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Any Moment, Trump Visits Alligator Alcatraz in Florida Everglades; Trump Says He's Open to Delaying Deadline on Massive Agenda Bill; Musk Says He'll Form a New Political Party If Trump's Bill Passes. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired July 01, 2025 - 10:00   ET

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

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PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news, President Trump touring Alligator Alcatraz any moment he will visit the massive detention facility in the Florida Everglades. The temporary tent city is already facing escalating backlash.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Quote, Porky Pig Party. That's Elon Musk's message to politicians as senators continue their marathon voting session on President Trump's mega bill. The president is now responding.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown, and you're in The Situation Room.

And we begin with the breaking news. Right now, President Trump is waiting into the very swampy politics of Alligator Alcatraz. It's a new tent city that will soon house 5,000 migrants deep in Florida's Everglades, 50 miles west of Miami. Immigration rights activists are raising the alarm on the conditions, alligators, venomous snakes, and even pythons fill the desolate miles that engulf this detention facility. The administration says that's the point.

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KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: There is only one road leading in and there is the only way out is a one way flight. It is isolated and surrounded by dangerous wildlife in unforgiving terrain. This is an efficient and low cost way to help carry out the largest mass deportation campaign in American history.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The site is a former training airport and comes with an 11,000-foot runway. Florida's governor says that helps make this facility ideal.

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GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): There needs to be more ability to intake process and then deport. So, this answers that. We've got a massive runway right behind us where any of the federal assets, if they want to fly these people back to the road country, they can do a one-stop shop.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: We're covering all the developments this hour. CNN's Isabel Rosales is traveling with the president and our Kevin Liptak is over at the White House for us. Let's begin with Isabel. Isabel, what are you expecting to see this hour?

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, it is clear that President Trump is coming to a photo op. There is a national, local, and even international media crowding. This new makeshift detention facility dubbed Alligator Alcatraz. And he'll come to at least one fan. Take a look right over here as we zoom in. You can see that man in the MAGA hat, and that sign that says thank you, Daddy Trump, obviously a play on what the NATO chief said just days ago.

And President Trump will help us through the opening of this Alligator Alcatraz built over a small airstrip just a week and one day ago, and this right here is just 50 miles away from his resort in Miami. He will take part of a guided tour with Governor Ron DeSantis here in Florida, his attorney general, also DHS Secretary Christie Noem, and Congressman Byron Donalds as well.

And we have aerial footage from our CNN affiliate, WSVN, where you can see what Trump will see while he's in there. And those are heavy duty tents, repurposed FEMA trailers. This is where the state of Florida says that they will house up to 5,000 detainees that are awaiting deportation. DeSantis says that he says these will be humane conditions, pointing to in a Fox interview, portable air conditioning units, sewage, water, and power all together.

[10:05:08]

He also says with, when it comes to security, there's not much money that needs to be put forward with that because pythons and alligators will take care of that need.

Of course, this has sparked major backlash, not just from indigenous Americans who have tribal lands here nearby this airstrip but also environmental groups, two of which have sued the state of Florida and the federal government, and, of course, immigrant rights advocates who call this cruel punishment. Take a listen.

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THOMAS KENNEDY, SPOKESPERSON, FLORIDA IMMIGRANT COALITION: We've been down this road before, right? I mean, we saw this with Joe Arpaio in Maricopa County, in Arizona, where he had a tent city. The fact that we're going to have 3,000 people detained in tents, in the Everglades, in the middle of the hot Florida summer during hurricane season, right? I mean, this is a bad idea all around. That needs to be opposed and stopped.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ROSALES: And CNN reported back in June, this is important based on ICE data, that less than 10 percent of migrants booked into ice custody since October were convicted of serious crimes like murder, assault, rape, or robbery. 75 percent of them had no conviction. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Isabele Rosales on the scene for us, thank you very, very much. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, well the President's visit to this so-called alligator Alcatraz is the kind of strong imagery that the White House relishes. This is what it wants, and it comes as the administration is fighting for more funding for what it calls the largest deportation campaign in history.

