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Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) is Interviewed about her Win; Supreme Court Hears Tariff Case; Jean Chatzky is Interviewed about Furloughed Worker Hardships. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired November 05, 2025 - 09:30   ET

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

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[09:31:53]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, the breaking news this morning, Democrats scored sweeping victories across the country overnight as voters delivered a rebuke to President Trump in the first major electoral test of this second term.

Just a few minutes ago, while speaking at a breakfast for Senate Republicans, the president acknowledged it was not a good night for his party.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Last night it was a -- you know, not expected to be a victory. It was very Democrat areas. But I don't think it was good for Republicans. I don't think it was good. I'm not sure it was good for anybody. But we had an interesting evening, and we learned a lot.

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BERMAN: Among the Democrats celebrating this morning is Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill, who won the New Jersey governor's race. She will now become the state's first female Democratic governor.

And Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill joins us now.

Governor-elect, nice to see you. I was in the room in East Brunswick last night when you delivered your victory speech. How much sleep did you get?

REP. MIKIE SHERRILL (D), NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR-ELECT: Not much. Not too much at all. But it was a great night.

BERMAN: All right. So, I am sure if you haven't started receiving calls already, you will soon, from Democrats across the country wondering how you did this. What lessons did you learn?

SHERRILL: So, I just started by listening to people. I spoke to thousands of New Jerseyans, labor leaders, grassroots groups, just moms and dads from across the state about what it was going to take to make sure they could succeed here in our state. And I heard again and again, it's just too expensive. So, I focused on those key issues. And certainly, as we saw Trump start to really take apart the economy of the United States and that impact on New Jersey with tariffs that we're putting small businesses out of business, with the one big, beautiful bill, which was threatening everyone's health care, and now the threat to the Gateway Tunnel. We've seen -- you know, we saw voters shift as well to concerns about the national economy.

So, I said from day one, I'm taking this on. I'm not playing. I'm not, you know, doing a ten year study. I'm declaring a state of emergency on energy costs. I'm going to quickly move to address those key issues. But at the same time, forcefully push back against these economic hits that we're seeing coming from Washington.

BERMAN: So, you have affordability in Donald Trump, this two-pronged attack that you -- you hit relentlessly on the stump and your campaign hit relentlessly as well to any reporter covering them.

I guess my question to you is, for Democrats looking at next year, one year minus one day to the midterm elections, how sustainable do you think this message is for Democrats?

SHERRILL: Well, unfortunately, I'm afraid all too sustainable because I'm really concerned that we are not seeing a shift in the administration's focus on these tariffs that are really dragging down the economy. I'm really concerned about the petty attacks on things like the Gateway Tunnel project. That could be responsible for almost 100,000 jobs here in the region.

The, you know, shutting down the government, the lack of concern for the fact that so many of our airports now are having real problems continuing to run with TSA people having to seek other jobs to feed their families.

[09:35:03]

So, I think, unfortunately, we're going to have to see governors come on in a really big, strong way to take on these challenges. Governors are more important than ever right now.

BERMAN: So, governor was your next job. Your current job, sort of what's been a side hustle, is being a member of Congress. You are still a member of Congress. Congress has still not ended the government shutdown. How do you see things maybe differently now that you're the governor-elect of New Jersey? What's the way out of this? Maybe what's a path for Democrats to work with Republicans?

SHERRILL: So, I really think that with Republicans controlling the presidency, the House and the Senate, and their failure to reopen government right now is a real struggle for states. So, as governor, I am going to continue to press on those key economic reasons to invest in my state, to stop these punitive actions that are destroying the economy, to lay off these tariffs -- this tariff plan, which is, by the way, illegal. That is Congress' purview. And Congress, the Republican leaders in Congress need to step up and start taking actions to support the economy. Right now we are just seeing hit after hit after hit. And I'll tell

you, until and unless we start to see better government from Washington, we're going to continue, as governors, to have to build out these really strong and expanded state powers and claw back as much federal money as possible to continue to run our states well.

BERMAN: How long are you going to hang on to the House seat? What are your plans for when you step down?

SHERRILL: Well, I'll be working with House leadership and the -- and Trenton to make sure that we can make this as seamless as possible. But I intend to be sworn in on January 20th.

BERMAN: Yes, I think that -- that's written by law. So, the intention there, I think the state, the constitution of New Jersey, intends the same for you.

Abigail Spanberger, former member of Congress, just won the governor's race in Virginia. I think you guys were elected to Congress in the same year. Have you spoken to Governor-elect Spanberger since your respective victories?

