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Anthropic Rejects Pentagon's Ultimatum; Texas Senate Race Numbers; Eric Allison is Interviewed about Air Taxis. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired February 27, 2026 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

REP. ROBERT GARCIA (D-CA): Good morning.

Look, we've said always from day one that we want to talk to anyone, regardless of party, regardless of position, no matter how powerful or wealthy they are, around the Jeffrey Epstein case. And so, obviously, we have said that President Clinton is someone that spent time with Jeffrey Epstein. We know that. It's been well documented. Obviously, I agree with Chairman Comer, there's been -- there's no accusation here of wrongdoing. What we're trying to do is just gain information and understand what the relationship was like. If President Clinton knew or knows any information that could be helpful to our investigation.

So, there will be serious of questions from both Democrats and Republicans. It is important that we talk to everyone. And what I'm hopeful for is that today is actually a serious conversation and not what happened yesterday. I mean, yesterday, Secretary Clinton was being asked about UFOs and conspiracy theories around pizza-gate. We have a serious investigation that needs to have serious questions and answers. That's what I hope we can do today.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And there was a photo leaked from inside the deposition yesterday, which was apparently against the prearranged agreement with the Clintons. We're putting it up right now. Was there ever an apology from the chairman to the former secretary about this?

GARCIA: No, there was, but, look, it -- that is just not acceptable. Chairman Comer and Secretary Clinton's team set up a list of rules. One of Secretary Clinton's demands, as well as President Clinton, was to have the press and the public inside the deposition. They wanted it to be live so that people heard the unedited answers and questions. And when the Republican majority said no, that they weren't going to agree to that, then they agreed there would be no photos or anything else with a set of rules. They broke the rules. One of their members broke the rules immediately. And at that point, Secretary Clinton could have just left and not continued, and she graciously decided to continue. There was an apology, but that's also just not enough.

They should allow today, and we called of (ph) them yesterday, they should allow cameras, the press and the community inside the deposition. Democrats support that. And if they're not going to do that, they need to release the transcripts within 24 hours and the video. It's been now a day since Secretary Clinton testified.

BERMAN: Yes.

GARCIA: Where is the video transcript of that? They need to release it to the public immediately.

BERMAN: Congressman, our understanding is that the former secretary was asked about her feelings regarding Bill Clinton's relationship and friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, and also what she knew about the relationship between Jeffrey Epstein and Bill Clinton. But by that standard, Congressman, why wouldn't you also ask First Lady Melania Trump about what she knows or knew about the relationship between Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein?

GARCIA: Well, I think that's the question because right now the House Republicans have set a new precedent. And that new precedent now includes bringing in for depositions presidents, former presidents, and first ladies, and then asking those first ladies, as they did yesterday, about how their husband's felt and about what their husband's were doing, which, quite frankly, some of the questioning yesterday was not appropriate. I think the public will see that when the transcript is fully released.

But, yes, there's a precedent now. We now want President Trump to come in and to testify under oath in front of the Oversight Committee. We want first -- the first lady, who we know had a relationship as well with Jeffrey Epstein, to come in, under oath, and testify to the Oversight Committee. That is the new precedent that Republicans wanted to set here.

And so, we want to move forward in this investigation. They should do the right thing and answer our questions.

BERMAN: And again, if the Democrats take the majority in November, will you move to bring Melania Trump before the Oversight Committee?

GARCIA: We're going to have a very long list of people. Anyone that we believe had a relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, on day one, will have a subpoena from our committee.

BERMAN: Howard Lutnick, the Commerce secretary, can you update us on the plans to bring him before your committee soon?

GARCIA: Look, there seems to be some growing bipartisan support to bring in Howard Lutnick. And we should be clear, Howard Lutnick said in an interview, as we all know, just a few months ago that he did not communicate with Jeffrey Epstein after 2005, that he, you know, barely knew him, what -- didn't have much of a relationship with him. Now we know that he was blatantly lying to the American people. Not only did, of course, Howard Lutnick continue a relationship, he goes on to go and visit him on his island. He goes into business with Jeffrey Epstein. His wife communicates with him. He continues an ongoing relationship and communication with Jeffrey Epstein for years.

