HOT TOPICS | A Glimmer of Hope for Democrats—But Trouble Still Looms - April 2nd, 2025
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What breaking headlines kick off the show including Eric Adams charges and 'Liberation Day' tariffs?
Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Don Lemon Show. Welcome to Hot Topics, 10 a.m. Eastern time here. And we're so glad that you're here this morning. Congressman, I think I hear the volume from your computer, but we can fix that, I think. Let me know what, Nikki, is that correct? Are we hearing it from his computer? But here's what I want to say. We have a lot of news to get to. We want to welcome Congressman Ro Khanna. He's on this morning with us to talk about all of the news that we have. There's so much going on. Congressman, thank you for joining us. How are you doing this morning?
Don, I'm doing great. Really appreciate being on. I was saying earlier, I love the background look. Very, very clean cut.
Thank you. Thank you. Look, there's a whole story behind this that I'll let you in on later. But a couple of things. We want to talk about Cory Booker making history. We want to talk about what happened in Wisconsin. Obviously, today is Liberation Day. The market is down. We're watching that. And also here in New York, quickly, let's get this out of the way. They have dismissed, a judge has dismissed the charges. If you can put it up, Nikki, for New York Mayor Eric Adams. They have dismissed it, though, with prejudice, meaning I think the government can bring those charges back. But judge dismisses criminal case against New York mayor, Eric Adams, a federal judge is dismissed as criminal corruption case against the mayor.
The case was dismissed with prejudice, which means the department of justice is permanently barred from resurrecting. Oh, it was with, with prejudice. Sorry. I thought it was without prejudice with prejudice. So they can't bring it back. So based on the same evidence used in the case, what do you think? Look, he's not the only person who has sort of bent the knee or gone down to Mar-a-Lago or to the white house. that have had favorable treatment by the president. The president's charges also dismissed because he is the president. What do you make of this breaking news?
Well, it's what's wrong with the Trump administration, which is a violation of the rule of law. Look, you had people who are conservative Supreme Court clerks in the Justice U.S. Attorney's Office in New York resigned. saying they never had a presidential administration intervene with the prosecution and independent administration of justice. And this administration just says, look, if you're friends with us, we're not going to prosecute it. On the other hand, you've got a potentially innocent father who was deported to El Salvador, where the Trump administration is saying that there was an administrative, quote unquote, error. And J.D. Vance is unwilling to give the other person due process. So what is the message?
If you're friends with them, then you don't have to worry about justice. If you're not friends with them, then you don't have your due process.
Yeah. So what do you think of this also? Because they are defying federal judges, the orders to reinstate, you know, certain departments within the government that this doge headed by Elon Musk has gotten rid of bringing people back, halting the mass deportation of immigrants and migrants into the country. And they're ignoring the legislative branch. What is going on here?
Well, it's a constitutional crisis. I mean, basically, they are exerting maximum executive power. J.D. Vance has said if the court rules, Supreme Court rules, we should say, OK, you've made your ruling. Now, how are you going to enforce it? And this is a act of basic defiance of the separation of powers. It's one of the reasons I'm going on April 15th to Yale Law School, where both J.D. and I happened to go to make a strong argument that this betrays the basic principles of the separation of powers. All I will say is, though, in this country, we don't have executive sovereignty, congressional sovereignty or court sovereignty. We have popular sovereignty. And that means the ultimate check on the president's executive overreach is the people.
And we're seeing that popular rising up and popular revolt across the country, including last night in Wisconsin.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What breaking headlines kick off the show including Eric Adams charges and 'Liberation Day' tariffs?
0:16–7:39
2
Why does Ro Khanna call the administration’s actions a 'constitutional crisis' and how does he define separation of powers concerns?
7:39–21:39
3
How did Cory Booker’s record-breaking Senate speech resonate — what themes did he invoke?
21:39–39:58
4
How does Ro Khanna link civil rights history to immigration and HBCU support in his explanation?
39:58–1:06:56
5
Why is Ro Khanna campaigning in red districts and what did he hear at town halls about Elon Musk and federal cuts?
1:06:56–1:14:14
Speakers
4 identifiedMore from The Don Lemon Show
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