Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Trump To Sign His Megabill Into Law At Major July 4th Ceremony; Rep. David Kustoff (R-TN) Discusses About Donald Trump Signing Ceremony Of Megabill; Trump Talks To Zelenskyy After Heavy Russian Air Attack; Trump: W.H. Begins Notifying Countries of New U.S. Tariffs. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired July 04, 2025 - 15:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:00:41]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Fireworks and a flyover. How President Trump's 4th of July celebration has turned into a victory lap and a signing ceremony for his mega bill.

Plus, countries around the world on notice. President Trump says the White House will start sending letters today to trading partners notifying them of the new tariff rates they will have to pay. He says some countries might face rates as high as 70 percent.

And Tennessee takes the keys. A new law just kicked in to strip driving privileges from teens found guilty of bullying. So, how exactly does this work?

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

A very happy Independence Day to you. I am Brianna Keilar in Washington, D.C. Boris is off for this afternoon and we are here where the White House is getting the pen ready for President Trump to sign his sweeping domestic policy bill into law. This is a huge moment for the President as he now looks to capitalize off of his promises kept message. But Democrats who have been seeing red over this bill are now hoping that what the President is about to sign will deliver them a big blue midterm wave. CNN's Kristen Holmes is at the White House for us.

Kristen, a big day for the President.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It certainly is Brianna. One thing to keep in mind, you know, we're talking here about Democrats who have been out here just pounding this bill going after it. And if you talk to Republicans, they understand they're losing the messaging war on this bill. Their argument being that they were trying to actually get this bill passed and not necessarily messaging on it.

So, what you're really going to start seeing from the White House and from Republicans and outside groups as well is an increase in spending in order to try and stop any kind of midterm blue wave where they're promoting the bill. Where they're highlighting some of the things that they believe voters will like that's in the bill.

Now, just to give you a little bit of oversight of what actually is part of this domestic policy bill. We know it extends the 2017 tax cuts. It overhauls eligibility for Medicaid and SNAP which is food assistance. It provides no taxes or takes away taxes on tips or overtime. It phases out green energy tax credit and it lifts the debt ceiling.

So, if you're looking for the overall impact at least according to the Congressional Budget Office. They say that this is going to lead to 11.8 million people who are uninsured as well as add $3.3 trillion dollars to the national debt. These are the things that these Republicans are going to have to counter.

Now, President Trump is going to have a real celebration not just for the 4th but also with this bill signing. He was already going to have what they were calling a military picnic on the South Lawn. They're inviting the pilots who dropped the missiles onto those nuclear sites in Iran. They're also having a flyover from the B-2 planes that dropped those missiles onto the nuclear facilities in Iran. And all of that will be the backdrop to President Trump with some of his congressional leadership around him signing this bill.

And we cannot really overstate how important this bill is to President Trump. He believes and his administration believes that it's going to be the key to his legacy. They believe that this is not only the cornerstone of his second term but it really delivers on the campaign promises he made like no tax on tips, like no tax on overtime, like more money to ramp up deportation.

So, we'll see him out there. They are really feeling good at the White House at this hour that they were able to get this through. And, you know, Brianna as we talked about for the last several days there were moments where it looked like maybe it was not going to pass. Ultimately, he is getting his bill.

KEILAR: Yes, he certainly is.

Kristen Holmes, thank you so much.

With us now is Republican Congressman David Kustoff of Tennessee here in studio. Thank you so much. Happy July 4th to you.

REP. DAVID KUSTOFF (R-TN): Happy Independence Day. Thank you for having me today.

KEILAR: So, this is a big day for you, for President Trump. How are you planning to sell this to your constituents this summer?

KUSTOFF: Well, I think it's also a big day for the nation.

[15:05:00]

My constituents support this bill and one of the main things is - I worked hard on the Ways and Means Committee with all my other committee members is making these tax cuts permanent for individuals, for small businesses. I represent part of Memphis and rural Tennessee. This is big for family farms across my district and across the nation. It's significant and I think about what would happen if we would have failed, if we would not have passed this bill.

And in the Ways and Means Committee several weeks ago we had the Treasury Secretary. I asked him, I said what would happen if we failed to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill. His answer to me was we would have a financial crisis like what we had in 2008 which nobody wants. So, I think this is a win for the country, a win for the American people. It's a big bill. And I do agree that this is going to be a legacy moment for Donald Trump.

