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GOP Rep. Gonzales Says He Will Not Resign Despite Allegations; AI Giant Anthropic's Advances Put Business World, Military on Edge; Judge Denies Bid to Remove Prosecutors in Charlie Kirk Shooting Case; Trump Speaks to Reporters Ahead of State of Union Address. Aired 2:30- 3p ET

Aired February 24, 2026 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Talk to you now just a few minutes ago. Hurried us along to even be as close as we were just a block over. So it does show you that there is even with a code red lifted a lot of uncertainty as to what the next steps are going to be here and what really, they can do as far as sustaining any sense of true security?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Yes, a lot of questions for today, a lot of questions for the future. David Culver, thank you so much. Live for us from Guadalajara.

Still to come, a Republican congressman facing calls to resign and he's now speaking to CNN about his plans. We'll have that next.

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[14:35:00]

KEILAR: Just into CNN, the Republican House member facing calls to resign has just spoken to our Manu Raju.

ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: Congressman Tony Gonzalez, who's facing a primary next week, is accused of having an affair with a staffer who died by suicide last year. Manu Raju, our chief congressional correspondent, joins us now live from Capitol Hill. So, Manu, what did you hear from the congressman?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, he's defiant in the face of calls that he should resign his seat amid this developing scandal that is now threatening his political career and could imperil Speaker Mike Johnson's already razor-thin Republican majority. I just caught up with Tony Gonzalez, and I asked him, will he resign? He made clear that he is not going to resign.

And I also asked him about these allegations that he did carry out an extramarital affair with a staffer two years ago. The staffer later committed suicide. Since then, text messages have been revealed that suggest that he had some very lewd exchanges with this staffer.

I asked him about the text and if he was having an affair, and he would not comment about those allegations. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAJU: No you're not. What are those text messages correct? Are they accurate?

REP. TONY GONZALES (R-TX): I am not going to resign. I work every day. I work every day for the people of Texas.

RAJU: Are those text messages, are they accurate? Are those real text messages?

GONZALES: I am not going to resign. I work every day for the people of Texas.

RAJU: Did you carry it --

GONZALES: And there will be an opportunity for all the details and facts to come out. What you've seen is not all the facts.

RAJU: Did you have an extramarital affair with a staffer?

GONZALES: What you've seen is not all the facts and there will be an ample time for all of that to come out.

RAJU: What are the facts? Tell it. Can you address it right now? Your constituents want to know.

GONZALES: My constituents are not here in D.C. My constituents are back home in Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RAJU (on camera): So not saying yes or no about whether the allegations are in fact true, but they have drawn enormous concerns within the House GOP and have gotten the attention of the Speaker himself. Mike Johnson does plan to meet with Tony Gonzales this afternoon, although Johnson is not going as far as some of his more conservative colleagues have gone in calling for Gonzales to resign. If Gonzales were to resign, that would tighten this Republican majority even further, as Mike Johnson right now can only afford to lose one Republican vote on any party-line vote.

Johnson said there needs to be an investigation first before he will go as far as calling on a member to resign. He said he needs to see the results of an investigation that is happening here in the House and as well in Texas. And in Texas next week, March 3rd, is when he is up for reelection in a contested primary race against a conservative challenger named Brandon Herrera, who has the support of some of the more far-right members of the House GOP.

But at the moment, the Speaker himself not withdrawing his support from Gonzales.

HILL: All right, Manu, appreciate that update. Thank you. Let's get you caught up in some of the other headlines we are watching

at this hour. The Northeast still reeling from that historic bomb cyclone blizzard that brought hurricane-force winds along with it. Some one to -- more than three feet of snow across multiple states. Authorities say more than 300,000 homes and businesses remain without power.

And get this, there is another snow system expected in the coming hours. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. That forecast shows most places, though, could get fewer than two inches.

The U.S. ambassador to France blocked from meeting directly with French government ministries following comments that he made after the death of a far-right political activist. Ambassador Charles Kushner, who is the father to Jared Kushner, blamed the activist's death on groups tied to left-wing extremists. The foreign ministry summoned Kushner to explain his comments but says he didn't show up.

And that prompted the decision to block him from meetings until further notice. The foreign minister says France's relationship with the U.S. will not be effective, but notes that it still wants an explanation.

KEILAR: And drugmaker Novo Nordisk says it is lowering the list prices for its popular weight loss drug Wegovy and also for its diabetes medicines Ozempic and Rybelsus. The list prices for each drug currently sits at more than $1,000. But starting next year, the company says those costs will drop by up to 50 percent.

The move is the latest in the GLP-1 price wars with the company's rival, Eli Lilly.

Still to come, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth meets with the head of Anthropic about the use of AI in military operations. What's at risk if America falls behind in the AI arms race?

