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Today: President Trump Celebrates Fourth Of July; Supreme Court: Trump Admin Can Deport Migrants To South Sudan; Today: President Trump To Sign "Big, Beautiful" Bill Into Law. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired July 04, 2025 - 06:30   ET

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

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: Commentators and broadcasters, Audie, had been around a lot longer.

[06:30:04]

In other words, where were you when the great Maya Moore was playing, winning four titles coming out of UConn, having had an incredible career? Totally -- not totally ignored, obviously beloved in Minnesota and well known in the sports world.

Caitlin Clark has transcended sports. Frankly, she's not just one of the most famous athletes in our country. She's one of the most famous Americans at this point.

And that's not bad for the WNBA, obviously, because that's spotlight now is giving attention. We see it in the numbers of the all-star votes where A'ja Wilson had 90,000 some votes two years ago. Now she's well into the hundreds of thousands. So, people are noticing other players. It should have happened a long time ago.

So what I would say to my colleagues, most of the men who laughed at me as I run off to cover the Olympic gold medal game, and they of the women, you know, at various Olympics, and they said they're not going to waste any time with that. We know the U.S. is going to win. I'll go cover something else.

I wish they'd been there sooner because these women deserved it sooner. My point has been, and in the book is it's happening now. And obviously the league needs to understand that there will be issues and potentially tough feelings when you again, have a majority Black league and out of the out of the blue, out of Iowa over the last several years of amazing play comes this this one great player.

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: And their fandom.

BRENNAN: And the fandom. Although, you know, fans, fans are fans. I mean, Roger Goodell is not worried about delusional fans. So, I would -- I've argued with --

CORNISH: She's never been pepper sprayed in one of their fan riots. Well, maybe.

BRENNAN: So, but you know what I'm saying. Sports fans.

CORNISH: Yeah.

BRENNAN: And X is a cesspool. But it is terrible what has happened to these women on social media. And we know white women get it worse than men. And of course, black women have it worse than white women.

So, the WNBA, I go look at that leadership and say, how did they not anticipate this moment? You could see it coming.

CORNISH: Yeah.

BRENNAN: The barnstorming in Iowa, the record crowds, the record TV ratings. And then all of a sudden, the players are kind of left adrift.

And that's not my voice. Dr. Harry Edwards, the great civil rights advocate and leader, Black power salute in Mexico City in '68. Briana Scurry, their voices in the book for me means so much as we start to work through these issues.

CORNISH: Well, Christine, I don't envy you having to unpack this moment in the spotlight, but the book is amazing. Thank you so much, Christine Brennan.

BRENNAN: Thank you.

CORNISH: And you can get a copy of "On Her Game" next Tuesday.

Straight ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, how the newly passed big, beautiful bill could become a big health care problem for millions of rural Americans.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:37:21]

CORNISH: Fourth of July celebrations already in full swing. Fireworks lighting up the sky last night in Texas.

Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish. Thank you for joining me on CNN this morning on this holiday. It is now 37 minutes past the hour.

And here's what's happening right now.

Last night in Iowa, President Trump kicked off a year of events leading up to next Fourth of July. On this Fourth of July, today, he'll honor the B-2 bombers who pulled off the attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. Theres going to be a flyover at the White House, then later, he's going to watch the fireworks on the South Lawn.

And the Supreme Court will now allow the administration to deport migrants held in Djibouti to South Sudan. A group of migrants, some from Cuba, Vietnam, Laos, they've been held at a military base in Djibouti for weeks. And later this afternoon, President Trump will sign his big, beautiful

bill into law. House Republicans delivering the first major legislative win of the presidents second term.