So, let's go live now to CNN Senior White House reporter Kevin Liptak. So, Kevin, tell us more about the timing of the president's visit right now.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, and you really couldn't think of a better illustration of the president's hard line approach to immigration than this facility surrounded by alligators, Burmese pythons. It's the kind of menacing symbolism that the administration has really kind of leaned into leading up to today's visit. They even posted an A.I. image of alligators wearing ICE hats.

And it seems as if the approach is twofold. One is to make the conditions so severe that immigrants will think twice about coming into the country illegally, but also that undocumented migrants who are in the country currently will just leave on their own, essentially to self-deport.

And it does appear as if the administration is very much leaning into this idea of harsh conditions. And, in fact, as the president was departing here at the White House to head down to Florida, he was asked whether essentially the alligators would attack migrants who were trying to escape. Listen to what he said.

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DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I guess that's the concept. This is not a nice business. I guess that's the concept. If you -- you know, snakes are fast, but alligators are -- we're going to teach them how to run away from an alligator, okay, if they escape prison, how to run away, don't run in a straight line, run like this. And you know what? Your chances go up at about 1 percent, okay? That's a good thing.

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LIPTAK: So, you hear the president there joking in one capacity, joking about how these migrants will run away from the alligators, but on the other hand, very serious about this facility as a place to house people that the administration is trying to deport.

Of course, the president is doing this as he's trying to push that major bill that would include new money for border security, new money for deportations, all of it wrapped up in the president's a very hard line immigration agenda. Pam?

BROWN: All right. Kevin Liptak, thanks so much. Wolf?

BLITZER: For a deeper dive, Pamela, right now into what we know about Alligator Alcatraz, CNN's Tom Foreman is here with us in The Situation Room.

Tom, this facility has burst into the national spotlight in just a matter of weeks. It's also been the subject of numerous protests on the scene there. What makes it so controversial?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what makes it so controversial is, first of all, there are complaints from the local community to some degree about people saying this is, in a way, suggesting that Florida itself is unwelcoming. This is within spitting distance of the Everglades National Park, where they try to draw many, many tourists. So, to suggest it's such a forbidding environment is a bit challenging for some people there.

Environmental groups have raised questions about whether or not this will be good for the environment down there. The governor has said, look, it's an old airfield. We're not going beyond the airfield. Of course, it's going to be final. There's no question about water. Indigenous communities down there have said this is important land to their history. Notably, they would say they were pushed off by the first immigrants who are now saying, we're going to house other immigrants there.

So, there are a lot of questions like that, including Florida Republican Congress members who have seemed to question whether or not they really think this is a good idea.

The bottom line though, for many people is this idea that it is a sort of performative cruelty, in a sense, a sense to demean the people who are sent there.

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The White House, as was noted a few moments ago, has over and over again said these are dangerous criminals, and they've drawn connection to murderers and rapists and drug runners and all of that, and yet the evidence has shown that most of the people that are rounding up are none of those things. They're people who are here. And polls have shown that most Americans are not too keen on rushing to put out people who are supporting their families, who came here seeking asylum, who have children who were born here, and yet, undoubtedly, some of those people will wind up in this facility.

It's also going to be -- you know, as they try to move forward this, you keep hearing all this talk about alligators and pythons. Alligators rarely attack people. Pythons rarely attack people. That is extremely performative in the eyes of the critics who are saying the point of this is to demean and vilify and act cruelly toward these people who are being deported all in the name of trying to reach a number so the White House can fulfill that notion, saying this is the biggest deportation ever. BLITZER: Speaking of a number, this is not going to be cheap. Who's going to be paying for all of this? How much money are we talking about?

