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Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) On Trump's First 100 Days In Office; Leaked White House Budget Plans Reveal Cuts To Overdose Prevention Programs; Justice Jackson: Attacks On Judges Undermine Democracy. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired May 02, 2025 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:32:15]

OMAR JIMINEZ, CNN ANCHOR: All right, welcome back.

Mike Waltz is now out as national security adviser, but President Trump says he will nominate him to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Now the move comes weeks after Waltz inadvertently added a journalist to a Signal group chat, which was discussing a military strike in Yemen. The president has named Secretary of State Marco Rubio as the interim national security adviser. And Waltz now faces a Senate confirmation battle for his new role.

I want to bring in Democratic Congressman Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey now as well. Thanks for being here. I really appreciate it.

Look, some of your democratic colleagues --

REP. JOSH GOTTHEIMER (D-NJ) (via Webex by Cisco): Thanks for having me.

JIMENEZ: -- have said -- of course. Some of your Democratic colleagues have said that Trump is holding the wrong guy accountable here. Do you believe it should have been Hegseth, for example, as some of your colleagues have implied?

GOTTHEIMER: Well, I think it's absurd that Hegseth is still in his job given the fact that he literally shared classified information that included detailed battle plans or attack plans in -- and timing of those -- in a Signal chat, which put service men and women's lives in danger. And we've learned even more over the weeks of who he shared that information with on the Signal chat, right, including his wife and his personal lawyer. So the fact that there's been zero accountability for the secretary of defense and his actions makes no sense to me.

But I guess this is really no shock, right, because who is really calling the shots here? You've got right-wing extremists like Laura Loomer, right, who are -- who are deciding who should be kept in the national security apparatus and who shouldn't. And to me, that's part of what's absurd in all of this. JIMENEZ: And, you know, just to go a little big picture here -- I mean, look, Democrats have been very critical of Trump's cabinet picks but also his strategies on immigration and the economy. And Trump's overall approval is at 41 percent of those polled, at least at the 100-day mark. That said, favorability ratings for Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries are at 17 percent and 20 percent respectively.

So given Trump's declining numbers over recent polls, why aren't Jeffries' and Schumer's numbers higher? I mean, where is the party missing the mark here and sort of pushing back on some of the bad policies as your colleagues have described them?

GOTTHEIMER: Well, I think the party has pushed back plenty. I mean --

JIMENEZ: Yeah.

GOTTHEIMER: -- what is clear is when you see those numbers in the president plummeting the way they are -- and I think it's all because of the mass chaos, and the public is seeing that. And when it starts to affect, as it is now, not just the stock market which is down I think nine percent since he took office -- the worst since Nixon -- but prices are up, and people's retirement savings are way down.

And I think when I run around the state of New Jersey and talk to people -- and I'm in diners nearly every day -- what they say to me is I can't believe what the -- I can't believe the chaos. It seems like an incredible mess out of this administration. Every day something new is coming at us.

[07:35:05]

And they look at their savings and they're looking at the cost of goods -- of buying everything from, right, coffee to cars -- you name it. Everything is more expensive.

And then you see Trump every day flip-flopping on his decisions. I think that's really catching up on this administration. And then yesterday, of course, with even more on these national security moves, firing people and moving people around. Giving people multiple jobs. I think this is really catching up and I think you're going to see even more of that impact on the president.

JIMENEZ: So given all of what you just said, I guess the question really is why isn't that reflected, do you believe, in the polling numbers we've seen to this point for Jeffries and Schumer?

GOTTHEIMER: Well, you know, I think these -- I think these numbers -- I think these numbers are up and down. I think what I'm hearing from people is they're incredibly -- they see that we're standing up and fighting back and whether it's through the courts or through Congress, obviously taking on this absurd chaos.

And I think with time you're going to see Democrats increasingly, as you're seeing now, being the party as we are of common sense. And I think people want that common sense. And they're, every day, losing more and more faith in this president. And I think Hakeem Jeffries has done a phenomenal job leading the way on that. And frankly, the president is in a -- in a death spiral and he's trying to get himself out of it.

