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DOGE Using AI to Downsize the Federal Government; RFK Jr. Recommends Vaccines for Unvaccinated Communities; 30 Officers Charged with Running Gladiator Fights in Juvenile Hall. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired March 04, 2025 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

FRANK LUNTZ, POLLSTER AND COMMUNICATION STRATEGIST: ... When they tried to pin the Republicans for the behavior of corporate America. If you look like you're doing it for political reasons, they will reject you. If you look like you're doing it for the genuine health and safety and well-being of the American people, they will embrace you.

These Democrats proudly proclaim that they're the resistance. They're not helping their party. In fact, they're helping their party fail. They're causing the party to focus on the wrong issues, in the wrong language, in the wrong way.

I know the new senator from Michigan, Elissa Slotkin, she's not one of those Democrats. And so I'm going to be listening to her language, her messaging at the end of the State of the Union, because that will tell me whether Democrats really not just understand but can take advantage of this opportunity that the Trump administration has left them.

I want to emphasize, his agenda is supported by a majority of the public. It's only in how it's being executed that the American people are beginning to say enough already.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Yes, but that in itself, very significant. Frank, thank you so much. Really appreciate you.

LUNTZ: Thank you, appreciate it.

KEILAR: Still ahead, reports of Elon Musk and DOGE using artificial intelligence to help guide massive cost-cutting measures, how this could lead to security breaches and even biased firing.

[15:35:00]

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KEILAR: There's growing concern after reports that Elon Musk's DOGE team is using artificial intelligence to figure out where to cut costs within the federal government. Reports say AI is being used to determine what roles or projects to eliminate. The tactic is worrying AI experts who are afraid bias could factor into who loses a job or that AI could actually invite security breaches.

CNN business writer Clare Duffy is with us now. Clare, what more can you tell us about these reports?

CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Yes, Brianna, we have seen a number of these reports that suggest that DOGE is either considering or is actually using artificial intelligence to guide what programs, what staff it's cutting. Just yesterday, Democracy Forward, a left-leaning non-profit, said it is initiating an investigation into DOGE's use of AI. And so I wanted to hear from experts what they thought about this kind of use of artificial intelligence.

Because of course, AI can have efficiency benefits. It can process large amounts of data very quickly. But experts also said there are serious risks here in part because of the speed and scale at which AI can make things happen.

We know that AI systems can be biased. That could affect who loses jobs. For example, Wired reported that DOGE was considering using AI to evaluate those e-mail responses, asking federal workers to send five bullet points about what they'd accomplished.

Musk pushed back on that. But one expert I spoke with said that if AI is used in that way, you could, for example, have a very talented essential government worker for whom English is not their first language. And just because of that, their e-mail could be ranked lower by an AI system.

There are also privacy data security concerns when it comes to the use of AI systems if they're not used correctly. And really the big question here is how much human oversight is there of any AI use? Are humans thinking critically about what kinds of questions to ask these systems? And how are they evaluating the outputs of them?

I spoke with Amanda Renteria. She's the CEO of Code for America, which is a non-profit that works with government agencies to implement new technology.

And she said you can't just train an AI tool in a system that you don't know very well because government systems are older. Oftentimes you can't just deploy a new technology on it and expect to get the right results. And I think that really is the core of the concern because as we know, many of these DOGE staffers are young and they're new to the government and they may not be totally familiar with the data that they're looking to analyze -- Brianna.

KEILAR: So how is DOGE responding to these concerns?

DUFFY: DOGE is not responding publicly to these concerns at this point. I put to the agency questions about what kinds of AI systems they're using it, either what they're using, what they're using them for, what does the human oversight look like, and the group did not respond -- Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, Clare Duffy, thank you so much.

Still ahead, the number of measles cases in Texas just went up again. What the CDC is now saying about the outbreak.

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KEILAR: We have an update on the measles outbreak in West Texas. Officials saying the number of confirmed cases is up to 159. That is 13 more confirmed cases since the last update on Friday.

And hospitalizations have also ticked up. This is happening as HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is working to appease both sides when it comes to getting vaccinated.

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ROBERT F. KENNEDY, JR., SECRETARY, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: Highly unvaccinated communities like the Mennonites, it's something that we recommend. But we also understand, you know, there's a lot of mistrust of the vaccines in that community. What we're trying to do is really to restore faith in government and to make sure that we are there to help them with their needs and not particularly to dictate what they ought to be doing.

Right now, we have -- we're delivering vitamin A. We are providing assistance if people need ambulance rides.

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KEILAR: CNN's Meg Tirrell is here to break down the numbers. What can you tell us, Meg?

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, we're up to 159 cases and 22 hospitalizations with that one death that was reported last week of a school-aged child. The first death from measles in this country in a decade. And you can see how quickly this outbreak in West Texas has been growing.

The first cases were really just reported at the end of January and now we're approaching 160 cases.

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And, of course, we have been hearing about other cases in other states in the United States. Now 11 states are reporting measles cases in 2025.

Now, Texas is by far the largest outbreak we are seeing in this country right now and it continues to grow. A lot of the cases that we are seeing in other states around the country are travel-related cases. So somebody went to another country and came back.

