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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

U.S. State Elections Seen As Referendum On Trump So Far; Trump's Tariff Announcement Remains Largely A Mystery; China Launches Military Exercises Around Taiwan; Le Pen Slams 5-Year Ban As "Political Decision"; Booker Protests Trump In Marathon Senate Floor Speech. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired April 01, 2025 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:21]

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome and welcome to our viewers joining us from the U.S. and all around the world. I'm Rahel Solomon. It is Tuesday, April 1st. No joke. And it is 5:00 a.m. here in New York.

And straight ahead on EARLY START.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: On Wednesday, it will be liberation day in America. It's time for reciprocity.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Other countries are understanding it. Whatever they charge us, we charge them. But we're being nicer than they were.

SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ): I rise with the intention of disrupting the normal business of the United States Senate for as long as I am physically able. Generations from now will look back at this moment and have a single question, where were you?

CROWD: Free Karen Read!

REPORTER: Karen Read is accused of hitting John O'Keefe with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's innocent. There's no way she did it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

SOLOMON: In the coming hours, several high stakes elections are set to play out in Florida and Wisconsin, and their outcomes serve as an early referendum of sorts on President Trump's second term so far. Polls in Florida opened in two hours, while Wisconsin's open in three.

And let's begin there in Wisconsin, where President Trump is weighing in on who voters should choose as their next state Supreme Court judge. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Yeah, it is a big race, and I hope you get out and vote for the Republican. The woman is a radical left lunatic. And, let's see who wins. But the woman will be very bad. And, you know, Wisconsin is a big state politically, and the Supreme Court has a lot to do with elections in Wisconsin.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: Megadonors, including Elon Musk, George Soros and Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker fueling what is now the most expensive judicial race in American history. The winner could tip the court's ideological balance, where liberals currently control a slim 4 to 3 majority. Meanwhile, Republicans are battling to keep a pair of congressional seats in Florida as this year's races are closer than expected.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RANDY FINE (R), FLORIDA CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: Democrats are angry because every time Donald Trump wins, they lose. They want open borders. They don't want to stop the waste, fraud and abuse. And so, they voted. And a majority of Republicans haven't. And we need them to go and vote.

(END IVIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: And the competitive turn is giving Democrats a glimmer of hope that the outcome will show dissatisfaction with the Trump agenda.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH WEIL, U.S. HOUSE DEMOCRAT CANDIDATE FOR FLORIDA: And the person running on the Republican side has shown no interest in attempting to reach out, communicate with the district, talk to people, or say that he'll serve them. He is adamant over and over again that he is going to serve only one person if he is elected and that person doesn't live in district six.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: We're also just one day away from what President Trump is calling Liberation Day. He is set to announce his plans tomorrow for reciprocal tariffs on all U.S. trading partners, although the specifics could change. The White House says that the event will take place in the Rose Garden, with cabinet members present. Advisers say that they've presented a variety of options, and it's up to the president to decide on possible exemptions, delays or any other changes.

One economist tells CNN even though we'll get an announcement, we still won't have real clarity.

Here's White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) LEAVITT: On Wednesday, it will be liberation day in America, as President Trump has so proudly dubbed it. The president will be announcing a tariff plan that will roll back the unfair trade practices that have been ripping off our country for decades. He's doing this in the best interest of the American worker.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: Economists say that the tariffs will essentially be a tax increase on U.S. consumers, raising prices on anything imported.

President Trump, though, sees things differently.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: It's going to be something that's going to bring a lot of wealth back to our country, tremendous wealth back to our country, actually, and other countries are understanding it because they've been ripping us for 50 years longer, but they've been ripping us off for years, right from the beginning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: The Trump tariffs had little effect on the major Asia- pacific markets today. The Nikkei, Hang Seng, Shanghai Composite and Seoul Kospi all finished the day higher.

More now from CNN senior politics reporter Stephen Collinson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: He's got the whole world hanging on his every word, and that's just how he likes it. Donald Trump said in an extraordinary White House Oval Office news conference that Liberation Day is beckoning for the United States on April the 2nd. Thats the date when he plans to unveil his promised tariffs on U.S. trade partners and foes, which promise potentially to rock the global economy.

