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Key Races in Wisconsin, Florida Test Power of Trump and Musk; Global Stock Markets Slump in Response to Trump Tariffs; University of Minnesota Graduate Student Detained by ICE; House GOP Leaders to Hold Off on Push to Impeach Judges. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired March 31, 2025 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

JAMES SMITH, ECONOMIC FORECASTER: We may cure that, but that'll probably take at least a decade, so we have to import it.

ADAM CHARNACK, CO-FOUNDER, HI-WIRE BREWING: There's only so many options on where you buy your things. The cans are manufactured in the United States. I can't control where they get their aluminum from.

Our can prices went up immediately five percent and they'll probably go up again. 24 cans in a case, so you know you already have a quarter a case right there. So those things really add up and when you're selling, you know, it's a volume game.

You know, we don't sell 100 cases a day or a week. We're selling thousands and thousands. I'm meeting that cost.

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And the only alternative to recoup that right now would be to charge more.

CHARNACK: I can't do that.

AARON WILSON, HEAD BREWER, FRENCH BROAD BREWERY: One of the most active beer cities in the country.

GALLAGHER (voice-over): The extra costs are especially hard to swallow here in Asheville, home to more than 50 breweries that account for more than 2,500 jobs, with nearly a billion dollars in local economic impact, according to the Asheville Chamber of Commerce. After months of loss, the beer industry, like The City, is still getting back on its feet.

WILSON: Six months to the day, we've finally got a beer in the tank.

GALLAGHER (voice-over): The French Broad River Brewery is still recovering from Helene. Owner Paul Casey says tariffs could make some of these small businesses pivot.

GALLAGHER: Is there sort of a breaking point?

PAUL CASEY, OWNER, FRENCH BROAD BREWERY: I think it will change some people's or some companies or breweries business plan. So instead of packaging their beers up and sending them out into the market, they may focus more on their taprooms. It's a lot lower cost.

GALLAGHER (voice-over): Brewers also worry about tariff proposals on the horizon.

CASEY: A lot of our grain and malts are sourced from overseas, from Germany and the U.K., and that will impact a lot of breweries across the board.

CHARNACK: Now, a lot of our ingredients are just globally sourced.

GALLAGHER: Is it sustainable?

CHARNACK: Right now, I can tell you, you know, our costs have gone up on our cans. There's nothing I can do about it. Our margins are pretty thin as it is, so it's making it harder in an already difficult situation to be a successful small business.

GALLAGHER (voice-over): Dianne Gallagher, CNN, Asheville, North Carolina.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Election Eve in America. For real. Key special elections in crucial states could serve as a referendum or referenda on the young Trump presidency, which explains why Elon Musk is swooping in spending big.

Breaking news, all eyes on the markets. We are bracing for the opening bell. Futures just took a sharp turn downward following huge selloffs overseas. This is all about these huge new and sometimes conflicting tariff threats from President Trump.

And the death toll is rising. More than 1,700 people killed in the earthquake in Southeast Asia as officials race to find people still trapped in the rubble.

Sara is out today. I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: This money -- this money -- whoo! Here we go.

This morning, big money and a big spotlight. All eyes in the political world are on two states, Wisconsin and Florida. Reason being, in just about 24 hours, polls are going to open in elections in both states that have turned into real tests of President Trump and Elon Musk's power and an early test also of how real the public anger and backlash is against some of the president's early moves.

In Wisconsin, voters will decide the balance of the state Supreme Court by choosing a new justice. Now, the race has already broken records, $73 million in spending, the most of any U.S. judicial race.

On Sunday, Elon Musk was there to hand out $1 million checks to two Wisconsin voters as part of his effort to win voters over. Now let's talk about Florida. Two House seats are up for grabs in special elections. Seats vacated by Matt Gaetz and Mike Waltz, who's now Trump's national security advisor, of course.

CNN's Mark Preston starting us off this hour. And the big question you know that some out there are asking is, why are these seemingly smaller special election races, why do they matter so much right now?

Let's start in Wisconsin. What is going on there? Why is Elon Musk care about it so much? What do you see happening?

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, Wisconsin is a state that certainly is viewed as a battleground state back in 2020. Joe Biden barely won. Donald Trump barely won it back in 2024 by less than 30,000 votes.

But what's interesting about Wisconsin right now is that this state Supreme Court, which is controlled by Democrats, is now about to be put to the test of whether or not Republicans can take it back. What's at stake? Several big issues, namely abortion, is the biggest issue right now that is on the table that Democrats and Republicans are fighting about.

