Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Senate Passes Trump's Big Beautiful Bill in 51-50 Vote; GOP Senators Susan Collins, Thom Tillis, Rand Paul Vote With Dems Against Legislation; House GOP Leaders Reiterate Pledge to Pass Trump Megabill by July 4; Suspect Bryan Kohberger Agrees to Plead Guilty in the Idaho Quadruple Murder Case. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired July 01, 2025 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:01:08]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": After a marathon voting session, the Senate has passed President Trump's sweeping budget bill, but some Republicans aren't exactly celebrating. In fact, one of the lawmakers who just voted yes says that she hopes that in its current form, the House rejects it.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL: Plus, from special government employee to political foe, President Trump threatens to sic DOGE on Elon Musk after the billionaire vows to primary every Republican who voted for the president's signature spending bill. And then, later a surprise plea deal leaving the families of four slain University of Idaho students divided. One family says they learned that the alleged killer may avoid the death penalty via email. We're also following other major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act is now back in House Speaker Mike Johnson's court. After a record breaking vote-a- rama and some 11th-hour high drama, Senate Republicans have now narrowly passed the president's prized agenda legislation. Trump calling it "music to his ears" when he learned that it had crossed this Senate finish line.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: It tells you there's something for everyone. I mean, we have -- it's a great bill. There is something for everyone and I think it's going to go very nicely in the House. Actually. I think it will be easier in the House than it was in the Senate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: We have some new reporting on the potential challenge that Speaker Johnson now faces as Senate Republicans who voted no are now speaking out more, as well as one lawmaker who actually just voted yes. Let's take you straight to Capitol Hill with CNN's Lauren Fox. Lauren, what are you hearing? LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I mean, this is just a huge moment for Republican Majority Leader John Thune, able to get this across the finish line in the 11th hour. Obviously, this was a record vote-a-rama, more than 24 hours on the floor as he was wrangling and horse trading with individual members to try to earn their support. But what we know right now, is there were three Republicans who voted against this bill. Senator Rand Paul, a conservative who was frustrated with the fact that this bill just cost too much money.

There was Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican from the state of North Carolina, who over the course of this process, announced he wasn't going to seek re-election. He had concerns over cuts to Medicaid, as did Senator Susan Collins, a Republican from the state of Maine, who is up for re-election in this next cycle. And she tweeted, this is her reasoning for voting no. "I strongly support extending the tax relief for families and small businesses. My vote against this bill stems primarily from the harmful impact it will have on Medicaid, affecting low-income families and rural healthcare providers like our hospitals and nursing homes.

Now, it's worth noting that at the end of this process, at the 11th hour, there was a furious effort to double a fund for rural hospitals in this bill. It went from $25 billion to $50 billion, but that still was not enough to win the support of Senator Susan Collins. It did win the support of Senator Lisa Murkowski, another moderate from the state of Alaska, who had been horse trading with leadership over the last three days. Although even Murkowski is expressing some dissatisfaction with this bill saying she hopes that it goes through this process, that perhaps the House and Senate can have a conference committee to continue these negotiations because she wants to see this bill go even further to support rural hospitals.

So that just gives you a sense that there's some dissatisfaction even among a member who did vote to advance this bill back over to the House of Representatives. Boris?

[14:05:00]

SANCHEZ: So Lauren, take us through exactly what's in the bill that's most likely to get changed once it gets to the House.

FOX: Well, I think in the minds of a lot of Senators, they hope nothing changes, right? Because if this goes back and forth and back and forth, they certainly are on track then to miss the president's July 4th deadline. But there are a series of concerns that Republican House members are raising. For some more moderate members, they're concerned about cuts to Medicaid. The Senate went further on an issue related to the provider tax than the House Bill did.

There's also concerns from conservatives, however, that this bill did not go far enough in some other places when it came to phasing out energy tax credits that were essential to Biden's legacy. So this is a huge question mark right now, and the job for Speaker Mike Johnson is he has to find a delicate coalition that holds both the left of his conference and the right of his conference together. It's a really tall task in just two days before that deadline.

SANCHEZ: Lauren Fox, live force on Capitol Hill. Thanks so much. Brianna?

