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Florida's Special Election; Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-WA) is Interviewed about Critical Elections Tomorrow; White House Plans Briefing Room Shakeup; Couple Deported to Colombia. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired March 31, 2025 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

NANCY GERTNER, FORMER FEDERAL JUDGE: That jurisdiction. Otherwise, the debate, it seems to me, is a constitutional debate, but it really goes for both sides.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And we should note that the appeals court refused to overturn that - that nationwide injunction from Judge Boasberg.

The White House has appealed this to the supreme court. They want the Supreme Court to step in. and it's just one of now I guess three cases that's already gone up to the court that has to do with some moves blocking parts or slowing down parts of the Trump agenda.

How do you think the Supreme Court will want to approach all of them? Will they try to make a ruling in one that affects the other, or do you think they'll go down the line and try to really focus on each one?

GERTNER: I think they focus on each one. I think right now the issue of the - the - the constitutionality of a nationwide injunction is up for grabs. There is a - there is a debate on both sides. Typically, a judge just rules in an individual case and affects the plaintiff and the parties in front of them. But - but in a situation where the - the ruling involved affects a nationwide policy, it will - it doesn't make any sense for the plaintiffs to go from state to state to state to state, as one person described it, like whack-a-mole.

But still, the core issue is the - is the judge shopping, not necessarily the scope of the injunction. There, certainly Judge Gorsuch wants to take another look at this. I don't know about the rest of the court.

BERMAN: I want to ask about a move that's happened over the last few days, where the White House has moved to remove line prosecutors in U.S. attorney's offices, which are jobs that traditionally have been - been non-partisan, you know, civil - legal, civil servants who prosecute cases. What would that do, do you think, to the process?

GERTNER: Well, at this point, removing the top prosecutor, the U.S. attorney in different district is classic.

BERMAN: Right.

GERTNER: Removing line prosecutors, as you suggested, is really an entirely different situation. The - the - broadly speaking, the - the - the U.S. attorney in every jurisdiction changes with whoever the president is. But the - but the rest of the staff is really supposed to be bringing - looking at issues that are - are supposed to bring some steadiness, some consistency to litigation, bringing a professional perspective. This is never done before. It's like you can't pick your prosecutor. You pick your prosecutor, and you're determining the outcome of the case. And that has never been done before.

So no, this is another example of Trump sort of reaching in to manipulate the system. (INAUDIBLE) ordinary processes, which is an appeal. You don't like what's going on in this district, there's a court of appeals in each jurisdiction. And then we have a Supreme Court. You don't try to get the outcome you want by manipulating who the judges on the one hand, or manipulating who the prosecutor is.

BERMAN: All right, former federal judge, Nancy Gertner, always great to see you. Thank you so much for coming in this morning.

All right, there is breaking news. We are standing by for the opening bell on Wall Street. Futures are down, taking a look now, pretty sharply. There was a huge selloff overseas. There are mammoth jitters over conflicting statements from President Trump and his advisers on tariffs that we think will be announced in two days, but who knows.

And then a couple deported after living in the U.S. for decades. How a routine check-in with immigration officials ended with them in handcuffs.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:38:13]

BERMAN: All right, this morning, do you know who's special? CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Awe, John.

BERMAN: He is special.

You know what else is special? Very special. Elections being held tomorrow in several locations around the country. Some which have republicans nervous. Just a little over two months into the Trump presidency.

So, let's talk about that, Captain Special. Florida's sixth congressional district. This was the seat held by Michael Waltz, who's now the embattled national security advisor.

ENTEN: Yes.

BERMAN: Is this supposed to be close? ENTEN: Yes, I mean, look, let's just talk about Florida's 6th

District, right? It's Josh Will versus Randy Fine, the Republican, in the 2025 special. This is a ruby red district. Donald Trump won it by, get this, 30 percentage points. This race should not be close. It should not be close. But this is a special election in which I want you to take a look at the turnout so far in the early vote. Republicans have just a nine point advantage. You don't have to be a mathematical genius to know nine points is way less than 30.

Now, of course, this is just party affiliation. We don't know how those folks are voting. But we do know that the early vote traditionally in Florida makes up the vast majority of the vote when all the votes are cast and counted. And so the bottom line is, at this point, if people vote according to their party affiliation, this race is likely to be far, far, far closer than the Donald Trump plus 30 that we saw in the presidential race. Just a little bit over, let's just say, what is that, four, five months ago?

BERMAN: It is interesting that this race, this number here, probably cost Elise Stefanik, congresswoman from New York, the ambassadorship to the United Nations -

ENTEN: That's right.

BERMAN: Because the White House, all of a sudden, got nervous. There could be sort of a trend across the country. So, talk to me about special elections in general.

ENTEN: Yes.