Now, it extends tax cuts. It also slashes funding for some social safety net programs. Hospitals and rural communities around the country are bracing for the fallout of these changes to Medicaid. It slashes nearly $1 trillion from Medicaid, which eventually led to Republican Senator Susan Collins and Thom Tillis to vote against it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): What do I tell 663,000 people in two years or three years, when President Trump breaks his promise by pushing them off of Medicaid, because the funding is not there anymore. The effect of this bill is to break a promise.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Here's the thing. It's not just North Carolina facing those cuts. According to analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation, the new big bill and other policy changes are expected to leave roughly 17 million people, more people without insurance coverage by 2034, making this the biggest rollback of health insurance coverage ever, due to federal changes.

Other states with large rural populations say Kentucky, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Missouri -- well, they're going to see rural Medicaid spending plummet by more than $5 billion over the next decade.

Joining me now to talk about this is Sarah Jane Tribble, chief rural correspondent for Kaiser Family Foundation Health News.

Sarah, thanks so much for being here.

SARAH JANE TRIBBLE, CHIEF RURAL CORRESPONDENT, KFF HEALTH NEWS: Thank you.

CORNISH: I can imagine your phone is ringing off the hook with this particular beat. Can you talk about the particular concerns when people call you to say, wait, are they really doing it? Did this part end up in the bill? What are they worried about?

TRIBBLE: Right. So I've been talking to hospital CEOs all week long, texting this morning with one actually on the West Coast, which they're kind of early.

[06:40:05]

Look, on last Saturday night, there was hospital CEOs texting their constituents, texting their associations. What they're worried about is the cuts in Medicaid, not only to the people who they serve, the patients, because those cuts will happen. The work requirements and the paperwork will cause people to fall off the ranks, right, and not have coverage. But also, there are things like provider taxes and state directed

payments. These financing mechanisms in Medicaid, the hospitals have largely depended on in many ways to help kind of bolster their bottom lines. It's just some financing mechanisms to add more Medicaid dollars to their budgets.

CORNISH: One of the things I want to ask you about is this interview with Kansas Senator Jerry Moran. He was on the Senate floor talking about these concerns. And here is what he said, or sort of explained after voting yes.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

SEN. JERRY MORAN (R-KS): I am concerned about the issue of rural hospitals in particular, but health care generally in Kansas. So the end result on how we are helping hospitals is that we made certain that there was no changes for the next two years in the -- in the reimbursement to our hospitals. And so, giving them a chance.

But the plan under this bill is that Medicaid reimbursements are taking steps downward as far as a percentage.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

CORNISH: And the Senate did add a $50 billion fund to help support rural hospitals. But can you be my senator translator right then, what was he saying? Was he saying, look, don't worry, because the math is going to work out? What are we hearing?

TRIBBLE: Well, you're in luck. I'm from Kansas. I grew up in Kansas.

CORNISH: Double whammy.

TRIBBLE: I was talking to a Kansas CEO just the other night. And they are concerned about these Medicaid cuts. It softens the blow because Moran actually had a virtual press conference with 100 hospital CEOs in Kansas. I think yesterday is what the press release said from the Kansas Hospital Association, trying to talk to them, answering their questions.

And that provider tax, I just mentioned those state directed payments, those funding mechanisms for Medicaid that go directly to the hospitals. Those are the things that got time delays. And so, what I'm seeing from places like Kansas and Michigan and other places and hearing from CEOs is mitigation. We have time to mitigate this bill. We have time to maybe.

And I think this is sort of a new, new tactic that I'm hearing about in the last 24 hours. They know it's bad. They know it's coming. Maybe they can fix it before it takes effect.

CORNISH: They think that time is some lobbying time.

Before I let you go, for the average person, its not that they don't feel bad for a health care CEO, but there's a sense that they hey can figure this out. They're going to get their money somehow. TRIBBLE: OK.

CORNISH: You don't think so? Tell me more.

TRIBBLE: Well, look, there's about 1,300 critical access hospitals across the U.S. and these are small, rural hospitals, 25 beds or less.