[08:05:03]

Collective bargaining is going to be a big issue as well. The redrawing of congressional districts. So if Democrats can can hold on to the seat right here, as you see Susan Crawford, she is the Democratic or even this nonpartisan race. You're not supposed to have titles, but she is the liberal candidate. And Brad Schimel is the conservative Republican candidate.

Elon Musk, though, taking very much interest in this race, spending more than $20 million of his own money in this race. And in fact, he was there last night, as you said.

Let's hear what he had to say not only about Wisconsin, but what we're going to see down in Florida, Kate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELON MUSK, TRUMP PRESIDENTIAL ADVISER: What's happening on Tuesday is a vote for which party controls the U.S. House of Representatives. That is why it is so significant. And whichever party controls the House, you know, to a significant degree, controls the country, which then steers the course of Western civilization.

So it's like, I feel like this is one of those things that that may not seem that it's going to affect the entire destiny of humanity, but I think it will.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PRESTON: You know, what's interesting about this, Kate, is that, you know, we spend so much time focusing on Donald Trump and trying to get inside of his head. I think we're already inside Donald Trump's head. One of the most powerful people in the world right now happens to be the most richest person in the world who happens to have an incredible amount of influence over the makeup of the federal government. And that's Elon Musk.

BOLDUAN: Yes and trying to have an incredible amount of influence over that election.

And let's focus in now on Florida. These two seats, they should be easy wins for Republicans. I mean, they're districts that Trump won plus 30 and even more. Why is it giving -- why, especially Mike Walz's seat? Why is it giving Republicans so much heartburn right now, then?

PRESTON: Well, Republicans will tell you it's because their candidate is not a great candidate, hasn't gone out, hasn't really worked very hard, thought it was would be an easy election. But on the other side, you have Democrats rallying behind Brad Schimel. He is the Democratic candidate.

Now, as you know, like our Democrats going to win these races tomorrow. One is for Mike Waltz. The other was for Matt Gaetz. The odds are they will not win these races. However, if they can show substantial gains, meaning chipping away at at that 30 point game, it could show you that maybe Donald Trump's support is softening a little bit specifically in conservative areas. So Democrats hope to get that at least one of those seats because we know it's a razor thin margin Speaker Johnson has right now. And that's why we saw at least Stefanik step aside from being, you know, going to the U.N. in New York and will stay in Congress -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes, Elise Stefanik having to do a full 180 about face on her plans for the coming weeks and months with that announcement from Trump. Good to see you, Mark. Thank you -- John.

BERMAN: All right. With us now, Maria Cardona, CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist and Scott Jennings, CNN political commentator and former special assistant to President George W. Bush.

I'm going to ask both of you to play a little game this morning. Fill in the blank. These special elections tomorrow, Maria, will tell us blank.

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: That voters are sick of Donald Trump and MAGA and Musk's overreach. They're sick of being betrayed by what the president promised in the elections, which is bringing down and reducing the cost of groceries, gas and rent. They are sick of the economic turmoil and the tariff taxes that Trump is trying to impose on them.

And we're going to see that voter backlash. We have already seen it in the last special elections. Democrats have won 13 -- 12 out of the last 13 special elections, flipping Republican seats that Donald Trump won by double digits. I think we're going to see a lot of that tomorrow.

BERMAN: So you've had time to prepare your answer, Scott, so I'm expecting a lot from you. These special elections will tell us blank.

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Very little. I mean, look, there's special elections and turnout in a special election is vastly different than a turnout in a midterm or even a turnout in a presidential.

To Maria's point about people being sick of Donald Trump, I just point out the CBS poll yesterday has a 50 percent approval rating, which is higher than the portion of the vote he got in the November election. So I don't think people are really sick of it.

I do think a couple of things are true. Number one, the Republican Party is grappling with a new reality. We have a lot of voters in the party that do not vote regularly. They're low propensity voters. They turned out for Donald Trump. They like to vote when he's on the ballot.

But even in the November election, you saw people show up, vote Trump and then leave the rest of it blank. One of the things the party has to do is condition those people to show up even when Donald Trump is not the person they're voting for.

Number two, I think the Elon Musk point that you played earlier about the future of Western civilization, I actually think this is a key issue the Republicans ought to lean in on, because it's not just a one off election when you're voting in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race or some congressional special election in Florida.

