Iran Denies Talks With U.S. As Trump Claims “Points Of Agreement”

23:26But here we are in the Trump world trying to decipher all this. But I'll tell you what, it's harder for Americans to vote. He wants to make it harder. It's harder to pay your bills, harder to feed your family, harder to pay for housing. And I think he knows that. And he knows that the verdict this November is going to be awful for him. That's why he continues to talk about ways to make it harder to vote, harder to register to vote, make it easier to purge voters off the voting rolls, etc. I think one of the most interesting dynamics, the decision to do that essentially means that the funding issue is not going to be resolved.

24:01And the reason why is there are no Democrats who I know of who want to vote for the Save America Act. And so if they're tied together, there's no pathway in the Senate. For Republicans who say, look, this is voter ID. Voter ID is a 70-30, 80-20 issue when you actually poll people. Why is that not the case? Well, first of all, this bill is not about voter ID. I think we could have a deal on voter ID. I talked to Senator Schumer the other day, and he agrees with me. That's really not what this bill does. What this bill does do is make it incredibly difficult to register to vote. No more mail-in registration.

24:34No more going online in registration. You have to go to your board of elections, which in rural communities could mean a three-hour drive. You'd have to present proof of citizenship. If you're a woman with a different last name now because you got married, you have to go through bringing your marriage license, etc. Plus, it gives all the data to the Department of Homeland Security. And they're going to use their database, and they've done this in states that are complying, purging the voter rolls. So you might find out after registering to vote and voting for many years that suddenly the Department of Homeland Security has thrown you off the voter rolls.

25:06Without your knowledge, you show up on Election Day and they say, sorry, you can't vote. and you can't provisionally vote unless you brought with you your birth certificate, your passport, some other kind of identification, which proves you're a U.S. citizen. It's crazy. And these databases at the Department of Homeland Security have already been shown to be completely inaccurate. And they are affecting the lives of potentially millions of people and voters. I don't know why the president wants to make it harder to vote in America, why he wants to make it harder for you to afford your gasoline, afford food, afford housing.

25:42But this is the first president in American history that I'm aware of that's trying to make every part of Americans' lives more difficult. And I don't understand it. Your conversation with Senate Leader Schumer about a voter ID bill. Walk me through kind of what the structure of a bill that Democrats and essentially Republicans could get on board with. The voter ID has long been an anathema to Democrats in terms of how it has come up in proposals proposed by Republicans. Well, first of all, every state, and we do have 50 different sets of rules because that's how the framers set it up. Every state has some form of voter identification.

26:16That may not be photo. Most have photo, but some do not. They use an Arizona handwriting signature analysis. But we could have it as long as it is simply to prove that someone is who they say they are. So student ID should be available. Driver's identification should be available. All is we could come up with a bill that does that. But that's just a red herring. That's not the issue. I think they're trying to distract from it because they don't want people to know that it's giving data to Homeland Security, that it's making it harder to register, that it's making it harder to vote. I call it Jim Crow 2.0, and it is that.

26:54It makes it more difficult. the thing that most Americans should be able to do. The president calls it a privilege. He said it in the State of the Union address. It is not a privilege. It's a right. Everyone has the right to participate and will only achieve the fullness of this democracy when every American participates. Democratic Congressman Joe Morelli, we appreciate your time, sir. Thanks so much for coming in. Well, some live pictures this hour from Texas. You're looking at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport where the wait to get through security is taking, Get this, four and a half hours later on The Lead, the ongoing debate in Washington is the source of the problem.

27:29Plus, the so-called Democratic Fight Club forming to take on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. We'll explain next.

27:52CNN app. In our politics lead, a new Wall Street Journal article is shedding new light on the growing frustration with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer among some of his fellow Democrats. The story reads in part, in more than four dozen interviews with Democratic senators, candidates, current and former congressional aides, activists and advisors, many said the concern about Schumer's leadership was widespread. meetings between Democratic chiefs of staff on Senate business often veer into airing discontent with Schumer and how to pressure him to step aside as leader after November's elections.

28:27Among the Democrats who are reportedly increasingly dissatisfied with Schumer's leadership are Senators Chris Murphy, Elizabeth Warren, and Tina Smith. My panel joins me now. Sabrina, I know you love Dems and disarray stories because we don't ever have them in Washington. We have them less. So here's my question. Here's my question about this. I also remember everybody talking about how Harry Reid was going to get bounced and Mitch McConnell was going to get bounced and Paul Ryan was going to get bounced and John Boehner kind of did get bounced. How real is this? I think you're always going to see within a party some discontent with leadership.

