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Source: Maxwell Granted Limited Immunity To Talk To DOJ; Lawmakers Turn Up Pressure On Trump Admin To Release Files; Trump Plays Golf In Scotland As Protesters Voice Anger Over His Visit; Gaza Health Ministry: 5 More People Die Of Malnutrition In Past 24 Hours; 3-Year-Old Boy Dies In Hot Car While Under AL State Care; 80M Plus People Under Major Heat Risk This Weekend; FEMA Aims To Cut Nearly $1B In Emergency Management And Homeland Security Grants; Kennedy to Dismiss Preventative Care Task Force; Meta's Recruitment Spree; NFL Players Punished Over Super Bowl Tickets. Aired 1-2p ET

Aired July 26, 2025 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00]

ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: Iin a new episode of the CNN Original Series, "Live Aid: When Rock 'N' Roll Took On The World." It airs Sunday 9:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific only on CNN.

Thanks for joining me on this Saturday in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Erica Hill in today for Fredricka Whitfield.

We begin this hour with the growing fallout over the Epstein case. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle turning up the pressure on the Trump administration to release more documents related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. For the past two days, Todd Blanche, the Deputy Attorney General, met with Ghislaine Maxwell. She's currently serving 20 years for conspiring with Epstein in the sex trafficking of minors.

This week, a House Oversight Committee voted to subpoena the Department of Justice for files related to Epstein.

CNN's Julia Benbrook joining us now. So, Julia, there has been so much focus on this in Washington, but it certainly goes far beyond the Capitol, and a number of lawmakers could likely be feeling some of that heat back home because they have now returned to their home districts for the summer recess.

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Erica, as President Donald Trump continues to hear shouted questions about this during his trip in Scotland, lawmakers are fielding questions directly from their constituents, the very people who will have a say in whether they're re-elected. When the Department of Justice and the FBI a few weeks ago now released a memo saying that it had not found a so-called client list incriminating associates of Jeffrey Epstein, it inflamed years- long conspiracy theories, some of which have been promoted by members of the Trump administration.

That memo came just months after Attorney General Pam Bondi had hyped up soon-to-be-released documents, suggesting that she had the so- called client list sitting on her desk. She has since clarified that she was speaking about other documents.

But there are still a lot of questions surrounding the Epstein investigation, and despite calls from Trump himself for his supporters to move on to other topics, this does not appear to be fading away anytime soon. And it's important to note that some of the loudest calls for more information are coming directly from the president's MAGA base.

Now, one GOP congressman holding a virtual town hall, this was Congressman Mike Kennedy of Utah. He's a practicing physician. That's important to note when you hear how he responded to this. But he got a question about the Epstein investigation, and he compared it to a wound that could continue to get worse if not treated properly.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

REP. MIKE KENNEDY (R), UTAH: I am a big fan of full transparency and of course health care and how it's delivered is a big way of thinking about things is if you've got a festering, boil infected wound with pus underneath there, you can continue to just let it fester and potentially, that's going to grow inward and create infection in your bloodstream and cause the whole body to be sick.

Well, it's another way, and I've done this many times over the course of my doctor careers. I just had to put a needle or a knife in it and cut it open and let it drain. And in the case of this Epstein stuff, absolutely, let it out.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

BENBROOK: And as you mentioned, we have seen some movement on Capitol Hill when it calls for more information. A House Oversight Subcommittee voted a bipartisan vote, I might add, to subpoena the Department of Justice for more documents related to Epstein. The House Oversight Chairman, James Comer, has told reporters that members of his committee have been expressing interest in this investigation for weeks and that they will move quickly when it comes to matters related to it. Erica?

HILL: Julia, I appreciate the reporting. Thank you.

Well, as all of this, of course, is unfolding both in Washington and in districts across the country. The president is in Scotland. He's there for a five-day visit, what the White House calls a working visit. It does put some physical distance between him and this growing Epstein fallout in Washington, D.C., but it is certainly not going away.

