CENTCOM: U.S. Military Responded to “Unprovoked Iranian Attacks”

26:20And the people in Peru didn't have a problem that he was not a native, that he was from somewhere else. They just opened their hearts and they were able to work together. And people in Peru love the Pope. Pope Leo is their Pope. And, you know, it is a great example how church leaders go anywhere. You know, there are bishops from the United States in all over the world, practically, you know, and they are embraced by the people precisely because we don't represent ourselves, but we represent Jesus Christ. And we tried our best, you know, to be servant leaders. And that is what people are waiting, I think, in West Virginia as well.

27:15So that's why I accepted, you know, understanding the difficulties, of course, the challenges that I'm going to face, but very happy to work with the people of West Virginia. They are very simple people. You know, in a way, I find a lot of similarities between the people, the beauty of the terrain in West Virginia, the mountains. But also, I find a lot of similarities with my background. And the people are simple. They just want somebody to love them and to walk with them, to listen to them. We don't have answers. I'm not going with answers. I'm just going with an open heart, open heart, to listen and then to serve them.

28:13I'm not Catholic, but I'm from Philadelphia where there are a lot of Catholics, so I've been aware of the Pope and the importance of the Pope for my whole life. And as long as I can remember, the Pope has been anti-war and pro-life, and pro-life in every sense, from the moment of conception to opposing capital punishment to opposing war. And I just saw a poll suggesting that 30 % of the American people oppose the pope being anti-war. And I thought that was so odd because popes are always anti-war, as long as I can remember. Why do you think that is? Why do you think there's a division of the nation that doesn't seem to understand that this is what popes have always done?

29:01Well, first of all, you know, you are welcome to join the church. I mean, many people have been joining the church, especially lately discovering the beauty of the faith. But, yeah, it is sad that there are people that support the war. It is sad that so many people don't see the destruction of life, of livelihoods that work bring. And, you know, so many people don't see that wars just bring a lot of displacement of people. After wars, after conflicts, you know, what follows is the displacement of people. People have an instinct of survival. So I would say that, you know, it is the political kind of division that we're seeing, ideological divisions that we are seeing.

30:03But, you know, the church keeps moving. And Pope Francis, Pope Leo has said, you know, I mean, I'm preaching the gospel. I'm not doing politics. I'm just preaching the gospel, bringing the good news. And Jesus Christ was for peace. The first message after the resurrection was peace be with you. And actually the mass begins, every mass begins with that peace be with you, you know. And so the peace is, it is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. And it is something that we are all called to build, to be peace builders, you know, peacemakers, to be people of peace. That is one of the beatitudes. Blessed are those, you know, who work for peace.

30:53Yeah. Well, peace be upon you, Bishop Mejivar, and thank you for joining us today. Thank you. God bless you. Breaking news in our world. The United States is reporting that the U.S. has carried out new strikes against Iran. Let's go right to CNN's Nick Robertson, who's in Islamabad, Pakistan. And Nick, we just got a new statement from CENTCOM, U.S. Central Command. What can you tell us? Yeah, about three hours ago, Jake, there were reports of explosions around Kashim Island, which is near Bandar Abbas, which is right at that sort of bend in the Strait of Hamur, right where it constricts a very narrow point.

31:32The Iranian reports were reporting there were explosions, there was fire. They said they were repelling what they described as enemy attacks. What we understand now from CENTCOM appears to be a much clearer picture of what was going on. that there were three guided missile destroyers from the U.S. Navy that were transiting the Strait of Hormuz, going into the Gulf, it appears, transiting the Strait of Hormuz, when they came under attack from Iranian missiles. And what has followed on from there is defensive measures. That's how CENTCOM describes it, defensive measures firing back at the Iranian military facilities from which those ships were targeted upon.

32:18It includes drone launch sites, missile launch sites, communication nodes, intelligence nodes. So this appears to have been a situation that the United States Navy was moving through the Strait of Hamuz, as it had said that it would do, that it was going to have and keep and maintain vessels available for the possibility of escorting maritime vessels stuck in the Gulf out of the Strait of Amur. Of course, the president just a couple of days ago had put on hold Project Freedom, but the U.S. Navy was still maneuvering its vessels in the region. Now, the Iranians, state media and military headquarters are describing this as a violation of the ceasefire, CENTCOM, saying this was just defensive measures.

33:13All right. Nick Robertson in Pakistan. And let me bring back Rebecca Heinrichs. Rebecca, your reaction to this latest development, these new U.S. strikes in a row. Well, look, obviously, I mean, you're going to have Navy vessels transiting this corridor if they are fired upon, which they were, according to U.S. Central Command. They're going to defend themselves and they're going to take out the shooter. They're not going to simply let that continue to exist there. So I found, remember, just a few days ago, Jake, there was during the initiation of Project Freedom, there were Iranian fast boats that still tried to attack American naval vessels, and we eliminated them.

33:51There were six of them. And so, again, the Iranians continue to act aggressively. Now, chairman of the Joint Staff, General Cain, called this, quote, low-level harassment initially when he was asked about how the Iranians were responding. This is clearly an escalation. The Iranians have escalated by firing upon these naval vessels. Hmm. What more can the U.S. do to bring pressure against Iran? I mean, you have the sanctions, you have that devastating military campaign that the U.S. conducted from February 28th until roughly first or second week in April. You have this blockade. I mean, it does seem as though the U.S.

34:27is doing maximum pressure short of, you know, obliterating the civilization, as President Trump has threatened to do. What more can be done to get the Iranians to the negotiating table? Well, so, first, I do think it's important to differentiate, you know, the civilian targets. We shouldn't, I mean, for our own principles and moral reasons, those should be off-limits for targets or even threats. It's also not going to affect the Iran regime because the Iran regime doesn't care about the civilization, the Iranian people. But there are plenty of military targets, Jake, that the Iran regime, rump regime does care about.

