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Democratic Sen. Fetterman Stuns Party with GOP Convention Video; Lawmakers Call for Action After Dire AI Warnings; Trump Announces Plans for Medal of Honor Monument in D.C. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired September 10, 2026 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Day two of the Republican midterm convention is just about to kick off minutes from now. This event in Dallas aiming to help the GOP hold on to its House and Senate majorities. And most of the buzz so far has been about President Trump's outlandish promise to give every American adult $5,000 if Republicans maintain control of Congress.

But there were some other big moments for Republicans.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: And as we look at these live images from the convention floor, they did get some help from across the aisle in quite the surprise. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-PA): Yes, I'm a Democrat. Why am I here talking to you today? Because, well, I'm a commonsense Democrat.

I'm always going to stand with America. I'm always going to reject the extremes and socialism and that anti-American way of life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Joining us now to discuss is Chuck Todd, host of the Chuck ToddCast. Chuck, great to see you. What did you make of this appearance by John Fetterman?

Democrats were quick to go after him. Should they heed his warnings about extremism within the party?

CHUCK TODD, HOST, THE CHUCK TODDCAST: Well, look, I think, you know, he's not alone in being concerned about that. There's quite a few Democrats are pretty divided on that. Obviously, he's been a bit blunter and his actions, I think, have certainly concerned some Democrats there.

You know, it's interesting. Here's a here's a what if question for you. If that Wall Street Journal piece that clearly came from a lot of people that once worked for the senator that questioned, you know, his whether he even likes the job, that story hit about a week ago.

Does this happen if that story doesn't hit? Like, that's a question that I'll admit was sort of hanging over my head. Look, he's very close with Senator McCormick.

And, you know, I found myself when I heard what that he was doing this. It was like, oh, wow, could this be the beginning of what could be a transition out of the party, out of the conference? But then when you read what he said, it was all about McCormick and then how quickly he was out there to say, no, no, no, I'm going to be staying with the Democrats if they flip the Senate there.

And what's interesting is who you didn't hear from on this. Have you heard from a single Senate Democrat about this publicly? They're counting their numbers.

They don't want to alienate him on this. So look, I mean, if you're if you're going to be, you know, the if you really want to win the Senate and you're Chuck Schumer, you probably hope you win five or six seats. So you don't have to worry about the drama of any one senator, given the experience they had with Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema.

KEILAR: Yes, I mean, he was there to introduce McCormick and, you know, around -- they really get on quite well. And around the Fourth of July --

TODD: They're very close.

KEILAR: -- very close. The two of them sat down with CNN's Michael Smerconish to talk about their relationship.

Here's part of that conversation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FETTERMAN: Both political parties covet, you know, this idea of flipping seats while you're sitting next to each other is the only people that have actually done that and flip seats in our respective -- in our respective cycles now.

[15:35:00]

Now, remember, Pennsylvania picked both of us for our voices. So now I will always respect his voice because Pennsylvania picked him. And with me saying, you know, likewise to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: It seems like a good idea, right, to have the two senators of a state obviously being quite so in touch. But I wonder if you think that you could sort of replicate a closeness in a relationship like this and still have senators who are representing their own constituents who elected them, because I think right now, according to polling, Fetterman, what is more popular with Republicans than McCormick in Pennsylvania?

TODD: Right. And look, I think that that, you know, Fetterman has alienated some Democrats by not by doing this, I might argue, by how it's been done. Right. And I think that that that that seems to bother some aspects of the party. But, you know, there are not a lot of states that have one senator from each party that that used to be more common. I'll say this, I don't think we're expecting to see Ron Johnson and Tammy Baldwin doing joint interviews like this.

Maybe Angus King and Susan Collins is a slightly more likely of a situation that you would had like that. But, you know, we don't have a ton of delegations that are actually split like this, which tells you sort of how polarized our politics is. And it's a reminder of how swingish, frankly, Pennsylvania itself is.

