Return to Transcripts main page

CNN This Morning

Harris Takes Higher-Profile Role; Two Officers and Firefighter Killed in Minnesota; OpenAI Lets Users Create Video from Text Prompts; Trump Launches Shoe Line. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired February 19, 2024 - 08:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:30:39]

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: New reporting this morning about Vice President Kamala Harris and a quieted effort to have her play a larger role in the Biden re-election effort. Some well-known Biden supporters want to see more of her on the trail.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHARLAMAGNE THA GOD, HOST, SIRIUS XM'S "THE BREAKFAST CLUB": There's things that she could say that I feel like, you know, he can't. And I mean, man, we all remember her in those Senate hearings when she was pressing those people, when she was like really on -- you know, she was prosecuting these people. And I want to see her prosecute the case against Donald Trump in this country, I feel like she could go out there and really let the American people, you know, know what's going on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: CNN's Isaac Dovere broke that story. He joins us now.

And, Isaac, tell us a little more about the specifics, how she would play a role in the re-election campaign.

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, what she's been doing, Audie, so far is a lot of meetings that have been behind the scenes. Some have been on Air Force Two or on the sidelines of the White House Congressional Christmas Party, at her residence in the Naval Observatory. A lot of Saturday sessions there. Even at Eva Longoria's house in Los Angeles at one point in December. She's been trying to get information, she says, from on the ground, from talking to people who are out there in the battleground states dealing with communities and constituencies that the Biden-Harris campaign needs.

Look, she is meeting with people who say that they feel like they are not being heard by the White House and the Biden campaign. One person who attended one of the meetings said to me, the bedwetting complaints are running thin with people. That is from --reflecting this idea that people feel like when they say that things aren't going great for the Biden campaign, the campaign and the inner circle of Biden advisers tends to brush them off. But Harris has been talking with them, meeting with them, listening to

what they think that's being done differently, and then trying to put herself in a position to bring some suggestions back to the campaign about different things that she needs to be doing and that the campaign needs to be doing overall.

CORNISH: And what are some of the things she sees as a potential solution?

DOVERE: Well, look, it -- what she says to people in these meetings a lot is that she's not worried about Biden losing to Donald Trump, but she's worried about him losing to the couch is the way that she puts it. That people won't feel engaged enough to - to turn out for them in November.

And so, for example, in her meetings with black men, she's had one meeting with a bunch of black entertainment celebrities, all men, another meeting with political and financial leaders, saying to them, what needs to be done to connect with the economic messaging. The success of the record from the Biden-Harris years is not translating, is not connecting with them. How do they make that feel more present for people? And its things like not talking about it just being success or things like the acronyms like the ARP has been great, but to really talk about the impact on people's lives.

CORNISH: Have to wonder if the fruits of that support are heard in that Charlamagne Tha God cut at the top there. That was an interesting moment.

Edward-Isaac Dovere, thanks so much for this reporting.

DOVERE: Thank you.

CORNISH: Now, a community in Minnesota is in mourning after two police officers and a firefighter were killed while responding to a domestic incident on Sunday. Officials say they were called to a home where an armed man barricaded himself inside with family members, including seven children.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The suspect, who has not been identified, also has died.

CNN's Camila Bernal is live in Los Angeles with the latest here.

Camila, what can you tell us about what happened?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, this morning these three victims, three men who are being remembered as heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice, the two officers, just 27 years old, the firefighter, a paramedic, just 40 years old. All three of them giving their lives to save others.

Now, this all happened on Sunday morning, 1:50 a.m., that first call came in and reported a domestic situation where a man who was armed was barricading with family members. You mentioned those seven children. They were ages two to 15. And negotiators were there for a while trying to solve this situation. But at some point the suspect open fire. Authorities saying that -- that gunshots came from different locations. They said he had several guns, a large amount of ammunition. And they're still trying to piece together exactly what happened inside of that home.