34:59There's more IRGC facilities. There's more cruise missile launchers. And during the ceasefire, we, of course, have been surveilling over Iran with the Israelis, and we know what we can hit now. We know where they've been hiding. We know now where there's greater, where there's infrastructure, where the missile program has been being built. We certainly degraded a significant number of it. People have disputed how much we have, but there are still more targets to hit. And that's why I think we are moving into the direction, if the Iranians continue to escalate, in which the United States says, we're going to have a couple more weeks of military action.

35:32All right, Rebecca Heinrichs, thank you so much. And let's bring in the panel. You two are political experts, so let's talk the politics of this. President Trump said initially this was going to be four to six weeks. We are now in week 10. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like an end to this conflict is coming anytime soon. I hope I'm wrong when I say that, but I mean, it just, you know, from what's going on. How much patience, how much tolerance do you think the American people can have for this war, given it's already unpopular, given high gas prices? We had an expert on the show saying probably be five dollars a gallon on average by Memorial Day, which is right around the corner.

36:09You're a supporter of the president, Michael. What do you think? Look, I think it's why the president is so quickly trying to bring a closure into this. But does that because does that convey weakness, I guess, is one of my. I don't think it conveys weakness at all. I think there are two dynamics to this. There's the short term, which is what you just mentioned, gas prices, the impact on energy, cost of living because the Strait of Hormuz is closed. But then there is the secondary aspect that must be considered, which is much long term. I'm talking 20, 50 years. And that is stabilization in the region.

36:42That is making sure that the regime does not continue to have the ballistic missile capabilities, does not get a nuclear warhead. Also, you have the China factor, where about 14 percent of their strategic oil reserves come from Iran. They are our greatest adversary. Increasing their military might across the globe. And so to me, the question isn't merely about what's immediately before us. It is what type of world stage should the United States permit over the duration of time for generations to come. And I think that should be communicated to the American people. Because I think people would generally understand that as long as there's some reprieve that comes to the immediate, again, to address the oil issue.

37:20So President Trump says that a lot. Republicans in Congress say it a lot. They say this is bad, but it's nothing compared to the cost of Iran having a nuclear weapon. And I understand the argument completely. But the American people aren't buying it. I mean, the majority aren't. Well, I think Donald Trump thought that that alone would be enough for a message to the American people. and he thought that he could get out of this pretty quickly. I don't think he anticipated how long it would take and the complexities of this and the complexities to negotiate a deal. And what's happening is that now he's seeing that governing is hard and that gas prices are going up and the impacts that it could have and that it currently is happening on the American people.

38:01In terms of the politics of this, this is the worst possible time for gas prices to go up. You're looking at gas prices, if they do hit$5 between Memorial Day and Labor Day, that is when families travel. People aren't going to be taking their family vacations anymore. And then after Labor Day, that is when the American people really start paying attention to who is on the ballot and what is going on and how they're feeling and how they're going to vote. And it is very likely that this will end up impacting Republicans not only this year, but I have a feeling that the war will be a major issue in the presidential election, which starts immediately after the midterm elections.

38:36So let's just keep this in mind. Even if we get a ceasefire over the next 30 to 60 days, it took 20 months for the JCPOA to be resolved. Obama, two years. And so to me, I'm very hesitant to just put a timeline on this. Maybe we get a ceasefire soon, but that doesn't necessarily mean so that you're going to have a complete resolution at all. Jake, this could be 2027, 2028. And so I'm I would advise the president, let's back off a little bit with the timeline. Let's try to get a resolution. First of all, just open the Strait of Hormuz. That should be the immediate level of importance for the executive.

39:16But beyond that, I think you level set with the American people. This is going to take us time. We recognize gas prices are high. We're going to do every single thing we can to open the Strait of Hormuz. If Congress needs to step in here to pass some type of immediate legislation to provide economic reprieve, I am going to put pressure on Republicans to do that. That's what the president should do. But I will say that this one pager that they're trying to get the Iranians to agree to. Right. The basic way it's been described to us is you open the Straits of Hormuz, Iran. We will stop the blockade and then all really impossible issues, issues, TBD.

39:53And we'll resolve them in the next 30 days. I'm not the one that came up with 30 days. they are, Trump and his team, but what you say is accurate, you're not going to resolve that in 30 days. No, it's impossible. It's impossible. No way. And it's because he is feeling the pressure. He's feeling the pressure, I'm sure, from Republicans on the Hill, from candidates, and from the American people. And so he's putting a timeline on it because there is this narrative about, is this a forever war? How long does this last? He thought it was going to last only a few short weeks, and it is longer than that.

40:23So I think he is feeling that pressure. He put out a social media post on Truth Social that was basically comparing this war, which has been, whatever, just since 68 days, to, you know, Afghanistan, the War of 1812. I mean, it was just whatever. And yes, it's a blip. And then the Iranians posted something along the lines of, and look how embarrassing and humiliating, look how much embarrassment and humiliation you've been able to pack in to just 68 days. I don't know that the memes are working for the White House. Well, look, I look beyond the memes. If people have economic security and certainty, they are more willing to allow these types of things to go on.

41:11And so again, as a strategist, I'm looking at the data, I'm looking at the numbers, I'm looking at what Tony Fabrizio said a month ago. We actually talked about it on your show when he said we need to be focused on the economy. If we can figure that out, then to me, that does give the administration the amount of time necessary for a new deal. But if we don't figure out the economic situation, it does make it a little challenging. I'm not worried about Republicans. They're going to stand with the president. Their approvals are pretty high there. It's the independent leaning Republicans that I'm a little worried about, the folks that we need to help us get across the finish line in November to maintain our majority in the house.

