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Key Race Today will Decide Balance of Wisconsin Supreme Court; Key Races in Florida & Wisconsin Test Trump's 2nd Term; Democrats Hope to Make Waves with Florida Special Elections; Senator Booker Holds Marathon Senate Floor Speech in Protest Over Trump Administration's Actions; Rogan: "Horrific" that Non-Gang Members Deported, Sent to Prison. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired April 01, 2025 - 12:00   ET

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

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DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: Today on "Inside Politics", get out and vote. Voters in Wisconsin and Florida can head to the polls right now to cast the first ballots of President Trump's second term. CNN is on the ground with the latest on the $90 million race dominated by Elon Musk.

Plus, the two special elections that could have a major impact on the House GOP's incredibly slim majority. Plus, 17 hours and counting Senator Cory Booker's marathon floor speech is still going, and he's promising to keep lasting President Trump as long as he's physically able. Is this the kind of fight Democratic voters have been looking for and deported by mistake.

The Trump Administration is admitting it sent a Maryland man to a super prison in El Salvador accidentally. So why isn't he heading home? I'm Dana Bash. Let's go behind the headlines and "Inside Politics".

And we start with the high stakes' elections, offering the first official look at how voters are feeling about President Trump's America. In Florida, two House seats are up for grabs in ruby red districts that the president won by double digits in November.

But today, some Republicans are feeling nervous about a race that is way too competitive for their comfort, and in the swing State of Wisconsin, the balance of power of the state's Supreme Court is on the ballot. It's the most expensive judicial race in U.S. history, and it's become a referendum on the president's billionaire benefactor and federal government flamethrower, Elon Musk. Here's what the candidates said about the $20 million Musk has poured into their race.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUSAN CRAWFORD, WISCONSIN SUPREME COURT CANDIDATE: The other candidate is a partisan politician who wants to politicize our court and is willing to sell our court out to the highest bidder, the richest man in the world. BRAD SCHIMEL, WISCONSIN SUPREME COURT CANDIDATE: They are so wound up about the money in the race, no other wound up, because two years ago, they got all the money, and this time, we're more competitive. So, they're -- it's just their brains are exploding over this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Now CNN is covering these races from all angles. Arlette Saenz is in Madison, Wisconsin, and Steve Contorno is in Florida. I want to start with you Arlette, tell us what's happening on the ground right now.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Dana, nearly five months after the presidential election, Wisconsin voters are once again in the spotlight. We are here at a polling location in Dane County, where a short while ago, the liberal candidate Susan Crawford showed up to cast her ballot.

Now Dane County is an area that typically has higher Democratic turnout, and so the voters that we spoke to today, perhaps not surprisingly, had told us that they were backing Crawford, hoping that this will not only send a message in the state, but also to the Trump Administration.

Earlier today, the Conservative Candidate Brad Schimel voted back in his home county of Waukesha, and both candidates were hitting the campaign trail up until last night, trying to make their pitch to voters. Elon Musk also held a Tele Town Hall last night to pitch voters on the conservative candidate.

Now both campaigns have embraced early voting in this election. You've had President Trump, Elon Musk and even President Obama urging supporters of their preferred picks to head out early to vote, and we're seeing that has reflected in big ways in the early voting numbers in the state.

If you take a look, comparing this judicial contest to the one back in 2023 early voting, both in person and with ballots returned, is significantly up over 55 percent overall. So, that is something that each of the campaigns will be watching very closely heading to tonight as Wisconsin voters are set to make up their minds about who will have ideological control of the Supreme Court in this critical battleground state.

BASH: Arlette, thank you so much. Now I want to get over to Steve Contorno. Steve, you are at a polling station in Ormond Beach that is in the state's sixth congressional district. What's it looking like at the polling station where you are?

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well Dana, quite a trickle of people has been coming and going from this polling place all morning law, and we've caught up with a bunch of them. And this is a conservative part of a conservative district, so overwhelmingly, the people here have been in support of the Republican in the race Former State Senator Randy Fine. But I did have a chance to catch up with Fine earlier today, and he acknowledged that there's a lot of energy on the Democratic side a lot, and he attributed it to anger over the president's agenda so far. And he is hoping that Republicans can send a message back to Washington that they are fine with the direction of the country so far.

