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Biden & Trump Strategies Evolve As Campaign Hit Next Phase; Nearly 44 Million Travelers Expected To Jam Roads And Airports; NCAA Agrees To Deal That Paves The Way For Paying Student-Athletes; Voice Actors Allege AI Firm Stole Their Voices, File Suit. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired May 24, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

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[15:00:35]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: So sorry Labor Day: The end of summer used to signal the final push for presidential campaigns, but this is an election unlike any other. How campaigns are strategizing as summer kicks into high gear.

Plus, Fighting for Answers: The families of four Marines killed in an Osprey crash in the desert are now suing Boeing and others for negligence. They claim there was a defect that they weren't warned about properly. One of their family members will join us live.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And his nickname was "God's influencer." Now, this Italian teenager and computer prodigy is set to become the Catholic Church's first millennial saint.

We are following these stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

Turning up the heat as the race for the White House hits a critical point, we are learning new details about the Biden and Trump strategies for the next phase of the campaign.

For the Biden camp, the issue of abortion, front and center. Just yesterday, Biden argued that a new bill in Louisiana to classify abortion-inducing drugs as controlled dangerous substances is a, quote, "direct result of Trump overturning Roe v. Wade."

SANCHEZ: And today, the Biden campaign is airing an ad marking two years since the Uvalde School massacre, contrasting Biden and Trump when it comes to gun policy. And as former President Trump nears the end of his hush money trial in New York, he held a rally uptown in the Bronx trying to court Hispanic and black voters.

Both candidates are readying for next month's debate, which is, here's a plug, right here on CNN. You won't want to miss it. Let's get some details now from CNN senior White House correspondent MJ Lee.

So, MJ, what are you hearing about this next phase of Biden's campaign, especially as we get closer to that big debate? MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, the Biden campaign, like all of us, they have no idea what next week is going to bring. They don't know if the former president is going to be found guilty, not guilty; is there going to be a mistrial; is it even going to end next week.

But they do know that ultimately, when the trial does end, you know, the coverage that has taken up so much time and so much space, that is also going to end as well. And they do see an opportunity for there to be just more space, more room, more opportunities to make their case in a way that they haven't been able to in the last several weeks.

And a source familiar that I was talking to says that end of the trial for the Trump New York case is going to coincide with this more aggressive phase of the campaign for the Biden folks, whether it is on the kinds of ads that they're going to run, the messaging, the rhetoric that we're going to hear from the campaign, including from the president himself.

And we did sort of see sort of an unofficial launch of that next phase with this new scorching ad from the Biden campaign that is narrated by Robert De Niro and it is called "Snapped." Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT DE NIRO, AMERICAN ACTOR: From midnight tweets to drinking bleach, to tear gassing citizens and staging a photo op, we knew Trump was out of control when he was president. Then he lost the 2020 election and snapped.

Trump wants revenge and he'll stop at nothing to get it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: And, you know, the campaign is obviously going to have to calibrate their strategy, their messaging, depending on exactly what happens with the trial. But what I'm told is that guilty or not, a convicted felon or not, the thrust of their message and running after Donald Trump is largely going to remain the same.

One interesting thing from this source is that - that I was told is that the Biden campaign is still grappling with the reality that the vast majority of voters still don't see election day as a choice between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

This is something that they've been grappling with for months and really is one of the key obstacles that they're really trying to fight. They want to drive home the message that it is going to be between Joe Biden and Donald Trump in November.

SANCHEZ: And it is going to be a long campaign season. MJ Lee, thanks so much for the update.

Now for more on the Trump campaign's next phase, let's bring in CNN's Steve Contorno joining us. Steve, the former president was targeting black and Latino voters last night at his rally in the Bronx. Not exactly a purple area where he's likely to win, but it is part of a strategy shift by the Trump team. What more can you tell us?

[15:05:00]

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: That's right, Boris.

We have seen the Trump campaign really zero in on the struggles that the Biden campaign and Democrats have had in recent campaign cycles, holding onto their majority support with black and Hispanic voters. And, obviously, this event yesterday was catered to those communities.

Now look, Donald Trump was in the Bronx partially because he was originally scheduled to be in court yesterday. But nevertheless, they saw this as an opportunity to maximize his time in New York and speak to these communities that they are hoping they can win on the margins.