41:47So just moving looking ahead to 2028 Vice President J.D. Vance took his midterm message to Iowa coincidentally a state that's going to kick off the 2028 Republican presidential nominating contest and while he was doing that the press office for the Secretary of State Marco Rubio who is often named as a potential 2028 candidate although Rubio says no no no no his office released this video for 2028 oh I'm sorry This video for America's 250th anniversary, that's what I meant to say. Take a look.

42:44Sure, Michael. So I get that that's for the 250th anniversary. Not a coincidence. I don't know if that question, I don't know the provenance of that question. I assume it was a good faith question and just an incredibly eloquent answer. It was an impeccable answer. Iron sharpens iron. I know the vice president wants to run, but I think we should be, we should, I would caution my party not to make the mistake Democrats made with Kamala Harris. And that is just by nominating her and appointing her without any type of competition at all. Now, look, J.D. Vance is the vice president. He certainly has a lead.

43:19But I think to have competition and others in the race to challenge the vice president will only make him better if he ultimately is the nominee in 2028. Sochi? I will say that video is smart. It not only gave a nod to the president throughout the video because he knows that there is that audience of one that he has to cater to in order to get his endorsement and to win a primary. At the same time, he had a very broad message about diversity in our country, things you normally don't hear from Donald Trump. So he's trying to play to a MAGA base, but also to somewhat of a general election base, too.

43:52And those independents, Sochi. Yeah. Definitely thinking about the independents. It was not a declaration of candidacy speech, but could have been. Thanks to both of you. Appreciate it. Next, those cruise ship passengers stuck at sea after an outbreak of Hantavirus. My next guest says the U.S. has not done enough in the wake of the international response. We're back in a moment.

44:39We'll see you next time. month required. Intro rate first three months only, then full price plan options available. Taxes and fees extra. Default terms at mintmobile.com. Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tepper. This hour, multiple states are now monitoring Americans who may have been exposed to the Hantavirus. Health officials in Georgia, Arizona, California, Virginia, and Texas all confirming they're in contact with passengers who previously got off that cruise ship. None, thankfully, are currently exhibiting any symptoms. What we're learning about those contact tracing efforts tonight and the latest fight over what the rest of the passengers currently stuck at sea will do next.

45:23Plus, the U.S. military confirmed me moments ago. It responded to, quote, unprovoked Iranian attacks in the Strait of Hormuz. What does this mean for the so-called ceasefire? What does it mean for negotiations to end the war? Does President Trump still want to make a deal? one of the best source Trump reporters that exists, The New York Times' Maggie Haberman, will be here to share what she's hearing behind the scenes. Also, the White House is rolling out its new counter-terrorism strategy with this message from President Trump, quote, if you hurt Americans or are planning to hurt Americans, we will find you and we will kill you.

45:57What does that look like in practice and what new plans are there to keep Americans safe?

46:06The lead tonight health officials across the globe are working to contain the deadly Hantavirus after an outbreak of the rare disease killed three passengers aboard a cruise ship last month. The World Health Organization is reporting five confirmed infections among individuals connected to that ship. Some passengers remain on board while others had already disembarked prior to the outbreak. We're told that currently there are 17 Americans among the 140 plus passengers still stuck on that ship. Here in the U.S., state health officials are monitoring passengers who had returned home. Two are in Georgia, where health officials say in a statement to CNN they are, quote, currently in good health and show no signs of infection.

46:48They're following current recommendations from the CDC. A passenger also disembarked the ship and returned to Virginia, another to Arizona. Health officials in those states confirmed to CNN that those individuals are being monitored and remain asymptomatic. Reports say other American passengers returned to California and Texas. They're being monitored as well. With the public still reeling in so many ways from the COVID pandemic, the Hantavirus is now gaining international attention at a rate more rapid than it appears to be spreading. CNN's Melissa Bell is tracking all the latest developments.

47:25After three days docked off the coast of Cape Verde, the MV Hodius is on its way to the Canary Islands, with a World Health Organization saying that it does not expect a widespread outbreak. This is not SARS-CoV-2. This is not the start of a COVID pandemic. This is an outbreak that we see on a ship. The first passenger died some 10 days after the ship left Argentina, the captain's announcement filmed by one of the passengers on April 12th. Good morning, everybody. This is my sad duty to inform you that one of our passengers suddenly passed away last night. Only later would the virus be identified, according to Oceanwide Expeditions, which operates the ship.

48:13At the time of the announcement, there was no evidence of a virus or contagion present on the vessel. The case was believed to be isolated following medical review. The operator adding that as of Wednesday the man was not confirmed to have been infected with Hantavirus. The wife of the man who died was one of at least 30 passengers to disembark at St Helena, travelling on to South Africa where she collapsed and later died after she was taken to hospital. Several more passengers were evacuated from the ship whilst it was docked off of Cape Verde. Two were now being treated in the Netherlands and a third in Germany.

48:52after a convoy accompanied them to hospital. The ship is now on its way to Tenerife, where it is expected to arrive on Sunday and where dock workers have threatened to strike. Right now the workers are really worried because they basically haven't been given any information at all. They haven't been told anything about what safety measures are going to be put in place. But for those on board of what became the cruise from hell, the end may finally be in sight.

49:20There has been this wrangling between authorities in Tenerife and the Spanish government about the safety precautions that would be taken as these people disembark. We expect now, Jake, Sunday at about midday local time. And that speaks to the fear worldwide, really, that there has been around this virus and this outbreak on this ship. What we're hearing from Madrid tonight is that all precautions will be taken. The boat will stay away from the shore in Tenerife. People will be disembarked. and then taken on to their homes. There are 23 nationalities, after all, amongst the 146 people still on board.