KEILAR: Now, to the fight between President Trump and Elon Musk that is getting ugly again. Overnight, Musk escalated his disdain for the president's Big Beautiful Bill with a new threat to unseat Republicans who vote for it. The president today fired back as he was asked about the possibility of deporting his former close ally.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you going to deport Elon Musk?

TRUMP: I don't know. I mean, we'll have to take a look. We might have to put DOGE on Elon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Let's bring in Hadas Gold on this. All right, what else is being exchanged here in this war of words, Hadas?

HADAS GOLD, CNN MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, obviously, that delicate detente we had between the president and Elon Musk now appears to either be completely over or teetering on the edge of over. What's most important though about what's happened in the last 12 to 24 hours from Elon Musk though, is that he has made -- kind of staked his claim on what he plans to do going forward in the midterms. It's the starkest political threat we have heard from him since he has left his role at the White House.

Two things. He said, first of all, that he is going to support any primary challengers to any member of Congress who had talked about cutting government spending, but support this bill. And he says that they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this earth. And take a look at this poster that he said will feature the face of any of those members of Congress who talked about cutting government spending, but voted for this bill.

It looks like Pinocchio going up in flames. So he's pretty clearly writing out who he plans to be supporting primary challengers for next year. And the other big thing he did is he announced he was going to be potentially starting his own party. He said if this insane spending bill passes, then he will found the America Party the very next day. He says the country needs an alternative to the Democrat Republican Uniparty, so that the people actually have a voice.

Now, obviously starting a new political party, that's a very heavy lift. We'll see how that actually turns out. But, this is obviously a big change to Elon Musk's plans. Remember, he spent more than $275 million supporting President Trump, supporting Republicans last year, and there were reports that he was planning to spend $100 million more to support President Trump and his outside groups.

Now, we heard the president hitting back, threatening to put DOGE on him, threatening Elon Musk's company, then their federal subsidies that they enjoy from the federal government. So far, Elon Musk seems to be holding back on the personal attacks on President Trump himself. Remember, last time around, we saw him calling for President Trump's impeachment. Take a look at what Elon Musk just posted. He said, so tempting to escalate this, so, so tempting but I will refrain for now.

I can tell you though that the Tesla investors aren't a huge fan of this new fight between President Trump and Musk. Tesla's stock today is falling. It's down I think more than 5 percent today so far. Brianna?

KEILAR: All right, Hadas, thank you so much for that. And as this legislation heads to the House, multiple polls are making it clear most Americans don't like it. According to the most recent Quinnipiac poll, 55 percent of Americans oppose it. An earlier Quinnipiac poll shows nearly half of voters say they would actually like to see an increase in federal funding for Medicaid, which is something that this bill cuts deeply. And more than half of Republicans, specifically, don't want to see Medicaid funds cut at all.

SANCHEZ: We're joined now by CNN Political Analyst and National Political Correspondent for Axios, Alex Thompson. Also with U.S. Chief Washington Correspondent for Puck News, Leigh Ann Caldwell. Thank you both for being with us. Leigh Ann, are members of Congress concerned about this primary threat from Musk?

LEIGH ANN CALDWELL, CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, PUCK NEWS: Yeah, absolutely. Well, let's say set back that Republicans are worried about a lot of things.

[14:10:00]

They're worried about their own re-election, including the ones who voted for this bill, the ones who are facing a tight re-elections, in the Senate, but especially in the House as well. And then you have, in addition to that, now these primary threats against someone who has the money to follow through. Elon Musk has said that he's extremely serious about this. He's really angry about this legislation, and especially the renewable energy component and how they try to roll back a lot of those tax credits and really what he says would be devastating to the industry.

And so, this vote today for the Senate and the upcoming vote in the House is absolutely political. And while Republicans, it's expected to pass, they are absolutely looking at this as a political play toward the midterm. And for some Republicans, this isn't good politics, but they're having to weigh on if tanking this bill is even better politics. And my guess is they're going to vote that -- they're going to decide that that is not as good, that they're going to pass this through the House.

