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CNN: Liberal Judge Wins In Wisconsin, GOP Sweeps Florida; Senior Russian Official To Visit Washington This Week; Susan Crawford Wins Wisconsin Supreme Court Race; Republicans Win Florida Special Elections; Booker Makes History With Protest Speech. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired April 02, 2025 - 01:00   ET

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

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[01:00:22]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome to our viewers here in the U.S. and around the world. I'm Jim Sciutto live in Washington. We begin this hour with breaking news. Sad news to report. The actor Val Kilmer has died at the age of 65.

His daughter released a statement to the "New York Times" saying he passed away from pneumonia. Kilmer best known for a whole series of movies. "Top Gun," "Tombstone," "The Doors," "Batman Forever." CNN has reached out to representatives for the Kilmer family. CNN's Stephanie Elam takes a look back at some of Kilmer's most iconic roles.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From a quirky spy in the 1984 cult classic "Top Secret,"

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You guys really are cowboys.

ELAM (voice-over): -- to the intense fighter pilot in "Top Gun."

NICK RIVERS, "TOP SECRET" FICTION CHARACTER: You're everyone's problem. That's because every time you go up in the air, you're unsafe.

ELAM (voice-over): Val Kilmer's film career took flight in the big 80s, but the slick performer trained at Juilliard, honed his acting chops on the stage and saw his craft as a serious means of exploration.

Have you ever turned down something you regretted?

VAL KILMER, AMERICAN ACTOR: No, I don't really think that. I just look forward. And also what, you know, in the -- in a personal way, what I gained from acting, the opportunity to experience things that certainly you'd never do in your own life.

(SINGING) ELAM (voice-over): In the 1990s, Kilmer explored the mind of Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone's "The Doors." Critics praised him for nailing both the look and the sound of the late singer.

DOC HOLIDAY, "TOMBSTONE" FICTION CHARATER: I'm your huckleberry.

ELAM (voice-over): Two years later, he played the pasty yet poor poised gunslinger Doc Holliday in Tombstone and later a desperate construction engineer hunting lions in "The Ghost and the Darkness." Along the way, Kilmer costarred with some of Hollywood's heavyweights, like Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in the bank robbery movie "Heat." And played the superhero --

BATMAN, "BATMAN" 1995: That's the car, right? Chicks love the car.

ELAM (voice-over): -- as Batman in 1995. But it was an earlier collaboration on the set of the 1988 movie "Willow" where Kilmer met costar Joanne Whalley. They were married almost eight years and had two children. Later in his career, Kilmer returned to the stage playing Moses in the "Ten Commandments, the Musical." He also wrote and performed the one man show "Citizen Twain" taking on the Persona of the great American storyteller.

But under the makeup, the actor was dealing with grave health concerns. Kilmer downplayed cancer rumors, but then later said he had beaten the disease, which required a tracheotomy, and left him with a raspy voice. In 2022, he reprised his role as Iceman in the "Top Gun" sequel "Maverick."

TOM "ICEMAN" KAZANSKY, "TOP GUN: MAVERICK" FICTION CHARACTER: Who's the better pilot, you or me?

PETE MITCHELL, "TOP GUN: MAVERICK" FICTION CHARACTER: This is a nice moment. Let's not ruin it.

ELAM (voice-over): Like the actor himself, his once boisterous flyboy character, subdued by illness, still commanded respect and even awe on the silver screen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Well, in the coming hours, the U.S. president is expected to announce his most aggressive tariff policy yet in a major escalation of what is becoming a global trade war, Donald Trump plans to announce the new tariffs at a Rose garden ceremony at 4:00 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday. The White House says those tariffs once announced, will go into effect immediately.

Now, other countries, businesses, U.S. consumers bracing for the economic impact. CNN's Jeff Zeleny has the latest from Washington.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: He's long talked about it on the campaign trail and here at the White House. But on Wednesday, President Trump is set to put the finishing touches and announce a sweeping tariff plan. It's one of the centerpieces of his American First agenda that he -- that really brought him into the White House here. But the questions are, as he is set to put these sweeping tariffs into effect, is what effect they will have on prices, inflation, the financial markets. The White House is moving forward with this, though.