49:54And we understand that every precaution will be made, that there is no possible contact, say Spanish authorities, with anyone in Tenerife. But still, logistically, a very difficult operation ahead, Jake. All right, Melissa Bell, thanks so much. Let's bring in Dr. Jean Maraza. She's the CEO of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Dr. Moroso, it's good to have you. It's believed that this strain of hantavirus on this cruise ship is called the Andes strain, which is the only form of hantavirus that can be passed human to human, though it's still rare.

50:27What do you think so far about the way the outbreak is being handled and contained? I think we've been getting fantastic information from WHO, and I think it's especially notable given that, as was just reported, the cases are really potentially going to be found perhaps all over the world if we do see transmission that is related both to the cruise ship and to the subsequent airplane travel. I would like to see more frequent updates from the U.S. government. CDC has been quite silent, as I think you know, and they've traditionally been a very prominent voice in these types of outbreaks. But in general, the inter-country cooperation, particularly with the South Africans sequencing the virus and all of the other folks who are really working hard to take care of the disembarked passengers, has been a pretty model response.

51:21There were American passengers on that ship who have disembarked and are currently being monitored for symptoms in states across the country. They remain asymptomatic at this time, And we're told, why do you think Americans have only heard from state-level health officials and not the HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. or anyone from the CDC about this yet? Is that appropriate for this stage? Yeah, I would be speculating if I knew why we haven't heard from CDC or its parent agency, HHS. We do know that those agencies have been decimated by both the funding cuts and the staffing cuts in the last year, including the section at CDC that's responsible for cruise ship screening, hygiene, and care of patients who might have contracted an infection on those vessels.

52:11So I don't think it's surprising, sadly, that we haven't heard. Again, state and local health authorities have also been affected by some of these cuts. So I really hope that everybody can continue to step into the breach. There is a big information gap from the federal government, and we need to really pay attention. The follow-up of the patients, I will just mention, excuse me, the passengers who are at the States, a little bit complicated because one of the things we've been hearing and talking about is that the incubation period of this virus, remember that's the time from when you get infected to the time that you show symptoms, can be as long as seven weeks.

52:47in the outbreak involving the Andes virus in Argentina, it didn't really seem to be that long. That was 2018 to 2019, around a week or two. So even though we're technically concerned for a long period where people might show symptoms, hopefully if people do get sick, and I fervently hope they don't because this is not a good disease, they will evidence those symptoms within the first couple of weeks. So there are people making comparisons between this situation and the early spread of COVID. I am not making those comparisons, but we see a lot out there. Some even experts are saying things like this.

53:24Anxieties are building in response. The public is concerned. What is your message to members of the public who might be feeling nervous about this becoming what we all went through with COVID? Yeah, I mean, one can't help but have deja vu. And it's not a pleasant deja vu, as you well recall. all. I would say that every new outbreak starts with the detection of cases that are unexpected, right? Think back to COVID, the early days, not just in China, but in Seattle, where we saw the first cases in the United States. Those were treated as outbreak investigations. It became very clear, very fast, that just tracing the chain of contacts, which is what you do in an epidemic investigation, was yielding many more cases.

54:07And then it went out of control and it became clear it was turning into a pandemic, right? The chains of transmission just blossomed like crazy across the population. It became a pandemic, and now it's endemic as a respiratory virus. With this infection, if there is good news, and hopefully there will continue to be, the chains of transmission should be pretty limited. We are tracing specific contacts who were in contact with potentially infected people, hopefully for pretty brief periods of time. And ultimately, that chain is very likely to end. So we're not going to see, hopefully, this sustained carryover infection through generations of exposed passengers, and this will eventually die out.

54:49Hopefully that will happen before we see any more deaths and before we have to get into the quarantining or isolation of more people. All right, Dr. Jane Miraza, thank you so much. Appreciate it. How will President Trump respond as the U.S. military reports unprovoked Iranian attacks in the Strait of Hormuz. Does the president still want to make a deal? Maggie Haverman joins us live to share her latest reporting.

55:18We have some breaking news for you in our Worldly. Just moments ago, the United States confirmed that the U.S. military has targeted Iranian military facilities responsible for launching what the U.S. calls unprovoked attacks against U.S. warships crossing through the Strait of Hormuz. CENTCOM says no U.S. assets were struck. This as Iran is accusing the U.S. of striking port cities and oil tankers. Meanwhile, still no word on whether Iran will accept or reject the proposal from the U.S. to end the war. Let's bring in CNN political analyst and New York Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman.

55:51Maggie, always great to see you. What is your sense of where President Trump's head is at when it comes to the war with Iran? It's the same, Jake, as it's been. He would like for this to be over. It is not sustainable, frankly, for either side, the way it was going, which is part of why you are hearing him say and U.S. military officials say this is not, you know, the ceasefire still holds. I think they're going to say that as long as they can. But how much longer this can go on this way is an open question. And as to where this proposal stands, there's still wide gaps between where the U.S. is in terms of what it wants Iran to do with the remainder of its nuclear enriched material and what Iran is willing to do.

56:33And so until that gets resolved, this is just going to bump along for some time. We're still not quite sure what happened with these recent back and forth in the last couple of hours. Yeah. And as you know, President Trump hates to appear weak. it does look like he is more eager to end the war than the Iranians are. He obviously is also in an actual democracy with midterm elections coming up and the Iranians not so much with the actual democracy part. Project Freedom, which is what they're calling this U.S. Navy guiding ships through the Strait of Hormuz, that appears at least as of this moment to have failed.

