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High-Stakes Races in Florida and Wisconsin; Many in Dark over Tariff Plans; Rep. Bryan Steil (R-WI) is Interviewed about the Race in Wisconsin; Trump Administration Admits Deportation Mistake. Aired 9- 9:30a ET

Aired April 01, 2025 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Society and rarely cooperates with the international community, is asking for international aid and help. Already one of the poorest nations in Asia, Myanmar has been further devastated by four years of civil war. And the earthquake zone crosses the war's front lines. With its people in desperate need, some have been critical of the military junta.

YANGHEE LEE, FORMER U.N. SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON MYANMAR HUMAN RIGHTS: Why hasn't Min Aung Hlaing sent in all of his military assets for rescue and relief? We don't see any helicopters with rescue and relief teams. We only see civilians digging into the rubbles.

WATSON (voice over): Some lucky survivors in this majority Buddhist country are giving thanks to a higher power.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): While being trapped we learned that nothing is permanent. And the most important thing to do before death is to live a happy life and do many good deeds. Don't do bad things, because karma will follow you.

WATSON (voice over): They say they may become nuns to show their gratitude for their miraculous escape.

Ivan Watson, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: It is election day in America, friends. No, you're not stuck in a time warp. It's election day. Polls are officially open in two states. Wisconsin's multi-million-dollar judicial election and Florida's two special House elections. Why Elon Musk is so involved. Why Republicans are slightly scared. And what this all has to do with the balance of power.

Also, a man in Maryland deported to a prison in El Salvador. The Trump administration now confirms that they made a, quote/unquote, administrative error. But they say they can't return him to the U.S. now. And today a high-profile murder case is headed for retrial in

Massachusetts. Jury selection to begin in the new case against Karen Read, the woman accused of killing her police officer boyfriend.

I'm Kate Bolduan, with John Berman and Sara Sidner. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: The gang's all here because today is election day in America. Two states are holding critical elections and presenting the first big response of voters to President Trump's power since taking office. In Wisconsin, voters are choosing a new supreme court justice to decide the balance of power in their highest court. The race has attracted an historic amount of money. At least $90 million has been spent on that race, and that's never been done before in a judicial race.

Now, Trump ally Elon Musk was recently there handing out million dollar checks to a couple of Wisconsin voters.

And in Florida, a battle for two open congressional seats, including the one vacated by Mike Waltz, who left to become Trump's national security advisor, in a deep red district. But it's giving Republicans a bit of anxiety after the Democrat in those races outraised his GOP opponent by about 10 to one. If Democrats do outperform expectations there, it could give them some much needed momentum.

Joining me now from Washington is CNN political analyst Mark Preston.

But first, Mark, hold your horses. I know you've got a lot to say.

Let us go to Steve Contorno, who we just got up live outside a polling location in Ormond Beach, Florida. I am well familiar with that pretty place.

What are you seeing so far? Are you seeing any crowds yet? And why are these races so indicative of what we might see going further?

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Sara, there's been a steady flow of people coming into this polling district all morning. Certainly nothing like you would see on a normal election day. But there have been just a number of people walking in and out all morning long, getting the - weighing in on this race.

And this is a race that few people anticipated would be such a hotly contested race. And as you said, the Democrats shocking both Republicans and Democrats by putting up a $10 million fundraising figure last month, outraising his Republican counterpart, Randy Fine, by a 10 to 1 margin. Really starting a wave of panic in the GOP, where we saw top House Republicans and I'm told a top adviser to Donald Trump reaching out to find and saying, hey, you need to get your house in order and put up a fight here.

And they certainly have been doing that since then. We've seen Donald Trump hold a tele rally for Randy Fine. We've seen Byron Donalds last night, Ben Shapiro, the conservative podcaster. There have been a ton of posts on social media encouraging Republicans in this district that they got to get out. It's definitely a different tone than we're seeing on the Democratic side.

I was at an event for Josh Weil. He's an Orlando teacher running in this race. And there was a lot of energy there, a lot of hope and optimism in that they are about to send a message, not just in Florida, but to the country by winning this special election and making the House majority incredibly - which is already incredibly narrow, even more tight, and giving Democrats a shot in the arm that they sorely need.