The president golfing today at his property in Turnberry, Scotland. It's one of two Scottish golf courses the president owns and plans to play during his visit. He is also set to meet with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the head of the European Commission for trade and tariffs talks.

The trip to Scotland is not without controversy itself. He's been met with large protests. There are more plans. CNN's Jeff Zeleny is in Scotland covering the president's visit. So we -- he had perhaps not the reception that wanted across the board, but that happens with world leaders as we know. What more is on the agenda for this trip, Jeff?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Erica, it does happen with virtually every world leader, every president, that I have covered dating back, to about four or five always, often, protest. But this rings a little bit different, largely because it really covers the gamut, including what you were just talking about, the Epstein saga playing in Washington. Even an ocean cannot keep the president from that conversation.

We attended, protests here in Edinburgh this morning. Hundreds of people gathered. Many signs talked about Jeffrey Epstein. There were many blown up photographs of Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump. Of course, the president has struggled to really get beyond all of this.

[13:05:10]

When he landed here last evening, he was answering questions again about Jeffrey Epstein. And he said he was not aware that his name was mentioned in the files, even though the White House has said that the attorney general mentioned to him just back in May that his name actually was mentioned. But for all of that, the president today is golfing at this hour, even as many around Scotland are protesting his very presence here.

We talked to one woman, Isabel Mather, this morning, who was quite colorful in her description.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

ISABEL MATHER, TRUMP PROTESTER: Well, you might not know what black- affronted means. It's a Scottish phrase. If I said, oh, I'm black- affronted, I'm very ashamed.

ZELENY: Like ashamed. Ashamed.

MATHER: Mortified, very ashamed. And I'm sure his mother would be. I think he's just the worst thing that has happened to your country and to the world, and a threat to all of us, a threat to democracy.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

ZELENY: So certainly many topics there of grievance in these protests. Gaza, of course, one of them, the deepening humanitarian crisis there, which we do expect will be on the agenda when President Trump meets with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday. He'll be meeting tomorrow with the head of the European Union, talking about trade and tariffs.

But for now, at least, another Saturday for President Trump golfing at one of his clubs. Of course, he usually does it in the United States. This weekend, he's doing it about 3,500 miles away, here in a very windy Scotland. But certainly, these temperate climates here offering a bit of a reprieve from the oppressive heat, humidity, and even controversies of Washington.

Erica?

HILL: Jeff, appreciate it. Thank you.

New today, the Palestinian Health Ministry says at least five more people have died of malnutrition, of starvation in the last 24 hours in Gaza, including two children. The ministry says hunger-related deaths now stand at at least 127 since Israel's war against Hamas began. And all of this coming as well as internal -- as an internal government review by USAID found there was no evidence of widespread theft by Hamas of U.S.-funded humanitarian aid in Gaza.

Why is that important? Well, there have been repeated claims by the State Department that Hamas militants were stealing food and supplies, as well as by the Israeli government. The Israeli military today rejected the findings of that USAID report, saying that it ignored, according to Israel, quote, "clear and explicit evidence" that Hamas exploits humanitarian aid to sustain its fighting capabilities, going on to say it goes so far as to criticize the IDF for rooting decisions made specifically to protect humanitarian staff and shipments.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond has a closer look at the ongoing crisis in Gaza. And I do want to warn you, these images are disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As starvation tightens its grip on Gaza, the most vulnerable are the first to find themselves in its clutches.

Amid months of Israeli restrictions, three-year old Mohammad weighs just 13 pounds. His cries speak to all that he's lacking. Mohammad suffers from a muscle disorder, but with physical therapy and the right nutrition, his mother, Hedaya, said he was healthy, active, and could sit upright. Not anymore. His small body has shed 6 pounds in short order.

HEDAYA AL MUTAWAQ, MOHAMMAD'S MOTHER (through translation): If there's food, we eat. If there isn't, we have no power except to rely on God. Some days we go one or two days without eating.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Gaza's hospitals are filled with babies like Mohammad and worried mothers like Hedaya, who are doing all they can to prevent their babies from becoming the next statistic.

