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Judge Rips Up Schedule In Mar-a-Lago Case; Polls: Support For RFK Jr Slipping But Still Significant; Industry Insiders Warn AI Firms Need Better Oversight; U.N. Chief: World Is On "Highway To Climate Hell". Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired June 05, 2024 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

JEFF SWARTZ, FORMER FLORIDA JUDGE: I just can't come up with a reason. If she is that ignorant of how to handle these matters, then she doesn't belong on the bench.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Well --

SWARTZ: If she's doing it because she's lazy, then she doesn't belong on the bench.

KEILAR: Well --

SWARTZ: If she's doing it just to delay, then she doesn't belong on the bench.

KEILAR: OK, so what would make you say that? What would be a more normal way to handle this?

SWARTZ: Well, this case has basically been mishandled by her from the beginning. Allowing Mr. Trump to file an action in civil court regarding a search warrant, which is criminal in nature and gets handled during the course of criminal litigation, was the first mistake.

Twice she has been reversed by the 11th Circuit. And she's been chastised by them for, in essence, making decisions which are completely against the law, completely against pending -- pending precedent.

So it really comes down to the point that I can come up with no other reason for this, than she is doing this to purposely delay Mr. Trump's litigation.

KEILAR: There are many defendants who have legally challenged authority of special counsels. For example, Hunter Biden lost a challenge to the authority of special counsel, David Weiss.

Do you see this as different?

SWARTZ: It is not different. And it goes all the way back actually to Paul Manafort when he was charged and he challenged a special prosecutor's statute and the application of a special prosecutor. No court has ever granted this motion. And that includes multiple districts and a couple of circuits.

So where she thinks that she is better than ever everybody else and knows this better than anybody else that she needs the help of Ed Meese, of all people, to tell her what to do and allow someone who is not even involved in the litigation, has no dog in the fight whatsoever to be involved in the litigation itself is completely unheard of.

She is doing things just to do them. And she won't rule because she knows if there's an appeal on anything she rules on, the 11th Circuit will now have the ability on their own to remove her from this litigation.

KEILAR: If Cannon rules for Trump when it comes to the authority of the special counsel, I mean, is the case just done?

SWARTZ: The case actually will require that the special prosecutor take an appeal, which will take things up to the 11th Circuit and they will rule, as every other court has ruled, and they will chastise her.

And I believe that they would have no choice after the three rulings they've had to rule on that the chief judge of that circuit would have no choice but to, sua sponte, remove her from this litigation.

This is one of the reasons why she will not rule on anything because she knows this could happen. That's the one intelligent thing that she's doing right now.

And I'm going to use the words of -- of the minority leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, when he was describing another judge candidate just recently, and said that that judge had distinguished herself with sheer incompetence.

And I think I would use the same words to describe Judge Cannon.

KEILAR: Judge Jeff Swartz, thank you so much for being with us.

SWARTZ: Have a great day.

KEILAR: All right. You, too.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Now to the race for the White House where a controversial candidate could still tip the election one way or the other.

KEILAR: Cue CNN senior data reporter, Harry Enten.

Harry, of course, we are talking about RFK Jr. So tell us your reporting here.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Yes, I hope sheer competence does not -- it's not a phrase that's used to describe me.

Anyway -- (LAUGHTER)

ENTEN: OK, let's take a look at RJK Jr and his support. Right? And so I want to put this in a historical context. Third-party or Independent candidates polling at 10 percent in June of election year. RFK Jr is in a class that very few other Independent or third-party candidates have been a part of.

You might remember Ross Perot in 1996. Ross Perot in '92. John Anderson in 1980, and George Wallace and 1,968.

So RFK Jr is doing something right now that no third part or Independent candidate has done since I was, well, let's just say less than 10-years-old. So he's doing something that's quite unusual.

But as you pointed out, there has been a little bit of a fad in RFK Jr's support. So if we look back to late 2023, what we see here, 17 percent of Quinnipiac University, 15 percent on FOX News, 17 percent on Reuters/Ipsos.

Look, RFK Jr is still pulling in the double digits. But he's at 14 percent, a three-point drop. A four-point drop, FOX News. And you see a seven-point drop in the Reuters/Ipsos poll.

[14:35:01]

So RFK Jr still in an elite company when it comes to third party or Independent candidates, but it does seem, at this point, he's seeing a bit of a fade, which is something that we often can see with third- party candidates as the election wears on and we get closer to Election Day.

