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White House Close to Deal for Discount on Obesity Drugs; At Least Nine People Killed in UPS Plane Crash; Trump Administration Faces Skepticism as Supreme Court Hears Tariffs Case. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired November 05, 2025 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: -- as low as $25. But again, it can be really spotty for a lot of people. So, we are still waiting on more details which we could get as soon as Thursday. These negotiations are ongoing and could potentially change, but perhaps a $149 option for at least one of these weight loss drugs may be in the future.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": All right, our thanks to Meg Tirrell for that report. And a new hour of "CNN News Central" starts right now.

Message sent, voters delivered for Democrats on Election Day in several races, a display of discontent after one year with Republicans in control of the White House and Congress, and after more than a month with the government shutdown.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Plus, a deadly crash involving a jet that has been flying since 1991. Nine people now confirmed dead. Kentucky's governor warning the death toll could also rise, saying this tragedy could have been far worse. And companies replacing trillion dollar bets on artificial intelligence, one investor thinks they're making a very expensive mistake. An investor notable for bets that have paid off in the market before, we'll speak with him as we follow these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

President Trump is speaking right now at a business event in Miami. And on the same day, the government shutdown has hit a new record. It's now the longest ever.

SANCHEZ: Earlier, a source tells CNN, President Trump told Republicans they were getting politically killed by the shutdown. The president urged them to terminate the filibuster so Republicans could "pass all the things they want." All of this just hours after Democrats had a big election night. CNN's Chief Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju is getting new reaction to it all on Capitol Hill. Manu, what are you hearing?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, the big question right now is whether or not last night's results will have any impact on this crisis caused by this standoff in Washington. Now the longest government shutdown in the history of the United States, 36 days and counting. There are negotiations that are happening right now behind the scenes among a group of rank and file Senators on both sides to try to figure out if there's any sort of resolution. At the heart of the dispute is what to do about healthcare costs. There's a push by Democrats that has been since the beginning to extend expiring subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. What is being discussed as part of this group is to put a bill on the floor to extend those subsidies, a vote on that bill. But there are some on the left who say that is simply not enough. They need a commitment, they say, that this will pass the Senate and the House, gets signed into law by the president. It's something that they're not getting at this moment. And I caught up with one of those progressives, Senator Bernie Sanders, who said the message from last night's election should not be for Democrats who essentially cave in this negotiation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: The vote is not sufficient in your eyes?

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, (I-VT): What do you think the vote means? It's a vote. Maybe you win, maybe you lose. It goes nowhere. What is important is that we protect the healthcare of the American people. That's what the issue, not a vote, got to vote every day here. What does the vote mean?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: And there are Republicans too who do agree with what Donald Trump said, that the shutdown had an impact on last night's results and may have even cost them the elections. That's what Senator Lisa Murkowski said to me earlier today as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Do you think they're blaming Republicans?

SEN. LISA MURKOWSKI, (R-AK): I don't know that blaming one side or the other, I think people saw the shutdown, recognized that it's Congress that makes that decision. And we're the party in power.

RAJU: Do you agree that Republicans are losing this?

SEN. JOSH HAWLEY, (R-MO): Well, listen, I think we need to reopen the government and I'll leave the assessment of blame to other people. But when you've got 42 million people who are going without food assistance, almost three quarters of a million in my state, when you've got people who are missing their paychecks or traffic controllers, members of the military, FBI, I mean this is real suffering and it needs to end.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: But I'm told in that private meeting earlier today that President Trump contended that Republicans were losing the shutdown fight because they are the party that is in power. As he called for changes to the Senate filibuster rules, he did get some pushback, I'm told from Senator Lindsey Graham who defended the Senator -- Senate Filibuster rule. That's something that Senate Majority Leader, John Thune is also defending. And he told me today that I think the elections were going to be what they were going to be, disputing the notion that it was the shutdown that cost them the elections last night. Guys?

SANCHEZ: Manu Raju live on Capitol Hill. Thank you so much. Let's get some perspective now with Republican Congressman, Don Bacon of Nebraska. Congressman, thank you so much for being with us. So, you have these conflicting messages between the president who says the shutdown hurt Republicans at the polls and Senate Leader Thune who says that, as Manu put it, the elections were going to be as they were. Democrats are now calling for direct negotiations with the president. Do you think it's time for him to get more involved in reopening the federal government?

