Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Actor Val Kilmer Dead At The Age Of 65; Israel Announces Expansion Of Military Operation In Gaza; E.U. Chief On Tariffs: We Have "Strong Plan" For Retaliation; Susan Crawford Wins Wisconsin Supreme Court Race; Senior Russian Official to Visit Washington This Week; White House Issues Warning as China Conducts Drills Around Taiwan; Liberal Judge Wins in Wisconsin, GOP Sweeps Florida; Booker Protests Trump Agenda for More Than 25 Hours in Senate; Massive Wave of Job Cuts at U.S. Health Agencies; U.S. Justice Department to Seek Death Penalty for Luigi Mangione; Evacuations Ordered as Volcano Erupts in Iceland; More Than 2,700 People Killed by Quake in Myanmar; 22 People Now Confirmed Dead in Thailand Due to the Earthquake. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired April 02, 2025 - 02:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:00:32]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States, around the world and streaming us on CNN Max, I'm Rosemary Church.

And we begin this hour with breaking news. Actor Val Kilmer has died at the age of 65, his daughter released a statement to the New York Times and Associated Press saying he died of pneumonia. Kilmer was best known for his roles in films like "Top Gun", "Tombstone", "The Doors" and "Batman Forever". His films made nearly $2 billion at the global Box Office, according to Comscore.

CNN has reached out to representatives for the Kilmer family. And CNN's Stephanie Elam takes a look back at some of Kilmer's iconic roles.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

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

VAL KILMER, ACTOR: You guys really are cowboys.

ELAM (voice over): To the intense fighter pilot and "Top Gun."

KILMER: 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?

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

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.

KILMER: I'm your Huckleberry.

ELAM (voice over): Two years later, he played the pasty yet poised gunslinger Doc Holliday in "Tombstone" and later a desperate construction engineer hunting lions in "The Ghost and the Darkness."

Along the way, Kilmer co-starred with some of Hollywood's heavyweights, like Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in the bank robbery movie "Heat." And played the superhero.

KILMER: It'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 story teller.

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 ice man in the "Top Gun" sequel, Maverick.

KILMER: Who's the better pilot? You or me?

TOM CRUISE, ACTOR: This is a nice moment. Let's not ruin it.

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

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Joining us now is journalist and culture critic Rebecca Sun, she is also a former senior editor of The Hollywood Reporter. Appreciate you being with us as we cover this sad news, the passing of Val Kilmer, and for many of us, he actually became Jim Morrison, didn't he, when he portrayed the singer in the movie "The Doors" back in 1991? What is his legacy as we remember him on this day, and how will he be remembered do you think?

REBECCA SUN, JOURNALIST AND CULTURE CRITIC: I think that he'll be remembered as a consummate artist. I think that the -- especially because before a few years before he passed back in 2021, he released the documentary "Val", which was a wonderful retrospective of his career, as well as of who he was as a man.

I think he will be seen as somebody who was a bit uncompromising in his artistry, but somebody who left really indelible performances despite having a fairly short career.

CHURCH: And what more are you learning about Kilmer's death and, of course, his health issues?

SUN: Yes, I mean, so he was always a little bit secretive about his health issues while he was going through them, perhaps as a big part of the reason was because, as a Christian scientist, I think there were various perspectives he had on his physical health. He revealed after the fact that he had had battled throat cancer for two years, but that he was in remission.

[02:05:19]

His family has this statement tonight said that he ultimately died of pneumonia. But certainly, you know, the past decade, he did undergo two Tracheotomies. You could see in that clip from "Top Gun: Maverick" that he was speaking with the assistance of an electronic voice box, and so he went through a number of health issues that he sort of slowly revealed a little bit more about later in his life.

CHURCH: And you mentioned Kilmer's final appearance on film, reuniting with Tom Cruise in the "Top Gun" sequel, "Top Gun: Maverick." It was a shock for many fans to see him clearly debilitated by his cancer. How significant was it for him and for Cruz to have that reunion and that cameo role?

SUN: I think especially now that we know that that was his final film performance. It's enormously significant and extremely poignant.

Iceman is one of his iconic characters. It's one of the most iconic characters in movie pop culture, and so, I think it was a beautiful, full circle moment. I was so glad that the Maverick team was able to bring him back, even in that limited capacity to really pay homage to his participation in the original film, I thought it was beautiful.