SANCHEZ: Harry, what are the number saying about one reason why he might be fading?

ENTEN: Yes, one reason he might be fading is that, A, that voters are saying, I've got to go for a major party candidate. I don't want to waste my vote, as a lot out of folks might potentially argue.

Or is it that RFK Jr is himself becoming less popular? And it does seem like RFK Jr might be becoming a little less popular.

So these are views of RFK. And take a look here. The favorite rating, in November of 2023, 31 percent. Look at the favorable rating now, 25 percent according to Quinnipiac University.

How about the unfavorable rating? That has gone up 36 percent in November of 2023. And now what we're looking at is a 43 percent unfavorable rating.

So this net favorability rating is now at -18 points. It was just at five points. That's an interesting looking five. It's now -18. So it does seem that RFK Jr is becoming less popular.

But who is he becoming less popular among? And who does he seem like he's hurting most in the presidential race? Joe Biden and the Democrats, or Donald Trump and the Republicans?

It's actually Republicans who seem to be more on the RFK Jr bandwagon. In fact, if you were to look at the last Quinnipiac University poll, what you saw was that RFK Jr was, if you were looking at that pool, you would see that by 14 points, they preferred Donald Trump to Joe Biden.

And that's why this slide is so important. What you see here is a GOP views of RFK Jr back in November of 2023, 41 percent favorable rating. Now, just 31, the unfavorable rating goes from 22 to 30.

It seems like Donald Trump's attacks on RFK Jr are working.

KEILAR: What a competent live shot --

SANCHEZ: I was going to say, Harry Enten just oozes --

KEILAR: Sheer competence.

SANCHEZ: -- excretes competence.

(LAUGHTER)

SANCHEZ: Harry Enten, thank you so much, man. Appreciate it.

ENTEN: Thank you. From one competent person to two competent people.

KEILAR: Thank you, sir.

SANCHEZ: Thank you.

Up next, the call is coming from inside the House. OpenAI insiders, the company behind ChatGPT, have released a letter warning of, quote, "serious risk" with AI. We'll explain in just moments.

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[14:42:15]

SANCHEZ: Now a major warning to tell you about from -- regarding artificial intelligence from the people that are actually working on it.

Current and former industry workers just released a letter urging better oversight of advanced AI companies. pointing out they're at risk of, quote, "the loss of control of autonomous AI systems potentially resulting in human extinction."

KEILAR: Yes, this letter specifically demands that firms not retaliate against workers who raised red flags. That seems pretty important.

And it's signed by 13 insiders, most former employees of open AI, which created ChatGPT. Four signers who are anonymous currently work there. That's really interesting.

CNN business writer, Clare Duffy, is here with us. All right, Clare, tell us about the demands that these insiders want

and what open AI is saying about it.

CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Yes, so these insiders are concerned about AI risks that are already happening. Things like AI systems impersonating real people, creating misinformation.

As well as more speculative concerns like artificial general intelligence. These systems that could one day become as smart as if not smarter than humans.

These employees say they don't believe that major AI firms can be trusted to voluntarily share information about these -- these risks.

And they want to ensure that, in the absence of regulation because there's still are so few guardrails for these companies, that employees are free to speak up when they have safety concerns and bring those not only to the companies, but also to regulators and to the public.

I want to read to you, a line from this letter that I think really gets at the heart of the concerns here. These employees say, "Ordinary whistleblower protections are insufficient because they focus on illegal activity. Whereas many of the risks we are concerned about are not yet regulated."

So they're asking for a series of commitments from these companies. They're asking for things like the companies not to enforce non- disparagement agreements.

They also want the ability to make anonymous complaints to board members and regulators.

And look, we should say, too, that OpenAI has in some ways kind of agreed with the fact that there is a need for this public debate over safety.

A spokesperson told us yesterday, in response to this letter, that, "the company is proud of its track record providing the most capable and safest AI systems and believe in our scientific approach to addressing risk.

"We agree that rigorous debate is crucial given the significance of this technology and will continue to gage with governments, civil society, and other communities around the world."

But look, I mean, we'll have to wait and see if the company does indeed agree to some of these demands in this letter.

But I want to point out this is still a voluntary commitment. There's still a need for regulation in this AI space.