Now, like you said, he's not going to win the Bronx. He's probably not going to win New York, but there are communities in Detroit, in Atlanta, in Nevada, in Arizona, that they hope that they can speak to. And the question is what is Trump's pitch to these voters. Well, take a listen to what he said yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I did criminal justice reform at a level that nobody thought was possible to get. And I did that largely for the black and Hispanic community. They're the ones that wanted it. Opportunity zones with Tim Scott, and he was so much in favor of it. And it's probably maybe the best economic development package ever for African Americans, for Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans. We did a lot of things that people couldn't believe we're able to get done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CONTORNO: The former president talking there about how black Americans fared under his administration. It really depends on what numbers you look at, though. When you - if you want to compare apples to apples, take a look at the unemployment numbers under President Trump and under President Biden. The unemployment rate is actually lower under the current administration. So that's one area where President Biden will be making the case that the black Americans, Latinos and such are doing better under Biden than they have - than they were under Trump.

Trump's outreach to unconventional audiences will continue this weekend. He is speaking Saturday at the libertarian convention here in Washington, D.C. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is speaking to them tonight, really just showing a showdown for every last vote possible that these two are going to head to head even over the libertarian vote.

KEILAR: Yes, very interesting. Steve Contorno, thank you so much for that. It is the unofficial start of summer. And while we all know to pack our patience, especially Boris, because it's his very favorite saying of all sayings, the real motto of the weekend is simply, we're all in this together. Be nice, all right? Chill out a little bit, right?

Okay. The TSA is expecting more of us to fly and that means even more of those people are going to be in security lines than before the pandemic. Gas prices are nearly the same as last year. That helps about 38 million people hit the road this holiday weekend.

SANCHEZ: We're watching it all with CNN's Pete Muntean. He's got an eye on the roads. Ryan Young has an eye on the sky. He's from the world's - he's live at the world's busiest airport in Atlanta.

Ryan, let's start with you because we're midway through the day. The TSA has apparently screened more than 50,000 people where you are. And you've been there since this morning. What have the crowds been like?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, you know what? Let me just say this, the people watching is at peak at this point. There are a lot of people who are traveling together for the first time. That's pretty obvious by the signs on their faces. You can tell who wanted to get here early and who was kind of dragging behind.

But the TSA lines have been open, they've been flowing. And so far we've been watching people as they've gone through here. Let's know that they set a record yesterday with over 111,000 people.

And to put that in perspective, even after the Super Bowl, they only had 109,000. They're already on track to break yesterday's record and we're talking about 2.9 million people traveling across the country yesterday. They're certainly breaking records. We talked to people who are thinking about this is a first big trip after the pandemic. They couldn't wait. They were going to bust their budget to have a good time this summer. Listen to the passengers that we talked to who say they are excited about getting this summer kicked off.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARI GARCIA, TRAVELING ON BUSY HOLIDAY WEEKEND: The TSA line was crazy. So, highly recommend digital ID. It was a breeze. Even pre-check and clear was full of people.

CALVIN FISHER, EXPECTED PACKED AIRPORT DURING HOLIDAY WEEKEND: I'm used to the traffic. You know, when you come - when you're traveling during a holiday season or so, there's some things to expect. You're going to see, you know, folks traveling.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Look, we talked to several different people who are at other airports and they're saying parking is becoming a situation. When you add the backlog of traffic that's going through some of these major cities, you have to add extra time to even make it to the airport. One of the things you can do before arriving to the airport, a lot of the airport checkpoints now are digitized. So you can see what the backlog is and see what the average wait time.

Here at Hartsfield-Jackson international airport, it's under 18 minutes as we stand right now. But you know, that can flow, especially with all the people who are working and you know there'll be that last minute hustle to get to the airport to catch that flight that they knew they were going to make before their boss actually showed up on this Friday.

[15:10:02]

So look, there's a lot of conversation about just how that's going to move. Prices are up and we know that, so people have been complaining about the idea that the ticket prices are something that shocked them. And you got to think about this.

If you have pre-check or you have Delta ID, you need to know where those lanes are. A lot of people coming back to the airport for the first time, guys, excited about traveling, but forgetting about this thing back there, which is, can always kind of short circuit your travel if you don't plan ahead.

KEILAR: Yes.

YOUNG: Back to you.