I love the fact that they incorporated his health issues into it without, sort of, you know, making a voiceover. I just thought it was really fitting and really nice.

CHURCH: Rebecca Sun, thank you so much for talking with us. Appreciate it.

SUN: Thank you, Rosemary. CHURCH: And we are following this developing story out of the Middle East. Israel's defense minister has announced a major expansion of the military's operation in Gaza. It would involve the seizure of large areas of land that would be, "Incorporated into Israel's security zones."

Defense Chief Israel Katz says the goal is to crush and clear the area of terrorists and terror infrastructure. The operation would also include, again, quoting here, the large scale evacuation of Gaza's population from combat zones, though no further details were given.

The announcement comes as more than a dozen Palestinians, including women and children were killed in an overnight Israeli strike in Khan Yunis in Gaza. The victims were taking shelter in a home after being displaced from the southern Gazan city of Rafah.

Well, this comes as officials in Gaza continue to warn of the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the United Nations, World Food Program says all 25 of its bakeries in the enclave have closed citing the lack of flour and fuel.

The Israeli government shut down the supply of food and other humanitarian aid into Gaza in early March in a bid to pressure Hamas into releasing more hostages and extending the cease fire. The United Nations World Food Program says it will distribute its last food parcels in next few days.

Well, the U.S. military is ramping up its own military presence in the Middle East. The Pentagon has sent at least six B-2 bombers to the Indian Ocean, that accounts for nearly a third of the U.S. Air Force's stealth bomber fleet. The deployment comes as President Trump and his defense secretary warn of further action against Iran and its proxies, including the Houthis in Yemen. Military analysts say that sending B- 2s in particular sends a clear message to America's adversaries.

Well, in the coming hours, the U.S. president is expected to announce his most aggressive tariff policy yet in a major escalation of his trade war. Donald Trump plans to reveal the new tariffs at a Rose Garden ceremony at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, and the White House says they will go into effect immediately.

Now, other countries, businesses and American consumers are bracing for the impact. CNN's Jeff Zeleny has the latest from Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

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 rebirth of American factories and manufacturing.

[02:10:06]

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 made 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.

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 in every country, or if you put 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.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Meanwhile, economists warn prices of goods could skyrocket quickly at a time when the stock market is off to its worst start in three years. Here's a look at where U.S. Futures stand right now. You see the big three indices are down, but only slightly. Wall Street investors are largely worried that President Trump's trade plan will damage the economy and put a stop to the expansion of recent years -- in recent years.

Goldman Sachs now sees a 35 percent chance of a U.S. recession in the next 12 months. That's up from 20 percent previously.

Well, the president of the European Commission says Europe has a strong plan for striking back at the U.S. in response to Donald Trump's tariff hikes. The former European Commissioner for trade, Cecilia Malmstrom, spoke with CNN about the potential countermeasures at Europe's disposal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CECILIA MALMSTROM, FORMER EUROPEAN COMMISSIONER FOR TRADE: This has been in the making for quite some time. We have heard President Trump's statement during the campaign and also in his first weeks. So, there has been a team working on different scenarios in the commission.

We don't know exactly what will come out tomorrow, but there will be -- will be counter tariff or counter measures, depending on what comes out, of course.

We have first the steel aluminum tariffs, we have the car and car parts tariffs, and then what will come tomorrow. So, unfortunately, we will have to retaliate, and it will be in the form of counter tariffs, and then maybe something else, depending on what's on the table.

The Transatlantic partnership has been severely damaged lately, not only because of trade, but also because of the president's views and the administration's views on Ukraine.

But U.S. and Europe are very important trading partners. This has been beneficial for all of us. It has created jobs and growth on both sides of the Atlantic.

But it is true, the E.U. has also other friends, and I think it will step up. It has more trade -- free trade agreements than any other country in the world. And I think it will step up with Mexico, with India, Indonesia, Australia, et cetera, to broaden that dependence and that, I think, would be the strategy of many other countries as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Both Europe and the U.S. have a lot at stake in the escalating trade dispute. In 2024, America was the biggest buyer of European goods, while the E.U. was the largest single market for U.S. exports, ahead of Canada and Mexico.

