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CNN Tonight

Credit Suisse Borrows More Than $50 Billion From Swiss National Back; Growing Number Of Republicans Break With Ron DeSantis On Ukraine: Abortion Pill Challenge Goes Before Texas Judge; Aaron Rodgers Intends To Play For The New York Jets; School Says Students Made Racist Deep Fake Videos Impersonating Principal And Others; Antarctica Faces Climate Crisis. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired March 15, 2023 - 23:00   ET

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

[23:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LAURA COATES, CNN HOST AND SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Fears of banking collapses spreading now beyond the borders of the United States. The anxiety coming after Credit Suisse stock crashed 30% today when its biggest shareholder appeared to rule out providing any more funding for the embattled lender. But just moments ago, it confirmed it will borrow more than $50 billion from the Swiss National Bank.

CNN's Marc Stewart joins me now. Marc, I'm so glad that you're here. Look, a lot of people are nervous about these bank failures, that they could spread. I'm wondering, is the fear now spreading worldwide?

MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello. It's always good to see. The answer to your question is yes. you know, it is already lunchtime here where I am in Japan and markets across Asia are having a really rough day most likely because of all these concerns about bank stability.

If we look at what drives us and our money, what drives investors, there are really two things at play. Number one is greed, which speaks for itself, but number two, as you mentioned, is fear, and right now, the fear is palpable.

If you go to cnn.com, we have what we call the fear and greed index, and we use data to calculate what people are thinking. Again, right now, extreme fear. Last month, it was greed. One year ago, at this time, when we were climbing out of the pandemic, it was fear.

But let me put some caution in all of this, especially with these banking concerns. If there is any kind of more so (ph) of good news, anything that can give people hope, perhaps, as you mentioned, the Swiss government may be providing some loans to Credit Suisse, that can cause a shift not only in this index but also markets worldwide, Laura.

COATES: So, what are the chances then of a larger system banking problem?

STEWART: I think that's the question that everybody is asking. And one thing to remember is that a lot of lessons were learned after the 2008 financial crisis when we saw some really big names collapse. Since that time, a lot of safeguards have been put in place. And in recent years, we've not seen any bank collapse.

The big obstacle or one of the big obstacles right now is inflation. You feel it with higher credit card bills. You feel it with higher auto loans. Well, banks feel it, too, in the way they do business. It costs the more. It makes things much more difficult for them to balance their books and help your money grow. Until inflation is really handled, there is going to be some threats and some risks, and banks certainly are feeling them, Laura.

COATES: Marc, thank you so much. A really interesting conversation. That fear index, especially, I want to look at that more.

I want to bring in my guests here. Former George W. Bush adviser Peter Wehner, also John Hart, former communications director with Senator Tom Coburn, Democratic strategist Paul Begala, and James Nash, former press secretary for National Governors Association. Glad to have you all here.

[23:05:00]

Let me begin with you, Paul, because, look, as we know, people are talking about the fear index and the idea of what is going on. But really, the GOP is seizing on this economic news in some capacity. Bu then you have the Biden administration trying to calm some tears and saying, look, everyone, it is okay, everything is safe. How does this play out politically?

PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, the Republican (INAUDIBLE) seem to believe that if they blame wokeism -- they blame wokeism for everything. You know, I tore up my knee recently. It was wokeism. It is a woke knee (ph). It's -- it's preposterous. Okay? It's, I think, nuts. It -- I think we need to find out what this bank did wrong. We need to dig into it.

I think the president has done a very good job. In that, we have gotten some praise from Republicans. I don't want to smear all of them. Some have been -- Patrick McHenry, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee said Biden and Yellin are getting it about right, which is, I think, you want to protect depositors, but you don't want to bail out investors. And that is what right now our country is doing.

It seems to me that politically, that is the best. The dirtiest word in the political language is bailout. Right? But most of us are depositors somewhere. We want to be protected. We just don't want investors to be bailed out from bad decision.