57:14Trump announced it on Sunday, went into effect Monday, early Tuesday. Hag Seth praised it. Rubio said this is what the U.S. is focused on. Hours later, Trump paused it, supposedly because the Pakistanis wanted him to for peace. Okay. You know, how do you see this playing out here? I see it as very confusing. And I think the amount of, you know, complicated, contradictory things the president has said himself, that he has said versus what intermediaries have said, what the Iranians have been saying, either publicly or privately. It's a huge gulf. And it is very hard to know what is actually happening, frankly, from either government.

57:56In terms of the Iranians, I will say, look, they are facing economic difficulties. There's no question about that. But gauging exactly what that means is quite hard. And as you say, the economic issues that are being created by the energy crisis from this war are pretty measurable in terms of the cost of gas at the pump. And so we'll see if President Trump gets more engaged in the midterms and feels as if there's some personal interest in it. For him, he has not been there for the most part. According to almost everybody I talk to, maybe he will decide he wants to travel. But as long as gas prices remain where they are, it's not a great climate for his party.

58:38You and Jonathan Swan, who are working on this, or have worked on this book I can't wait to read, Regime Change, about the first year of the second term. You guys had this great reporting about when Netanyahu came and basically convinced President Trump, who in fairness has been talking for decades about attacking Iran, but how Netanyahu tried to talk him into it. A lot of skeptical voices at the table in the Trump administration saying the Israelis always downplay how serious this is going to be, etc. Is there any part of Trump that is looking at what's going on and all these complicated issues that have arisen since the strikes?

59:16And again, it's great that there isn't a nuclear weapon in the hands of the Iranians, of course. But, you know, the Strait of Hormuz, that wasn't even something President Trump was talking about before. Now it's like the number one problem in the world, the fact that that's close. Is there any part of him that thinks, oh, so this is why previous presidents didn't strike Iran? because it's not A or B, it's C, D, E, F. Right. Look, I mean, you know, Jake, as well as I do, that thinking about the second and third order consequences is not always something that he goes to. This was a decision that was made, as Jonathan and I reported very quickly, and that he made very quickly, and the U.S.

59:55government made very quickly, but it went relatively quickly. But as you also note, it's not a binary of of Prime Minister Netanyahu just leading Trump into this. You know, the Israelis continue to insist that, you know, they were just presenting options. The U.S. officials, I think, look at it a little differently. But President Trump, frankly, has always been the most hawkish voice, except for when John Bolton was with him, right, and maybe a couple of other officials. Except for Pete Hegseth in this current administration, there is no one who has been as much of an Iran hawk as President Trump.

1:00:29And it is a country that he does view somewhat differently or has in terms of how much he cares about what it's up to for a variety of reasons, as you say, going back decades. But he didn't appear to factor in they are different than a lot of other countries he has dealt with. Everything is not a transaction. They are a theocracy of 93 million people. And what worked elsewhere was not going to work here. So does he have some regret? I think he has impatience. I don't know that it would go toward regret yet. Yeah, and a country that is willing to slaughter thousands of its own people for demonstrating for democracy might not really care if the economy crashes.

1:01:07Maggie Haberman, thank you so much. Appreciate it. President Trump just released his new counterterrorism strategy. We're going to break down what he says are the biggest threats this nation faces. That's next.

1:01:25International lead President Trump just released his counterterrorism strategy. His top targets, narco-terrorists, Islamist terrorists, left-wing extremists, and what he calls extremist transgender ideology. Here is how his senior director of counterterrorism put it, quote, we see a threat, we will respond to it, and we will crush it, whether it is the cartels, the jihadists, or violent left-wing extremists like Antifa and like the transgender killers, the non-binary, the left-wing radicals, unquote. That is Dr. Sebastian Gorka. Democratic Congressman Benny Thompson, the ranking Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, was quick to note the absence of right-wing extremism in that list, quote, despite years of data proving that it has presented the most persistent and deadly threat to Americans for decades, unquote.

1:02:16Colin Clark is the executive director of the Soufan Center, where he researches domestic terrorism and international security. So Colin, what is your take on this study and the groups the Trump administration deems the most threatening? Yeah, thanks for having me, Jake. Well, I wouldn't call it a study, and I also wouldn't call it a strategy. I think this is a worldview, essentially. It's a highly partisan one. Even though throughout the document, the author or authors claim that we're putting partisan politics aside, it's an exercise in gaslighting. It mentions President Biden's name far more times than it mentions Lebanese Hezbollah.

1:02:56So it's hard to take it seriously. The problem is terrorism is a very serious issue. It's a deadly serious issue. And this is really unsafe for the United States and its citizens. Were you surprised that right wing terrorism, which obviously exists and is a threat, was not mentioned the way that the others were? I wasn't surprised at all. I mean, we can go back and dig up some of my old tweets from the past year where I basically predicted this. I said it's going to be a highly partisan document driven by politics and not by intelligence and is likely going to exclude. I didn't think it would entirely exclude far right extremism and domestic terrorism, but it has.

1:03:39I don't want to be completely unfair. It does get a couple of things right. Jihadism is still very much a threat. Terrorist use of weapons of mass destruction is a threat. And it does focus on hostages and unlawfully detained persons. But by and large, this document is a mess. It's a sharp departure from the Biden administration. In 2023, Biden called white supremacy the most dangerous terrorist threat to the nation. Is that true? Do you agree with that? I think it's one of several really pertinent threats. But when you look at data, which is what the document says that it's going to be reality based.

1:04:20My question is, one, who's reality? It should be data driven and based on empirical evidence. Now, the threat with terrorism can ebb and flow year over year. If you look at it in aggregate, far-right extremism very much remains at the top of the list, if not number one in the top three, certainly, of threats that we face. look, I'm speaking to you today from Pittsburgh where the Tree of Life shooting happened. We could talk about El Paso. We could talk about Buffalo. We could talk about a number of highly lethal far-right threats. The document wants to focus on the far left in Antifa. That's politically driven.

