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Trump to Announce Sweeping Reciprocal Tariffs Today; Liberal Judge Wins in Wisconsin, GOP Sweeps Florida; Actor Val Kilmer Dead at the Age of 65. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired April 02, 2025 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers in the U.S. and around the world. I'm Rahel Solomon live in New York and ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.

Donald Trump is set to announce sweeping tariffs in the coming hours as businesses and the American public race for impact here in the U.S. and abroad.

Key races in Florida and Wisconsin add a liberal judge to a state Supreme Court and widen Republicans hold on power in the House. What the results reveal about voter sentiment and Donald Trump's influence in those states.

And actor Val Kilmer best known for his roles in Top Gun and Batman has died at the age of 65. Coming up we will take a look at the legacy of the film star who became a Hollywood force.

All right this morning we are following two major stories. The first elections of Donald Trump's second term and also a major announcement expected from the White House.

The president is set to announce sweeping new reciprocal tariffs on all U.S. trading partners this afternoon. The White House says that they will take effect immediately.

Also today the Trump administration assessing the results of Wisconsin's Supreme Court elections. CNN projecting that Democratic- backed judge Susan Crawford will defeat Brad Schimel maintaining the court's liberal majority. Now the win is also a blow to Elon Musk who spent more than 20 million dollars supporting the conservative candidate.

(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.

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP) SOLOMON: And in Florida CNN projecting that Republican Jimmy Patronis will win the first House district race. This is a seat vacated by Matt Gaetz. Patronis is the former chief financial officer of Florida. He recently made headlines saying that he would oppose any plans by President Trump to close military bases in Northwest Florida.

And in Florida's sixth House district CNN projecting that Republican Randy Fine will defeat Democrat Josh Wheel. This is the seat formerly held by Trump national security advisor Mike Waltz.

The White House had apparently grown frustrated with Fine over what they saw as a lackluster campaign and a 10 to 1 fundraising deficit.

Meanwhile economists continue to warn that the new tariffs from the Trump administration could drive up consumer prices quickly at a time when the stock market is off to its worst start in three years. Let's take a look at where U.S. futures stand right now at 4 a.m. on a Wednesday morning and all the major averages are clearly lower from about 0.2 percent to let's call it four tenths of one percent.

Wall Street investors continue to be worried about President Trump's trade plan and that it may damage the economy and put a stop to the expansion that we've seen in recent years. Goldman Sachs for its part now saying that it sees a 35 percent chance of a U.S. recession in the next 12 months that is up from 20 percent previously.

President Trump plans to reveal the new tariffs at a Rose Garden ceremony at 4 p.m. today. Notably the markets will be closed at that point but his plans are expected to be his most aggressive tariff policy yet and a major escalation of his trade war. Now other nations businesses and the American public are bracing for the impact. CNN's Jeff Zeleny has the latest from Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN U.S. 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 so 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.

[04:05:00]

One thing is clear he's make the announcement at 4 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 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.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOLOMON: OK joining me now is Katie Frost, a Republican strategist and former aide to the Ted Cruz for president campaign and Taryn Rosenkranz, a Democratic strategist and CEO of New Blue Interactive. Great to see you both ladies. Thanks for waking up early to be with us.

Let me start with you Katie and these tariffs. Public reaction to this I think at this point it's pretty well documented. Trump for his part seems undeterred.

What do you hope he says of this announcement? I mean how does he convince those who voted for him but are not happy about these tariffs to trust in his plan? What does he say?

KATIE FROST, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: He'll most likely talk about the long-term benefits and about reshoring American manufacturing to the United States. You know I live in Georgia's third congressional district. That's my home and we saw the impact of industry coming to our district, specifically the auto industry.

Kia opened a major plant in LaGrange, Georgia several years ago and it completely revitalized that community. So I expected to point to issues where foreign companies are investing in our country, where they're bringing manufacturing to the United States because they want to be exempt from a lot of these tariffs and showing how it's going to benefit the American economy because it's not just that one factory. Everyone involved in constructing it, everyone involved supporting the housing around it, anyone who's there to bring those jobs and help the people who move that community, it will have a huge impact on a lot of our communities. That is what I anticipate hearing him say.

And also, you know, as Jeff said earlier in the opening package, this is a core part of his plan. It may seem novel that there's someone who's actually keeping to doing what they said they were going to do when they get elected but this is something he was elected to do. Now we get to see the results.