[08:35:00]

Here's what authorities are saying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DREW EVANS, SUPERINTENDENT, Minnesota BUREAU OF CRIMINAL APPREHENSION: The exact timing and cadence of what occurred will be part of our active investigation as we review video, officers body-cams, video that might be in the area, conduct interviews, and all available evidence to really figure out exactly what occurred.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERNAL: Now, authorities say that the suspect is dead. They also say the seven children were able to exit the home later that morning safely. There was another officer who was injured, but his injuries are non-life-threatening.

This is a community now coming together to mourn these three heroes. And the chief of police there in Burnsville saying that they are heartbroken, saying that they are truly hurting and asking for time and for prayers from everyone across the country, guys.

BERMAN: All right, Camila Bernal, keep us posted on this.

Services at Joel Osteen's Lakewood megachurch in Houston, they have resumed after the deadly shooting eight days ago. Osteen held a special service Sunday morning with heightened security. Some attendees wore "Lakewood Strong" shirts while Osteen prayed for the shooter.

CORNISH: On February 11th, a woman opened fire, wounding a man before she was killed by police. Her seven-year-old son was also struck during the incident and remains hospitalized in critical condition. Now, investigators are still trying to piece together what happened.

The next video you're about to see was created by artificial intelligence just by typing in a few words.

BERMAN: Ahead, the concerns behind the technology that can create this woolly mammoth video in just seconds.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PROF. KRISTIAN HAMMOND, NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY: The genie is out of the bottle. And even if we decided to shut down all the large tech companies, there is enough out there and there's enough movement so that smaller groups, who are - who are completely nefarious, will push things forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:40:49]

BERMAN: OpenAI's latest artificial intelligence tool could revolutionize content creation and make it much harder to tell what is actually real online. The new tool is called Sora. It generates high- quality videos within seconds in response to simple text requests. This one was created after typing a prompt for a stylish woman walking down a street in Tokyo. Naturally that's what you would type in.

CORNISH: Yes. Sora converted the prompt to golden retrievers podcasting on top of a mountain into this -

BERMAN: With a stylish woman walking down the street in Tokyo.

CORNISH: Incredibly realistic image of two pups in front of a mic.

The prompt monkey playing chess in a park generated this image that appears to be a real-life monkey playing chess on a wooden bench. While this less than cozy looking creature is a close-up of a futuristic cybernetic German shepherd.

The tool is not yet available to the public and Sora says it will implement steps to monitor for misinformation, hateful content, and bias.

BERMAN: So, with us now, CNN media analyst Sara Fischer. She's also a senior media reporter for "Axios."

I can understand why the monkey playing chess in the park is a threat to national security.

CORNISH: And the podcasting dogs are adorable, but -

BERMAN: A threat to people with real podcasts.

CORNISH: Yes, exactly.

BERMAN: Sara Fischer, I -

CORNISH: What have real questions, we promise.

BERMAN: We have real questions.

CORNISH: Yes.

BERMAN: Exactly. What seems to be the issue here is just the speed in the accuracy that these videos - in which these videos are generated. Why is this such a stunning development?

SARA FISCHER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA ANALYST: It's a huge problem if you think about it from a security perspective, John. Imagine you're a parent and you get a video of your child asking for you to wire a random, you know, phone number $50,000 because you've been kidnapped, right? That's the type of scam that some of these artificial intelligence video generation technologies could create if we're not regulating them properly.

There's also a lot of concerns, obviously, around misinformation and deep fakes. You know, up until this point, deep fake video technology hasn't been sophisticated enough and it hasn't been sort of widespreadly - wide -- widely available enough that it would be a problem.

But heading into the 2024 election, if this were to become available to consumers, the folks at OpenAI have to make sure that they have enough measures in place so that people can't make tons of deepfake videos of politicians are candidates running for office that could widely shift the nature of the election.

CORNISH: Now, OpenAI says that its actually going to work with experts to not just test the model but monitor for misinformation, that they're trying to get all the companies together to pledge to create some kind of guardrails.

But, I mean, if you're a Swiftie you know just a few weeks ago there were deep fakes of that pop artist online before this technology. So, are they even positioned -- are they actually inclined to bring their own guardrails?

