What's next after Hantavirus cruise ship evacuation | Vargas Reports Full Show

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[00:00:05]Good evening everybody. I'm Hannah Dova.

[00:00:07]Elizabeth Vargas is on assignment. We begin tonight with that nightmare cruise finally over for the 18 US passengers who are back on American soil and they are currently in quarantine. They were evacuated from the cruise ship at the center of the deadly global Hansa virus outbreak on Sunday. 16 of them were taken to the University of Nebraska Medical Center where they're being monitored at the nation's premier quarantine unit. Relief. Look at this.

[00:00:35]Clearly on the face of rescued passengers. This one posted this smiling selfie today from his isolation room at the quarantine facility. I am sure he is happy to get off that cruise ship.

[00:00:47]There's another passenger who tested positive for haunt virus. He is being held in the cent's bio containment unit.

[00:00:54]Hospital officials described the unit at a press conference today. Here's what they said.

[00:01:00]>> The remainder of the patient room. So, we have one individual who's occupying one of the rooms. Um, at this point, that's the only patient that we have in in the bioontainment unit. Um, but it also similar to the quarantine unit.

[00:01:12]It's its own separate entity. It is had its own air handling system. We don't share air with any of the rest of the facility. Um, it has hepoiltration um out on the roof. And so it's a a very different uh facility.

[00:01:26]>> Two other passengers were sent to Atlanta's Emory University Hospital. One of them who is showing signs of the illness is in the bioontainment unit while the other person who was in close contact is under observation. A CDC official spoke out this afternoon on the importance of transparency when it comes to the American public.

[00:01:45]want to make sure that we're sharing information with the jurisdictions and also with the American public about what's going on to the individ individuals that return today and their families. We are focused on delivering safe, respectful care and transparent communication to the American public. We want to know we want you to know that we are here to protect your health and to ensure American communities remain healthy and safe.

[00:02:15]I do want to reiterate this point. The system worked. We have prepared for this and we were activating that. We activated the system and we did it quickly.

[00:02:26]>> The system worked. Public public health officials are now watching Americans across seven states. The latest is in Maryland. That's linked to two people who shared flights with cruise passengers who were later diagnosed with the virus. Now that the cruise ship is fully evacuated of its nearly 150 passengers, the World Health Organization has updated the number of cases to nine today. That includes the three deaths. The newest case is a French woman who tested positive upon returning home after the cruise. Still, the WHO is stressing this is not another COVID as the CDC says the risk to the American public remains extremely low.

[00:03:05]uh with an incubation period of up to 42 days, officials say vigilance is advised. For more on the passengers who are under quarantine in Nebraska, we are joined by Dr. Jeffrey Gold, the president of the University of Nebraska and former chancellor of the university's medical center. Dr. Gold, I've been looking forward to our conversation. Welcome to the show, sir.

[00:03:25]>> Great pleasure to be with you.

[00:03:27]>> I know you've been very busy. Your team has been as well. Nebraska becoming the nation's key bioontainment center. what systems are in place to safely take care of the passengers but also protect the staff and the community.

[00:03:41]>> So, our university medical center has been engaged in what we call special pathogen protection for over 20 years.

[00:03:49]Uh we repatriated American citizens during the Ebola days back in 2014. We were among the very first to take folks back uh in the early COVID days. Indeed, the Diamond Princess passengers, you may remember, uh were transported back to the States and uh and we took them all and I'm proud to tell you, every one of them went home and that was back in the very very early days of SARS KV2. And so we now operate and have for many years the only federally supported quarantine and isolation system in the United States, plus one of three major bioontainment facilities in the United States. Not only do we have the facilities, but we've got a phenomenal team of individuals who uh work really hard, train all the time and are very well positioned to take care of patients and people who are high-risisk exposures.

[00:04:39]>> So, a lot of background.

[00:04:40]>> Yeah. No, that's a lot of background.

[00:04:42]Impressive background as I listen to a lot of what your team is saying when it comes to the filtration system and the ventilation in that building. Take me step by step of what happens when these passengers arrive. What's happening right now?

[00:04:55]Well, they first went through customs as they got off the plane, which was actually done on the tarmac. They were then transported here. Uh they did a routine medical screening, took their temp and asked them if they had any symptoms. And then I'm told they needed some rest. They were kind of exhausted from the long flight in personal protective equipment back from Tenneref.

[00:05:15]And uh during the course of the day today uh it was a lot more questioning about what exposures they may have had, any minor symptoms that they may have, medical histories, medication requirements, things of that nature, and of course uh uh all the accommodations that you would get uh in a hotel room, frankly. Uh food and uh and all the creature comforts that are necessary.