[05:05:08]

But we don't know exactly what the president will say. He says that that will all be unveiled on Wednesday in the Rose Garden of the White House, in an event that will be looked at around the world. Will the president, for example, impose those across the board tariffs, dollar- for-dollar against countries that put similar duties on U.S. imports? Will he go country by country, try to wring out deals with various U.S. trading partners and other trading blocs? We just don't know.

But the risks are huge. Many economists fear that tariffs will push up prices for American consumers, who are still feeling the effects of that inflation that came into force during the pandemic years, and that has not really dissipated for many Americans who are very frustrated about the price of groceries, of rent and of mortgages.

And the problem there is that if those -- if that hurts consumer confidence, that could put the U.S. economy into a cycle of recession. But tariffs are a weapon that Donald Trump has believed in for decades, ever since he was a businessman in New York in the 1980s, when he was warning of the competitiveness of the Japanese economy and said that that could hurt the American economy.

Now the trade foes are China and the European Union, but Trump's belief is still the same. Now, as the president, who has few checks on his power now, he can put all of those years of economic orthodoxy into practice.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOLOMON: All right. Our thanks to Stephen Collinson there.

Many Republicans in Congress are going along with the tariff plan, repeating the now familiar and often repeated short term pain, long term gain.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TIM SHEEHY (R-MT): I think on Wednesday, we're going to see is a very clear policy that says we want businesses to invest in America. And if you don't invest here, and if you're not doing this right for the American worker, you're going to pay the price.

SEN. TOMMY TUBERVILLE (R-AL): We have a lot of car manufacturing in the country, which is good because if they're made here, you don't have to pay the tariff. Obviously, there's parts going in and out that will be tariff. But I think Wednesday, President Trump will communicate hopefully from a big press conference and give a speech about what he's doing and why he's doing it and what direction we're going to go. I think it will calm the American people down. It will calm the economy down a little bit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: All right. A dangerous, wide-reaching storm, killed at least seven people, including three children, as it swept across the U.S. and now forecasters are watching for more severe weather ahead. In Jackson, Michigan, video captured the moment the roof ripped off a mobile home after severe weather hit the area on Sunday. In Alabama, severe weather caused a roof collapse at a grade school on Monday.

Now, there were no serious injuries reported, but local officials are still assessing the damage to the city. At least one confirmed tornado occurred in seven states. Here's the damage after one such twister in Louisiana. Forecasters are now monitoring a large area from Texas to the Midwest for another potential round of thunderstorms beginning today that could extend to Wednesday.

All right, still ahead for us, China says it has launched military drills around Taiwan, marking the most recent escalation in tensions between the mainland and the island. We will go live to Hong Kong for the latest here.

Plus, two NASA astronauts say that they would head back to space in a heartbeat, even after problems with their last mission left them in space for months longer than planned.

And later, we'll tell you why. Kid Rock was in the Oval Office.

You're watching EARLY START. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:13:27]

SOLOMON: Welcome back.

A gas pipeline has burst near the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, causing a massive fireball that can be seen for miles. Authorities say that several homes caught fire. Others had to be evacuated.

A number of people were being treated for burns. The full extent of the damage is still being assessed, but the national oil company says that the issue is limited to one pipeline. Authorities say that the valve to that pipeline has been shut off, which will eventually put out the fire.

China has launched drills involving its army, navy, air force and rocket force, with the military saying that its forces will, quote, close in on Taiwan from multiple directions during the exercises. The military says that it's a, quote, stern warning and forceful deterrence against the island.

Taiwan's presidential office condemned the drills, calling China a, quote, troublemaker.

A similar sentiment was echoed by the defense minister.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WELLINGTON KOO, TAIWAN'S DEFENSE MINISTER: I'd like to point out here that such an action fully reflects it is damaging the peace and stability of the region. It is obvious that China is a very obvious troublemaker. There have been a lot of reports related to corruption problems within the People's Liberation Army. I think they should properly resolve these internal problems instead of destroying peace and stability in the region.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: All right. Let's get to CNN's Ivan Watson, who joins us live from Hong Kong.