FOREMAN: Well, as usual, when anything's done with the government, you're going to pay for it. The taxpayers are going to pay for it. Florida's paying for some of it upfront to get it established, but that's going to be reimbursed from a FEMA program called the Shelter and Services Program. They're making a point at DHS to say, this isn't coming from aid directly to people struck by hurricanes, and we're right in the hurricane season, lighting up right now, which also raises a question about whether this is a wise place to put people, although they say they have an evacuation plan, 5,000 beds at $245 per day for the beds from the Department of Homeland Security. That's their estimate. So, that's one and a quarter -- almost one and a quarter million dollars per day to support these beds, total of $450 million per year to support it down there.

And, again, critics are saying, even if you want to do this, even if you think this is the way to do it, is this really the most cost efficient, the best way to do it and a way that is in line with what many people would say are American values, whereas some people saying, these people in their mind, they're not Americans, they get a different treatment.

BLITZER: All right. Tom Foreman, thanks very much for that update. I appreciate it. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, Wolf. We have some breaking news this morning, President Trump says that he is open to delaying his self-imposed deadline on his massive mega domestic policy bill. The marathon vote and the Senate on that bill has now been going on since yesterday morning without a break.

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SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD): It's been a long debate. I know people are weary, but at the end of the day, we want to get this done so this country is safer and stronger and more prosperous, not only for today, but for future generations of Americans.

SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): So, ladies and gentlemen, on our side of the aisle and those over there, I hope you'll join us, shout loudly, no.

SEN. ALEX PADILLA (D-CA): Our Republican colleagues know that this bill is adding an additional $3.5 trillion to the deficit over the next ten years.

SEN. MICHAEL BENNET (D-CO): America's poorest children whose families are struggling to make ends meet, receive nothing from this bill.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Let's go live now to CNN Congressional Correspondent Lauren Fox on Capitol Hill. Lauren, I know you've been going nonstop as well. Where do things stand right now? LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. What we know right now is that over the course of the last ten minutes or so, we believe that leadership is growing more and more confident that we have -- they have gotten to a place where they are getting ready to vote potentially in upcoming minutes.

Now, our colleagues just caught up with Majority Leader John Thune, and when asked if they had a deal, he responded, I believe we do.

Now, obviously, there's still so much in flux right now. We still don't know where these votes are all going to come from. Leadership has been working furiously this morning to talk with Senator Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, a potential key holdout who has had several pieces of concern over the fact that this bill cuts Medicaid for her state as well as she has worked really closely with leadership in order to shield her state from some of the most severe cuts, to food stamps back in the state of Alaska.

So, leadership has been working all morning to try to secure her vote. It's not clear right now whether they have done that. We are also keeping a close eye on Senator Susan Collins, another Republican moderate from the state of Maine. She is actually up for reelection. We know that Thom Tillis has already voted against advancing this legislation, as has Senator Rand Paul. And just as a reminder, John Thune can only afford to lose three Republican votes at this point. He cannot afford to lose four. That obviously makes this math really tricky for the Republican leadership.

But they are feeling a little more confident, at least in the last ten minutes than they have throughout the evening.

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So we're keeping a very close eye on whether or not that final vote could get underway in the next few minutes or perhaps hours.

BROWN: All right. Lauren Fox on Capitol Hill, thanks so much. Wolf?

BLITZER: Pamela, there's more news this morning. It's Elon Musk versus President Trump round two. In a flurry of posts, the tech titan took swipe after swipe at Trump's legislative agenda, writing in one, and I'm quoting Musk now, it is obvious with the insane spending of this bill, which increases the debt ceiling by a record $5 trillion that we live in a one party country, the Porky Pig Party. Time for a new political party that actually cares about the people.

Let's go live right now to CNN Media Correspondent Hadas Gold, who's joining us from New York. Hadas, what, just a few weeks ago, Musk said he was stepping back from politics. So, what has changed?

HADAS GOLD, CNN MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: I mean, a lot has changed. This is the starkest political threat Elon Musk has made, and it gives us the first indication of what he plans to do in the midterms. We had been waiting to hear what his plans were, then we heard that he was stepping back from political spending, wasn't sure about it, and that was just a few weeks ago now, the tone has changed quite dramatically. Once again, of course, in a flurry of posts onto his social media site, X, Musk laid out essentially two things that are going to happen. The first is that he will, primary, he says, or he will support primary any member of Congress who had talked about reducing government spending, but at the same time voted for this big, beautiful bill, which he says will raise the debt significantly.