At least 54 people have starved to death in Gaza just this week, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

YASMIN ABU SULTAN, MOTHER OF CHILD SUFFERING FROM MALNUTRITION (through translation): It's impossible for women to breastfeed without food. How is a mother supposed to build immunity?

DIAMOND (voice-over): There seems to be no end in sight to this misery, at least not anytime soon. Gaza ceasefire talks that would have surged humanitarian aid now faltering. In its place are only the smallest flickers of hope. The World Central Kitchen has been able to reopen some of its kitchens.

And facing global outrage, Israel agreeing for the first time in months to authorize airdrops of food aid into this ocean of despair.

DIAMOND: Amid those images of starvation that we are seeing in Gaza, this is one of the largest anti-war gatherings that we have seen in Israel. And you can see behind me the people who are reflecting what is happening in Gaza, people who are dying while trying to get food inside Gaza or simply not being able to get food at all.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Many here are Palestinians with Israeli citizenship.

SHADAM ABO YOUNIS, RESIDENT OF SAKHNIN: Because it was important to raise our voices in front of everyone and to show that we are always here and we always stand for Gaza. And yes, we want the -- this to end, the war to end.

[13:10:12]

DIAMOND (voice-over): There are also Jewish Israelis here, part of a small but increasingly vocal minority who believe Israel's actions in Gaza are criminal.

DEBBIE EYLON, HAIFA RESIDENT: They think also people are starting to realize what's being done in their name and the things are starting to leak into the Israeli media, which were hidden away.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Sakhnin, Israel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HILL: Still ahead here, a horrific tragedy for a family in Alabama. A young boy dies in a hot car. Why attorneys are now saying a state agency is to blame.

Plus, FEMA preparing to deal with $1 billion in funding cuts amid warnings inside the agency about the impact that could threaten the safety of millions of Americans.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:15:42]

HILL: A three-year-old boy in Alabama is dead. He actually died in foster care. Now a state agency is under investigation. CNN Correspondent Rafael Romo is following all of the developments here. So what more do we know about what happened to this little boy, Rafael?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Erica. A very tragic death in a hot car in the day the three-year-old boy, identified as Ke'Torrius Starks, was allegedly left strapped inside the car. It was humid with temperatures ranging from 93 to 96 degrees during the five hours in the afternoon. He was left alone. According to our own CNN meteorologist, those temperatures felt like 101 to 105 degrees with heat index values, not even considering the car the boy was in was in direct sunlight, as the family's attorney claims. According to officials and the family's attorney, a worker employed with a company contracted by the Alabama Department of Human Resources picked up the boy who went by KJ from daycare at 9:00 in the morning on Tuesday for a supervised visit with his father.

The visit, they say, ended around 11:30 a.m. But instead of returning the boy to daycare, the family's attorney says the contract worker made several personal errands with KJ buckled in a car seat in the back of the car. The attorney says the worker finally returned home by 12:30 p.m., parking her car and leaving the three-year-old boy strapped inside the vehicle with all windows up and the car engine off.

It was not until five hours later, around 5:30 in the afternoon, when the worker received a call from the daycare asking why the boy had not been returned that she apparently realized what had happened, according to the timeline the attorney provided. 911 was called and KJ was pronounced dead at 6:03 p.m.

This is how the boy's father told CNN affiliate WVTM he will remember his son.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

KE'TORRIUS STARKS SR., BOY'S FATHER: Small, brilliant, bright little child. I'm talking about when I say yes, yes, yes, respectful. I'm talking about knew how to count, knew his color. Three years old. Knew all the animals. I'm talking about he was very intelligent.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, he was, bro. He was real nice and all that.

