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Ex-GOP Rep. David Jolly Running For Florida Governor As A Democrat; Could Purple-To-Deep Red Florida Elect A Democratic Governor?; Sources: Trump Prepares To Slash California Federal Funding; New Broadway Play Recalls Edward Murrow's Critical Reporting. Aired 12:30-1p ET
Aired June 06, 2025 - 12:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[12:31:38]
DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: Remember when Florida was a swing state? It actually wasn't that long ago, but President Trump certainly helped to cement the state's ruby red status. He won by 13 percentage points in November. So what does that mean for a Democrat launching a campaign to lead the sunshine state?
Well, joining me now is a former Republican congressman turned Democratic candidate for Florida governor, David Jolly. Thank you so much.
DAVID JOLLY, FORMER REPUBLICAN CONGRESSMAN: It's wonderful to be with you, Dana.
BASH: Nice to see you again. OK, so I just pointed out the very big spread --
JOLLY: Sure.
BASH: -- that Donald Trump had in 2024. The governor is a Republican currently. Republicans hold super majorities in the state House and the Senate. Why do you think that now is the time for you, a former Republican, now Democrat, to win the state?
JOLLY: I've worked in Florida politics for 30 years, and I mean this. We are in a moment of generational change, politically, nationally, right? We're already seeing the data of special elections trending dramatically towards Democrats.
We're seeing increased Democratic enthusiasm and turnout. And in Florida, we're in the midst of a generational property tax and insurance crisis, right? Things that actually matter to a governor's race. And so, in my decades of working in Florida politics, this is the cycle, this is the race, the Florida governor's race, where you take a national change environment with Florida issues, particularly in a very dispassionate crisis moment.
Look, an insurance crisis, a property tax crisis doesn't carry your voter registration. Republican, Democrat, or Independent. We can win next November as Democrats. We can win in Tallahassee, the Florida governorship. And change national politics if we do that.
BASH: Well, so you talk about generational shift in the parties.
JOLLY: Yes.
BASH: When I hear that, I'm still thinking about the shift that we saw in November --
JOLLY: Sure.
BASH: -- on the presidential level and other levels where Republicans, your former party --
JOLLY: Right.
BASH: -- was pulling in more minority groups, more young people, more of what had been the traditional Democratic coalition.
JOLLY: That's right.
BASH: So that's how I think of the change.
JOLLY: Sure.
BASH: When you think all of a sudden it will change back?
JOLLY: Well, so let's also recognize two years before that, it was a 19-point win for Republicans. So the fact that it was 14, I suppose, is good news. The trend is our friend.
BASH: That's a glass half full --
JOLLY: The trend is our no friend.
BASH: -- approach.
JOLLY: But, you know, what I love about being a Democrat? We get to accept math and science and data and all that. And the math is daunting, right? We also have a $1.2 million voter registration delta for Republicans and Democrats.
BASH: Yes.
JOLLY: And so this is critical, Dana. This is very critical. There are not enough Democratic votes in Florida for a Democrat to win the governorship without expanding our coalition. And very importantly, state races are not about Donald Trump.
If we're talking about Donald Trump, we're losing. We're talking about the affordability crisis, the affordability crisis, the affordability crisis. But this is so important.
A lot of Democratic leaders across the state right -- across the country are trying to say Democrats need to change their values. Somehow we have to chase polling instead of principle. This is not about diluting Democratic values. It's about amplifying Democratic values and showing that Democratic values can solve problems.
I look at three values in today's Democratic Party, why I'm a proud Florida Democrat. The economy should work for everybody. The government should actually work to provide services for our seniors, our vets, for public education. And then we need a party in the state of Florida to be a place where everyone is lifted up, regardless of where you were born, who you love, who you worship, the color of your skin. That's not today's Florida, but that's not the trend of MAGA across the country either.
[12:35:12]
And so realize nothing I said just now was about Donald Trump. It's about who can we be as a state and as a country. And on those values, we then tackle a property insurance crisis. We tackle an affordability crisis.
If my opponents in this race want to scream about Donald Trump and MAGA and socialism and all that, they're in trouble and we're going to win.
BASH: It's a shirts and skins environment like in the past few years.
JOLLY: Sure.
BASH: And by that, I mean, people are so divided that the --
JOLLY: Right.
BASH: -- it's a 1.3 million voter registration deficit --
JOLLY: Right.
BASH: -- that Democrats have in -- to Republicans in Florida.
JOLLY: That's right.
