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The Situation Room

Baseball Season Starts; Trump Extends Iran Deadline; Interview With Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-IN). Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired March 27, 2026 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:02]

REP. MARLIN STUTZMAN (R-IN): And this is the Senate product, and so we will see what happens here in about an hour.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: So, based on what you know so far, Congressman, which way are you leaning, to support what the Senate has done or fight it?

STUTZMAN: Well, I will support what the Senate has done if that's what is on the floor, but I don't think that, again, if we -- I want to support Speaker Johnson and hear from him and what his thoughts are.

And I know there was a debate over, like, anti-CBDC language with the digital currency language. Why wasn't that included? Or it could have been included? With these must-pass bills like this one, we could have added some other policy positions to the bill, and so they're talking through that scenario.

Unfortunately, we still see a lot of these bills get hung up in the Senate. And so us House members are -- we're more aggressive. We want to get things done. We're on two-year terms. And, of course, that's what the founding fathers wanted, so we're going to push a little bit more than what the Senate does.

BLITZER: But if you pass what the Senate has done in the House of Representatives, Congressman, these long lines at airports will simply go away. Isn't that important?

STUTZMAN: It is, absolutely. And that's what we all want to do. We don't want to hold that up. The president has said even that he was going to find a way to pay TSA agents, get these folks paid, and get them caught up without Congress, from what I understood this morning.

And so -- and I was glad to hear that, because these folks shouldn't be put through this difficulty now that they're missing two, three paychecks. The other thing that I have told my colleagues is that these folks, it'll start hurting their credit ratings, and then you will start doing some long-term damage if they can't pay a credit card bill or they can't pay a car payment or a rent payment or mortgage.

So this is important. We have to get this done, and I think that's what the conversations are going on right now, is, how do we make sure that happens, and is there an opportunity to maybe add some other language that the Senate just doesn't seem to take time to address?

BLITZER: As you know, the House -- and you're a member of the House -- was supposed to begin what, a two-week recess, sort of a spring break recess later today.

STUTZMAN: Yes.

BLITZER: Is that going to happen, or what do you think?

STUTZMAN: Well, if we don't get our TSA agents and Coast Guard paid, we need to stay here and get it done. The Senate, of course, passed this bill and left town, which, as a House member, is a little frustrating, because it feels like this is all you're going to get after three weeks of negotiations.

But we're going to make sure that we do the job. I think there's an opportunity to maybe add some other language on some other policy positions that the Senate has just been very slow to move on, but we will find out here from Speaker Johnson and the leadership in about an hour what they feel could pass, because my guess is, the Senate does not come back after they left town after the vote last night.

And the other thing is, Wolf, they passed this without any members on the Senate floor under unanimous consent. And, again, we have gone three weeks through all of this rigmarole, and this is the end product. And it's frustrating, but we're going to make sure that TSA agents get their paychecks.

We're not going to be holding that up.

BLITZER: And, as you know, Congressman, if you make changes in what the Senate has passed and sent to the House, and you make some significant changes, then that legislation has to go back to the Senate for approval.

And all these senators are now away from Washington. They have gone into recess.

STUTZMAN: Yes.

BLITZER: And that could take a while to bring them all back.

STUTZMAN: Well, they could do what they did last night. And if they have several senators on the floor, they could pass a bill under unanimous consent, and they wouldn't all have to come back.

And that's what we're discussing is, is, can we add another piece of legislation that we have been waiting on for in the House to add to this without creating a lot of chaos? And I think that's possible, but we will find out from the speaker here.

And his conversations, of course, with Senator Thune have to come in some sort of agreement. You know how it is. Nobody's ever happy in these situations. Nobody gets everything that they want. And, sometimes, that's the way it should be, because, if one side wins more than the other, then there's always difficulties moving forward. But I think that, in this case, what we need to remember, this is a

big travel weekend. Over the next several weekends, we want to make sure TSA agents are paid, that people are back to work, and this chaos that we have seen over the past three weeks doesn't continue.

BLITZER: All right, Congressman Marlin Stutzman of Indiana, thanks so much for joining us.

STUTZMAN: Thank you, Wolf. Great to be with you.

BLITZER: Also, there's other news.

New this morning, Savannah Guthrie now says she's returning to "The Today Show" next month as she continues the agonizing search for her mother, Nancy Guthrie.

[11:35:01]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE, CO-HOST, "THE TODAY SHOW": So, it's hard to imagine doing it, because it's such a place of joy and lightness. And I can't come back and try to be something that I'm not.

But I can't not come back. When times are hard, you want to be with your family. And I want to be with my family. And so I don't know if I can do it. I don't know if I will belong anymore. But I would like to try.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Investigators, sadly, still haven't -- don't have any solid leads into what happened to Nancy Guthrie.