COATES: You know, money, as you all know, makes the world go around. It certainly impacts Washington D.C. And the conversations around money are also about the bank. But they are also centering around Ukraine policy as well and the idea of what level of support, the duration of sport, the amount of support, and what form it takes. And there is tension now growing among the Republican Party about how to do that. Listen to this. I mean, there was this growing backlash against Governor Ron DeSantis now about the comments that he has made recently. And just today, former Vice President Mike Pence weighed in on all of it. Listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (voice-over): Well, look, the war going on in Ukraine right now is not a territorial dispute. It is a result of an unprovoked war of aggression by Russia. I strongly support continuing to provide the Ukrainian military the resources necessary to repel that Russian invasion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: (INAUDIBLE). Right? But who do you think is more in line with the (INAUDIBLE) of the base? DeSantis or what Pence is saying?

JOHN HART, FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR FOR SENATOR TOM COBURN: I think Pence. I think that is going to be the big question. There is a shadow primary happening in the GOP between what I would call the Reaganism wing and the Trumpism wing. And Reaganism just sorts of appeal to the 1980s figure. It is a way of thinking about conservatism.

And Republicans, conservatives traditionally have not been in favor of Russian aggression. And I think that that will -- what DeSantis is trying to do is balance these factions between the Reagan faction, and he is really a Reaganite at heart pretending to be a Trumper--

COATES: DeSantis.

HART: Desantis. Right, DeSantis. And so, he thinks he's going to bring this together. But more likely, those forces will pull him apart as a candidate if he tries to straddle this. It hurts his brand because he's trying to run as an outsider, which all politicians do these days.

And he sounds like a politician. DeSantis does. He is playing -- he is trying to play all sides of this. Whereas Pence and Haley have a more consistent, coherent message. So, I don't think it is going to work well for him.

COATES: You know, you mentioned the idea of pretending to be a Trumper. You have a great piece out. I am going to quote part of it. In your "Atlantic" headline, you say, vengeance is Trump's. And former president is threatening retribution. What we need instead is forbearance.

I want to go on with it, it says, since the Trump era began, we've seen a particularly toxic mix of passions on the right, fear and desperation, anger and indignation, feelings of betrayal and victimhood, all of which cry out for vengeance.

Whether the nominee is DeSantis -- who bills himself as a God-given protector and a fighter -- or Trump, or someone else, the MAGA wing of the Republican Party will demand that the leader of the GOP seek vengeance in its name. Donald Trump has energized a movement and a propaganda infrastructure that will outlast him.

You certainly don't mince words, Peter. Explain why you think vengeance might be a part of the campaign trail now.

PETER WEHNER, FORMER ADVISER TO GEORGE W. BUSH: Well, because it is central to Donald Trump. This is a Trumpified party. It is magafied party. These elements, these sensibilities, these dispositions existed before Trump came. But he was superb and tapping into them and amplifying it.

Look, Trump is not a figure that could be understood in terms of his public policy. He doesn't have any. He has no interest in the idea side of politics. He is a visceral politician. And he embodies what I think are these resentments in grievances.

And unfortunately, I think that they have grown, actually since Trump has left. Trump is less powerful and less influential and less popular in the party than he was. That was inevitable once he left office. But he's still more powerful than anybody else.

[23:09:58]

And I do think that if you look at the polls, it is Trump and DeSantis. And they have that same temperament, that same approach. I think what DeSantis is going to do is he is going to try to outplay Trump by using the power of the government to prosecute the cultural wars.

So, I think that the Republican Party is still in a very bad place. And when you're driven by vengeance, that is dangerous thing for a party and for a country.

COATES: Interesting enough, and the idea that Trump is saying that DeSantis is actually copying him when it comes to Ukraine. Although, remind people, he has not formally announced that he is actually running for the presidency, and yet everyone thinks that the governor of Florida really is.

I want to play for you what Republican senators are saying about Governor DeSantis's comments on Ukraine and they're not siding with him. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD): The majority opinion among Senate Republicans is that the United States Senate has a vital national security interest there in stopping Russian aggression.

SEN. SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO (R-WV): I think this is a much bigger issue than a territorial dispute.

SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): I believe very much is in the interest of America to honor our word. SEN. TODD YOUNG (R-IN) I cannot imagine what Xi Jinping or the leadership in Iran would think if we took that course of action.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): To say this doesn't matter is to say that war crimes don't matter.