BERMAN: Would it be surprising to see Democrats do well?

ENTEN: Yes, you know, sometimes you see a special election, you say, that's a one off. But what's important here is it's part of a trend.

[08:40:01]

It's not just here in Florida's 6th in which Republicans are struggling, it seems to me, compared to the presidential baseline of 2024. I want to take you to the nation at large and take a look at the average 2025 special election in state, legislative and federal. And what we see so far is Democrats, on average, are way above their baseline. We're talking about doing nine points better than Harris did last year in 2024.

So, when we see that party affiliation statistics coming out of Florida's 6th, and you combine it with what we have been seeing in the nation as a whole, I think that is a big reason why Republicans are sweating, quite worried, and why - why, as Mr. Berman was pointing out, Elise Stefanik decided to actually stay in Congress instead of going off to the White House, because, keep in mind, that district is actually only about a plus 20 Trump district. That one could have been very competitive given that it seems to be Florida's 6th that is plus 30 Trump is already quite competitive as it is.

BERMAN: I don't think she decided. I think they decided - I think they -

ENTEN: Yes. I - so, I was trying to give her the benefit of the doubt.

BERMAN: I think they decided for her.

So, talk to me about how predictive special elections can be.

ENTEN: Yes, so, you know, you see all this, you see the plus nine and the early vote in Florida's 6th. You see the plus nine here. Democrats doing better than the 2024 baseline. You go, why does this matter? Why does this matter at all?

Well, why don't we take - a take a look back through time. Jump in the Delorean and let's take a look at special elections and midterm results. And I know there's a lot of font on this screen, a lot of text. But the key thing here is, if a party outperforms in special elections, in midterm elections, since the 2005/2006 cycle, five out of five times that party that outperforms goes on to win the U.S. House of Representatives. And, of course, that is what Democrats are hoping is the case this time around given so far the special election results.

BERMAN: And what had the White House nervous.

Harry Enten, thank you for explaining it so well.

ENTEN: Thank you. I feel so special.

BERMAN: Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: There's a lot that just went on there.

Let's continue it now. Joining us right now is Democratic Congresswoman Susan DelBene of Washington. She is the Chair of the DCCC, the House Democrats' Campaign Arm.

You are very much focused on what the gentleman we're just talking about there, focusing in on Florida 6, Mike Walz's seat specifically. It's a Trump plus 30 seat. Do you think you guys can actually win it?

REP. SUZAN DELBENE (D-WA): Well, I think it's stunning that we're even talking about this. It shows how dangerous the Trump and Republican agenda has been and how outraged people are across the country, not just Democrats, the American people writ large.

And so folks are turning out. You're seeing them turn out at town halls across the country who are voicing their outrage and concern. And you're seeing that in Florida, too.

Clearly, this is a, you know, very, very red district. But the fact that folks are even talking about it shows the frustration of the American people. And the fact that Elise Stefanik is no longer going to be the ambassador to the U.N., also another sign that folks are angry and Republicans are running scared.

BOLDUAN: Did this surprise you in Florida? I ask that because some of the reporting I saw was that the DCCC hasn't put any money into that special -- into those specials.

DELBENE: Yeah, we have been -- we're obviously focused on taking back the House. We only need three more seats to take back the House. And there have been a lot of resources put into these races. Folks are running a strong campaign. I actually think folks have the resources to get their message out. It's up to the voters.

BOLDUAN: How close you'll call it a win. Let's just focus on Mike Waltz' seat. You'll call it a win for Democrats if you get how close in, again, a district that Donald Trump won by 30.

DELBENE: I think what you just saw is the fact that just over about five months since the last election, Republicans are losing ground. So that gap, the smaller that gap is, lower than 30 points really shows the impact of Trump's agenda on the American people.

BOLDUAN: Anything better than a loss of 30, you're going to win?

DELBENE: Well, I think we're going to continue to see that go down. And obviously that's important, a reflection of kind of how people are reacting to what's happened just in the last about 70 days.

BOLDUAN: Let me ask, looking at some of the recent CBS just came out with a new poll showing that Donald Trump's approval rating stands at 50%. I was looking at then a recent Q poll found that 40% of Democratic voters, just 40% of Democratic voters approve of the job that Democrats are doing in Congress. The first time ever that congressional Democrats are underwater with their own voters in that poll.

To that end, the Democratic governor of California, he has been speaking out a lot and he has his take on the Democratic brand right now when he was on Real Time with Bill Maher. Let me play this for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): These guys are crushing us. The Democratic brand is toxic right now. The problem with the Democratic brand, we talk down to people, we talk past people. We're in a panic. I get it for good reason. This guy's not screwing around.

BILL MAHER, REAL TIME HOST: Right. OK.