[08:10:04]

These things matter. There are ripple effects. A vote here causes major implications on policy down the line. So I think Elon is actually onto something with that messaging. And I hope Republicans, especially the new ones who aren't regular voters, take it to heart.

BERMAN: Scott, as long as we're playing games here, can you in one sentence explain what you think the president's tariff policy will be that he announces on April 2nd? Do you think he can explain it in one sentence today?

JENNINGS: Well, I would never want to predict or get ahead of Donald Trump. But my view is, is that he's been very clear that he believes tariffs will force more manufacturing, more production, more onshoring into the United States, which will ultimately be good for the working class of America. The people who agree with him are the unions, like the head of the UAW, Shawn Fain, was out this weekend talking about that.

BERMAN: But Scott, what's he going to do? Because he said reciprocal. Now he's maybe saying not. Now some of his advisors are talking to the paper saying 20 percent across the board. No one knows. And this is like two days from now.

JENNINGS: Yes, and I'm not here to I'm not here to tell you that I know either. I'm just telling you that I think the general principle is they believe, he believes that tariffs force jobs, manufacturing and production back into the United States. The working class will benefit from this. And if allowed to play out over the long term, it will benefit, you know, the core working class constituency that he believes has been hollowed out by trade policies of the past. That is their general economic view.

BERMAN: Over the long term Peter Navarro says 10 years, $6 trillion of revenue, of revenue from tariffs, which some economists will tell you is $six trillion in taxes. Did you ever think you'd see Republicans so in favor of revenue?

CARDONA: You know, this is something that Americans are actually becoming very concerned with, and that's why you're seeing the volatility in all of these special elections. The fact that we are even talking about the two special elections in Florida tomorrow, John, I think is an indication of how scared and sick voters are about what Trump is imposing on them versus what they expected because of his promises during the election.

Now, I get what Scott is saying. I think that it's true that Trump thinks that this is going to bring back some kind of magic, you know, situation where manufacturing is going to come back and magically appear. But the fact is, manufacturing has been coming back. And the fact also is that we live in a global economy.

And what these tariffs are doing, and I think demonstrating, is that Donald Trump and the people around him don't understand that global back and forth. You've had stories all morning, John, about how so many people that are involved in that global economy, from car dealerships to those folks who make car parts that come back here and then they go overseas again and then come back to complete the car. That is what is being disrupted by these crazy, chaotic tariff announcements that apparently Trump doesn't care.

And we actually know that he doesn't care. He said that he could care less if prices go up for consumers on cars. That's not going to bode well for him or for Republicans in the upcoming elections.

But then he doesn't really understand what the global economy is and how it works. And that's why you're seeing economists saying that these are not tariffs. They're going to be taxes on the American consumer. And I think you're going to see a backlash from voters on that.

BERMAN: Scott, shifting gears, the Wall Street Journal has a story out today that says that President Trump will keep his national security advisor, Michael Waltz, but is really unhappy with him. And it cites, you know, the fact that somehow Jeffrey Goldberg's contact ended up, you know, in the Signal, et cetera, et cetera. It also includes a line that I'm going to read here. And again, this is Wall Street Journal reporting.

Two U.S. officials also said that Waltz has created and hosted multiple other sensitive national security conversations on Signal with cabinet members, including separate threads on how to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine, as well as military operations. They declined to address if any classified information was posted on those chats.

So if there were other chats on Signal, Scott, is this something that you think the White House should now disclose? Is this something that should come out as part of, I guess, the independent -- the inspector general investigation?

JENNINGS: Well, I think what they need to do is clarify whether this tool is OK to use. I mean, there's a lot of people in Washington that use it, and there's some indication that even the previous administration used it. I heard Senator Warner on ABC yesterday morning saying that he uses it and encourages other people to use it.

And so, I think if you're worried about the tool, what the White House needs to do is clarify when and how can you use this tool or, hey, we don't want you to use this tool anymore, whatever the rules of the road are going to be moving forward.

[08:15:30]

You know, that's the thing about this moment. It was a mistake. If I were Trump, I'd be a little upset, too, because it overshadowed what was otherwise a very successful military operation. We pounded the bad guys based on an order from the commander in chief, a righteous order. It was a good hit and it was the right thing to do.

And now we're talking about, you know, a communications tool. So to me, the best thing that can happen coming out of this, make it a teachable moment, use it to set hardcore policy in the White House.

You can use it, you can't use it, whatever the rules are, make it clear to everyone and make everyone follow it moving forward.