The president is saying short term pain may come, but it will bring long term gain. Promises of a rebirth of American factories and manufacturing. But in the final hours leading up to this announcement, foreign leaders and business leaders were really lobbying the White House trying to get exemptions to their countries or their industries. It is unclear exactly what the president will decide. One thing is clear, he's making the announcement at 4:00 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday after the markets are scheduled to a close in the Rose Garden of the White House.

[01:05:07]

So regardless of what he decides, this could be one of the most sweeping decisions he makes for tariffs. If it's across the board, 20 percent on every country, or if he puts some exemptions in place, there is no doubt this decision will have lingering effects for the rest of his term and beyond.

Jeff Zeleny, CNN, the White House.

SCIUTTO: Earlier, I spoke with Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Melanie Joly, about what she said has become a trade war between the two neighbors and allies. I asked how Trump's tariffs could impact not just the trading relationship, though, but also the defense partnership.

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MELANIE JOLY, CANADIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: Canada is the biggest client of the U.S. Jim, you've asked me that question in the past. You know, when you're in business, and I know many people watching us right now are in the business sector, you treat your client, your best client, well. And so our goal is to make sure that we end this trade war, that we get to a common understanding that this is hurting our Canadians, Americans, their wallets, and nobody's winning from it. But at the same time, of course, we want to make sure that we work with the White House. Of course, we want to make sure that we find an off ramp.

Of course, we're willing to have discussions. And that's my goal working with Marco Rubio. But also this is the goal of the prime minister talking to the president and as well the Secretary of Commerce and the Minister of International Trade here in Canada.

SCIUTTO: But the prime minister's words speak to something more lasting here. And it's not just him who's saying this. It's many -- it's many Canadians themselves, right. Who are quite voluntarily stopping buying U.S. products or canceling visits to the U.S. I wonder who will Canada look to be a more reliable trading partner if the U.S. is no longer that reliable partner.

JOLY: Well, we understand that we're now in the era of protectionism and our entire country has been built on free trade amongst our provinces. But there's been many bearers to commerce within Canada. And we think that we can really do a better job at supporting ourselves inside our country.

We're also looking, of course, at Europe. Canada is the most non -- well, most European country of all the non-European countries, Jim. We're definitely looking at Japan and South Korea and looking at Asia. We're, of course, looking at Mexico. But fundamentally, Canadians have really good relationship with Americans.

We're your best friends, we're your best neighbors, your, your best allies. And so we want to make sure that while we're putting maximum pressure on the Trump administration to make sure that they're backing off on the trade war, that we can find a way to find a solution.

But on the security side, we know we need to invest more in our own industry. We need to rely more on our defense sector. We need to create jobs at home. We need to defend our own Arctic. And that's also the job we will be doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Quite a change of affairs between two longtime allies. Well, a 25 percent tariff on auto imports is expected to take effect on Thursday. While President Trump has already imposed tariffs on aluminum and steel imports, steel and auto workers in one Mexican town are now looking for ways to minimize the economic impact and costs. CNN's Valeria Leon has more.

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VALERIA LEON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As the effect of a 25 percent tariff on steel and aluminum imports to the United States begins to take its toll, uncertainty looms for workers in the assembly line of the mined steel manufacturing plant in the central Mexican state of Aguascalientes.

EDUARDO SILVA, WORKER (through translator): It's a little worrying for us as suppliers because there could even be staff cuts. We're worried because we don't know what will happen later.

LEON (voice-over): The tariffs package, which went into effect on March 12, was imposed by President Donald Trump, who claimed it would correct trade imbalances and reactivate the domestic U.S. manufacturing industry. According to the Mexican government, this measure is not justified, especially since the trade balance favors the United States in these sectors. With the tariffs now in place, the director of Maindsteel told CNN that the measure has already caused disruptions for this industry.

CUITLAHUAC PEREZ, PRESIDENT OF MAIDSTEEL (through translator): We've had delays in export processes because customs sometimes doesn't operate at the border, waiting to see if tariffs will actually be enforced or not. You can imagine the number of trucks that pass through the border every day. It affects us a lot.

[01:10:01] LEON (voice-over): Maindsteel exports, 60 percent of its products to the United States. And although the automotive industry is its main source of revenue, it also assembles a variety of products, including parts for machines for casinos in Las Vegas and New Orleans. But the consequences are still unclear.