These are people who wake up every day checking their budget to make sure they have enough to make payroll for their employees. And I've stood at hospital doors where they've shut the doors and said, we can't pay you tomorrow. I've talked to employees who have gone without payment for their work at hospitals because they just ran out of money at these rural hospitals.

So it's not like you're looking at a big city hospital that has lots of cash on hand in the bank. These are hospitals that are struggling every day. And the reason they do it is because the people in their community show up at their emergency department with chronically ill problems that haven't been taken care of because they don't have money to pay for their health care.

So, they're taking care of a population that's very vulnerable is the word that experts use. But they're just sick and they're tired. And, you know, rural communities, one out of every four people in rural communities is on Medicaid.

Nearly 50 percent of babies born are on Medicaid. So, when you start talking about cutting Medicaid, it cuts close to home for these rural communities and the hospitals and the clinics that support them, they're going to lose revenues. They're going to lose dollars because they wont have people who have coverage to then pay for their care. And that that becomes charity care for those facilities.

CORNISH: Which opens up a whole other thing, right, for the system.

Sarah Jane, thank you so much for being here. We're going to have you back. Really appreciate your time.

She's a rural correspondent for Kaiser Family Foundation Health News.

Now, still ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, Americans are gearing up to celebrate the fourth of July. We're going to talk about why this day is actually one of the deadliest holidays in many cities, when we lawyer up with Elliot Williams next.

And are you proud to be an American? What new polling shows about record low levels of adults backing that statement.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:48:52]

CORNISH: It's Americas birthday. In addition to the fireworks lighting up the sky, the holiday has a long history of violence. It's actually one of the deadliest days of the year for most cities. Gun violence already claimed the lives of four people in Chicago and wounded at least 14 others. This happened in a drive by shooting going into the holiday weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR BRANDON JOHNSON (D), CHICAGO: We are mobilizing now to make sure that this incident does not return and bring about more violence. I need people to come together as a city to show up for one another, in order for us to continue to drive violence down the city of Chicago and to prevent incidents like this from occurring.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: And it's not just crime. It's also when a lot of people get injured. Just last night, eight people were hurt after fireworks exploded on Cape Cod. It happened while they were setting up for the annual fireworks show.

So, for more on this, these kind of public safety concerns on the Fourth, I'm bringing in my friend, former federal prosecutor and legal analyst, Elliot Williams.

Elliot, good morning.

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning.

CORNISH: So, we're hoping at the end of this, people will not have to lawyer up. That is the goal. But before we get there, the FBI and DHS actually issued a joint bulletin warning about the risk for potential lone wolf attacks, talking about how these individuals might be motivated by a broad range of things.

[06:50:08]

I'm sure I'm not the only parent that has been reluctant to kind of bring my family to a big event out of just these kind of general concerns.

WILLIAMS: These are valid general concerns. This is a day of joy. It's a day of celebration, but it's also historically the violent, the most violent day of the year. Most mass shootings, I believe, over the course of the year tend to happen on July 4th.

And it's symbolic. People know terrorists or people who wish to harm Americans or cause a symbol, know that they can cause a big splash and hurt America on a special day. And so, people should -- people should always exercise caution in big crowds. However, today particularly is a day to be on alert. But law enforcement typically is on it because they know.

CORNISH: All right. The other thing we mentioned earlier, fireworks. You know, there's a lot of drinking. Can you talk about sort of the flip side of celebration, so to speak?

WILLIAMS: You know, its like one of the founding principles of the country is the pursuit of happiness. The ability to celebrate is a wonderful thing. We do as Americans. You can't drink alcohol everywhere in America, everywhere in the world. I mean, however, there come huge legal costs.

So, let's start with alcohol. July 4th and July 5th are some of the biggest days of the year for DUI enforcement events where the crashes, the injuries, but also the arrests and the crimes. And one can go to jail for a very long time for getting behind the wheel of a car, under the influence of alcohol.

Another big one are boating DUI related events. People go out on their boats intoxicated. It happens all the time.