JIMENEZ: And just before we go, outside the politics front we're also seeing this judicial clash on a number of fronts -- but immigration, for example. A Trump-appointed judge in Texas ruled the president unlawfully invoked the Alien Enemies Act in trying to deport alleged gang members here.

And while that may not be the end of the legal road where do you see the line for immigration enforcement right now? And do you believe the Trump administration, this legal decision aside, is going too far in its efforts?

GOTTHEIMER: Well, I think clearly, they're out of control by not following court directives. And this goes back to the larger point you asked me about. This is just more of the chaos.

They don't have a -- there's no strategy out of this administration on any front, right? And every single day they wake up and change. And when you don't have a strategy and you don't have the best people, what happens is you start -- not just because their policies are completely failing on -- at the border, but also their strategy overall is a mess. And I think frankly, this is what happens when you just decide to wake up and govern by the day instead of having a plan. When you govern by chaos without a strategy.

He's done this with the market. He's done this with tariffs. Prices are going up. People in pain. Retirement savings going down.

His national security team is clearly a mess, right? I mean, they're listening to external extremists like Laura Loomer to dictate decisions about our national security.

None of this adds up and the result is that there's pure chaos in our country. So what we need is common sense. We need people like our -- obviously, our leadership are saying let's focus on getting back to things to normal. Let's actually, like, have some common sense again. No more of this insanity. And I -- and I think that's what we all should be focusing on.

I've introduced legislation obviously to say no more -- you can't just decide every day that some -- introduce a new tariff policy to actually get prices down and bring the markets back up and retirement savings back to people. That's what we need more of.

JIMENEZ: And, you know, time will tell and the clocks tick quickly at times towards the midterms where people will have a chance to make their voice heard and evaluate, sort of, how this administration has started at the ballot box.

Congressman Josh Gottheimer, appreciate your time.

GOTTHEIMER: If I were the White -- if I were the White House --

JIMENEZ: Yeah. GOTTHEIMER: If I were the White House I wouldn't be happy right now. I would not be happy.

JIMENEZ: All right. Well, we'll see what they say to that.

Josh Gottheimer, I really appreciate you being here.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: So newly leaked budget plans from the Trump administration reveal that key substance abuse prevention and treatment programs could be on the chopping block.

The latest proposal indicating about two dozen of these programs could be at risk, including ending a $56 million annual grant program to expand the distribution of Naloxone and train emergency responders in how to use it. That is the lifesaving drug that reverses an overdose often used by EMTs across the country who say it has helped to save thousands and thousands of lives. It's also something I explored in my two-year investigation into America's fentanyl crisis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC TUTTLE, PARAMEDIC: We're probably seeing three to seven overdoses a shift.

My name's Eric and we'll be riding with you, OK?

BOLDUAN: How much of this load is because of fentanyl?

TUTTLE: I would suspect the majority of it.

OK, you're just taking a nap.

They say it's nearly impossible to buy heroin anymore that's not tainted with something.

OK. We're giving him some Narcan now. How are you, my friend?

And we start administering the Narcan and just keep ventilating them until they wake up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: The brand name for Naloxone is Narcan, as often we know it.

Why this is all the more confusing and concerning is the Trump administration just had announced that it planned to and was going to prioritize expanding access to these lifesaving drugs.

[07:40:05]

Joining us right now is Dr. Joshua Lynch, an expert in emergency medicine and treatment of opioid use disorder. It's really good to see you again, Doctor. Thank you.

DR. JOSHUA LYNCH, CLINICAL ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF EMERGENCY MEDICINE, UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO: Thanks for having me. BOLDUAN: And we're lucky that you're here -- not in western New York but here in New York City this morning.

You have seen firsthand -- you have worked in the field for years on this. You have seen firsthand how and every day the important lifesaving nature of this medicine. It's nothing short of a miracle drug when we're looking at opioid use.

