Shownotes Transcript
When something's made for you, it simply fits. You feel special. That's the sensation of a Sleep Number smart bed. You'll sleep comfortably, hot or cold, soft or firm, because it's personalized, scientifically made for you. Sleep Number smart beds learn how you sleep and provide personalized insights to help you sleep better. Why choose a Sleep Number smart bed? So you can choose your ideal comfort on either side.
And now, for a limited time, Sleep Number smart beds start at $8.49. Prices higher in Alaska and Hawaii. Exclusively at a Sleep Number store near you. See store or sleepnumber.com for details. Your snacking routine can get a little dull. Time for an Oikos remix or Light & Fit remix. Like a crunchy storm of sea salt praline pretzels, dark chocolate, and butter toffee showering down into a smooth, creamy yogurt.
Enjoy six remix varieties, three epicomplete protein Oikos remix options, or three craveable light and fit remix options. See remixyogurt.com. It is Wednesday, April 16th. Here's what's happening right now on CNN This Morning. Stop playing political games with the life of Kilmer. A judge demanding answers about a man deported by mistake. She wants to know what the Justice Department is doing to bring him back. Plus...
Chaos erupts at Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene's town hall in Georgia. People were tased. Several others escorted out. And the man accused of trying to burn down the Pennsylvania governor's mansion allegedly called 911. What he told them. Also this. We can't rely simply on the vaccine. We also have to know how to treat measles. The measles outbreak shows no sign of slowing down. It may actually be worse than we know.
6 a.m. here on the East Coast, a live look at New York, New York. And good morning, everyone there. Good morning to you. I'm Audie Cornish. Thank you for waking up with me. We're going to turn now to this conversation about this man from Maryland who was deported to an El Salvador prison because a federal judge is now demanding to know whether the White House is doing anything to return Kilmar Abrego-Garcia.
Basically, that's really a decision that will be made by the government of El Salvador. The president of El Salvador, of course, has made it clear that he has no intention of letting Abrego Garcia out of prison. And Trump officials claim that they are complying. They argue that facilitating his release simply means offering him transport back to the U.S. Doesn't mean that they have to demand that El Salvador return him.
The judge in this case is not buying it. She set a two-week timeline for new hearings, subpoenas, discovery, and she told the lawyers this, quote, there are no business hours while we do this. Cancel vacations. Cancel other appointments. Ebrego Garcia has been imprisoned for one month. His wife now wonders how much longer they will be apart. As we continue through Holy Week, my heart aches for my husband.
who should have been here leading our Easter prayers. Instead, I find myself pleading with the Trump administration and the Bukele administration to stop playing political games with the life of Kilmer.
Joining the group chat to discuss Jasmine Wright, White House reporter for Notice, Lulu Garcia Navarro, New York Times journalist and CNN contributor, and Charlie Dent, former Republican congressman from Pennsylvania. So, Jasmine, I actually want to start with you because you have covered a lot of like what the White House does.
how they approach messaging, how they decide how they're gonna talk about something. Can you talk about what the thinking is with this, where they just kind of say, "Well," in the face of this public reaction that says, "Hey, it's common sense that you should be able to fix what was considered a mistake." - Sure. I mean, I think that we have to look at all of this as the White House has
ultimate goal is preserving presidential power and being able to expand that and so i think what's really clear from that hearing yesterday is that the white house and uh the judge have two different versions of what it means to facilitate the return the white house is really taking a hands-off approach basically saying well if he shows up at a point of entry
of course we will let him back in and then restart the deportation proceedings because they believe that he is not going to remain in maryland no matter whether or not he makes it home but i think that
- I think the fact is, is that it's really gonna come to a battle of wills. And the question is gonna be, who is going to win? Is it going to be the White House or is it going to be the judge? And is the judge eventually going to lead to putting some of these officials in contempt because they aren't going to provide the answers, I would assume, that the judge wants. - I mean, they haven't been able to so far. - And they don't want to.
And I mean, I don't want to put it on just this judge because it's becoming a broader question about the judiciary. I don't know, Charlie Lulu, how are you kind of hearing how this case is starting to play out? Because obviously the judge in this case is starting to lose a little bit of patience, right? She's like, I want to know everything about the decision-making here.
Listen, the White House views this as a messaging issue, but this is much broader than that. First of all, they keep on saying that he is a criminal, a gang member. They've provided absolutely zero proof, not only to reporters, to the public, but actually in the courts they have not been able to show any evidence that this man is who they say that he is.