[00:05:37]>> I have no doubt they are so grateful to be on solid ground. You held a press conference earlier this morning, Doc.

[00:05:42]Has there been any changes in the passengers since we last heard from you?

[00:05:47]>> No, they're are all doing well. There are uh no symptoms among any of them. As you may know, uh of the 16 that we repatriated, 15 went into the quarantine unit and one actually uh went into the uh uh bioontainment unit. And that has to do with the fact that this individual actually tested positive for the virus uh but is completely asymptomatic.

[00:06:11]That's good news. When will you decide if they can leave the facility? Are they being forced to stay? Can they leave any time? What's the process here?

[00:06:21]>> Well, at the moment, they can't leave any time. Uh these are actually federal and state regulatory decisions uh that have to be made. So, we don't enforce the decisions. They're actually enforced by uh federal individuals. So this will be a combined decision by Asper, the CDC uh and the state department of health.

[00:06:41]Uh we certainly encourage them to stay the full length of the uh quarantine period and in many instances the patients you know when we did we did the same thing as I said with the diamond princess folks and every one of the individuals stayed and the reason was they didn't want to put their home community at any risk. They didn't want to put their family and loved ones at any risk. Plus, you know, they're literally, you know, 100 feet from one of the most sophisticated bioontainment treatment facilities in the world. Uh if they were to really need it, you know, uh it would be tough to get on the phone and say, you know, what are you doing tomorrow? So, uh uh they're going to hang. I think >> I don't blame them. I would do the same.

[00:07:21]Speaking of keeping the community safe, there is so much anxiety out there, but all health officials say this is not another COVID type situation. Doctor, from a medical standpoint, what is the biggest difference that the public should understand?

[00:07:36]>> Well, this is a virus we know a lot about, unlike SARS KV2, which was a novel virus. Uh, and uh, and we know it's got a not only a long incubation period, but it's pretty hard to catch.

[00:07:47]Uh, uh, you know, it's typically transmitted through mouse and rat droppings. Uh, and, you know, humanto human transmission does occur with the Andes variant. uh we'll be learning more about it uh from individuals who are infected around the world and looking at transmission rates and things of that nature to see if there's anything unusual about this particular substrain of uh Andes but typically you have to get it through very close contact you know sharing food or sharing a bed or you know being with uh somebody very close there are some medical professionals uh who you know in close contact that appear now to be infected but the numbers are very small and uh we do not anticipate a lot of spread.

[00:08:31]There's a huge amount of caution being uh used here with personal protective equipment to protect our staff uh as well as of course the local communities.

[00:08:41]>> Yeah, that is very reassuring. Like I mentioned, I know it's a busy day for you and your staff. Thank you for coming on, Dr. Jeffrey Gold. Joining me now for more on all of this is former CDC Director Robert Redfield. Dr. Redfield, always good to see you. Welcome back.

[00:08:55]>> Thank you for having me. You just heard from Dr. Gold. Do you agree with the monitoring plan currently in place in Nebraska and in Atlanta? Do you think this is the right approach?

[00:09:04]>> Yes, I do. I think this is a top-notch facility both, you know, Emory and and obviously the University of Nebraska and obviously they got the full engagement of uh CDC uh to help guide uh the the decision- making process that's going on. So, I think they've done a great job so far. Just in the last few hours, another state was added to that list.

[00:09:25]Maryland the latest to announce its monitoring two residents after they were briefly on a flight with those cruise passengers infected. When we talk about this, sir, how important is contact tracing to make sure this doesn't spread any further.

[00:09:40]>> I I think it's very important. uh you know traditionally we would argue that uh this virus although it can go human to human very difficult requires a lot of exposure uh we would argue that historically we haven't seen asymptomatic infection and asymptomatic transmission it's interesting that the one patient that they have now at the quarantine facility at Nebraska they argue is asymptomatic if they actually turn out to be actually infected uh that's of interest But I think it's really important to do the contact tracing and to do the careful risk assessment of these patients on a daily basis. As you mentioned, there's a 42day time from infection to the uh incubation period. So, they're going to have to do that for the next six weeks to make sure there's no uh uh infection that could then lead to additional uh transmission.

[00:10:34]I suspect that we're going to be pretty much to the end of this. These cases will be defined pretty clearly over the next several days and hopefully that will be the end of this outbreak transmission.

[00:10:46]>> So you were the head of the CDC during COVID in this country. When you see the federal government move so quickly on a rare virus, do you see a system that's now in place because of the learned lessons from CO?