ARMANDO AVILA MORENO, PRESIDENT, AGUASCALLENTES INDUSTRIAL CLUSTER (trough translator): We still can't fully assess what the final impact could be. What we do know is that in the case of the United States, it has a very large deficit and is searching under every stone for where it can find the missing funds. So far, we can't know or calculate anything. What is very clear is that Mexico is heavily dependent on the automotive industry.

LEON (voice-over): But tariffs on aluminum and steel are not the only concern for Mexican exports, especially since new tariffs on automotive products shift to the United States are set to take place on Wednesday, creating uncertainty in the automotive industry as well.

LEON: Mexico is the seventh largest car producer in the world with annual production of 3.5 million vehicles, 76 percent of which are exported to the U.S.

LEON (voice-over): Aguascalientes is a Mexican state with the third highest number of automotive factories, which is why the state government says it has prepared a program to assist workers that could be laid off as a result of the new tariffs.

ENRIQUE DE LA TORRE, SPOKESPERSON, GOVT. OF AGUASCALIENTES, MEXICO (through translator): I would ask that here in Aguascalientes we remain calm as everything necessary is being done to prevent the impact from causing unemployment.

LEON (voice-over): With the tariffs and steel on aluminum already placing Mexico's manufacturing sector under severe strain, employees and industry leaders are worried that new auto tariffs will mark a tipping point for Mexico's economy.

ALFONSO RAMIREZ, AUTO INDUSTRY WELDER (through translator): There is concern we depend so much on trade from here to there, as well as from there to here.

LEON (voice-over): Valeria Leon, CNN, Mexico City.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: We do have breaking news out of the Middle East tonight. Israel's Defense Minister has announced a major expansion of Israel's ground operation in Gaza. This would, Israeli officials say, involve the seizure of large pieces of land inside Gaza, which Israeli officials say would then be incorporated, quote, "into Israel's security zones." The defense chief, Israel Katz, said the goal is to, quote, "crush and clear the area of terrorist and terror infrastructure."

However, the operation would also include, again quoting here, the large scale evacuation of Gaza's population from what the Israeli military calls combat zones. It did not give any further details as to how long those people would be removed from their homes. Last month, sources told CNN that Israel is making plans for a major ground offensive in Gaza in which tens of thousands of Israeli troops would be sent in to clear and occupy large portions of Gaza.

This comes as officials there continue to warn of a worsening humanitarian crisis. The United Nations World Food Program says that all 25 of its bakeries in the enclave have closed, citing like a flour and fuel. The Israeli government shut down the supply of food and other humanitarian aid into Gaza in early March. This in a bid, it said, to pressure Hamas into releasing more hostages and extending the ceasefire. The U.N. World Food Program says it will distribute its last food parcels in Gaza in the next few days.

It's a crisis there for the people.

Well, U.S. voters have their say on Donald Trump and Elon Musk in the first major state contest since the 2024 presidential election. We will have those results just ahead.

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SCIUTTO: The first major elections of Donald Trump's second term are now in the books, giving us a snapshot at least of voter sentiment in the early months of his presidency. In the battleground state of Wisconsin, Democrats are now celebrating a key victory in the state Supreme Court race. And in Florida, Republicans have held on to two U.S. House seats, though by much smaller margins than President Trump won them in November 2024.

First in Wisconsin, where CNN projects that the Democratic backed Judge Susan Crawford will defeat the conservative there, backed by Republicans Brad Schimel, maintaining a liberal majority on the state Supreme Court.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUSAN CRAWFORD, WISCONSIN SUPREME COURT JUSTICE-ELECT: And to the people of Wisconsin, thank you.

Thank you for trusting me to serve you on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. This campaign has been an incredible, life altering experience in so many ways and I'm so grateful to have earned the trust and support of voters across this great state.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: A life altering experience, she says.

In Florida, CNN projects Republican Jimmy Patronis will win the first House district race. This over the Democratic candidate Gay Valimont. This is the seat that was vacated by Matt Gaetz. In Florida's 6th district, CNN projects Republican Randy Fine will defeat the Democratic candidate Josh Weil there. This is the seat formerly held by Trump's current national security adviser, Mike Waltz.