Secondly, this should worry everyone when one thing is deporting someone from this country and saying we don't want them here. Another thing is putting them in a maximum security prison in a foreign country that is deemed for some of the most violent offenders. There has been no proof that this man deserves to be in any kind of
prison-like facility. So this is less about immigration, which is actually the kind of terrain that the government wants to argue on. This is actually about what is the rule of law in this country and should the federal government follow it. Okay, Charlie Dent, so what I'm hearing here is it's about presidential power. What I'm hearing here is it's about rule of law. And then I want to add to this Democratic Representative Maxwell Frost. Here's how he talked about it.
Okay.
So what are you hearing that it's about? And more importantly, what are you hearing from your former Republican colleagues about how they're having to deal with this? Well, I have a kind of cynical view about this whole issue. Tell me. I tend to think that Donald Trump would like nothing more than to talk about this issue ad nauseum, about whether or not a person who entered the United States unlawfully should be returned from his native country, setting aside all the facts in the court orders. I think he's doing it because he'd rather be talking about this
And the stock market tumbling, the bond market being volatile, farmers can't find export markets for their product, consumers are worried about the price of everything from cars to sneakers. So I think this is a great deflection from the issues that are really driving a lot of people in this country crazy right now. And to your point, it's also an issue, immigration policy, where they still poll well. Sure.
I think that they like to refer to a lot of these things as 80/20. I don't know if it's an 80/20 issue, but certainly- What does 80/20 mean for the normies? 80% of people like the idea or like what the Republicans and Trump is pushing and 20% don't. Okay. But they believe that they are in the right on immigration and they believe that that actually pulls higher than Donald Trump does on the economy. I mean, I think we
one thing is fascinating, if we really want to look at the messaging, is that this administration's position right now is basically that if you are in favor of due process, if you want to argue that citizens, both American and those who may be illegal migrants or are illegal migrants,
don't deserve due process, then you are in the right. And if they do deserve due process, then you are in the wrong. And I'm not sure that that argument squares with people wanting their streets to be safer, wanting a more just ability to get a job. Yeah, we're going to talk about this more. Because you're right, it moves out of your favorable bowling to something else. Yeah, it moves out of your kitchen table issues and into like, what is America's day for? Coming up on CNN this morning, we're going to talk about a landmark ruling overnight.
the UK's highest court now defining what a woman is. Plus, a Palestinian student goes in for his final citizenship approval interview and leaves in handcuffs. And Democrats from the past and present trying to gain ground. Who will be the future of the party? I don't know if Joe Biden's the guy we want to hear from right now. You know, he's too young. 83-year-old Bernie Sanders is the guy we seem to want to hear from right now.
This CNN podcast is supported by Sleep Number. When something's made for you, it simply fits. You feel special. That's the sensation of a Sleep Number smart bed. You'll sleep comfortably, hot or cold, soft or firm, because it's personalized, scientifically made for you. The tech in a Sleep Number smart bed automatically responds to your movements throughout the night, keeping you comfortable and, most importantly, sleeping soundly.
Only Sleep Number smart beds let you each choose your ideal comfort and support, your sleep number setting. Sleep too hot? The Climate Series smart beds cool up to 20 times faster than leading competitors. Getting great sleep is the journey of a lifetime. And your Sleep Number smart bed tracks the evolution and improvement of your sleep for you and your partner. It's designed to make each night's rest even better. Why choose a Sleep Number smart bed? So you can choose your ideal comfort on either side. And
And now for a limited time, Sleep Number smart beds start at $849. Prices higher in Alaska and Hawaii. Exclusively at a Sleep Number store near you. See store or sleepnumber.com for details. My cat Freddy loves to be brushed and cuddled.
But stirring up his cat allergens meant sneezing and itchy eyes. Then I found Purina One Live Clear. It's cat food that reduced the major allergen and my suffering in as little as 21 days. Now we feel closer than ever. If you have issues with cat allergens, you really need to try Purina One Live Clear. Try new Purina One Live Clear today. Purina One, a difference from day one.
If you're getting ready, it is 15 minutes past the hour. I want to give you your morning roundup, some of the stories you need to know to get your day going.