[00:10:59]>> I think we learned a lot during the co pandemic. you know uh you know we tried to do the best we could but in retrospect obviously there was some mistakes one of the biggest one was that the WHO had said and the Chinese had said that there was no humanto human transmission and they also said that there was no asymptomatic infection both of those were incorrect and it really was the diamond princess when the Japanese government invited CDC to come in to help them evaluate that ship we went in and we actually tested everybody in the ship and to our surprise we found out 50% % of the people on the ship were actually infected and many of them were asymptomatic. So that changed posture of how we responded to the pandemic. But I do think, you know, we really have beefed up our ability and I think it's really great to see the coordination between CDC and and the University of Nebraska, Emory, Asper, and really working together as a as a single organism to try to provide these people the best care and treatment and to protect the public health. Staying on the topic of human to human transmission, this strain, the Andes strain, is unusual because of its limited human-toum transmission. From a former CDC director's perspective, how seriously does that change the public's health response?

[00:12:15]>> Well, it does it does open up that real possibility that you have to worry about humanto human transmission. And that's then therefore the whole issue of the response that you see here where there's uh a commitment to uh offering prolonged isolation. Many people may not know that the Andes virus right now in Argentina has actually been causing an outbreak in Argentina since last summer and there's been over a 100 cases in Argentina since last summer and it's really picked up basically in uh late winter and spring of this year. And to go back to some of the comments you made before, uh we now know that that outbreak has a a mortality rate of those 100 plus individuals of over 35%. So this is a serious infection. It can go human to human. Uh that just reiterates the importance of uh the contact early diagnosis using aggressive testing when when indicated and obviously the contact tracing with getting the full cooperation of those individuals. You know, it should be said it's great that these uh individuals uh the 18 individuals are fully cooperating uh with the public health community to make sure and I do agree with Dr. Gole's comments. I think a majority of people when given the option they can go home and self isolate or they can stay in the facility. I bet a majority of them are going to say I'll stay in the facility for the 42 days until I know that I'm no longer a risk to my family and friends and community. So, I suspect like he said to the Diamond Princess where they all stayed, I'd be very surprised if they don't all elect to stay here, too.

[00:13:50]>> And he described it as hotel room amenities. So, I wouldn't leave either.

[00:13:55]Dr. Robert Redfield, we always appreciate your analysis and insight.

[00:13:58]Thank you, sir.

[00:13:59]>> Yeah, thanks. God bless.

[00:14:01]>> Let's turn to the war with Iran. Now, tonight, that ceasefire, it's on massive life support. Those words are from President Trump as he trashed Iran's much anticipated counter offer to end the war. After leaving US officials waiting days for their proposal, Iran sent back an offer laced with politically poisonous demands. Let's take a look at some of them. A formal recognition from the world, anointing Iran, the gatekeepers of the Strait of Hermoose. The regime also demanded reparations to pay for damages from the war, which is about as likely as Iran, oh, I don't know, cutting check stock hostage crisis survivors to cover the last 45 years of therapy thanks to this current regime. An even bigger deal breaker is an agreement from Iran to give up its nuclear ambitions. They are not agreeing to that. And of course, that is the major sticking point when it comes to our administration and the current Iranian regime. President Trump today said Iran's proposal is so bad it leaves the already fragile ceasefire hanging by just a thread. Here's more.

[00:15:05]>> After reading the piece of garbage they sent us, I didn't even finish reading it. I said, I'm not going to waste my time reading it. I would say it's one of the weakest right now. It's on life support. They understand these are all medical people. Dr. Oz, life support is not a good thing. Do you agree?

[00:15:22]>> I prognostic. I would say the ceasefire is on massive life support where the doctor walks in and says, "Sir, your loved one has approximately a 1% chance."

[00:15:35]>> Life support indeed not a good thing.

[00:15:37]Let's go right to NewsNation's Kelly Meyer who's live at the White House for us. Good evening, Kelly. So, where do things go from here?

[00:15:44]>> Yeah, that's the question of the hour, Hannah. The White House right now weighing its next step. We are told the president met with his national security team today to talk about those potential next steps which could include military action. Notable today the Pentagon revealed the location of a US Navy nuclear armed submarine and that's a rare move to reveal its precise location though the Pentagon withheld the name.