STARKS: Like he was just joyful.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

ROMO: Earlier today, I had an opportunity to talk with Courtney French, the family's attorney, and this is what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

COURTNEY FRENCH, ATTORNEY TO VICTIM'S FAMILY: It's just hard to comprehend that you would leave a baby in a hot car and just have no recollection whatsoever that the baby's -- three-year-old child is trapped in your car. He died a brutal death.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

ROMO: And Erica, CNN also obtained a statement from the Alabama Department of Human Resources. "A child in DHR custody," the statement reads, "was being transported by a contract provider when the incident occurred. Due to confidentiality, DHR cannot comment further regarding the identity of the child or the exact circumstances." According to Kids and Car Safety, an organization dedicated to raising awareness about the dangers of hot cars for children and pets, this is the first hot car death to occur in Alabama this year and the 16th nationwide. Very, very tragic. Erica.

HILL: It certainly is. Just heartbreaking for the family.

Rafael, appreciate it. Thank you.

Still ahead here, FEMA's stark warning about the impact of a proposed $1 billion in cuts to the agency's budget.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:23:32]

HILL: More than 80 million people are under a major heat risk as a heat dome takes over the Midwest and the East. Some cities set to reach triple digits. And of course, we're coupling that with a whole lot of humidity.

CNN's Allison Chinchar has more on the extreme conditions.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It's already been a very hot summer, but now those temperatures are going to go up even higher in some places. And it's all thanks to this dome of high pressure, which is really just kind of keeping a lot of that heat trapped near the surface. And it's for a prolonged period of time. And that's a bigger concern.

Even as we head out into Monday, you'll notice it starts to spread out and impacting many more states, even than we will simply have on Saturday. You also start to see these areas of dark red indicating those temperatures could be 10 to even 15 degrees above average.

Now, one of the concerns is, yes, it's summer. We get it. It's supposed to be hot. But when the temperatures start to get that hot and for prolonged periods of time, you also start to have an increased risk of things like heat stroke and heat exhaustion. And that's going to be the concern where you see this purple color on the map. That is at the extreme portion of the heat risk chart.

And as we head into Sunday and into Monday, you start to see that purple area really start to spread out into more communities and more cities. And that's the big concern that we have with this next heat wave in particular. Looking at the numbers, it's not just temperature, but also adding in the humidity.

The two combined create what's called the heat index or the feels like temperature. It's going to be in the triple digits for places like Washington, D.C., Raleigh, even Atlanta, getting awfully close to that on Saturday. But they certainly will by the time we get to Sunday.

[13:25:06]

And a lot of these numbers, stay on the high side for several days in a row. Look at Omaha on Monday. That feels like temperature topping out at 111.

Now, if it feels like it's been a very hot summer to you, it's not just you. Look at all of these red dots here on the map. These dots indicate the areas that are dealing with their hottest summer to date on record. So it's not just this particular heat wave, but even the weeks leading up to it. All of June was very hot for many other places.

You take a look at a city like Atlanta, the average high this time of year is 90. We will spend every single one of the next seven days at or above that number, possibly even hitting triple digits by the time we get to Monday.

Now, if you live in the north, however, you're still going to get the heat, but you'll finally get some relief by the end of next week. Take Chicago, for example. Average high of 84. You'll top out at 92 on Monday, but finally some relief back into the 70s by the end of next week.

HILL: We will take that relief. Allison, thank you.

New exclusive CNN reporting is offering a stark warning. FEMA is proposing nearly $1 billion in cuts to disaster preparedness and security grants. That's according to internal memos and two FEMA officials familiar with the plans. And in those memos, the agency says the cuts would create a, quote, "less secure nation." So this is money that goes to communities and to first responders to help prepare for disasters and potential terror attacks.

Joining me now is Juliette Kayyem, she's a CNN Senior National Security Analyst, also the former assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security. So, Juliette, when you -- when we look at this, the fact that we're talking about a proposed $1 billion or so in cuts here, these internal memos offering this stark warning about national security, would you agree with that?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes. And I should say I was also a state Homeland Security adviser, so that we were -- we received these grants. And so how they worked is each state would have a variety of plans or policies that, you know, to support law enforcement efforts, emergency management for an all -- what we call an all hazards approach. So a state like Massachusetts would do for Boston Marathon planning or something like that.