Elon Musk said the future of civilization was at stake in Wisconsin Supreme Court race. last check, still solid. The results from election night in America just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:17:31]

CHURCH: Now to the first elections of Donald Trump's second term, a key test of how Americans are responding to his presidency, and it was a chance for voters in one state to weigh in on the influence of Elon Musk.

First to Wisconsin, where CNN projects Democratic backed judge Susan Crawford will defeat conservative Brad Schimel, maintaining the liberal majority on the state Supreme Court.

Crawford spoke to a cheering crowd in Madison late Tuesday, taking aim at Elon Musk, who spent more than $20 million supporting her opponent.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUSAN CRAWFORD, WISCONSIN SUPREME COURT JUSTICE-ELECT: As a little girl growing up in Chippewa Falls, I never could have imagined that I'd be taking on the richest man in the world. For justice in Wisconsin, and we won.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: In Florida, CNN projects Republican Randy Fine will win the sixth house district race over Democrat Josh Weil, this is the seat formerly held by Trump's National Security Advisor Mike Waltz.

And in Florida's first House District, CNN projects Republican Jimmy Patronis will defeat Democrat Gay Valimont. This is the seat vacated by Matt Gaetz.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY PATRONIS, U.S. HOUSE REPUBLICAN-ELECT: Thank you to President Trump. This guy won an amazing race back in November because the country was fed sick and tired and fed up for the last four years. So, CD1 is where the hopes and dreams of the Democratic Party come to die.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The Florida victories expand the Republicans majority in the House now 220 to 213. However, the margin of victory in both races was much smaller than Donald Trump's in the 2024 presidential race.

In Wisconsin, the Trump administration will surely be frustrated by the decisive defeat of the conservative candidate in the state Supreme Court race, but liberals are breathing a big sigh of relief.

CNN's Arlette Saenz reports from Madison.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Liberal Judge Susan Crawford thanked supporters for helping elect her to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, saying that Wisconsin voters sent a real message about the influence of big money in her campaign.

[02:20:06]

Now, Crawford, in her victory speech did not reference Elon Musk by name, but she did reference working to defeat the richest man in the world. Musk had poured more than $20 million of his own personal fortune into the state to try to boost the Conservative candidate Brad Schimel. Crawford really put Musk's involvement at the center of the strategy, and she said the election results showed where Wisconsin voters stood on that issue. Take a listen.

CRAWFORD: Today, Wisconsinites fended off an unprecedented attack on our democracy. that's right. Our fair elections and our Supreme Court and Wisconsin stood up and said loudly that justice does not have a price. Our courts are not for sale.

SAENZ: Crawford's victory will now ensure that liberals maintain the majority on Wisconsin Supreme Court. There are a number of hot button issues that could come before the court in the coming years, ranging from abortion rights to congressional maps.

So, this was officially a nonpartisan race, but it attracted a lot of outside political attention from both national parties. As President Trump had endorsed the Conservative candidate, Brad Schimel and Elon Musk also went big on his campaign. Now, Crawford and her Democratic allies really tried to turn this race

into a referendum of Musk betting that those voters who are frustrated with the DOGE efforts and his big spending in the race would be motivated to turn out, and this marked the first real major electoral test in a battleground state of President Trump's second term.

Arlette Saenz, CNN, Madison, Wisconsin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Joining me now, Caroline Heldman, Democratic strategist and professor at Occidental College and Charlie Dent, former Republican congressman from Pennsylvania and executive director of the Aspen Institute Congressional Program. Welcome to you both.

CAROLINE HELDMAN, PROFESSOR, CRITICAL THEORY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE, OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE: Good to see you, Rosemary.

CHARLIE DENT, SENIOR ADVISER, "OUR REPUBLICAN LEGACY": Good to be with you.

CHURCH: So, three crucial races offer a test for the early days of Donald Trump's second presidency. Let's start with Wisconsin, where democratic backed judge Susan Crawford is projected to win the state Supreme Court race despite her conservative opponent Judge Brad Schimel receiving more than $20 million of Elon Musk's own money, including handing out $1 million checks to voters.

Charlie, to you first, was this a referendum on both Trump and Musk, and perhaps a big lesson for both of them?

DENT: Well, first, let me state that I don't necessarily believe that these special elections or these off year elections necessarily are indicative of what will happen in the midterm.