[00:16:09]Now the Ohio class ballistic missile submarine arrived in Gibralar that's on Spain's south coast on Sunday. And while the president weighs his decision, Americans continue to deal with high gas prices due to the war in Iran. President Trump sharing today that he wants to temporarily suspend the federal gas tax until it's quote appropriate. Now suspending the gas tax requires Congress to act. And we know promise the president promised today as soon as it's over prices will come down. We're also watching henna for the president to go to China. He's getting ready for that in the next 24 hours or so. So he doesn't have much time to decide what he might do next before leaving for that. He told reporters today that uh he plans to confront Xihinping, China's leader about selling weapons to Iran and that is something that China has called completely fabricated. So we are waiting right now ha for President Trump to speak at an event in the Rose Garden.

[00:17:04]He's with uh law enforcement officials from across the country in honor of police week. We don't know if he'll take any questions there, but really just 24 hours or so before he leaves for China.

[00:17:14]So, we don't know if there's going to be some movement on Iran before he goes overseas. Tenna.

[00:17:19]>> Yeah, I was hoping to ask you more about that trip to China. There is a long list of tech executives set to travel with him. Major players here. Tell me more about that list and who is going with him.

[00:17:31]>> Yeah, a White House official providing a list of CEOs that are going to be traveling with the president as part of this US delegation. everyone from Apple CEO Tim Cook to Boeing CEO, Mastercard, Meta, as well as Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. So, that'll be interesting too uh since the two uh were former friends and and seem to still have somewhat of a relationship there despite the rocky tensions over the past year or so. So, that's a group of the folks, the companies that that are going on this uh trip as part of the delegation. So, we'll see what comes out of it.

[00:18:06]Obviously the economy a major focus, AI a major focus as well as trade. So we'll see what comes out of it. Hannah, >> yeah, to be a fly on that wall and I know you agree with me there. Kelly Meyer live at the White House for us.

[00:18:18]Kelly, thank you. Let's bring in our panel now. Retired General Chuck Walt.

[00:18:22]He's the former deputy commander of US European Command. He's now a distinguished fellow with the Jewish Institute for National Security of America. and Rebecca Grant is a national security and military analyst who serves as vice president of the Lexington Institute. Great to have you both here.

[00:18:38]Welcome, Rebecca. I will start with you.

[00:18:40]Surely the regime knew this proposal would be dead on arrival. Gatekeepers of the street, reparations, nothing about nuclear ambitions. What were they going for here?

[00:18:51]>> They asked for everything short of a trip to Disneyland. And President Trump was rightly outraged. But what struck me about his remarks today was two things.

[00:19:00]One, he said he thinks he is actually talking to the right people in Iran, the right interlocators. That tells me this negotiation is still very active. And second, the comment about the ceasefire.

[00:19:13]I suspect that Sentcom has targets briefed and ready to go after some of those additional military targets if President Trump feels that pressure is necessary. And hey, I got to tell you that trip to China would not interfere with intensifying operations if needed.

[00:19:29]Of course, for now, the US Navy doing a great job on the blockade.

[00:19:32]>> Yeah, I'm going to ask both of you more about that Chinese trip in just a moment. General Wald, I saw an article that you wrote that you co-authored and you've argued diplomacy gives Iran time to regroup and that military operations should resume. President Trump, you heard him. He said this is the ceasefire is hanging by a thread. Do you think negotiations are no longer viable?

[00:19:53]negotiations will always go on, but I really have no faith in the fact that the Iranians are going to kind of come through on this one. I mean, they they have a lot of talk and and very little action. I I agree with Rebecca. Uh the I think that the Iranians understand strength. They understand uh the pressure that the United States military and and the targeting we can do right now would uh put on the regime. I think they're more worried about staying in power than they are really winning this contest. But but I'm not a firm believer in the fact that negotiations alone will take it up will succeed in this case. I think we we need to show the Iranians we're serious and we're going to come come back after them.

[00:20:31]>> Rebecca, the question I have no doubt many Americans and lawmakers are asking is how degraded is Iran right now? How close do experts believe they are close to a nuclear breakout capability?

[00:20:45]>> Well, their conventional military is like wiped out. no air defense. Uh really big hits on the Navy, the industrial base, etc. As for the nuclear material, the nuclear dust, as President Trump calls it, it's not really dust, but there is the enriched uranium. It would have to be enriched yet again to make bombs. They are not able to do that. But we've got to make sure that in addition to that Espahan site, anything else is accounted for. And that is still the number one objective here of Operation Epic Fury and the current diplomacy.

[00:21:18]>> Rebecca, let me stick with you here. I want to go back to that meeting you and I were talking about in China later this week. How much of this crisis is also a China story? Beijing is Iran's largest oil customer has economic leverage over Tyrron. Is China quietly helping Iran, even if it's indirectly?

[00:21:37]Well, China's very responsible for the trouble and terror that Iran has wreaked on this world. No question about it.