[14:40:00]

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KEILAR: The CEO of one of the biggest AI companies in the world is meeting with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth today as the Pentagon threatens to essentially blacklist that company, Anthropic, from lucrative government contracts if the AI company doesn't lift its restrictions on how the military can use its technology. The Pentagon has a $200 million contract with Anthropic, and a source tells CNN that the company has concerns over two issues, AI-controlled weapons and mass domestic surveillance of American citizens.

Let's talk about this with Jacob Ward. He is a technology journalist and host of The Root Current podcast. He's also the author of the book "The Loop, How AI is Creating a World Without Choices and How to Fight Back." Jacob, the Pentagon here, wants this company, Anthropic, to lift its restrictions for how the military uses its model.

[14:45:00] They want it to be able to be used for what they're calling all lawful use. What are Anthropic's concerns with that?

JACOB WARD, TECHNOLOGY JOURNALIST, HOST OF THE ROOT CURRENT PODCAST: Well, Brianna, this is a very unusual situation in my experience, because typically when government use of technology begins, that means that new restraints are going to be put on to that company. The companies typically traditionally just pull toward greater and greater capabilities. And the assumption is that the government and democracy will somehow dampen down the dangers here.

What Anthropic is discovering is that they don't live in that world anymore. Suddenly, they're dealing with a defense department that wants to be able to use their technology for whatever they want. And Dario Amodei, the CEO of this company, who has written very openly about his concerns that his technology and the industry in general could be misused for all sorts of authoritarian purposes, is specifically objecting to the possibility that we could be using this technology to surveil Americans en masse or to create weapons that fire themselves and kill people without human intervention.

Supposedly, the trigger here for him in part was discovering that his work was in fact used in the capture of Nicolas Maduro through Anthropic's partner, Palantir, in a way that he didn't know anything about. He evidently found out about that the same way we all did. And it is this effort inside a company that is making this world-changing technology to try to impose some restrictions on that technology that now has him running afoul of the Pentagon.

KEILAR: Can you talk a little bit about how AI maybe has been used for, say, controlling weapons and mass surveillance and what concerns that usage has raised?

WARD: Well, according to the reports we're seeing, Anthropic's technology, which is the only company, by the way, that is allowed inside the most classified systems in the military, is being used for all sorts of things that it's supposedly great at, including things like cyber offense. You need to be able to exchange digital fire with an opponent in nanosecond timescales that human beings could never be part of. That's an incredible use of it.

But at the same time, what AI makes possible is things like, you know, there's technology that we've seen, research that we've seen, that could turn a Wi-Fi router into essentially a radar inside a home that could tell you exactly where somebody was at any given time. It is the pattern recognition power of AI, something that a team of people, you know, in a vast building or a bunch of people with headphones on in a van could never imagine. As a surveillance technology, it is incredible.

In fact, it's so incredible that Dario Amodei actually wrote recently, he said here, "Powerful AI looking across billions of conversations from millions of people could gauge public sentiment, detect pockets of disloyalty forming and stamp them out before they grow." That's the kind of concern that Amodei has here. KEILAR: Unbelievable. I mean when you talk about the possibilities here. So the way this threat would kind of operate is Axios is reporting that the Pentagon would deem -- that they're threatening to deem Anthropic a what's called a supply chain risk.

That would essentially blacklist Anthropic from having government contracts. It's an approach that's usually taken with companies that are extensions of foreign adversaries like China or Russia. If Anthropic doesn't play ball here, because as you say, they're unique in that they kind of plug into this top secret nature of the U.S. systems.

Is there another company that can provide those same AI services and would be willing to capitulate on these potential human rights and civil liberties concerns?

WARD: Well, according to the reporting that we're seeing right now, Anthropic is the one that they want to use. One defense official told Axios that the reason we are talking to these guys is because they are so good. That is the problem that the Defense Department is facing.

But while you say, you know, Anthropic is unique, it's not entirely unique, and it has some very close competitors. You have Google, you have Meta, and you have XAI, which is Elon Musk's company. All of them are in line for this possible contract.

And at least one of them, and according to Axios, that's XAI, that's Elon Musk's company, has said they can use it without any safeguards whatsoever. They won't be bringing any of this internal hand-wringing to it. They'll say, you go ahead and use it in any way you want.

And it may be that that could cost Anthropic this $200 million contract, unless the Defense Department figures out that that technology is irreplaceable, truly. But at this point, the heat is on in terms of the competition technologically. And so it seems to me that this is a real pickle that Dario Amodei has gotten into.

You are worried about the use of your technology. You're trying to impose what you consider some ethical constraints on it. And that suddenly could cost you a $200 million contract.

