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NBC Poll: Latino Voters Favor Democratic Party on Handling Economy; Slotkin, El-Sayed Push Message of Unity Ahead of Midterms; Ex-OpenAI Safety Leader Sounds Alarm on AI Risks; Supreme Court Begins New Term with Round of Critical Cases; Marimar Martinez Suing Over Chicago CBP Shooting. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired October 05, 2026 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

ASHLEY DAVIS, FORMER HOMELAND SECURITY OFFICIAL UNDER PRES. GEORGE W. BUSH: ... season. So we are all reacting, especially all of us that live in politics, to every poll that comes out. At the end of the day, are people going to think that Republicans, not necessarily Trump, are better or not?

And we'll see.

JOEL PAYNE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I think sometimes also the story really depends on which race you're talking about. So in Texas in particular. One of the reasons why James Talarico won that primary against Jasmine Crockett, he overperformed with Latinos.

And if James Talarico is going to win in November in a few weeks, he's going to need Latinos to show up for him in a big, big way, in a way that's directionally different than what Donald Trump did in 2024.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Let's take a look at Michigan. Abdul El- Sayed is getting a lot of backup. He's got former President Barack Obama, who's going to be campaigning alongside him this month.

He had Elissa Slotkin, a moderate Michigan senator, with him doing a joint town hall over the weekend. So kind of covering that other flank for him. And here's what they said in an interview afterward.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ELISSA SLOTKIN (D-MI): There's no such thing as like the Jewish voters, just like there's no such thing as the Muslim voters or the black voters, like people have their own views and the things that they prioritize are going to drive their vote. But I think, frankly, for the state of Michigan, we want to -- like people want to see a Jewish woman and a Muslim man being able to get along, debate, push and pull on each other and move the state forward.

ABDUL EL-SAYED, (D) SENATE NOMINEE: I'll tell you that the thing that neither Senator Slotkin nor I will ever budge on is that you ought to be safe in your place of worship, whether you are Jewish or you're Muslim or you're Christian or you're Hindu or you're Sikh.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Kumbaya, my Lord, Joel.

PAYNE: I think it is. Considering three months ago, four months ago, the state of that primary, which was about as tough as you've experienced with Haley Stevens and Abdul El-Sayed going back and forth and with Democrats really not seeming like they could bring the coalition back together, to have Slotkin, who is a very strong -- she actually did not come out and publicly support Haley Stevens. So I think most people assumed that she was supporting Stevens.

Yet all these other prominent Democrats in the state of Michigan supporting Haley Stevens over Abdul El-Sayed to really signal and show that those folks have kind of come behind Abdul El-Sayed and coalition. That's significant and that's a big deal. And I think that's the point of that.

The words matter less than the image on the screen and the signaling and the safety it creates for voters.

DAVIS: So I was just going to say, when you're explaining, it's not a good thing, but I think the picture is what you needed there. But Obama going is a big deal because he struggled so much in the primary with Black voters. And I mean, you and I were talking about this earlier as well.

And so does he help shore up, like especially in the Detroit area, some of those voters?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Ashley and Joel, appreciate the conversation. Thank you so much.

Still plenty more news to come this afternoon. Another AI leader resigning. Hear with the now former open AI employee is saying about the technology the company is now developing.

[08:05:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: A former OpenAI safety leader is speaking out about what he calls a broken culture at the company. Writing in The Atlantic, David Robinson says he resigned after three and a half years at OpenAI, where he led the creation of safety reports before each major launch. He says he joins a parade of departed staff who believe that companies building this technology are not being nearly careful enough, and the lack of wisdom about how to handle dangerous technology needs a degree of humility, something Robinson says is missing in Silicon Valley.

This comes as questions about AI safety and oversight continue to grow across the industry. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently told Politico's Decoded newsletter there is, quote, a lot of daylight between his company and rival Anthropic on AI regulation, describing the gap as his willingness to live with some harm in exchange for broad user access. Joining us now to discuss is technology journalist and host of the RIP

Current podcast, Jacob Ward. Jacob, thanks for being with us. What is your understanding of this daylight that Altman is talking about between OpenAI and Anthropic?

JACOB WARD, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Hey, Boris. Yes, it's a weird one because just about a week ago, I think you and I were actually talking about the degree to which those two seem to suddenly be in lockstep when Dario Amodei came out basically saying that, you know, this technology may be out of control, that some voluntary, you know, pulling back is going to be necessary here. Sam Altman was one of the first people to step up and say, yes, I feel the same way.

Even Elon Musk got on the train at that time. And now it seems that there is some sort of difference at work here. I mean, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that after the recent showcase, let's call it, the dog and pony show in which Trump had all of the AI leaders with him in Washington, D.C. to announce that now it's called superintelligence, not artificial intelligence. Supposedly, Dario Amodei was sort of taken to task by the other AI leaders for having been so frank about his opinions about the dangers and told essentially, shut up, dude, you know, be less, you know, open about that kind of stuff. And so this may be an effort to try to maybe sideline them. And you have to remember, these are both companies that soon enough are going to be both public companies and they're fierce, fierce rivals in trying to capture money here.