Wisconsin, however, is where Democratic voters had their biggest impact since Trump return to the White House. What's it all mean? CNN's Omar Jimenez explains.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it was not the result the supporters of Judge Brad Schimel were hoping for when they arrived here to the watch party. But in the end, Schimel got up on stage behind me and announced to his supporters that he had called his opponent Judge Susan Crawford and officially conceded this race, which would maintain liberal control of the Supreme Court here in the state of Wisconsin, which of course affects a number of issues which could include redraw, redistricting issues, but also abortion as well. So a lot on the line leading into this race.

[01:20:16]

Now, one thing that was interesting was that when Schimel announced that he had called Crawford to concede, there were audible boos from folks here in the crowd to which he eventually pushed back and said, no, you have to accept the results. And in the end, he just didn't have what it took to get over the finish line as far as the votes or the amount of support that he needed.

We got some immediate reaction in the room from the state GOP chair, Brian Schimming, who told us he does not see this race as a reflection of the November 2024 election, the one that, of course, put President Trump in the White House. While he said there will be a time to go through and see what may have gone wrong and what may have been improved at various points, he did say that believe the Democratic base was very fired up based on their loss in recent months. And so, they will likely take a look at that for future races. But again, in the end, it was Susan Crawford projected to win as CNN projects to maintain liberal control of the Supreme Court here in Wisconsin, to the disappointment of those that showed up here.

Omar Jimenez, CNN, Waukesha, Wisconsin.

SCIUTTO: Joining me now, Maria Cardona, Democratic strategist, CNN Political Commentator Bryan Lanza, senior adviser to the Trump 2024 campaign. Good to have you both back.

So, I'm going to approach this a little differently this time, ask you each, what did your party lose in the races that we saw today? Maria, I'll start with you again.

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, just, you know, from theoretical and a realistic perspective, we lost the two races in Florida, but we never really thought we were going to win them, Jim, because, as you know, they were Republican held seats that Trump won by, you know, more than 30 points. And so, the fact that we're even talking about these, Jim, to me, is an actual win politically because it means that these races were much more competitive than they should have been. Republicans were forced to spend money and resources and time. The president spent time on these races. You know, Republicans across the board spent time on these races. And that indicates that there is vulnerability there for Republicans for the 2026 midterm elections. And that, at the end of the day, is a win for Democrats. And then obviously won Wisconsin, so there was no loss there for us.

SCIUTTO: OK. Bryan, what'd you lose?

BRYAN LANZA, SENIOR ADVISE, TRUMP 2024 CAMPAIGN: We lost the opportunity to gain control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. I mean, that's -- at the end of the day, that's all we lost. We held onto our seats in our federal seats in Florida, which has reaffirmed the president's message. But at the end of the day, we lost the opportunity to pick up a majority of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which will have an impact on local issues. It's going to have minimal impact on federal issues, but from a local standpoint, it's going to have a big impact there.

But, you know, we won a heck of a lot more than we lost. We won a rubber stamp of the American people saying, at least federally, they like what President Trump's doing and they want him to keep going forward.

SCIUTTO: Maria, other than a protest vote, right, say, against perhaps Elon Musk in particular in Wisconsin and perhaps in those tighter margins in those Florida races, something of a protest against Donald Trump, at least among some voters there, did you see the makings of a positive Democratic message, right, because that's been the missing -- the missing piece, right --

CARDONA: Right.

SCIUTTO: -- from the perspective even of many Democrats.

CARDONA: Absolutely, Jim. And that, I think, points to the really big win for the Democrats in these three elections, and that is that it has brought the party together. It has given the party hope that there is a path forward. It has shown what that path forward is, which is a very focused economic message that points out just how much Trump and Musk and Republicans have deviated and betrayed voters from what Trump's promise was in the election and why he won in November, which was that he promised on day one to bring down the cost of groceries, gas and rent. He promised to take care of inflation.

He promised to win, win, win for the American people and American working families. And it has been exactly the opposite. And in fact, everything that he has touched has kind of become worse, not just on the economy. But, you know, you were reporting earlier, right before our segment, you were reporting on the war in Gaza. That has gotten much more complicated.