29:01That story also reported that some members were upset with Schumer's picks for different candidates, that he was picking more centrist candidates, backing centrist candidates, and not some of the more progressive wings of the party. You do see this within the caucus often. I mean, Speaker Pelosi, who I think was one of the most effective speakers the House has ever seen, always had discontent within the caucus. So I don't think this is a surprise. I frankly think it's going to be a conversation that's ongoing. But what will happen in November? I mean, that's up to the caucus to decide if that's Chuck Schumer or someone else that becomes leader.

29:33But right now, I think he has the votes to remain in power. And I don't see anyone else challenging for him right now. Or, you know, we'll see what happens in November. Mike, what I think has been interesting, Democrats have been very unified, particularly over the course of the last six, seven, eight months. I think there was one funding fight that Schumer kind of got cross-eyed with some of his people on. That hasn't been the case of late. What do you think of the strategy? Well, OK, well, two things. They've been unified in their dislike of Donald Trump. I don't think they've been unified on an agenda.

30:01And I think we've seen that with the Democratic primaries that have been out there. In Illinois is a perfect example. We just saw that last Tuesday where you had progressives versus moderates and how that shakes out. And so I think there's a lot of, to your point, there's a lot of that conversation going on. But we also have seen in poll after poll after poll that Democrats don't like Democrats. You know, the job approval rating in a recent poll had 42 percent approve, 48 percent disapprove of the job approval. And that's Democrats talking about fellow Democrats. So I'm not really surprised that some of the more progressive wing of the Democratic Party is looking at Schumer.

30:37And frankly, there are rumors about Jeffries as well, that discontent in the House. So my question is, they've got a historic opportunity to gain control of at least one of the chambers. are they going to be able to do it as a unified party? If it's just hating on Donald Trump, sure. But if they put an agenda together, I don't know where they're going to go. Well, I will say, you know, Democrats have outperformed Republicans when it comes to special elections. And of course, you saw huge wins in Virginia and New Jersey this past year in November. So I think actually there's momentum for Democrats building.

31:09There is a message coalescing around affordability. And that's frankly something that we haven't heard Republicans talk about or this administration talk about in a very long time. So I actually think Democrats do have a united message and, you know, are looking pretty good to perform well in the midterms in November. Mike, on the Republican side, your side of the aisle, Majority Leader John Thune in a bit of a pickle here, I would say. You know, the president said pass the Save America Act. I believe he said stay in town for Jesus and do it. Jesus could count votes. I'm pretty sure certainly John Thune can.

31:4260 ain't there. Right. This is a government shutdown is now tied to this. What's the way out of this? Well, we've got... What is the way out of this? I have been racking my main brain. Let me tell you what I called and told Leader Thune. No. Yeah, I mean, he is in a bit of a pickle, to use your metaphor here. The difficulty is the president also said we're not going to vote on anything else until we get the Save America Act passed. I just don't think it's going to pass. So right now he's keeping members of the Senate in Washington, for the most part, through, and there's rumors now, through the recess of next week to pass this piece of legislation.

32:24You've got people that are running for reelection and others. So it's, you've got the midterms running up against the wishes of the president. I don't know how Thune gets through this because, frankly, the votes aren't there. And the White House at some point is going to have to recognize that. And they've navigated legislative affairs fairly well over the course of certainly they've got the core center of their agenda down. How they navigate this. This isn't leg affairs. This is the president. This is very clear. There is. Yes, exactly. There is one person in the White House who this is very important to and it happens to be the boss.

32:57So he's got to say. He's got to say. Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters announced that she's going to run for reelection. I believe she's in line to be the chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee again. I also believe she's 87 years old. This has been a debate within the Democratic Party for obvious reasons since 2024. What do you think of that? Well, again, we are having a conversation as a party about who's going to be the next leaders. I think you have a young crop of leaders coming up that are going to continue to rise. It is up to the voters if they want to reelect Maxine Waters.

33:30I have no doubt that she would get reelected. But it is up to the caucus if they will put her in charge of the Financial Services Committee should Democrats take back the House. And that is ultimately a question for the caucus to have a deeper conversation about. I know Republicans do set term limits or age restrictions on on members and when they reach certain leadership positions. Maybe that's a conversation that gets opened up in the Democratic caucus that remains to be seen. But ultimately, it is Congresswoman Maxine Waters decision to run. It is the voters choice if they choose to reelect her.