Ivan, do we know what prompted these drills that in many ways were unexpected?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We don't actually. And they came as a bit of a surprise. It was a statement that came out from the Chinese military's Eastern theater command.

[05:15:02] As you pointed out, it involves all four branches. These military maneuvers of the Chinese military, that's the army, the navy, the air force, and the rocket forces and part of the statement says that it is to -- to send a serious warning and powerful containment of Taiwan independence, separatist forces.

And at the crux of these tensions, these ongoing tensions is by Beijing's argument that Taiwan is effectively a renegade province of China, even though it has been a self-governing and now Democratic island for -- for all of communist rule in modern day mainland China.

We don't know what capabilities China has brought to these announced drills. The Taiwanese defense minister says that there's a Chinese aircraft carrier group off the southeast shore of Taiwan right now, and the head of the national security council in Taiwan, he has gone on to -- to post a statement saying that this is reckless and irresponsible. It threatens Taiwan, Taiwan, as well as peace and stability in the region. And it comes without justification and violates international laws and is totally unacceptable.

The Taiwanese government says it has mobilized aircraft and ships and even deployed missile defense systems in response to what's going on. We have seen these types of moves carried out by the Chinese military in the past. This is the first time this year. In the past, it was tied to an event like the inauguration of Taiwan's president.

SOLOMON: Yeah, Ivan, it\s interesting because we just sort of read that that statement from the military saying that the message here is a stern warning. It's a forceful deterrence against the island. But is there something more in terms of the message that that they may be trying to send here with these exercises? How do you read it?

WATSON: Well, let's look at what the Taiwanese government has been saying. They have their own internal assessment, and they shared some of those conclusions with CNN.

And they're arguing that there is an external factor. And that is a recent visit by the U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to Japan and the Philippines, to U.S. allies. And during that visit, Hegseth said that the Trump administration was going to pivot towards Asia. Thats borrowing an expression we heard, actually during the Obama administration. But he talked about needing to build up deterrence against what he described as the threat of communist China, its aggression in the region, something that I think Beijing would -- would obviously contradict.

But the Taiwanese are arguing that that might have been one of the reasons behind what it's doing right now.

It's interesting that amid the kind of propaganda messages, but that the Chinese government put out, they also put out a curious video that had cartoons depicting the Chinese, the Taiwanese President Lai Ching- te, as a parasite, drawing him that way and saying that he was basically destroying prosperity in Taiwan. So, the military, taking direct aim at the head of state in Taiwan.

SOLOMON: Yeah, certainly a move there in that part of the world raising a lot of eyebrows and perhaps quite a bit of concern as well.

Ivan Watson in Hong Kong -- Ivan, thank you.

Myanmar's military junta says that more than 2,000 people have been killed by that powerful earthquake that struck four days ago, according to state media, more than 160 monks are among the dead. They were apparently taking an exam when the shaking started. They ran to the exit and that's where they were crushed to death.

Now, the crucial 72-hour window for survival has closed, meaning that those still trapped in the wreckage since Friday with no access to things like water, well, they're less likely to survive. But rescuers continue their search. The Chinese crew seen here pulling someone alive from the rubble of a collapsed building in Mandalay on Monday.

And for information about how you can help Myanmar earthquake victims, go to CNN.com.

Now to Fance, where French far right leader Marine Le Pen is remaining defiant. Le Pen slamming a court's ruling that bars her from running for office as a, quote, political decision. Le Pen, you might remember, was convicted of embezzlement on Monday. She left court before her sentence was handed down, which again banned her from running for office for five years.

Now that punishment, well, that eliminates the current front runner from standing in the 2027 French presidential election.

CNN's Melissa Bell has more now on the verdict that has upended French politics.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It was a very combative Marine Le Pen who took to French airwaves in primetime in the wake of the verdict and sentencing that has seen her barred from seeking political office for the next five years. This was a trial that concluded in Paris in November.