So I think there's probably just some daylight here just because of the natural competitive nature of this landscape we're in.

[08:10:00]

SANCHEZ: That was the other aspect of this that I wanted to get your thoughts on, because despite Amodei's calls to slow down, Anthropic is gearing up for an IPO that could come as soon as next month, potentially valued at some $2 trillion, right? Anthropic did lose $42 billion last year, so right now they're not exactly profitable.

OpenAI itself delayed its own IPO until next year because of safety concerns. So how much does this discourse around slowing things down and safety concerns factor into the fact that these are companies that are trying to show they can make a profit?

WARD: Yes, I mean, we haven't even really gotten to that place yet, right? These companies are truly going to be asked to make a choice between, you know, of making the money that they make off the stock market and releasing something now. OpenAI just recently spiked the launch of a new product because it said that it was not ready, that it had in fact malfunctioned in ways that they were alarmed by.

But I mean, going back to what you mentioned at the top here, this David Robinson letter from a former safety leader at OpenAI, I mean, he points out that the whole vision of this industry was, we're going to need to scale up as fast as possible, that as much compute as we can get underneath this product is what we're going to need to do. And so he said, you know, the building of these incredible server farms and data centers to make this thing possible was the nature of the industry. And so, you know, this is an industry that has absolutely signed up for an incredible expense, is going to require the public financing to make that possible.

And now you have Sam Altman openly saying, listen, we're going to be, you know, there's going to be some harm here and you should, you know, what did he say? The world should be prepared to accept that in exchange for the good things that are going to come from this. I don't know about you, Boris, I don't know who he's talking about.

Are you the world? Am I the world? Who's the world?

When do we get some input on this? We certainly don't seem to under the guise of President Trump's new task force he's put together. So, you know, I'm really running out of places in which the average American is going to have any input at all.

And once these companies are public, maybe that's it. The market will be the only input. And at that time, they'll just be concerned with making money.

So it's not a great day for democracy, I would say, in the AI world right now.

SANCHEZ: Yes. At one point I thought we are the world. We are the children.

But I think that is long past. Jacob Ward, thanks so much for joining us.

WARD: Appreciate you, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Of course. Coming up, a new term and a new docket. We're going to take a look at the major cases the Supreme Court is set to decide.

[08:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: The Supreme Court's new term kicking off today with some big cases on the docket. And that includes a crucial case over climate change and an important second amendment challenge surrounding a ban on AR-15 rifles. CNN crime and justice correspondent Katelyn Polantz is here with more on these cases and others that are coming before the court.

All right, what are we looking for here?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: First day of term, we had a big case today. That one is about climate change. Or it's actually about the role of the federal courts in cases against energy companies.

In this particular case, it's called Suncor Energies. This case is where the city of Boulder, Colorado, wants to hold energy companies, places, oil refineries in the state of Colorado, responsible for the effects of climate change in that city. The amount of expenses that they have to pay to deal with wildfires and floods and public safety issues and emergency services.

All of the on-the-ground effects of climate change. It's not about climate change itself. ExxonMobil in this case even says we agree climate change is a thing.

We just think that it's a question for federal courts and not something that juries in states or that states, cities, counties can sue over. They want the Supreme Court to step in and stop the litigation. The arguments today were really interesting in that Justice Kagan pointed out and asked a question about, isn't this just like the tobacco litigation against Big Tobacco in the 1990s?

And Justice Kavanaugh, who may be on the other side of this, just judging by his questions today, indicated that this could be extremely damaging to these energy companies. It could potentially bankrupt some of them. So big questions at play in the first day of term.

A lot more to come as always, especially on issues that are very at the core of Trump administration policies like immigration rights, transgender care. We really don't know the shape of the term yet because stuff moves fast in the court system. The one thing that was a little bit of a curveball today in these hearings is that you didn't have all nine justices sitting for this very first case on climate change.

It was only eight because Justice Samuel Alito recused.

KEILAR: Really? OK. And he's also speaking publicly about retirement.

POLANTZ: Sure. So today he's not on the bench, but he has been out there this weekend because he has a book coming out and he spoke at length to CBS News about his career and addressed head on the question, are you going to retire? Here's what he said in an interview with Jan Crawford Greenberg at CBS.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAN CRAWFORD, CBS NEWS, CHIEF LEGAL CORRESPONDENT: What made you decide to stay on?

JUSTICE SAMEUL ALITO, U.S. SUPREME COURT: I thought about it and --

CRAWFORD: You did, you considered it.

ALITO: I will continue. Well, it's something I think that somebody at my age has to think about every term.

