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Louisiana Delays House Primaries After Supreme Court Ruling; Platner becomes Presumed Democratic Nominee For Senate In Maine; MAHA Voters Say They Feel "Betrayed" By The Trump Administration Policies. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired May 01, 2026 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:00]

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: True. Is that defamation?

ELLIOTT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: If it's made public. Now, the interesting thing and where I came to that was with the King here. I was thinking, what's going on in England right now? And they are exploring questions of what happens when A.I. produces something defamatory?

It's important the distinction between the United States and the U.K.

CORNISH: Yes.

WILLIAMS: -- and that here, we protect speakers. There, they protect the person who's injured, right?

Well, what happens when A.I. says something that's wrong, as it often does, somehow it gets out there?

Number one, who is the individual that created that thing? Who was liable for that thing? And who do you sue? And it's just -- and at a certain point, both here and across the pond, we are going to have to confront these questions of who the actual defendant is and what they actually did.

CORNISH: All right. You guys, I want to leave that there for a second, even though I literally could talk about this for the whole rest of the half hour.

But we need to get back to the gerrymandering war because it's not over. If you think voting maps look crazy now, just wait. Is it time to get rid of redistricting?

Plus, you've got workers demanding higher pay, better working conditions, the May Day protests around the world.

Good morning, Austin, a view of your skyline as you're waking up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:35:41] CORNISH: Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish. I want to thank you for joining me on "CNN This Morning." It's half past the hour. And here's what's happening right now.

The longest government shutdown is over. After President Trump signed the bill to fund parts of the Department of Homeland Security. It was the House that unanimously approved the Senate back bill to fund agencies such as TSA, although not ICE. And this last shutdown lasted for 76 days.

Prosecutors have released new footage of the moment a gunman attempted to breach security and enter the White House Correspondents' Dinner. The suspect is seen rushing through the security checkpoint with a shotgun. He runs through the metal detector. Officers draw their weapons. And prosecutors are claiming that the video shows the suspect and the Secret Service Officer exchanging fire.

By the way, it is May 1st, which means it is May Day, which is a national day of action. Activists worldwide are going to be marching in rallies calling for peace, higher wages, and better working conditions.

Here in the U.S., thousands of protests are actually planned nationwide. Organizers are calling for an economic blackout, saying no school, no work, no shopping.

And ready, set, redraw. We are entering a new era of maximum gerrymandering. After the Supreme Court's decision to toss out Louisiana's congressional map, Louisiana's governor is now delaying House primaries, which have been scheduled for May 16th to give lawmakers time to redraw the maps, even though absentee voting had already started and early voting was supposed to start tomorrow.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. CLEO FIELDS (D-LA): Over 4,000 people in -- in one parish alone has voted, you know. So, the election has already started. The Supreme Court did not say that Louisiana shouldn't move forward with its election. It simply said that the sixth district of Louisiana was a racial gerrymandering.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: The decision to delay the primary already facing a legal challenge from two voters, one of whom happens to be a Democrat running for Louisiana's fifth congressional district.

The Supreme Court ruling effectively upends the Voting Rights Act, the only legal limitation on partisan gerrymandering and the redistricting frenzy.

Well, that's just getting started.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): Look, the Supreme Court said that in Louisiana's case it was blatantly unconstitutional. And I think that principle applies probably in other states as well.

We want constitutional maps.

MANU RAJU, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Should happen this -- this midterm?

JOHNSON: Controversial notion. And I think all states who have unconstitutional maps should look at that very carefully. And I think they should do it before the midterm.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Group Chat is back.

Ellie, I don't know if we're at the end of a legal question or the kickoff of another decade of legal questions.

WILLIAMS: All right.

CORNISH: Can we at least start with Louisiana? What about this case?

WILLIAMS: I think we're certainly seeing a year of legal questions right now and a whole lot of them and certainly a decade of legal questions.

And there's a few big reasons why. Number one, anybody who's already cast a vote has at least a claim to saying that my vote was invalidated in some way. Think about it. If I'm voting, let's use you again.

If I'm voting for Audie Cornish, Congresswoman in this district and all the districts get scrambled, and I've already cast a vote for you --

CORNISH: Have I been disenfranchised?

WILLIAMS: Have I been disenfranchised?

CORNISH: Yes.

WILLIAMS: Right? And -- and that's not to say that I'm entitled to vote for you, but I cast a vote in the sixth district of Washington, D.C. or whatever else it might be.

Now that I guess it will be at another district at some point, what do we do with my vote? So someone can at least do on that basis.