[09:05:19]

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you so much, live there for us, just on the mark. Thank you so much for being there, Steve. We will check in with you a bit later.

Let's go now to Mark Preston. Look, let's make no mistake about this. In both of the districts in Florida, I think its district six and district one, Trump won by more than 30 points. So, when you look at these districts, why would these districts give us an indication of what may happen elsewhere, judging that, yes, the Democrat did out, you know, got more money than his Republican counterpart in one of those districts.

MARK PRESTON, SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I mean, we're basically looking at them because they're the only thing in play right now. They're really the first elections we've seen since Donald Trump has taken office. And, you know, we're trying to look for a barometer in some ways of how people are viewing Donald Trump.

I don't think we should read too much into these elections right now. Yes, Republicans are concerned, but they don't have a terrific candidate right now in this race that they're so concerned about losing in Daytona Beach. He hasn't, you know, the complaint, as Steve was noting, hasn't been - has - has not been a great candidate.

However, if Democrats can cut that margin by say half, down to 15 points, if they lose this special election by 15 points, as opposed to losing by 30, they can start to at least have some kind of political win, you know, at a time when the Democratic Party, as we can see, is incredibly lost.

SIDNER: Yes, it would be a real shocker if the Democrat we're seeing, Josh Weil, is - is the Democrat that raised that money, if he actually won, that would be a whole different conversation judging from past elections there in a very deep red parts of Florida.

All right, let's move on to Wisconsin. The battle for the seat for - a judicial seat at the state supreme court. What - 90 million plus dollars have been spent on this race.

PRESTON: Right.

SIDNER: More than we've ever seen in any judicial race in U.S. history. What is going on here? Why is this one so important? PRESTON: Well, it just shows you, you know, look, money has always

played an important, outsized - outsized role in politics. But we're seeing it in play just like right before our eyes.

As you noted, over $90 million for this state supreme court judicial race could top 100. Elon Musk and his affiliated entities are in for 21 million of that. We see a bunch of liberal donors on the other side as well, including the Illinois governor, J.B. Pritzker, putting money into the race.

Look, what we're seeing here is the fight for really the direction of what Democrats think is the message for them moving forward. If they're able to win this seat in Wisconsin, and, mind you, Donald Trump won Wisconsin by the smallest of margins, but he did win Wisconsin back in 2024. But if Democrats can hold on to this seat, there are specific issues that we could see brought up, abortion, we could see the congressional lines redrawn so that you will see more Democrats, or at least Democrats would have a better shot of winning, you see collective bargaining rights that were stripped away many years ago in Wisconsin in a very high-profile fight, you could see those come back for workers, nurses, what have you.

So, you're seeing really this fight in Wisconsin, really, if Democrats can win, does that become really a - the birth, so to speak, of the fight against Donald Trump and his policies?

SIDNER: Wisconsin has made some choices for president and been right many, many, many times. So, we will see what happens with this race and if it does give us a view as to what is going to happen in future elections as 2026 gets closer and closer and closer.

Mark Preston, it is always a great pleasure to have you on with us. Appreciate you.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, new this morning, CNN has learned that many of the president's advisers are still in the dark about his plans for tariffs, one day away from what is supposed to be the big announcement.

And over on Capitol Hill this morning, some Democratic senators are planning to force a vote to try to block some of the tariffs. And some Republicans might very well join them.

Let's get right to CNN's Lauren Fox for the latest on this.

Good morning.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

Yes, there definitely is some trepidation among Republicans, especially in the United States Senate, when it comes to what Donald Trump might do tomorrow when it comes to those tariffs. Now, as you mentioned, a lot of his advisers are still in the dark. A lot of Republicans in the Senate are still in the dark about what those specific plans are.

And there's really been this yo-yo effect on Capitol Hill. You have Republicans who argue that Donald Trump has gone back and forth, back and forth, time and time again, warning of tariffs that were coming, then pulling back. The big question is what happens tomorrow?

But as sort of a preview to all of this, Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat from the state of Virginia, is going to force Republicans to have to make a decision when it comes to the tariffs that Trump might impose on Canada, specifically, potentially blocking his efforts by basically repealing the emergency action that he's using to justify putting these tariffs in place by unilateral action.