KEILAR: Will you hold town halls?

KUSTOFF: I meet with people all the time and I have meetings in in my district offices.

KEILAR: Meetings or town halls?

KUSTOFF: I have meetings. I mean, you can call it whatever you want to call it.

KEILAR: Well, they're different.

KUSTOFF: Well, if people have the chance to come and talk with me and that's the issue is talk, ask questions, have me answer and we're out all the time.

KEILAR: I've heard from some constituents more broadly they appreciate the town halls because they want to have a chance to ask questions. But it does open you up, of course, to protest which has been a real concern of Republicans. Are you concerned about that?

KUSTOFF: Well, I think every member and this is true with public officials across the nation, Republican, Democrat, they all have to be concerned about public safety these days. And so, there's a there's an issue about access to elected officials, federal level, state, local and the personal security.

I'm old school. We want to make sure that people have the chance to visit whether they're in the district or they're in Washington or wherever but obviously we've seen with Republicans and Democrats nationwide where there have been incidences of violence and unfortunately outright murder.

KEILAR: Congressman, these cuts in the bill to programs that help the poorest Americans, Medicaid, SNAP, food assistance, SNAP, do you expect that to impact some of your constituents?

KUSTOFF: You know, for the people, take Medicaid for example, one thing that we've talked a lot about before the bill was passed and obviously on the last day or so is those able-bodied people ages 19 to 64 who are receiving Medicaid who are going to have to prove that they either work 80 hours per month or they get some type of educational training. I think that's a no-brainer. And when you - I hate to talk about it political terms, but when you

poll it it's very popular and you know obviously Democrats 30 years ago when President Clinton was president this is something that he championed and something that Republicans and Democrats came together on. I don't see why Republicans and Democrats don't come together on that.

KEILAR: (INAUDIBLE) ...

KUSTOFF: For the people - with the people who really need it, to your point, to the people really need it, we want to make sure that if they're not able-bodied and they're receiving Medicaid that they continue to receive Medicaid.

KEILAR: So, the no tax on tips and overtime, those kick in quickly but then they expire in 2028 around the time that these Medicaid cuts kick in when millions of people may be losing their health insurance as an effect of this bill which is a projection at this point. That could then have a cascading effect on hospital access. We heard that concern from many, many Republicans, right? How will you handle that politically where the sort of good stuff is expiring as that really tough stuff kicks in?

KUSTOFF: So, no tax on tips, no tax on overtime is something that President Trump really championed in 2024 when he went across the nation and it's important to him and it's important to working Americans. So, when we voted on this, we've actually voted on this twice in the House of Representatives, once on May the 22nd. We didn't have it expiring. The Senate made their changes and obviously we voted up or down what the Senate gave to us.

I think with Medicaid, one important provision that the Senate did add is $50 billion for rural hospitals across the nation and that will be very helpful I think to Medicaid recipients.

KEILAR: I want to ask you about something that President Trump said last night. He was in Iowa taking a bit of a victory lap on this bill, trying to sell it. He used the word shylock when he was describing unscrupulous lenders, which is widely known as an anti-Semitic reference to the Jewish villain in Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice."

[15:10:09]

He says when he was questioned about this, quote, "he's never heard it that way." What do you think?

KUSTOFF: Well, and until you said that people were offended - I was not offended. And until you said that, I wouldn't - we've got to condemn anti-semitism. We see it rampant across the nation. We've certainly seen it accentuated since October the 7th of 2023 across the country and in Washington. We'll call it out wherever we see it.

KEILAR: Why doesn't that term offend you? The - I just want to be clear, the Anti-Defamation League, as it called out President Biden for using the word in 2014, has called out President Trump as well and says that we should expect better from a president. Why doesn't that offend you?

KUSTOFF: Until you mentioned it, I didn't even think about it. So, I think that when we see that people say words and they intend for it to mean what it means, anti-Semitic remarks, anti-Semitic sentiment, then obviously we've got to call it out.

KEILAR: Why should Americans believe that President Trump is cracking down on anti-semitism in good faith when he says something like this, which is broadly understood to be anti-Semitic?