So in the UK, the Supreme Court there has ruled that the legal definition of woman excludes transgender women. The case could have sweeping consequences for how the UK's equality laws are applied and beyond. The man accused of setting fire to the home of Pennsylvania's governor allegedly told 911 that he targeted Governor Shapiro partly because of his views on the war in Gaza. That's according to a search warrant obtained by the news site PennLive.
now officials are investigating into whether this attack was motivated by anti-semitism
And nearly 30 U.S. embassies and consulates could soon close. A new State Department memo outlines the plan, and it includes posts in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. The proposal says embassies in neighboring countries would cover those missions. And you gotta see this: a hiker clinging for her life stuck on a cliff in California, she managed to send an emergency message for help.
When rescuers got to her, she had been hanging there for nearly an hour. Yes, they did pull her to safety. Now still ahead on CNN this morning, FBI wiretaps, pay-to-play schemes, and a whole lot of money going to politicians. Our next guest has it all in his new documentary series, The Dark Money Game. Plus, we dive into the latest report on autism as RFK Jr. vows to uncover the cause of the disorder by September. ♪
All right, I want to go off script here because one of the things about being a reporter is you're constantly talking about how money is shaping the political system, right? And ways big and small. And a part of this is because 15 years ago, the Supreme Court's ruling in the Citizens United case paved the way for the system that we're living with now. So there is a new documentary by HBO. It's called The Dark Money Game, and it reveals what's happened since that ruling.
Citizens United said corporations can create a super PAC. Now corporations could fund elections with unlimited amounts of cash. One way you could look at it is that it's a fair fight. Another way is that both parties are corrupt. Joining me now to discuss is the film's director, Alex Gibney. Good morning, Alex. Welcome to the program. Thanks, Audie.
So I know this is kind of a follow up to the work done by investigative journalist Jane Mayer, the New Yorker, for her book Dark Money in 2016. But back then she was talking about the Koch brothers and dark money moving through like nonprofits, even the people talking about how it fueled the Tea Party. But all these years later, the money is not dark, right? Elon Musk can just like roll up with a giant check in Wisconsin or wherever.
So what is it that you were trying to outline now? What is the atmosphere you were trying to kind of shed some light on?
well two things i think number one is there's a lot of money that still is dark um not with elon musk that's absolutely true but more important i think that it's the amount of money that has just become so enormous and and in part it's become so accepted that um bribery or pay to play uh or quid pro quo uh has almost become
in effect, legal, which is a terrifying thing. And we try to show why that happened, how it happened, and some of the terrifying effects. What do you think was the turning point since the United case? Was there a particular inflection point that you think made the difference?
I don't think there was a particular inflection point. I think that what started to happen is year after year after year, as the amounts of money increased, the acceptance of the role of money in politics became greater and greater and greater. I mean, at this point,
In 90% of elections, the candidate who spends the most money wins. That's really not where we want to be because it's the logic of money that is being served, not the needs of the citizenry. I was thinking of the doc when I saw this clip online recently of Chamath Paliyapita, who is a billionaire. He was talking on a podcast about, you know, life as a mega donor and now how he tries to give to both parties.
This is one thing I'll tell you about the Trump administration, which is totally different. OK, I was a lifelong Democrat. OK, I was a mega donor to the Democrats, you know, like dinner with Obama level donor. OK, I couldn't get a phone call return from the White House to save my life. Anyways, the Trump administration is totally different. There's not a single person there you can't get on the phone and talk to.
I was kind of shocked at how plainly he spoke to you guys about this. But was that very common, that expectation? Help me understand the context for a comment like that.
Well, I would say two things about that. One is it's a little terrifying that it's so easy to get people on the phone that they're not really so busy doing their jobs. And number two, I think that expectation is precisely the problem. The idea like I'm given the money, you better service me. That's the terrifying part. I think the expectation that for an amount of money, you get something back is
That's not the way it's really supposed to work in elections where a few people, because they have a lot of money, get their needs served and the rest of us go wanting. Alex, I left this for the end because I suspect it's a short answer. I mean, this is a system lawmakers are kind of trapped in. So regulation, is that even an option? Or did the Supreme Court ruling just really kind of put that off completely?
No, regulation is an option. You can see it happening in the States. I live in Maine a lot of the year, and Maine has some very good regulations
regulations regarding campaign finance. It's still possible. Obviously, the Supreme Court is a challenge. The other thing that's possible is for people to really understand this issue and fight back. And you saw what happened in Wisconsin in the Supreme Court judge election there, where Elon Musk flooded the state with money. But I think the revulsion of using that money in such a rapacious way really backfired.