SOLOMON: I think the issue is that it's broader than what he said he would do and I think that's what's sort of spooking the markets but Taryn, let me ask you, obviously Democrats have very different motivations here. From your perspective, are tariffs the gift that just keep on giving for Democrats and what do you hope he says?

TARYN ROSENKRANZ, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, I certainly don't see anything that hurts the American people and the economy in the way that it is a gift by any means. But I do think this strategy is one where everyone is bracing for impact and the impact might be exactly what Democrats are looking for in terms of a strategy of being able to get back into the White House, right? Like this is the kind of thing where, you know, he won. Donald Trump claims that he won on this, you know, the economy, right?

It was the economic issues, it was the cost of groceries, it was the cost of everything rising, inflation, inflation, inflation and here we are about to potentially tip everything towards a recession. We're already talking about the cost of eggs and how high everything is and now we're going to make it harder once again to get toilet paper just like in his first term for very other reasons but things that are happening at his own hand and it's a risky plan for him, right? We're looking at this thinking, you know, economists, the markets, everything is thinking this is a really risky plan with a long-term benefit and he doesn't have, you know, that much time.

So I think, again, I would never call anything that hurts anything that way and I'm concerned about what it's going to do for us. I think we're all bracing for that impact but strategically, I'm not sure I would gamble this.

SOLOMON: Yes, Katie, I mean, obviously there are still big questions about what this tariff announcement will entail, who will be impacted by how much but based on what we know, how risky is this plan politically for Trump and how much of a shadow does this cast? I mean, is it too soon to think about how this impacts midterms? How do you see it?

FROST: Well, we already had our first test in that recently and I'm sure we'll just be discussing that later in the show with the races in Florida and Wisconsin but, you know, as we said, I worked for Senator Ted Cruz when he ran for president. So I'll just say, underestimate Donald Trump at your own peril. I know should know that better than anyone.

So we will just have to see. There are a lot of things that he has done previously that people scoff at or they think that it's going to have a disastrous impact and then, lo and behold, things settle down and ends up working out. So, yes, there's a lot of uncertainty at the moment but I do have confidence that President Trump and his team of advisors, they're definitely being deliberate about what they're doing and, you know, it's not going to be boring.

That's the one guarantee we always have in a Trump administration. So we're going to watch.

SOLOMON: I think everyone can agree that it's never been boring, certainly hasn't been this term.

[04:10:00]

Katie, is it enough for the Democrats to run against something or against someone, whether it's the tariff policies, whether it's Elon Musk, whether it's Trump?

Is that mobilizing enough in this environment or do the Dems need an issue of their own to energize voters to get to the polls?

FROST: They really do need something they're running for, not what they're running against. And yes, President Trump was reelected on the economy, but there were a lot of other issues that played into it, specifically immigration. And look at what we've seen.

The border down south is essentially closed, and the line President Trump used from his adjoint address was so good. We didn't need to pass a new law. We just needed a new president.

We've gone from 11,000 crossings to single digits. How is that even possible? Because we have a new president. So he can point to successes like that.

And the Democratic Party, they don't have anything to point to yet. They seem to be -- and I say this with respect to my colleague -- they seem to be struggling to find their footing. They don't know how to respond to this second Trump administration.

They're looking for an issue. Will this be it? I personally do not see that happening. They need a good message, and they need a good messenger. Right now they have neither one.

SOLOMON: Taryn, your response?

ROSENKRANZ: Well, I think it's unfortunate. I think the reason they don't know how to respond is because he is no longer following the Constitution. And that is scary to so many people. And I think it's hard to know how to respond when you've got someone who's circumventing the law of this country.

And I think, you know, one of the things that I think is also hard for us as Americans, and I say this as an American, is that that is something that is the core value of being an American. This is what our founders believed in. This is what we have always believed in and known to be true. And when you circumvent that, it's hard. it's also hard because facts, you know, statistics, things that are coming out that are not true.

You know, we look at these DOGE, the wall of receipts that was a lie. I mean, there are so many things that are just not truthful that it's really, really hard to believe or look at a success and say, oh, yes, that really happened, because many times they're false. And so that also makes it hard.

And it is hard to respond to constant chaos, lies and mistruths and things thrown at you, especially when someone's trying to circumvent the law. So this traveling circus that we're all trying to deal with and, you know, DOGE, which doesn't seem to have a plan, but has a plan. But I guess it's a secret master plan that none of us are in on yet.

You know, that's not a good thing. I don't want to be in on the secret master plan here. We want this to be a place that's safe for Americans and that is somewhere that we can all thrive.