Oftentimes we don't hear about any other cases or not many other cases. And all of that, almost all of that, comes down to how vaccinated the people are who are around those cases. And so we're continuing to follow these closely.

But to give you some perspective on how 2025 looks compared with even just the previous two years in terms of measles cases, you can see we're already at more than 160 cases in the U.S. now and that number is actually even higher. That's based on CDC's last update from the end of last week. Compared with the entire year of 2024, 285 cases and 59 in 2023.

So this line is unfortunately looking a lot more vertical and the concern is that we will see more cases -- Brianna.

KEILAR: And we learned today the CDC is now on the ground in Texas helping with the outbreak. Can you tell us more about that?

TIRRELL: Yes, so we know that it's the Epidemic Intelligence Service. The CDC posted about this on X today. The state has to invite the CDC in to help and so now they've done that. They have boots on the ground.

The CDC's post said, you know, they're there for about one to three weeks to provide assistance. But that clip you heard from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that you played in your intro really spoke about kind of how he's talking about approaching this. While he did say that they are recommending vaccination for under-vaccinated communities and that can provide protection, he also said that they don't want to tell people what to do and he spent a lot of time talking about treatments for measles including vitamin A, cod liver oil, a steroid, an antibiotic, which could presumably help treat the pneumonia that we see sometimes in these severe measles cases.

But it's concerning to experts that they're not hearing a really wholehearted endorsement of vaccines, a recommendation to get vaccinated as the best way to prevent measles so that you don't need these treatments -- Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, Meg Tirrell, thank you so much.

Still ahead, Gladiator fights at a juvenile detention center in California. What we're learning is 30 correctional officers are now facing charges of abuse.

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KEILAR: Disturbing video prompting charges against 30 officers at a juvenile detention facility in Southern California. A grand jury indictment alleging the officers allowed and sometimes even encouraged so-called gladiator fights between juveniles in their care. Surveillance videos like this one showing the fights taking place. Officers standing by watching.

CNN's Natasha Chen is with us now from Los Angeles. Natasha, what do you see in that video and what more are you learning from this indictment?

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brianna, it's very disturbing. The indictment talks about 30 officers, like you said, allowing sometimes and encouraging, more than 70 fights to occur in the course of about six months in 2023 with more than 140 victims between the ages of 12 and 18.

Now this video we're showing you is from December of 2023 and what we're seeing in it is at least six young people beating up on a 17- year-old. You see some officers occasionally try and step in to break it up. Other officers just stand there on the side, sometimes even skirting aside to avoid being right in the middle of it.

Over the course of several minutes, we can also see other kids sitting there eating and they're not moving. Their body language indicates they're not phased at all that this is happening.

The indictment also singles out two probation officers who allegedly told staff ahead of time that these fights would happen. Do not write anything down about it. Do not say anything. The indictment also alleges that one of the officers told youths not to get treated by the nurse when sent to medical.

Here's Attorney General Rob Bonta talking about the serious nature of this.

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ROB BONTA, CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: As detention officers stand by watching, some officers are even seen laughing and shaking hands with the young people involved. Watching the video, the officers look more like referees or audience members at a prize fight, not adults charged with the care and supervision of young people.

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CHEN: This all happened at Los Padrinos, a facility that was actually ordered to be shut down last December by a state oversight board. But there's been a court process drawing out, delaying the closure of this place because there hasn't been a solid approved plan for where to put these more than 200 detainees.

There have been issues cited by that oversight board about not having enough staff, about there being unsafe conditions. Staff themselves have said that they do not feel safe going to work there. So it's just been very troubled, and now this is the latest in that saga -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes. All right, Natasha, thank you for the latest on that. We do appreciate it.

Now to some of the other headlines that we're watching this hour.

The Vatican now says the Pope's medical condition is stable and there have been no additional episodes of acute respiratory failure today. Francis has been in the hospital since February 14th with pneumonia, and doctors are giving him oxygen through a mask at night, saying this is being done to help him sleep easier. For now, the Vatican says the 88-year-old is, quote, not out of danger.

[15:55:47] Also, the head football coach at Apalachee High School in Georgia stepping down to address his mental health after that mass shooting last year at the school that killed two students and two teachers. Coach Mike Hancock cited his struggles with depression, anxiety, grief, and PTSD as reasons for his departure.

Hancock hopes his candor will encourage other coaches struggling with mental health to come forward and seek help.

And some new video at Miami International Airport shows police arresting a couple after they allegedly forced their way onto a restricted jet bridge and assaulted American Airlines staff. According to an arrest report, the two are accused of pushing agents after being denied boarding for their flight to Mexico because they were late.

The report also says one of them threw coffee at the staff. The couple is facing battery and trespassing charges.

Coming up, do you know what Pancake Day is?

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KEILAR: Well, in the U.S., there is Mardi Gras, and in the U.K., they have Shrove Tuesday, a.k.a. Pancake Day. You heard right.

[16:00:00]

Every year, pancake races held across the U.K. to mark the day before Lent. What exactly is a pancake race, you ask? Well, it's people racing, costumes optional, highly encouraged, though, while flipping hotcakes in a frying pan. And this year, there was someone dressed as an airplane, a crystal ball, what appears to be a construction worker. The first pancake race supposedly held back in 1445.

And "THE ARENA" with Kasie Hunt starts right now.

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