[01:25:14]

He hasn't fixed the war in Ukraine, which he said he could do on day one. And now we've seen that his clown car cabinet and his unqualified secretary of Defense has become the secretary of the indefensible. And so our national security is at risk because his cabinet is having these classified conversations on an app that can be hacked by China and Russia and Iran. And so, voters see this as massive incompetence and certainly see this as not what they voted for. And that, I think, is what you're going to continue to see across the board in terms of voter dissatisfaction.

SCIUTTO: Bryan, there's no one who watches these races, one might argue, more closely than Trump himself. And I wonder, does he look at the Wisconsin result at all and say, I got to watch this Musk guy a little more closely, or maybe rein him in, perhaps. He could damage me in some ways going forward.

LANZA: Listen, I think you have to look at Wisconsin. I know President Trump will look at his reprobate Wisconsin maintaining the status quo, right? It didn't move. It had the opportunity to move more conservative, but it stayed liberal. I think it has less to do with -- at least how President Trump's going to view it has less to do with Elon Musk.

He certainly appreciates Elon spending money and trying to move the needle towards the Republican side. But I think overall, he's going to look at the night as a win, win, win. You know, he won some races that everybody thought was going to be close. This was the first indicator, you know, the federal races were the first indicator of where the public stood with President Trump. And I remember 10 days ago, the Democrats were talking about winning some of these seats.

They lost. And that's what happens. That's what happens when you go against the Trump.

SCIUTTO: Maria sounded like you wanted to respond to that.

CARDONA: Well, Democrats never said that we would win in Florida. That was not really very realistic. What we did say is that they were very competitive and that there was a chance, but that there's not even -- there shouldn't have even been the possibility that we would be talking about being competitive. And that's why you saw Trump pull back Elise Stefanik's nomination for the United Nations, because he was really afraid that she might lose her seat. He saw these seats --

LANZA: Exactly not true.

CARDONA: -- is becoming competitive where he won by more than 30 points. And so clearly, that was a red flag for Republicans. Even as much as my friend Bryan doesn't want to admit it. It was.

SCIUTTO: Go, Bryan, yuo're saying that --

LANZA: Maria, I would say that we hold back Stefanik is because the Democrats decided to do the undemocratic thing and put their thumb on the scale and try to hold that seat open so Republicans couldn't pick up the seat that they currently held. Let's start with that basic fact. It was sort of the undemocratic --

CARDONA: OK.

LANZA: -- Democratic Party trying to affect the election there. It has nothing to do with us winning the seat again.

CARDONA: OK.

SCIUTTO: Not worried at all about the margins there because, Bryan, there are even Republicans who noted the -- some nervousness about that race going forward.

LANZA: No, I think you're always going to be nervous with special elections. You have -- you have very little control. Special elections are not about advocacy, about identifying your supporters and turning them out, right? And clearly the Democratic Party has the most energy right now because they're the most angry because they failed the most. And they're upset at themselves more than they're upset at Republicans.

No, I don't -- listen, I don't think, you know, we'd love to have that election tomorrow. We'd love to have the election next week, but we know what the Democrats are doing. Governor Hochul is playing games with the electoral process to try to rig the election so the Republicans can't win a seat that they're entitled to. And they're entitled to it because that's what the voters of that district want. And it's the Democratic governor that's playing games.

It's not Republicans afraid to put her forward. Let's put it up for a vote. But my guess is you won't see the Democrats who want to do that.

SCIUTTO: All right, Maria Cardona, Bryan Lanza, appreciate you joining me at this late hour. Thanks so much.

CARDONA: Thank you so much, Jim.

LANZA: All right. Thank you.

SCIUTTO: President Trump wants a deal, wants Russia to make a deal to end the war in Ukraine. But he's now learning that Vladimir Putin may not want to play on Trump's terms. We'll have the details ahead.

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[01:32:51]

SCIUTTO: Welcome back I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington.

This week, a senior Russian negotiator is expected to meet with Trump officials here in Washington. The extraordinary visit comes as Donald Trump pushes Moscow to make a peace deal with Ukraine. It's been hesitating.

CNN's Alex Marquardt has the details.

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ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: A top Russian official, a senior Kremlin aide, is coming to Washington for meetings with the Trump administration this week. Extremely notable, not just because of the timing, but because this will be the first visit by a senior Russian official since Russia invaded Ukraine back in 2022.