[00:21:44]Will China step in and help? Uh, don't count on it. But I'm telling you, I think there will be some serious pressure. You know, we don't want to see them selling any missile precursors or satellite imagery, etc. Uh, and I hope that President Trump slams them pretty hard. You know, the Chinese military, their eyeballs have popped out over what US forces did to Iran's target set. And that's a good strong deterrent message to China.

[00:22:08]>> We have the best military in the world.

[00:22:10]There's no doubt about that. General, in that piece I mentioned that you co-wrote, and this is playing out, Iran's strategy is to outlast US resolve through diplomacy and economic pressure.

[00:22:19]Does China intentionally or not help enable that strategy at least when it comes economically?

[00:22:27]>> Yeah, I I agree with Rebecca. Again, I think the Chinese are are uh helping the Iranians in in several ways, both economically and probably militarily. I think the we talked about this earlier today, but I think the message that President Trump needs to give to President Z is that hey, stop sending any military assistance to the ch to the Iranians. No air defense, uh no drones.

[00:22:52]Uh, and by the way, uh, that discussion on the submarine earlier in the in the, uh, piece today, it's pretty tough to get through the, uh, straits of Gibralar without somebody seeing you. So, I think that's a a message to everybody that uh, we're beefing up our military capability. That's not just a nuclear sub, it has conventional capability, too. So, you know, again, it's going to have to be a diplomatic discussion, but the Chinese need to realize there's a penalty stroke if they start continue to help the Iranians. Well, General, could Beijing actually pressure Tyrron to compromise if they wanted to? Do they have that much leverage?

[00:23:26]>> Uh, I'm not sure anybody can stop the IRGC from doing stupid things. But I think the Chinese would have a pretty significant influence on the Iranians primarily, because that's uh where a lot of their aid is coming from right now, both monetarily and uh and militarily.

[00:23:41]So, yeah, they could they could influence the Iranians. All right, General Chuck Walds, Rebecca Grant, we really appreciate all your insight tonight. Thank you for coming on.

[00:23:51]>> And coming up on the other side, the man accused of trying to kill President Trump at the White House correspondents dinner has pleaded not guilty today.

[00:23:59]Next, Wise legal team says Washington DC's top attorney should be booted from the case. We'll talk about it. And later, first he lost his wife, now he's lost his soulmate. That's the name of the sailboat the Coast Guard just seized from Brian Hooker. That's the same boat his wife fell overboard in the Bahamas.

[00:24:17]We'll have details on that development and so much more. It's coming up.

[00:24:26]Welcome back everybody. I'm Henova and for Elizabeth Vargas. The man accused of trying to assassinate President Trump during the White House correspondents dinner was in court today. Cole Allen pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him. It was his first appearance in Washington federal court before the new judge presiding over this case.

[00:24:45]Allen's attorneys are trying to disqualify Attorney General Todd Blanch and top prosecutor Janine Perro from Piro from the case because well they were at the White House correspondents dinner for more. Let's go to former US attorney John Fishwick joining us now.

[00:24:58]John, good evening. Thanks for joining.

[00:25:00]>> Anna, thanks so much for having me on the show.

[00:25:02]>> So I saw the news this morning on how he plead not guilty. Were you surprised at all? There is so much evidence against him.

[00:25:10]>> Well, there's a overwhelming amount of evidence and hence you're seeing these motions about disqualifying prosecutors.

[00:25:15]I mean, I think his defense team is looking for other angles dealing with, you know, the quote fairness to him because there is overwhelming evidence of planning the this, you know, attempted assassination, traveling cross country, the manifesto he said, and then he, you know, tries to break through the magnetometer where he, you know, shoots uh at a secret service agent. So, there's a lot of strong evidence against him. Attorneys have argued that AG Blanch and US Attorney Piro should be removed from the case because, well, it's a conflict of interest. They were at the dinner. They were intended targets. Do you agree with that assessment?

[00:25:46]>> I think that's going to be an uphill challenge for the defense. I mean, Janine Pero and Todd Blanch, they did not witness any of the crime. I mean, the crime was the planning, was the showing up, was breaking through the magnetometer. They were in the ballroom, you know, not anywhere near any of that.

[00:25:59]So, they didn't witness any of the actual crime. So, they're not going to testify. Uh, and so I don't think they're going to be disqualified from the case. And certainly, you know, her office is not going to be disqualified from the case.

[00:26:09]>> You said it's an uphill battle. The defense team even went further to argue the conflict of interest should also disqualify every prosecutor who works in Piro's office. The judge did seem skeptical, but your thoughts on that request.