Frankly, any municipal entity that's already made preparations for an election, we are looking forward to our primary that will happen on, say, you know, October 10th or something like that. They could probably raise a claim too.

And so it's just -- it's sort of a Wild West now with the --

CORNISH: It's a Wild West and no one wants to kind of back down. I want to play for you Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, lawmaker of New York. She was asked Wednesday about what she thinks kind of the future is going to look like when it comes to redistricting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): We have to abide by the same rules. And so if Republicans are going to redraw North Carolina, if they're going to redraw Texas, if they're going to redraw and gerrymander every one of their states, then unfortunately, we have to provide balance to that until we get to the day where we can all finally agree to put this behind us and pass non-partisan gerrymandering federally.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[06:40:02]

CORNISH: We close to that day?

TONY KINNETT, HOST, "TONY KINNETT CAST": No, no. Absolutely not. I will -- I will say there is a small counter to this that should be noted that if there is a district in which someone else may have voted for that representative in the new district maps that would be drawn, it would be fair for them to actually be able to get a chance to hear from the individuals, Democratic and Republican, of course, talking about Graham Platner up in Maine. That's a Senate situation.

But still, if you're introducing yourself to the candidate running for office, shouldn't they get a time to say how this is how I'm going to talk to my constituents? That kind of a delay here because of the Supreme Court ruling --

CORNISH: Yes.

KINNETT: That makes sense for both parties.

CORNISH: The thing is, it's all kicked off when the president made his push, right --

MIKE LEON, HOST "CAN WE PLEASE TALK?": Exactly.

CORNISH: -- to -- if we're in Texas. And then all the moves and counter moves, it's -- it's almost been a wash a little bit, but does this change the calculus of it being a wash.

LEON: Well, not really, if we go by the overall map and the seats that will be impacted.

But if you're just looking in Florida and the state that I live in right now, we'll look what DeSantis just did this past week with respect to the -- after the Supreme Court ruling, I believe it got moved up the date for them to push this through the state legislature.

So to AOC's overall point, we're way past putting the genie back in the bottle. Every state is now starting to do it and look at where they can squeeze out a few more seats. I don't think this ever goes back to where it is.

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: But the big picture, of course, is what does this mean for our democracy, right? What does this mean for having competitive seats, which means that those legislators have to actually speak to, not just their partisan base, but the broader population?

That really basically means that we are even more in a dire situation in this country where you're going to have representatives that are just representing their very narrow base. They know very well what those people stand for and they don't have to compromise.

So, if you think that Congress is gridlocked today, just wait, my friends. You ain't seen nothing yet.

CORNISH: All right. Let me follow up on this because you also mentioned Maine.

KINNETT: Yes.

CORNISH: This is a good example of what people are talking about, because you have Senate Democrats there rallying around a new choice for Senator.

Governor Janet Mills has ended her campaign. And Governor Mills had been recruited into the race by Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer just last year.

However, the 78-year-old quickly found herself trailing against a more progressive candidate, Graham Platner.

Now, Platner is known as a Maine oyster farmer, military veteran, and then it surfaced during the primary that he had a controversial history of social media posts.

Still, he outrun -- out-fundraised the governor by millions of dollars, had a double digit lead in polling.

Here's what he told supporters after the announcement that Mills was out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRAHAM PLATNER, (D) MAINE SENATE CAONDIDATE: We both got into this race because we knew how critical it is to defeat Susan Collins.

And her decision today reflects a commitment to that project. I look forward to working closely with her between now and November to do just that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: So this follows the other conversation because the movement of -- the progressive movement within the party is re -- this battle is playing out everywhere. There are other candidates that Chuck Schumer has backed that aren't exactly, you know, in the lead, because there's a more progressive candidate available.

I want to ask you, what do you think of why Platner has survived the scandals that have come up?

LEON: Great question. Here's what I will say. I think he's really made this hyperlocal in terms of him being from Maine, an oyster farmer, understanding the struggles of people from Maine.

If you heard the interview he did this past week with Jon Stewart, he really talked about that in the first 20 minutes. And it -- it -- I had a conversation with Congressman Pat Ryan about this after the '24 election because he's flipped the district that he was in.

Trump led in perspective voting, but it was a plus 12 for him. And he said, I made it super, and again, Congress House of Representatives is a little bit different than Senate, but he made it very local and focused on an issue that everybody knew about because he was from that town.

Democrats need to start getting behind some of these candidates. This is the overarching question. Well, Democrats actually learned from some of this stuff.