Alex Gibney is director of The Dark Money Game. You can check that out. Both parts are streaming on Max. Thank you for joining us. We should also note that CNN and CBO, of course, HBO are owned by the same parent company, Warner Brothers Discovery. Still coming up on CNN this morning, things got chaotic at Marjorie Taylor Greene's town hall in Georgia. Some people ended up being tased, being arrested.
plus the car company that's making a big change after President Trump's tariffs. Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile, with a message for everyone paying big wireless way too much. Please, for the love of everything good in this world, stop. With Mint, you can get premium wireless for just $15 a month. Of course, if you enjoy overpaying, no judgments, but that's weird. Okay, one judgment.
Anyway, give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of $45 for three-month plan, equivalent to $15 per month required. Intro rate first three months only, then full price plan options available. Taxes and fees extra. See full terms at mintmobile.com. Welcome to Sephora. I'm looking for a perfume that's not too perfumey.
I got you. Serum moisturizer or moisturizer syrup. Let's get into layering. My concealer is making me look worse. Sounds like the wrong shade. Let's get you meshed. There's only one store that really gets what you're going for. Get beauty from people who get beauty. Only at Sephora. Hi, I, uh, let's get you a basket.
We are not going to stop fighting for his return until he is actually released. I may be the first senator or first member of Congress to go down to El Salvador, but people are going to keep on coming.
A U.S. Senator heads to El Salvador right now to push for the return of a mistakenly deported man. Good morning, everybody. I'm Adi Cornish. I want to thank you for waking up with me. This is CNN This Morning, and it's half past the hour on the East Coast if you're getting ready. Here's what's happening right now.
Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen said he hopes to visit with Gilmar Abrego-Garcia while he's in El Salvador. The senator also plans to speak with government officials there. And it comes as a federal judge has been demanding evidence from the Trump administration to determine if it is following her orders in this case.
Today, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will discuss a new study that shows that the autism diagnosis rate is going up among children in the U.S. The CDC attributes those numbers to better screening and more awareness.
And in just a few hours, a federal judge will hear arguments over whether a data sharing deal between ICE and the IRS is illegal. Immigrant rights groups are asking the court to put a pause on the deal, which they claim violates taxpayer privacy laws. Now, this is a case that could, like so many others, wind up before the Supreme Court, just like the situation with this man who was wrongly deported to El Salvador.
And so I wanted to bring in Joan Biskupic because she has been writing about this. And Joan, you're my favorite Supreme Court analyst now. You also, you follow John Roberts a lot. That's why I wanted to bring you back. And you wrote this essay that is probably the most strident I've seen you, where you were saying that the position that this ruling did, particularly on this case, actually put the court in a position of being
weak to the point of ineffectual. So what do you, when you said the word ineffectual, I was like, Biscupic? Like, what's happening? So what is it about this case? Look at how the administration has bulldozed through this order. The Supreme Court drew a distinction, of course, between the word facilitate
saying yes the yeah let's play this let's play this up there I think we have a clip of Attorney General Pam Bondi talking about that case a break up our see a calling in a win for the administration yes
It was a win. What the court also said was that these district judges do not have the right to interfere with the executive branch's ability to conduct foreign affairs. What they also said is just facilitate, meaning if he wanted a plane flight, we could give him a plane flight. But we cannot effectuate it, meaning making it happen.
the legalese tell me what okay and it was legalese it was written in a very opaque way that gave the administration more running room and the administration read this order in the stingiest way possible and i don't know if the supreme court justices anticipated the degree of bad faith that would be used here but they yes but well
certainly because of how narrowly they're reading the word facilitate. The word, you know, to our audience are probably thinking, facilitate, effectuate, what do those words even mean? But in the law, facilitate does mean work with, you know, assist. Effectuate, which was the verb that the lower court judge Paul Zinnes had originally used, that does mean make it happen. And the Supreme Court said that that you...
it didn't say outright, but it said that the lower court judge should have given more deference to the administration's work with foreign affairs. And that's where Attorney General Bondi
the president uh... white house advisor stephen miller they've all latched onto that as they've stonewalled the district court judge who's now in charge of this and who is so frustrated about getting any information the administration is
appears to have done nothing to get this man back. And she's now investigating this. So Marilyn, the judge blasted the Trump administration for this order, saying that basically commenting that the president saying he can't bring him back and El Salvador's president saying he can't bring him back are like two, quote, very misguided ships passing in the night.