Hearing that the administration could be moving to essentially zero out a program and grants to help further distribute this and train emergency responders, what is your reaction?

LYNCH: You know, Naloxone has been a proven reversal agent for opioid overdoses for years and years and the federal government has used Naloxone distribution to help curb the opioid epidemic. So restricting that access, especially to first responders -- police, fire, EMS, and other community groups -- would be a huge step backwards and would certainly lead to more overdose deaths.

BOLDUAN: Because we have seen the overdose deaths on the decline. And am I wrong in saying that a large part of that is because of the expanded use and availability and access to Naloxone?

LYNCH: Yeah. I mean, Naloxone distribution over the last few years has really, really grown and has been able to reach either people that couldn't get it before --

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

LYNCH: -- or communities or organizations that couldn't necessarily afford it.

So programs like this distributing to first responders and others are key to continuing the success that we saw last year in reducing overdose deaths.

BOLDUAN: The White House and HHS -- they responded to this reporting saying that there is -- no final decisions yet have been made about the upcoming fiscal budget, including cuts to the Naloxone program.

But you have been -- you have helped to train police and fire on the use of this. You have seen what this does and how beneficial it can be. If these cuts would go into place, what do you think is going to happen?

LYNCH: Um, you know, having all first responders have immediate access and having Naloxone with them when they respond to a scene is key. And if there are communities that rely on this when first responders show up and Naloxone is not available and when they have to wait for another responder to come because they're rationing it --

BOLDUAN: Um-hum.

LYNCH: -- you know, that would be devastating.

BOLDUAN: And who is going to be hurt most by this is one question that we always need to -- we always need to consider.

LYNCH: Yeah. I mean, there's no question that the public, patients, family members who rely on this medication because they're still working through treatment or working through recovery --

BOLDUAN: Exactly.

LYNCH: -- I mean, those are the ones that will suffer.

BOLDUAN: I had the acting head of DEA, and he cares, and he has worked to fight and battle the fentanyl crisis for years. He cares deeply about this. He was on the show, and he told me that President Trump views the fentanyl addiction as a chronic disease, which is a huge change in how people view it and can approach this. And also said that they -- and promised that the administration would continue to make these lifesaving medications, like Naloxone, available.

Let me play a little bit more of what he told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEREK MALTZ, ACTING ADMINISTRATOR, DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION: DEA recognizes the importance of these opioid use disorder drugs, and we are going to continue to make sure they're readily available to all Americans that need them. We're going to rely on expert addiction specialists, doctors, and professionals to make sure that people can get what they need because we're in the business of savings lives and keeping the communities safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: And there's -- I'm just wondering. It's not just the money; it's also the message, kind of, when you talk about what a priority is for -- you know, from the top down from the federal government.

I mean, you work with -- you work with your MATTERS program that has been critical in trying to spread the word to kind of take away stigma and gain access and trust of the community to help people get to treatment and also help save their lives.

If this is now just like a -- if this happens to be just a big shift backwards or in the other direction what message does that send?

LYNCH: Yeah. I mean, it's not prioritizing the health of Americans that are struggling with substance use disorder, and those are some of the patients that need our help the most.

BOLDUAN: If you had the ear of the president on this or those in his inner circle who are going to be looking at these draft proposals and looking at these budget numbers, what would you like them to understand from your firsthand experience?

LYNCH: That -- particularly about Naloxone access. I mean, Naloxone saves lives. It is the antidote for an opioid overdose -- really, no questions asked. And it really -- it should be the -- Naloxone actually should be the last thing that would be cut in -- when you're looking at programs in regards to continuing to fight the opioid epidemic.

[07:45:10]

BOLDUAN: Yeah. I mean, it's almost like not just fighting an epidemic with one hand tied behind your back, it's like both because this is the beginning of fighting the epidemic and these addictions is keeping people alive.

LYNCH: We're -- we've done so much work to provide easier access to treatment and linkage to other resources, but if the patients aren't alive for us to help that makes this a lot more challenging.