They pushed away the way Mamdani walked all the way down from Washington Heights down to Manhattan. As a Bronx kid, that was awesome to see.

But they -- they -- because it didn't emanate from them, they didn't like it.

CORNISH: Well, let me follow up on that.

LEON: So that's my (INAUDIBLE) what Dems learned.

CORNISH: So Platner's campaign platform and billionaire welfare, right?

LEON: Right.

CORNISH: It's a part of this anti-billionaire backed anti-billionaire movement, which Bernie Sanders and others are -- are supporting, stopping mass deportations, creating an economic bill of rights and supporting unions.

CNN's own KFILE reporter last October, uncovered a lot of his social media posts where he once called himself a communist. He dismissed all police as bastards, said that rural white Americans actually are racist and stupid.

There are some Reddit posts with some sort of misogynist commentary.

KINNETT: The -- the (INAUDIBLE). CORNISH: The reason why I'm bringing this up is because when you listen to the Jon Stewart interview, one of the things Platner does is tell a sort of story of redemption. I was this guy. I was this guy on social media. I'm the kind of guy you actually want to flip and bring into the party.

[06:45:06]

Here's what he said to John Stewart.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PLATNER: To see myself being framed by people who have never met me, who know absolutely nothing about my background, really, who like just latched on to this like, oh, this guy said dumb things on the internet 15 years ago.

And -- and I'm like, yes, man, I did. Because I was like an angry young dude who got back from my fourth combat tour and, like, was isolated and lonely and spent time pitching on the internet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GARCIA-NAVARRO: I mean, sure. I'll take that.

I think that's a compelling argument. Listen, I think we're in a -- in a moment where there's a lot of insurgent energy, especially on the left. And --

CORNISH: Insurgent or anti-incumbent?

GARCIA-NAVARRO: So, I think, actually, insurgent. I think it's not just anti-incumbent. I think people want real change.

There has been a consist -- if you think about Trump's election, that was the beginning of the insurgency. All right. And I think this is now coming for the left. And I don't think it's progressive. And I don't -- you know, I don't think it has a name that is very easily identifiable.

It is literally just this isn't working for us. Throw the bums out. We want someone from the outside.

WILLIAMS: Yes. I think the main race, of that race, is a perfect test case for that.

CORNISH: Yes.

WILLIAMS: Under the old world, it's a 2006, the Senate race there. Janet Mills would have been the perfect candidate. That is exactly who Democrats would have targeted, the sort of mainstream person. And, you know, she might have won in a year like that.

Around the country, you're seeing that kind of populist uprising on the right and left. And I think --

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Exactly.

CORNISH: Yes. And --

WILLIAMS: -- this is an interesting -- how powerful that is will be an interesting test case here.

CORNISH: You know, Lulu, like you, I've been wondering since the 2022 -- no, 2024 Senate cycle, when there were a bunch of Republican candidates with some really unsavory backgrounds in the Senate.

And there was a big conversation about what was called candidate quality. So you saw Herschel Walker, Sean Parnell, Josh Mandel. These are people that they -- they failed, right, when he got to the primary.

And this is the argument -- and when you got to the general. And I think this is the argument from a lot of Schumer's style Democrats. They say, look over there.

WILLIAMS: Right.

CORNISH: Just because someone appeals, just because someone has this shaggy background that you can explain away, it doesn't mean they're going to survive the general election.

In the era of Trump, is that true? Or is the -- is -- is the pre-Trump concept of candidate quality dead and gone?

KINNETT: Well, I think it's a candidate quality of who appeals towards the actual policy proposals of the base.

So the youth on the left is expressly more social. So that's not my label. That's their label.

CORNISH: Yes. Anti-billionaire, all that kind of stuff.

KINNETT: Right. Right. So again, May Day, look at the protests that are scheduled for today. Of course, Platner's endorsement of those kind of events already coming into play here.

He proposes these kind of policies that they look for as anti- incumbent, but also insurgent socially as being more outspoken and flamboyant in those critiques, like you've seen from a lot of populist right-wing candidates.

He wouldn't compare Senator Josh Hawley on more of the populist side to the more establishment Republican Mitch McConnell. Very different comp styles, very different campaign styles.

I think it's a little interesting that Grace is selectively given. Obviously, over on the right side of the aisle, I would be more readily happy to criticize his past in certain areas, because that's what we do.

And on the left, I noticed a lot of, oh, it was 15 years ago. Come on. But the comments were saying sometimes those who are raped deserve it. CORNISH: But can I just say in the era of Nick Fuentes, can we not? Like maybe there is an issue.