KEILAR: Excited about traveling, excited about that sweet music that is playing behind Ryan.

YOUNG: Yes, that's right.

KEILAR: It's so loud.

YOUNG: Yes.

SANCHEZ: He's been hearing it all the day. I don't know if he enjoys those (INAUDIBLE) ...

KEILAR: I know. And he's like not going crazy, strangely enough.

Okay, Pete. You're there. Road trips are expected to set a record this holiday weekend. What are we expecting?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN TRANSPORTATION CORRESPONDENT: It's starting to get slower, Brianna, here, just in front of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge on the western shore near Annapolis. This is the gateway to Ocean City, Maryland to the Delaware beaches. They're expecting 330,000 cars to travel over the bridge between now and Monday. 38.4 million people expected by AAA to drive 50 miles or more. That's a 4 percent increase over last year, a 2 percent increase over 2019 before the pandemic, even bigger than 2005 after the post 9/11 travel slump, the biggest since 2000. Think NSYNC, but you couldn't even play it on your iPod because it wasn't going to be released for another year.

You know, think about this, there's a lot of grim economic news lately, but AAA says people simply want to travel. They prioritize spending on travel. Here is AAA's Aixa Diaz. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AIXA DIAZ, AAA: That would be the biggest number that we've seen for road travel for Memorial Day weekend ever. We just keep seeing this increase. I don't know when the pullback's finally going to start happening, but we haven't seen it yet.

Traffic going to be 90 percent higher than usual in some spots today. We are in the worst of it right now. The advice from AAA, wait until after 7- or 8 PM tonight. Tomorrow, it'll be worst in the middle of the day, between about 1- and 5 PM.

If you're going to drive today, know that this evening is going to be really hard, especially when you consider the fact that it's still a workday for a lot of folks. A lot of people will be still commuting on top of the holiday traffic. It's going to be especially tough today.

KEILAR: Very important to remember. Ryan, Pete, thank you so much for the reports, for the music, for the good cheer. We appreciate it.

YOUNG: Thank you.

KEILAR: And this just in, one of the five Americans who was detained in Turks and Caicos on those ammunition charges, they found ammunition in their luggage, is on his way home. This picture of Bryan Hagerich boarding a plane was just shared by a group that works to get wrongfully detained Americans released.

SANCHEZ: Earlier today, he was given a one-year suspended sentence. That means he doesn't actually have to serve any time, though he did have to pay a $6,700 fine before other Americans facing ammunition charges have been released on bail while they await court dates.

One of them, Michael Lee Evans, has been allowed a return to the United States for medical reasons. They all say they inadvertently brought ammo into the territory, a story we will continue to keep an eye on.

Coming up, it could trigger a seismic shift in the multibillion-dollar world of college sports. Ahead, we're talking with a lawyer whose lawsuit could mean schools finally have to pay their student athletes directly.

Plus, Hollywood stars like Scarlett Johansson aren't the only ones worried about AI copying their likeness.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL LEHRMAN, VOICE ACTOR: My voice are saying these words that I did not agree to say. I gave no consent ...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: How a pair of voice actors are now fighting back.

KEILAR: And it was a moment that captured the world's attention following Hurricane Katrina, the man leading the response holding infant twins. How the twins are now honoring him nearly two decades later.

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[15:18:36]

SANCHEZ: College athletes could soon have one major thing in common with the pros, getting paid for their work. After years of lawsuits, the NCAA and the five major conferences have reached a landmark settlement that will let schools pay their student athletes directly. According to multiple reports, any Division I athlete since 2016 could get a share of more than $2.7 billion in damages. The parties have also agreed to a plan allowing each school to share up to $20 million per year with its players.

A judge still needs to sign off on all of this. And there are a lot of unanswered questions about how this is going to look and be executed moving forward.

With us now is George Zelcs. He's an attorney representing the plaintiff in one of the lawsuits against the NCAA.

George, thanks so much for being with us.

What's your reaction to this settlement? How significant do you think this is?

GEORGE ZELCS, ATTORNEY, REPRESENTING PLAINTIFF IN FONTENOT V. NCAA: Certainly it's a starting place. It's a significant amount of money. It's the result of litigation that's been going on for a number of years. We filed a case in November of last year that was the first one to actually seek a percentage of revenues representing fair play - fair pay for athletes for the services that they've provided. And I think this settlement is triggered in part by the filing of that case and is a good first step.