This is that thing where, you know, the rubber meets the road when you try to be an ethical business leader. You know, in the end, we're talking here just broadly here, Brianna, about like, who controls AI and under what terms are they going to? All of these stories are basically one big story about the future of this technology and who is going to control it.

[14:50:00]

And I think what could happen next is you could see somebody with fewer scruples, fewer ethical qualms stepping up to the mic and saying, I'm going to go ahead and give you whatever you need here.

KEILAR: Yes, that does seem like it would be inevitable. Certainly at some point, if not this point. Jacob Ward, great to speak with you. Thank you for breaking that down.

A key ruling today in the shooting death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. A Utah judge has just rejected an effort to remove the prosecution team.

HILL: So attorneys for the defendant, Tyler Robinson, argued that one of the prosecutors who was in the case has a conflict of interest, because his daughter was at Kirk's event on the campus of Utah Valley University when that shooting happened. Robinson has not entered a plea at this point.

CNN national correspondent Nick Watt is following these developments. So how did this go down in court today? What else happened there, Nick?

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen, this could have at least temporarily derailed this very high profile case. But as you say, the judge ruled there was no conflict of interest within the prosecutor's office and therefore that prosecutor's office will continue to seek the death penalty against Tyler Robinson, accused of shooting Charlie Kirk.

Now, Robinson himself wasn't in court. He joined by just an audio link from the prison. He was asked by the judge, "Can you hear everything OK?" And the only words we heard from Tyler Robinson were, "Yes, I can, your honor."

Now, the issue, as you say, was one of the main prosecutor's daughters was in that crowd of about 3,000 people. And so Robinson's defense team said, listen, this is clearly a conflict of interest. There is emotion that may have driven them to seek the death penalty in this case because this young woman was there.

The judge clearly did not agree. It was pointed out that she didn't actually see the shot hit Charlie Kirk, that she was not in the, quote, zone of danger. And she had suffered no trauma, ongoing trauma as a result of being there.

So the case continues.

KEILAR: And what happens next here?

WATT: Well, we've got a sort of housekeeping hearing next month. Then in April, they will meet to decide whether TV cameras are going to be allowed to cover this trial. The defense do not want cameras in there.

The prosecution and Erika Kirk, Charlie Kirk's widow, do want cameras in there. They want this to be in public. Then May 18th, we're going to have a preliminary hearing.

And maybe then or a little while after that, we will finally get an arraignment. And Tyler Robinson will eventually finally put in a plea -- guys.

HILL: All right, more to come. Nick, really appreciate the update. Thank you. WATT: Thanks.

HILL: Still ahead this hour, America's newest golden boys will be presidential guests at the State of the Union. Why are some other Team USA heroes, though, not making the trip to D.C.?

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KEILAR: President Trump's State of the Union address is just hours away. And this afternoon, he spoke with reporters about his speech and what he hopes to tell the American people.

HILL: CNN's Jake Tapper was part of that conversation. Jake joins us now. So, Jake, what did you hear from the president this afternoon?

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: So we had a lunch with the president. It was me and Dana Bash from CNN and a whole other bunch of anchors and reporters from a whole bunch of outlets. And we talked about a lot of things and all of it was off the record.

But at the end, we did ask him if there were some things we could say when it comes to the economy, which is, of course, top of mind for most voters. The president said quote, "The country is about to have the best three years economically in the nation's history, and it's already started." That's a quote from the president.

And then on background, some information about what he's going to say. He's going to address this evening some advocacy for some tax cuts in a different form, both corporate and personal, but mainly personal. And there are also going to be a few other economic announcements pushing forward.

On the matter of Iran and the showdown with Iran. And the push by the United States for Iran to enter into an agreement to not build a nuclear weapons program or to build a nuclear weapon. The president said quote, "Iran wants to make a deal more than I do, but they just won't say the secret phrase. We won't build nuclear weapons."

And then also this evening, we're told that the president is going to formally announce what's called a rate payer protection plan. It's an agreement with a bunch of artificial intelligence or AI firms and tech firms that when they build these data centers that consume so much energy and electricity from local communities that they are going to commit to, they will pay for the electricity. So that's what we were able to get on the record.

It was a very expansive conversation about a whole number of topics. But that's what we were allowed to tell you.

KEILAR: And OK, so those are the things that you are allowed to tell us. Jake, talk to us a little bit about the task at hand that the president has, because it is a really big one as people are looking for expectations on the economy. TAPPER: Yes, I mean, the president, this is not talking out of school. These are things he has said on camera in weeks and months past. The president feels as though the economy is doing very well.

And obviously, there are a lot of people in both the Democratic and Republican Party who think he needs to do more to explain his empathy for the American people who are still suffering from inflation and from rising grocery prices and the rest. And the president has made it very clear in the past that he thinks the economy is doing very well. And I think you're going to see a lot of forward looking ...

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