[00:26:23]>> Yeah, I mean, that's got 0% chance of of being successful. I mean, the office is not going to be uh uh recused from the case. The only way she would be recused from the case, I think, is if it turns out he was targeting her, that this defendant was targeting her and then there'd be a charge against him for that attempted murder. Doesn't appear that's going to be the case. So, I would expect both Todd Blanch and Janine Piro to be staying in this case and certainly her office is not going to be disqualified.

[00:26:48]>> Prosecutors have the time to respond until May 22nd. That's the deadline.

[00:26:52]What arguments can they make to keep both Blanch and Piro on or off?

[00:26:59]Well, I think they'll say, you know, they were not witnesses to the crime.

[00:27:02]They were in the ballroom along with hundreds of other folks. And they'll they'll most likely say it's rich for a defendant to be arguing when he, you know, was attempting to assassinate the president of the United States that folks who were at the ballroom somehow they should no longer be allowed to prosecute him for what he did. So, I think it, you know, I think a judge is going to look a scance at that and I think they'll say, "Look, they didn't witness anything. Uh, sure, Miss Piro has a friendship with the president of the United States, but that's no reason why she can't be impartial and fair and do her duty. So, I think they're going to hit back hard and say nobody has a conflict of interest here. Both Janine Piro should stay on the case, Todd Blanch should stay on the case, and her office should stay on the case.

[00:27:39]>> I'm curious here, John, what is the strategy for the defense? We have the video, they have the manifesto. What are they thinking to plead not guilty for their client?

[00:27:50]>> Well, you know, it's early. I would expect the next step for them will be have something to do with his mental capacity. Typically in cases like this, they'll argue either he doesn't understand what's happening in the proceedings or that he was legally insane at the time. That's going to be very uphill too, Hannah, because you know, tremendous planning that took place in this crime. Uh, you know, he traveled across country, he purchased the firearms, he stayed at the Hilton, he monitored the the president's uh timing that night of arriving at the vent. So, I think it's going to be hard to establish that he didn't know what he was doing, that he didn't understand right from wrong. But typically, in a case like this where you've got overwhelming evidence and a defendant like this, that's what the lawyers will be, I expect, to be exploring if that's at all feasible for them.

[00:28:31]>> A lot of eyes on this case, as you well know. John Fishwick, thank you so much for coming on tonight.

[00:28:37]>> Thank you.

[00:28:38]>> And coming up, we finally got some UFO files from the government, but some Earthlings, well, they're already hungry for more. Luckily, my next guest is hinting the best is yet to come as long as it's released. I'm talking about Missouri Congressman Eric Berlin. He'll join me live after the break. Stick around.

[00:28:59]Bias isn't having an opinion, it's excluding opinions. On Balance with Leland Vidder, week nights at 98 central, only on News Nation.

[00:29:08]>> If you're going to respect all Americans, you have to include the viewpoints of all Americans.

[00:29:16]Folks, the truth is out there and it is at your fingertips. At long last, the government's top secret files on UFOs have landed in our internet browsers, publicly available for all of us to see.

[00:29:29]Well, at least some of them. The Pentagon released more than 160 files in that first batch on Friday. They included 28 videos like this one. Did you see this? This eightointed star, 14 images like this photo on the moon. That was in 1969.

[00:29:46]And transcripts of bewildered astronauts, even the legendary Buzz Aldrin. He described seeing quote unusual things, including flashes of unexplainable light inside his spacecraft cabin. Still, there's plenty more out there. And skeptics, UFO hunters, even some members of Congress want to know all of it. The whole truth and assurances that the government isn't hiding a conspiracy. My first guest tonight is one of the loudest voices in Congress calling for more UFO transparency. Missouri Republican Congressman Eric Berles. He's a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and its task force on the declassification of federal secrets.

[00:30:27]Congressman, I've been looking forward to our conversation. Welcome back, sir.

[00:30:31]>> It's good to be here, Hannah.

[00:30:32]>> So, I'm going to start with a simple question first. When's the next batch of files coming? A lot of people want to see these documents and videos.

[00:30:40]Well, the executive branch will move at the speed that they've been given. I from what I've been told, they they plan to do a release approximately every two weeks. Um hopefully they they they'll be able to keep to that pace. But this is a very historic moment. Um the first release is really the first time a president has recognized that this is a topic that the American people deserve to know the answers to and has disclosed this information. So we have, you know, records, as you pointed out, going all the way back to the early Apollo missions, um, where our astronauts were silenced. They what they experienced on the moon was not able to be shared with the American people. Thank goodness President Trump actually stepped in and and forced the release of these files.