34:01Would you volunteer to have that conversation with Maxine Waters in the House Democratic caucus? I would not. You know, Phil, I have not been asked, so I have not been asked. I'm just saying, if you're a member right now and you're thinking, this is going to be a great pack of lunch, man, that will be an interesting conversation. Well, I think the good thing is that should Democrats win in November, there is going to be a very exciting new class of candidates coming up, and it will be a very interesting conversation to have in November. Take my warning now, new candidates, if you want to. I've tangled with the former chairwoman before.

34:33Former FBI Director Robert Mueller died over the weekend. Mueller became a household name, obviously, in 2016 as a special counsel who led the probe into Russia's election meddling. Trump celebrated the death posting, Robert Mueller just died. Good. I'm glad he's dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people. Mike, I want to remind people what the vice president said about celebrating someone's death. Listen. We have a First Amendment in this country. The First Amendment protects a lot of very ugly speech. But if you celebrate Charlie Kirk's death, you should not be protected from being fired for being a disgusting person.

35:09If you're a university professor who benefits from American tax dollars, you should not be celebrating Charlie Kirk's death. And if you are, maybe you should lose your job. Explain this. How? How would you like me to explain this? Because he's right. I mean, Vice President is right. There is no explanation for it. As we kind of just crossed over the line, I'm sure I'm not the favorite person in the White House right now talking about the SAVE Act, probably not going anywhere on this particular thing. I have no way of defending the President on this language. And I have sat on this set and said, when Charlie Kirk was assassinated, We really need to we really need as a country to think of the language that we use and how we describe it.

36:01And I agree with the vice president on this. So, you know, I have got nothing for you on in terms of the defense here. It's OK to be a good human being. Sometimes it's not you specifically. No, I did not think you were inferring that upon me. No, I appreciate you guys both very good human beings. Mike Sabrina. Thank you guys very much. Well, a live look at today's deadly crash at New York's LaGuardia Airport. The damaged Air Canada plane still visible there on the scene. The NTSB is set to give a news conference at the top of the hour. We're going to bring that to you live. Plus, that anti-Semitic attack in London.

36:38Arsonist setting Jewish volunteer ambulances on fire. CNN on the ground in the area targeted. That's next.

36:51In our world lead, police in London are looking for these three suspects seen here on CCTV setting ablaze to multiple ambulances belonging to a Jewish volunteer rescue group. The attack took place early this morning outside a synagogue in London's northern suburbs of Golders Green, home to the city's largest Jewish community. Residents there were awoken by flames and loud explosions and an attack police are treating as an anti-Semitic hate crime. An Islamist group has allegedly claimed responsibility for the incident. However, counterterrorism police leading the investigation have not confirmed this to this point.

37:26CNN's Claire Sebastian reports from that London suburb where police have evacuated some residents as a precaution. Even in a community already on high alert, few would have predicted this. Explosions rattling this north London neighbourhood in the early hours of Monday morning, as fire engulfed four ambulances parked outside a synagogue. My wife and I got disturbed by a huge explosion at 1.45am, because we live literally 50 yards away from where we are now. And we thought, OK, what's going on here? What's happening? And then ten minutes thereafter, a bigger explosion. Sounded like a bomb. The fire brigade says the explosions were caused by gas cylinders igniting inside the ambulances.

38:14No one was hurt. The UK's counter-terror police are now leading the investigation, which police say is focused on three suspects. CCTV emerged showing three masked figures setting one of the ambulances alight. Well, this is a horrific anti-Semitic attack. And of course, my thoughts, I think all of our thoughts, will be with those in the vicinity, the residents who are understandably very concerned, a Jewish community across the country deeply concerned. The ambulances belonged to a Jewish volunteer rescue organisation serving both Jewish and non-Jewish residents in this area. This is a direct attack on the Jewish community.

38:58You cannot get more low than destroying ambulances that are there to save lives. Well this is a very visible Jewish community here in North London. There are lots of synagogues and shops and Jewish schools lining these streets. So while people tell us that they are shocked and in disbelief frankly that ambulances would be targeted, they're also saying that they were worried something like this would happen. Security had been stepped up around Jewish sites across the UK after a deadly attack at a Manchester synagogue last October. Things could get a lot worse. This violent antisemitism is going to get worse.