So, the Commerce secretary has now lied directly to the American public about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. [09:35:00]

He should -- one, he should explain himself, come in front of our committee. But the amount of lies and deception, quite frankly, he should resign or should be removed from office. There is accountability happening in the U.K. and across boardrooms in this country. It's time the same thing happens in Washington, D.C.

BERMAN: Congressman Robert Garcia, I know you have a busy day ahead of you. We thank you for taking the time to speak with us.

Erica.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: And new this morning, Anthropic is standing firm in its battle with the Pentagon despite potentially getting blacklisted. The Claude chatbot maker says it cannot in good conscience agree to let the Pentagon use its A.I. model for all lawful purposes without key safeguards.

CNN's Hadas Gold joins us now.

And, Hadas, you also have some new reporting in just the last few minutes, we're also hearing from one of Anthropic's main competitors, OpenAI. Sam Altman is weighing in.

HADAS GOLD, CNN A.I. CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Sam Altman was just on CNBC and he essentially was saying, and I've confirmed now with an OpenAI spokesperson, that they, the makers of ChatGPT, have the same red lines as Anthropic when it comes to these types of contracts with the Pentagon. Those red lines are about A.I. being used in autonomous weapons and A.I. being used in the mass surveillance of American citizens.

Now, this is big news because if the Pentagon was going to cancel its contract with Anthropic, it still needs A.I. systems in its classified military networks. And one of the most likely places they would go is to Anthropic's competitors, OpenAI, the makers of ChatGPT. Their models are considered very close competitors with Anthropic. Also very well-liked with programmers and coders and the like.

Now, OpenAI has not yet signed on to be part of those classified networks yet, but this sets up a new battle potentially for the Pentagon because if OpenAI has the same or similar red lines as Anthropic, how open -- how will the Pentagon then respond to them? Will they make the same threats to OpenAI as they did to Anthropic in saying, if you don't agree to this deal, we're going to call you a supply chain risk. We're going to try to use these other methods against you. I mean Sam Altman specifically said in this interview, he said, "I don't think the Pentagon should be threatening these types of things against these companies." Talking about how the military needs A.I. and these A.I. companies want to work with the military. They want to help them.

They already make some changes to their models. The models that the -- that the military is using, they are not the same ChatGPT that you and I can use right now. They are very different models. They already make changes there.

But this is a big debate because the Pentagon is saying on their hand, we don't want to have to go to you while we're in the middle of a war making a decision to try and ask you to change something when we need to make -- when we need to take action very quickly. Let us use these tools for all lawful uses, just like we use a gun or a plane or something like that.

HILL: And what's interesting too is so we have this deadline, right, from the Pentagon, 5:00 today. We already have essentially the response from Anthropic. But if then the Pentagon follows through on its plan, there's already -- Anthropic is already in use, right?

GOLD: Yes.

HILL: In a number of areas across the Defense Department. So, then what would that mean?

GOLD: This isn't going to be a switch where the Pentagon will suddenly say off and all of these Anthropic systems are off of the system. There will likely be a period of time that not only the military will need to offload Anthropic and get something else, but also any of these military contractors, because of this supply chain risk, will also need time to be able to prove that they don't work with Anthropic in their work with the military.

HILL: Yes, just the beginning really of this one.

Hadas, appreciate it. Thank you.

John.

BERMAN: All right, a woman stows away on a flight across the Atlantic. The thing is, she was caught doing this before.

And is NASA's mission to the moon now in jeopardy? We're getting an update from the agency just minutes from now.

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[09:43:00]

BERMAN: President Trump headed to Texas today where he will appear with not one, not two, but three Republican candidates who are running against each other for the same Senate seat, which is held by one of them, the incumbent Republican Senator John Cornyn. If that sounds awkward, it's because it is.

Let's bring in CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten.