I will say, though, Republicans are mostly nervous about the amount of money that has been spent on the Democratic side.

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The Democrat Josh Weil, he posted a ten million fundraising number in mid-March that sends shock waves from Florida all the way to Washington. Republican the race Fine, meanwhile, didn't even bring in a million dollars. And I'm told that sparked an intervention of sorts from the White House and from top GOP officials telling Fine that he needed to get his campaign in order.

We've seen a big push by top Republicans in recent days trying to get Fine over the finish line in a race they never anticipated to be close. We've seen a lot of tweets from the President Donald Trump, from Elon Musk, there's been tele town halls with conservative podcasters like Ben Shapiro doing everything they can to ensure Republican reinforcements are on the way for that House majority, Dana.

BASH: So, interesting that Randy Fine, the Republican is talking about Democratic anger. Not sure if that's expectations or one of the reasons why the president, other top Republicans are getting in there. Thank you so much for that reporting to both of you. I'm sure we're going to see a lot of you throughout the day and evening.

I am joined here by a group of terrific reporters, CNN's David Chalian, Ayesha Rascoe of "NPR" and Jeff Mason of "Reuters". Happy Election Day. If you see a little twinkle in David's eye more than we normally see, because it's Election Day.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: And who doesn't love Election Day?

BASH: Exactly. Speaking of let's just sort of set the table here with what these Florida races, what they have looked like before. Let's just look at Matt Gaetz's District, which is now the open district that they're trying to fill Florida 1. He won last time around by 32 percentage points. Donald Trump by 30 more than 37 percentage points.

If we have that, then if we have Mike Waltz, which is the other? This is Florida 6th. There we see Gaetz. I just want to leave it up for a second. Gaetz 32 Donald Trump 37. Here we go Mike Waltz, who is now National Security Adviser. This was a race he won by 33 percentage points, and the president by 30.

Now, real quick let's just look at some of the early vote numbers here in that first one, which is Florida 1, 84,500 ballots, a little bit more have been returned. Republicans are up by 52 percentage points. Now, if you look back at that the way that Republicans have won before, that's not that much of an advantage.

And again, this is just in the early votes. And then in Florida 6th, 102,000 ballots have been cast, and Republicans are at 47 percent Democrats are at 38 percent. OK, so as everybody digests all those numbers, I want you to make sense.

CHALIAN: First let's just be clear when you say Republicans are up nine points, it is by registration -

BASH: By registration -

CHALIAN: -- Republican ballots -

BASH: -- thank you.

CHALIAN: -- returned we don't know what's inside those ballots, but obviously it's a guidepost that we use.

BASH: Yeah.

CHALIAN: And it's important because they've banked -- Republicans have banked a lot of votes there, potentially in a heavily Republican district. So, you would look at, hey, Donald Trump here, won by 30 points. OK, right now Republican registration advantage on ballots returned is a nine-percentage point advantage. That doesn't equal 30.

That margin may be concerning, but it's also probably a large enough margin in this very Republican district where the majority of the votes are going to be pre-election vote to give Republicans some breathing room here that they are not going to necessarily lose the seat.

So, when you said at the top of the show, and when you said before, Republicans are nervous. We should -- at least the Republicans I've talked to, they are nervous about what a close victory may mean to other Republicans in much more competitive districts around the country than this one, more than I hear real nervousness that they may lose the seat.

BASH: No. Well, that's -- that was going to be my follow up question to you, and I promise I'll get to you guys in a second, which is exactly that. I mean, I have not heard from Republicans or Democrats -

CHALIAN: Good point.

BASH: -- that they think that Republicans are going to lose this or that Democrats will win. But they are trying to make a point. And let's just talk about the Democrats. Just before coming on, I was texting with a Democratic Party official, national official, who said exactly that they feel pretty good about Wisconsin, which we'll get to in a second. We'll see it's very tight.