SEN. KEVIN CRAMER (R-ND): I personally believe that I'd rather help Ukraine win the war quickly than help them win them slowly or perhaps, you know, lose it slowly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: So, James, we have not heard this sort of approach to DeSantis in a long -- if ever at this point in time, certainly not now. Is there something they're seizing on, you think, as a way of signaling, look, you're not the guy, too?

JAMES NASH, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT FOR ROKK SOLUTIONS, FORMER PRESS SECRETARY FOR NATIONAL GOVERNORS ASSOCIATION: This is a real debut on the national stage talking about foreign policy and I had to say it but he has stepped in it. I think most Americans, regardless of what you think about whether the United States should be providing economic or military assistance to Ukraine, know that this was a one-sided unprovoked invasion of a sovereign country.

It's not a territorial dispute. Those words are going to come back and haunt him. The dispute in the Republican Party right now is, do we spend the kind of money that we've been spending on military aid to Ukraine, not whether Putin is the right, you know, foreign leader to emulate or to implicitly praise? So, I think that DeSantis is going to come back and regret these words.

COATES: That's fascinating because, as to your point, the idea of if he is winning, so to speak, on the attention, whether it is culture wars and the philosophical disputes that are happening, he talked about the philosophical as opposed to the brass tacks in this particular incident. I wonder how it will all come down in the end.

Stick around, everyone. We are awaiting a decision in a Texas case that could undo the FDA's approval of a widely used medication abortion drug. Next, we will ask a doctor what that could mean for women across this country.

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[23:15:00]

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COATES: A Trump-appointed judge in Texas is on the verge of making what maybe the most consequential ruling since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

We are waiting to hear back if he will block the FDA's approval of the abortion pill mifepristone, which would limit abortion access even in states where it is still legal. I want to bring in Dr. Sara Imershein. She is a board-certified OB- GYN. Doctor, thank you for being here today. For a lot of people looking at this more broadly, we know that this one drug, part of a two-drug regimen. The focus legally, though, has been on the first one, exclusively, not the other.

I just wonder, explain to us how this works and how this may impact if you were to remove access to one as part of a two-drug regimen. Tell me about that.

SARA IMERSHEIN, BOARD-CERTIFIED OB-GYN: Thank you for the opportunity to address your viewers today and dispel some misinformation. Abortion is available in more than half the states now. Medication abortion is chosen by more than half of all people who undergo abortion, induced- abortion, in the United States.

There are two drugs. The first one that we're talking about banning is mifepristone, and that medication causes a pregnancy to stop growing. The second medication, misoprostol, has other medical indications as well as helping mifepristone work by expelling the contents of the uterus. Working together, it is a very, very safe method to end a pregnancy and preferred by more than half the women who seek to end a pregnancy.

In addition, it is an important part of miscarriage management. Ten percent or more of pregnancies end by miscarriage and those pregnancies are aided by the use of both medications. Miscarriage management is safer with less blood loss, less pain, and less cost. It's also less invasive. So, no wonder patients choose to use the two medications together.

(CROSSTALK)

IMERSHEIN: -- be available -- I'm sorry.

COATES: No. I'm -- I had to cut you off --

(CROSSTALK)

IMERSHEIN: Yes, using the second medication -- thank you -- alone is still a safe way to end the pregnancy, and women who want to terminate a pregnancy will find a way to do it. It is just a little less effective, it takes longer, it hurts more, but it is still a very safe way to end a pregnancy with misoprostol alone.

COATES: Just thinking about that, it would be a more burden to them. To use the language of the courts, they've talked about, even in Roe v. Wade, before it was overturned, the idea of imposing a greater burden to use the one or the two as it was intended in the FDA.

You know, this idea -- I mean, this legal aid they're asking the court to issue is preliminary injunction that would essentially force the FDA, which approved this 20 years ago, more than 20 years ago at this point in time, as a safe way to actually have a medication abortion, to then withdraw their approval of this first drug, mifepristone, while this entire thing plays out. [23:19:55]

Have you ever heard of anything like this in your work that you are doing where you are thinking on a daily basis or in your own practice that the drugs that you would normally prescribe that have been in use for 20 years might have a legal challenge based on the FDA's approval being taken away?