NEWSOM: But we need to own our mistakes and we need to own what's wrong with our party.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:45:07]

BOLDUAN: What do you say to Gavin Newsom? If there is one problem Democrats have, what's the problem?

DELBENE: Well, I'd actually say, let's look at the things we've done right. And in the House, we actually --

BOLDUAN: Do you think Gavin Newsom's wrong?

DELBENE: Well, I actually think --

BOLDUAN: The Democratic brand is not toxic.

DELBENE: I actually think we did a lot of things right in our House races. And I think these are important in telling across the country. We have 13 Democrats in the House right now who won in seats that President Trump also won. We had incredible candidates on the ground in districts across the country who are talking about the issues that were important to their constituents, talking about costs and lowering costs of housing, of food, of child care, of health care.

BOLDUAN: But you can't deny that --

DELBENE: No, but we won. We won.

BOLDUAN: -- within --

DELBENE: Yes, in these tough districts.

BOLDUAN: But now -- but since then and now, you can't deny that there hasn't been a whole lot of, for lack of a better term, mess among what's the direction, what's the message, where are Democratic leaders taking us?

DELBENE: But what I'm saying is, we know when we talk to people about the issues that they care about the most, when we have great candidates running across the country, we win. We picked up seats in the House. In fact, House candidates ran ahead of the top of the ticket across the country.

So I think it's important that we have folks who are going to address issues head on, are going to talk to the issues that matter to the community. Again, lowering costs, making sure that everyone has affordable health care across the country. These are critical issues. In fact, you know, Donald Trump promised to lower costs on day one. Anything but, costs are going up the grocery store, the gas station.

BOLDUAN: On that point, tariffs. It's a big week for tariffs. With what is about to set in, it's unclear exactly what's about to set in or be announced. When Donald Trump says that he's promised -- this is going to be great for the American worker, what do you think, where do you think the strategy is for Democrats in this tariff plan?

DELBENE: Well, prices are going up for families across the country. This is a massive tax on American families. And let's be clear, these tariffs are taxes. They're sweeping, they're impacting prices at the grocery store, at the pharmacy counter, at the gas pump. And he's planning to do more, make the cost of automobiles go up. And we have integrated supply chains. Even U.S. manufacturers are struggling with these tariffs.

And I had a local manufacturer in my district say he's going to be tariffed out of business. He's trying to sell internationally. Just the uncertainty alone of not being able to be able to lock in prices means he's losing business. It's impacting farmers, families. And you've seen the impact that it's had across the country, and you've seen the impact on the market.

BOLDUAN: Donald Trump and his team says, trust in Trump, and we'll wait and see how it goes. We will see it together.

DELBENE: Yes, he said he didn't care.

BOLDUAN: About prices going up, he did say that this weekend. Congresswoman, thank you so much for coming in. Really appreciate your time.

John.

BERMAN: All right, new this morning, CNN has confirmed that the White House is planning to take over and shake up the seating chart for reporters in the White House. This has historically been handled by the White House Correspondents Association. So, does this mean the White House is trying to get more sympathetic reporters in place, with maybe way more questions like this?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: What has made you and your team so effective in finding, locating, apprehending, and deporting these violent, illegal migrants?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I love this guy. I wish more people would ask questions like that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, CNN chief media analyst Brian Stelter is with us this morning.

Talk to us about the move, Brian.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Right. This is, in some ways, inevitable. Reporters have been wondering if the White House would try to make this move, because it's all about power and propaganda at the end of the day. The Trump White House wants to assert more control over the press corps, wants to push the White House Correspondents Association off to the sidelines and take away their responsibility. And, ultimately, the Trump White House wants to promote media outlets that are sycophantic and supportive, not media outlets that scrutinize the White House. So, this may change that relationship even more so between the president and the press corps.

But as I said, this was, in some ways, expected. You know we've seen, at the Pentagon, some news outlets booted from their workspaces. Now, at the White House, talk of a seating plan shakeup. As one White House correspondent said to me, quote, it doesn't really matter where people sit, but it does matter when the White House tries to impact what stories are covered and what questions are asked by which reporters. And that's ultimately what we need to look out for. And more and more signs that this White House is trying to put the squeeze on real independent media and trying to promote pro-Trump outlets that don't really ask tough questions.

And that's why we've seen Sean Spicer and others, remember Sean Spicer, the first press secretary of the first Trump term, celebrating the word of this possible change. He was on X over the weekend saying, this is great, keep it coming. But there are concerns within the Correspondents Association that really the press corps is being shoved off to the side.

[08:50:04]

And ultimately, John, we'll see what happens. Is the Trump White House going to try to remove reporters or just relocate them? Time will tell.

BERMAN: While we're talking about the Correspondents Association, Brian, let's talk about the White House Correspondents Dinner, which now will not involve a comedian.

STELTER: Yes.