FISCHER: Oh, they're definitely inclined. I mean they want to shape their own destiny when it comes to things like regulations. So, if they're not going to be responsible at the gate, then they invite more scrutiny, more potential regulation that can slow them down. So, yes, they definitely are motivated to make sure this is safe.

The problem with this type of technology is there's so many unforeseen use cases and consequences that even if you think you have tested and sort of guardrailed for everything possible, there's always something that's going to blindside you. Now, the obvious things that you know that they're going to put in place, right? When it gets rolled out widely to consumers, you're probably not going to be able to make doctored video of very well-known, famous people. Right now if you were to go into Meta's products, like Facebook and Instagram, you can't necessarily make a video of, you know, Donald Trump or an image of Donald Trump, but my friends and I have tried to spell his name incorrectly and say, you know, Fonald Frump and you're able to actually make some things there. So, there's ways to get around it.

The other issue is things like you just mentioned, Taylor Swift, like nudity, things like revenge porn. Those are things that technology is pretty good at weeding out. You know, if you can see too much of skin exposed, they'll block the video.

But the thing about it that's really going to be dangerous is misinformation. It's somebody saying something - like, they look like they're endorsing somebody or they look like they're endorsing a policy and they're not really doing it. And that's where I think a lot of election researchers are very concerned heading into November.

BERMAN: And, quickly, what about movie studios? [08:45:03]

FISCHER: Yes, so this is where those actors and writers strikes were really effective in putting in, you know, some protections around artificial intelligence. I think for now a lot of folks who are in creative roles are looking at this technology with a little bit of skepticism and concern because you don't want your roles to be, you know, displaced. But at the same time, there's a lot of opportunity. You know, for things that we were doing highly manually, think about it, especially in terms of animation, AI is going to be able to expedite that process tenfold and then you're going to be able to use the time and money that you spent on manual labor to be doing more sophisticated things.

So, I think that there's a lot of opportunity for the studios. For the people themselves, obviously, they're concerned. But this is why having guardrails in -- for some of those labor contracts that were struck last year is absolutely critical.

CORNISH: Sara, it's a fascinating story. Thanks so much.

FISCHER: Thank you.

CORNISH: Now, Donald Trump gets into the sneaker game as his legal battles start to cost him big bucks. We'll break down his financial standing ahead.

BERMAN: And Californias staring at a new, powerful winter storm that could bring flooding up and down the coast. Satellite images show the storm with lightning swirling in the Pacific before hitting this morning. Thirty-seven million people are under flood alerts with Santa Barbara facing the highest risk

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:50:59]

BERMAN: All right, happy Presidents' Day for those who observe.

Here are "5 Things" to know.

This morning, a spokesperson says the late Alexei Navalny's mother and lawyers were denied access to the morgue where the Russian opposition leader's body is reportedly being held. The Kremlin says it is, quote, not involved in returning Navalny's body to his family.

CORNISH: A member of Israel's war cabinet says military operations in Rafah will expand if hostages are not released by Ramadan, which starts in March. More than 1.5 million Gazans are in Rafah. That's where civilians were told to go when the war began -- when the war against Hamas began.

BERMAN: The search continues for 11-year-old Audrii Cunningham outside of Houston. She vanished Thursday while waiting to catch a school bus. Police in the town of Livingston say a man is in custody. Officers found a backpack they believe belongs to the girl near a dam. CORNISH: And police say two people shot on the campus of the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs were homicide victims. Investigators say the victims, age 24 and 26, were found dead Sunday inside a dorm. Police said information about, quote, "any potential suspect details" would not be released at this time.

BERMAN: The grandson of Jimmy Carter says the 39th president's spirit is as strong as ever. The Carter family says they are pleased his decision to enter hospice kara one year ago has sparked family discussions across the United States. From First Lady Rosalynn Carter died in November, just days after going into hospice care.

That's "5 Things" to know this morning. More on these stories all day long on CNN and cnn.com.

And don't forget to download the "5 Things" podcast every morning. Go to cnn.com/5things. You can also find it wherever you get your podcasts, like the terrific podcast -

CORNISH: Yes, "The Assignment."