John Cornyn, running for re-election, facing a very difficult primary. What are the polls now showing?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Yes, sometimes three's a crowd, OK. Three's a crowd. And what are we looking at here? I mean, oh my goodness. Normally an incumbent should be favored, but, in fact, at this point, John Cornyn is being challenged by two guys who have a pretty decent shot of knocking him off. Choice for Texas Senate GOP nominee. Ken Paxton actually at the front here at 36 percent, though within the margin of error. Then you got Cornyn at 35 -- 34 percent. Then you got Wesley Hunt at 26 percent. He's not taking on just one guy, he's taking on two guys. And they're both polling pretty gosh darn good at this point. It seems like there's a pretty good chance John Cornyn may not make it to November.

The other thing I will note is that there's a 50 percent plus one rule.

BERMAN: Exactly. The one thing that's clear from this poll is that no one is likely to win on Tuesday.

ENTEN: Correct.

BERMAN: No one gets to 50. It goes to a runoff.

So, what are the chances, if it is a runoff between the guy right now ahead and someone else, I mean what are the chances that Ken Paxton, the attorney general, ends up as the nominee?

ENTEN: Yes, it looks like a pretty gosh darn good chance that Ken Paxton is going to be the Republican nominee. You can see it right here. Prediction market odds. You look at Kalshi. Look at this, Ken Paxton to be the GOP nominee. Look at this, 60 percent in January. Now 83 percent chance that Ken Paxton, the man right here on your screen right here, wins that GOP nomination. He may not win it now in March. He may not win it next Tuesday. But he'll eventually probably will win it when you go to the runoff in May.

BERMAN: That's what the prediction markets are saying now. So, why do Democrats look at this and why are Democrats smiling at this possibility?

ENTEN: Yes, why are Democrats smiling at this possibility.

[09:45:00]

It's not just because of a divisive Republican primary. As I said, three is a crowd sometimes and you don't know what the heck might happen here. But look at the general election polling. If, in fact, Ken Paxton is the Republican nominee, versus Crockett, Jasmine Crockett, Paxton ahead by only one, two points. My goodness gracious. Versus Talarico, the same, one, two. There has not been a Democrat elected to the United States Senate in Texas since Lloyd Bentsen in 1988. And in a seat in which there was no Democratic incumbent, you have to go all the way back to 1970, when Lloyd Bentsen first won. And now it looks like a real possibility, if Ken Paxton is the Republican nominee, that Democrats could actually win in Texas.

BERMAN: They can sniff it. It's close here.

ENTEN: It's close.

BERMAN: But they're still not ahead. So, this would, obviously, if the Democrats would be able to flip

Texas, it could maybe put the Senate in play. What are the predictions there?

ENTEN: Yes, I mean, just, again, take a look at the prediction markets. This is part of the reason why the GOP's chances have been falling. A year ago, according to Khalsi, it was an 83 percent chance of a Republican win in the Senate. Now it's down to just a 59 percent chance. Democratic chances through the roof, 19 percent a year ago, 41 percent chance today

BERMAN: If nothing else, this tells you about the current political environment and how people are looking at it.

Harry Enten, thank you very much for that.

ENTEN: Two of a kind, not three's a crowd.

BERMAN: Exactly.

A lot of news this morning. We'll be right back.

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[09:50:49]

HILL: A convicted stowaway is back in custody this morning after allegedly sneaking onto a United Airlines flight from New Jersey to Milan. A law enforcement source says Svetlana Dali managed to slip past security and then past the gate agents at Newark Liberty Airport. She boarded the Italy-bound flight without a ticket. If this sounds familiar, it should. In 2024 she was convicted for a nearly identical stunt involving a flight from New York to Paris. The FBI and TSA are now investigating just how she managed to clear multiple layers of security again.

And how about this for all you morning news people out there? Really anybody who enjoys a cup of joe. How about a bucket of joe? Dunkin locations in New Hampshire and Massachusetts are testing out 48-ounce containers. Like that does not fit in your cup holder in the car. So, just be prepared. The chain is not rolling it out nationwide just yet. There are some concerns from critics about not only the amount of caffeine in 48 ounce, but if you like sugar in your coffee, that's a whole lot of sugar. As someone who attended Dunkin Donuts University once, I'm interested to see how this plays out.