KEILAR: And Alex, a lot of critics of Elon Musk, they're going to enjoy this irony of Trump's threat. They're not going to have sympathy for Musk. But we should be clear that a government effort, a department, an agency, what have you, is not supposed to be something that the president wields like a weapon against someone who ticks him off. ALEX THOMPSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST AND NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, AXIOS: Well, and President Trump has also threatened to withdraw all the subsidies that the federal government provides to many of Musk companies. And President Trump has basically been threatening to wield the very powers of the federal government against Elon Musk for this disagreement. A few months ago, Donald Trump was all in on SpaceX and Starlink and Elon Musk's various other companies. Now, there's been reporting by The Wall Street Journal that Jeff Bezos and his space company are now making inroads with Trump.

At the very end, it should not -- in some ways, it is both surprising and not surprising that Donald Trump is at bottom just a very transactional person. Elon Musk is upsetting him now and Donald Trump is responding in kind.

KEILAR: And Leigh Ann, as we look at this bill that Elon Musk does not like, it seems very clear that members of Congress, despite that, they're going to go with Trump on this. And as the Senate hands this over to the House, we've heard from so many members of the House, Republicans who say they prefer their version, not the Senate version. Do you foresee any problems with them passing, basically, what the Senate has handed them?

CALDWELL: It's is going to be a nail-biter until the end. What Republicans in the House are going to do is they're going to push to get the best deal they can out of this bill. And if they can't get it out of this bill, a promise to do something in the future. There is going to be a lot of acrimony. There is going to be a lot of complaining about this bill, very publicly, as people try to posture.

But ultimately, as you mentioned, Brianna, the president has been very firm and very aggressive against Republicans who threaten or do vote against it or say that they're going to vote against it. So ultimately, my House Republican colleagues that I'm talking to are relatively confident that this is going to pass. But it could be painful to get there. Remember, they've already voted for a similar bill. They voted for their version just a couple of weeks ago. And so, those campaign ads are already written.

Voting against it this time isn't going to change any of that politically for them. But, they are -- this -- it could be a very contentious couple of days.

SANCHEZ: Alex, painful to pass and potentially painful to sell to voters during the midterm elections as well, given how unpopular it is. What's the White House calculus going into 2026?

THOMPSON: I mean, the legislative battle is over, but the political battle is just beginning. The White House calculus is that they're going to sell the fact that they did not raise taxes as these tax cuts were about ready to expire. They are increasing border funding and immigration enforcement by tens of millions of dollars. And that they have done a few things despite, I think, the fact that Democrats believe they have a huge political win and these Medicaid cuts that are going to put a lot of states in like deep physical trouble.

[14:15:00]

They also have a few items in this bill, like no taxes on tips and overtime for people at a working class level that they think they can also sell to those same voters. So, that's the White House calculus, but also, sort of to Leigh Ann's point, they are at the two-yard line essentially. And while there's still some bickering back and forth, it's better to score than not to score. And they sort of see it as, you just got to get the bill passed and then they're going to -- and then they're going to start the political battle the day after.

KEILAR: Yeah, the big sell they will be doing. Alex, Leigh Ann, thank you so much to both of you. Really appreciate your analysis.

Still to come, a shock plea agreement in the University of Idaho's student murders case, how one victim's family says they learned that prosecutors had reached a deal with Bryan Kohberger. Plus, a photo op with a swampy backdrop. President Trump jokes about migrant detainees getting eaten by alligators as he visits a new ICE detention facility in the Florida, Everglades.

SANCHEZ: And later, a Hamas official says the group is, "Serious and ready for a ceasefire agreement to end the war." That and much more coming your way in just moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:20:36]

SANCHEZ: The family of one of the victims in the Idaho quadruple murder case is calling the surprise plea deal for accused killer Bryan Kohberger, shocking and cruel. The 30-year-old's murder trial was set to begin next month, and a source tells CNN that under the deal, Kohberger will plead guilty and will no longer face the death penalty for the 2022 deadly stabbings of Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves.

KEILAR: And while Goncalves' father is outraged about the deal, the father of Maddie Mogen told CBS News this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN MOGEN, FATHER OF MADISON MOGEN: We can actually put this behind us and not have these future dates and future things that we don't want to have to be at, that we shouldn't have to be at, that have to do with this terrible person. We get to just think about the rest of our lives, and have to try and figure out how to do it without Maddie and without the rest of the kids.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: CNN's Veronica Miracle and Jim Sciutto are joining us now with more. Jim, you spoke to Kaylee's father.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Yeah.