[14:05:00]

REP. DON BACON, (R-NE): I think the bottom line is we need to negotiate and I've already shown willingness to do that. I have a proposal with Tom Suozzi, Josh Gottheimer and Jeff Hurd that extends the COVID-era ACA tax credits, but puts income caps on it, also ensures that these tax credits go directly to lowering people's premiums and not a big check to any company. I think this is the stuff that we should be doing. I don't know if the president has to be doing it, but we, in the appropriations process, we have to get a compromise on these bills that Democrats and Republicans can support. And I think if we did that, we could get the government back open.

But on these elections, normally, the party at power is going to lose. I mean, you're going to go backwards, but I think what should alarm Republicans is the margins of victory in New Jersey and Virginia. They weren't even close. And you got to look at it, the Democrats are galvanized, they're angry at DOGE cuts that were on and off, the chaos. They're angry at whether it's the Guard, the National Guard being sent to our cities. I mean, a whole host of issues has galvanized the Democrats, which is somewhat normal.

But I think what's concerning is (inaudible) swing voters also went back towards Democrats, mainly because they don't see an improvement in the economy. And I think tariffs are part of that problem. And I think the president, by trying to sign blame on the shutdown, I think he's missing the bigger picture on what was the cause of the defeat last night. Right now, a lot of polling shows 50/50 on whom to blame, maybe even more blaming the Democrats on the shutdown. But I don't think that was the issue for the losses yesterday. I think it's the galvanized Democrats and swing voters who don't see an improvement in the economy.

SANCHEZ: I think you, you're right in that. What we've heard from voters is that affordability remains a chief concern, even though it's a big part of the reason that President Trump was elected. Right? He claims not to have inflation, but it has not stayed at the Fed's 2 percent goal. It actually recently went up further. Prices at the grocery store, they're up about a percentage and a half since he took office. Do you think the administration has done enough to address affordability?

BACON: Well, he thinks tariffs is a way forward to bring back manufacturing. And I don't see it. The Republicans have not supported tariffs since the 1930s. And he -- the tariff strategy has been a lot of tariffs on and off again, and it's been very unpredictable. And I think our economy has had instability because of this. And the average person, when they go to the supermarket, as you say, they've not seen an improvement. And I don't think you've seen improvement in our job numbers. In a whole host of data, we're not seeing really not going backwards, but it's not going forward. And I really think tariffs have undermined the president's economic progress here.

And I -- and he's believed in it since the 1980s. I think it's been misguided and I think it was this area that hurt him was swing voters yesterday. Now, the Democrats are going to be galvanized. There always are in the midterm, the minority party. They're more galvanized than ever. As much as they hate each other, they definitely are unified against Trump. But I think the biggest issue is the swing voters thing and it's the economy. If we don't win the economy, we're going to lose next year in the midterms.

SANCHEZ: Speaker Johnson doesn't share that level of alarm, he says, in part because of the way that he sees redistricting efforts playing out. Given the result that we saw with Prop. 50 in California offsetting the five seats that were redistricted to lean Republican in Texas. Do you anticipate Republicans are going to lean even further into this effort, including potentially in Nebraska?

BACON: I don't think so. In Nebraska, we're probably two votes shy of any redistricting process here. But that said, if you look at every state, I've looked at the analysis, if every state redistricts in a partisan way, the Republicans would pick up about 10 seats. And so, I think a lot of studies show that. The Democrats have already done a lot of aggressive redistricting. For example, Illinois, you can't make it even any worse hardly. It's a terrible example of gerrymandering. And so, I do think we're going to see Republicans try to do more. I don't think we're going to see it in Nebraska.

But in the end, we may pick up two or three seats because of redistricting or gerrymandering, but I don't know if that can overcome a normal midterm election cycle. And if we can get an economy in a better, a stronger spot, that'll put us in a better spot for next year. But I really have qualms about the tariff strategy. I've always had it, I've always had concerns and it's going to be interesting to see what the Supreme Court rules.

SANCHEZ: Yeah.