IMERSHEIN: You bring up an excellent point. It is absurd to consider that a judge would make decision on 20 years of safety (INAUDIBLE) safety use in the United States have proven and longer than that around the world. It's a -- it's foolish. It harms people. It harms the pregnant people, it harms people with wanted pregnancies that are miscarrying, and it harms -- it punishes pregnant people.

COATES: Is -- in your experience, you are an OB-GYN, we are talking about miscarriage management, for an example, is this drug that is being challenged now, is it safe, in your experience?

IMERSHEIN: Thank you for asking that important question. Mifepristone is very safe. In fact, if I take it as a menopausal woman or you take it and you are not pregnant or a child takes it or a man takes it, nothing happens. It is really a harmless medication except for people who are miscarrying or pregnant and want to end a pregnancy. It is a very safe medication.

COATES: Thank you, doctor. It's important to have your insight. I appreciate it. We'll be back right back, everyone, in just a moment. Thank you.

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[23:25:00]

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COATES: (INAUDIBLE) out of his darkness retreat and is making decisions. But they're not decisions that you thought or he thought he might have made. I'm talking about the Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers announcing today that he is not retiring. He is also not going to keep playing with Green Bay anymore, it seems likely.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AARON RODGERS, NFL QUARTERBACK, GREEN BAY PACKERS: So, I went into the darkness, and I contemplate a lot of different things, but one day I spent entirely on the reality I was retired. love thing, but one day I spent entirely on the reality that I was retired, and one day I spent entirely on the reality that I was going back and playing.

And I just sat with that hours and hours, what that looked that, what the reality is, how that all felt, I was able to admit at that point really on that Tuesday I wanted to play. And then it was, you know, it heals my body and that feeling is you're going to be able to hold up.

So, at this point, as I sit here, you know, I think since Friday, I made it clear that my intention was to play and my intention was to play for the New York Jets.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Why, you might ask? Well, because the Green Bay Packers wants to -- quote -- "move on from him."

Back with me now is, Nayyera Haq, Elliot Williams, and Paul Begala. We are also joined by former NFL receiver Donte Stallworth. Part of me feels like I'm betraying my home state of Minnesota by focusing this long on the Green Bay Packers.

I'll go to you, Donte, for a moment on this issue. I mean, he is one of the most well-known players in the league, but it reminds me of another Green Bay Packer quarterback, Brett Favre, who also talked about the Jets. It was not a darkness retreat, but the idea of he is doing this now. Tell me why you think this is happening.

DONTE STALLWORTH, FORMER NFL WIDE RECEIVER: I think he was seriously contemplating on retiring. And when you are in NFL player, you're in professional sports. When you're at that moment where you're contemplating retirement, it is a tough situation because if you do not retire, then that's still going to linger for the next -- that entire season and for as long as you play.

So, the fact that he took that time to do that, he said he went in 90% of strongly believing that he was going to retire, and you saw him kind of dejected, walking off that field in the last game when they missed the playoffs, losing to the Lions.

But I really think that Aaron is rejuvenated. He feels like this is his second chance. The Jets are young, they have great defense, they've got a lot of good players on that team, they're playoffs ready and all they need is a quarterback, enter Aaron Rodgers.

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: I do wonder if part of the appeal -- I hope to hear your thoughts on this, too, Donte -- but part of the appeal is being the guy who comes in and saves the hapless franchise, the Jets, longstanding woes (ph) of New York Jets, and you could be the guy that comes in, rides into town, the hero quarterback at the end of his career who saves the Jets. Maybe that's it, too.

NAYYERA HAQ, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST, FORMER OBAMA WHITE HOUSE SENIOR DIRECTOR: Also coming off --

COATES: I hear what you say. Can we talk about what this darkness retreat was?

HAQ: Thank you. Thank you. I got you.

COATES: I love the football game as well, but can we talk about this place. What is a darkness retreat? In fact, I got some images. I know you and I think alike. Here's what it looks like, apparently, people, if you're really wondering right now.

This darkness retreat is not a luxurious place. Okay? It is not -- I mean, this is an image of a type of room he may have stayed in, but he said that it gave him some clarity. Okay, let's judge this now, Nayyera. How do we feel about this?

