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CEOs Warn Congress About Potential to Misuse A.I. For Bio- Weapons; GOP Immigration Bill Fails Amid Backlash to Anti- weaponization Fund; Trump to Nominate Blanche as A.G. Amid Outrage Over $1.8 Billion Fund; RFK Jr. Seeks Americans' Medical Records to Clues on Autism and Vaccines. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired June 04, 2026 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

JACOB WARD, TECHNOLOGY JOURNALIST & HOST OF "THE RIP CURRENT" PODCAST: -- Exactly, Brianna. I mean, I think you're seeing this in so many areas of life that people with no expertise could, in theory, do something quite scary with, with A.I., you've seen people faking voices and doing all sorts of cyber attacks who have no technical skills to do that stuff normally. So what these companies are not saying is, you know, you should make it such that A.I. can't be used for this.

What the letter is careful to point out is how advantageous A.I. can be for science, and it can. That's absolutely true. But what they are saying is we want to better screen who gets to use it. And while that isn't an argument to regulate A.I., it puts, you know, the onus on the folks doing the research rather than the toolmaker here. You know, it does suggest that they see that not everyone should be able to do everything that the technology makes possible.

And that fact, you know, I think could lead down the road to regulators, voters, all sorts of people making the case that perhaps they should be held responsible for a wider variety of uses than they are right now.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Really interesting stuff. Jacob, we are going to see you all the time.

(LAUGH)

KEILAR: I feel like we do and we'll continue to.

WARD: Touche (ph) to you guys.

KEILAR: Yeah. We appreciate the insight, Jacob Ward. Thank you.

Ahead, an immigration funding bill stalls as Republican holdouts draw a hard line on the so-called anti-weaponization fund that the president is refusing to abandon. We're going to discuss with Democratic Senator, Ed Markey next.

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[13:35:40]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Senate Democrats are trying to hold Republicans' feet to the fire today over the so- called Anti-Weaponization Fund. In an effort to put Republicans on the record with their support, they're proposing an amendment to the president's Immigration Enforcement Bill that would ban the $1.8 billion fund. Critics, including some Republicans, have described it as a slush fund for President Trump's allies. The Justice Department says it's meant to reimburse people who claim they were wrongly targeted by the government.

At last check, the vote on the amendment -- actually, we just got an update. A producer got in my ear right now to tell me that the amendment has just failed. Let's discuss with Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts.

Senator, just as a few moments ago, we understood that Republican leadership was trying to counsel those in their ranks who were opposed to this amendment to be sort of -- or rather, those who supported the amendment to oppose it. What is your reaction to hearing that the amendment failed?

SEN. ED MARKEY, (D-MA): Well, obviously, the Republican leadership is rallying around Donald Trump, rallying around his efforts to protect this $1.8 billion boondoggle, this cash for criminals program, which Trump and his allies can use to reimburse Proud Boys, reimburse Oath Keepers, reimburse the people who attacked this Capitol, the insurrectionists, all of the latter-day KKK allies of Donald Trump.

And the Republicans today are siding with Donald Trump, siding with his desire to keep this on track and preserve his prerogatives to have this $1.8 billion be dispensed in any way he wants. And this is political kryptonite for the Republicans, which is why they had such a tough time getting the votes today.

SANCHEZ: So what can Congress do now if this fund is revived? Even though Todd Blanche, the Acting AG, said that it's not moving forward, President Trump has openly said that he's not giving up on the general idea.

MARKEY: Yeah, Donald Trump says he loves this fund, and Todd Blanche is Donald Trump's personal attorney. Todd Blanche is the person who put this deal together. Todd Blanche is the person who says he won't put it in writing that this fund is dead. So we know that Donald Trump wants to have the $1.8 billion.

And by the way, he also wants to have the immunity for himself, for his children, for his companies from any further tax audits into perpetuity, which is almost a get-out-of-jail-free card. So, as Democrats, we're just going to keep pressing. We're going to keep forcing the Republicans' hand on this issue, and we're going to find every single mechanism we can in order to demand that Republicans stand up and defend this program, because we know that the American voters don't want $1.8 billion for Oath Keepers and KKK.

They want the funding for health care, for education, for the programs that they need right now, as gas prices and health care prices and food prices are skyrocketing in our country.

SANCHEZ: I don't imagine that there's much that Todd Blanche could do at this point to secure your vote as President Trump nominates him to replace Pam Bondi as the confirmed Attorney General. Do you think he will be confirmed, nevertheless?