But in Florida, the expectations game there is all about narrowing the margin more than the 30 percent that the previous Republican candidates have gotten, which -- you know in an off-year election when Democrats are mad, maybe that is possible, and it's all about sort of the political mindset right now.

CHALIAN: Yes, because the psychological impact that it has on members who Republican members who are not sitting in Trump plus 30 districts, but are sitting in Trump plus 10 districts, or Trump plus 7 districts, or the three Republicans who sit in districts that Kamala Harris won. That's the -- that's where the psychological impact of this.

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And we've seen this is not an unfamiliar pattern, the out of party power, the out of power party tends to over perform in special elections at this time in the cycle. I just -- we should not over interpret that we understand then if the Democrats over perform in these Florida districts? Yes, there's something to learn from that, but I don't know that we can say, oh, the 2026 midterms poised to be a Democratic wipeout of Republicans. I don't think it adds up quite like that.

JEFF MASON, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, REUTERS: I don't think you can rule out, though, that there's also a possibility that it's not just Democrats who are mad. Republicans, though President Trump's approval ratings are still really high, and that's a sign that he's -- that he's still beloved by his base.

There are Republicans who are being affected by job cuts. Their job - there are Republicans whose daughters, sons, brothers, whomever, are being cut in the federal workforce and not just in Washington, D.C., but in swing states, in states that have Republican or a lot of federal jobs that are not just the beltway. So, I just don't think you can rule out that it's not just Democrats who are upset.

BASH: Let's look at Wisconsin. Turn back to that, because it's quite different from the landscape of these two Republican -- very big Republican districts. The State of Wisconsin is about as purple, probably the most purple in this -- in the country. Examples, Tammy Baldwin was last on the ballot in the U.S. Senate, and she won by not even a percentage point. And Donald Trump didn't even win by a percentage point. I believe that was his closest margin, or at least among them in Wisconsin.

AYESHA RASCOE, NPR HOST, "WEEKEND EDITION SUNDAY" AND UP FIRST: Well, and that's why this is, I mean, obviously a Supreme Court -- a state Supreme Court in a purple state like this, where you could be dealing with redistricting and things of that nature, is always going to be very important.

But in Wisconsin, where things are so close, that's where you want to kind of edge out the wind, to show that maybe those even though Trump was able to pull it out in -- you know -- what was that? 2024 I don't know where we're at right now.

But even though he was able to pull it out, then it was that there is enough anger at what is happening that they -- that Democrats are able to turn out and especially against Elon Musk. This because, in a way, he's also on the ballot here, right? And people's feelings about him are on the ballot, and this is a chance for Democrats to show that they are very upset and unhappy with his influence.

BASH: OK, so, on that note, I don't want to lose sight of something that's still happening on the floor of the United States Senate right now, which is Cory Booker of the great State of New Jersey, is on the Senate floor and he is still talking. He has been able to sit, oh, there. He is still talking. He's been able to sit a little bit during the 17 plus hours he has been talking non-stop, when he's been able to give the microphone over to some colleagues.

But for the most part, he has been talking, talking, talking. Let's just listen to a snippet of some of the messages that he wants to get across.

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SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ): Trump's tariff policies implemented without consultation with or support from farmers, will increase farmer costs and consumer food prices and finally, general chaos, which seems to be something, as you're pointing out, that they're very good at. Farmers already deal with so much uncertainty from prices, weather, pests and more. They should not have to deal with uncertainty from Donald Trump's Administration that will undermine everything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Let's look at some of the sort of highlights of some of the things that he has said.

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BOOKER: I rise with the intention of getting in some good trouble. I rise with the intention of disrupting the normal business of the United States Senate for as long as I am physically able. We could be that city on a hill, but we are up high, and folks are going to look to us for what is the world order going to be? What is democracy globally going to look like? Are we going to defend democracy and democratic principles, or will you behave like the authoritarians that we should be against?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: So, David, one of the questions I pose at the top of the show is whether this is the kind of sort of pushback that Democratic voters are looking for in their leaders in Washington.

CHALIAN: It's a good question, because we've seen in national polling that Democratic voters have been quite displeased with the way their elected officials and leaders of their party have been organizing themselves and presenting themselves in opposition to Donald Trump this time around. The answer is, I don't know. We'll see how this plays out.