39:35And this won't be the last attack against the Jewish people if we continue just to kind of try to tackle the spread of the fire and not go to the root of the antisemitism, the extremism that's running life across society today. Last year it was Yom Kippur. This year, preparations for Passover marred by violence. You should be worried about this. Save lives, whether you're Jewish or non-Jewish. Anger and fear here rising, but another Middle East war is worsening what they say is a climate of hate. Chris Sebastian, CNN, London. This is CNN Breaking News. Welcome to The Lead. I'm Phil Mattingly in for Jake Tapper.

40:13We start this hour with breaking news out of New York's LaGuardia Airport. The National Transportation Safety Board investigators are on the scene of Sunday night's deadly crash. In just moments, we expect them to give an update on what led to an Air Canada plane smashing into a fire truck as it landed. The Guardia Airport itself is back open, but the runway where the crash happened will be closed until at least Friday morning, which could lead to more flight delays and cancellations. CNN Shimon Prokopez takes a closer look at new video and audio shedding light on the moments leading up to the crash.

40:49New video shows the moment of a deadly collision between an Air Canada plane and a fire truck at LaGuardia Airport. Ten seconds after giving the truck permission to cross the runway, the air traffic controller frantically warns it to wait. Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. But it was too late to stop the collision that killed two pilots and injured dozens.

41:19The air count of the plane was going 104 miles an hour when it T-boned the truck. Passenger Rebecca LeCoury described the moments just before the crash. You heard the pilot try to brake like he was trying to prevent the collision that occurred. And as you heard the brake, you just a couple seconds later, it was just a very loud boom. and everybody just jolted out of their seats. People hit their heads, people were bleeding. 41 passengers and two crew members went to the hospital. The Port Authority said 32 people have already been released. A lot of people were really critically injured. Passenger Jack Cabot shared video with CNN of the scene, including the front of the plane appearing completely decimated.

42:06We didn't have any directions because the pilot's cabin had been destroyed, So somebody said, let's get the emergency exit and get the door and let's all jump out. And that's exactly what we did. Many ended up sliding off the plane's wing to exit safely. One of the flight attendants was found alive outside the plane, still strapped to her seat, according to a law enforcement official. It was a very harrowing scene. We were all emotional and it was just very scary. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy tried to reassure travelers at a news conference at LaGuardia on Monday. It's incredibly sad. It's troubling.

42:43And I just want to let America know that we are working our hearts off to make sure that when people travel, whether by rail or car or by air, that they travel safely. The collision shut down New York City's second largest airport for more than 14 hours, leading to hundreds of canceled flights. This comes as there's already been significant travel disruptions and delays resulting from the government's partial shutdown. Let's acknowledge the tremendous stress, particularly in recent days, that our airline workers are under. And as we come through here, know that this is an ecosystem which is not self-sustaining.

43:30And Phil, we're learning more about some of the victims here. One of the pilots, Antoine Forrest, he's been identified as Antoine Forrest, 30 years old. We're also learning that the flight attendant that was ejected from the plane, she remained strapped in her seat, those seat belts keeping her there. She suffered multiple fractures to one of her legs, and her daughter told the Canadian news agency that she's going to need surgery and that it's truly a miracle that she survived. And most aviation safety people would clearly say the same. We are waiting for this news conference. We're now told that it should start in about 20 minutes or so.

44:12So we're hoping the NTSB will provide, as they often do, some preliminary data about what happened here as they will continue their investigation for quite some time. We will certainly be watching that and be coming back to you afterwards. Simone Prokope is doing critical reporting all day today, LaGuardia Airport in New York. Thanks so much. Let's bring in pilot and CNN aviation correspondent Pete Muntean. Pete, help us break down the surveillance video of the crash. What stood out to you? It is so telling, Phil, because it shows the incredible force of this impact. We are talking about something that occurred like a head-on collision of two cars at highway speed.

44:52About 90 knots, that's the aviation or nautical unit of measurement, according to the granular data from Flight Radar 24 that translates to about 104 miles an hour. That was the speed that this Air Canada Express flight was traveling as it just touched down, was continuing its landing rollout. Also, what's very telling here is that this airport fire truck had its lights on as it was crossing the runway there at what's called Taxiway Delta. That's the fourth taxiway down the runway, about halfway down the 7 ,000-foot-long runway there at LaGuardia. 422 is what it's called, runway 4 is what the airplane was landing on, one of the busiest single runways in the United States.