And it just feels like the Supreme Court, while it has tried to rule narrowly in so many different cases with the Trump administration,
I see them trying to avoid the big conflict and constitutional crisis. They're definitely trying to avoid a confrontation. And Audie, let me draw a distinction between what Chief Justice John Roberts and the majority in this case did compared to what lower court judges have done. Specifically, a man you remember from all your coverage of Washington, Jay Wilkinson, who's a Reagan appointee on the appellate court that looked at this case also.
He's very conservative himself. He even had a distinction between facilitate and effectuate in his opinion. But he said specifically, the government screwed up here. The government should fix this. The government shouldn't just give no answers. And he and other lower court judges, including Judge Paul Azinas, who's handling this now, all expressed a sense of outrage that this Supreme Court majority didn't
didn't put forth. So I think it was an invitation to the administration to go as narrowly as it did. And there's a chance that this will come back up to the Supreme Court. A just a chance? Well, we just don't know. I mean, she's giving him...
when Justice Sotomayor broke off from what the majority did last time and she said he has been in this terrible prison for 26 days and counting that and now it's 32 days and counting and then we're going to have two more weeks so we're he is
He is in this terrible situation, wrongfully deported. So who knows what's going to happen in coming weeks in terms of what the district court judge will get and what will happen. But that's why I don't want to predict that it's definitely coming back to the Supreme Court. But there's a strong chance. And I think if it comes back, the justices may try to clarify and perhaps even be more forceful in what they write this time.
Joan Biskupic, thank you so much. CNN Supreme Court analyst. Now, we want to turn to the measles outbreak because this is the second worst since the disease was declared eliminated in the U.S., and that was 25 years ago.
More than 700 cases have been confirmed across 24 states, and some experts believe that number is actually a lot higher, like it could be in the thousands. So despite all the data, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has repeatedly claimed that measles cases have essentially plateaued. He's encouraged people to get the vaccine, but then he said this yesterday.
People get measles because they don't vaccinate. They get measles because the vaccine wanes. The vaccines wane about 4.8% per year. And so, you know, it's a leaky vaccine, and that problem is always going to be around. And we can't rely simply on the vaccine. We also have to know how to treat measles.
okay so i want to bring in dr peter hotez he's the co-director for the center for vaccine development at texas children's hospital doctor thanks for being with us here this morning especially because texas is very much at the center of this outbreak we heard rfk junior say two things there of note one is the idea of it being a weak vaccine or a weak case and then the other
a leaky vaccine. First, can you just give us a definition? What is he saying? - For me to know what he means by a leaky vaccine, the MMR vaccine, the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine is one of the safest and most effective vaccines that we have. I mean, I develop vaccines for a living. We develop a low cost COVID vaccine. We develop parasitic disease vaccines. When we design a vaccine, Adi, our goal is to make something as good as the MMR vaccine. It is one of the gold standards of
of vaccinology. It is 93% protective in one dose, 97% protective in two doses. It is incredibly effective. And the evidence for it? Well, we eliminated measles by vaccinating the US population in 2000. And the only reason it's coming back is because vaccination rates have markedly declined
in many counties in West Texas and then moving up into Kansas and Oklahoma in the Great Plains. And that's what the problem is. So for him to disparage the MMR vaccine has no scientific basis, point one. And point two, this is not the time to be even trying to do something like that when it's all hands on deck because the only way we're going to slow or halt this terrible, terrible measles epidemic that's now led to three deaths
is to do a catch-up vaccination campaign and both making vaccine available and to do the public relations for it. - I wanna ask you about something else because there's this new study from the CDC that shows autism rates diagnosis is on the rise. People are saying it's because more people know about it, more doctors are able to diagnose it.
RFK Jr. says he's actually going to launch an initiative to look into the causes of what he calls an autism epidemic. We know that in the anti-vaccine communities, they very much feel that vaccines are a part of this. But can you talk about like what is it that you could even start looking for? What would an investigation like that look like? Is it even necessary?