The official's name is Kirill Dmitriev. He's the head of Russia's sovereign wealth fund. He's essentially an economics envoy for the Kremlin, who is hoping not just to further the conversation about ending the war in Ukraine, but about the longer-term financial relationship between the U.S. and Russia.

He is set to meet with the Trump administration, specifically with Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, who has essentially become Trump's point person on Russia. He's been to Moscow twice now to meet with President Putin.

And he is coming now at a moment where there appears to be increasing frustration from the Trump administration against the Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump saying that he was ticked off with Putin after their last phone call last week, that he was angered by what Putin was saying about the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

I'm told by a source who has heard his thinking lately that Trump is increasingly frustrated and impatient with Putin, wondering aloud whether Putin can actually be trusted.

And, of course, many Ukrainians and European allies would happily tell President Trump that no, President Putin cannot be trusted.

Now, the ceasefire that was announced by the U.S. several weeks ago was quickly rejected by the Russian side. And what has come about is essentially a narrower ceasefire in Ukraine and Russia on energy infrastructure.

[01:34:47]

MARQUARDT: And then last week, after the White House announced that that ceasefire would be extended to fighting in the Black Sea, the Russians then added conditions, saying that American sanctions needed to be lifted.

So this is going much too slowly for an impatient President Trump, who is very eager to end this war in Ukraine.

So Kirill Dmitriev, coming here to Washington to smooth out this trouble in the relationship, but raising questions about whether Russia actually wants to end the war in Ukraine and get to a ceasefire and eventual peace deal, or whether President Putin is simply playing for time.

Alex Marquardt, CNN -- Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Ahead, why the first election since Donald Trump's return to power have Republicans both celebrating and sweating a bit.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SCIUTTO: Three closely-watched elections are giving a measure, more than two months into Donald Trump's second presidency, of where voters stand. In the swing state of Wisconsin, Democratic-backed Judge Susan Crawford is projected to win the supreme court race there, preserve the liberal majority on the state's high court.

This is a big blow to President Trump and Elon Musk, who spent a lot of time and a lot of money campaigning for the conservative candidate there.

In Florida, the Republican Party will keep two seats in their narrow House majority, this after special elections to replace Mike Waltz and Matt Gaetz.

[01:39:52]

SCIUTTO: However, Democrats put up a fight in districts that Trump won easily. The margins were closer.

The victories in Florida expand the Republican majority in the House to 220 to (SIC) 213 CNN's Steve Contorno has more now from Daytona Beach.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: House Speaker Mike Johnson is getting reinforcements to pad his slim Republican majority and they're coming from Florida.

Former chief financial officer Jimmy Petronas has won a special election to represent the first congressional district in Florida, and former state senator Randy Fine has won a race for Florida's sixth congressional district.

Both races were much narrower than they were just five months ago when Republicans captured these districts by more than 30 points.

Republicans were especially concerned about Florida's sixth congressional district. There the Democratic candidate, Josh Weil, sent shock waves from Florida to Washington when he announced last month that he had raised almost $10 million in his race against Fine.

Speaking to CNN shortly after his concession speech on Tuesday night, Weil said that Democrats still have a long way to go to win back some of these Republican parts of the country.

JOSH WEIL, DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: These districts are not worth giving up on, and that they will respond to a progressive message that there is no -- nothing to be scared of in talking to them about strengthening and investing in federal government systems that benefit the people who live here.

CONTORNO: Democrats looking for silver linings on Tuesday can at least point to the narrower margin in these races, and Republican Randy Fine acknowledged that Democratic anger was palpable in his district and fueling some of the energy and enthusiasm for his opponent. RANDY FINE (R-FL), CONGRESSMAN-ELECT: I want to start by thanking my

opponent for invest, for investing $14 million into our local economy. It didn't work, but our local businesses certainly appreciated it.

CONTORNO: The results are a major victory for Donald Trump, who had endorsed both victorious candidates in their Republican primaries. And now he will have help trying to get his agenda through Congress.

Steve Contorno, CNN -- Daytona Beach, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Live now to Los Angeles and Michael Genovese, the president of the Global Policy Institute at Loyola Marymount University. Good to have you on, sir. Thanks so much for joining.

