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Former Governor Jay Inslee is Interviewed about Climate Policies; Poll Numbers on Democrats; A.I. Takes Center Stage at U.N. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired September 23, 2026 - 09:30   ET

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

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[09:30:46]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Some breaking news this morning. That massive Hurricane Polo in the Pacific has just weakened slightly this morning to be a category four storm. But overnight it had just exploded into a cat five with 165 mile per hour winds. The National Hurricane Center called it truly remarkable how fast this storm intensified.

A main factor that they are pointing to is driving this, the warmer water fueled by the super el Nino. And some climate scientists are warning this super el Nino could be responsible for they're estimating over 450,000 deaths over the next six months. A jarring and extreme warning, yes, but one that is becoming more and more common as the climate crisis worsens.

President Trump, just yesterday, returned to a familiar theme of denying the sweeping effects of climate change while speaking at the United Nations

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Superintelligence. Every major new technology brings challenges. And superintelligence is no exception. Yet the very same people who said, we'll all be dead in 12 years because of global warming, a name since reborn to climate change because the planet was cooling, not warming, and nobody was dead. These are the same people that are now saying that A.I. is going to kill us all, that robots are going to attack us, and that everything is going to be a total disaster. Same group of people. This is the group that came up with the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax, the Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine hoax, climate change, open borders.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Joining me right now is the former Democratic governor of Washington state, Jay Inslee.

It's good to see you, Governor.

JAY INSLEE (D), FORMER WASHINGTON GOVERNOR: Good morning.

BOLDUAN: Thanks for being here.

Talk to me about what you saw right there from President Trump and from the United Nations yesterday.

INSLEE: Well, there's many reasons that Trump is -- his numbers are crating, and many reasons Republicans are trying to abandon him because Americans understand the jig is up. They've understood his hogwash he's been spewing. And when I hear that, it's really troubling to me. I'd like him to speak to the 500 families in Spokane, Washington, whose homes burned down, are now struggling to have a place to live. I'd like to have him talk to the families of Altadena in Los Angeles who have lost, you know, like 9,000 people without homes and the flood victims in West Virginia, and the heat dome victims in the -- in the Midwest. Speak to them and tell them that they're suffering is a hoax.

Now, I'm a governor who has lived through these forest fires that have been increasing by maybe double because of climate change, because of fossil fuel use. And when I meet with these people, I want to hug them in my arms. They haven't suffered a hoax, they've suffered a president who is simultaneously driving up American's energy prices, diesel prices, for a variety of reasons of his war and his tariffs and hurting their health by increasing climate change.

BOLDUAN: Yes, this is an interesting moment, and it was pretty perfect I wanted to ask you about because you lay all that out. At the same time, the president is about to be meeting with the president of China today and tomorrow.

INSLEE: Yes.

BOLDUAN: And he's faced criticism just for having the meeting, even from some Republicans, because of what China represents to -- well, they say American national security. But China is, on this topic, one of the world's largest polluters. But at the same time, Governor, and you know, this, is also a country that is dominating in the renewable energy space as well, producing a vast majority of the world's solar panels and batteries and wind turbines, even as the United States, as the -- as President Trump is pulling back from those investments.

So, what does that mean? I mean, is China more climate friendly than the United States at this point, in your view?

INSLEE: We have to understand that we have such potential in America to create clean energy that can also reduce our costs. Offshore wind, solar panels, batteries, EVs. We are masters of innovation and technological prowess in America. But unfortunately, the genius of America is being throttled by this guy who has put an embargo on clean energy. Look, he's got an embargo of oil going through the Straits of Hormuz, but he's also blockading the access by Americans to get cheaper energy and cleaner energy.

[09:35:07]

Look, the most expensive energy in America today is coal-based electricity. And yet he's trying to keep these plants open where no one will buy the electricity because it is too expensive. So, we can simultaneously grow our economy, fight climate change, and importantly, reduce the cost of energy. And governors are on the front page of -- the front ways (ph) of doing that.

BOLDUAN: So, are you finding yourself in a place of applauding the work that China is doing over the work that the -- that the Unites States' government is doing right now on this front?

INSLEE: Well, the American government is driving up people's energy prices under Donald Trump. So, yes, he should be condemned. And Republicans are going to lose lots of seats in the House of Representatives. And frankly, I don't have a lot of empathy for him because they sat there while this president drove up diesel prices two bucks a gallon, drove up gasoline prices a buck and a half a gallon, and then prevented Americans from getting access to cheaper energy. So, they deserve to reap what they have sown. Americans are going to vote against this crowd.

BOLDUAN: Let's look past 2026 in the midterms. Let's look to 2028. When you -- when you ran in the Democratic primary in 2020, climate change, running on fighting climate change was part of your focus. And I was just seeing how Kamala Harris, the former vice president, is definitely out and about once again. She's campaigning for midterm candidates, but she's doing it in a lot of early presidential primary states. Michigan, yesterday. She's soon heading to Georgia and Nevada. Do you hope that Kamala Harris runs for president again?

INSLEE: I hope everybody who wants to be president feels they can help America runs for president again. I think she will face stiff headwinds if she needs to because of the last election result.