Yeah, it's a good question, Audi. And I got involved in this because, you know, as you may know, I have a daughter with autism and I'd written a book after a year of discussions with RFK Jr. back in 2017. And the book is called Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel's Autism about my daughter. And it goes into the genetic basis of autism and the autism genes.
that we've identified all operating in early fetal brain development. The point is autism occurs in early pregnancy. Now, there are some potentially environmental factors that could affect those autism genes in early pregnancy. For instance, if you're pregnant and not aware of it and you're on an anti-seizure medicine called Depakote or valproic acid, your child has an increased
likelihood of being born with an autism-like phenotype. And in my discussions with him, I'd say, look, Bobby, this is where we have to go in terms of there are some potential environmental factors that could influence autism rates. I think most of the increase in autism rates is due to diagnosis. The American Academy of Pediatric recommended
american academy pediatrics recommended that pediatricians begin screening for autism at one to two years of age starting in around 2005. so i think most of this is due to increased diagnosis but there could be some additional environmental factors but it's all about early pregnancy so the fact that he's continues to um harp away at vaccines is very discouraging when it's clear that it absolutely has no role in in autism rates
Yeah, well, we're going to be hearing from RFK Jr. later today. There's going to be a news conference. In the meantime, Dr. Peter Hotez is co-director for the Center for Vaccine Development. That's at Texas Children's Hospital. All right, we want to move on because with Congress now on recess for two weeks, there is more anger boiling over at town halls as they visit their districts.
So this was the scene at Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene's event in Georgia Tuesday night. Three people were arrested for disruptions, including two men who were subdued with stun guns. And in Iowa, Republican Senator Chuck Grassley took questions from voters ranging from topics from tariffs to those deportation flights to El Salvador.
We would like to know what you, as the people, the Congress, who are supposed to rein in this dictator, what are you going to do about it? These people have been sentenced to life imprisonment in a foreign country with no due process.
Group chat is back to talk about these town halls. First of all, stun guns for people who come out to a town. Charlie, your eyebrows went up. Okay, so you've had to hold a town hall. Tell me the scenario where that makes any sense. Well, first, after Gabby Giffords was shot,
I basically insisted that we always have a police presence at any noticed public event we would do. So I'm not at all surprised there are police officers there. But I am shocked that police actually had to deploy a weapon on constituents, you know, who were obviously, probably some of whom got out of control, I suspect. And that's why they were stunned. But I am, I guess I am not stunned by what I'm seeing across the country, this anger. It feels like 2010 with the Tea Party. It feels like 2017 with the healthcare debates.
And this is where we are. There's a lot of anger in the country and it's being directed at their members of Congress for not providing enough of a check on the executive. Yeah, there's a couple ways to handle it. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene actually told a constituent who was speaking out that they were being brainwashed. Why is MTG supporting Musk and Doge and the slashing of Medicaid, Social Security offices, libraries and more? This is outrageous from Sarah.
Well, Sarah, unfortunately you're being brainwashed by the news that you're watching. And, you know, a lot of Democrats pride themselves on being educated, and I suggest they educate themselves better.
How does it go when you tell the people who came out to vote for you that maybe they're just not very bright or haven't watched the right news? So first of all, kudos to Chuck Grassley at 90 holding a town hall. Oh, in the midst of his like 99 county run that he does annually. Yeah, no. So just like want to just props to that. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
There is, she is part of like a general Republican talking point that a lot of these people who are protesting are Democrats. Activists are paid activists. And then activists are paid activists. They don't see them as constituents.
So the dismissiveness is part of that, the general ethos that they don't feel like they have to answer to that particular group of people. I would say that they do that at their peril. I think there's been robust reporting that this is not actually paid activists, sometimes not even Democrats. But you know, there are Democrats and they are part of your constituency and they are entitled to show up at a town hall meeting should you hold one. And so what I think you're seeing is a lot
grassroots anger as Charlie was saying like 2010 like 2017 where it's going to take the Democratic Party and how it's going to affect the Republicans Remains to be seen but we are seeing a lot of energy and I'm not picking on her So many lawmakers have tried to hold town halls They've ended in different ways, but I am focusing on her because she is was an activist
Right. She came up through an activist kind of column into the public space and is now a lawmaker. She's now on the other side of this. You know, CNN's Harry Enten was looking at Trump's approval rating, which people are often keeping an eye on. Here's how he is describing the state of things.
He now holds, in this particular term, the worst ever net approval rating at this point in a presidency among independents. And get this, minus 22 points. He is 22 points underwater with independents. That breaks the old record that belonged to Trump. He has set the new record. He is completely underwater with the center of the electorate.