KEILAR: What did he say to you? SCIUTTO: Listen, I've been talking to him for more than two years, since these horrible murders happened, and they were waiting for justice, right? They wanted their day in court, and there've been so many delays in this trial. You've been reporting on them throughout. So, when this plea deal came through without their approval and with really no notice whatsoever over the weekend, he -- and he says, several of the other families were deeply, deeply upset.

I spoke to him earlier today and the way he described it, he described this plea deal as a betrayal. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE GONCALVES, FATHER OF KAYLEE GONCALVES: We feel a little defeated. We feel betrayed. I felt like we tried everything. I mean, we fought our tails off. And there were so many people who worked their tails off on this case. The boots on the ground, the men and women, the investigation, FBI, the state, the county, multiple states were involved. We had all the evidence. We just didn't have somebody willing to push it that final step.

I can't force a prosecutor who doesn't want to do his job. This isn't -- this isn't what we should be doing. You don't deal with terrorists and you don't deal with people who kill your kids in their sleep. So, yeah, we'll never see this as justice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: I mean, one thing that they're concerned about is that life in prison. He says that in his view, and he says he's done his research that the kind of prison he'll go to will be adult daycare. And he said, it's -- they really wanted the death penalty here. And that would've been the case without this plea deal that he was subject -- at least, had it gone through the process, he might have faced the death penalty. And that's what they -- that's the kind of justice that a guy who lost his little girl was hoping for.

SANCHEZ: Veronica, take us through the details of this deal.

VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, this plea deal involves Bryan Kohberger agreeing to pleading guilty to four counts of murder if the prosecution takes the death penalty off of the table. And now, there is a plea hearing tomorrow, as Jim has mentioned, and I just spoke with the University of Idaho law professor who kind of took me through exactly what is expected to happen. That judge is going to, if the judge accepts this plea agreement and doesn't have any issues with it, then we should expect to see that the judge will make sure that Bryan Kohberger is taking this deal voluntarily.

Because once a plea deal like this is accepted, it is very hard to overturn. So, the judge is going to be making sure that he really is accepting this voluntarily. We should not expect to hear from the families tomorrow. That should happen at sentencing when (ph) they will get an opportunity to speak. But as Jim mentioned, this case has dragged on for more than two-and-a-half years. There have been multiple delays throughout this entire process, including because they had to move -- they did the change of venue from Latah County where those murders took place to the state capital of Boise. So that caused delays.

But in the last few weeks, the defense team, they really faced some significant blows. They were once again rejected by the judge to push the trial date out even further than expected, in August. They also were denied a proposal to present the jury with four alternate perpetrators. The judge who kept their name sealed, said that these four people, these four individuals, there's no evidence tying them to the murders. So that was out.

[14:25:00]

And then the judge also denied Bryan Kohberger 's alibi, saying that there was no one who could vouch for where he was that evening. So, the defense really had their backs up against a wall before this plea deal was accepted. And so, we'll just have to see what happens tomorrow when it is presented to the judge. Back to you guys.

KEILAR: Yeah. And Jim, as Veronica said there, if the judge accepts the plea deal, judges have discretion here. I'm curious. Might be rare to reject it, but there is discretion.

SCIUTTO: There is, I mean, it's at least the hope of Steve Goncalves and some of the families that the judge might add something to the deal. One example he gave is that, as he understands the plea deal, Kohberger just has to plead guilty. He doesn't have to provide anything more. And what Steve Goncalves would like to see is to have Kohberger say, I did it. Here's where the knife is. Right? To make it quite clear that he is the man, right, and takes responsibility because one of the family's concerns is that as at a later date, he could try to get himself out of it. Right? Or claim that he had mental stress that led him to this plea agreement at this point. Again, I mean, these are families who want to see the clearest form of justice, but also the clearest form of responsibility taken by Kohl Kohberger.

SANCHEZ: Jim Sciutto, Veronica Miracle, thank you both for the reporting. Up next, President Trump takes cameras inside the new ICE Detention Center in the Florida, Everglades he has nicknamed Alligator Alcatraz.

KEILAR: And he confirms that yes, the idea is detainees will be chased by reptiles if they try to escape.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)