But look, everybody who can offer something to the stew of American ideas should run. And I feel really good about our candidates. We've got several talents coming out of the Midwest. We've got people in California. We got a broad scope. So, I feel very good about our prospects.

But let's focus on the next several weeks, which is, are we going to get a House that can restrain the madness coming out of D.C.? A guy who started an unconstitutional war, who has driven up people's electricity and gasoline prices, who wants to, you know, tear down American buildings unless they slap his name all over it. We have to have something to restrain this madness. Who won't allow CNN and other networks to even deliver the news, an assault on the free press. We need people who will do their jobs in the Congress to restrain him, rather than the lickspittles right now, who are Republicans, who aren't doing their job because they know this guy's a crazy fanatic narcissist, but they won't restrain him. We've got to get people in there who will do that. That's Democrats.

BOLDUAN: Well, its -- voting is -- early voting, in-person voting has already started in some states. So, let us see.

It's good to see you, Governor. Thanks for coming in.

INSLEE: Good to see you. Be well. BOLDUAN: Thank you very much.

John.

Oh, no, I will keep reading.

Threats of violence, even threats of ruining the legacy of the late Dolly Parton, all allegedly coming from a member of her own family. We've got more on this sad twist from that remarkable woman.

And a dangerous police chase that ends in a fiery crash and leads to a pretty remarkable rescue.

We'll be right back.

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[09:42:43]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, brand new CNN poll out this morning shows really bad numbers for President Trump. Really bad numbers for Republicans in Congress. But you know who else is seeing some bad numbers this morning? These guys, the Democratic leaders in Congress. Equal opportunity bad numbers out of the CNN poll.

With us now, CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten.

So, what am I talking about here?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: What are we talking about here? Well, the call is coming from inside the House because Democrats, on their own leaders, they don't like their own leaders. I dare say they despise their own leaders. And this is the big difference from what we saw back in 2018, just before Democrats were trying to take back the U.S. House of Representatives, that fall.

Take a look here. Net approval of congressional Dem leaders among Democrats. Back in 2018, look at this, their net approval rating was plus 19 points. Hey, that's pretty good. Two thumbs up. Siskel and Ebert. Now we're talking about two thumbs down. Look at this, minus 12 points. What a different world that we are in right now. Democrats do not like. They despise their own leadership. This is a shift away among Democrats of 31 points. They are 31 points south of the border compared to where they were at this point back in 2018.

BERMAN: And this is D on D crime.

ENTEN: This is D on D crime.

BERMAN: All right, how about Chuck Schumer?

ENTEN: Yes, what is driving these numbers. Well, take a look at Chuck Schumer's numbers. I mean, hello. OK. Schumer's net favorability with Democrats. Back in 2018, right, it was plus 28 points. But, of course, Democrats did not win back the United States Senate during the 2018 cycle. In 2018 -- in 2020, when they did, it was plus 53 points. Look at where it is now. A Marquette University Law School poll out earlier this month. It's minus five points. Johnny B., on the side, shaking his head. These are no bueno. No good numbers.

And this is among Democrats. Democrats hate Chuck Schumer. They don't like Chuck Schumer. And this is why you're seeing a lot of Democratic Senate candidates on the trail, when being asked about whether or not they want Chuck Schumer to be the next leader in the United States Senate for Democrats, they'll either try and push off the question or say, no. This is a decline, Johnny B., of what, 58 points. A 58-point difference from where we were back the last time that Democrats were trying to take back the United States Senate during the 2020 cycle.

BERMAN: Any historical precedent for this?

ENTEN: Yes, and this is the whole thing, historically unpopular.

[09:45:01]

There is no historical precedent for this. I mean just look here. OK, the least popular Dem Senate leader ever since at least 1985, when we can track this. The minus five among Democrats. Chuck Schumer is taking the cake when it comes to unpopularity for Senate leaders among Democrats, among their own party.

This is what I keep hitting on right now. This is not the overall electorate where Chuck Schumer is very much in the red. We're talking about among Democrats Chuck Schumer is in the red. I mean you just don't ever see these types of numbers among Democrats, who usually like their own leaders. But in this case, they do not.

BERMAN: I do like the idea that history began in 1985.

ENTEN: At least the polling history.

BERMAN: Yes.

ENTEN: I wasn't born in 1985. So, history, for me, began (INAUDIBLE) that.

BERMAN: There wasn't polling on Senate leaders like there is now before 1985.

ENTEN: Yes.

BERMAN: But since then, certainly seen nothing like this ever before.

OK, so what then do the prediction markets say about his chances of actually being the Democratic leader in the next Senate?

ENTEN: Yes, they're about -- they've been trading back and forth either just north or just south of the 50/50 borderline. OK, right now he's just north of it. The chance that Chuck Schumer wins the next Dem Senate leadership election, according to the Kalshi prediction market, just a 55 percent chance. This is a guy who's been the Dem Senate leader for forever. But at this point, if there's going to be one time where, hey, maybe he should be worried about his job, it's this leadership election coming up.

BERMAN: Harry Enten, thank you very much for this.

ENTEN: Thank you, my friend.