KUSTOFF: When you look at the college campuses, starting again in 2023 - October of 2023, and all the protests, and some of those were paid actors, this administration has called it out and has cracked down on those colleges where we have had Jewish students come to Washington and say, I fear for my safety.

My feeling is, I think a lot of people, a lot of Jewish Americans went to bed on October the 6th feeling one way politically, and they woke up on October the 7th feeling a different way. That Donald Trump has their back, he has Israel's back, and has been very supportive of Israel.

So, this administration will continue to call it out. The House Republicans will continue to call out anti-semitism. And I don't want to throw a wet blanket and say that Democrats are not, because I have a number of colleagues on the Democrat side in the House. They are very strong at calling out anti-semitism, but of course they do have some members who are not as supportive, and fortunately we saw them defeated in the primaries last year.

KEILAR: You think it's a good idea to use this word in general, in political discourse?

KUSTOFF: Well, again, I didn't take any offense when I heard it.

KEILAR: Congressman Kustoff, thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate it.

KUSTOFF: Thank you for having me. Happy Independence Day.

KEILAR: Yes, happy July 4th to you as well.

President Trump speaks to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the same day that Russia launches its largest attack of the war so far. The bombardment also comes after President Trump finished a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump says Putin does not seem interested in ending the war. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is with us now.

Nick, what were you learning about this phone call between Trump and Zelenskyy?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, to be clear, long awaited and heralded as it was, and frankly key as it is to Ukraine's defense, we know little specifics about exactly what was agreed or discussed. And in his video address today, President Zelenskyy of Ukraine called it an important conversation (INAUDIBLE) teams would meet to increase the strength of our air defense. I think he means Ukraine's there. And importantly, he mentioned they discussed joint production.

Now, you know, Ukraine has long held out the possibility that it could itself create the Patriot interceptor missiles that it so badly needs that it only can take down Russian ballistic missiles. So, there is a glimmer of help possibly held out here, but overwhelmingly positive has been Kyiv's readout from this, possibly because - not to express displeasure at this particular White House.

But this conversation, one of two bookends around these horrific attacks on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.

Look, people on the ground there saying this felt different. This felt like the air defenses of the capital being sorely tested. Russia simply trying to look for gaps or possibly finding them as well, 539 drones fired. That's a record, possibly some decoys in there as well, according to Ukrainian officials.

Look, many records have been broken in the past weeks, but there are concerns that while we were looking at about a year ago, 100 drones being a big night across all of Ukraine, now we see 500 folks at the capital with suggestions that the Russians could get to a thousand in the months ahead.

So, real concerns that the air defenses may be lacking and real hopes that the sudden pause we heard or cessation (INAUDIBLE) munitions being delivered by the United States might be something that was worked around in this quite elliptical conversation in terms of details we're getting between Trump and Zelenskyy.

[15:15:09]

Remember, Trump spoke to Putin just hours prior to this onslaught against Kyiv and emerged, what he said, very disappointed at the Russian leader's position. But at the same time, too, he confirmed the pause or slowdown or end of these vital munitions going to Ukraine. So, bear in mind, this is about the defense of Ukraine's skies, its civilian and its cities separate to that. And possibly more urgently, Ukraine says there are 160,000 Russian troops amassing to the north and east of the front lines. That's almost more than invaded back in 2022, some say. And that potentially spells big problems for a stretch and exhausted Ukraine in the weeks and months ahead, Brianna.

KEILAR: It certainly does. Nick Paton Walsh, thank you so much for that.

Still to come as President Trump's deadline nears for new trade deals, he's telling countries they'll face much higher tariff rates in August. So how that could hurt America's ports.

Plus, the first group of detainees arrive at the so-called Alligator Alcatraz and some concerned Florida lawmakers are denied entry into the new detention center. Then later, fighting bullying by taking away the car keys? Tennessee

looking to take away some teens' driving privileges. We'll have that and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:20:50]

KEILAR: New today, President Trump says he is about to raise tariffs as high as 70 percent on some countries as low as 10 percent on others. He says the White House will send out letters here over the next few days, informing trading partners about the new tariff rates on their products entering the U. S. The President had already given the world a three-month window to negotiate trade deals with his administration or face those higher tariffs again. This Wednesday being the deadline for that, and the new tariffs would be taking effect August 1st. With us now is Gene Seroka, executive director for the Port of Los Angeles.