BASH: So that's taking a leap and you're going to be up against your former party --
JOLLY: Sure.
BASH: -- calling you inauthentic.
JOLLY: In the home of MAGA.
BASH: Well, Florida GOP Chairman Evan Power said in a statement, "No matter the issue, David Jolly has been on all sides of it". So what are you going to tell the voters who ask --
JOLLY: I love this.
BASH: -- what happened? I voted for you as a Republican and now you're a Democrat. Who are you? JOLLY: I love this conversation. Florida Republicans are playing checkers and we're playing chess. First, let me point out that Andy Beshear as a Democrat won a deep red Kentucky by focusing on state issues. Bullock -- Governor Bullock won in Montana focusing on state issues. This is very much that type of race.
I believe changing is a good thing, right? So, look, I was a Bush 41 Republican in Congress. I supported marriage equality, climate science, gun control, campaign finance reform. Republicans didn't want me, Democrats didn't need me. That's the type of spirit I was as an independent for about six years.
And now as a Democrat, those are the same values. But I can tell you this, change is good. Voters have changed and I don't deny that. That's part of my story. That's the authenticity. I would say to this, to the national Republicans, you don't think you've changed? The party used to be about lower deficits, lower debt, less government.
You're now the party about exploding the debt in Washington, exploding the budget in Tallahassee and you want politicians in your doctor's offices, your classrooms, and in your bedrooms. You've changed, you just won't admit it. The most important thing here is voters have changed.
In the last 10 years, most voters, they've either hardened their politics, they've evolved, they've changed their positions, they've changed parties. Change is a strength. And if Republicans want to hit me on that, God bless you. Let that be your message because we're going to win this race.
BASH: Really good to talk to you.
JOLLY: Good to see you, Dana.
BASH: Thank you so much for being here. I appreciate it.
JOLLY: Thank you.
BASH: I did cover you back when you were --
JOLLY: You did.
BASH: -- a Republican in Congress.
JOLLY: You did, you did. You're one of the best. You're one of the best.
BASH: Ancient history. Thank you.
And still ahead, no California dreaming from the White House, the other feud. This one is between President Trump and Governor Gavin Newsom of California. It's heating up as Trump prepares new and possibly costly payback. We'll explain after a break.
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[12:42:27]
BASH: And we have some new reporting into CNN. Sources tell CNN that the Trump administration is preparing to cancel a massive chunk of federal funding for California, and it could happen as soon as today.
CNN's Annie Grayer is one of the reporters behind this new scoop. Annie, what are you learning?
ANNIE GRAYER, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, we're told, Dana, that agencies are already being told to prepare to figure out what federal funding cuts they can make, and this already has made its way to capital where one whistleblower came forward to a committee, I'm told, to warn that all federal funding for research grants in California are going to be cut. So there's a lot of preparation behind the scenes that we are trying to learn more about the scale and scope here.
I spoke with Republican Congressman Darrell Issa, who wasn't aware of these imminent cuts, but said that in the last couple days there have been a lot of researchers and university representatives coming to Capitol Hill. He met with some of them who were concerned about the future of their funding, where he told them it is time for them to make clear what they need funding for, but not to expect a blank check anymore.
BASH: And Annie, President Trump and Governor Newsom have had a fraught relationship for years, but it is a transgender athlete participating in a high school event. That is what escalated this current fight?
GRAYER: That's certainly what's put this back in the spotlight, and that was what caused Trump to threaten to withhold federal funding from California after that incident. But there's a long history here, Dana. I recently reported that the administration cut over $100 million in water construction projects for California.
There has been a longstanding fight between Trump and Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, and this is just the latest development. But we are tracking this to figure out the scale and scope of these cuts, and then trying to understand the motive as to why this is happening.
BASH: Thank you so much for bringing us that reporting, Annie. I appreciate it.
And up next, George Clooney brought Edward R. Murrow's famous on-air battle with Joseph McCarthy to Broadway. We're going to talk to the director of the Tony-nominated play next.
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[12:49:05]
BASH: 70 years ago, Edward R. Murrow filed a series of reports on CBS News exposing the anti-communist demagoguery of the junior Republican senator from Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy. It was groundbreaking journalism that put truth to power, helping to blunt a wave of attacks on civil rights and liberties, and shift public attitudes away from the Red Scare.
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EDWARD R. MURROW, CBS NEWS: Having searched my conscience in my files, I cannot contend that I have always been right or wise. But I have attempted to pursue the truth with some diligence and to report it, even though as in this case, I had been warned in advance that I would be subjected to the attentions of Senator McCarthy. We shall hope to deal with matters of more vital interest to the country next week.