45:31Still some very telling data here also for investigators. They will be able to go through this video frame by frame and figure out with even more detail how quickly the truck was moving, because we don't have tracking information on that, and how quickly the airplane was moving. Also, some really tough work cut out for investigators now as they try to figure out the communications and the interplay between the air traffic control tower, the ground controller, who's responsible for the movement of everything on the ground, including vehicles, and the truck and the airplane. Some really big questions now about where what is clear this communications breakdown occurred.

46:10I want to ask you about that. just a step back for people. How does LaGuardia's fire unit operate? What is communication typically like between them and air traffic controllers on a day-to-day basis? Generally, fire engines on an airport, airport rescue and firefighting, the abbreviation is ARF, they typically communicate with air traffic controllers just like airplanes would communicate with air traffic controllers. And so essentially, you treat what is called a hold short line, the line that's painted on the taxiway, usually two solid yellow bars and then dashed yellow bars behind that, is essentially a loaded gun.

46:48And so you always make sure, like you're approaching an intersection at a busy four-way stop sign, to look left and right, even if the controller has told you that you're cleared to go across it. You know, I fly airplanes all the time, and you always pay very special attention when you're crossing runways. The interesting thing here is that the airport firehouse is on one side of the runway. Oftentimes, the terminals are on the other side of the runway. And so it's very normalized, investigators may say, for these fire trucks to be crossing the runway day in and day out. And so that may have led to some complacency in their operations, meaning that they just became maybe too comfortable with crossing the runway all the time.

47:31Of course, that is for investigators to get to the bottom of. It's way, way too soon to speculate if that is a contributing factor here. Although investigators will really wanna know about some of the larger factors at play here. Was there a sort of a normalization of deviance is what it's called. Yeah, you always make the point. Root causes of accidents can take a year longer, oftentimes involve multiple contributing factors. But one of the questions I've had is, does LaGuardia have problems with air traffic controller staffing? Is one person typically doing multiple jobs there? LaGuardia is considered one of the highest risk, most dynamic environments in the air traffic control system.

48:08The FAA gives air traffic control facilities, towers, centers, approach control facilities, a rating of 1 to 12 based on how difficult they are. It also determines the controller's pay scale. This is considered an 11 out of 12. And so it's a very dynamic environment. They're not really problems, at least according to the Federal Aviation Administration data from April of last year, with air traffic controller staffing. It's about 34 controllers. That's the full complement of controllers needed at LaGuardia Tower, according to the FAA. And about 32 controllers positions are staffed there with six trainees waiting in the wings.

48:43The big question now, and this is something that many have alluded to today, were there short staffing conditions in the tower for this shift late at night? Usually an air traffic control tower sort of sheds some of the peripheral employees working there in the tower and maybe goes to sort of a skeleton crew. And was one controller working two radio frequencies at the same time? Was that one controller in the tower talking to the airplanes in the air, what's called a local controller, and also airplanes and vehicles on the ground? That is the big question now, of course, that was asked to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and FAA Administrator Brian Bedford today.

49:24They essentially dodged that question. They refuted the notion that there was low staffing at the time of this crash. Invaluable reporting as always. We will certainly be coming back to you later this hour. Pete Muntean, thanks so much. I want to show you another live look at the crash site there at LaGuardia. We will bring you that update from the NTSB in New York as soon as it begins. Well, also this hour, President Trump just back in Washington after a trip to Tennessee today. He made news on his war with Iran. CNN's Caitlin Collins was traveling with the president. Her exchange with the president and his future plans in Iran.

49:56That's next.

50:05In our world lead, multiple breaking developments in the war on Iran. Israel says it struck one of Iran's main Revolutionary Guard headquarters today, plus several other military buildings in Tehran. That shortly after President Donald Trump postponed his threat to strike Iran's power plants, saying the U.S. and Israel are, quote, in talks to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. But Iran denies any such talks, and according to Iran's semi-official Farce News Agency, informed Iranian sources say plans are being prepared for potential actions targeting Tel Aviv and some regional allies of the U.S. and Israel.