And the reason why the federal government is invested, why the federal government should give these grants, is because these are federal interests. You want the states to be as strong as possible from any harm, you know, terror or climate. So the reduction of these grants generally called the Homeland Security Grants is a big deal for state and local recipients.

It means they won't be able to invest. And it doesn't even touch upon the dramatic changes at FEMA generally regarding their staff reductions, which will then harm states and localities who won't be able to get the disaster relief and assistance they need. HILL: You know, in so many of these cuts, what we're seeing -- and I'm thinking even most recently of proposed cuts that were discussed in the wake of the deadly flash flooding in Texas, you and I were covering that as we were learning more in that weekend, in the aftermath. There seems to be in many cases, there's a push for a big headline, right, in terms of we're cutting a big number, we're cutting a big number of employees, for example.

And most Americans would agree that there are likely ways to do the things that government does more efficiently, and that includes more efficiently financially. But as you look at this as someone who knows --

KAYYEM: Yes.

HILL: -- intimately how things work, is it your sense that there is a rhyme and a reason to the way these proposed cuts are coming about?

KAYYEM: So I have -- I've got two answers to that. So I talk and work with a lot of state and local emergency managers. Their basic worry right now isn't so much a number. It's just, they don't know. They don't know what the plan is.

And you don't want to go into hurricane season or, you know, 365-day fire season without knowing what's the division of labor. And so what's -- what Trump's administration has done is said, well, we want everything to change, but they haven't put anything new in its place. And that kind of ambiguity is challenging.

The second is just this idea of efficiency coming from DOGE. Of course, we want to be more efficient. We want to end fraud. It's a difficult way to judge preparedness, right? You think about it like, you know, I often say you're going to miss it when it's gone, right? And you said, you don't know you want an early alert system for floods until you really want it because children are dying.

And that's one of the challenges of judging preparedness as a nation for the kinds of harms we're going to get is you don't really need them until you actually really need them. And I have to say, I think that's why Donald Trump switched 180 degrees on whether FEMA was going to still exist. He thinks I can get rid of it. No one cares.

And then all of a sudden, you know, you've got a lot of people dead and people realize, wow, this is a government -- you know, this is a government function that we really, really want. And I hope that they continue to learn the lesson of what emergency management and homeland security is. It's about getting ready and that you don't know you need until you actually really need it.

And we have hurricanes and terrorism and cyber-attacks and viruses, all the things that we want in place to protect ourselves from the harms ahead.

[13:30:20]

HILL: Someone once made the analogy to me that -- and this can be applied to a number of things, it's likened it to a fire department. So, there are plenty of hours in a day where you may have a number of firefighters sitting around waiting for something to happen, and people may look at that and say, why are we paying so many people to sit there and be ready?

KAYYEM: Yes.

HILL: But then when the moment happens, which you can't always predict, those are all the people who you need to be ready in the moment.

KAYYEM: That's exactly right. I mean, that's what it means -- what preparedness means is you can't judge it until you actually need it. So, I think a lot -- one of the entities that was cut from the FAA wasn't air traffic controllers because the Trump administration said, no, we're keeping the air traffic controllers. But there was a group of people around the air traffic controllers who exist for the sole function of diverting airplanes if there's space or if there's air debris. So, you don't think, oh, well, you know, they're just sitting around like, how hard could that be?

And then, in the middle of this one of Elon Musk's rockets blows up and they're -- and you have to divert hundreds of commercial flights to avoid this -- the debris. So, it's just that kind of thing that you're not -- that, you know, you're sort of thinking, well, why do we need those people sitting around? Well, you need them for that moment when you're protecting hundreds of thousands of people in the sky. And that's how we have to think about what FEMA actually does in terms of preparing the nation as a whole and thinking about what burdens are we putting on state and locals through this whole new regime that no one quite knows what it looks like yet and are they ready for it?