SHERRILL: So, we spoke yesterday morning before we began our big day, and then have texted back and forth. But I actually ended up calling her when she was on the stage giving her acceptance speech. The polls closed in Virginia an hour earlier than New Jersey. And then she called me when I happened to be on the stage giving my acceptance speech. So, we've texted, but we owe each other a good call.

BERMAN: Yes, the timing there, not -- not so good on either of your behalfs, but I appreciate -- I appreciate the outreach. I'm sure she did as well.

Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill, congratulations on your victory. A lot of work ahead. Thank you.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: So, the big day for the Supreme Court. Could the justices tell the president your tariffs on the globe must go? Oral arguments are about to start.

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[09:42:20]

BERMAN: All right, we are standing by for oral arguments at the Supreme Court on the cornerstone of President Trump's economic agenda. This is probably the biggest case the court will hear all year. It's on the president's sweeping global tariffs. The justices will determine whether the president has the legal authority to impose most of them, are at stake here tens of billions of dollars in revenue the administration has already collected. Also, the reach of presidential power very much at stake here.

With us now is CNN Supreme Court analyst Steve Vladeck. Steve, you've written extensively on this. We can talk about this for

hours. The court's going to hear arguments shortly, so we're going to do this quickly.

There's really two huge things here. Number one is the White House basing these tariffs on IEEPA, which is the International Economic Emergency Powers Act of 1977, which doesn't mention tariffs. So, can the president impose tariffs based on this?

STEVE VLADECK, CNN SUPREME COURT ANALYST: Yes, John, I think that's going to be the really big question that we're all going to be listening for, starting in about 20 minutes. There are a bunch of other statutes that specifically authorized the president to impose tariffs. During his first term, President Trump relied on several of them. But now he's relying on this statute, IEEPA, which hasn't been invoked for tariffs in the 48 years it's been on the books. Are the justices really going to be OK with that, especially when one of the real common themes from the Supreme Court during the Biden administration was that if statutes didn't specifically authorize programs with what the court called vast economic or political significance, then the court would say they didn't. Are we going to see that play out again, or is the court going to try to find a way to distinguish those earlier cases?

BERMAN: And that, of course, gets to what's called the major questions doctrine, which deals with, if Congress doesn't write its specifically, it means the president can't do it. The conservative justices have largely felt that way, although Brett Kavanaugh created this sort of carve out where he says it may not apply to foreign policy or national security. He said, "the usual understanding is that Congress intends to give the president substantial authority and flexibility to protect America and the American people."

So, what about that, Steve?

VLADECK: Yes, I mean, I think that thread is definitely there, John. But there are two problems with applying it to the tariff's cases specifically. The first is that Congress has not said nothing about tariffs. It has provided specific tariff authority in other statutes. But the second, and I think even bigger problem for that view, is that the court rejected it in the student loan cases. I mean, let's remember that in the student loan cases, the statute that the Biden administration was relying upon was about powers granted to the secretary of education to deal with national emergencies.

[09:45:04]

In that case, the emergency caused by the Covid pandemic. I guess it's really hard to understand how this Supreme Court could somehow distinguish between a national emergency caused by a global health pandemic and a national emergency, in this case, caused by long term trade deficits. John, the latter doesn't seem any more grave to me than the former.

BERMAN: No, we'll see if there's that kind of intellectual consistency here. Really we're going to learn a lot about the Supreme Court justices in this case. So, Steve, in the 30 seconds we have left, put on your decoder ring here. What will you be listening for specifically from whom?

VLADECK: Yes, I mean, I think the keys are going to be Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett. If they are tipping their hand in the argument this morning, if they are hostile toward the solicitor general, John Sauer, I think that's a sign that President Trump's in for a rough go of it. If they're quieter, if they're more conciliatory, then I think it's a close call. And with this Supreme Court, John, you just never know.

BERMAN: Yes, and, look, this is a big, big deal for the tariffs, for presidential power. A lot of people will be listening very closely, including you.

Steve Vladeck, thanks so much for being with us this morning.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you, John.

Ahead, a food fight that gets violent. A full-on brawl breaking out over a food order. How all of this ended. We'll show you what happened.

Also, we, you know, dream of perhaps some of you guys want to retire on your own, fancy, wonderful island. Well, these little cuties, that is becoming a reality for them. A place for penguins, when we return.