MICHAEL GENOVESE, PRESIDENT, GLOBAL POLICY INSTITUTE AT LOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY: Thank you. Thank you.

SCIUTTO: All right.

So first, in your view, looking at the data, should we look at these as bellwethers of where the electorate is going or are these races the special elections just a fundamentally different collection of voters, right, who turn out for these races?

GENOVESE: Well, you know, special elections normally get motivated voters and turnout is fairly low. Turnout was pretty high this time, from what we can tell, because the stakes seem to be higher.

And so while it's a temperature of the voters that we're taking, you don't want to draw too much from it. I think that the voters have demonstrated one thing to me, and that is that they are willing and ready to turn on Donald Trump, but not ready to jump to the Democrats because the Democrats haven't provided a positive message yet.

And so it really, I think, opens everything up to a wide-open race in the future.

SCIUTTO: Yes, that's a -- that's a key point here, right? The negative vote on Trump and perhaps Elon Musk in the state of Wisconsin, did you see anything of the makings of a message from those candidates -- those Democratic candidates in Florida.

And we have some other state races recently in Pennsylvania, for instance, where you saw Democrats outperform the November 2024 results.

GENOVESE: Well, thus far, I think its anger against Elon Musk and Donald Trump that's motivated Democrats. Democrats don't have a message. They don't have a face. They don't have a voice. But they do like to oppose Donald Trump and they love opposing Elon Musk.

In Wisconsin, he spent over $20 million of his own money and went all over the state wearing the cheese hat, which is the symbol of the -- that area. And he's the classic Bond villain. Loads of money, wielding a chainsaw, and voters are finding that unacceptable. They -- some people think that he was trying to bribe voters. He gave $100 if you signed a petition and $1 million if he won his lottery.

And the way he gets around the law, he says, is because people are there as spokespersons. That's a pretty flimsy fig leaf to put out there.

But Elon Musk goes by the golden rule -- whoever has the gold makes the rules. And a lot of voters are finding that pretty unacceptable.

[01:44:45]

SCIUTTO: The -- I wonder there was a lot of talk about Musk's influence, financially and otherwise in the presidential election, more than $200 million. But are we beginning to see that positive effect fade for Republicans? Is that a warning sign for races down the line?

GENOVESE: I think it is a warning sign. The more we see Elon Musk, the less we like him. And the more he is the face of the party and the more he eclipses Donald Trump, the worse off Trump is going to be.

Now the two of -- Trump and Musk, have a really kind of symbiotic relationship. It's like a tag team duo. And they have a distinctive style that matches, on the one hand, bread and circuses. The old roman poet Juvenal's (ph) message on how you can govern Rome. Bread, meaning the good economy; circuses, entertainment and Donald Trump is entertaining.

But the other side of it is what I just was reading about called "plata o plomo" (ph), which is the Medellin drug cartel's motto, which is basically, silver and lead, or the bribe or the bullet.

Elon Musk is giving the silver -- the silver and the bribe with his incredible amounts of money he's willing to spend. Trump with the lead and the bullet with his sort of politics of fear, trying to motivate his side by the anger that they have, by the retribution that he's promising. So I'm not sure that has a long shelf life.

SCIUTTO: Ok. Looking ahead, what are the next bellwethers you'll be watching in the coming weeks and months?

GENOVESE: Well, I think everyone's waiting to see what happens with the tariffs. The tariffs are going to either lift us up or they're going to plunge us down.

And there's nothing the Democrats can do in the meantime, they're just going to have to play a waiting and a watching game.

I also want to see if Donald Trump spends more time on Greenland than on groceries. You know, he campaigned on groceries and the price of groceries, and yet he's obsessed with Greenland and sending the vice president over there. So if Donald Trump doesn't focus on governing, and if Elon Musk keeps

getting bad publicity, that I think will be the story. Regardless of what the Democrats do, the Republicans are -- seem like they're willing and able and interested in shooting themselves in the foot right now.

SCIUTTO: Michael Genovese, thanks so much for joining.