And the answer, at least on the last one is, they don't even know -- they don't know what FEMA is. They don't even know what's going to exist as we head into hurricane season.

HILL: And so, in terms of that uncertainty that state and local officials are feeling, right, they don't know what's going to be available, then they don't know how things are going to change. When you are speaking with those state and local officials, how successful have they been in making their case, if you will, to federal officials or at least -- or even having that line of communication open?

KAYYEM: Well, we will see. This is a new story. We'll see of whether there's push by particular localities. This is hitting urban cities. This reduction is hitting urban cities the most. I'm not the first to notice, as we've been reporting, that Donald Trump goes after cities in terms of funding in urban or blue cities. We're also starting to see potentially a distinction in terms of disaster relief between blue states that seek it and red states. This is partisanship that we've never seen in disaster management before. There's always been politics, but there's never been partisanship.

So, we have to see how this unfolds. But there's no question that they're adapting. FEMA is still in place. It's I think about 25 percent staff reduction now. We've got more harms coming in terms of flooding and heat, as we just were reporting. And of course, hurricane season, which is going to peak more later in the summer. And the will is there to protect the American public, I think from everyone, in emergency management on the operational level, it's just whether there's capacity. We still -- we can surmise at this stage that a -- say a billion -- billions of dollars of loss and 20 to 25 percent FEMA staff reduction do not bode well.

HILL: Juliette, always good to talk to you. Thank you.

KAYYEM: Thank you.

HILL: Still ahead here, new reporting on Secretary Kennedy's plans to dismantle a group that's focused on preventive care. So, that includes things like cancer screenings. How could that impact your care? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:35:00]

HILL: US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, plans to dismiss the department's expert panel on preventative care, that's according to reporting from The Wall Street Journal. That expert task force was established in 1984 to provide recommendations about preventative care. So, these are things like cancer screenings. An HHS spokesperson telling CNN, no final decision has been made.

It's important to note though, that The Journal's reporting comes after RFK Jr. had called off this month's task force meeting. Joining me now, internal medicine physician, Dr. Lipi Roy. So, it's good to have you with us, Dr. Roy. So, when you hear this, the fact that this panel may go away, practically speaking, what would that mean?

DR. LIPI ROY, INTERNATIONAL MEDICINE PHYSICIAN AND FOUNDER OF SITA MED: Good to be with you, Erica. So, as a former primary care physician who relied heavily on the recommendations by this U.S. task -- Preventive Services Task Force. As you mentioned, it's a 16-member group of experts, national volunteer experts trained in internal medicine, preventive medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics, gynecology, family medicine. These are individuals who go through rigorous -- evaluate rigorous systematic review of a scientific literature in order to create these clinical recommendations for healthcare professionals like me.

[13:40:00]

And as I said, as a former primary care doctor, and now as an addiction medicine doctor, I've always relied heavily on these recommendations so I could provide the best possible clinical advice to my patients as to when they should get a breast -- a mammogram to screen for breast cancer, when they should get a low dose CAT scan or CT scan to evaluate or screen for lung cancer.

The reason why these recommendations matter is because, first of all, science evolves. It's constantly changing. So, we need experts to evaluate that those -- that literature so that folks like us can understand it and then explain it to our patients and to the public. The earlier you're able to screen for something, the better that you are able to treat it and manage it, and ideally, to prevent it. Erica.

HILL: There's also a question of -- so we know if certain vaccines are not recommended, that insurance may not cover them. So, this also could come into play when we're talking about preventative care. So, if all of a sudden you have HHS, you know, saying we don't necessarily recommend that you get a pap smear every X number of years. We don't recommend early breast cancer screenings in a country where healthcare is increasingly costly, and for many people, it could be tough to find healthcare in their area that is actually under their insurance plan. Could this lead to insurance also not covering some of these preventive measures that have perhaps been covered for decades?