[00:31:27]So while this isn't there's a lot more to be released, this is an amazing and monumental first step.

[00:31:33]>> You're a leading advocate for UFO transparency. Why are these files coming out in drips instead of one big release?

[00:31:41]>> That's a great question. Um, just knowing the government and the way that it works, I can see why it's why it's happening this way. There's so many different government agencies and they have different layers of of security, different layers of clearances. You know, you have, for example, the Department of Energy has an entirely different clearance structure. And so, as the as the investigation goes about, they are trying to, you know, peacemeal it. They're working through f the first videos that came out are lowhanging fruit. The videos that the department of war had readily available and frankly that were easily searchable by terminology like UAP and UFO. So now that now that those first lowhanging fruit, you know, video files and documents have been released, it's going to take a little bit more of a deeper dive and investigation and go tracking down some of this, following some of the threads, um, speaking to some of the people that worked on these programs, trying to get access to the to the real files. And I believe the real information is going to lie somewhere in between this government and the private sector. So we have what's called fedally funded research and development centers companies like Rand Corporation, MITER Group, um MIT Lincoln Labs, and they have kind of coordinated this uh government effort with with the private industry. A lot of them are doing this this um secret work and I've sent letters to be able to get them to release some of these documents and videos as well.

[00:33:06]>> Are you confident the government will release everything? How do we know if they don't? And you've even suggested using subpoenas. Do you think that's necessary?

[00:33:17]>> Um, if it's necessary, we will use it. I I've made it clear that I I know of videos. I've already seen some videos that the American people deserve to see.

[00:33:26]Um, and and look, where I'm coming at this issue after seeing and investigating this for several years is that I still don't know what this is, but I know that there's something out there. So, um, when you see objects that are flying that that are not really actually using normal flight, when they are when they're taking sharp right turns, when they're going from zero to Mach 3 um, instantaneously, that's not conventional technology, and there's something that that is really violating our US airspace, in particular, our military airspace. I've seen that footage. I've seen those objects. I've seen photographs of them. Something is up there. I just don't know what it is and what the origin is, but we need to get to the bottom of it. the video that you're describing, are those the videos you hope the government releases for the American public and really the world to see the way you're describing them? Is that what we're talking about here?

[00:34:16]>> Yeah. And there's there's a really a treasure trove of videos that uh that exist that that we often have whistleblowers come to us and talk to us about. Sometimes they're able to show us. And my expectation is that this administration is going to be releasing those files. And if they don't, then the the you know the break last moment would be for a member of Congress like myself to go and release those under the speech and debate clause in a committee hearing or in some other formal fashion.

[00:34:41]>> I've been watching your interviews all day and you say these files will change people's perspectives on what's out there. Are you convinced from what's been released that we are not alone? Do you need further proof? What are you thinking, Congressman, with the videos that we've all seen and the ones that will trickle down hopefully in the next week or two? Yeah, I can't conclude that what we're seeing is non-human intelligence, but what I can conclude is that there's something somebody's got a form of technology that is mindblowing technology that's that's flying above our airspace and and and whether it's us or our adversaries, you know, foreign governments or other is something that we really need to get to the bottom of.

[00:35:21]I >> I think you're completely right and transparency is key here. Congressman Eric Berles, please come back as these documents come out. I would love to talk to you about them.

[00:35:31]>> Anytime.

[00:35:31]>> All right. Thank you again, sir. And coming up, the US Coast Guard seizes the sailboat used by Lynette and Brian Hooker. This is one month after she vanished. Could this vessel be the key to unlocking her disappearance at sea?

[00:35:44]Well, NewsNation's Brian Enson, he's on it and he's live in just a moment.

[00:36:01]Let's turn to a story we have followed very closely here at NewsNation. The mysterious disappearance of Lynette Hooker. The sailboat at the center of the investigation arrived in Florida just this afternoon after the US Coast Guard seized it in the Bahamas. Now, Brian and Lynette Hooker were sailing in the islands. They were living on that boat when he claims she fell off a dingy and then was swept out to sea. That was more than a month ago. Brian Hooker was eventually released from a Bohemian jail with no charges. His wife's body still has not been found. Now, as the search for Lynette continues, Coast Guard investigators plan to search their sailboat. It's named Soulmate.

[00:36:40]News Nation senior national correspondent Brian Enton is live in Fort Peace, Florida. He's on a kayak.

[00:36:46]Good to see you, Brian. And what are you learning about the Coast Guard's investigation? What's happening on the water?