John.

BERMAN: An esteemed graduate, you are, of Dunkin University.

HILL: Yes.

BERMAN: Magna cum laude from there.

All right, so Uber just announced a new partnership with Joby Aviation for an all-electric air taxi that could let you fly to your next destination. That is, if you happen to be in Dubai. So, there's that.

With us now is Eric Allison, chief product officer at Joby Aviation.

Eric, thanks so much for being with us.

I got to ask, if you've been in the news business for a while, I feel like I've introduced like a half dozen pieces where air cars are finally.

HILL: Right. The future has arrived.

BERMAN: Yes, and they never are and they never have.

So, let me just start with the actual thing, plane, taxi, device, the vehicle you're talking about here. What is it and how does it work?

ERIC ALLISON, CHIEF PRODUCT OFFICER, JOBY AVIATION: Yes, thanks for having me on.

It's an -- it's an all-electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. Actually, that's it right behind me here. I'm flying with the -- with the Uber team in Dubai just a couple days ago.

We've been developing this technology for the last ten plus years. And it's really -- it's on the verge of being something that people are going to be able to experience on a daily basis.

The basic idea is that this aircraft takes off like a helicopter, straight up, but then the propellers, there's six of them, they tilt forward and it flies like an airplane. And by doing that, we can make it all electric. We can make it really quiet. We can make it emission free. And we can make something that can be accessible to a wide range of people and be able to take a flight on a daily basis to where you want to go.

HILL: When you say accessible, are you talking financially? Because my other main question is, how much does a ride in this bad boy cost?

ALLISON: So, we haven't announced final pricing yet but that's exactly the intention. And we do that in a couple different ways, by making something that's remarkably quiet, really different than anything else you've ever heard in terms of this type of vehicle that can take off and land vertically like this, we can actually access more locations. So, people want this to be near them. And so that actually makes it more physically accessible in the sense that we can have a network of takeoff and landing places where you can actually get to it pretty quickly through a partnership with Uber so that you can have a car that can connect you on the first and last mile.

But then also we're targeting to be able to make this competitive with kind of a premium car service at launch so that it's something that can be financially accessible as well that, you know, a lot of people that cant charter a helicopter right now because it's difficult could take this and use this on a daily basis in partnership with a company like Uber that we're working with.

BERMAN: Yes, you touched on something there because when I order a rideshare usually, it shows up where I am. Wherever I am.

ALLISON: Yes. Yes.

BERMAN: Is that the case here? Is this -- is this vehicle going to land in my driveway or not?

ALLISON: Yes, not going to land in your driveway, at least not yet. That's what this partnership with Uber is all about, actually. So, the way it'll work is that if you open the Uber app and, you know, you say where you want to go, and then it shows you the list of options right now, Uber X (pH), Uber Black, transit, things that you might want to take. In -- on routes and places where we're optimized to work with Uber, with our Joby air taxi, you'll have a new option that says Uber Air powered by Joby.

[09:55:06]

And so you can just select that instead of Uber X or instead of Uber Black. And then in the software in the background builds that trip together so that a car picks you up, takes you to the nearest takeoff and landing spot, pool you in with a couple other people in the airplane so the economics are better, and then have a car waiting for you at the place where you land to take you right to the door of your final destination. That's kind of the beauty of this multimodal vision of using software to stitch all these pieces together in the background so that it really can be something that you can take from wherever you are to wherever you want to go.

HILL: Right now, in Dubai. We'll see if it makes its way to New York.

Eric Allison, thank you.

BERMAN: Where I want to go right now is the weekend.

Thank you all for being with us. This has been --

HILL: You're in luck.

BERMAN: Thank you so much for being here. It's always awesome to see you.

HILL: Always a pleasure, my friend.

BERMAN: That's it for us. "SITUATION ROOM," up next. Enjoy.

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