BOLDUAN: One hundred percent.

Great to see you. Thank you so much for what you do and for coming in.

LYNCH: Absolutely -- thanks.

BOLDUAN: Omar.

JIMENEZ: Well, new CNN reporting this morning reveals multiple sources telling CNN the Trump administration is considering a major move on the immigration front weighing whether to label some suspected cartel and gang members inside the United States as "enemy combatants."

CNN's Zach Cohen joins me now. I mean, Zach, is the fear here that by labeling some migrants enemy combatants that Trump would spread that label to all of them? Just bring us into this story here.

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yeah, Omar, that's definitely a concern here and it's definitely one that is being raised again as the Trump administration is really making a concerted effort to link migrants to terrorism. That's really been sort of their public posturing as they're pushing the legal boundaries in an effort to more quickly deport migrants out of the U.S.

And these ongoing discussions actually revive a debate from Trump's first term in 2018, according to a former DHS official who was there at the time and wrote in his book that really, lawyers and policy people around Donald Trump at the time raised serious problems with this idea of labeling migrants enemy combatants.

Miles Taylor, the former DHS official, wrote in this book, "Lawyers and policy folks like me said that it was nuts and that they'd never meet the legal definition, and if we started treating migrants like terrorists it wouldn't just be a slippery slope -- it would be a fu****g mudslide into illegality and police state behavior."

So again, these ongoing discussions -- we're told that they are limited to the eight groups that Donald Trump has designated a foreign terrorist organization. But still, as Miles Taylor says, he raised during the first Trump term this could open the door for potentially an abuse of this combatant label.

And beyond that, too, lawyers and people inside the administration who have a problem with this do also raise the same concerns and they say that the military should not be used, and this label should not be used to deport migrants in the way that the Trump administration is considering doing so.

JIMENEZ: Zach Cohen, appreciate the reporting as always -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Also new this morning, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson speaking out in rare remarks and criticizing President Trump for his repeated attacks on judges.

Now, Politico is reporting that while Justice Jackson was at a legal conference in Puerto Rico -- this was Thursday -- she said that the rhetoric coming from the president and his allies is "an attack on our democracy."

The justice did not say the president's name but did say she was speaking about the elephant in the room.

CNN's Joan Biskupic is joining me now with much more on this. I'm curious what more you -- what more the justice said, and also how significant it is hearing that she did speak out in this way.

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN CHIEF SUPREME COURT ANALYST: Sure, Kate. Good to see you. And you're right, the elephant in the room.

You know, Justice Jackson has been positioning herself as the voice of the resistance on the court. She's one of just three liberals on the nine-member bench but she's the one that has written with the sharpest tone and really attacked the administration. And last night she pulled it up a couple of notches.

And this is what Politico reported from Puerto Rico that she said referring to Donald Trump and many of his advisers. "The attacks are not random. They seem designed to intimidate those of us who serve in this critical capacity. The threats and the harassment are attacks on our democracy, on our system of government. And they ultimately risk undermining our Constitution and the rule of law."

And Kate, she encouraged the lawyers and judges in the room at this judicial conference to have raw courage to stand up and keep going. And Politico reported that he spoke for 18 minutes and when she was done, she got a standing ovation.

So you can see that she's positioning herself in a way that's different from her colleagues who have been reluctant to come out in such forceful terms. Certainly, Chief Justice John Roberts has criticized those who would talk about impeaching judges, but she has come out with very strong language here, and as I say, positioning herself as the voice of independence on the nine-member bench and trying to distinguish herself at this time. A very strong criticism against the federal judiciary, Kate.

BOLDUAN: It sure seems to.

[07:50:00]

Joan, it's great to see you. Thank you so much. BISKUPIC: Thanks.

BOLDUAN: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL)

BOLDUAN: So prosecutors want to do their own psychological testing now on the man charged with the killing of the four Idaho college students back in 2022. This new development comes from new court filings in the case against Bryan Kohberger. The prosecutors saying that this would include personality testing, which he says Kohberger has objected to.