But if you, our viewers, if you have any information at all that could help, you can call 1-800-CALL-FBI or 520-351-4900. Please do so.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:40:20]

BLITZER: Happening now: Nearly four weeks since the start of the Iran war, President Trump is once again giving Iran more time to try to make a deal.

For the second time, President Trump is postponing his threat to attack Iran's energy sites, giving leaders in Tehran until April 6 to accept a U.S. proposal to end the war.

Here's how the president has described the war from the start nearly a month ago. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A short time ago, the United States military began major combat operations in Iran. It will be totally again obliterated. Iran's formerly supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei is dead.

We're achieving major strides toward completing our military objective. And some people could say they're pretty well complete.

Over the past 11 days, our military has virtually destroyed Iran. Let me tell you, we have won. You never like to say too early you won. We won. We won the bet. In the first hour, it was over.

Their big threat is gone in every way. They have no radar. They have no anti-aircraft weapons. As far as I'm concerned, we have essentially defeated Iran. They're decimated. I think that we have done damage to them right now. If we left right now, it would take them 10 years and more to rebuild. But I'm still not declaring it over.

From a military standpoint, all they're doing is clogging up the strait. But, from a military standpoint, they're finished.

Well, I think we're going to end it. I can't tell you for sure. I don't like to say this. We have won this. This war has been won. We estimated it would take approximately four to six weeks to achieve our mission. And we're way ahead of schedule.

So they want to make a deal. The reason they want to make a deal is they have been just beat to (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, let's discuss this more with the retired U.S. Army Major General James "Spider" Marks.

General Marks, thanks so much for being here.

CNN is reporting that President Trump is weighing several options right now for escalating the war if diplomacy fails, likely requiring U.S. ground troops.

Do you think that puts pressure on Iran to get a deal done now?

BRIG. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I think the arrival of upwards of -- excuse me -- maybe 6,000 or more troops on the ground certainly gives the combatant commander options.

I am convinced that that does not alter the calculus in terms of the decision-making in Tehran. Look, this regime has been in place for five decades. It has very deep muscle memory. Its muscles have been severely damaged. They can grow back. That's the key. Let's try to keep that from happening.

But their memory is very, very deep. And that also has affected the population in Iran as well. Are they prepared to rise up at some point? Not likely at all, based on what we have seen. So I think the arrival of the troops, Wolf, that does not necessarily

send a message to the Iranians. It sends a message to that combatant commander and our allies and partners in the region that we have capacity to hopefully address missions if they were to come up.

I think that's the primary thing. Look, there's been a lot of talk about Kharg Island, Straits of Hormuz, using troops on the ground to achieve that, also the notion of trying to secure and render safe the highly enriched uranium. Those are all options as well as kind of a 911 force.

If there was additional damage in the Emirates or Qatar or Bahrain, et cetera, we would have a large troop presence that could be transported in to provide some assistance. But I don't think the message is to Iran at this point.

BLITZER: If the president were to launch a ground invasion in Iran with thousands of U.S. troops, what risks does that pose to U.S. troops and U.S. allies in the Middle East?

MARKS: Wow, that's a biggie.

Wolf, troops on the ground are very easy to do, very difficult to extract. You get into a fight on the ground, things never go the way you planned. You can have immense tactical success, but then sucked into a number of other what I would say are those branches and sequels to every plan. Things go great, then you have to follow up. If things don't go well, how do you retract and how do you kind of reestablish yourself?

[11:45:04]

All of this has a much longer horizon than you would ever anticipate. What it also sends is a message to our GCC partners primarily in the region that we're very serious about having a presence and we are still very much a part of the GCC organization.

But I think, moving forward, the GCC nations are going to be more responsible for the GCC security, as opposed to relying almost exclusively on the United States. That doesn't mean the United States is now gone. What that means, it's an altered position in terms of this arrangement that has been in place for many, many years, and quite successfully.

BLITZER: And, as you know, "The New York Times" is now reporting that Iran has attacked U.S. bases across the Middle East, forcing some troops, U.S. troops, to relocate to hotels or office space in the region.

We're talking about the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, other supporting countries of the United States in the region. How concerning is all of that to you?

MARKS: Oh, it's very concerning, of course. What is our ability to intercept these -- the rockets, the drones that the Iranians are using quite extensively? We have capacity. We need to keep continuing to deploy that capacity, the counterdrone capability and the air defense capability that exists, in concert with our deployed forces on the ground.

All that is networked. But any time we're in the region, we will certainly become targets of what the Iranians are trying to achieve. And when they achieve those -- that level of success, as minimal as it really might be, it's certainly very concerning, but they achieve a -- they are up higher in terms of the escalation ladder than we are.