That was the American dream. And that's what the Constitution is built on.

SOLOMON: OK, let's leave it here. Katie Frost, Taryn Rosenkranz, thank you both. But stick around. We're going to come back to you really shortly. Thank you.

Now, turning to some other news this morning, actor Val Kilmer has died at the age of 65. His daughter released a statement to The New York Times and Associated Press saying that 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. That's according to Comscore. Now, he largely stepped away from acting after a throat cancer diagnosis in 2014.

But joining me now to discuss this further is Michael Musto, an entertainment journalist at The Village Voice. Michael, great to see you again. Val Kilmer, known for his iconic roles over many years. How will his legacy be remembered in Hollywood and around the world?

MICHALE MUSTO, ENTERTAINMENT JOURNALIST: Well, when you think of some of the roles you just mentioned, they're truly iconic characters, including Batman and Doc Holliday in Tombstone, Iceman and Top Gun. He played these major kind of macho roles and he embodied them. He was a method actor who really lived the part.

When he was playing the rock star Jim Morrison in the movie "The Doors," he would dress like Jim Morrison. He would go to places that Jim Morrison hung out at and he really would become the character. He could be off-putting as an actor.

There's a documentary about the making of the movie called "The Island of Dr. Moreau," where Val Kilmer was actually even more demanding on the set than Marlon Brando was. That's saying a lot. But it was also, like I say, the fact that he immersed himself so much in his work.

And he had defenders like Mira Sorvino, one of his co-stars in another movie, who said he was wonderful to work with. But I think even if you didn't approve of his tactics as an actor, you ended up admiring the acting itself.

SOLOMON: Yes, it's interesting the intensity that he brought to the role sort of, you know, gave him this reputation, as you point out, of being a little difficult to work with, which, depending on who you ask, he would agree with or maybe not so much.

[04:15:00]

Which of the roles that we've discussed, many of which were iconic, which do you think will stand out as his most defining when people look back on his life and legacy?

MUSTO: I think the great thing is that there are so many, you would never just pick one. "Top Gun" is the one that really propelled his career to the stratosphere as an A-list movie star. But Tombstone and Batman and so many other films along the way, "The Doors".

It's really called a body of work. It's the kind of thing you get from a great actor that you don't get from flashes in the pan. And that's what he'll be known for, his incredible range.

SOLOMON: Yes, yes. And in recent years, we know, obviously, he had many health challenges. We just talked about some there.

How did he balance his personal challenges with his professional life?

MUSTO: He was a Christian Scientist, but he went against that by seeking treatment for the throat cancer, and he eventually became very public about it. He was a private person, but he wanted to help people and he wanted people to know what he was going through, because a lot of people were commenting that his looks had changed as a result of his illness. So he did a documentary.

He also did a book talking elaborately about the health crises that he was going through and how he was dealing with it. And really, it was 10 years of battling throat cancer started in 2015, and then he died from pneumonia.

SOLOMON: Yes. Michael Musto, we appreciate you being with us this morning. Thank you.

MUSTO: Thank you.

SOLOMON: We are following elections in two states that may hold an important message for President Trump. Voters in Wisconsin have chosen a new justice for the state Supreme Court. And in Florida, Republican wins -- expand the party's majority in that House.

But the that House and actually the U.S. House of Representatives. But the margins of victory are much smaller than in November's presidential vote. Much more on election night in America still ahead.

[04:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOLOMON: Welcome back and more now in our top story. Key wins for both Republicans and Democrats. And the first major state race is a President Trump's second term.

In Wisconsin, CNN projects that the Democratic backed candidate, Susan Crawford, will win the state Supreme Court race, maintaining the liberal majority on the court, the key battleground.

In Florida, meantime, CNN projecting that Republican Jimmy Patronis will win the state's first congressional district, filling the house he vacated by Matt Gaetz. And Donald Trump's handpicked candidate, Randy Fine, projected to win in Florida's sixth district, filling the seat left by national security adviser Mike Waltz.

Both wins giving Republicans a slight boost to their narrow House majority. Our Steve Contorno has more on those races in Florida. But first, here's CNN's Omar Jimenez with more on the results in Wisconsin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) 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.

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 he believed 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.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: House Speaker Mike Johnson is getting reinforcements to pad his slim Republican majority, and they're coming from Florida. Former chief financial officer Jimmy Patronis 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 shockwaves 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, U.S. HOUSE DEMOCRATIC 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. And 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, U.S. HOUSE REPUBLICAN-ELECT: I want to start by by thanking my opponent for invest for investing $14 million into our local economy.