However, if you're a Republican, you need to be very concerned about what's happening. There's clearly a lot of anger and energy on the Democratic side. Wisconsin is as evenly a divided state as any a 10 point when we saw something similar happen in 2023 at a Supreme Court race, a Democrat won convincingly for Supreme Court.

Although we should note that, you know, 2024 Wisconsin went for Trump over Harris, even though there was that big win.

But when you look at it all together, though, there's no question, there's energy. Just last week, we had an election in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, the most reliable Republican county in Pennsylvania since the Civil War, and we saw a Democrat shockingly win a state Senate seat against a pretty strong Republican candidate.

And so, we're seeing some things happening here in Florida. Of course, we're also seeing Republicans winning seats, but the margins cut in half. So, you have to look at this as a Republican and say we're running into a pretty strong head as we're going into 2026.

CHURCH: And Caroline, Judge Crawford has said that her real opponent in this race was Musk, not Schimel. So, how big an embarrassment is the Wisconsin race for Trump and for Musk, after the richest man in the world went up against a liberal judge investing tens of millions of dollars in the race, but losing?

HELDMAN: Well, Rosemary, I think anyone who loves democracy can breathe some sigh of relief here that this sort of open, disgusting influence of money in politics wasn't successful in this particular race.

But as we've seen since, you know, the Citizens United Supreme Court case in the last decade, the amount of money in politics has just skyrocketed on both sides, and Elon Musk is making a mockery of our democracy when he spends 20 million in a race and makes it the most expensive race for the judiciary that we've ever had, at $90 million.

And so, in some sense, regardless of party, I'm just really happy to see that it wasn't successful in this particular case.

But I do think that this is perhaps an indictment of DOGE, right? Which is underwater in terms of approval rating, and only 39 percent of Americans like Elon Musk.

[02:25:04]

So, Donald Trump maybe will think twice about the amount of power that he is giving him, given that his initiatives are so unpopular, and I'm imagining they're about to get much more or less popular, much more unpopular because he's talking about slashing Social Security, and he's looking at Medicare and Medicaid and Health care.

These are wildly unpopular kind of third rail of politics issues. And Charlie's right, the Republicans need to be concerned about the democratic energy pushing back against some of these more draconian cuts.

CHURCH: So, yes, let's focus now on the two special House elections in Florida, because while both seats are projected to go to the Republicans increasing their majority in the House to 220 compared to the Democrats, 213.

The Democrats, Josh Weil closed the gap considerably between himself and Republican Randy Fine in Florida's District Six.

So, Charlie, what do you think is the reason behind this closer margin than expected in deep red seats, and what might it signal for Republicans and for the president going forward?

DENT: Well, Republicans were certainly in full panic mode, they're in that district, in the seat to replace Mike Waltz. There's no question about it.

In fact, I saw a polling last week that suggested that that race was within the margin of error.

And again, this is a seat Donald Trump won by about 30 points. And the other seat, the Matt Gaetz seat, let's call it that, that was even more Republican than this one.

So, what we've seen is that the margins have literally been almost cut in half.

And again, this is a reflection the fact that many voters are anxious about what's happening with this administration, whether it's the DOGE cuts or the way that DOGE is going about their cuts, the economic uncertainty, perhaps the tariffs and contributing to inflation and the markets taking a tumble.

There are a whole host of reasons why people are unhappy about the current administration, and of course, the never ending chaos, and I think that is reflected in these voter discontent in these ruby red districts that should not have even been on anyone's radar as being remotely competitive.

In fact, we all expected the Fine seat to be reasonably close. I did not expect the other seat, the one that Patronis won for Gaetz seat to be at all competitive, because that was a plus Republican 36 or 37 points, and the Fine seat is a plus 30.

So, again, if you're a Republican right now, who's looking at running for reelection or election in 2026, if you're in a district that is even remotely competitive, you have to be very nervous right now. There's no way to sugar coat this that there is the energy and anger and enthusiasm on the Democratic side, and that's typical for the party that's out of power. And we're seeing that in space.

CHURCH: Yes. And of course, interesting that this comes, of course, a day ahead of the big tariffs being dropped in just a matter of hours from now, Trump's reciprocal tariffs.