BACON: And I could tell by their questioning today, that I don't think they're sold on the tariff and that the president has these authorities.

[14:10:00]

SANCHEZ: Congressman, before we go, I have to ask you about this rift that has been playing out in the ride over Tucker Carlson's recent friendly interview with white nationalist, Nick Fuentes and generally, how much influence he and his brand of anti-Semitism and hate have within the party? A Wall Street Journal commentator described it as a watershed in the campaign to make racism cool again, arguing that the right has a racism problem. How do you see it?

BACON: Firstly, I totally reject Nick Fuentes. He should have no spot in our party. He's a racist anti-Semite. He says he admires Hitler and Stalin. That is not a Republican, that is not a conservative. And I criticize Tucker Carlson for putting people like him on his program and not asking hard questions or pushing back. It's not just him, it's a whole host of people that he platforms.

And Tucker Carlson, he's wrong on Ukraine, I believe. I think he's wrong on Israel. He's a isolationist of the 1930s Republican model, not a Ronald Reagan type at all. And I frankly think he's bad for the party. I think he hurts us in the long run. So, I'm glad to see criticism, particularly on Nick Ententes, but also on Tucker Carlson. I would say Steve Bannon as well. Steve Bannon is a toxic voice in our party that hurts us overall. And I think it's time that we stand up and say, you're not welcome.

On the Democrat side, they've had -- they got a much bigger problem with the anti-Semitism and Israel, which is two separate issues, I get that. But in both, I'd say the Democrats are very split. I think the Republicans are 90/10. I don't want that 10 percent at all. They can go -- they can form their own party.

SANCHEZ: Congressman Don Bacon, we have to leave the conversation there. We appreciate you sharing your point of view.

BACON: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Of course. Still to come, the latest on the investigation into that deadly UPS plane crash in Louisville, Kentucky. And President Trump saying that a ruling against him in the tariff case before the Supreme Court would be a catastrophe for the country. We'll discuss what judges signaled today.

And later, the investor who predicted the 2008 market crash is now warning about another market bubble. We'll have that and much more coming up on "CNN News Central."

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[14:16:57]

KEILAR: Just minutes from now, NTSB investigators will give an update on this, last night's fiery UPS cargo jet crash in Louisville. At least nine people confirmed dead after that plane exploded into a fireball just after takeoff. Kentucky Governor, Andy Beshear says he expects that number of nine to go up. CNN Aviation Correspondent Pete Muntean is here. And Pete, this video, there's a lot of it and it's going to give investigators a lot to work with.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, no clear cause that we can determine just yet. And investigators say it's way, way too early to speculate. But the visual clues are very key here. And this video is maybe the most telling. This is a video taken from an airport tug at the Louisville Airport. you could see Flight 2789 trying to take off, a very sluggish attempt at take off here before it impacts a warehouse there in that industrial area at the end of the runway.

This is something that investigators are going to go through frame by frame and you can see what appears to be the left engine on fire here. At least a fire under the left wing, we're not totally sure yet. And you could see that the airplane's nose is up, but not really gaining any altitude. So, this is something that investigators are really, really going to dig into.

This airplane, an MD-11 Female^, has three engines. This is the number one engine, the left engine on the left side of the airplane here. This is number two engine back on the tail. There's a third engine on the other side. They're obscured in this photograph. This is the very same plane, taken about four years ago. And then investigators have a lot of forensic clues. These clues on the ground, this debris field here off of runway 17 Right in Louisville.

This is what's called an engine cowling. This is the covering outside of the engine on the nacelle. The engine hanging off on the pylon there. And then of course, there are these images surfacing of the engine itself, sitting there next to the runway. This is the front of the engine. This is where the fan blades would be. This is the turbine and compressor section. So this is something that they're really going to look at in detail. And we know the NTSB is arriving on scene now. They're also about to brief the media at the top of the hour.

So we'll see, initially, what they're able to gather and glean from all of this detail that we're getting here. Also, they just really have to build this timeline and that is where we're going to try -- they're going to try and figure out where all of these pieces fall. This is the flight data track, publicly available from ADS-B Exchange. It was not a long flight. From the moment the airplane took the runway here, 17 Right Louisville, to impact, the last data point here, was only about a minute long. And so, what they're going to try and do is figure out where all these pieces fit in that timeline to recreate this and sort of tell this story.