So, look, I think the curiosity of it is it's clear Fetterman is going to get primaried if he chooses to seek reelection in '28. Does he decide to run as an independent? And if he runs as an independent, do Democrats -- do Republicans take a knee like what happened with Joe Lieberman?

You know, we've there is a precedent here on the Democratic side, right? Just like there's a precedent on Republican side. Lisa Murkowski left the party but didn't leave the conference, right?

Joe Manchin left the party but didn't leave the conference. Joe Lieberman left the party but didn't leave the conference.

And so I'm I would assume that's a more likely scenario him than him flipping completely. Because I'll tell you, you can look at it. The history of true party switchers surviving another elections is not great.

Right, Arlen Specter struggled with that. And, you know, I think Ben Nighthorse Campbell, the late senator from Colorado, it's the last one I can remember who switched parties and then successfully won reelection.

Rick Shelby in Alabama was another one. But that's I think the curiosity I have is what is Fetterman do in '28 when his seats up?

KEILAR: Yes, no, that's a really good observation that we'll look for. Chuck, always great to speak with you. Thank you so much.

TODD: Don't spend your $5,000 already.

KEILAR: Yes, we're not. I already spent that two -- no, I didn't -- remember he promised 2,000 10 months ago. Where's that?

SANCHEZ: Betting it all on you, Chuck. Betting it all on you.

TODD: Yes.

KEILAR: Good luck.

SANCHEZ: Right.

KEILAR: Thanks, Chuck. So I had rising fears about AI has more employees quitting over safety fears. We're going to discuss it with an AI consultant to the Vatican.

[15:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: The heat that we've seen shatter records all summer could just be a preview. A strengthening El Nino is warming up in the Pacific Ocean, and it could shake up weather patterns around the globe. CNN's Bill Weir has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's official. The summer of 26 was a full three degrees hotter than average. And it showed us vividly how the symptoms of this man-made fever range from annoying, to expensive, to deadly.

Summer camps and fireworks displays disrupted by wildfire, smoke and extreme heat. Explosions of ticks along hiking trails and algae blooms on lakes and reflecting pools. A hotter atmosphere brings wetter wets and drier dries, which meant record wildfires in the parched Northwest and near constant flash flood warnings from the hill country of Texas to the canyons of New York City.

Data from Copernicus shows similar overheating around the globe with deadly heat domes in Europe, fires in Indonesia and that glacier collapse in the Himalayas. And the record does not include the full force of a growing El Nino, which is just starting to shatter temperature records in the Pacific and could devastate a California coast already reeling from mudslides and erosion. '26 now unseats 1936 when a heat wave turned disastrous agriculture policy into the Dust Bowl.

And there are parallels today. The United Nations just announced that humanity will definitely break the Paris Accord promise to hold global heating at temperatures lower than they are now, while American politicians shrug off climate science and protect polluters. So a lot more heat is on the way and for the rest of our lives.

The only question is how much.

Bill Weir, CNN New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: The apocalyptic and now viral warnings about A.I. and its potential to destroy humanity seem to have shaken Congress in a way that dozens of previous warnings have not. Today, rising calls for the U.S. government to do something coming from both sides of the aisle, everything from legislation to special sessions.

[15:45:00]

And according to Axios, the Senate has launched an investigation into an unprecedented AI lab leak that happened in July. While Congress may just now be coming around, there is one world leader with a record of paying attention to the threat posed by this new technology. And ironically, it's the head of one of the world's oldest institutions, the Pope.

You may recall how earlier this year the Pope dedicated his first encyclical to artificial intelligence. He said it needed to be disarmed. He called for, quote, robust legal framework and independent oversight.

We're joined now by the priest who advises the Pope on this very issue, Father Paolo Benanti. Father, thank you so much for being with us. I mean, how are you seeing these warnings about this existential threat to humanity created by artificial intelligence?

