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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

Trump Bill Could Mean Millions Lose Health Insurance; Liverpool Star Diogo Jota Dies In Car Crash; Kohberger Pleads Guilty To 2022 Idaho Student Murders. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired July 03, 2025 - 05:30   ET

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

[05:30:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): That is outrageous. It's disgusting. That is not what we should be doing here in the United States House of Representatives.

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MJ LEE, CNN ANCHOR: Joining me now is Jocelyn Guyer, senior managing director at Manatt. Jocelyn, thank you very much for being here.

I want to start with the so-called work requirements for Medicaid that's in this bill, which is expected to result in many people losing their coverage.

Talk to us about what kinds of people would be affected and how expansive that impact could be.

JOCELYN GUYER, SENIOR MANAGING DIRECTOR, MANATT: Yeah. So the latest estimates are about five million people will lose coverage because of these new so-called work requirements. I think the better description of them is their work reporting requirements. They're going to be setting up a lot of paperwork that Americans are going to have to navigate and if they can't they're going to lose their coverage.

We've seen this story before. A handful of states tried an experiment with work requirements a number of years ago and the result was that lots and lots of eligible people got kicked off of health care because they couldn't navigate this intensive paperwork process.

LEE: And Jocelyn, as we talk about potentially millions of individuals losing access to health care there are also going to be some huge implications for the broader health care system. Rural hospitals, in particular are going to come under serious strain.

Explain to us why they are expected to be particularly vulnerable.

GUYER: We're watching that carefully. Rural hospitals are already on the edge in many parts of this country. Their profit margins are negative or non-existent. And so when you take a trillion dollars out of the health care system, which is what this bill would do, they are extraordinarily vulnerable. And that means we are anticipating we're going to see rural hospitals close altogether or we may also see rural hospitals that have been struggling to hold on and, for example, provide services to women giving birth need to shut down their labor and delivery units.

Medicaid, which is the target of most of the trillion dollars in health care cuts, covers about half of all births in rural America right now. So as we pull a trillion dollars out of that program there's no way that we're going to be able to protect rural hospitals. Really, hospitals, providers, and people across the country are going to be hit by these changes.

LEE: Yeah. Certainly there are many people who depend on rural hospitals as their primary source of health care.

Jocelyn, a program like Medicaid is widely referred to as a safety net program because it is meant to support some of the most vulnerable people across the country.

If you are an American who as a result of this bill ends up losing access to health care, where would you turn to next?

GUYER: Yeah, I think that's one of the particularly troubling elements of this bill is people who lose their Medicaid due to the new work requirements are actually shut out of some of the key alternatives that you would normally go to.

So Congress has written this bill and it's entirely so they could eke savings out of it so that if you lose your Medicaid you cannot turn to the marketplaces, which has become the place where those of us who don't have access to coverage through our employers or through Medicaid can go.

And that's part of why the estimates are showing dramatic increases in the number of uninsured individuals. It's going to be very hard for them to find alternative sources of coverage. And so we're going to be back to a place where people are going to be needing to forego care. And so that's why you start to hear people bringing up that research.

When you don't have access to health care, we do see people die prematurely. They don't get those cancer screenings. They don't get that treatment they need. And so there will be very real consequences for Americans across the country.

LEE: And let's talk about politics for just a second. These Medicaid cuts would end up hurting many in President Donald Trump's space. We're talking about working-class voters, rural voters.

What do we know about the public sentiment about this bill?

GUYER: Yeah, the politics on this one are perplexing, right? The public sentiment is against this bill largely because they are very concerned about the impact on health care for their fellow Americans and for those hospitals and providers that serve them. So about two- thirds of Americans when polled are against this -- again, going back to that no one wants to see a trillion dollars in health care cuts. [05:35:00]

And it's particularly confounding because many of those who rely on Medicaid -- and it includes low-income seniors, and people with disabilities, and veterans, and people with cancer. Many of them are now President Trump's own base. Lots of rural voters, older voters, working class voters.

And so we're really going to see what the political fallout is on this. Some of the cuts are phased in over time but at the end of the day we are going to see millions of people losing coverage as a result of this law.

LEE: All right, Jocelyn Guyer. Thank you again.

GUYER: Thank you.