Caroline, I do want to ask you, because even though the Democrats lost, they can take comfort in gaining ground in that ruby red seat, what do they need to be doing next, though, to make this count, because there's a lot of Democrat supporters who are not very happy with what their leadership is doing?

HELDMAN: Well, I think, other than Cory Booker's stand in the last 24 hours, we haven't seen a lot of Democratic leadership.

And it's a gift from Donald Trump that keeps giving, because he is not addressing the reason he won this election, the economy. That was the number one issue.

In fact, if I'm a Trump voter, I am wondering what he's doing right now. There's no way that Trump would have won this election had he said, hey, I know the economy is the number one issue, but within two months, I'm going to take the stock market, I'm going to add a whole bunch of new taxes, I'm going to call them tariffs, and I'm going to tell you, you're going to have a little bit of pain.

That's not the message that he ran on, and it's so it is baffling to me that the Democrats can't take better advantage of the fact he's not delivering on that basic promise. And we see this in his honeymoon being pretty short lived, his poll

numbers are dropping, and 54 percent of Americans, according to the latest CNN poll, do not like the direction of the economy.

So, I think Charlie is right that these are bellwethers. These races in Florida, of course, the win for the Democrats in both Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. You have to look at this as an indictment of what Trump has done in such a short period of time. You know, just a little over two months in office.

CHURCH: Caroline Heldman, Charlie Dent, many thanks to you both for joining us. Appreciate it.

DENT: Thanks, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Well, the U.S. president wants Russia to make a deal to end the war in Ukraine, but he's learning that Vladimir Putin may not want to play on his terms. We'll have details for you on the other side of the break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:33:00]

CHURCH: This week, a senior Russian negotiator is expected to meet with Trump officials in Washington. This extraordinary visit comes as President Donald Trump pushes Moscow to make a peace deal with Ukraine. CNN's Alex Marquardt has details.

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 pissed 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. 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.

[02:35:00]

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, 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.

CHURCH: Meanwhile, Russian drones continue to bombard Ukraine. Zaporizhzhia's governor says at least one person was killed and two others injured in a drone strike in the region overnight. And officials in the Kharkiv region say an infant, a child, and six other civilians were injured by a Russian drone strike there. Russia has intensified its attacks on Kharkiv in recent days, even as the U.S. tries to broker a peace deal between Moscow and Kyiv.

We are following an escalation of surprise drills near Taiwan, as China's military launches live-fire strikes in the East China Sea. The exercises dubbed Straight Thunder, said to be focused on testing the troops' capabilities of joint blockade and precision strikes. On Tuesday, the Trump White House issued a warning to China after it launched the drills, which involved the country's army, navy, air force, and rocket force.

Liberals are celebrating a crucial win in a key swing state after the most expensive judicial race in U.S. history. The takeaways from the battle over the Wisconsin supreme court when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:40:00]

CHURCH: Three closely watched elections are giving us a check on voter sentiment more than two months into Donald Trump's second presidency. In the swing state of Wisconsin, Democrat-backed judge Susan Crawford is projected to win the supreme court race and preserve the high court's liberal majority.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUSAN CRAWFORD, DEMOCRATIC-BACKED JUDGE WHO WON WISCONSIN SUPREME COURT RACE: To the people of Wisconsin, thank you.

(CROWD CHEERING) (END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: It's a big blow to President Trump and Elon Musk who spent time and a lot of money campaigning for conservatives. In Florida, the Republican Party will keep two seats in their narrow House majority after special elections to replace Mike Waltz and Matt Gaetz. The Democrats put up a fight in districts that Trump won easily.

The Wisconsin supreme court race became the most expensive judicial contest in U.S. history. Elon Musk and groups affiliated with him spent tens of millions of dollars in the state, including funding field operations and TV ads. Earlier, CNN's Washington Bureau Chief, David Chalian broke down the dollars and cents of this race with our Jake Tapper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF: If you look at Elon Musk's money with himself and allied groups, $22.6 million from Elon Musk and his allied groups are in this race. Take a look how it lines up against other wealthy folks who have invested in this race on both sides of the aisle. And you'll see here in this stack, Elon Musk is in a category by himself with that $22.6 million. You see the next Republican donor is at $7.5 million. George Soros on the Democratic side down at $2 million in on this race, Jake.