FATHER PAOLO BENANTI, ADVISES VATICAN ON AI: Well, to be really clear, it's not the first time that we make existential risk to humanity. A really stupid technology like a nuke bomb already threatened the humanity after the World War II. The problem now is that what we are missing is that our finger on the kill switch. Because what happened in July simple show us that also a really simple task to an AI, because it's a machine that make everything that is possible to satisfy the task, could produce unwanted and uncontrollable results.

In a world that become data, well, human life could become sacrificial data for achieving something else. We need guardrail. We need to take the machine inside the street that we think that is correct.

KEILAR: So when the Pope published his encyclical on AI back in May, he was actually joined by Anthropic's co-founder and the Associated Press reported on a 2023 meeting that you had with Microsoft's president on how AI could help or hurt humanity. Do you get the sense that these companies are taking these necessary precautions, that they're doing their best to develop ethical AI?

BENANTI: Well, you know, there are two things. Things, number one, Christopher Olah, that was present, was really clear.

We feel the stress to work in a frontier lab in which a lot of different interests are fighting among them. And the second thing is the number 106, 107, 108 of encyclical in which is written really clear that, OK, ethics is good. We need ethics.

But at one point, we need much more solid guardrail like laws and regulation. And the most important thing is when we make a law, it's not a board of trustees that decide what is ethics and what is not ethics. It's much more given to a series of check and balance that we are used to calling the Western democracy.

And this, you know, big picture on what is good and what is bad for humanity has to be given back to humanity and not to an inner circle of some company.

KEILAR: So how do countries need to work together to make sure that humans do not lose control of AI to destructive effect?

BENANTI: Well, first of all, we need to rebuild trusting and to rebuild trust among the AI developer and the rest of the user. We are in a moment in which a lot of workers feel that the urgency to be protected from some kind of evolution that simple can reduce the job and the work to something that is useless. And the second thing is to understand that when we talk about regulation, there is a first form of regulation that we are used to call standard that is really soft but really effective.

When we put a standard on the street, the car has to keep the right lane. We didn't stop the car to evolve or to have a better car, but we have the objection that a lot of less people is dying on the street because we define some kind of guardrails and standards. So the first urgent step is to define standard.

That is also good for the market because, you know, when you have standard, your market is bigger because you can have interoperability. So we are talking something that can save humanity, can let the economy to grow. Everything is connected to fundamental things, the ability to talk together and to share the common good in a practical way.

KEILAR: And just spiritually, you know, we cover, especially lately, AI so much, and I think individuals can feel very powerless as they're looking at what feels like a giant looming problem. How can people think about this spiritually when it feels like something they don't really have any control over?

BENANTI: Well, that could be an interested and wanted result. You know, when people are scared, usually they'd be back to the roots that give them some kind of, you know, horizon.

[15:50:00]

It will be interesting if in some weeks or in some years we can stay here and have another conversation, say, you know, AI was coming, a lot of people was back to the church because they would like to find some kind of you know, horizon that can give meaning.

We have a lot of technology that can give us the power of the tools to do things. Probably we have a lack of meanings in life and in our society. So that could be a wonderful dangerous that can simply dissolve society or could be a wonderful occasion to build up something new that make of the idea of core human dignity, the core element that can build a new society that keep us to reach our, you know, self-determination and happiness.

KEILAR: Father Benanti, thank you so much for being with us for this discussion. We appreciate it.

BENANTI: Thank you.

KEILAR: And coming up, a tribute to America's heroes. A new monument will honor Medal of Honor recipients on the National Mall. We'll be speaking to one of those heroes next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: President Trump spent time today with some of the nation's most decorated war heroes. He toured the National Medal of Honor Museum in Arlington, Texas.

[15:55:00]

He met with recipients ahead of the second night of the Republican midterm convention in Dallas. And the president also announced plans for a new monument here in Washington, D.C., to honor Medal of Honor recipients.

We're joined now by retired Lieutenant Colonel William Swenson, who is a Medal of Honor recipient who was decorated for his heroic actions in Afghanistan. He is now a board member of the National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation. Lieutenant Colonel, thank you so much for being with us.