KINNETT: I was part of the organization that kicked him out 10 years ago.

CORNISH: That's fine. But I'm just saying there's very clearly a modern widening of the window of the political discourse that neither party has adequately explained away that I don't understand.

WILLIAMS: Sure. But you're talking about sexual assault here. And I just think Democrats would be screaming bloody --

CORNISH: Talking about sexual assault. He has not --

WILLIAMS: Yes, yes, yes.

CORNISH: Because right now there's a law major --

KINNETT: No, no. Very good -- very good clarification there. Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

CORNISH: -- who is facing sexual assault claims who's not being kicked out of Congress.

KINNETT: Correct.

WILLIAMS: Understood. Understood. Correct.

But Democrats would be screaming bloody murder if a Republican candidate had no statements --

KINNETT: Since sometimes she deserves it.

CORNISH: Yes. Under their old group (INAUDIBLE). Yes.

WILLIAMS: Like 15 years ago, I was the younger guy --

CORNISH: Well, since woke is over, I'm not sure.

LEON: Well -- well, the --

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Schumer -- Schumer is -- by the way, Schumer's fate hangs in the balance here, because everyone's looking at this --

WILLIAMS: Yes.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: -- and saying this was exactly what went wrong. He didn't embrace the right person. He was trying to play this old playbook when I interviewed him. He basically said this is why he's leader, because he knows how to pick pedigree candidates that will win.

And by the way, he did in 2024, he did -- he over-performed there.

But the question is, is he the man for this moment? And how this plays out will be very, very telling.

WILLIAMS: Real quick. You know, you mentioned Mitch McConnell.

KINNETT: Yes.

WILLIAMS: You know, sort of nationally unpopular --

KINNETT: Right.

WILLIAMS: Popular with the 26 people in his caucus that needed to keep electing him later.

KINNETT: Right. Same as Schumer. (CROSSTALK) Terrible appeal on the national, but popular in his caucus.

[06:50:00]

WILLIAMS: His national polls might be down, but he's popular with the folks who vote for him.

LEON: Buddy, buddy, I'm for (INAUDIBLE).

GARCIA-NAVARRO: I'm not so sure he's so popular anymore.

LEON: Will Dems -- if he does win in the general, will Dems learn from that? That's the biggest thing. Dems have not learned from certain campaigns, because if it didn't emanate from the DNC thought process, they have not shared it with other campaigns in mind.

CORNISH: Or what will we learn if he ends up being --

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Can I -- can I just also say, Platner is untested.

CORNISH: Yes. LEON: Yes. No (INAUDIBLE).

GARCIA-NAVARRO: We've only seeing these things --

LEON: That is mean.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: -- come out from the media. I don't know what the Republicans have in store for him, but I imagine it's going to be --

KINNETT: No.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: -- pretty.

CORNISH: Yes. Once you escape the -- the -- you get velocity out of the press that loves you, what it turns (INAUDIBLE) after.

KINNETT: Don't have to waste money on the meals anymore.

CORNISH: Yes, exactly.

All right. Next on CNN, we want to talk about the MAHA movement, whether or not it is struggling. The influencer turned surgeon general nominee is out.

And later on CNN, modern warfare. How the military is using A.I. in the war with Iran.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:55:08]

CORNISH: OK. So, President Trump is now picking Dr. Nicole Saphier to become Surgeon General, a radiologist and longtime Fox News contributor. And it was clear that the MAHA influencer Casey Means wasn't going to get enough votes for confirmation. Several Republicans had opposed to her nomination.

Trump singled out Senator Bill Cassidy for blocking the nomination of Means. He accused the Louisiana Republican of being disloyal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BILL CASSIDY (R-LA): I love the United States of America. And I want to do my (INAUDIBLE).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: So, there's a lot of people in the MAHA coalition who are saying that they feel betrayed.

This week, many protested outside the Supreme Court as the Trump administration supported Bayer in a case over whether Americans can sue for alleged harms from chemical exposure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ALEXANDRA MUNOZ, TOXICOLOGIST: People in MAHA are betrayed -- are feeling very betrayed right now by the administration.

ALEX CLARK, HOST, "CULTURE APOTHECARY" PODCAST: I am diehard conservative and I got this group of MAHA moms. And I'm trying to keep us together, held together and not break the chain.

So, yes, this is -- this is do or die. This is sink or swim. This is -- the Titanic is going down.