BERMAN: Exactly. Hosted by Audie Cornish.

So a day after a New York judge barred him from doing business in the state, Donald Trump has a new gig, not podcast host, but sneaker salesman. And he's apparently pretty good at it.

CORNISH: Trump released these gold, quote, "never surrender" high tops and selling every last pair of the 1,000 super limited shoes. So, just how much would the kicks cost you?

Senior data reporter Harry Enten joins us now.

All right, so, Harry, the shoes were going for, what, $399.99.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Yes. Yes. Yes, yes, yes. I want to put this into some context, Audie.

So, let's take a look here. Trump's "Never Surrender" -- look at these beautiful gold colorings here, I feel like I'm on the QVC -- going for $399. Your average Nikes go for about $80 at major retailers. I will note, of course, I've were the same exact brown shoes for basically my entire existence as an adult. So, I have no real interest in these sneakers. Either the Nikes nor the "Never Surrenders," though perhaps my back is not necessarily the biggest fan of that.

You know, Trump selling these "Never Surrender" shoes, this is part of a pattern for him because of course, remember, he became pretty famous for selling merchandise. And I want to take a look at some of the other merchandise Trump is either currently selling or previously selling.

Remember those "Trump Steaks"? I remember those very well. I've raised the steaks (ph), he used to say. We have those right there. There's Trump cologne. He had his own bottled water line, "Trump Ice" water. Trump actually was also in the mattress arena. He sold (ph) some stuff with Serta. And, of course, if perhaps water isn't you're quite tasty, maybe you needed something a little bit stronger. There was, of course, also "Trump Vodka."

So, the fact is, Trump has sold a lot of things. This is not anything new for him, although I probably would prefer the steaks to the shoes myself.

CORNISH: Tons of celebrities license things, right, to make a buck, but he's got this serious financial situation going on with these legal cases. So, put it in that context for us.

ENTEN: Yes, you know, what exactly is going on with Trump's, you know, sort of balance sheet? And what do we see here? Well, this is Trump's balance sheet. This is including interest. The recent legal judgments bill for him is at least $500 million when you take into account interest. Now, that is still significantly less than his net worth, which rang, according to "Forbes," at $2.6 billion. But, still, $500 million of $2.6 billion, you could see why perhaps he wants to make up some of that money, because that's a significant chunk of change for basically no matter what, no matter who you are, unless, of course, maybe you're Elon Musk.

[08:55:08]

And it's more than that. It's not just that Trump is perhaps these recent legal judgments are taking a bite out of Trump's worth. It's his net worth was going down even before these recent legal judgments.

So, take a look here. This is the list, Trump's place on the richest Americans list. If you look where he was last year, he was at 347 at $3.2 billion. Look at where he was now, even before the legal judgments. He was at 455th, $2.6 million. So, his network was even going down beforehand. So perhaps Trump wanted to get back in the game anyway, and these recent legal judgments are just another reason for him perhaps to be hawking some shoes.

BERMAN: Yes, $400 million, $450 million, you could put under the bad financial news category. Is there any good financial news for Trump?

ENTEN: Yes, so very interesting. And Audie, in fact, was the one who pointed this out to me. Trump's Truth Social share worth. So, back in 2022 it was about 700 million. Last year it was less than 100 million. But there's this idea essentially that Truth Social will, in fact, be able to go public. And how much would Trump's shares be worth if it does, in fact, go public? It could be upwards of $4 billion. That's billion with a "b," not million with an "m."

Now, of course, keep in mind that Trump can sell these stocks for another six months. But the fact is, we've had all this bad news for Trump. This could be good financial news for Donald Trump.

BERMAN: Harry Enten, great to see you this morning. Thank you so much.

ENTEN: Nice to see you this early in the morning.

BERMAN: All right, it's been a pleasure being on the TV with you this morning.

CORNISH: It has. Thank you. Thank you. You're a real pro.

BERMAN: I've done this before, but so are you, TV pro Audie Cornish.

"CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:00:00]