[09:10:19]

Now, there's a huge question right now on how many Republicans may join their Democratic colleagues. As you can imagine, the Republican leadership operation in the Senate is trying to work to keep their members united.

But there are a couple of Republican senators who have voiced concerns. Senator Rand Paul is helping sponsor this resolution, and Senator Susan Collins and Senator Thom Tillis have both signaled they may join Democrats in voting for it.

Now, its non-binding. We don't expect that the House is going to take this up. But, obviously, that would be a huge signal to the White House just a day before this announcement is expected.

John.

BERMAN: The White House, I'm sure, watching those numbers, particularly on the Republican side, very, very closely.

Lauren Fox, thank you very much.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Joining us right now to talk more about all this is Republican Congressman Bryan Steil of Wisconsin.

Let's focus in - Congressman, thanks for coming in - on the election happening today in your home state. Let's start there. This is now the most expensive judicial race in U.S. history. $90 million spent overall. Nearly 20 by Elon Musk and affiliated groups alone.

Are you happy to have Elon Musk playing such a big role in this election?

REP. BRYAN STEIL (R-WI): Wisconsin is always a tipping point state. And money seems to always find its way in. I'm of the view we have way too much money in politics. But it shouldn't be lost on your viewers that George Soros has poured millions of dollars in, and the Democratic governor of Illinois, the state to the south of Wisconsin, has also poured millions in. Why? Because the left wants to drive forward a radical agenda. In the state of Wisconsin, we're concerned about parental rights,

school choice, voter integrity. And that is why in Wisconsin we're working so hard to get Brad Schimel on the court.

BOLDUAN: I looked at the numbers. When it comes to George Soros, he's donated $2 million to the Wisconsin State Democratic Party this cycle. Just by comparison, you're looking at $19 million, more than $19 million for Elon Musk and affiliated groups is why I asked specifically about that.

And I want to play for you what Democratic Senator Chris Murphy said about this when speaking to my colleague Sara Sidner earlier - earlier in our show.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): Nobody is spending more money than Elon Musk. And he's spending it in a way that just feels really icky and corrupt. I mean he's literally offering, what, $20 to anybody who posts something friendly about their candidate. He's essentially buying votes in a way that I think is going to turn a lot of Wisconsin voters off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Are you concerned about that?

STEIL: So, let's look back to 2023. And what happened was the left wildly outspent the conservative. I didn't hear those complaints at that time. Now that the overall spending between the left and the right is reasonably balanced, I'm not shocked to find that Democrats are upset.

Overall, there's way too much money in politics. I'd love to get the spending way down and love to have media focus on the issues of the race. But at the end of the day, this is a race for the future of Wisconsin, which is why, at the end of the day, I think conservative voters are going to show up and vote for Brad Schimel.

BOLDUAN: So you're saying you - you're - so then, to my question, you're not concerned about what - about there being backlash to the money that Elon Musk is spending amongst voters?

STEIL: Well, I think there's way too much money in politics across the board, but I think it's worth noting that the money being spent on the left and the right is roughly equal. And so finally Republicans in the state of Wisconsin and conservatives are going to have at least an equal voice on the airwaves. I think that's actually really important. Rather than allowing the left to wildly outspend the conservative, this is a reasonably equal spending between the two parties.

Is there too much money in politics? Absolutely. Could we reform Wisconsin's campaign finance system? Absolutely. But that isn't the case. What we're looking at is a reasonably even spend. And the good news is, this race is close. And I think at the end of the day today, conservatives are going to pour out across the state because we care about election integrity, we care about families, we care about parental rights. And I think we're going to see an election victory for Brad Schimel.

BOLDUAN: And we will find out. Hopefully it will all come in at - by the end of the day.

Something we're also hearing a lot from a lot of Republicans about right now are the tariffs that President Trump says are coming tomorrow. Some of the Republicans that are now speaking out concerned about the tariffs. Susan Collins, "there are so many examples I can give you of how harmful these tariffs would be, and I also think that it makes no sense," she said.