50:41CNN's Caitlin Collins joins us now on the phone. The reason Caitlin's on the phone is because she's been with the president all day, is now sprinting back from Joint Base Andrews, where the president landed a short while ago. And while the president broke the news this morning on Truth Social of these talks, everything else that broke today came because of Caitlin asking the president questions about what's going on here. Caitlin, what was your takeaway? Well, Phil, it was really interesting. And we just got off Air Force One with the president after traveling back from Florida to Tennessee and then now back in Washington.

51:13And really, you know, what culminated in today is that we were getting different signals from what the president is saying versus what Iranian officials have been saying. And that is what the status of these talks are. Because you're right, this morning before the markets opened, the president posted that he was not going to bomb their power plants, their energy infrastructure like he had threatened. And he said he was giving them five days as these talks are playing out. And he said these talks are being led by Steve Whitcoff and Jared Kushner. But then quickly we heard from Iranian officials who said there are no direct talks happening and that the president was just trying to ease markets with his comments.

51:48But we do know, we do have reporting from our colleagues, Phil, that there are some messages that are going back and forth through intermediaries, at least. And so there are real questions about whether these talks are even happening. But more than that, you know, what they would be agreeing on. Because the president told us this morning when we were standing on the tarmac and Palm Beach, that there are several points of agreement. I asked him to name a few of them, and he said there are 15 points of agreement. But he said the main one is that Iran has agreed not to have a nuclear weapon. He said that was point one, two and three.

52:19Of course, obviously, that would be a huge deal should Iran do that. And the president said they'd agreed to it. But we have yet to hear that from any Iranian officials. And so obviously, there's still a lot of questions here, not only about that, but also what's going to happen to the Strait of Hormuz, for example, which has remained basically closed to most traffic, if not almost all of it. I asked the president if he envisions by the end of this who is in control of the Strait of Hormuz. Is Iran still allowed to be able to disrupt the flow of oil? And the president argued, Phil, that it could be jointly controlled.

52:52And when I asked by whom it could be controlled, he said maybe me, maybe me and the Ayatollah, whoever the Ayatollah is. Now, the president made clear his talks have not been with the new supreme leader, the former supreme leader's son. He cast doubt on the fact that he is the leader and then would not say exactly who he's talking to, Phil, even though we certainly tried to nail him down on that. He said he was worried that they would be killed should he reveal their name. So obviously there's still a lot of questions about what this looks like going forward, whether or not there is any agreement in place and what the next five days are going to bring to bear.

53:26If it is some kind of an agreement or if this is just more time as the president is developing what his next step is going to be here, Phil. Yeah, a new window. Your exchange on the Strait of Formos in particular was fascinating to listen to the kind of joint venture with an Ayatollah potentially to be named later. Great work throughout the course of the day. Caitlin Collins, thanks for scrambling up on the phone for us on a very long travel day. And of course, Caitlin will have much more tonight on her show, The Source, with Caitlin Collins. Her guests tonight include Democratic Senator Adam Schiff.

53:55It's tonight at 9 Eastern on CNN. that. Let's discuss now with Beth Sanner, former Deputy Director of National Intelligence. Beth, I'm just going to kind of cut through it here. What is going on right now? Well, there are a lot of unknowns, right? So let's not be too cute here and say that we actually understand what's going on. But let me give you some facts of what is going on. Nothing on the ground today changed. The president promised not to do something that we haven't done. and the bombings by Israel and the United States, as you showed earlier, have continued. Iran continues to be able to place missiles and drones into Israel and the Gulf, and it is controlling the traffic on the strait.

54:42In fact, lawyers of London reported today that China paid a toll to get a tanker through. So there is that, and the United States continues to move forces into the region. There are reports of more forces pulling in. And the Iranians today said that they are planning to escalate if we do so. And they said, we won't agree to anything that doesn't include reparations and all sorts of maximalist demands. So I think that the bottom line here is that there isn't a lot of movement in positions and the assumption by the Trump administration, and maybe it will turn out to be true, I don't know, but is that somehow the Iranian regime is in a different place than it has been.

55:30And in fact, I kind of feel like the Iranian regime thinks that they're winning a little bit here because they do control the strait and there's not much we can do. I think that was my biggest question in terms of when I saw the news, and please correct me if I'm wrong here, the idea that Iranian officials are saying there are not negotiations. The Trump administration is saying there are negotiations, there are messages being passed. Our reporting has confirmed that. There are ways that this can be done that doesn't make those two statements as divergent as they seem on their face from a diplomatic perspective.