Let's bring in CNN's Jean Casarez. She has been following every twist and turn of this. What does this all mean, Jean?

[07:55:03]

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN REPORTER: Well, I think it can mean several things. They do not state in this filing what it actually means but they are telling the court and asking the court we want to do psychological testing on this death penalty defendant.

We're giving you the filing because we want you to seal the filing because it cannot be exposed because they say he's already had testing done by the defense. All the results are there. Any diagnoses of mental conditions are there. But we want to go and do our independent testing.

Here is from the filing. It says specifically, "The filing also reveals the nature of mental condition examinations already conducted and the type of examinations and testing the state seeks to perform, some of which is personality testing to which the defendant objects."

Now, there was a recent hearing in the Bryan Kohberger case. The defense was arguing to strike the death penalty. And in that argument I heard something that really struck me, and I want you to hear it. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELISA MASSOTH, KOHBERGER'S ATTORNEY: He does not have any insight into things like the fact that he once volunteered at the Special Olympics is mitigating, or that he helped save someone's life on the job, and that's mitigating. He can see the logic in the word "mitigation", but he has no ability to understand and help us develop a case for him for mercy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: So this is a PhD doctoral candidate in criminal justice the defense is now saying cannot comprehend when we are trying to do his mitigation phase, and those volunteer activities previously in his life would be mitigation.

Well, first of all, the judge will not strike the death penalty, so that's going forward. We do not know if he will allow the prosecution to do this independent testing, but they have every right to do it because in the mitigation phase they are going to put in the autism spectrum disorder.

BOLDUAN: I was going to say if the defense is leaning -- clearly making this such a bigger part of their argument you would think.

CASAREZ: Absolutely.

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

CASAREZ: And so they will -- they will be allowed to do it.

But when I was hearing that -- and there was no basis in fact. But as an attorney --

BOLDUAN: Um-hum.

CASAREZ: -- I said to myself, "Are they going to raise a competency issue here?" Competency is you are not able to aid and assist your attorney for trial.

BOLDUAN: Huh.

CASAREZ: We have seen nothing of that but that is what she's basically saying in that argument. But once again, it was to strike the death penalty.

BOLDUAN: Yeah, so interesting.

All right, Jean. Stay close --

CASAREZ: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: -- and see what happens. I really appreciate it. It's a really important trial. I really thank you -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: Now this Sunday on "THE WHOLE STORY WITH ANDERSON COOPER," CNN's Nick Paton Walsh and his team journeys deep into Brazil's Amazon region and documents once isolated indigenous communities who are now getting internet access for the very first time.

Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): The thing that has changed our world forever is now seeping across this vast vital expanse that has kept us all alive for as long. The internet is coming to here, the Amazon -- the forest that gives the world breath and to the indigenous communities that have for centuries called this splendid isolation their only home. And the slow wind up river provides a rare vanishing glimpse of a world before the internet of a people who have never been online.

(END VIDEO CLIP) JIMENEZ: CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is with us. Nick, I mean, what kind of impact did the arrival of these satellite dishes have on the communities here?

WALSH: Utterly startling really, Omar. I mean, we went to one place where you could really hear and feel the silence -- the calm -- like a world -- maybe you're too young to even remember but I can remember with fax machines, dial-up lines.

And you suddenly felt within the space of a week from this dish arriving -- we returned a week later to see the children, teenagers, adults gathered round one mobile phone deeply engrossed in sort of a Chinese variant of TikTok called Kawaii -- utterly engrossed in that.

But the interesting thing here was to see the stark change but also how these indigenous communities in a matter of weeks or sometimes months had realized they need rules. They need to switch off. They need to limit what children do and see on the internet.

And I think it was the fact they were so sharply immersed into an online world that we've spent 20-30 years slowly adjusting into from dial-up internet to broadband, to now AI and apps and extraordinary smartphones like this that dictate almost everything you do all day long.