Gene, it's great to see you again. How is your port preparing for the July 9th deadline in this August 1st return of high tariffs that Trump is teasing?

GENE SEROKA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PORT OF LOS ANGELES: Well, it could be bumpy once again, Brianna. Good to see you. As you know, our May volume was down 19 percent compared to April. We started off June pretty slow back half of the month. We put together a couple of really good weeks, so the cargo is flowing in ahead of that self-imposed deadline where many folks thought these tariffs could shoot up. Now, we're back to the simulation program of what to do from whom to buy and when to start.

KEILAR: Has the port kind of gotten back to regular volume since the tariff chaos of earlier this year? What has the kind of compounding effect been of all this herky jerkiness?

SEROKA: Yeah. If you combine May and June, Brianna, we're down about 4 percent compared to the five-year average. Made a good recovery in the last couple of weeks to get inventory through the system, dock workers and truckers back on the job, which is so important to us. But according to our forecast, we're going to start to see a little bit of a dip coming in the next few weeks.

KEILAR: So, tell us what this means for you've got, of course, the port workers, right? But you also have truck drivers. You have so many kind of cascading employees coming off of this. How is it affecting them? And what could this upcoming deadline mean?

SEROKA: Oh, it's been up and down, Brianna. Just to give you an example, in the second half of May, after many importers slammed on the brakes because those tariffs were so high for every two dock workers that went into the hiring hall looking for a job, one went home without. And that's what we're going to be seeing. That cargo flow has an immediate impact on the people that physically move the boxes, the longshoremen and women, the marine clerks, the foreman, as well as the truck drivers. And those drivers are hauling about 60- to 70 percent of the cargo

that they did leading up to that tariff announcement in April. Now, these past two weeks, they've been really hustling the cargo in and out of the port. But with this expected drop off that we'll see after tariffs are hiked again, it'll probably be a similar story.

KEILAR: The White House Press Secretary, Gene, said last week for countries that continue to negotiate, the deadline is not critical. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he thinks that negotiations could be wrapped up by Labor Day. But then the President overnight says countries would not really be afforded any flexibility with the tariff deadline. They'll start to pay on August 1st.

When you know you were talking to people who are planning when you're planning, trying to understand how things are going to affect the port or how companies who use the port are doing their own plans. What are you looking at? What are they looking at? Is it what's coming from the administration or is it very specifically what the President says? What information are you leaning on?

SEROKA: Many just don't know, Brianna. And as we've talked about before, there have been more than 70 announcements on trade and tariffs policy in general since January. And just as you stated over three new sound bites of information, they're going in disparate directions as well.

So, for the importer and exporter, they're trying to keep their nose to the ground, make sure that they have as much information as possible to make the best decision that they can, given the information that they have.

[15:25:09]

On the export side of our business, we're down six consecutive months because of retaliatory tariffs and trade partnerships that are now taking shape around the world without us.

KEILAR: The last time the President promised steep tariffs, we saw a lot of shipping stopped in its tracks. That was your daily reality. We see - saw the markets dive markets only recovered when Trump lowered and paused some tariffs. Do you think that countries take the new threats seriously?

SEROKA: Well, I think they have to, and some who are really close to the situation see it as an opportunity to get people to the table to have more in depth discussions. Time is against us right now. And if we're not going to get these deals done quickly, we have to have a line of sight for businesses in general, so they know how to invest. We're at this critical time, as you know, Brianna, for getting cargo in here for the all-important retail yearend holidays. I still think that from what I've seen so far, we'll have less choice on the shelves, possibly higher prices and fewer selections, because retailers aren't going to buy a wide variety of products right now and have to discount them at the end of the holiday season. They're going to be much more selective in what they bring in and put on those shelves. KEILAR: Gene Seroka, thank you for joining us and a Happy Fourth to

you.

SEROKA: Happy Fourth, Brianna.

KEILAR: Ahead, dramatic rescues in Central Texas as deadly floodwaters ravaged that area. A month's worth of torrential rain fell in the span of just hours. We'll have the latest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)