BERMAN: You know, Amber Ruffin was supposed to be a part of it. Now she will not. Why?

STELTER: And this is all part of a piece. It's all a part of how to manage this relationship with a White House that wants to assert all of its possible power. Critics are saying the press corps is being cowardly here, but the association president, Eugene Daniels, said this is about staying above the fray. He told members, quote, "at this consequential moment for journalism, I want to ensure the focus is not on the politics of division, but on awarding our colleagues for their outstanding work and providing scholarships for the next generation."

So, that's why comedian Amber Ruffin, who's known here on CNN for "Have I Got News for You," she's also the lead writer for Seth Meyers over on NBC, she is out. She's been canceled.

The proximate cause for this is a recent podcast Ruffin gave to "The Daily Beast," where she described some Trump officials as murderers. So, in some ways, this is a relief for reporters at the White House. They're not going to have to deal with all the fallout from Ruffin's comedy. But there are critics saying this sounds like capitulation.

John.

BERMAN: Change the tenor of the evening a little bit.

All right, Brian Stelter, great to see you this morning. Thank you very much.

This morning, there is new video showing the moment a space rocket, as opposed to a different kind of rocket, took off and then exploded just seconds later.

And happening now, an urgent search underway for any survivors of the deadly earthquake in southeast Asia, as the window to save them is closing quickly.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:56:11]

BOLDUAN: Video shows the moment a survivor was pulled from the rubble of a collapsed hotel in Myanmar more than three days after the powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake hit that war-ravaged country. Some very - some slim good news, I guess you could say, among so much devastation. Myanmar is where the earthquake's epicenter was located, and the death toll has now been increased, reaching a startling 2,000 people killed. Officials and experts also fear that the number of dead there could be far higher, and it could take weeks for the full picture of the devastation to emerge.

There's also this. A German startup's space rocket exploded just seconds after liftoff from Norway on Sunday. The rocket, known as Spectrum, was in the air for about 30 seconds before dramatically falling into the chilly Norwegian Sea in very, very dramatic fashion. It's coming, its coming, you will see it. There you go. Despite the crash, the company considers the flight attempt a success, given that they always say that but it's - I'm sure true, given that it was the first time a rocket capable of reaching orbit was launched from continental Europe, not including Russia.

The chair of a charity Prince Harry co-founded is now accusing him of harassment and bullying. This came out of an interview Sunday. Last week, Harry and others announced that they were no longer working with the Sentebale Organization. That charity is now responding, saying that Prince Harry quit in order to damage the charity after trying and failing to push her, the chair, out of the organization. Prince Harry co-founded the charity in 2006 to help young people with HIV and AIDS in Africa.

John.

BERMAN: All right, this morning, three children are fighting to bring their parents back to the United States. After 35 years living and working in the U.S., their parents were arrested, detained and deported to Colombia.

CNN's Julia Vargas Jones has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIA VARGAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Gladys and Nelson Gonzalez fled Colombia in 1989, applied for asylum in the U.S., and made California home. They raised three daughters, all born in the U.S. They paid taxes, volunteered during Covid, and checked in with immigration authorities every year without fail. Until a few weeks ago.

STEPHANIE GONZALEZ, PARENTS DEPORTED AFTER 35 YEARS IN THE U.S.: I spoke with my mom on the phone around 10:30 a.m., and she let me know that her appointment went great with her officer, that they gave her a year extension. And so we thought that everything was going to be great. And then, unfortunately, a couple hours later, we heard different news. The officer simply looked at his file and said that he didn't really have a case and that he was going to be detained, and then called my mom back in and arrested her as well with no explanation.

VARGAS (voice over): The couple was held for three weeks in detention facilities in California, Arizona and Louisiana, then deported to Colombia.

GONZALEZ: We didn't really get to say goodbye. The phone call from my dad was really short. He just told us that we had to go pick up his car that was left in the parking lot. He just told us that he loved us, that he didn't know where he was going.

VARGAS (voice over): In 2000, the couple was issued a voluntary departure order, but had received extensions yearly on their stay, until now. In a statement, ICE said that Gladys and Nelson had "exhausted all legal options to remain in the U.S. between March 2000 and August 2021, including reviews by the board of immigration appeals in 2001 and 2018, citizenship and immigration services in 2010, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in 2021. Their attorney says their arrest reflects a broader shift in immigration enforcement.

MONICA CROOMS, IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY: We're seeing people, like Gladys and Nelson, who have, again, cooperated with immigration over several years, have never given immigration any reason to believe that they would flee.

People like Gladys and Nelson are being swept up in these removal efforts.

[09:00:00]

And it's just - it's devastating. It's devastating to not only their families, but to the communities in which they live, because people are terrified.

VARGAS (voice over): The couple.