DR. ROY: That's an absolute concern among my patients, the public, and certainly amongst medical professionals like me. Insurance companies, they use -- they have their own metrics in terms of why they fund or cover certain services. A lot of that's based on science, it's based on advisory panels like this preventive task force.

So, what's concerning for me and a lot of my colleagues is that this decision by RFK and HHS to dismiss this preventive task force is part of this disturbing trend. As you and your team have pointed out last month, RFK dismissed the advisory panel, ASIP, for vaccines in the -- at the CDC.

I mean, look, these vaccines have been tried and choose the most effective preventive health strategy or tool to prevent diseases. I mean, there's a reason why you and I, Erica, do not wake up in the morning coughing or bleeding out because of an infection caused by tetanus or polio, we're not waking up paralyzed with our brain and spinal cord because we have vaccines, medicines based on decades of research that we got when we were babies that prevent us from getting these diseases.

This is a disturbing trend, Erica, and it's disturbing because I wonder what's the rationale for making this decision? Is it politically? It's very disturbing.

HILL: So -- and so, that -- you know, real quickly, because we're a little tight on time, but that gets to one question that I have for you, which is, do you see anything about -- you know, in terms of what you know about these committees? As you noted, the science is constantly evolving. We're constantly learning more from research. So, the members of these panels are typically going through a lot of that because they're experts in their subject matter. But is there anything that you've seen over the years that says to you, we should eliminate this wholesale? That this would actually -- we would be better off in the United States to not have the recommendations from a group like this Preventive Care Task Force?

DR. ROY: I have no -- I see no evidence why there'd be any kind of rationale, any science-based, evidence-based rationale to eliminate this group. If it's for cost cutting, I'm all for cost cutting, but cutting back on costs and services has to be based on data. What actual data do they have? If they want to actually fund research, what they should be funding research and services for are for substance use disorders, mental health disorders, women's health, loneliness, depression. All of these are social media, gambling, gaming, addiction, these are -- there's a lot of growing health concerns that I believe HHS should be funding and looking into, but eliminating this task force, that is not the way to go. Erica. I believe it's going to harm a lot more people. Things are going to get worse before it gets better, in my opinion. Erica.

HILL: Dr. Lipi Roy, really appreciate your expertise. Thank you for joining us this afternoon.

DR. ROY: Anytime.

HILL: Just ahead here, how Meta and Mark Zuckerberg are now spending big money to try to get ahead in the race for A.I. dominance.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:45:00]

HILL: Meta, CEO Mark Zuckerberg wants his company to get ahead when it comes to artificial intelligence, and he's shelling out billions to make that happen. Now, OpenAI, Google, Apple, and other competitors are trying to keep up with Meta's recruiting spree. CNN's Clare Duffy has more now on the A.I. talent race.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Yes, Meta really has kicked off this talent war within the A.I. industry. It's almost like these big A.I. companies are starting to be something like basketball teams and they're shelling out multi-million dollar pay packages for some of the top talent. Mark Zuckerberg appears willing to spare almost no expense to make sure that his company wins this race.

Now, Meta had been spending hundreds of billions of dollars to build out A.I. infrastructure, like data centers and chips, and now it's really gone on this big hiring spree that started with a $14 billion investment last month into the A.I. startup scale. As part of that deal, it hired away Scale's founder and CEO Alexandr Wang to run this new team called Meta Super Intelligence Labs.

[13:50:00]

Now, Meta has hired around two dozen of the top A.I. researchers, software engineers, product managers, and it is, again, shelling out multimillion dollar pay packages to hire those people away from its rivals. That strategy appears to be working. It's hired top talent away from OpenAI, from Google, Anthropic. Apple, Scale AI.

And of course, the stakes here for Mark Zuckerberg are quite high. Mark Zuckerberg would like for Meta to be more than just a social media company. He had sort of a failed pivot to the Metaverse several years ago. And so, now, he is reorienting the company around artificial intelligence. He's made these huge investments in data centers. He needs to do something with those. Meta has also built these growing devices business around smart glasses. That business hinges on Meta's A.I. model continuing to get better. And then of course, Meta is also using A.I. in its core business, that is to make it even better at targeting people with ads across social media. All of those things depend on Meta continuing to be a leader in this space.