1:04:55It wants to focus on cartels, which are criminal groups. They're not terrorist groups, no matter what we call them. So I think the United States deserves better than this. And it's not a partisan thing. It's not that the Biden administration did counterterrorism better. Every administration going back, Democratic or Republican, previous to this administration, took this issue more seriously and gave it, you know, the level of, you know, scrutiny that terrorism deserves, frankly. The Trump team is also now looking at how domestic online activities could incite violence, given that there have been multiple assassination attempts on President Trump.

1:05:32Has this administration fallen behind on that front? look political violence is a real serious issue as well across the ideological spectrum uh online uh radicalization homegrown violent extremism we should be driven by uh the data and the empirical evidence and not politics we should let look that this document um you know impugns the intelligence community and take shots at the intelligence community uh so you know again it was kind of what I was expecting. But, you know, nevertheless, it still makes me sad as a citizen. And it makes me highly concerned as a counterterrorism analyst. All right, Colin Clark, thank you so much.

1:06:13Appreciate it. Coming up next, something we don't see enough of in Washington, Republicans and Democrats working together on a common goal this time. It's about urging the Food and Drug Administration to expedite its review of psychedelic therapies. Stick with us.

1:06:35All those in favor of House Bill 7003 as amended, vote aye when the bell rings. Those opposed, vote no. We haven't received a constitutional majority. I hear by the clerk passed. In our politics lead chaos and protests erupting, including chants, yelling, air horns inside the Tennessee General Assembly today after Tennessee Republicans approved a brand new gerrymandered map that carves up a majority black district in Memphis in an effort to eliminate the state's only Democratic-held seat and give Republicans one more House seat from Tennessee. Republican Governor Bill Lee quickly signed the new map into law.

1:07:12It's an effort backed by President Trope in hopes of staving off what happens in most midterms. The other party does better and maybe even wins back the House. As you can see in this image, one Republican lawmaker draped a Trump flag on his way to vote. There it is. That's a lawmaker on his way to vote. That's not a January 6th image. That's a lawmaker. Also in our politics lead, one of the Senate's most fiercely contested midterm races in full swing as both candidates launched dueling ads today. Here are some of the here's some of the ad from presumptive Democratic nominee Graham Plattner. He's a political newcomer who's looking to unseat Maine's incumbent Republican Senator Susan Collins.

1:07:53Here's Plattner. We don't care that you are concerned while we go broke as you sell us out to the president and to the Epstein class who are engineering the greatest redistribution of wealth from the working class to the ruling class in this nation's history. Symbolic opposition doesn't reopen hospitals. We condemnations don't bring back Roe v. Wade. Joining us now is the panel first to CNN's Arlette Sainz. So Plattner's ad comes after a week after the governor, Janet Mills, who was running against him in the Senate primary, dropped out because she couldn't raise any money. And like we covered it at the time, but I still it's still a stunning turn of events.

1:08:40This guy a year ago was harvesting oysters. And if that's the right word for what you do with oysters and he's chasing out the incumbent two term governor. What do you make of his strategy? Well, I think that this is very reflective of the strategy that he had when he was running against Mills as well. He has presented himself as this outsider, anti-establishment candidate. And that's something that can play in both a Dem primary and in a general election. So you see this very fiery ad from Plattner where he is calling out what he sees as Susan Collins' shortcomings. The question is, you kind of have to balance this with going on the attack while also presenting a vision of what you want to do while you're in office.

1:09:22And that's a needle that he's going to have to threaten the coming months. So I'm going to run now a little bit of Susan Collins' ad. Very different. The incumbent Republican. It probably could not be more different. Here's some of her ad. Senator Collins helped lead the delegation in making sure that we got the federal funding that would be needed. The new breakwater wasn't simply replaced, it was upgraded. And it continues to be a central focal point of what makes esports great. The breakwater has long been a part of esports past. And with the help of Susan Collins, it'll always be a part of our future as well.

1:09:56Now you barely see her in this one minute long ad. And you don't even hear her till the very end when she says, I'm Susan Collins and I approve this message. Yeah, I feel like both of these ads very much boil down the essence of what voters are going to have to choose. in Maine. You have the Republican who sort of prides herself on being a workhorse. She works sort of behind the scenes. She gets things done for her constituents. She's been there for six terms. And she just wants you to think of her as a person you call when you're in trouble. Forget the national environment. And then Plattner comes in and he knows that's effective, right?

1:10:26That is effective. It has been effective for Susan Collins. So he has to sort of out yell that, right? He's got to find a way to sort of overcome it. And the way he's doing it is very much going for the national environment, pulling at Trump, pulling at sort of the energy of the base. And we'll just have to see, like, does Maine choose the person, the local congressman that they've known for so long, local senator, or do they go for the big change-up candidate, right? And today, Collins acknowledged a medical condition she's had for decades, telling NewsCenter Maine, quote, she has kind of like a wobbly voice.

1:10:58She says, what I have is an extremely common condition that is called a benign essential tremor. I've had it for the entire time that I've served in the United States Senate. It has absolutely no impact on my ability to do my job or on how I feel each day. It is true that, I mean, she's had this for a while. What were you going to say? She has. I was going to say it's more than a wobbly voice. You can see it when you look at her. And the thing is, I've covered her for a long time. She's had it for a long time. This is not like a bad Crockett or Dianne Feinstein situation where she's not all there.