Clearly, it didn't work, but our local businesses certainly appreciated it.

[04:25:00]

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)

SOLOMON: All right, and back with us now, Katie Frost, a Republican strategist and former aide to the Ted Cruz for President campaign and Taryn Rosenkranz, a Democratic strategist and CEO of New Blue Interactive. Great to have you both again. Taryn, let me start with you this time.

This Wisconsin race, your top line reactions to it. And what does it mean for Democrats moving forward?

ROSENKRANZ: Well, it's a good sign, I think, obviously, on both of these races for where we want to be for all of this victorious election night here for her. I definitely think Wisconsin has deep red roots and it certainly can show of them. It's not as blue as we like to paint it. And it certainly is a state that likes to show that it can go back and forth.

And I think this was one where we're seeing the palpable anger of people and that sort of pushback, particularly against Musk. This is where he came in and spent millions upon millions of dollars. I think it was that 20 million was the final, you know, price tag there.

And I think that that was just not enough to overcome the fact that people really didn't want him in there. They didn't want that kind of message. And they were angry about what was happening with him and Trump's policies at the time.

And so at the end of the day, I think this is going to be big news for everything that they're going to be able to do with redistricting and abortion and several of the other key issues that will come before the court.

SOLOMON: Yes, I mean, Katie, to Taryn's point, I mean, what's the message here for Republicans? Because despite Trump's support, despite Elon Musk's money and a lot of it, it wasn't enough to flip the seat in Wisconsin. I mean, as Taryn points out, it's an interesting one because it can go either way. It's a swing state. What's the message last night for Republicans?

FROST: You know, it's something that always amuses me when I step back from elections as we spend millions and millions of dollars and then nothing changes that much, right? Republicans maintain control of their seats in Florida. Democrats maintain control of the Supreme Court in Wisconsin.

So to me, what I look at is what was motivating folks? Why did they turn out? And it was interesting, it's actually a split result in Wisconsin. Yes, they did win the Supreme Court seat, maintaining control there. But the Republican backed ballot initiative to add photo ID also passed overwhelmingly by a wider margin than in the judicial race.

So the issues that Republicans are usually talking about do resonate. It just so happened in this case, the candidate ended up working out better for the Democratic Party. But, you know, this does also bring back memories of what we saw eight years ago, especially when it comes to those House races.

You know, in my home state of Georgia, we had an open House seat right there in the early part of 2017 and ended up being the most expensive race for Congress up to that point in history. $50 million was spent. The Democrats wanted to flip a red district blue and ultimately they fell short.

So this is what we see. There's a lot of great opportunities to fundraise off of help me flip a district. But it didn't work out this time. So it's always interesting to see these.

Both parties are looking for an early report card. They're looking for talking points on momentum. And right now, I see a split, but things are looking good for President Trump in the midterms.

SOLOMON: Yes, I think one interesting thing to watch is, is Elon Musk the best messenger of some of the issues that have mobilized voters.

Taryn, let me ask you the same question, but about Florida and these congressional elections there. Despite a lot of fundraising there, Dems weren't able to pull it off. I mean, what do you make of that?

ROSENKRANZ: Well, it was the rubiest red of districts there. And I think everyone can say that. I mean, both of the votes in November was 67 percent, 65 percent.

Those aren't districts that you go to fight. Right. So it is a big fundraising opportunity for folks right after a big election and electoral loss to say, hey, let's go get them. This is our first opportunity to fight. But those aren't opportunities where you really realistically can win. So it's an embarrassment that that margin shrunk so much.

So Trump should be looking at this and saying, oh, I've got some problems here that I shaved off that many people of my core rubious red of districts. This is not good. So while they, you know, helped themselves by having those districts, it is a little bit concerning to them.

And I think you said something really interesting, Katie, when you said, yes, they they spent all that money and they lost that seat in 2017. And ultimately, Trump did lose the White House in 2020. So maybe this is an early indicator on both fronts that there is a lot of enthusiasm and you are shaving off these margins.

We are seeing victory in Wisconsin when it is a state that goes back and forth. And so, you know, sentiment, it's early. But sentiment is certainly not in the right direction. And this early in the honeymoon phase of Trump, you shouldn't really be having these kinds of results.

SOLOMON: Yes, I mean, Katie, to Taryn point, I mean, these are ruby red districts. Fine himself admitted that there is a lot of ...

[04:30:00]