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Trump Calls Concerns Over A.I. A Hoax; Top Senate Democrat Calls for Classified Briefing on A.I.; Trustees Say Kennedy Center Faces Bankruptcy if Trump Name Not Returned; Supercharged El Nino Arrives. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired September 14, 2026 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": -- tech companies should be full speed ahead on A.I., even as tech CEOs warn of possible catastrophe. And now, it may be up to Congress to find a way to regulate A.I. before disaster strikes.

A name on the building or possible bankruptcy, officials at the Kennedy Center claim it's within weeks of financial collapse unless they put the president's name back on the building. And a new ProPublica report alleges a Russian oligarch with ties to Vladimir Putin helped to bankroll Donald Trump Jr.'s lavish wedding celebration in the Bahamas.

We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

As the nation's biggest A.I. leaders call for more regulation, President Trump says the best guardrail is already in place and that's him. He posted, quote, "The only control or guardrails that A.I. needs is a strong and smart (High I.Q.) president, and the USA has that in spades. His words following calls from three A.I. execs, including Elon Musk, who say the pace of A.I. development should slow down.

All of this fueling a growing political debate ahead of the midterm elections and today, Senate Democrats are calling for a classified briefing. CNN's Kristen Holmes is live at the White House for us. Kristen, tell us what else the president is saying here.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I mean President Trump is escalating his rhetoric by the minute here. He just seconds ago posted online saying that any kind of concern over A.I. is a hoax and he compared it to his previous impeachments while he was in office, something that he often calls a hoax as well.

One of the things to keep in mind here, it's very hard to push back on this notion when you have the leaders of the tech industry, they're the ones calling for some kind of regulation, some kind of regular regulatory play bar in place because of what they are seeing happening behind the scenes with A.I. Now when I talk to senior administration officials, White House officials, there is a belief that it's twofold. One is that President Trump has said this numerous times, that whoever wins A.I. wins. Essentially that's what he's speaking about between China and the United States, and there does seem to be some belief overall that this message is being amplified by China in an attempt to slow down the building out of A.I. This is what President Trump described what we're seeing as, he said there is a sick conspiracy going on against A.I. and data centers and the only one that is happy about it is China.

Now, Vice President Vance was also asked specifically about this. He was a little softer in his language. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, (R) VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I have to say just personally, I feel a little bit weird about the fact that you have so many frontier A.I. tech companies kind of coming to the government and begging the government to regulate them. It feels a little bit to me like a bit of a Trojan Horse, so I think we just have to be careful about this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: So he says you have to be careful about it. He was again more soft than President Trump has been in his language. But President Trump has this belief that he and the United States are behind China when it comes to A.I., even though he repeatedly says that the United States is ahead of China, and they certainly don't want to slow down on that front. But as you noted, this is becoming a huge political issue now just months away from the midterms.

KEILAR: All right, Kristen, thank you so much. Yes, it definitely is. And we're joined now by Marc Short. He's the former Chief of Staff to Vice President Mike Pence. He also served as the White House Director of Legislative Affairs for a time during President Trump's first term. He's now the Board Chair of Advancing American Freedom.

OK. I wonder what you think of Trump saying A.I. taking over the world, destroying humanity is a hoax. Do you think it's a hoax?

MARC SHORT, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF TO VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE: I don't know that it's a hoax, Brianna, but I agree with the president's perspective here, that nobody would be more excited about Washington, D.C. regulating the A.I. industry than our competitors in China. And those are our biggest competitors right now and they're not going to put any brakes on the expansion of A.I.

You know, David Sax wrote I think a really great post on Sunday. David Sax, an adviser to the president's team on this particular issue, in which he talked about that for these companies that are out front that are now looking for government protection, there's nothing that prevents them from slowing down now. If they feel it's getting scary or too far ahead, they can slow it down themselves.

But in many cases they face product liability challenges and so for instance, if A.I. were to spark a cyber attack, they want a government sort of protection from that sort of liability suit that would come their way. And so for many of these people out -- the biggest actors out front, they want a government protection which is what they're begging for.

KEILAR: But isn't part of it to do with -- I mean, this isn't just a U.S. versus China thing. It's -- if you're going to slow something down, it would take some kind of agreement between countries. That may be something that these companies cannot achieve. We just had an expert on who was the co-author of the book, "If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies." So that sort of speaks to this idea of it, right?

I mean, don't these companies need to lean on the U.S. government to use those relationships to come up with something?

[14:05:00]

SHORT: I think it's naive to think that China is going to slow down any bit. They want America to slow down, but they're all -- Brianna, they view this as a competitive advantage for them. They're not about to put any brakes on the system on their side. I do agree as well that right now, it is a political challenge because I think a lot of people are scared. And that fear, I think, extends to data centers.

And I think that the president is right that in many cases some of that misinformation has clearly been conspiracy driven. But one thing I do disagree with the president on is that much of that has been driven actually on TikTok. And it's the president who's allowing that when his own intelligence community came to him and suggested that that should not be allowed.

KEILAR: It would be unusual for China to look at an area of friction in the U.S. and not try to exploit it, right?