[05:20:01]

The verdict and the sentencing handed out this Monday saw not just Marine Le Pen, but several of the National Rally's MEPs found guilty of embezzling European funds that should have gone to funding parliamentary assistance. And the court found, were in fact used. The money was used to fund party political workers here in France.

That vast system, as the judge described it, spans several years and was of such severity that she had decided to hand down the most severe sentence sought by the prosecution. Even before she heard it. Once Marine Le Pen began to understand what kind of sentencing she was about to receive, she left the courtroom. And it was to that anger that she spoke on French television in the wake of the sentencing, announcing that she is a fighter, that she will not take this sitting down and that she will do everything she can to fight against what she described as a political decision. The presiding judge in the case, as she delivered the verdict in the

sentencing, however, very clear to explain that it was precisely to protect democracy and the affront that had been done to it by this embezzlement of Marine Le Pen's party that she was seeking such severe sentencing.

Still, it is now a very political and very loud fight that the leader of the National Front intends to wage against this, and in the name she hopes of being able to salvage her political career.

Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOLOMON: All right. Still to come for us, Democratic Senator Cory Booker giving a marathon speech right now, as we look at these live pictures to protest actions taken by the administration. We will take you there live, just ahead.

Plus, after the signal chat scandal rocked the oval office last week, the White House has announced it is closing the investigation into the incident. We'll have the latest here coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:26:17]

SOLOMON: All right. Live now to Washington, where you see Democratic Senator Cory Booker giving a marathon speech on the Senate floor. And he's been going for over 10 hours now. It's not exactly a filibuster since there's no specific law he's trying to delay. Rather, he says that he's protesting the Trump administration in general and also actions taken by the president in his second term, including cuts to health care.

Booker's effort will keep the floor open, keep staff working and keep Capitol police on site until he is finished.

Here's what he said earlier about the reason for speech.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ): I rise with the intention of disrupting the normal business of the United States Senate for as long as I am physically able. I rise tonight because I believe sincerely that our country is in crisis. This is not a partisan issue. Maybe it is in Congress, but the Republicans and Democrats of America don't want Medicaid cuts.

They especially don't want them to benefit the richest amongst us who don't need more help. God bless them. They're doing all right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: President Trump says that he wants to end ticket price gouging for live entertainment. He signed an executive order directing the Federal Trade Commission and attorney general to ensure competition laws are enforced in the concert and entertainment industry. The order aims to uphold price transparency through all stages of the ticket buying process. And as we can see in this video, musician Kid Rock dressed for the occasion as he joined him in the Oval Office for the signing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Would you ever wear a jacket like that?

TRUMP: I don't know, I was thinking about doing it for tomorrow. We have a big event coming up and I was thinking about doing it, but I'm not sure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: President also signs an executive order establishing an investment accelerator office to drive investments of more than $1 billion in the U.S.

And the White House has announced that they are closing the case on last week's Signal chat scandal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEAVITT: As the president has made it very clear, Mike Waltz continues to be an important part of his national security team, and this case has been closed here at the White House as far as we are concerned. There have been steps made to ensure that something like that can obviously never happen again, and we're moving forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: The investigation centered around national security adviser Mike Waltz after he mistakenly invited a journalist into a group message with top ranking U.S. officials. Despite the oversight, the chat went on to discuss highly sensitive information regarding U.S. strikes on the Houthi rebels in Yemen, all while using a commercially available messenger app.

And as President Trump looks to turn the page. Key questions remain about the leak and unanswered questions. U.S. lawmakers like Democratic Congressman Seth Moulton say that they are not satisfied with the lack of a concrete resolution.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. SETH MOULTON (D-MA): They've done nothing to show that this will not happen again. This is a gross violation of the law, and it put American pilots in danger. It literally opened up where they will be and when over enemy targets, so that those enemies might have shot them down. And the secretary of defense needs to make it clear how this will not happen again, because he expects everyone under his command to follow the laws that he grossly violated.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SOLOMON: And still ahead for us, it's a retrial which has captured attention in America and around the world. A woman accused of ramming her police officer boyfriend and leaving him to die returns to court. Ahead, what to expect during take two of this high-profile case.

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