BASH: Yeah.

CHALIAN: But one of the things you hear from Democratic voters over and over again across the country is, I just want them to put up a fight. I just want them to do something, even if that something is not entirely clear. So, Cory Booker, I think, is sort of answering that call a little bit with this.

And again, to tie back to the elections today, we will see if Democrats, Democratic voters in these lower turnout elections are more motivated in this moment, in their opposition to Trump, in the opposition to the agenda, in the opposition to perhaps economic pain being called caused by tariffs coming or uncertainty and the like.

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If all of that, fuels much greater turnout on their side in response to what the president is doing.

RASCOE: And I want to say, I think it's important when you think about even though this isn't technically a filibuster, because he's not -- you know going -- he's not trying to stop a piece of legislation, I think we should remember that the longest filibuster that's happened in the Senate was Strom Thurmond, and that was against the Civil Rights Act.

And I think that that is a reminder that this country has not always been safe or has not always provided rights for all people. That has been a continual fight, and I think you see fights right now over what it means to get through process, over what it means to be free in this country.

BASH: Yeah. We're going to talk a little bit more about that soon. Please be sure to join CNN's coverage of the races in Wisconsin and special elections in Florida, starting at 06:00 p.m. Eastern tonight. I'll see you there.

And coming up a dangerous mistake. We have new details of a Maryland father who was accidentally deported by the Trump Administration. Plus, dismantling America's health agencies. We're getting new information about countless HHS employees who have just found out they are out of work, what it means for you and your health after a break?

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BASH: A stunning admission from the Trump Administration. It admits in a court filing that a Maryland man was sent to the notorious El Salvadorian mega prison all because of administrative error, and it argues there is no way to get him back. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez joins our panel now. Can you just kind of back up what do we know about who this person is, and whether or not he was the danger to America that the administration is now claiming he was?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is a filing that came in late last night in a lawsuit over the removal of the Salvador national. What we know according to court documents, is that he crossed into the U.S. around 2011 he had a brush with law enforcement that we see in his court documents in 2019 when local police department had approached him and a group of men who were loitering at a Maryland Home Depot.

The police department said that he had ties to MS-13. When he was detained by immigration and customs enforcement in that year, he went through immigration proceedings. Over the course of those proceedings, this alleged tie to MS-13 came up, according to the attorney, it was quite fruitless, and getting additional information and evidence as to why he was being tied to this gang.

Other than the fact that the police department said it was because of a confidential informant and because of his attire at the moment that he was detained. Now, over the course of those immigration proceedings, again in 2019 an immigration judge granted what we call withholding of removal. What does that mean?

That means that they cannot -- they the government cannot remove him to El Salvador for fear of persecution in that country. He is still removable to another country, but he cannot be sent to El Salvador. And if the federal government were to want to terminate that, they would have to go through an additional process in immigration court.

So, this man on the list, he gets arrested in March of this year, and is detained by ICE. His wife the last time she spoke with him was the morning of those three deportation flights to El Salvador. And this court declaration provides a glimpse of what exactly was happening that day.

There was a flight manifest, and as ICE was working through this flight manifest, they were pulling off names because of various reasons they say. His name therefore was moving its way up on the list until ultimately, he was put on this deportation flight.

BASH: So, is that the quote, unquote, clerical error that they claim -

ALVAREZ: -- correct --

BASH: -- just moved up a list without anybody realizing,

ALVAREZ: And that is what the senior ICE official calls an administrative error going on to say that Abrego, Garcia, that's his last name, was removed from the U.S. to El Salvador. The senior ICE official says this was an oversight, and the removal was carried out in good faith based on the existence of a final order of removal and Abrego Garcia's purported membership in MS-13.

So, the administration is maintaining that he has ties to MS-13. His attorney says that is not true. But the problem here for the attorneys for the court, for the administration in this -- in these court documents, is they can't get him back because he is now in Salvador in custody. This is true as well with the other migrants that were sent on these deportation flights.