Look at this poster that he promised would appear with featuring the face of any member of Congress that voted for this bill despite talking about government spending. It looks like a Pinocchio up in flames, saying that they are going to make the debt go by $5 trillion.

The first candidate also that he declared that he will support in the midterms was Congressman Massie. Massie, of course, is one of the two Republicans to vote against the House version of this big beautiful bill last month. He's also been President Trump's number one target so far for Republican Parties in 2026.

And then Elon Musk also took it a step further. And as you noted, he said he wants to create a new political party, the America Party, saying that if the insane spending bill passes, then the America Party will be formed the next day.

I've reached out to Elon Musk's America PAC. This is his political action spending committee. They had no comment on this potential new political party. This is, of course, also a change to Musk's plans. We all know he spent more than $275 million to support President Trump. He had promised a hundred million dollars to President Trump and his outside groups in the 2026 elections. This is a big change.

And then we heard from President Trump who says that, you know, he might have to turn DOGE back on Elon Musk. I think we can hear from the president just earlier this morning.

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TRUMP: We might have to put DOGE on Elon, you know? You know what DOGE is? DOGE is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon.

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GOLD: A big question, of course, is will Elon Musk's words actually be followed up with action? We'll have to wait and see. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Hadas Gold reporting for us, thank you very much, Hadas. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, here we go again, Trump and Elon, Wolf.

Happening now, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is speaking in front of a panel just one day after receiving a handwritten letter from President Trump blasting the Fed chair for not lowering interest rates. President Trump has made his views on Powell very clear over the past few weeks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REPORTER: You were criticizing the Federal Reserve chair before coming to this summit.

TRUMP: And I think he's terrible.

He's an average mentally person. I'd say low in terms of what he does, low, low I.Q. for what he does, okay?

We're doing well as a country. If the Fed would ever lower rates, you know, would buy debt for a lot less. It's a shame. This guy -- I have a guy. Do you ever have a guy that's not a smart person and you're dealing with him and you have to deal? He's not a smart guy.

A stupid person, frankly, at the Fed.

The only thing is we have a Fed chairman that is -- he doesn't get it.

I'd love him to resign if he wanted to. He's done lousy job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: All right. Let's go live now to CNN Business and Politics Correspondent Vanessa Yurkevich in New York. What is Powell saying, Vanessa?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jerome Powell is currently speaking at the Central Banking Forum in Europe, and he's with other leaders of central banks from around the world. And this comes just a day after the president sent a letter to Jerome Powell, essentially calling on him to, once again, lower interest rates to what he said should be 1 percent.

And he sent this handwritten letter on top of what was essentially a printout of World Central Bank rates from around the world. And he notes on this letter that you can see on your screen that there are 34 central banks around the world that have lower interest rates than the United States.

Now, currently, Jerome Powell is taking some questions from the moderator and he was asked essentially about the wait-and-see mode that the central bank has been in for many, many months now, for now four consecutive meetings.

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And he was asked that if tariffs were taken off the table, would the central bank have gone ahead and cut rates, just as President Trump is asking for? Here's that exchange.

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REPORTER: Chair, would the Fed have cut more by now if it weren't for the tariffs?

JEROME POWELL, CHAIRMAN, FEDERAL RESERVE: So, I do think that -- I think that's right. In effect, we went on hold when we, when we saw the size of the tariffs and where, and essentially all inflation forecasts for the United States went up materially as a consequence of the tariffs. So, we didn't overreact at, in fact, we didn't react at all. We're simply taking some time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YURKEVICH: And he was asked if he expects that the Federal Reserve Board will vote to lower rates in July. He said that he needed to wait for more data to make that decision. He did say, though, but by the end of the year, he does expect that the Federal Reserve will start to cut rates. There are three additional meetings, Pamela, after that July meeting. So, of course, time is running out, but an indication that there will be rates to come just not right away as the president is hoping for. Pamela?