1:11:27She's sharp as a tack. Oh, yeah, sure. She's got it on Capitol Hill. But like after what happened with Joe Biden and people's concerns about age, this even Republicans will tell you is going to be a bigger factor. She's 73 years old. Voters are concerned about politicians who are getting older. And that is why she came out and is like talking about this at a time when she just never has done this on Capitol Hill. Talk about her condition. I guess clearly Plattner, if you're looking for a fighter, Plattner is in that lane. If you're looking for safe pick, you know, Collins is in that lane. I guess one of the questions I have about the race that Plattner runs is he's running as a populist and she's running, you know, as kind of, you know, Maine royalty as it were.

1:12:08I mean, she's this very established, respected character. What kind of populism appeals to voters in Maine? Because you have Maine 1, which is like Portland, a lot of Democrats. And then you have Maine 2, which is kind of wild. Yeah, I mean, it's much more rural type of area. And that is something that Plattner is going to have to navigate. But what he's really trying to do is tap into this angst that people have about the economy, about the way that they feel others are getting ahead of the middle class. And so he does have to be very careful in the types of voters that he's appealing to. Maine is also an older state.

1:12:47So is this going to sit well with some older voters, perhaps, as they are heading into this general election? but it's certainly going to be one of the most exciting races to watch, probably, as we keep an eye on these. Absolutely. Let's talk about another nontraditional politician, Democratic Senator John Fetterman of the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. There's all this speculation that Republicans are trying to get him to change his party and become a Republican, even though he votes with the Democrats 93 percent of the time. He's still very willing to criticize his own party and very willing to praise President Trump.

1:13:19In an op-ed in The Washington Post today, Fetterman writes, quote, being an independent voice that works with the other side to deliver for Pennsylvanians might put me at odds with the party that I've stayed committed to and have no plans to leave. But I will continue to put the Commonwealth in the country first. Plus, I'd be a terrible Republican who still votes overwhelmingly with Democrats. Do you think that puts the speculation to rest? Or he says, I have no plans to leave. That's kind of wiggle room in there. Jake, everybody loves a palace intrigue story, but there is one reason he will not do this.

1:13:49and that is the moment he does it, he becomes a rhino, right? I mean, he would be the most moderate, centrist Republican at a time when, like, the base is, like, the Donald Trump wing of the party is ascendant. Like, he is beloved by Republicans because he's a Democrat and he speaks out in his own party. The minute he changes, like, all that goes away. He's going to potentially face a primary challenge, maybe even from Conor Lamb, the former congressman, Democratic congressman, who lost to Fetterman because Conor Lamb was perceived as the more conservative of the two. And now Fetterman has very low approval ratings among Democrats in Pennsylvania.

1:14:25Yeah, and Conor Lamb has been very vocal in his criticism about Fetterman in recent years. But a big question for Fetterman will be, is he going to run in 2028? It would be a very difficult primary when you think about people like Conor Lamb, maybe a Brendan Boyle considering runs. But certainly this whole dynamic also, I think we'll have to watch what happens if Democrats are able to pick up the majority in November. Will that weigh on Fetterman's decision to stay a Democrat, potentially become an independent? Fascinating characters. Thanks so much for being here. Ted Turner, of course, was more than just a media mogul.

1:14:59He also revolutionized sports broadcasting. And we're going to talk about that with the legendary Bob Costas. Stick with us.

1:15:13In our health lead, Congress's push for psychedelics. A bipartisan group of 32 lawmakers is now urging the FDA to expedite its review of psychedelic therapies. The move by the Congressional Psychedelics Advancing Therapies Caucus, or PATH, follows President Trump's executive order directing federal agencies to fast-track psychedelic treatments for those with serious mental illnesses that are not being helped by existing treatments. Joining us to discuss are the co-chairs of the PATH caucus, Republican Congressman Jack Bergman of Michigan, Democratic Congressman Lou Correa of California. So you're both working to fill a gap where existing treatments for mental illness fall short, especially for veterans living with post-traumatic stress and depression.

1:16:00And Congressman Bergman, you served in the Marine Corps for 40 years. You retired as a lieutenant general. You're the highest ranking combat veteran ever elected to the House. Explain why psychedelic assisted therapy matters. Well, number one, Jake, I am a Vietnam combat veteran. I've seen so many of my brothers and sisters who came back from Vietnam who never assimilated back into society, a lot of times due to post-traumatic stress. So the point is, we've been doing the same way, things the same way forever in mental health and expecting different results. The time is right because of breakthrough therapies that have occurred in the last few years that now it's the right thing for Congress to do to get the money, direct the research, whether it's the VA or anybody else to do the research and get these therapies on the ground and working for the veterans and others as well.

1:16:56Congressman Correa, psychedelic therapy, not a new topic on this show. Last year, we spoke with a retired Navy SEAL who said it helped him overcome wartime trauma. He did a Netflix series on that. We also interviewed former Senator Kyrsten Sinema, who said she used them to reverse brain aging. She's since become not only an advocate, but a lobbyist for the research and legalization of psychedelic therapies. Why do you think this therapy is gaining traction now? Because it works. 20 to 40 veteran suicides a day. You have people in my community that have actually been alcoholics, have been cured, drug addicts that have been cured, people with mental illnesses that are cured.

1:17:37This promises to be that magic pill, that magic cure that we've been waiting for. That's why. Congressman Bergman, what do you say to those who say they have concerns because psychedelic assisted therapy might not be more effective than traditional medicine or it has risks. What do you what do you say? Well, I say to those there were people concerned that planes wouldn't fly either. But we proved that wrong. The point is we have we as members of Congress have to be very cautiously moving forward to get the research done and done right. So those concerns are allayed, if you will, and we move forward with the actual, not only the compounds, but with the therapies that are going to be needed to work those veterans and anybody else through the process here.