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[09:51:15]

BOLDUAN: A brawl at a Florida mall over a food order. A delivery driver dropped off an order for a man working in a smoke shop, but says that the guy, the guy in the, yikes, in the green shirt -- he says the guy in the green shirt got upset, claiming that the food was a mess. The driver says that the man started shoving him, pulled out a set of blades from his keychain. The store employee, though, denies that that that happened and says that he was defending himself. Police later determined he, the employee, was the primary aggressor and arrested him. He has been charged with battery.

Tom Brady has answered the question, can I clone my dog? You can. We know this because he did. Brady shared the news that his dog, Junie, is actually a clone of his late dog, Luna. I think I'm saying their names right. Important side note to this. Brady is an investor in a biotech company and worked with them to clone the dog. They took a blood sample from Luna before she passed in 2023, and then used that to clone her. This company also owns the rights to the technology used to clone Dolly, the sheep. That happened back in 1996. I did not believe that that actually happened so long ago.

And then you can add this to the file of things you did not know exist. A retirement home for penguins. Seven aging penguins are getting the kind of treatment that really we can all hope for ourselves in old age. And this guy we're going to show you is the inspiration for it all. Lambert is a critically endangered African penguin and adorbs. He's living at the New England Aquarium in Boston. He started to lose his vision and was clearly showing signs of slowing down at the ripe old age of 33, which is much older than these guys normally live to be in the wild. So, the aquarium decided to create a space for him and his six buddies to retire gracefully. Things like laying down some carpet, creating a flatter mound. Lambert and his buddies still might not be able to fly, but at least they do now get to retire in style.

Sara.

SIDNER: I love that so much. I mean, someone to put your eye drops in to like, let you chill. I want to go there.

BOLDUAN: Yes, exactly.

SIDNER: Let's go.

BOLDUAN: They've got space.

SIDNER: Let's just leave this job. Let's just get out while we can before A.I. takes --

BOLDUAN: I mean we're -- I am -- I am -- well, when I get to the ripe old age of 33 I will. Don't -- don't jump the gun, Sara.

SIDNER: OK. Fair enough. All right.

All right. Uh-oh, speaking of which, federal workers who have been furloughed facing big dilemmas as the government shutdown is now dragging into day 36. It's not, of course, just the furloughed workers that are dealing with hardships. There are people who have lost their jobs entirely. And then there are the government contractors and tens of thousands of private sector employees who have recently been laid off. All of them facing these serious questions about how to afford their basic needs and what to cut back on.

Joining me now to discuss is Jean Chatzky, CEO of hermoney.com and host of the "Her Money" podcast.

All right, so let's begin at the very beginning. If you have been furloughed or you have been recently laid off, what is the first financial step that you should be taking or thinking about taking?

JEAN CHATZKY, CEO, HERMONEY.COM: You've got to look at your numbers. You've got to look at what you have in savings, what's coming in, if you have two incomes in the family, what's going out and where it's going, because until you are in control of that information, it's really, really difficult to make changes. So, first we go back to the numbers and then we start looking for different places that we might find some relief.

SIDNER: The first thing that, I mean, anyone who's been in this position I have where you're sitting there going, OK, now what do I do? One of the things that you look at is, like, which bills should I pay and what bills can I sort of push aside? What do you recommend when someone's looking at this and looking at their budget?

[09:55:01]

CHATZKY: We -- yes, we pay the bills where things could get taken away from us. So, we pay our mortgage. We pay our rent, because we don't want to be evicted. We pay our car loan. We don't want our car to be repossessed.

But when it comes to things like our credit cards, that's where we take our foot off the gas a bit and make minimum payments, because that's really all we have to make. Nothing is going to end up in trouble there.

And if you can't make payments on your mortgage or your car loan, pick up the phone, call your lender, call your credit union. Many of these places have skip a pay programs or other forms of relief where they'll actually work with you to give you some sort of a break. They understand that when this shutdown is over, you'll be receiving back pay. The money will come in. They will get paid. And so, for that reason, many are being fairly understanding.

SIDNER: Yes, I've noticed on some of the banks there's a message saying, if you've been furloughed, contact us if you're having trouble with your bill. So, you are correct about that.

Jean Chatzky, thank you so much. Do appreciate you.

BERMAN: A lot going on today. Supreme Court --

BOLDUAN: Really?

SIDNER: What was that?

BOLDUAN: Supreme Court.

BERMAN: That -- what she said. Arguments get underway very shortly.

This has been CNN NEWS CENTRAL. "THE SITUATION ROOM" up next.

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