BROWN: All right. Vanessa Yurkevich, thanks so much. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Still ahead, there's other news we're following as well. Starting today, a one popular weight loss drug will no longer be covered by a major insurance provider. What to do if you're impacted.

BROWN: And then later, jurors in the Sean Diddy Combs trial have questions about one of their own. We are live right outside court for day two of deliberations.

You're in The Situation Room.

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BROWN: All right. Let's get back to our breaking news this morning. President Trump says he's open to delaying his self-imposed deadline on his massive mega domestic policy bill. The marathon vote in the Senate on President Trump's mega bill has now dragged on for more than 24 hours straight without a break. After weeks of negotiating and arm- twisting, senators are voting on changes and trying to get it back to the House. The bill is the cornerstone of President Trump's agenda.

With us now is Congressman Marlin Stutzman. He's an Indiana Republican and member of the Financial Services and Budget Committees. Congressman, nice to have you on.

So, we just heard President Trump say that he's open to moving the self-imposed July 4th deadline. Do you think that will have to happen?

REP. MARLIN STUTZMAN (R-IN): Actually I, Pamela at this point and not seeing the final Senate version. I think giving more time is a good thing. You know, I'm a business guy and one of the things I know is that, you know, when you get a deal in front of you, the best thing to do is maybe sleep on it for a couple of days. And there's no reason to rush this just to get it done by July 4th.

There's been a lot of changes in the Senate from the House version. I sit on the Budget Committee in the House. And I feel like we had a really strong bill coming out of the House. But between the Senate and parliamentarian, there's been a lot of changes to the bill.

BROWN: And do any of those changes give you pause or cause any concern for you? Because I know our reporting indicates that Speaker Johnson is confronting a growing level of consternation in the ranks about some of these changes.

STUTZMAN: Yes, the biggest one is just the deficit increase. I mean, we're already at $37 trillion in debt. Our deficits are at all-time highs. And it just doesn't seem like the Senate is serious about keeping the deficit flat. You know, we already kept the rate of growth in the House version at 2.6 percent GDP growth. I think that's a fair number from historical data.

I believe that we will grow, I believe that President Trump is right, that the Trump economy has the opportunity to grow at that 3 percent, or maybe even higher. But we haven't seen that in a while, and so I don't think we should be banking on that. Let's just hope that we get things back on track and we can see it in economy that's really growing.

BROWN: And you talk about your concern over how much the Senate wants to raise the, the debt ceiling. I'm sure you've seen this new tweet by Elon Musk, who threatened to create a new political party and go after members of Congress who campaign on reducing government spending, but then supported the budget bill, which, of course, will add to the national debt.

You have said yourself, Congressman, spending is out of control. You've called it a national threat. Does Musk have a point here?

STUTZMAN: Yes. Oh, absolutely. I'm glad Elon is saying something. And it's not just Elon, you know, Jamie Dimon with JPMorgan just had comments in the past couple of weeks addressing the debt. Ray Dalio, another Wall Street guy who is -- who was actually in our Budget Committee testifying, saying that if we don't address the debt soon, you know, heaven forbid there's a recession or some sign of -- you know, some type of slowdown in the economy, then we're going to see some massive problems.

So, that's why this really is a great opportunity for us to reduce our debt and deficits and I think that should be the overarching theme in both the House and Senate versions, that, you know, especially with the Senate now coming to a vote today, that that's where they should be going, and it doesn't appear that they are.

BROWN: So, from what you understand, given the committees you sit on, does this bill not have the votes right now in the House?

STUTZMAN: I don't see how it does. I just -- if they're going to raise the deficit that high, last number that I heard, it's roughly around $480 billion with the deficit. And, again, we all know spending has increased dramatically over the past several years.

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But the other thing is, with a slow economy, the government just doesn't take in the revenue.