[15:20:02]

SANCHEZ: Why do you think the NCAA chose to settle instead of letting this play out in court?

ZELCS: Based upon the results that they've seen in prior cases, I thi0nk they properly sensed that the last place they wanted to be trying to enforce limitations on pay for athlete workers was in front of a jury of their peers. That's the last place the NCAA wants to deal with these issues.

Now, Judge Claudia Wilken still has to approve the settlement terms. That could take several months. I wonder what you anticipate this will look like once schools actually start paying.

ZELCS: It's tough to say. Keep in mind that the actual details of the proposed settlement have not been filed in court yet. So most of the information that we have in the Fontenot case, that's the case pending in Colorado that seeks a percentage of all revenues for student athletes, is not clear to us. But we'll review whatever the proposal is in detail and see if there are additional suggestions we can make or whether elements of it may be - need to be renegotiated or even if people need to opt out, but it's certainly a good first step.

SANCHEZ: Sure. It's probably too early to say exactly how it's going to be executed, I imagine. But one of the big questions is how Title IX is going to be addressed because in the settlement terms, it's not. The NCAA president suggested that the federal law about Title IX doesn't apply to monetary compensation. Obviously, an uneven split of revenue potentially could put schools at risk for a lawsuit, right? How do you imagine that's going to be addressed?

ZELCS: There are all sorts of issues that the settlement does not seem to address. And in the view of some, it simply replaces one unfair cap on compensation with another. So it's premature for us to be able to say until we see the terms as to how Title IX or some of these other issues are going to be resolved.

SANCHEZ: What do you say to the argument that Congress should intervene and pass legislation to essentially wipe out this settlement and compensation for college athletes?

ZELCS: I think the best resolution of issues like this is always a negotiated resolution between the parties. And I think that's where it's ultimately going to get done. The odds that Congress has the will and the ability in the near future to resolve an issue like this legislatively doesn't make sense to me.

SANCHEZ: They can't really agree on much, can they?

George Zelcs, thanks so much for sharing your perspective with us.

ZELCS: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Of course.

Ahead, a pair of voice actors have been shocked to learn that AI versions of them online have appeared years after doing a gig for academic research, why they believe their voices were stolen?

And how a teenager who passed away nearly 20 years ago is set to become the Catholic Church's first millennial saint.

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[15:27:51]

KEILAR: Two voice actors say they're the victims of AI and they're suing an artificial intelligence firm called Lovo for allegedly creating clones of their voices without permission.

SANCHEZ: The voice actors are now seeking more than $5 million in damages. CNN's Clare Duffy sat down with the two actors.

And Clare, they were shocked to hear their own voices in clips online. CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Yes. This all started back in 2019 and 2020 when they say they were hired to do jobs. They didn't know exactly who the clients were, but they said they repeatedly asked how these voice samples would be used and they were told they would be used for internal purposes only, for academic research and test radio ads.

But years later, they said they made what was for them a shocking discovery. First, Paul came across a YouTube video that sounded like it was narrated by his voice, but it was not words that he had ever said. Then they were listening to a podcast about the dangers of AI, where the host was interviewing a chatbot, but it sounded like Paul.

The couple say they eventually traced these and other samples that they say sounded like their voice back to this company, Lovo, which markets AI-generated voices for marketing purposes or online trainings. And they're now suing Lovo, as you said, for allegedly stealing their voices and selling AI-generated clones.

When I sat down with them this week, we had Paul compare his voice to the AI voice and I think we have a clip that we could show you of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEHRMAN: Introducing Genny by Lovo, artificial intelligence that makes it fast and easy to create voiceovers for marketing, e-learning, documentaries, animations, games, audio books and more.

AI NARRATOR: Introducing Genny by Lovo, artificial intelligence that makes it fast and easy to create voiceovers for marketing, e-learning, documentaries, animations, games, audio books and more. Need to create high quality voiceover content ...

DUFFY: We just listened to what you say is the AI clone of your voice. What's your reaction to that?

LEHRMAN: This - it's still infuriating, not just because of the implications for my career, but because of the violation of me - of my individuality, my likeness, my voice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:30:00]

DUFFY: Now, Boris and Brianna, I should say that Lovo did not respond to our requests for comment.