SANCHEZ: Yes, one of many calls that we've seen for regulation, but yet not much coming from Congress.

Clare Duffy, thank you so much. [14:45:02]

KEILAR: And still to come, why the U.N. secretary-general says when it comes to climate change, were not the dinosaurs. We are the meteor.

You're watching CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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[14:50:04]

KEILAR: Experts have cautioned about a dangerously hot summer. And now the U.N. secretary-general is underscoring those warnings even further, saying that the world is on a "highway to climate hell."

SANCHEZ: Now the planet just hit a shocking milestone, 12 straight months of record heat, unprecedented heat. Global leaders are urged to heed a very dire warning.

And CNN chief climate correspondent, Bill Weir, joins us now to break down that urgent message, Bill?

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Boris. This is 12 straight record months of record heat for those months. We just got through the hottest May ever. And then there was the March before it.

All of these months is just leading up to one giant red flag at that the violent weather that we're experiencing right now could be just the opening attractions.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WEIR (voice-over): Across the American heartland came a conga line of devastating tornadoes, deadly flooding from Brazil to Germany.

A drought that has millions rationing water in Mexico City, and temperatures close to 122 degrees in India, enough to kill at least 33 poll workers on the same day in recent national elections.

All are snapshots from a planet overheated by human activity, where monthly heat records have been shattered for the last 12 months in a row.

(on camera): As somebody who has been studying sort of with intimate knowledge, the climate crisis all these years, what do you make of what's happening around the world these days?

KIM COBB, DIRECTOR OF INSTITUTE FOR ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY, BROWN UNIVERSITY: I mean, Bill, this is just a dizzying rate of change that we're experiencing right now. But in the near future, 2023 will register as a normal year.

Whereas, in fact, if you look at those graphs, all you can see is a vertical line shooting upward from the very recent warmest years on record. So, really, just a record smashing year in 2023. ANTONIO GUTERRES, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: Let me be very clear again. The phase-out of fossil fuels is essential and inevitable. No amount of spin or scare tactics will change that. Let's hope it doesn't come too late.

WEIR (voice-over): While the head of the United Nations has been railing against polluters and petrol states for years, he is using this report to plead with world leaders to cut dirty fuels faster than ever.

To kick in more for unfair loss and damage in developing countries, and to ban all advertising from oil, gas and coal companies.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you could see the inside of your engine --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We at Chevron believe that nothing is more precious than life.

WEIR (on camera): What do you make of the secretary-general's decision to really take new steps, to call for an end to fossil fuel advertising on television and radio. To treat those ads the way you would for tobacco products.

COBB: Any policies that we can introduce at national level or even international agreements to actually change the way we rely on fossil fuels are important.

So, these -- these actions, as you say, to treat fossil fuel adverts as if it would be, you know, we treat banning conversations around tobacco or at least warning signs. If you do smoke, these are the

consequences.

We need to get, I think, more savvy to do that around greenhouse gas emissions, as well.

WEIR (voice-over): To avoid the worst, scientists say global emissions must fall nine percent a year until 2030.

And while they still went up last year, it was only by one percent, thanks to a boom in clean wind and sun power, a sign that humanity could finally be on the verge of bending the carbon curve.

COBB: Yes, one percent is in the wrong direction, but it's getting close to zero, and then it can start going into the negative territory.

So, in fact, we are predicted to have peak fossil fuel emissions within the next year or two, which is something I frankly never saw coming even five years ago.

So, that's real progress, and I think people need to really appreciate that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WIER (on camera): And now how fast the transition happens really comes down to the fight between vested fossil fuel interests.

The secretary-general call them the godfathers of the climate crisis, driving us down a highway to hell at full blast with only profits in mind, calling for subsidies billions of dollars since subsidies they enjoy now to be shifted to energy companies that don't make carbon Godzilla bigger by the day.

So it's hopeful, guys, that we can bend that carbon curve within the next couple of years. But every 100th of a degree matters in saving entire ecosystems and the urgency is not near enough what it should be globally.

[14:55:02]

SANCHEZ: Yes, the planet at a precarious point and not everyone is on the same page.

Bill Weir, thanks so much for the report.

We're following Hunter Biden's federal trial on gun charges. When we come back, what his ex-wife and former girlfriend are telling jurors about his past drug use.

Another hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL coming up after a short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

Hunter Biden's federal gun trial, getting even more personal.