CORNISH: I know, but I didn't even know that was a thing. Like, can you get pulled over in your boat?

WILLIAMS: It really is. It really is. And part of its not just an increase in the amount of consumption, the checkpoints, even on boats and even on the roads, increase on a day like today. Yeah. So the boats, the DUIs are the big one.

And then of course, you know, we were fireworks present an entire world of legal enforcement around July 4th. You know, this is the -- these two days are the highest single emergency room days of the year, 45,000 people go to the emergency rooms on July 4th and July 5th, often for burns and often for explosions. People really get hurt because the playing around with fireworks.

CORNISH: Okay, Elliot, you rolled up here in a seersucker suit and then only told me sad news.

WILLIAMS: Okay.

CORNISH: So what -- what takeaway do you want us to have from all of these, like, safety concerns on our day of celebration?

WILLIAMS: Well, you know, one of the greatest things. Well, okay, number one, I actually started the day in a red tie today, too, but it felt like a bridge too.

CORNISH: Too much.

WILLIAMS: You know, I looked like one of the guys from the barbershop quartet in Charlotte's Web. It was a bridge too far. I couldn't do it.

CORNISH: Don't ignore the question.

WILLIAMS: I couldn't do it. You know, of all the things to celebrate today, the greatest legal story of the day is declaring emancipation from the greatest empire in world history. And that act of defiance was itself a pretty profound legal story. It's big news. And even in a profoundly divided country as we are today, I read the same newspapers you do, and looking at all these here.

CORNISH: Yeah.

WILLIAMS: It's big news to celebrate who we are as a country and the freedoms we have, even when were not at our best as a nation. So, I think, you know, you can talk about the burns, all the DUI visits, the arson that you can get when you set somebody's car on fire, which happens on the Internet.

However, this is a day to celebrate. It's a day to be happy, and we should be proud of being Americans.

CORNISH: All right. Elliot, thank you for being here on holiday, I think. Elliot Williams is CNN legal analyst.

It's now 53 minutes past the hour.

Here's your morning roundup.

Well-known boxer now facing deportation from the U.S. ICE agents detained Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. yesterday, just days after his major boxing match with influencer Jake Paul. Chavez has a warrant out for his arrest in Mexico for alleged involvement in organized crime.

And the man accused of killing a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband. He appeared in court Thursday. He waived his right to full hearings on whether he should be released on bail and on probable cause. He says he made that move to, quote, get us to court faster where the truth can come out.

And today, President Trump will be notifying trade partners of their new tariff rates, ranging from 10 percent to 70 percent. The president didn't reveal which countries he's talking about, but said it will begin on August 1st. The 90-day pause on his trade war is expected to be lifted next Wednesday.

And you can't celebrate the Fourth of July without hot dogs. And today, Joey Chestnut is back, taking part in Nathan's hot dog eating contest. He holds the world record for downing 76 hot dogs and buns in just ten minutes. Chestnut wasn't part of the contest last year because of a contract dispute involving a plant based meat company.

Joining CNN for a holiday -- join us for a holiday event with coast to coast fireworks and musical performances, Lainey Wilson, Dierks Bentley, Nelly and more.

[06:55:09]

Celebrate "The Fourth in America" with Dana Bash and Boris Sanchez, live tonight at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.

And as America gets ready to celebrate the Fourth of July, President Trump is already looking ahead to America's 250th birthday. He previewed a full year's worth of celebrations in Iowa last night, leading up to next July, including a rather unconventional event at the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to have a UFC fight. We're going to have a UFC fight, think of this, on the grounds of the White House. We have a lot of land there.

We're going to build a little -- we're not. Dana is going to do it. Dana is great, one of a kind. UFC fight championship fight, full fight, like 20,000, 25,000 people. And we're going to do that as part of 250 also.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: But many may not be feeling it this year. According to the latest Gallup poll, just 58 percent of U.S. adults say they are extremely or very proud to be an American. That's down nine points from a year ago and a record low since Gallup started asking that question 25 years ago.

