
About this episode
Get every episode summarized
Each time CNN 5 Things publishes, we email you a written briefing from the transcript — the topics, who appeared, and any specific claims, with the ad reads skipped.
Email me new episodesFree for 3 shows. No card needed.
Hosts & guests
Transcript ready
107 searchable segments. Every word is indexed and playable.
Full transcript
CNN 5 Things — Iran War Negotiations, CPAC 2026, Harris Reemerges and more. Machine-transcribed; use the interactive transcript above to jump the player to any line.
Hey there, from CNN, I'm David Rhine with the five things you need to know for Thursday, March 26th. President Donald Trump is voicing frustration with Iran's approach to negotiations and his warning they need to get serious before it's too late. In a true social post this morning he called Iranian negotiators different and strange, and threatened quote, they better get serious soon before it's too late because once that happens, there is no turning back and it won't be pretty. Senator Trump said this at a cabinet meeting at the White House. I say they're lousy fighters but they're great negotiators, and they are begging to work out a deal. I don't know if we'll be able to do that, I don't know if we're willing to do that. They should have done that four weeks ago, they should have done it two years ago. Meanwhile, Israel says it's killed Iran's navy chief Ali Reza Tang Siri, who it said was a key figure behind the almost total blockade of shipping traffic in the straight to four mues, running authorities have not commented on reports of his death.
When we come back, is mega really divided over Iran, we're going to get a closer look at that starting today. Stick around. 5 a.m. I'm up with a crisp Celsius energy drink, running 12 miles today. Grab a green juice, quick change, and head to work, meetings, workshops. One more Celsius, no slowing down, working late but obviously still meeting the girls for a little dancing. Yes, live, fit, go. Grab a cold, refreshing Celsius at your local retailer or locate now at Celsius.com. One of the biggest annual gatherings of conservatives kicks off today in Dallas, CPAC. We're going to be keeping an eye on this year's conservative political action conference to see how the right feels about a ton of key issues like the war in Iran and the Jeffrey Epstein files. CNN, Steve Contorno is there for us, Steve, what is the vibe done there? So David, I anticipate CPAC is going to look a little different this year and that's because President Trump is not expected to attend.
He has been a fixture at CPAC for the better part of the last decade. Though certainly he will loom large over the event, especially with everything that's happening in Iran. There are some deep divisions in the conservative movement over the decision to get the US involved in a new foreign conflict and it actually just ran into Matt Schlapp, who is the chair of CPAC, and he told me he does expect some of those tensions to be on display throughout the week. The former Vice President and 2024 replacement Democratic nominee Kamala Harris is now responding to speculation about what she'll do next. As her book tour to promote a memoir of her 2024 presidential run wraps up, Harris plans to visit Democratic Party events in four southern states. Next month she'll appear at fundraisers for state parties in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, before heading to Arkansas and Washington, DC. Harris hasn't publicly decided whether she'll run again, but her travel plans echo what her 2020 campaign called its SEC strategy, an effort to build support among the heavily
black primary electorates, and it puts him familiar with her plans to tell CNN that conversations about similar stops through the summer and fall are already underway. In a warning you, this next story talks about rape. A CNN investigation found hidden online communities where men shared tips and videos of drugging and sexually assaulting women, often their own partners. The world was confronted by this form of internet and enabled abuse in 2024 during the mass rape and drugging trial of Dominique Pelico and 50 other men in southern France. Pelico connected with dozens of men in an online chatroom to instigate the rapes of his then-wife, Giselle. Pelico and dozens of others were found guilty in 2024 and the website involved was shut down. But while that case briefly shown a spotlight on the dark corner of the internet, CNN found an online world where the commodification and amplification of sexual violence against women is flourishing. CNN's reporting highlights a global network of abuse and some survivors are speaking out. You can check it out over at CNN.com, it's also linked in our show notes.
One more break. A Trump critic is getting an award from the Kennedy Center, Mr. Groud. Your little one grew three inches overnight, adorable, also expensive. Sell their pint-sized pieces on Deepop and list them in minutes with no selling fees. Because somewhere, a dad refuses to pay full price for the clothes his kid will outgrow tomorrow. And he's ready to buy your son's entire wardrobe right now. Consider your future growthspurt budget secured. Selling on Deepop, where taste recognizes taste, payment processing fees and boosting fees still apply. See website for details. The other day, as reports were surfacing that the comedian Bill Maher would be receiving the Mark Twain prize for American humor from the Kennedy Center, White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt told CNN Point Blank that wasn't happening. Quote, This is fake news. Bill Maher will not be getting this award. You could understand why. Trump has worked to completely reshape the Kennedy Center and its programming in his
image. And even though he met with Trump last year at a White House dinner arranged by the entertainer Kid Rock to give them an opportunity to speak directly, Maher has been a vocal critic of Trump's policies and Trump has lobbed plenty of insults his way. While today, the Kennedy Center confirmed that Maher would indeed be receiving the prestigious award, saying he has been influencing American discourse one politically incorrect joke at a time. Maher joked in a statement that, quote, it is indeed humbling to get anything named for a man who's been thrown out of his many school libraries as Mark Twain. We should say Maher's HBO show, real time with Bill Maher, heirs on CNN on Saturdays, both HBO and CNN are part of Warner Bros Discovery. It's all for now, another update coming your way later this evening. Talk to you later. 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 FEM tech 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. Bethany 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.
More episodes
More from CNN 5 Things

SCOTUS Nixes GOP-friendly Map
CNN 5 Things

‘Trump-a-palooza': Is Trump Serious About a $5K Midterm Payout?
CNN 5 Things

Trump Promises $5,000 Checks if GOP Wins
CNN 5 Things

‘Trump-a-palooza' Midterm Convention Underway
CNN 5 Things