Clare Duffy, CNN, New York.

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HILL: In a new episode of the CNN Original Series, "Billionaire Boys Club," Joe Hunt's plan for revenge on former investor Ron Levin goes awry and careless mistakes expose him, as members of the club begin to turn on Hunt. He also finds himself on trial for murder following the disappearance of Levin. His life, as he knows it, now depends on convincing a jury that in fact Levin is still alive. Here's a preview.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Once Joe had decided that he was going to dispatch Ron Levin, he made a list of ingredients, let's say, things to do. Joe left the list at the crime scene. It's like OJ leaving the Heisman. You know, you don't want to leave the Heisman there. They're going to know it's you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Certain things on it were very, very disturbing at Levin's to-do reads at the top, close the blinds, scan for tape recorder, tape the mouth, handcuff, explain the situation, use a corporate seal, have Levin sign agreements, and fill in blanks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: You can catch this all-new episode of "Billionaire Boys Club" Sunday at 10:00 p.m. right here on CNN.

In a moment, the NFL says, more than a hundred players and club employees sold their Super Bowl tickets above face value. That's a direct violation of League rules. The punishment they're now facing.

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HILL: A historic night in Houston for Athletics rookie Nick Kurtz. The 22-year-old became the youngest player in Major League baseball history to smash four home runs in a single game. CNN's Andy Scholes has more on a special night.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Well, Erica, this was just an incredible performance from Nick Kurtz, and he was about five feet away from becoming the first player ever to hit five home runs in a game. Kurtz hit his first home run of the night, going opposite field into the Crawford boxes, in the second inning at Daikin Park. Then in the fourth inning, show you this, in fact, it was not a home run. He comes up just short. But had it been Kurtz would've ended up with five home runs. The A's rookie never got out all night. He homered again in the sixth, the eighth, and in the ninth off position player Cooper Hummel.

Kurtz is the first rookie ever to hit four homers and the 20th to do it in Major League history. The 22-year-old slugger also tied Sean Green's Major League record with 19 total bases in the game. His parents and godparents were there in Houston to see it making an extra special night. Kurtz saying afterwards, this was stuff you don't even dream about because it doesn't really happen. The A's, they won big in that one, 15 to three.

In Boston, meanwhile, Aramark concession workers at Fenway Park went on strike before the Dodgers game yesterday. Many formed a picket line outside the stadium telling fans to not buy concessions as they fight for higher wages. The Red Sox noted that the team is not involved in the negotiations, and they did have contingencies in place this weekend so fans would still have a full and uninterrupted ballpark experience.

And all those Red Sox fans, they did get to see a pretty awesome double rainbow over Fenway last night during the game, however, did not get to see a Red Sox win as they lost to the Dodgers by two.

The NFL, meanwhile, cracking down on players and team personnel that sold their Super Bowl tickets for a profit. So, each NFL player, they can buy two Super Bowl tickets at face value, but you're not allowed to sell them for a profit. And the NFL says they're finding more than a hundred players and approximately two dozen team employees for selling their ticket.

Now, the players that violated the rule, they're being fined one and a half times the amount of face value of the tickets they sold. While team employees, they're being fined double. And, Erica, the players who got caught also lose the right to buy Super Bowl tickets for two years unless they're playing in the big game.

HILL: Andy, appreciate it. Thank you. Let that be a lesson. Heartfelt tributes continuing to pour in for wrestling legend and pop culture icon, Hulk Hogan. Current stars and some legends from the past coming together in Cleveland at Friday night's SmackDown to pay their respects. Hogan passed away on Thursday after suffering cardiac arrest. The WWE, honoring him with a video, highlighting his most memorable moments in the ring at a special 10-Bell Salute.

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