Good night, and good luck.
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BASH: That story and Murrow's signature sign-off inspired a 2005 film and now a Broadway play starring George Clooney, who's making his Broadway debut as Edward R. Murrow. It's called, of course, "Good Night, and Good Luck". You'll be able to watch a live performance tomorrow night right here on CNN.
[12:50:15]
This week, I spoke to the director of the play, David Cromer.
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BASH: Thank you so much for being here. It's great to have you. So this play is about the man we just heard, Edward R. Murrow, and his team at CBS News making a very deliberate decision to move from reporting about what a powerful senator was doing to calling out the way he was abusing that power. Talk about that.
DAVID CROMER, DIRECTOR, "GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK": It's an interesting change in the way they were doing things, in the way Murrow and his team and all the foundational kind of philosophy of CBS News, a way of doing things. And it became -- just it became necessary.
It became a point where you couldn't say, I can't be objective about, I can't be wholly objective of -- we cannot be wholly objective about this. He is trampling on people's civil liberties at various places. And, in fact, he was lying. McCarthy was lying a lot of the time. And at one point, you have to take the gloves off.
BASH: Yes. And I would argue he was being objective about the most important thing, which is the truth and facts --
CROMER: Yes.
BASH: -- and calling him out. And, you know, Murrow had a really, really big, consolidated audience. CBS Network News could reach like 30 million viewers every night. Nobody has that audience anymore.
CROMER: Yes.
BASH: But he used his perch and his credibility to effectively take down Joe McCarthy and more importantly, stop that witch hunt. Do you think that kind of thing could happen today?
CROMER: Not in exactly the same way. No, I guess it couldn't. But one way or another, we are all still -- we are the same beings. We're the same creatures. We still have the same. We get up in the morning and with our thoughts and we look out into the world and we see what's going on and we reach a point where we can't take it anymore.
I like to think that media is different. But I think it'll -- a big trend will happen when it needs to happen, you know? Ye, no, I think that -- yes. Yes.
BASH: Right.
CROMER: I think on some level it could, yes.
BASH: All right. Well, good. I like your optimism. And we'll get to the more about that in one second, but you are the director.
CROMER: Yes.
BASH: So I want to ask about how you made this happen. I had the good fortune of actually seeing it on stage in New York last week. And the way that you have George Clooney as Edward R. Murrow speaking live on the side of the stage. And he really tried to reproduce what it was like to listen to a show at the time, but also be in the newsroom. And also at the same time you used real archival footage of McCarthy.
CROMER: Right, right. Well, the archival footage was -- is a holdover from the film and it is George Clooney and Grant Haseloff, his writing partner and producing partner, and they made the film together, was in the script. They wanted to use the archival footage.
And I was embracing that way it would have been an enormous amount of extra unnecessary work to try to work around that. Yes, the newsroom is, I'm here at the studios at CNN and I see all of these people and all of this technology and it's all just pushing towards this small room I'm in and into this camera. So there's all this effort and artistry and craftsmanship and professionalism that goes into these things. So we wanted to see how the sausages were made.
Going live on television was very new then. It was see your pants. So we thought it would be exciting to watch how the sausages were made. It's interesting when you're in a TV studio to see what it looks like versus what we see on television.
So we just thought that might be part of the entertainment value of "Good Night, and Good Luck" --
BASH: Yes.
CROMER: -- because it is a -- you know, we're -- we feel very strongly about what Murrow did, this piece of our history, but we are also hoping to give people pleasure and entertainment and information.
BASH: Yes, I mean, it totally worked. I mean, you really had the feel of being in a newsroom as somebody who has spent a professional lifetime in a newsroom. You nailed it.
Thank you so much, David Cromer --
CROMER: Thank you.
BASH: -- for bringing us this wonderful play as its director. And we're going to be able to bring it to you, our audience here at CNN on Saturday night, 7:00 p.m. Eastern, a live broadcast of this five time Tony award nominated play, "Good Night, Good Luck". It also streams on CNN.com and CNN Max.
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[12:55:09]
BASH: And thank you for joining Inside Politics today. Be sure to join me on State of the Union this coming Sunday. I'm going to speak with Independent Senator Bernie Sanders and Republican Senators Ron Johnson and Markwayne Mullin. I hope to see you this Sunday at 9:00 a.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.
CNN News Central starts after a quick break.
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