The group chat is back.

I don't know how to process this. Who here thinks that it might be generational? Something that we're looking? You?

BESTY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER; Absolutely. I mean, I think if you look at the timing of this, Gen Z, they are born between 1997, 2012. They largely came of age in this post nine over 11 era that saw the U.S. in war in the Middle East, a recession, a pandemic, the rise of social media.

These are all things that have made us feel more disillusioned and less -- more divided. And so, I don't think its particularly shocking that they don't feel pride in their country and separately. I think on the party situation here, there's a clear divide between Republicans and Democrats on the issue of patriotism, and Democrats just haven't been able to take ownership of patriotism the way that Republicans have. They have a branding problem. So, if they believe it's a core value --

CORNISH: To take a look at this chart, I always look at the independent line. And I think that's notable too, right? Clearing over 53 percent. And I'm wondering how you guys think about whether people are not proud of their country or not. Proud of the patriotism, the partisanship of their country.

JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: But I think patriotism -- do we even agree what that is? Is it -- is it voting? Is it protesting? Is it flying a flag? Is it fealty to the Constitution?

I think that's also a question of what you even -- what the definition of that is.

CORNISH: Yeah. And whether criticism is also a part of that. Right.

MICHELLE PRICE, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS: What's interesting on the politics of this is we've long seen Republicans kind of use patriotism as a key part of their messaging, including like when you -- when you go to Republican political events, people are wearing the American flag routinely. We haven't seen that a lot with Democrats. We did a little bit last year in the presidential campaign.

CORNISH: Yeah. During the conventions is usually when they lean hard. PRICE: And also when they were -- when President Biden and then Vice

President Harris were making the case that democracy was on the line when Liz Cheney, a Republican congresswoman, joined the campaign, they were handing out small American flags, which I have not seen them do at Democratic events in a while. But with Democrats, you've seen those numbers of who feels patriotic. They have dropped starting around when Donald Trump came into the political scene in 2016, there's a kind of a clear delineation there.

CORNISH: I used to also think that the immigrant story was part of that. I remember as a cub reporter, you often were sent on July 4th to a naturalization ceremony. And now you've got DOJ saying they're going to work on denaturalization cases. But how do you think this is how the administration is changing how we think of it?

KLEIN: Absolutely. I mean, you see this with how President Trump has really harnessed the brand of patriotism. You see him hugging the American flag.

The issue for Democrats right now is that if it's a core value and Americans think it's a good thing to be patriotic, but they don't think that aligns with the Democratic Party, the party has a big problem.

PRICE: Last night, the president the event in Iowa was supposed to be about America's 250th birthday celebration. That was what it was originally supposed to be about. A lot of it was about -- it became about President Donald Trump's legislative accomplishments. But in his remarks, he called Democrats -- he said that they hate America. He said he hates them.

Those are not exactly the kinds of comments that are going to bring about a great commonality between people across the aisle.

CORNISH: Yeah, or unifying. Jackie, last moment to you.

KUCINICH: You know, one of my favorite stories that we did, James Pindell wrote it at the end of the campaign was he actually went to a naturalization ceremony and all of the -- I mean, everyone there really excited to --

CORNISH: Yeah, by definition, wants to be American.

KUCINICH : Wants to be American. So, you know, it -- I think this is one of those things. It depends on who you're talking to. But these were people who are apolitical and were still really excited. So --

CORNISH: Yeah. Well, you guys, thanks for talking about that with me. I think it's going to be a source of conversation going future, especially as we talk about immigration. What does it mean to be an American who can earn that. Whether it can be earned. Whether it can be earned.

I want to thank you all for waking up with us and being with us on a holiday. I'm Audie Cornish.

And CNN NEWS CENTRAL, they're going to have the headlines right now.