BERMAN: We got a lot of news this morning. We'll be right back.

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[09:50:57]

BOLDUAN: There was a really dramatic rescue from a fiery crash that was captured on a police body-worn camera. This is in Washington state.

But watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The vehicle's on fire.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't get out that way! (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I need a fire extinguisher now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: So, what happened here is officers say the driver actually raced away from them when they attempted to pull him over for speeding, and then that car clocked up to 111 miles an hour. And then the driver lost control and crashed. The car burst into flames. But the officers, as we see, jumped into action to help. Got him out safely. He was airlifted to a hospital. He now faces also several charges, including reckless driving.

A bitter family battle is brewing and kind of exploding into public view after Dolly Parton's death. In court documents, the legendary country music star's estate is accusing her nephew of threatening violence and trying to destroy her legacy and business empire. Dolly Parton had actually handpicked him to make the announcement of her death, and we saw that on social media last month. The estate is now asking for a temporary restraining order to keep the nephew away from Parton's employees and business dealings. He denies the allegations.

And it is a real-life rock em, sock em, friends. Robots versus social media. Well, at least a social media influencer. So, the social media influencer Frankie LaPenna, he got in the ring against a terminator- looking-esque robot, six feet tall, 165, that's the robot, and made of aviation-grade magnesium aluminum alloy, that's the robot. The robot's -- robotics startup REK is behind it all. LaPenna held his own for a bit until a roundhouse kick. The robot was being controlled by a human, not A.I. The fight was a promotion for REK's new robot fighting game. So, there you have that.

And then there's this. Ella Langley's break out hit "Choosin' Texas" making more music history. It is now the longest running number one song ever.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELLA LANGLEY, MUSICIAN (singing) : It doesn't take a crystal ball to see, a cowboy always finds a way to leave, drinkin' Jack all by myself. He's choosin' Texas, I can tell.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: So, Langley, an Alabama native, she co-wrote the song with country star Miranda Lambert. "Choosin' Texas" now beats out "All I Want for Christmas is You" by Mariah Carey. I would not mess with Mariah, though, I'm just warning. "A Bar Song" by Shaboozey, "Old Town Road," as you see, as well as "Last Night" by Morgan Wallen.

John, what to do? What to do? Would you like to now enter (ph)?

BERMAN: And I'm sure they'll be talking about it today at the United Nations General Assembly, what their favorite song is of all time.

Because happening there, the Trump administration will host a high level event on artificial intelligence. It comes as calls to slow down the development of A.I. are growing louder. Two of the biggest players in the world, Anthropic's CEO Dario Amodei and OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman, they are expected to speak at this United Nations special security council meeting focused on A.I. risk and security. I feel like I just said that.

With us now, CNN A.I. correspondent Hadas Gold.

What are the expectations for this meeting? Are they going to address the concerns?

HADAS GOLD, CNN A.I. CORRESPONDENT: Oh, I think they'll definitely address the concern of, obviously, Sam Altman and Dario speaking right now comes after weeks of this sort of global hand-wringing over A.I.'s capabilities and what, if anything, we should do about slowing down the pace.

Now, OpenAI officials briefed reporters on what Sam Altman is expected to say. And he's going to take a pragmatic, centrist approach, they say, and will propose international standards for A.I. safety. They emphasize that it's not going to be a global regulator, but more that Altman will suggest coordination amongst the already existing A.I. safety institutes that we already have around the world. The U.S. has one, the U.K. has one, and so forth.

But Sam Altman will say this should be U.S.-led. And they're kind of like, the U.N. can play a role or not. They just see the U.N. General Assembly and the security council is like a good place to kind of throw out this idea, try to spark conversation and get people to start moving, hopefully, and start coordinating in some way.

[09:55:11]

We did hear from the U.N. secretary general yesterday, who specifically warned about A.I.'s dangers, called for global cooperation. But then, of course, President Donald Trump spoke not long after him and pushed back, dismissing the idea as a globalist scheme, and said that the U.S. government will only encourage A.I. and not rein it in.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Every major new technology brings challenges. And superintelligence is no exception.

I'm not going to stifle growth of something that will be bigger than the industrial revolution. Many say bigger than the industrial revolution or the internet itself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLD: A lot of people, of course, will now be looking towards Washington when they -- we have that Chinese state visit. There will be that big dinner on Thursday where the biggest names in tech, Altman, Musk, Zuckerberg, Huang, Nadella, Bezos are all expected to attend. And there may be some big agreement there between the U.S. and China on A.I. We'll see.

BERMAN: Yes, plenty to discuss, to be sure.

Hadas Gold, thank you very much for that.

So, tonight, we're back, 7 p.m. "OFFICE HOURS." Cnn.com/officehours. And we're going to wrangle Sara P. Sidner to join us. We're going to take your questions. You can join us live and ask us live, or you can post them all day long at that address you see right there. You can tell by the sketchy look on Kate's face right there this will be good. What is -- what is going on there?

BOLDUAN: I don't know, but I just -- like every time you say slash, you say slosh, and that's where we are.

BERMAN: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Thanks. "SIT ROOM" now. Thanks.

BERMAN: Slosh.

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