CRAWFORD: So you'll be kind of reconsidering this probably every year, rethinking it.

[08:20:00]

ALITO: Yes, I think I have to. (END VIDEO CLIP)

POLANTZ: So there's Justice Alito on whether this would be the last term for him to serve on the Supreme Court. A lot of speculation over whether he would be the first or next seat open on that court, especially while Donald Trump is still president. He also was asked in that interview some other very interesting questions, including asked what he thinks in response to people who think he's angry or bitter as a Justice.

And he said it's a caricature. But also spoke quite a bit about how scary it is for the Supreme Court justices when they've made controversial decisions. There's threats to their life, assassination attempts.

KEILAR: Yes, no, we've seen that. It is scary. Katelyn, thank you so much.

Much more to come, much more on all of this. Thank you -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Now to some of the other headlines we're watching this hour. A 20-year-old U.S. Marine is now in custody in Okinawa, Japan, suspected of murder and robbery after a woman's body was discovered in a hotel room. Prosecutors are deciding whether to formally charge Lance Corporal Devin Jacob Ballard after surveillance footage reportedly shows a man believed to be a foreign national with a shaved head entering the hotel room with the woman and later leaving the building with her belongings. Police say the 39-year-old woman died after being strangled.

The case has prompted outrage in Japan. It is the latest in a string of criminal allegations against U.S. military personnel on the island chain.

Also, police in Italy are seizing hundreds of exotic live animals from a car at the Port of Palazzo bound for Malta on Sunday. 300 tortoises and 77 parrots were discovered. Almost all of the parrots were on the endangered species list.

Police say the animals were being transported illegally in cramped conditions but are now being cared for in a suitable facility. The suspect has been referred to the prosecutor's office on multiple claims.

And Russian tennis star Daniil Medvedev has been disqualified from his China Open semifinal clash with Novak Djokovic after he hit a ball into the crowd, apparently striking a fan in the eye. After Medvedev lost the point in the second set, he hit the ball which was coming off the wall, and it appeared to hit a spectator who you see there holding his eye in the first row.

The fan clutching his left eye appearing to be in pain as he exited the gallery.

Coming up, a Chicago woman who was shot five times by a border patrol agent is now suing the federal government. What we're learning about this case right after this.

[08:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: We have breaking news. A woman who was shot multiple times by a Customs and Border Patrol agent is now filing a civil lawsuit against the federal government. Marimar Martinez was wounded a year ago in Chicago during expanded immigration enforcement operations there.

She was initially accused of ramming an agent's vehicle, and she was indicted. But a judge ultimately dismissed the government's charges against her. CNN's Omar Jimenez has been tracking the latest on this case.

Omar, her attorneys, just had a press conference. What are they saying?

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so they're saying a few things. One, they announced the filing of this civil lawsuit, which comes about a year and a day since she was shot by Border Patrol back on October 4th, 2025. And remember, this was someone who was initially accused of ramming her vehicle into federal law enforcement.

The agent then fired defensive shots. She was charged. But then later, the federal government dismissed their own case or asked to drop their own case against Martinez.

And it was then dropped. And then we ended up seeing not just some of this surveillance video, which is some of Martinez's car that day, but also body camera video was released that appeared to show the agent turning into her. So that was some of the basis for why, again, Martinez and their attorneys wanted to then file a civil lawsuit.

But on top of that, we heard from their attorney today as part of their press conference, another reason. And I want you to listen to some of that here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTOPHER PARENTE, ATTORNEY FOR MARIMAR MARTINEZ: When the indictment was dismissed, we were done. She's like, Chris, I'm done. I don't want anything to do with this.

I'm done. And it wasn't until Minnesota happened where Renee Good and Alex Pretti were killed, where she said, we have to do something.

MARIMAR MARTINEZ, SHOT BY CDP AGENT: Right now, we're just focused on moving forward with the civil case and just heal emotionally and physically. What's happening is not normal. We shouldn't stay here and normalize what's happening.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: And that was something she told me back in February when they sort of started the initial process to get to this federal lawsuit. But they also emphasize one other thing as part of this. So, yes, this is a civil lawsuit and there will be civil remedies that they are seeking as part of this.

But they also hope that some of what they include in this spurs pressure for criminal charges. To this point, the agent has not been charged criminally, either at the state or federal level. And that is something that they believe would signify justice.

That was something Martinez told me personally, that that's what justice would look like for her, that not only this agent would be charged, but that he would be behind bars as well. The latest we've heard from DHS was a similar response to months ago, essentially saying that this agent was placed on administrative leave. His current status is still unknown.

But at the very least, this was a big step for Martinez. And it also comes days after the family of Renee Good filed a similar civil lawsuit along what's called the Federal Tort Claims Act because of what happened to Good there. And clearly what happened in Minnesota ...

END