LT. COL. WILLIAM SWENSON (RET.), MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENT: Thank you for having me.

KEILAR: So I do want to note that you have been advocating for this new monument to honor Medal of Honor recipients. What does it mean that it is going forward with this important step?

SWENSON: When we think about what monuments represent, they're an opportunity for us as a country to put prioritization as to what we believe in, what makes us exceptional. Monuments define us historically, and they also inspire us going into the future. For this monument, what really this is going to do is it's going to allow Americans and people from all over the world to see what our service members are willing to do on behalf of that idea of American exceptionalism.

And we hope that they get inspiration from that monument so that they, too, can have exceptionalism in their lives and be better citizens.

KEILAR: I just want to let our viewers know we're looking at some pictures of you as you were serving in Afghanistan. And, you know, you will be able to see this monument. I know there are a lot of concerns about older Medal of Honor recipients.

How important is the speed of this monument so that they are able to truly be honored?

SWENSON: Well, since 1861, when President Lincoln first started to award the Medal of Honor, we already are recognizing the service, the sacrifice, and the heroism of our service members. And I think that we have to be cautious in understanding that these monuments are just a continuation of that story. We've already done what is necessary as a nation to come together and reflect on heroism.

This is our way of continuing to message. So with our older generation of recipients, I think that they understand that they have been part of this narrative since 1861 in telling this story. And whether it's a physical embodiment of a museum, whether it's a monument that helps to signal, again, our priorities as a nation, they understand that they've been part of this journey and it's going to continue forward as well because Americans will continue to exhibit that exceptionalism, they will continue to serve this country, and they will continue to do things that rise to the highest of expectations of our people and our citizens and of our service members.

KEILAR: I like how you think about it that way. And I do think we should note, of course, tomorrow is 25 years since 9-11, the events that changed our nation, that changed your life, that sent you and so many service members to war in Afghanistan, Afghanistan where you saved many lives for which you were recognized with the Medal of Honor. How are you reflecting on this day, 9-11, 25 years later?

SWENSON: 9-11 was, of course, a seminal event in my life, and generationally those of us who spent the entire post-9-11 era engaged in conflict. I think that we can look back on our actions and be proud of what we did. We signaled to the world what our resolve is when confronted with an enemy threat.

Our adversaries, our enemies around the world, understand what our capabilities are and what we are willing to do. And we also have to remember that in those efforts, we were supporting those who so too should have chosen freedom over their alternate path, but we were there to assist and help. How we've concluded, time and history will still see, but our service members, they served honorably, they served with dignity, and they served a worthy cause.

And, of course, I always have to remember that those I served with at the battle that ended up with me with this award, Kenefick, Johnson & Johnson, Layton, and Westbrook, who gave their lives, it was not in vain. This is something that they can truly look back on as their families and as our country and see the heroism that was required for us to show the world what we are willing to do when attacked.

KEILAR: Colonel, we've been talking here in recent days on the program about young people who they don't have the reference point of 9-11, the way people who are our age do, right, or the wars that followed. And I wonder what you think they should know. What is it important to communicate to them so that they can understand?

SWENSON: History is always our opportunity to look back so we can guide ourselves going into the future better. 9-11, I would like to think that our generation that fought those wars made clear to our adversaries that that will never happen again and that going forward as a nation that we have better opportunities to work together collaboratively than to cross the United States.

[16:00:00]

I think that for our younger generations that did not have to suffer through the horrific events of 9-11 and the post-conflicts that occurred afterwards, they need to look back at that history and understand that they have the opportunity with their generation to guide us to a better future. And if challenged, if confronted, they too will do what my generation did and rise up, and they will fight.

KEILAR: Lieutenant Colonel William Swenson, thank you so much for your service and for this discussion today. We appreciate it.

SWENSON: Thank you very much.

KEILAR: "THE ARENA" with Kasie Hunt starts right now.

END