SHORT: Absolutely.

KEILAR: If data centers are something that really people are having issues with, it would be strange if China wasn't looking for some kind of opportunity there. But at the same time, I mean, what do you think about this view, which we are hearing from people now, especially in the last couple of weeks. A whistleblower coming from Anthropic, there's this worry that there is this sort of race to the apocalypse, that to look at it as a zero-sum game of the U.S. versus China, that's not the way to look at it.

SHORT: So forgive my cynicism, but the same whistleblowers now participating in events with Bernie Sanders, I think the challenge as well is that you want a regulatory environment if you're out front in the marketplace, because then the regulations end up restricting what your competition could become in the marketplace.

KEILAR: I just want to be clear, he's not the only one with that view, right? So like his view represents the views of a lot of people. He's not like some island unto himself.

SHORT: Even Joe Biden's Head of the FTC, Lina Khan, came out today and said the system has protections in place already with our product liability laws. And so there are already restrictions that, basically, there are complications for companies if they create problems. KEILAR: So you trust these companies to regulate themselves?

SHORT: I trust a competitive environment. And I think if you actually limit competition, then you're going to create more problems. I don't trust Washington's regulatory record.

KEILAR: Do you trust companies that are worried and telling us that, essentially, we shouldn't just trust them, that they want some outside involvement?

SHORT: I think in many cases, they want to have government regulate because it crowds out (ph) competition, and they're basically ahead of the marketplace. And so if you end up creating all sorts of regulatory barriers for others to enter the marketplace, it protects their standing.

KEILAR: And so when you look at these existential questions, do you think that they are real? Do you think that they are overblown? I mean, what is the adjective you would use to describe it?

SHORT: I don't -- I'm not inside those companies. I don't know. But I think there's enough experts --

KEILAR: But people who are or were telling us how they feel.

(CROSSTALK)

SHORT: But there's enough experts also who say that it's overblown. So I do think what you've heard is that there should be a broader public conversation. But I just would be reluctant to see that transfer into regulatory environment at the Capitol Hill.

KEILAR: So I -- and I am curious about that, because to your point, I mean, Leader Chuck Schumer is calling for a classified briefing with all the Senators, select members of the Trump administration to talk about an A.I. framework. Congress has not had the best luck when it comes to, for instance, regulating social media.

I mean, sometimes watching them figure out how to do this is like, it reminds me of the conversation I have where I'm having my child explain what cap or no cap is to me. You know, I feel like really silly and kind of old and stupid about the whole thing.

SHORT: Yeah.

KEILAR: How much of a concern is that?

SHORT: Look, again, I think public hearings, I know this is a closed door, but I think public hearings on the Hill is probably good for the American people to have more information. I just always get more concerned when Congress decides they know best how to regulate. Just like I think Congress made wise decisions when there was a lot of concerns about the Internet's creation. There was decisions -- there were, you know, conversations on the Hill about should we regulate it? And fortunately, they didn't.

I think we're all better off because of that.

KEILAR: Marc, thank you so much. I mean, this is -- there's this big conversation that's blown out.

SHORT: It's exploding, yes.

KEILAR: It's exploding right now, so it's really good to have it. I think a lot of people are curious about this. So --

SHORT: Thanks.

KEILAR: Thank you very much.

Still to come, Kennedy Center officials are now claiming in a new court filing that the institution could be weeks from fiscal collapse. The suggestion to save it is to put President Trump's name back on the building. We'll talk about that.

And a super El Nino is here. What it could mean for weather around the U.S. here in the next few months. We have that and much more coming up on "CNN News Central."

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[14:14:20]

KEILAR: Officials at the Kennedy Center have issued a dire warning that the historic institution could go bankrupt within weeks if President Trump's name is not returned to the center's facade. His name was removed from the building by a court order back in June.

Now in a court filing, the Trump-picked Board of Trustees claims the center is in danger of certain fiscal collapse. The board is set to meet tomorrow about the matter. CNN Washington Correspondent, Sunlen Serfaty has more on this.

All right, Sunlen, what have you learned here?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Brianna, this is another big moment for the Kennedy Center which, as we've been discussing for the last year, has really been thrust into this political hurricane with President Trump.

[14:15:00]

Now, we've known for quite some time that the Kennedy Center has faced some pretty serious financial challenges, but the new part of this is that Kennedy Center leaders are now arguing and they're going to present the board tomorrow in this board meeting that, one, that they may not be able to make payroll. They may not be able to cover the basic maintenance costs of the buildings. And they argue that the best course of action to, quote, "To avoid certain fiscal collapse is to close their doors." Now notably here, we are talking about Kennedy Center officials who were installed by President Trump himself and they argue, essentially, they don't blame President Trump for the decline of the building. They say if his name were to be essentially on the side of the building, on the front of the building, that would attract donors. That's their argument here. And tomorrow, they're giving the board ten options, essentially, language options for what they could put on the front of the building.