[00:36:52]>> Yeah, Hannah, we had to take this kayak because to get close to the Coast Guard base where this sailboat is, we were going to use our drone. Uh, but you're not allowed to fly a drone around a Coast Guard base. You're supposed to say 100 foot back on the water. So, we're trying to be careful. But this is the sailboat right here, Hannah. You can see it. It's got the blue hull. Says soulmate on the back. That is Brian and Lynette's uh sailboat. And this is an interesting twist in all of this that it has now been seized by the US Coast Guard and it's being kept here at the Coast Guard base in Fort Pierce, Florida. We know that there is an investigation happening with the Coast Guard. They've had people interviewing uh people who know the couple. There's also an investigation happening in the Bahamas. You'll remember Lynette uh and and Brian, her husband. They're from Michigan. They were living on that sailboat right there. Soulmate. Uh they were um on a dinghy. Brian says the weather was bad over in the Bahamas and this was on April 4th. He claims that she fell off the dinghy. Uh well, her family does not buy that. Thinks there's something skep fishy about the whole thing. And now there is this Coast Guard investigation. So, it's going to be interesting to see how this plays out, henna, especially now that they've actually seized the sailboat, which is pretty unusual. Uh, and I'm told by a source that there's a lot of action happening behind the scenes and that there could be some big developments in the investigation sometime uh, over the next week. Hannah, >> you're right. This is an interesting twist for the boat to get seized a month after her disappearance. You're right.

[00:38:18]Her family, Lynette's family, is not they don't think that Brian's being truthful, but has Brian Hooker said anything about this case?

[00:38:28]>> So, he has maintained that he has absolutely nothing to do with his wife's disappearance, that this was just a terrible accident when she fell off the dinghy. remember he was kept in uh jail essentially in the Bahamas for 5 days while they questioned him. But Bohemian law uh required them to release him because they didn't have enough evidence to keep him. Uh he's had a lawyer in the Bahamas. He also has a lawyer here in the United States in Michigan where he's from and and they've released statements saying that he had absolutely nothing to do with the disappearance of his wife.

[00:38:53]In fact, they say he wants to continue searching for her. But what's interesting is he actually left the Bahamas uh and is now back here in the United States. Whether he's going to come to uh to to try to claim his boat, I don't I don't even know if that's possible at this point since it's technically been seized uh by the US Coast Guard as part of this investigation. Hannah, >> all right, Brian Anton, I know you're on this. I know you'll keep us posted.

[00:39:14]Brian Anton, thank you so much. And Chris GMO, join me live next. We'll be right back.

[00:39:32]Chris Cuomo joining me now. Chris, it's always good to see you. Trump a few hours ago says the Iran deal or ceasefire is on life support. I mean, looking at their demands, they're pretty ridiculous. Are we still watching the art of the deal here?

[00:39:46]>> Listen, I I never understood uh people's confidence in the art of the deal. He didn't even write the book. Um we haven't had any deal making done. Our Congress is gone. They're supposed to be voting. He was supposed to call in the healthc care bigs. He was supposed to freeze credit card rates. You know, uh, talking about a deal is easy. Delivering on one is hard. Dealing with a bunch of Islamist zealot terrorists is not easy.

[00:40:12]And that's what the regime is, and everybody knew it. So, we know it's not going to end anytime soon. I don't like it, but I think we need less focus on how he's backpedaling and just more on whether there's going to be any progress at all. But we'll see. You tell me what you think, Henoba.

[00:40:29]>> Honestly, when I watched the propaganda videos, those Lego videos, you know, criticizing the administration, I just thought they were laughing as they were writing those demands. Honestly, I thought it was just one big joke if I had to be a fly in that boardroom as they were putting it all together.

[00:40:45]>> Nothing gets any better for them than it is right now.

[00:40:49]>> It's true.

[00:40:49]>> Why would they be in any rush to end this? Similarly, why would Israel be in any rush for this to end when they can pound on the regime and they can pound on Hezbollah in Lebanon, which we're not even watching, which once again there's no real media presence. Uh, and there's lots of blood being spilled. As soon as it's over, they're going to call for elections. And BB Netanyahu's got trouble. He may have a 10-year plan for weaning them off US aid, but he's not going to be there for 10 years.

[00:41:20]>> That was my question. And what do you think about him saying that he wants to wean off American money? You think it will happen? Yeah. Great. When can we start now?

[00:41:27]>> Yeah.

[00:41:28]>> Great. I mean, again, you know, a lot of people say that there's a lot of Trump in BB or maybe there's more BB than we know in Trump.

[00:41:38]>> Trump. All right, Chris Cuomo, my friend, take it away.