56:04But, you know, in talking to some of my energy sources earlier today, they were saying, what has changed right now? Nothing has changed. Markets changed on the day-to-day basis, but the Strait of Hormuz is still closed and Iran still seems to have a lot of leverage here. Exactly. And in fact, one of the things that has changed is U.S. war aims. We got into this war believing that there would be somehow a popular uprising. Right. And then we got to a point where we weren't talking about that anymore. We were talking about, you know, regime collapse or change. Then we were talking about nuclear and missiles and all of that.

56:43And now what are we talking about? We're talking about reopening the Strait of Hormuz, which, by the way, wasn't even closed at the beginning of this conflict. And so Iran has forced us to change our war aims. And that is very different. Is there a world in which the path the president seems to be wanting to go down right now, as stated he wants to go down right now, can be aligned with where Prime Minister Netanyahu and his operations intend to go going forward? They spoke today by phone. I've talked with officials in the region who are saying there's no way you can square that circle between the aims of the two countries if this is where Trump wants to go.

57:24I think that, you know, we have three combatants involved in this war, right? We have Iran, the U.S., and Israel. And I think that, as one commentator said, you know, squaring that triangle is going to be really difficult. And what we're seeing is that, you know, Israel really isn't ready to stop now because if we stopped at this moment, Iran would be emboldened because the regime has survived. We have more deeper hardliners in charge. And this group of people would probably be more bent on getting a nuclear weapon and missiles. And it would probably be more difficult for them to, quote, mow the lawn because Iran has now broken this taboo, this norm against closing the strait, and they could potentially do that again.

58:17And so I think that that is, you know, I think that what the Israelis think is that if we ended now, they would be in, you know, as bad, if not worse place than when we started. Yeah, there's still a lot of questions outstanding. We'll see where this goes over the course of the next five days. Beth Saner, as always, my friend, thanks so much. Thanks, Bill. Well, President Trump was in Tennessee today for a roundtable that highlighted the progress he claims he's made by deploying the National Guard and ICE officials to Memphis in a fight against crime. A Tennessee congressman who's also with the president will join me next.

59:00So we've achieved a 70 % reduction in murders from the peak in this place. In total, we've arrested 7 ,000 criminals, seized more than 1 ,100 illegal guns, taken more than 1 ,000 pounds of illicit narcotics, and rescued more than 150 missing children, making their parents beyond happy. In our politics lead, that was President Trump this afternoon in Memphis, Tennessee, one of the cities he sent National Guard troops to in the name of restoring law and order. joined now by Tennessee Republican John Rose with the president. He's here with us now. Really appreciate you taking the time, sir. One of the questions I had in watching the event today is you talk to law enforcement officials.

59:46They say, look, a surge in resources is always welcome in a local community. It's always going to have an impact. What's the durability of that over time? Do you feel like there's a plan for that with Memphis? I think there is, but I do think there's more to do. I'm running for governor of Tennessee, and I think the next governor is going to have to come behind this surge and put in place enduring policies that will deliver safety for Memphians and Shelby Countians. So there's more work to be done. But I think the impact of the Memphis Safe Task Force has been remarkable. And I think it has changed minds in Memphis in terms of what can be achieved.

1:00:22I want to play something else. You're obviously also a sitting member of the House while you're running. You have to come back to come back to vote while you're running for governor as well. The president said this this afternoon. The Democrats are being blamed by the American people for the catastrophe going on right now at our airports and at other points of transportation and beyond. And we want the public to know we're not going to let them out of this trap that they created for themselves. And I'm suggesting very strongly that the Republicans in going for the Save America Act that you welded into exactly this, because voter ID is part of homeland security.

1:01:07No doubt you're supportive of the idea and certainly the underlying legislation on both of those counts. But are you concerned in the idea of Democrats getting blamed or the message here that melding those two together, one of which does not have 60 votes in the Senate, ends up putting the blame on Republicans as it relates to TSA or the shutdown? Well, I don't know what Democrats are going to do, but I do know that both of these issues poll above 70, 80 percent with the American people. So the American people want to see us make sure that our elections are secure, but making sure that only citizens vote and that they show an ID when they go to vote.