What about the total ad spend in this race? More than $77 million spent in total. That was as of yesterday, in this race, $42 million on the pro-Crawford side, the progressive liberal side, $35 million on the pro-Schimel side, the conservative Republican side of the equation here. So, the liberal side has outspent Republicans here, and if you look at the history among judicial contests in this country, this is by far the most expensive. We're at $90 million as of yesterday.

I think I saw that go up to nearly $100 million. When everything is accounted for, this will be more than a $100 million race for a single supreme court seat in one state, by far the most expensive in history.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Joining me now from Los Angeles, Benjamin Radd is a Political Scientist and Senior Fellow at the UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations. Good to have you with us.

BENJAMIN RADD, POLITICAL SCIENTIST AND SENIOR FELLOW, UCLA BURKLE CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: Good to be back. Thank you.

CHURCH: So, three crucial tests for the Trump presidency on Tuesday, but the Wisconsin supreme court race is perhaps the most extraordinary with Democrat-backed Judge Susan Crawford winning despite going up against the financial might of the world's richest man, Elon Musk, who poured more than $20 million of his own money into the race. How big a blow is this loss for Trump and Musk? And what message do you think voters are sending them?

RADD: Well, for many voters, for many watching observers as well, this was seen as a referendum on Elon Musk's role as the sort of unelected authority figure in the presidency, the one who essentially had to bankroll the Trump campaign and effectively was the force that pushed this election to the national stage, if not the international stage. So the defeat of his candidate, of that candidate Schimel is seen very much as a rebuke of the role that Musk has played in the Trump administration, but also broadly speaking, on behalf of conservatives, Republicans who have been pushing for other candidates nationwide.

So it's something that, the administration will have to reckon with and whether or not they're willing to have Elon play such a prominent role in future political campaigns and also representing a messenger for the president himself.

CHURCH: And of course, the supreme court of the battleground state of Wisconsin will have the final say on election disputes and Congressional mapping, as well as the controversial issue of abortion rights. Is this why Elon Musk fought so hard to win the Wisconsin race for his boss, or were there other perhaps more personal reasons?

RADD: Well, there is one personal reason. There is a case that Tesla has in front of the Wisconsin courts, and Elon Musk being the largest shareholder of Tesla, and it's basically challenging a state law that prevents manufacturers from selling cars directly to consumers. In other words, opening up dealerships. And this is a case that if it were to advance in the courts, which many expect it to do so, would appear before the very same court for -- in which this election was taking place. So it's one that conceivably, either Crawford or Schimel, had he won, would possibly be hearing this case.

So for Musk, there is definitely a personal stake in this, but there's also his belief that he thinks the liberal, what he decries as sort of liberal jurors, liberal judges have stonewalled that prevented President Trump's plans from being implemented, have effectively used judicial fiat to block what they see as legitimate exercises of executive authority.

[02:45:15]

And that this is really going to undermine and undo the promises that Trump had made to his voters. And so for him, there's that personal component as well.

CHURCH: And of course, not surprisingly, Republicans swept the two special House elections in Florida in ruby red seats, but the victories weren't as big as expected, were they? While Randy Fine is projected to win in district six, Democrat Josh Weil closed the gap between them. What do you read into that and what message do you think Florida voters are sending President Trump?

RADD: Indeed, especially in district one, in both of those races, you had candidates in districts that were heavily -- went heavily for President Trump in the 2024 elections. We're talking by margins of 30 points or more, around that figure. And now we've seen in these two elections, those margins in both districts cut in half. Remarkably also district one, which is even a redder district, if you will, and one that was not supposed to be that competitive, now the race ultimately was not competitive in a relative sense.

But when you look at it compared to how Trump fared, what it indicates is that there are some disenchanted or frustrated voters. Maybe the turnout on the Republican side didn't reflect what the candidates wanted. But beyond that, are there candidates who are open to voting for Democrats or at least nonvoting for the Republican? And that, is this a sign of things to come in the midterm elections in 2026 and what the Republicans of the House have to consider, especially those who are in sensitive districts where they're now seeing that their margin of victory was far less than 15 points.

CHURCH: Yeah. I wanted to ask you about that. I mean, could all three of these crucial races mean something big for the midterms in two years and of course, ultimately the big test in 2028? Or is it perhaps a little too early to tell?

