEAD COACH: I'm just so delighted for the players because they're really good boys. And I'm really, really happy for the 46-

men Iraqis that are in the country of Iraq.

It's all now about going to the World Cup and, you know, doing something there that no one would ever expect us to do.

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GOLODRYGA: But where there's joy, there's also heartbreak elsewhere, and that falls on Italy's shoulders, failing to qualify for not the first, not

the second, but the third time in a row.

Don Riddell, there seems to be a pattern here and it's not a good one.

DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: No, not at all. Let me first start by kind of personalizing this report because, Zane, I know you often bring up Nigeria

who have missed out not once, but twice.

And just in case you're thinking it can't get worse than this, it can. It is possible to miss three World Cups in a row. But what is absolutely

extraordinary is that Italy are four-time world champions. That mean they are one of the most dominant nations in the history of football on this

planet, but this is where they came unstuck.

They were playing away against Bosnia and Herzegovina. They were leading the game, but they had a man sent off in the first half, so they had to

play the whole of the second half and all of extra time with 10 men. And it all came down to a shootout.

And that is just the tightest of margins. But you can see from these images what it means to these guys. The Azzurri absolutely crushed.

And their coach, Gennaro Gattuso, articulated what it felt like to have been responsible for a failed campaign that an entire country was praying

for a better outcome. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GENNARO GATTUSO, ITALY COACH (through translator): This is something that makes me feel awful. It really makes me feel awful. I would have given

anything today, years of my life, money, just to be able to achieve this goal. There's so much bitterness. And I can assure you it really hurts a

lot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIDDELL: And when you miss out in the World Cup, you're going to have to wait four years, four long years for a crack at it again.

[12:55:06]

So, we now know the 48-team field for this tournament. The final six places were secured on Tuesday, four in Europe. Democratic Republic of Congo, the

10th African team to qualify. And Iraq, as you've been saying, guys, into the World Cup for the first time in 40 years.

We've got four new teams playing in the competition. The four teams on the left of your screen had already secured their qualification; Cape Verde,

Curacao, Jordan, and Uzbekistan.

We've got some long lost World Cup teams making their return. Democratic Republic of Congo have played the tournament before as Zaire, but that was

way back in 1974. Haiti also, not here since '74. There back in it. Iraq, 40 years as we say.

Three European teams, Austria, Norway, Scotland, they haven't played in the World Cup since 1998. Turkey, whose only World Cup appearance in 2002,

resulted in a run to the semifinals. Who would have thought that they would have had to wait another 24 years to make it back? The Czech Republic, back

in the tournament for the first time in 20 years.

So the stage is now set.

ASHER: I mean, it's -- it's bizarre. You've got Cape Verde in and Italy out. I mean, what is -- what is the world coming to?

RIDDELL: Yes, I mean --

ASHER: But it's going to be an interesting World Cup. That's what that means.

RIDDELL: Yes, yes.

ASHER: It's going to be a nail-biter.

RIDDELL: Would it have been better with Italy in it? Sure. They -- they ran into Norway in their --

ASHER: Yes, yes.

RIDDELL: -- qualifying group. And, as I said, Norway haven't been there for a long time, but they've got a great team these days. They've got --

ASHER: All right.

RIDDELL: -- Erling Haaland and Martin Odegaard.

GOLODRYGA: Yes.

RIDDELL: That's -- that's kind of why you think they --

ASHER: I'm being yelled at. It's time.

RIDDELL: All right. No.

ASHER: I could talk to you about this for a little bit.

Don, thank you.

RIDDELL: All right.

ASHER: That does it for "One World." I'm Zain Asher.

GOLODRYGA: And I'm Bianca Golodryga. Thanks for watching. "Amanpour" is up next.

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