Okay, it's the last part that I wanted to wrestle with. Independence. It's one thing to look at the big number, which has its mix of Republicans and Democrats kind of skewing it. Independence, this is not going over well in a lot of ways. Right, and I think that you are seeing the White House on the front end be defensive. Just yesterday, they were touting a poll in which he had 54% approval rating from the Daily Mail. I'm not sure how that shows up with CNN, but certainly that's what they were saying publicly. I think probably
I think privately they acknowledge that some of these things, particularly when it comes to tariffs, when it came to that federal freeze, that maybe not all the public likes it and there are fires to put out. I think the question is, is how changed is Donald Trump by that? He doesn't have to run for reelection, theoretically. He doesn't have to, he is not ruled by whether or not he can get elected again. And so I think you're seeing a Donald Trump-- - And also they believe they had a mandate coming in.
not only do they believe they have a mandate, they believe that the American people voted and trust Trump to do what he feels is correct. - But the poll is showing that what Trump is doing is unpopular. His numbers are soft on the economy.
his or the way he's doing it but i think that the white house believes that the american public will be better off and they will see down the line that he was right and they say that you know basically basically what they are asking the american people is to trust president trump and he is not the first president to make that argument what's it like when a politician says um trust me charlie on the economy on tariffs on higher prices that's what i want you to ask well
Donald Trump is not the first president to misread his mandate or overread his mandate. Clearly, you know, when people voted for Donald Trump, I don't think they were voting to annex Canada.
I don't know that they were voting to retake the Panama Canal or to pay an extra $10,000 for a car. So, you know, a lot of people say they voted for Donald Trump and they're getting what they thought. I think there are a lot of people, as that poll just points out, these independent voters didn't vote for higher prices. I don't think they voted for a trade war. And so I think right now, if you're a congressman and you're hearing this, you're right, Donald Trump is not running for re-election, officially, but he can't run for re-election.
But these members of Congress will. And all this stuff is going to be taken out on them. They know that. They're feeling it. And that's why these midterms are going to be so difficult for many Republicans, particularly in the House. Okay, group chat, stick around. We've got a lot more to discuss ahead on CNN this morning. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders drawing big crowds and bigger dollars. But are they delivering the message that can resurrect the Democrats?
Plus, high school students forced to take a citizenship test to graduate. One state wants to make it a law. More from the group chat after this. This is an attempt to impose the kind of regulation on Harvard that is imposed by government on universities in countries that we don't think of as democracies.
That's the former president of Harvard reacting to the Trump administration's demand that the university make major changes or lose billions in funding. Now, Harvard rejected that ultimatum. Still, President Trump and his allies seem eager for a fight against colleges that they say are elitist, woke, and simply out of touch. These schools get billions of dollars of U.S. taxpayer funds. They are not entitled to those funds if they are not protecting civil rights of Jewish students on campus. So, yes, it is time to defund Harvard.
Joining me now, Nico Perino, the executive vice president for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, otherwise known as FIRE. Welcome to CNN This Morning. It's good to be here, Audie. So I have followed the work of your group for a long time because every time someone came to a campus and maybe espoused right-wing views or was deemed too conservative and liberal students yelled them down or they canceled the speech, FIRE was there to be like, that's not right. So the report card from FIRE for Harvard is like,
Harvard's at the bottom. OK. And has been for the past two years. Now, are we actually in a moment of reckoning with free speech? I believe so. I believe so. I believe these colleges and universities don't have clean hands. Over the last decade, they have censored. They have deplatformed speakers. They've implemented microaggression policing. They violated academic freedom rights. And they didn't reform themselves. After October 7th, I think they've
started to get back to their mission. They've started to recognize-- ELANA GORDON: Well, they faced a massive backlash. DAVID KAUFMAN: They faced a massive backlash. And so this reckoning was sort of forced upon them. But you see institutions like Harvard adopt policies like institutional neutrality, the idea that they're not going to comment on every political issue that happens across the globe. They're focusing on their students and faculty. And their students and faculty can comment on those issues. But they're not going to censor the students or faculty who do comment on those issues. ELANA GORDON: But is there a difference
cancel culture or please don't come in here and give this speech and the president of the United States saying I want to make curriculum changes or else I take away your funding. It depends where the cancel culture comes from. So if cancel culture is coming from civil society, that's a problem. We think it violates free speech norms in this country. This idea that we can talk across lines of difference. Again, the White House, Nico. Yes, I agree.
But yes, when the federal government comes in and tells an institution like Harvard, a private university, that it has to adopt speech codes, that it has to censor faculty, that it has to reform its disciplinary processes to punish students and faculty, some who have already been tried for alleged violations, so this risk double jeopardy issues.