BERMAN: All right, Scott Jennings, Maria Cardona, thanks to both of you -- Kate.

CARDONA: Thanks.

BOLDUAN: A University of Minnesota student detained in an immigration arrest. The school call is deeply concerning and a top U.S. official says hundreds of student visas have now been revoked.

Also, the White House Correspondents Association, breaking with tradition, why they've announced that they are dropping the comedian from the program for the big dinner.

And a rocket spinning out and crashing moments after takeoff. What we now know about what led to that.

[08:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: A graduate student at the University of Minnesota is the latest in a wave of international students being detained by immigration officials. Now, the university's president has said that the person who has not been identified was taken into custody at an off-campus residence. It's still unclear what the student is accused of, what the immigration status is, and where they have been taken.

CNN's Rafael Romo is following the very latest, and very clearly, there are a lot of questions surrounding all of this. What are you learning?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, a lot of questions, Kate. Good morning. This case stands out due to the lack of information about what exactly happened to the student.

Officials have not released the student's identity, where this individual is currently being held, or the reason for the detention. CNN reached out to Immigration and Customs Enforcement to request information about this case, but so far, there has been no reply.

The University of Minnesota disclosed in a letter sent to students, faculty, and staff on Friday, calling what happened a deeply concerning situation, as many on campus rallied in support of the detained student expressing concern and indignation.

Kate, according to the letter, an international graduate student who's enrolled at the Twin Cities campus was detained by ICE agents on March 27th. The detention, the letter said, happened off campus.

University of Minnesota President Rebecca Cunningham said in the letter that the university had no prior knowledge of this incident and did not share any information with federal authorities before it occurred.

Several Minnesota officials, including Governor Tim Walz, have reacted with both concern and surprise about this case. An activist attending the rally at the University of Minnesota said she does not consider the operations to detain international students as detentions, but in her words, abductions. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAMONA MALCZYNSKI, PRESIDENT, UNITED GRADUATE WORKERS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO: The nature of the ICE abductions of international graduate students and immigrants across the country since the Trump administration came into office has been horrific. People are being taken without being told why and by officers who are sometimes masked and not in uniform.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: And, Kate, the detention comes as several foreign nationals affiliated with prestigious American universities have been arrested amid the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. Mahmoud Khalil, a prominent pro-Palestinian activist and Columbia University student, is among those detained, as well as Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts University graduate student, whose lawyers say she is unfairly being punished for speaking out in favor of Palestinian rights.

A video of her detention, as you may remember, showing six plainclothes officers encircling her on the street near her apartment in the Boston area went viral last week -- Kate. BOLDUAN: All right, Rafael, thank you so much for that update.

Ahead for us, devastation not seen in over a century. I mean, the images are just horrific. The search for survivors continues now after the 7.7 magnitude earthquake that hit in Myanmar.

And the chairwoman of a charity co-founded by Prince Harry is now accusing him of harassment and bullying. We have the details coming up.

[08:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right, new this morning, Republican leaders in the House seem to be pulling back on an effort to impeach judges whose rulings they do not like. House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordon tells CNN they will look at withholding funding for district courts, and there's a bill that would limit the authority of district courts to issue nationwide injunctions.

With us now is former federal judge Nancy Gertner. Judge, thanks so much for being with us.

This effort to block district court judges from issuing injunctions that go beyond their district, nationwide injunctions, like Judge Boasberg did with the Alien Enemies Act. What would that do to the system?

NANCY GERTNER, FORMER FEDERAL JUDGE: Well, I mean, first of all, the key problem is not necessarily the nationwide injunction issue. That has been -- those were injunctions that were issued during the first Trump administration, during the Biden administration. The key problem is when you bring a case in a single judge district.

In other words, in a district in which there is only one judge and therefore you are classically judge shopping. The injunctions that have been the subject of the criticism in the in the second Trump administration have really been, I think it's like 39 injunctions by judges who have been appointed by five different federal judges. In other words, it's it's not judge shopping because they're being brought in the District of Columbia or being brought in Washington state where there's a random selection of judges.

That wasn't the case when Republicans would bring cases before Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Texas. He was the only judge sitting there or before Judge Aileen Cannon in Florida. She was the only judge there.

So the issue is, I mean, there's a debate about nationwide injunctions, but there's a particular debate about bringing a nationwide injunction when you are looking for a particular judge who's the only person sitting in that jurisdiction. Otherwise, the debate, it seems to me, is a constitutional debate, but it really goes for both sides.

[08:30:00]