LEE: Still ahead, Bryan Kohberger agrees to plead guilty to the murders of four University of Idaho students, but some of the victims' families say that plea deal has denied them the justice that they deserve.

(COMMERCIAL)

[05:40:30]

LEE: And more on our breaking news from Washington, D.C. where House lawmakers are now debating Donald Trump's sweeping tax and spending bill. And it is expected to pass in a final vote in the next few hours.

The measure had been stalled in the House overnight after five Republican holdouts voted against advancing the bill, but House Speaker Mike Johnson said earlier that they were able to sway those no-votes, ensuring the bill could move forward.

It narrowly passed the Senate earlier this week and the changes made by the senators were left in place in this final bill.

And we're also following breaking news in the sports world. Liverpool Football Club has confirmed that Diogo Jota has been killed in a car crash in northern Spain.

Let's get more now from Lewis Steele. He covers Liverpool Football Club for the Daily Mail, and he joins me live from Liverpool.

Lewis, tell me, first of all, we know this is such tragic news in the world of football. How is everyone reacting to this sudden news?

LEWIS STEELE, LIVERPOOL CORRESPONDENT, DAILY MAIL: I think the whole football community over here is in shock. It's -- no one expected this to happen. He's 28 years old, which is tragic to think that he's so young and he had his whole life ahead of him.

I think everyone connected with Liverpool Football Club or football in general, or the whole country really is in shock. I mean, they've been talking about it in Parliament this morning. I think everyone is just completely shocked by the news. It's absolutely heartbreaking for everyone involved.

LEE: Yeah, absolutely heartbreaking.

And this news comes just after Jota celebrated two major achievements for his club and the country.

Tell us more about his career.

STEELE: Yeah. So Jota originally is from Portugal. He's -- he moved to the Premier League to play for Wolverhampton and then after doing well there he got a move to Liverpool for about 40 million pounds. And since being at Liverpool he's won pretty much every trophy there is to win. He won the Premier League in the season just gone and then he won the Nations League with Portugal this summer.

He's a brilliant player, great striker, and scores lots of goals, but he's also a creative player who will always get assists for his teammates. And he was just a brilliant player, but more importantly as a person he was really kind to deal with and really generous with his time, and a really good guy.

LEE: And we should note again Jota's brother was also killed in the crash. He was also a professional footballer.

What do we know about him?

STEELE: Yeah. Well, his brother Andre Silva is a little bit younger than Jota but he's also a professional footballer as well. Not quite at the level of his brother but still have loads of fans that were loving and loads of teammates that will be mourning this loss.

And for both of them. really, growing up in Portugal and making their dreams come true in terms of becoming footballers, it's so sad that those dreams are now over with this tragic news that has come out this morning.

LEE: Lewis Steele, thanks for joining us.

STEELE: Thank you very much.

LEE: Many parts of Europe are still sweltering under an extreme heat wave. Still ahead we'll go live to Madrid to see how people there are trying to stay safe in this dangerously hot weather.

(COMMERCIAL)

[05:48:30]

LEE: Welcome back. I'm MJ Lee. Here are some of the stories we are watching today.

Liverpool Football Club has confirmed that Diogo Jota has been killed in a car crash in northern Spain. Jota was part of the Liverpool team that won the English Premier League in May. The Portuguese Football Federation says that Jota's brother Andre Silva was also killed in the crash. Diogo Jota was 28 years old.

A final House vote on President Trump's massive tax and spending bill is just a few hours away. Lawmakers are debating the measure right now. House Speaker Mike Johnson says Republicans do have the support for final approval after a handful of holdouts switched their votes.

A judge has denied bail to entertainment mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs after the rapper was convicted on two criminal counts Wednesday. The jury found him guilty of the lesser charges of transportation to engage in prostitution but cleared him of the more serious charges of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking.

The man accused of killing four University of Idaho students in their home in 2022 has formally admitted to their murders. Bryan Kohberger pleaded guilty Wednesday in a deal with prosecutors which will allow him to avoid a trial and the death penalty.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUDGE STEVEN HIPPLER, DISTRICT COURT JUDGE, ADA COUNTY, IDAHO: Did you on or about that same date in Moscow, Idaho kill and murder Kaylee Goncalves, a human being?

[05:50:00]

BRYAN KOHBERGER, MURDERED FOUR IDAHO UNIVERSITY STUDENTS: Yes.