RADD: I think the only takeaway we can have for now with some certainty is that Elon Musk playing a very prominent role in political campaigns on behalf of the administration, on behalf of the party might not be the best idea. And that there might be some genuine discontent among Republican voters that President Trump and Republicans in Congress have to be mindful of going forward. I think that -- those are things that we can safely read into this, but to what extent alarm bells should be ringing and there's concern, it is too soon to tell.

CHURCH: Benjamin Radd, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate your analysis.

RADD: Thank you.

CHURCH: Well, Democrat 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 since returning to the White House. Throughout his remarks, he mentioned the stories of Americans who rely on federal programs, now threatened by mass defunding.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CORY BOOKER, (D-NJ): I confess that I've been inadequate to the moment. I confess that the Democratic Party has made terrible mistakes that have given lane to this demagogue. I confess we all must look in the mirror and say, we will do better. And it's not just defining ourselves what we're against, we, the next generation, as the baby boomers are leaving the stage, the last baby boomer president, we have to say that we are going to redeem the dream. We're going to dream America anew.

We're going to start talking about bold things that don't divide people, that unite people. Bold things that excite the moral imagination of a country to do better, to go higher, that call us together. This is the time where new leaders in our country must emerge. I'm not talking about Senators, I'm talking about citizens.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CHURCH: The Senator later told CNN what he believes Americans should do to maintain hope.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOOKER: We need some energy now to begin to renew our dream, to redeem our dream in this country because I think a lot of people are surrendering to cynicism about this country. And this country wasn't built by cynics. It was people under the most difficult circumstances like John Lewis that loved this country even when it didn't love it -- love it back, but demanded from this country that it be better. And I think we need a lot more people with vision and determination and a little defiance, to try to do what they can to make America live up to its hope for all of us.

Don't target, don't -- don't shape your career or your efforts on what you're against and who you're against. Start talking about what America can be, what we're for, what we can do to heal and grow and be amazing together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Booker broke the record previously set by a lawmaker protesting the 1957 Civil Rights Act.

[02:50:00]

Well, there's been a massive wave of job cuts at U.S. Health Agencies. 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, and 300 at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Some workers got early morning emails that their jobs were eliminated and some were unable to get into the building when they arrived at work on Tuesday. 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 called it a bloodbath.

The U.S. Justice Department plans to seek the death penalty for accused CEO killer Luigi Mangione, if he's convicted on capital murder charges. The 26-year-old faces life in prison without parole if he's convicted on state charges for allegedly shooting United Healthcare CEO, Brian Thompson in New York in December. Mangione has pleaded not guilty. His attorney says the Justice Department's push for the death penalty shows it has "Moved from the dysfunctional to the barbaric."

Attorney General Pam Bondi's office declined to comment. The Federal Criminal Complaint charges Mangione with murder through use of a firearm, with two stalking charges and a firearms offense.

Just ahead, against all odds, people are still being found alive and rescued from the earthquake rubble in Myanmar. We'll bring you the latest on the rescue efforts.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:55:38]

CHURCH: A volcano to the south of Iceland's capital has erupted again, spewing lava and smoke into the air. Geologists were able to warn the public, and a resort and residents of a fishing town were ordered to evacuate, but air traffic continued as normal. Iceland has now seen 11 eruptions south of Reyjavik since 2021, when dormant geological systems reactivated after some 800 years.

Well now to an astonishing rescue, five days after the powerful and deadly earthquake that struck Myanmar, the country's Fire Department says this man was pulled from the rubble of a hotel in the capital more than 100 hours after the devastating 7.7-magnitude quake. It's not clear if he had access to water or how he managed to survive. According to Myanmar's Military Junta, the disaster has claimed more than 2,700 lives. Emergency crews are still searching for survivors, but hopes of finding anyone alive are fading.

Meanwhile, in Thailand, the death toll has risen to 22. 15 of the victims died when a high-rise that was under construction collapsed in Bangkok. More than 70 people are thought to still be trapped in the wreckage.

I want to thank you so much for your company this hour. I'm Rosemary Church. I'll be back with more "CNN Newsroom" in just a moment. Do stay with us.

[03:00:00]