GENOVESE: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Well, to that point, there has been a massive wave of job cuts at U.S. health agencies in particular. They include 3,500 workers at the Food and Drug Administration, 2,400 employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1,200 at the National Institutes of Health, 300 at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Some workers got early morning emails that their jobs were eliminated. Some were simply unable to get into the building when they arrived, their cards didn't work.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says the changes will make fighting chronic disease the priority and reduce what he calls bureaucratic sprawl. But one employee at the FDA calls it a bloodbath there.

Still to come, history made on the Senate floor by New Jersey's Senator Cory Booker. We're going to tell you why he spent more than 24 hours speaking out in protest.

[01:48:04]

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SCIUTTO: An exciting announcement for Beatles fans, I'm one of them. Sony Pictures has confirmed the cast of its upcoming biopics on the Fab Four. Harris Dickerson he's going to play John Lennon; Paul Mescal will be Paul McCartney; Barrie Keegan will portray Ringo Starr and Joseph Quinn will play George Harrison.

There will be four separate films, actually, each told from a different band member's point of view, but they will also intersect to tell the band's story together. The series will collectively be called "The Beatles: a Four-Film Cinematic Event", says it all right there. It will begin releasing in April, 2028.

Democratic Senator Cory Booker made history by speaking on the Senate floor for more than 25 hours. The New Jersey Senator began speaking Monday night at 7:00 p.m., protesting the actions of President Trump and his administration.

Throughout his remarks, he mentioned the stories of Americans who rely on federal programs now threatened by defunding. Booker appealed to lawmakers for continued support as Democrats push back against President Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ): In just 71 days, the president of the United States has inflicted so much harm on Americans' safety, financial stability, The core foundations of our democracy.

I believe generations from now will look back at this moment and have a single question -- where were you? Where were you when our country was in crisis and when American people were asking for help? Help me. Help me. Did we speak up?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Cory Booker broke the record previously set by the late Senator Strom Thurmond, who was protesting the 1957 Civil Rights Act.

CNN's Manu Raju asked Booker how he prepared for that record breaking speech.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Democrats.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Senator Booker, was it your goal coming in to speak longer than Strom Thurmond?

And a question that some people have is how do you maintain the stamina? How do you not have to use the restroom for 25 hours? Did you find a way to use the restroom? Can you talk to us about that?

BOOKER: A few things. One is I was very aware of Strom Thurmond's record since I've gotten to the Senate. I always felt that it was a strange shadow to hang over this institution that the longest speech, with all the issues that have come up, all the noble causes that people have done, or the things that people have tried to stop, I just found it strange that he had the record.

And as a guy who grew up with the legends of the civil rights movement myself, my parents and other friends, it just seemed wrong to me. It always seemed wrong.

[01:54:50]

BOOKER: I had this hope that Chris Murphy would do it, actually. So I definitely had it on my mind. But as Chris and I joked, I'm nine years older than when he and I did it for 15 hours and my back was sore and my legs were hurting. So I just didn't know if I could. So I didn't want to set expectations.

The mission was really to elevate the voices of Americans, to tell some of their really painful stories, very emotional stories, and to let them -- let go and let God do the rest.

(CROSSTALKING)

BOOKER: Oh, I'm sorry. I talked to a lot of people. I copied some of the things we did for 15 hours. So I fasted for days into it. I stopped drinking water a long time ago. I think that had good and bad benefits. I definitely started cramping up from lack of water.

So some of you told me you really drink nothing. At the end, I was just trying to do something to stop my muscles from cramping.

So there's just a lot of tactics I was using to try to make sure that I could stand for that long.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Some real endurance there. Thurmond's speech had lasted for 24 hours and 18 minutes.

Well, the film director Oliver Stone is calling for another investigation into the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy. He testified at a U.S. House hearing on Tuesday. Stone's 1991 film JFK has faced criticism for suggesting, without clear evidence, that Kennedy's death was the result of conspiracies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OLIVER STONE, FILMMAKER: Let us re-investigate the fingerprints of intelligence all over Lee Harvey Oswald from 1959 to -- his violent death in 1963. And most importantly, this CIA, whose muddy footprints are all over this case. A true interrogation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Last month, the Trump administration released thousands of pages of previously classified documents related to Kennedy's assassination.

However, U.S. officials reaffirmed the conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in killing Kennedy.

Thanks to all of you for watching CNN this evening. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington.

Rosemary Church picks up with more news right after a short break.

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