1:18:31So we not only need the medicine, we need the therapist trained and ready to go. So we have to move forward and we will do it diligently and minimize, if not eliminate the risk to anybody going through the therapy. Congressman Coria, how does it work? Well, you know, you got a lot of veterans that are going to Tijuana, Mexico right now to get their therapy. Two or three days in a Ibogaine treatment center where they go through a high where they, you know, essentially confront their fears that have led them to suicidal thoughts. They come out on the other side, essentially cured. This is not just hypothetical.

1:19:10These are truths evidenced by Navy veterans and other individuals that have essentially kicked the habit of doing drugs or alcohol. It does work. And like General Jack Bergman says, we need more research to figure this out. But I will tell you right now, people in our districts in this country are doing psychedelics. So Congress needs to catch up, needs to the research there. We need to put those guardrails there to make sure people don't get hurt. But people are desperate for a solution. And this one promises to be the solution. Congressman Lou Correa of California, Congressman Jack Bergman of Michigan.

1:19:50Thanks to both of you. Appreciate it. We here at CNN are well aware that our founder, Ted Turner, changed the news media forever. He also revolutionized how America watches sports. And coming up next, we're going to talk about that with Bob Kostas.

1:20:10In our sports lead, anyone in the United States who tuned into Ted Turner's TBS Superstation in the 70s, 80s, 90s might remember this.

1:20:31He did it every year. Great play. Can you believe it? Can you believe it? I know who that was. Turner, who passed away yesterday, bought the Atlanta Braves in 1976 and aired their games on TBS, the very first time a pro sports team's entire season was ever aired nationally. Here to discuss Ted Turner's sports legacy, legendary sports broadcaster Bob Costas. Bob, because of TBS, the Braves became known to some folks, maybe not people in Philadelphia, but others, as America's team. former Braves player Dale Murphy recently said quote there's a lot of baseball fans around the country in the world because of what Ted did through TBS Ted should be in the baseball hall of fame unquote do you agree well you could make a case for that candidacy they do have an executive category for the hall of fame you certainly had an impact TBS came first not long after that WGN became a superstation.

1:21:30So the country was filled outside Atlanta in the South, outside Chicago and that part of the Midwest, filled with Cub and Brave fans, because if you weren't watching your local team, you could always watch that. And if the Cubs were playing in the afternoon, kids came home from school, you know, whatever, and the game is on, and that made a generation of Cub fans part of the country. And certainly the Braves have been and remain the team of the South, but they were also, to your point and to Ted's ambition, they were a national team because of TBS. I'm not sure how much of a baseball man he was, at least initially.

1:22:02He just saw the Braves as great programming for TBS, and he was so ahead of the curve on that. Yeah, and the Braves won a World Series under his ownership in 1995. Former players have told tales of Turner hanging out in the clubhouse. Turner famously put himself in uniform for one game as the Braves manager, which that led to a rule banning that from ever happening again. But he had a charisma that was infectious to players and fans alike. How rare is that? He was like a swashbuckling character. And in fact, his real athletic achievement was that he was the skipper of the Yacht Courageous, I think it was 1977, when they defeated Australia for the America's Cup.

1:22:48He had a presence about him, no question. He could have played himself in a movie about him because he looked the part. And he was kind of zany. He had a locker of his own mingled with the Braves players. And as you mentioned, in the midst of a 16-game losing streak, the Braves were woeful in the 70s. 1977, they'd lost 16 straight games. And he made himself the manager. He looked good in uniform. He had to have the coaches surrounding him because he didn't know the signs. They lost the game 2-1 to the Pirates. That made it 17 straight games. Then the commissioner said, no, no, you can't do this anymore.

1:23:24So he was back upstairs after that. On the next day, they snapped the 17-game losing streak. Turner also created some of the first sports documentaries. He owned the Atlanta Hawks. He owned the Atlanta Thrashers. He owned World Championship Wrestling. He founded the Goodwill Games in 77. As you know, he won the America's Cup. How do you think Ted Turner will be remembered in the world of sports? As a visionary, as an unusual character, a colorful character, some controversy inevitably follows people with those attributes, but as a visionary and someone who made a real impact in the game. And the Braves, as you mentioned, won the 95 World Series, then he sold the team in 96.

1:24:07But the brain trust that was in place, John Schurholz as the general manager, Bobby Cox as the manager, went to the World Series five times in the 90s and won 14 straight division titles. And it was under Ted Turner's ownership that that brain trust upstairs and in the dugout was put in place. If you have time for one more quick story to show you how zany he was, Tug McGraw, who was a bit of a screwball, and he threw a screwball, so that was appropriate. Tug McGraw, dad of the country music superstar Tim McGraw, was challenged to a weird contest by Ted Turner. They would start, one started at third base, one started at first base, and they had to push a baseball with their nose to see who would get to home plate first.

1:24:52Who does this? I don't know. What owner does this? Tug McGraw might have done it because he was the guy who gave guys hot foots in the dugout and all kinds of crazy stuff. Turner actually got there first and won the contest, but emerged with a bloody nose. Doug McGraw, of course, the final pitch of the Philadelphia Phillies winning 1980 World Series victory. Correct. Thanks for letting me. You would know that. You would know that, Jake. Thanks for letting me end this segment by mentioning the Phillies winning a World Series. Bob Costas, always great to have you on. You can follow me on Twitter or every social media that exists.

1:25:23Aaron Burnett Out Front starts now.

1:25:33I'm Daniel Day-Kim. I'm going to South Korea to figure out how this small nation conquered the world with its culture. Join me and meet the artists and creators behind the phenomenon. K-Everything, streaming May 9th on the CNN app. Influential journalist Kara Swisher is taking a hard look at the longevity industry. There's so much bad information that the really good information gets drowned. The new CNN original series, Kara Swisher Wants to Live Forever, now streaming on the CNN app.