1:01:42And they also want to see the country kept safe. And I think the three shutdowns in the last six months led by Democrats and minority leader Chuck Schumer, I think are wearing thin with the American people and they see the cracks in the armor. They see the impact of these shutdowns on the safety and security of the American people. And I think the American people are tired of being used as pawns by the Democrats, being used as leverage, being put in harm's way to protect illegal aliens. Senator John Thune apparently proposed to the president over the weekend, you could take ICE out and just have a standalone bill, DHS bill that doesn't have ICE, but has TSA, has Coast Guard, has everything else.

1:02:21The president said no. Would Would that be something you could support? Well, I think we need to do it all. I think the American people need to be kept safe. And I think we need all the tools that are a part of the Department of Homeland Security. Certainly the president ran on getting our border under control and deporting criminal illegal aliens. And he got elected fairly substantially, both in the Electoral College and in the popular vote. So I think the American people spoke on this very recently and said, we embrace what President Trump is outlining as a means for going forward to get this country back on track.

1:02:52And I think the Democrats need to take that to heart. They're banking on their radical far left base, supporting them in both of these counts of letting illegals vote and of protecting illegal aliens at the expense of the safety and security of the American people. I think they're wrong. We were talking during the break. You're running for governor. You're a retail guy. You You are everywhere in the state of Tennessee, it seems like, when I see you pop up. What are people that you're talking to thinking about gas prices right now? Look, you can support the president, and I know in Tennessee they do by a large margin, but gas prices are tough right now, given where they were just a month ago.

1:03:31That's right. I filled up for$2.09 a gallon about a month ago. And so I think Americans all across the country, particularly Tennesseans, were glad to see that after the four years of Bidenflation. So it's a little bit of a bitter pill now to see gas prices spike, but they're still lower than they were during much of the Biden administration. I think Tennesseans understand that there might be a little short term pain here to rid ourselves of the 47 year scourge of the Iranian regime that has terrorized the world and killed thousands of Americans and kept the Middle East destabilized for most of this 47 years since I was a freshman in high school, for goodness sakes.

1:04:12And so I think the president has shown courage that previous presidents lacked and stepped up to solve this problem. Yeah, it's certainly where the administration is on this. I guess one of the questions I've had is, how do you define short term here? Right. And this is I'm not trying to be cute with this. You talk to people and if they fill up enough and they're dealing with inflation from the past and just affordability issues in general, at some point, 385, 395, four dollars starts to really bite. It's not short term anymore. Sure. And we all suffered through this during most of the Biden administration.

1:04:43Thankfully, the president has an all of the above energy policy. His policies have moved us towards self-sufficiency. So today, unlike when I was a kid back in the 1970s, we don't have lines at the gas station. We can get gas. The prices impacted by the run up in prices globally has affected us here. But we don't have a shortage of fuel because we are producing that fuel here domestically. And so it's a very different situation because of the policies of Donald Trump. And I think that buys him a little bit of time with the American people to deal with this five-decade problem that exists in Iran.

1:05:20We certainly don't want to see them acquire ballistic missiles to deliver weapons to the homeland. And we certainly, we and the rest of the world, cannot fathom the terror that they would rain down on us if they had access to nuclear weapons. So the president is taking that on. I think the American people will give him the space he needs to take care of this problem. Congressman, really appreciate you coming in. Thanks so much. Thank you. Well, 19 hours now after last night's deadly crash at New York's LaGuardia Airport. And you can see the Air Canada plane involved still there, still on the scene, as well as the fire truck that it hit.

1:05:53Now, any moment now, we expect to hear from the NTSB on the early findings of what caused this horrible scene. We're going to bring you that update when it begins. Stay with us.

1:06:09I'm Eva Longoria, and I'm setting out to really experience France to savor its world-celebrated cuisine and explore the country's rich history. Eva Longoria, Searching for France, premieres April 12th on CNN and next day on the CNN app. I'm CNN tech reporter Claire Duffy. This week on the podcast Terms of Service, there's a growing category of products aimed specifically at addressing women's unique health needs. These tools and services are sometimes known as femtech, and they can provide big opportunities and benefits, but they can also come with some risks. To walk us through all of this, I spoke with Bethany Corbin.

1:06:46Bethany is an attorney and CEO of Fem Innovation, where she advises startups, clinicians, and healthcare organizations. In my opinion, what it really does is gives us a collective language to talk about women's healthcare innovation and the tools that are out there so that we can take control of our healthcare experiences and know how to advocate for ourselves in a system that's probably not been designed to advocate for us. Listen to CNN's Terms of Service wherever you get your podcasts.