MARKEY: We're going to put Todd Blanche on the political grill. We know that he actually supports putting ICE on the streets of our country for the elections. We know that Trump, in the last couple of days, has named a mortgage banker to be the head of the intelligence network of our country, all 18 agencies. And so, we know that their plan this November is to steal the election, and they're going to need Pulte over at intelligence.

They're going to need Blanche over at the Attorney General's office in order to make sure that the laws are not enforced. There is no protection for voters going to the polls. This is all part of a steal the election campaign, and that's why, today, they're going to try to pass $70 billion more for ICE, even though they gave it $140 billion last year.

[13:40:00]

It's all a part of weaponizing ICE, putting them on the streets, and having the attorney general and the head of intelligence all working together part of that coordinated plan to steal the election in November.

SANCHEZ: When it comes to the appointment of this housing official, Bill Pulte, as Acting Director of National Intelligence, some of your Democratic colleagues have warned that it might make it harder to secure your party's support to reauthorize FISA, Section 702, that allows for the surveillance of American citizens.

Would you vote against reauthorization? Wouldn't letting FISA lapse be a security risk?

MARKEY: Having Pulte as the Head of Intelligence is a security risk, because it will allow him to compromise the information of innocent Americans in our country for the purpose of advancing the political agenda of Donald Trump.

So as long as Pulte is up and nominated to be running the intelligence system in our country, I cannot vote for FISA. It would be a blank check to Trump and his cronies to compromise the most sensitive, most important information that Americans have, and that is their own personal identity. And I could never, under any circumstances, support that grant of authority to Trump, to Pulte, because we know that there will be a compromise of that information.

SANCHEZ: Wow. Senator, we have a primary that is coming up, and you're facing a primary challenge from Congressman Seth Moulton, who spoke with my colleague, Kate Baldwin, earlier today. He argued that the status quo for Democrats isn't working, that it's time for a new generation of leaders to take over the party.

Here's more from Congressman Moulton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. SETH MOULTON, (D-MA): I mean, if you honestly are a Democrat today who says, you know, Democrats are knocking it out of the park, you know, we're winning all across the board, we shouldn't change a thing, then vote for the establishment, vote for Chuck Schumer, vote for the status quo.

But if you think we should be doing better, if you think it's time for a new generation of Democratic leaders, if you think it's time for us to take the lead on the economy, to show that we are the party of national security, to show that we are the party that will fight Trump and MAGA Republicans every single day and win, then it's time for a new generation of Democrats. And that's why I'm running for Senate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: What is your response, Senator?

MARKEY: Well, my opponent, he trades in stocks of businesses that appear before the committees on which he serves in Congress. My opponent, he accepts corporate PAC money. My opponent, he says that we should not be trying to pursue universal health care. My opponent says that taxing billionaires is class warfare. So I think that we need generational change in this country. And I'm it.

I'm fighting for the kinds of changes which our country needs in order to ensure that we're protecting every family from being exploited. And I don't think that we can afford to have a Senator who has the values of Congressman Moulton.

I don't trade in stocks. I don't take corporate PAC money. I stand up and I fight for ordinary families every day, to make sure they get what they need, as they are at the kitchen table trying to make ends meet for their families and for their American dream.

SANCHEZ: Before we go, Senator, I have to ask you about embattled Maine Senate candidate, Graham Platner. He met with Democrats in D.C. yesterday. Will you endorse his campaign?

MARKEY: I know that he is out and he is campaigning on kitchen table issues. I know that he is opposed to this slush fund, which Donald Trump is putting together. He's putting affordability front and center for the voters of Maine to decide this race. And I think that he has the right issues to be focusing upon this year in Maine, as I am doing, and I think other people who are really concerned about the direction our country is going in right now.

SANCHEZ: It sounds like he has your support, Senator.

MARKEY: Well, I am convinced that he is running on all of the right issues for our country right now.

SANCHEZ: So why not say that you endorse him? MARKEY: In my opinion, he has taken the issues and he's galvanized a grassroots movement all across Maine. People are responding at the town meetings. They are up. They are energized. And in my opinion, he is on a pathway to victory in the state of Maine.

SANCHEZ: Senator Ed Markey, we'll leave the conversation there. We very much appreciate your time.

[13:45:00]

MARKEY: Glad to be with you.

SANCHEZ: Of course. So do your medical records hold the key to finding a link between vaccines and autism? The HHS Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy, thinks so and now, he reportedly wants access to your private documents and information. We'll discuss next.

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KEILAR: Despite decades of studies leading the medical establishment to flatly reject any connection between vaccines and autism, Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. continues his quest to prove otherwise. He's now trying to get federal government access to most Americans' health records to research a link between vaccines and autism.