Thom Tillis in North Carolina writes - said, "we need to fight battles with our foes first and then try to figure out any inequalities with our friends second."

And then the Republican Senator, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, he also said this. Let me play this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RON JOHNSON (R-WI): This president has admitted, tariffs will create pain for some businesses. And I think Wisconsin will be particularly hard hit with all the manufacturing and agricultural interests.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[09:15:05]

BOLDUAN: Are you worried about the impact on manufacturing and agriculture interests in Wisconsin? That what - what will be announced tomorrow?

STEIL: There's a lot of unknowns right now. And I'm looking to see what the president releases tomorrow so I have an informed opinion about the risks.

Overall, I think we've seen a lot of countries, like China, trading very unfairly with the United States. The United States failing to actually force our foreign counterparts, China in this case, to actually abide by their treaty obligations. And so, tariffs, in that regard, to make sure that American workers and American farmers have their fair shot at selling our goods abroad is a good thing.

Overall, I'd like to see tariffs come down, have free, fair, but reciprocal trade. And so I think we have a lot to learn about what the president's going to do when he releases his tariff plan tomorrow.

BOLDUAN: Yes, I think everyone is looking for more detail to then have a - kind of - to be able to react more fully.

Just in general, do you view a tariff as a tax, Congressman?

STEIL: I am of the view that I'd like to have low tariff rates, but we need to have free, fair and reciprocal trade. And I think, at the end of the day, if we're using these tariffs as a - as a tactic to get to that end result, that can be positive. I want to see the president's plan to fully understand what his strategy is here.

BOLDUAN: We'd love to have you back on once we know more about the president's plan to get your take.

Congressman Bryan Steil, of Wisconsin, thank you so much for coming in.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, a father in the U.S. legally was deported and locked in El Salvador's notorious mega prison. The Trump administration blames an administrative error. But they're saying that they cannot bring him back to his family here in the U.S.

Time is almost up for TikTok to find out if they're going to have a new buyer or be banned in the U.S. We'll take a look at the challenges the deal will face ahead of the Saturday deadline.

Those stories and much more, ahead.

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[09:21:01]

BERMAN: So, new this morning, the Trump administration has admitted to mistakenly deporting a Maryland father to a Salvadoran super prison. Federal lawmakers confirmed that the man who was granted protected status in 2019 was deported due to, quote, "an administrative error." Even some supporters of the president, including podcaster Joe Rogan, have expressed concerns about the possibility of mistaken deportations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE ROGAN, PODCASTER: You got to get scared that people who are not criminals are getting, like, lassoed up and deported and sent to like El Salvador prisons. Like that kind of shit.

This is kind of crazy that that could be possible. That's horrific. And that's - again, that's bad for the cause.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, let's get right to CNN's Priscilla Alvarez, who's got the details on this one case involving this, as we said, Maryland father.

What have you learned, Priscilla?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: John, we have been reporting on multiple families and attorneys who say that people were sent to this El Salvadoran prison who shouldn't have been there to begin with. And in this case, Immigration and Customs Enforcement is saying very bluntly that this was due to an administrative error with this Salvadoran national in particular.

Now, a little bit of background as to who this is. His name is Kilmar Abrego Garcia. He's a Salvadoran national. He crossed into the U.S. around 2011. His first brush with law enforcement appears to be in 2019 when he was detained, along with a group of men who were loitering around a Maryland Home Depot. And the local police department deemed that he was a member of MS-13, saying - or arguing that it was due to his attire and a confidential informant.

Now, efforts to get more information from the police department about these alleged ties were not fruitful, according to his attorney, when he was going through his immigration court proceedings again back in 2019. Ultimately that year, an immigration judge granted him a protected status known as withholding from removal. That is to say that if he was - that if he was returned to El Salvador, he could face persecution. So, while he was still considered removable from the United States, it just couldn't be to El Salvador. Now, this court declaration essentially admits fault in sending him to El Salvador. It also provides a glimpse as to what exactly unfolded here.