The next big thing they need are the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder, the two so-called black boxes, to really figure out exactly what was going on in the cockpit and how much awareness these pilots had that this emergency was unfolding in front of them.

[14:20:00]

KEILAR: It's horrible to watch. It really is. And hopefully, we'll get some answers here soon. Pete, thank you for taking us through that.

Ahead, the Trump administration facing a deeply skeptical Supreme Court as the justices hear arguments about President Trump's tariffs. Stay with us for that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [14:25:00]

KEILAR: Today, President Trump's expansive use of his executive power faced a critical test at the Supreme Court. Several conservative justices sharply questioned the Trump administration over the president's use of emergency powers to impose his sweeping global tariffs.

SANCHEZ: And that includes Justice Neil Gorsuch, who pressed the solicitor general about Congress delegating its authority to the president. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUSTICE NEIL GORSUCH, ASSOCIATE JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES: What would prohibit Congress from just abdicating all responsibility to regulate foreign commerce, for that matter, declare war to the president?

JOHN SAUER, SOLICITOR GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES: We don't contend that he could do that. If it did --

GORSUCH: Why not?

SAUER Well, because we're dealing with a statute again that has a whole --

(CROSSTALK)

GORSUCH: I'm not asking about the statute. General, I'm not asking about the statute. I'm asking for your theory of the constitution and why the major questions and non-delegation, what bite it would have in that case?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Joining us now is Michael Gerhardt. He's a Constitutional Law Professor at UNC-Chapel Hill. Michael, thank you so much for being with us. A majority of the court appeared skeptical of the administration's argument. Which of the justices were you most watching closely?

MICHAEL GERHARDT, CONSTITUTIONAL LAW PROFESSOR, UNC-CHAPEL HILL: Well, I was watching Justice Gorsuch very closely, and Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Barrett. All three of them, all appointed by Republican presidents, expressed some skepticism about the constitutionality of the president's tariffs.

KEILAR: And Chief Justice Roberts was asking questions specifically about framing tariffs as a tax, which of course is a power reserved to Congress, but also about tariffs under the president's foreign affairs power, which the administration believes are broad. How do those two powers come into contention here?

GERHARDT: Well, they come into contention because, one, we've had arguments on both sides and they kind of join together. The administration is arguing that whatever President Trump is doing with their certain (ph) tariffs, he's operating in the sphere of foreign affairs and therefore is entitled to virtually complete deference by the Supreme Court. The counter argument has been that -- one serious flaw with the president's argument is that Congress normally exercises the power to tax and a tariff is a tax. And so, the president erratically and across the board imposing tariffs, sometimes inconsistently, that's the president doing it.

Congress presumably would be more stable. More importantly, the constitution expressly gives the power to tax to Congress and I think the president is usurping it.

SANCHEZ: I wonder how the major questions doctrine comes into play with all of this.

GERHARDT: Yeah, that's important too. And so, we pick up on that from Justice Gorsuch's comment. He's -- Justice Gorsuch has been a leader on the Supreme Court to try and address the constitutionality of delegations from Congress outside of itself to some other branch or entity. And Justice Gorsuch has expressed a great deal of skepticism about a delegation that transfers too much power over to another unit or department. And that's the problem Justice Gorsuch said is happening here.

The problem is that the president is claiming a really broad authority, but the only way he gets that authority is through delegation in a 1977 statute. The court expressed skepticism about that power coming from the statute. At the same time, Justice Gorsuch was arguing, look, if we delegate or if Congress has delegated the entire taxing power to the president, that would be a problem. But if it has delegated some of it to the president, then what we have to look at is whether or not the delegation involves what are called major questions, really big issues that should only be addressed by Congress.

And if you follow through on the oral argument, several justices were saying, this is a job for Congress, not the president.

SANCHEZ: Michael Gerhardt, thank you so much for sharing your expertise.

GERHARDT: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Ahead, it was a big night for Democrats in the first major electoral test of President Trump's second term. We're going to break down the results after a quick break.

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