It essentially federalizes these universities, makes them vassal institutions. It installs the federal government as provost and president of these universities. And this is a conservative government we're talking about here against big government that wants to make these universities federalized for all intents and purposes. Do you want more free speech advocates, especially on the right, libertarians, to be speaking out about this? Because the silence is deafening. Oh, absolutely. We want people across the spectrum to be speaking about this. But specifically the people who are saying, look,
It's one thing that these universities, as you said, they don't have clean hands. It feels like right now people are saying, look, they're elitist. They suck. We don't care. Let's let this happen. They make easy political targets. Yes. But we had a lot of allies over the last 10 years when we were fighting conservative censorship on
on campus. Some of those conservatives now are absent. And I would warn our conservative friends, the values that make America great are values like free speech, like due process, like the rule of law. If we dispense with these values when it's convenient, we give up much of what makes America exceptional. So I would urge people to think not just in the short term, but in the long term.
term. This is a loaded gun. These same tools that the presidential administration is using right now to get some outcomes that maybe conservatives like are the same tools that can be used by a liberal administration to get outcomes they don't like once the power changes hands. All right, Nico, thank you for coming on CNN this morning. I appreciate your time. Nico is the executive vice president for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.
All right, if you're getting ready, it's almost seven o'clock, three minutes to go. Here's your morning roundup, some of the stories you need to know to get your day going.
Honda moving production of its Civic Hybrid to the US in Indiana. It says the move is in part because of President Trump's auto tariffs, but also it says it likes to produce its cars in places where there is demand. And the Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez fighting oligarchy tour drawing massive crowds even in deep red states. Today they head to Montana and they're raising a lot of money.
AOC bringing in a stunning $9.6 million in just three months. Senator Sanders is close to $12 million. Students in Iowa may need to brush up on their civics lessons. A new bill approved by the state senate would require them to pass the U.S. citizenship test to graduate high school. If it eventually becomes law, this would start in the fall of 2026.
Okay, the group chat is back because we're looking ahead to the rest of the week, what we are keeping an eye on. And Lulu, I want to start with you. I am going to start with David Hogg, who is the Parkland survivor who is now at 25 years old, the vice chair of the Democratic National Committee. And what he is about to do is try and primary old Democrats to get them out and
And it is part of this- - You don't mean Democrats that have been there for a long time? Or do you mean senior? - Senior Democrats. Democrats that are like, have been there and they might be octonigerians or more. We know that Congress has an age problem and there is this generational fight within the Democratic Party right now. Basically what David Hogg says is,
There needs to be space made for a new generation. This needs to happen now. And so it's part and parcel of a lot of the energy that we're seeing on the Democratic side that things need to change. Charlie Dent, you. What I'm watching for is not the town halls that these congressmen are facing, but what they're hearing in small meetings with their small businesses and with their farmers and with individual constituents. That's when people are going to get real candid and people are going to tell them exactly what they're thinking without the cameras on and saying, Congressman, what are you going to do?
to help me with these high prices? How are you gonna protect my export markets? And how are you gonna make it easier so I can make my products here with all these tariffs? - So they're home, real conversations are happening. We'll keep an eye on it. And Jasmine Wright. - Well, I'm watching what was the subject of your last segment, which is which other universities come under kind of that target from the administration? Which universities and also which more law firms? Obviously, I think there is a question of who is going to continue to try to stand up against Donald Trump. It's something that Democrats have wanted
these institutions to do and so who is next all right you guys this was a great chat we covered a lot of ground today loved having you i want to thank you for waking up with us i'm audie cornish and cnn news central starts right now
When something's made for you, it simply fits. You feel special. That's the sensation of a Sleep Number smart bed. You'll sleep comfortably, hot or cold, soft or firm, because it's personalized, scientifically made for you. Sleep Number smart beds learn how you sleep and provide personalized insights to help you sleep better. Why choose a Sleep Number smart bed? So you can choose your ideal comfort on either side.
And now, for a limited time, Sleep Number smart beds start at $849. Prices higher in Alaska and Hawaii. Exclusively at a Sleep Number store near you. See store or sleepnumber.com for details.
This week on The Assignment with me, Adi Kornish. People often say these models suffer hallucinations. They make stuff up. Well, actually, they're designed to make things up, right? We want them to tell us something that we don't know. The CEO of Microsoft AI, Mustafa Suleiman, on the next era of the tech industry and about what it means to hold on to your values when the industry is moving faster than the rules meant to govern it.
Listen to The Assignment with me, Audie Cornish, streaming now on your favorite podcast app.