[13:50:00]

His department seeking data from little-known state systems that let hospitals exchange detailed identifiable patient information according to KFF Health News. And it's raising ethical and legal questions in many circles.

We're joined now by a member of the FDA's Vaccine Advisory Committee and Director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Dr. Paul Offit. Dr. Offit, great to have you. This is really, I think, an interesting story that a lot of parents are going to pay attention to for themselves and for their children.

Tell us, what could researchers, who are starting with a hypothesis or a belief that vaccines cause autism, use the minutia of our medical records for? Things like doctor's notes and prescription histories, among other data.

DR. PAUL OFFIT, FDA VACCINE ADVISORY COMMITTEE: Right. So he has believed that vaccines have caused autism for 20 years. He believed that the Measles, Mumps, Rubella Vaccine caused autism, even though 24 studies have shown that it didn't. He then believed that thimerosal, this ethylmercury containing preservative that was in vaccines caused autism. He wrote a book called "Thimerosal: Let the Science Speak" when the science didn't get to speak at all, including the nine studies that showed that thimerosal was in no way harmful.

He then believed that aluminum adjuvants in vaccines caused autism, even though an excellent study that was recently published of more than two million children over 23 years in Denmark showed that that wasn't true either. And he said that the Hepatitis B vaccine caused autism. He has this fixed, immutable belief that vaccines cause autism.

He has a non-falsifiable hypothesis, which no scientist should ever have. And I think that any state who hands over the data to him should know that he is likely to manipulate those data, likely to cherry pick those data to fit his fixed belief that vaccines are a problem.

KEILAR: So when you talk about any state, I mean, one state system cooperating is Nebraska. And despite its relatively small population, it actually won more CDC funding than any other state, nearly $19 million to improve local lab work and health data. The state's health information exchange, CyncHealth, won three more contracts for nearly $14 million. And its former head, Jaime Bland, now works for RFK's MAHA Institute think tank.

What concerns does that appearance, at least, of a quid pro quo raise for you?

OFFIT: Well, so when RFK Jr. appeared before Bill Cassidy's Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee, he held up a gold standard, what he called a gold standard study that he essentially, the anti- vaccine activist, had paid for by Anthony Mawson, claiming that looking at a Florida Medicaid system, that the vaccines had caused autism and neurodevelopmental problems.

Now, it was never published. It was never published in a scientific journal or medical journal because it was horribly flawed. It was never controlled for confounding variables like health care seeking behavior or medical background or socioeconomic background. And he held it up and he said, this is a gold standard study.

That was a warning for what he considers to be a gold standard study, which is a study that fits his fixed, immutable belief that vaccines are causing harm in situations where they're not causing harm. I wouldn't trust him for a second. He is a dangerous man who is on a mission. And that mission is to find some evidence that he will manipulate to claim the vaccines cause autism.

And the reason he does that is that he wants to add autism to the Vaccine Injury Compensation program. And then we're back to where we were in the 1980s, when companies basically left the business. Vaccines will become more expensive, less available and more feared. That is his goal.

KEILAR: To make vaccines less available?

OFFIT: Yes.

KEILAR: Health officials, when we're talking about this information, they have concerns about whether it is even legal. They certainly have concerns about whether it's useful, and Kennedy insists that it is. He insists that it is essential in order to study this. Talk to us a little bit about those concerns about legality and also usefulness.

OFFIT: I think it can be used in the sense that if you look at Denmark, for example, which has a national health system. They can mine a lot of excellent data to come up with interesting information. So I think that one mining data per se is not a problem, but him doing it is the problem because he has shown himself for the last 20 years to be wholly untrustworthy. So I think any state that stands back from him is making the right decision.

KEILAR: HHS has not explained how it would protect or handle personal health information. What could happen if that kind of information is not protected or handled correctly?

OFFIT: Well, you could reasonably worry that your medical records, which contains confidential information, in his hands would be handled badly, that he would in any way reveal information about you personally that could be problematic and not fair to you.

[13:55:00]

He's just not someone who can be trusted. He's shown himself for the last 20 years not to be trustworthy and the fact that he has basically taken apart the public health system in this country. We don't have an FDA Commissioner. We don't have a Surgeon General. We don't have a CDC Director.

We don't have an Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices and we've gotten to the point where most professional either scientists or clinicians in this country don't look to the CDC anymore and they can't look to the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices because it doesn't exist.

He has successfully taken apart the public health infrastructure in this country. Why would we ever trust him?

KEILAR: Dr. Paul Offit, thank you so much for your insights. We do appreciate it.

And a new hour of "CNN News Central" starts after a quick break.

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