HIPPLER: And did you do that willfully, unlawfully, deliberately, and with premeditation and malice of forethought?

KOHBERGER: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Some of the victims' families have condemned the plea deal, including the family of the young woman you just heard Kohberger admitting to killing, Kaylee Goncalves.

They issued a statement saying in part, "Today was the day -- the day for answers, the day to find out what happened. To find out really anything about what the defendant did that night and why he took the lives of four beautiful people. At least what's what we hoped for, but hope is really all we had today."

Kohberger's sentencing is set for July 23.

The heat is unrelenting in Europe. An extreme heat wave is moving toward the central part of the continent sending temperatures soaring in Germany. Spain has been dealing with dangerously high temperatures for almost a week now. On Wednesday, the temperature in Madrid near 40 degrees Celsius. That's over 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Al Goodman is enduring the blistering heat in Madrid and joins me live now. Al, how are you doing now, and how are people there coping and staying safe?

AL GOODMAN, JOURNALIST: Hi, MJ.

Well, the temperatures, thankfully, are a little bit lower in Madrid this day than the ones you just read -- 35 Celsius, 95 Fahrenheit is what's excepted to be the highs this day. There is more humidity. It is hotter in the south.

People are trying to do what they can. So I'm coming to you right now from the shade. There's an outdoor cafe here in the shade. That brighter area is just across the street. It's sweltering -- just about 15 steps to get across the street, so that's why I'm here.

And people in the city center have told reporters what they're trying to do to stay cool. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREA CASTANO, COLOMBIAN TOURIST (through translator): The heat is unbearable but I'm having a good time. I have my hand fan, and I keep myself cool. And I drink water. You always need to drink water. It's very important.

SARA ANTON, MADRID RESIDENT (through translator): Lots of hydration, avoiding to go out during the central hours of the day, and looking for shades in the city.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOODMAN: But a sadder story in northeastern Spain, inland from the coastal city of Barcelona, a rural farming area where a forest fire -- a wildfire has been finally contained -- perimetered by firefighters. It started on Tuesday night and that night it took the lives of a 32- year-old pig farmer who went out to try to save a 40-year-old man who worked for him.

They got into a vehicle and they were trying to get away, authorities say, not so much from the flames but from this huge, fast-moving smoke that was being blown all around the fire. Their vehicle stalled and they had to make a run for it, and they did not make it. That part of Spain has declared a day of national mourning.

There have been fatalities not just in Spain but also in Italy and France.

Even a nuclear reactor in Switzerland had to shut down because the river waters were too high in temperatures.

So it's causing havoc quite across the south of Europe -- MJ.

LEE: Al Goodman in Madrid covering the deadly heat. Thank you so much.

And now we will be right back in just a few moments.

(COMMERCIAL)

[05:57:45] LEE: In Northern California seven people are missing after an explosion at a fireworks warehouse. The blast happened Tuesday night in a farming community northwest of Sacramento setting off a barrage of fireworks. Some people in the neighborhood were forced to evacuate as multiple fires began. Emergency crews are searching for the seven people reportedly missing. The case of the explosion is under investigation.

Colombian authorities say they've seized an autonomous semi- submersible vessel that was transporting drugs -- the first time they've intercepted a vehicle of this kind used by criminals. It was detected in the Caribbean Sea near the town of Santa Marta. The head of the Colombian Navy says it's a sign that illegal organizations are increasingly looking to use autonomous vehicles to ship their product, posing a challenge to security services.

And the largest known Martian rock ever found on Earth is going up for auction next month at Sotheby's. The rare meteorite was discovered in Niger in 2023, and it is expected to sell for up to $4 million. Scientists think that an asteroid blasted it off the Martian surface into space before finally reaching our planet as a meteorite. It weighs 54 pounds or 24 1/2 kilograms, more than most of the 400 Martian meteorites found on Earth.

And one more update finally from Washington, D.C. where House lawmakers are still debating President Trump's domestic policy bill after it cleared a key procedural hurdle earlier. The bill advanced after a group of Republican holdouts reversed course changing from no to yes votes. House Speaker Mike Johnson says he expects final passage of the bill within the next few hours.

We'll keep track of the debate and the vote throughout the day here on CNN. I'm MJ Lee in Washington, D.C. "CNN THIS MORNING" starts right now.