Now, I'm going to read you a few of these proposed inscriptions that they will present to the board tomorrow, quote, "Renovation, restoration, and support by President J. Trump" reads one. Another says, "Acknowledging the unwavering support of President Donald J. Trump and the Trump Kennedy Center fund." And another one says, quote, "A legacy protected through the generosity of President Donald J. Trump."

Now, another notable part of that is that they are openly acknowledging now, Brianna, that unless Trump gets his name added to the front of the building, that he essentially will have no role. They said, President Trump will no longer be able to provide oversight to the renovation of the building. So he wants his name on the on the front of the building and they say he's essentially not going to stick around to renovate the building if it's not up.

Of course, all of this is still being challenged in the courts and of course, those critics argue that President Trump is in large part the reason why the Kennedy Center has faced this decline.

KEILAR: OK. So tomorrow is the Center's Board of Trustees meeting, what happens there?

SERFATY: That's right. They'll have a meeting midday tomorrow and they'll potentially vote on one closing immediately which we know that they want to do. They voted on this in the past and also vote on some of the name changes that we will likely get by the end of the day, what they want to put up on the side. So potentially a path forward, but it's really not clear at this point because, as you know, it's been held up in this legal battle.

Ironically, there also is a status report meeting -- hearing in the morning in the courts. This is a lawsuit that, of course, has challenged whether President Trump can put his name on the side of the building. So it may be clear by the end of the day tomorrow, it may not be, but one thing is consider it likely will continue to go through this battle.

KEILAR: When we look at those suggestions, so that's like a capital G, right, and sort of the way that the president sometimes writes things. I mean would it actually -- have they been clear, would it actually look like that? That they would be the capital G where that might not actually be grammatically correct or that --

SERFATY: It's a great question and this was laid out on a document that Congresswoman Beatty filed this morning in court that they received in advance of this board meeting. It's a good question, likelihood yes and keep in mind, remember, originally, over this summer, they had added the name and then removed the name. Now, this would just be a little inscription under JFK name, so a lot needs to be decided.

KEILAR: Sunlen, what a strange story, but a sad story too for where the Kennedy Center currently finds itself. Really appreciate the details.

Still to come, super El Nino is here and it's likely to be strong -- stronger than ever. How the global climate phenomenon is already affecting hurricane and wildfire seasons with the biggest projected impact, still to come.

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[14:23:21]

KEILAR: Super El Nino is officially here and it's only getting stronger. But what exactly is it and what will it mean for all of us? Let's go to CNN Meteorologist, Derek Van Dam. All right, this sounds very ominous. So what are we expecting here?

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: All right, Brianna. Remember, Brianna, that El Nino was actually declared in June. It's just that it's at this breakneck speed of its strengthening. So what is it exactly? Remember, it is the warming of the waters across the central and eastern Pacific, right? Right near the equator.

We have the ability to track this and it's important because it has global impacts. We measure the difference between those average temperatures versus how warm it's actually gotten. And that difference, the more significant it is, can have more prevalent impacts on things like droughts, heat waves, floods, that type of thing.

So let's step back, show you the comparison to other previous very strong events that have reached this two-degree threshold that El Nino has just -- our current El Nino has just reached. We're right there. But the other red lines you see on the top are the other three record events. That was '82, 1997, and 2015.

We bring these up because we're in a completely different climate now. And NOAA has just said that they predict this to be a 75 percent chance, that's a three out of four probability, of this being the strongest El Nino event on record.

So that is just really saying something. Records, by the way, go back to 1950. And we talk about how this year's El Nino is completely different to the other record-breaking ones, 1997 for instance. And you're going to see it in a side-by-side comparison here.

[14:25:00]

Remember, the equatorial water is right there. That's what we measure, the difference. And look at the 1982 and the 2015, there's a difference in those color codings there and there's a reason for that. We've got decades of a warming planet that's baked into this as well.

So what is this doing? It is changing atmospheric circulation patterns, so much so that it alters where air rises and where air sinks. And that's critical because that also depends on who receives drought or the lack of precipitation and who receives copious amounts of precipitation, especially as we head into the peak of the El Nino event, which is happening this winter.

So the southern jet stream in the United States, that's likely to bring a much wetter and active weather pattern to the southern U.S. We've already seen the fingerprints of this strong El Nino unfolding here across the Pacific with three near misses of hurricanes across the Hawaiian Islands.

And then what about this from El Nino? This is a positive impact, I guess. We are reducing the number and the frequency of Atlantic base hurricanes because of this change in the atmospheric circulation. Every day we go forward, we're setting a new record.

We have not yet seen a hurricane develop in the Atlantic Basin. That's really saying something, considering climatological peak was last week. We know that El Nino influences worldwide weather patterns. It dries out the atmosphere near Indonesia. We've seen copious amounts of wildfires.

But what about us here in the United States? Well, as we look at the models projected into the winter, you could see it is clearly going to be a warm and very wet winter across the southern U.S.

KEILAR: Yeah, it certainly is. All right, Derek, thank you for that.

Still to come, as some of A.I.'s biggest players call for safeguards, President Trump is dismissing concerns about A.I. as a hoax. Ahead, how members of Congress are tackling the issue.

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