So really, the ball now is in El Salvador's court, and its unclear what resolution there will be here, but this is an ongoing legal proceeding with another hearing on the horizon.

BASH: And Jeff, you covered the White House for us. I just want to say that Karoline Levitt, the White House Press Secretary, is speaking right now, and she doubled down on the notion that this man was part of a gang MS-13 even though, as you said, you can't -- we can't find any evidence that he was convicted of such a thing. What I - what -- just as a layman looking at this, want to know is, why can't they get him back?

MASON: Yeah, I think that's a great question. I wish I knew the answer. I think what I would say, sort of on a step back level, is, I remember when Elon Musk and the president were in the Oval Office together the first time.

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Elon said, we're going to make mistakes and then we'll fix them. But some of these mistakes, if they are mistakes, are not easily fixed, and that's an example in this case. I also -- I was in the Oval Office yesterday with the president, and I asked him if he had seen the video of that tufts student who was removed from the street?

And if he was comfortable with that, because that's -- you know, that's -- that's what his -- that's one example of what his administration is doing on immigration. And he sorts of -- he gets in very Trumpian ways. I go. I saw it, but I didn't look closely. I'm not super familiar. There's this desire to kind of gloss over the things that really have a real impact on human beings.

BASH: Yeah, so that's one example, and we're obviously focusing on this because there was a court filing. There are other examples. Go ahead please.

ALVAREZ: We're focusing on this because immigration, customs enforcement has admitted to the area -

BASH: That's right -

ALVAREZ: -- because I have done reporting on multiple families and attorneys. Attorneys who have gone to immigration court expecting that their client was going to be beaming in from immigration detention, only to be told during that hearing by ICE actually, this person was sent to El Salvador. We didn't notify you until this moment.

So that this all to say that this court filing has been significant because it demonstrates an error by the admitted -

BASH: Admitted -

ALVAREZ: -- whereas attorneys and family members over the last several days have been saying, wait a minute, this person shouldn't be there.

BASH: So, then the question is, other people. And there are -- and you have done incredible reporting, talking about a number of people who are on those three ICE flights and others. Joe Rogan is an unlikely critic of Donald Trump on this and yet he was out on his podcast, which has millions and millions of listeners slash viewers.

He was talking about somebody different, a person who, according to time was taken even though he said he's not a gang member. He said, I'm gay and I'm a barber. Listen to what Joe Rogan said about this case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE ROGAN, THE JOE ROGAN EXPERIENCE: That's horrific. And that's, again, that's bad for the cause. Like, the cause is, let's get the gang members out. Everybody agrees. But what's not innocent, gay hairdressers get lumped up with the gangs. And then, like, how long before that guy can get out. Can we figure out how to get him out if you want, you know, compassionate people to be on board with you can't deport gay hairdressers seeking asylum, that's crazy and then throw them in an El Salvador prison.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Just on the raw politics of this David, do you see that Rogan moment as a moment?

CHALIAN: I see that moment as explanatory as to why Joe Rogan has such a broad following that he has and is not true. I know he was supportive of Trump and is seen in this manosphere universe that was instrumental to Trump. But why he has this large following is because he doesn't always just sort of like play to a partisan robotic type.

He speaks sometimes -- you know, a little bit more pragmatically in his approach. And so, what -- I don't know if it's a moment of like break or I would not assess it that way, Dana, but I would say that is going to make ears inside the White House perk up, that is a trusted voice, and it is someone who is coming at this from a different angle, outside, sort of the blinders that they have on this.

BASH: And just real, quick, we were wondering about Democrats speaking up. And if I'm a Democrat, I say Joe Rogan's doing it. It's much more powerful of a megaphone for people who are trying to reach.

RASCOE: Absolutely. And I mean, and in a way, you know, this administration is always talking about common sense. It does seem like common sense if you want to do this and say you're going after gang members, get actual gang members who you can prove it like when you have people caught up in this who have very sympathetic stories, that's not good politically.

BASH: Yeah. All right, everybody as President Trump gears up for his most aggressive tariff move yet, the markets are unsure. International leaders are unsure. Is the president's own party now becoming unsure? We have new reporting after the break.

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