Now, the ICE official says that this man, Abrego Garica, was not on the initial manifest for those three flights that went to El Salvador in mid-March. What occurred was, as people were pulled off of the flights for, they say, various reasons, he was moved up on the list. Then it says this, and I'm going to quote from the court declaration here, quote, "through administrative error, Abrego Garcia was removed from the United States to El Salvador. This was an oversight, and the removal was carried out in good faith based on the existence of a final order of removal and Abrego Garcia's purported membership in MS- 13." So, the administration is standing by these alleged ties to MS- 13, but saying that he should not have been sent, or rather that it was an error that he was sent to the mega prison in El Salvador.

Now, what is similar in this court declaration and in this story, as many others, is that his wife, who is a U.S. Citizen, had been looking at handout videos from El Salvador, and that is how she identified him. Now, all of this is part of an ongoing lawsuit. So, we'll see how and what the judge rules in this case. But critically, John, the administration saying they can't retrieve him from El Salvador. As U.S. officials have told me, those who have been sent there are now in Salvadoran custody, and it is up to the Salvadoran president what happens next.

BERMAN: So, he was sent there by mistake, but they can't get him back.

Priscilla Alvarez, I know there will be more developments on this story. Thank you so much for sharing your reporting on this.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, joining us now to discuss this, CNN legal analyst Elliot Williams.

They can't bring him back, but he was in the country legally.

[09:25:03] How did that happen? What can they do about this mistake?

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Honestly, Sara, what can be done about the mistake is Congress. Congress needs to investigate exactly how the administration is carrying out its immigration enforcement policies.

Look, what we are seeing here is a campaign promise now turned into the realities of governing. And they are making mistakes with the level of recklessness that certainly anyone who follows immigration hasn't seen in our lifetimes, not in the Bush administration, not in the Obama administration. So, you know, I think more than anything else, it's on Congress to get to the bottom here, and they're just not doing their job.

SIDNER: What does this tell us? Because we all know so very little about each of the people that they deported. They point to, you know, tattoos they say are gang tattoos. Some of them are clearly gang tattoos because I am familiar with those tattoos in some of the reporting I've done. And some of them are questionable. You don't know. I mean, what does it tell us about how they went about doing this, deporting people and making the decision that -

WILLIAMS: It's - yes, agreed. No, it's a little bit tricky here because whenever we speak about gang affiliation, gang membership and so on, I think we can all agree that people who are members of gangs, known members of gangs, ought not be in the United States, or at least ought to be put into removal proceedings, or investigated, or prosecuted, or whatever else. That - you know, I think that's a universal value.

The problem is that when, you know, when a broad brush is painted, suggesting that a broader class of people are members of gangs than actually are, want it politically, it gets harder to rebut that. But two, it's hard to get to the bottom of what has actually happened.

To be clear, law enforcement has broad authority to determine who ought to be present in the United States. But to your - the point of your question, they are not being entirely clear about how they're targeting, how they're apprehending, and exactly who they're apprehending before getting them out of the country. And clearly, mistakes are being made along the way.

SIDNER: Elliot Williams, it is always a pleasure to have you on. We have to have you on more. Like, what is this? Where have you been? Where have you been? I mean I know you've been on CNN, but not on this show.

WILLIAMS: You don't call, you don't write.

SIDNER: OK, I'm calling you out. Maybe I'm calling us out. Whatever. We'll have you back.

WILLIAMS: All right.

SIDNER: Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Kate's got something to say. Kate. See.

BOLDUAN: No, no, no, you know the difference. You can have those boyish good looks when you get to sleep in. That's the difference.

SIDNER: Ohhh.

WILLIAMS: Oh, my. Oh. Oh, my God. Wow.

SIDNER: Kate is dumping on you early.

WILLIAMS: Whoa.

SIDNER: But it was a - it was a backhanded compliment. So. I mean, it was lovely.

BOLDUAN: Which are the only kind of compliments we hand out on this show.

WILLIAMS: Right (ph) to attack.

SIDNER: As you should.

Good day, sir.

BOLDUAN: Good. Good day to you.

Coming up for us, China, Japan, South Korea and Europe all promising to hit back against the U.S. over President Trump's expected tariff announcement. The impact on the markets. Well, take a look at where futures stand. We're watching closely for the opening bell.

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