You know, are you going to give us a lifeboat? Because if you don't, it's all gone. It's all gone. Hundreds of thousands of free votes that fell out of thin air in 2024 have vanished.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: OK. Group Chat is back. I love this energy because when you court single-issue voters, people who are very compelled about a certain thing, you're not always going to be in line with them.

But RFK Jr. did bring them into the fold. So, what now when they're not given those folks what they want? WILLIAMS: It's a fragile coalition. Look, you know, the -- the very term MAHA has existed since 2024. That's not to diminish how important the issues -- they're talking about and -- and are to them.

But this is a relatively new phenomenon in American politics, is a thin fragile coalition that either the right or left could easily pick up in a future election --

CORNISH: Yes.

WILLIAMS: -- or this idea that this enduring block of MAHA voters is -- is lost in wayward. I think -- I think misses the point a little bit.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Campaigning is easy. Governing --

WILLIAMS: Governing is hard.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: -- is hard. I mean, ultimately, you know, the MAHA group is acting like any advocacy group, which is --

CORNISH: Yes.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: -- they are protesting. They are -- you know, they are threatening to withhold their vote.

It remains to be seen if they can be rude to the other side --

CORNISH: Yes.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: -- which I'm not very clear about.

(CROSSTALK)

CORNISH: I'm (INAUDIBLE) bringing that up because it's not like abortion, right?

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Right.

CORNISH: It's not that kind of movement.

WILLIAMS: Right. Sure.

KINNETT: Sure.

CORNISH: It's like, are you back in the pesticides company? Are you getting red dye number nine, right?

LEON: Right. Right.

CORNISH: Like it's something where the business interests of the Republican Party can really assert themselves against these, I'm going to just say it, women.

And speaking of which, here's Erick Erickson, a conservative commentator with his take on these Trump nominees. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERICK ERICKSON, CONSERVATIVE COMMENTATOR: There were plenty of other Republican senators who did not want a witchcraft practitioner to be surgeon general of the United States.

Unless you forget, this is a woman who wrote to her email subscribers that she did full moon ceremonies. She talked openly to the trees.

You wanted to put into position a woman who believes in magic crystals and tree power and moonbeams as magical powers. You're discrediting to yourselves and you should all be ashamed of yourselves for what you did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Now, we --

GARCIA-NAVARRO: He needs to hug a tree.

CORNISH: We were joking.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: He needs to go out and do some (INAUDIBLE).

CORNISH: I -- I want to see his post about the guy who said he teleported to a waffle house.

WILLIAMS: Yes.

CORNISH: Like there's a -- there's a lot of magical thinking going on among these cabinet members.

Why do you think this would evoke that kind of outrage from someone not in the MAHA movement?

KINNETT: So you see a lot of this in the nomination stage where we kind of dig through everyone's social media histories and we start looking through earlier opinions.

CORNISH: Yes.

KINNETT: However, with --

CORNISH: But these histories aren't surprises. I mean, that's the movement.

KINNETT: That is true. Although there is also a -- a closer reflection toward family care in medicine from a lot of these nominees.

This is the first radiologist, the first cancer-focused, family- focused doctor since C. Everett Koop. That's the Reagan administration '82 to '89.

So, there is a different opportunity here that we could see where same with Blanche, people were nervous stepping in. Now, he's very popular among the right that was critical of him. CORNISH: OK. I want to talk group chats. Tony, for you since you're new to the group. What's your group chat?

KINNETT: Well, I'm from Indiana. And so we Hoosiers, it's now May. And so the entire state's turned up on its head because the Indy 500 is going to stop everything. So it's been nice knowing all of you. You guys have things that turn things over?

CORNISH: Can't be reached. Mike Leon of "Can We Please Talk?"

LEON: I've only got one thing last night. The New York Knicks. Where's my camera here? Jalen Brunson, 51-point victory, largest lead at halftime. Go, New York. Go, New York. Go. We'll see in the second round. Game seven Celtics. Sixers --

CORNISH: Are you going to pull them out of your pocket?

LEON: -- we await. I may or may not have printed.

CORNISH: Elliott, can I give the last word to you?

WILLIAMS: Yes. It's not as serious as either of these things. A man fired from a Chick-fil-A did not like that that had happened snuck in and charged fraudulently $80,000 of returns of mac and cheese to his credit card.

CORNISH: I didn't even know, like, the machine does returns.

WILLIAMS: Criminal activity.

CORNISH: Yes, OK.

ALL: Aww.

(CROSSTALK)

LEON: It's right there.

CORNISH: We -- we need to end there. We need to end there. Thank you for waking up with us. The headlines are next.