We can continue to pummel them through our air tasking order, going after all these targets. That doesn't necessarily alter their decision calculus. I think they see this as they have achieved a immense amount of resilience. They have taken their control mechanism, the Quds Force, the IRGC, the different security forces.

They have deployed them throughout the nation. They all have individual, I would say, operating profiles. They're supplied. And so any effort to go against them just you may achieve damage in one specific area, but you're still going to receive resistance throughout this incredibly large country, four times the size of Iraq.

BLITZER: Yes, with more than 90 million people living there.

MARKS: Right.

BLITZER: Yesterday, the president continued to attack NATO, calling it -- and I'm quoting him now -- "a paper tiger." He also slammed the NATO organization for doing, in his words, absolutely nothing in regards to Iran.

Does NATO ally -- do the NATO allies actually have a responsibility right now, according to the NATO Charter, to help the U.S. in this conflict?

MARKS: Well, that would be legal interpretation of the charter, in my mind.

Look, if you want them -- if you want them on the landing, you better include them on the takeoff. And they were not included in the takeoff here. This was done unilaterally. And I get it. You would like to have them kind of a part of the discussion, apriority to determine, what is the desired end state?

Let me individually, as a member of NATO, figure out how I can support this. There's no clear obligation as to what that looks like. I might include forces. I might include armament. I might provide diplomatic support, whatever it is. As a member of NATO, I have an obligation to support my other charter members, but I can do it in a way that makes sense.

It's difficult in this particular case how we would expect anything other from our NATO partners than what we have gotten so far.

BLITZER: Retired Major General Spider Marks, as usual, thank you very, very much.

And we will have more news when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:53:21]

BLITZER: It's been a long wait for those of us who are baseball fans, but now the big leagues are back. And even though it's a long season, teams always prefer to start with a win.

CNN sports anchor Andy Scholes is joining me right now.

Andy, I'm so happy my Washington Nationals won their opening game against the Chicago Cubs yesterday. That means, so far, so far, only 161 games to go, we're undefeated and we're in first place.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: First place, right, Wolf?

And how does the most runs ever on an opening day sound? Pretty good for your Nationals. It's been tough times since you all won it back in 2019, right, 90-plus losses every single season since. But, hey, Wolf, maybe this is the season you finally turned things around.

Joey Wiemer had a big opening day for your Nationals, three for three at the plate, including this home run in the second inning. And the Nationals then put up a six spot in the fourth, beat the Cubs 10-4, giving 33-year-old Blake Butera his first win as the team's manager.

All right, elsewhere, Will Ferrell driving a convertible onto the field before the Dodgers game with Freddie Freeman and Miguel Rojas in the back holding up the last two championship trophies, the team then unveiling their latest championship sign.

And, well, then the most expensive roster in sports went out and dominated. The Dodgers' latest big acquisition, Kyle Tucker, RBI double in his debut. L.A. beats the Diamondbacks in that one 8-2.

Meanwhile, in Houston, Astros taking on the Angels. Yordan Alvarez hits this ball to the moon. It was going to easily be a home run, but he hit it so high, it actually hit the roof at Daikin Park. And then, unfortunately, it bounced into foul territory, making it a foul ball, instead of a home run. And the Astros then failed to score a run in that game. They lost to the Angels 3-0.

[11:55:04]

All right, meanwhile in Baltimore, check out 109-year-old Orioles fan Arthur Green taking the field to throw out the first pitch. So, Green is a World War II and Korean War veteran, longtime Baltimore resident and an Orioles fan.

He also threw out the first pitch in his younger days three years ago, when he was 106. How about that, 109, still able to get out there and do that. Just incredible.

And with the new baseball season comes new food across ball -- at ballparks across the country. And Levy Restaurants came up with all kinds of fun creations. I got to try a bunch of them. At Wrigley Field, you can get chicken and churros. I mean, I tell you what, it's amazing, the chicken, the churros, perfect combination.

If you like chicken and waffles, this is even better. And, Wolf, when you get to a home game some time soon, you have got to get the Capitol Slugger. It's a half-smoked sausage topped with chili, crispy fried jalapenos, golden fried onions. It's probably the best sausage hot dog concoction I have ever had.

Wolf, you got to have that when you go to a game.

BLITZER: Love your recommendation very, very much.

Andy Scholes, as usual, thanks very much for that report.

SCHOLES: All right.

BLITZER: And don't miss the new CNN original film "Homecoming: The Tokyo Series" on the CNN app right now. It follows one of baseball's biggest stars, Shohei Ohtani, as he returns to Japan to play for the first time since joining the big leagues.

Thanks very much for joining us this morning.

"INSIDE POLITICS" with our friend and colleague Dana Bash starts right after a quick break.