HAQ: He is somebody with millions of dollars, world famous, and he needs to disappear to think through his thoughts. Why? You know who needs to disappear? Working moms. Give us four days without any electronics, somebody brings us one cooked meal, we'll take over the world if you give us that kind of rejuvenation and energy. He needed that to make decision about joining a football team. However --

UNKNOWN: (INAUDIBLE).

HAQ: -- I will say, he has apparently done meditation and yoga retreats before, and he has disappeared into the mountain. So, maybe this was just the next level of getting centered and in touch with himself.

COATES: Here's what he had to say. We've been at fist-bump now. We will hear from Aaron Rodgers about wheat he had to say about talking about that retreat and what it was like.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RODGERS: It's so quiet that you're just listening for that door handle to come up, and you're like, finally, it's 6:00, I can eat.

[23:30:02]

But there's not a lot of sounds in there. That is why the meditation is incredible. There is zero destruction. There is zero light. Your eyes do not adjust, so you cannot even see far to the room. You have some hallucinations at some point where the room looks different than it actually does. You really got to walk around with one hand out here, one hand over here, bumping into stuff. But yeah, I'm glad I did it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAQ: Laura, next time I have a big job decision to make, I'm just going to turn off the lights, close the door, hide under my blanket like it is a darkness retreat. In four days, you'll see me.

COATES: That's called a Saturday. It's called binge-watching for me. But, you know, we joke and kid, I'm really just jealous because I'd love to have some silence every now and then.

Paul, let me ask you about another big story. We will get off of this because the jealousy is coming in.

(LAUGHTER)

It has to do with the NBA, a totally different sport and different league, and with Ja Morant. He has been suspended now, as you know, for eight games after he has was seen in an Instagram live video holding a gun in a nightclub. Now, this is separate from an earlier incident that he was being discussed about in terms of interaction with a teenager at a pickup game. But tell me about your reaction to this. Is the punishment fitting to you?

BEGALA: Well, I don't know the facts yet. He does have a right to due process. It's not a criminal charge at all. But even within his employment, right, they need to take a look and see.

I do think that it is particularly upsetting and shocking. We just have too much gun violence in this country. And it should not surprise me that this leads over into sports which for me is -- that is my -- that is where I go and watch guys like Donte.

I hate that it bleeds over into that. But that is our society. And I say this, I'm a gun owner and a hunter. But there are too many damn guns. And so, when young man like Ja Morant allegedly playing around with a gun in an Instagram video, people are way too casual with deadly instruments, and that is what a gun is.

WILLIAMS: I guess the question is, does the NBA actually care about gun violence? I guess you say they do, or is this about the bottom line? Are people going to start getting spoofs? And, you know, at the end of the day, these are profit-making enterprises. I think you're with me on this point. And to a certain extent, it was in the NBA's interest to take a stand on it. But I do sort of question that.

HAQ: He is 24 years old, which is really young to be the face of the league at this point. So, there is a sense of responsibility that the NBA now feels that they have propped him up.

COATES: Let us go younger, though. Look at Alabama right now. We are in the middle of March Madness. College players now. Sports are no longer escapism in its purest sense because you also have a college athlete now.

We talked about in the show yesterday, embroiled in a conversation, not criminal charges again but the idea of whether he brought a gun to a scene that was ultimately used to kill someone.

The fact that the question came up again and the idea of what are the priorities. He is still playing. He did the number one seed (ph). What's your take?

STALLWORTH: Yeah, I think, you know, Paul said it perfectly, the gun culture in this country. You know, sports is not immune to the gun culture nor is any other facet of our society. It's just in our DNA for centuries.

So, the gun culture, I think, is obviously the big problem. But for him to play, I do not know how he's playing mentally. I think he's really just trying to remove himself from the situation. You know, it's obviously a terrible situation. But for him to try to remove himself, get out there and play on the field, now he's got security.

COATES: Armed guards.

STALLWORTH: Yeah, he got armed guards that need to follow now. I mean, you know, he's 18 years old. And so, the fact that he is playing and the fact that he has got to have security, I think that has got to be for him, you know, just aside from the tragedy that happened that night, I think it is really difficult for him to have to focus knowing that he's getting all these death threats.

You know they wouldn't have that if it was not just mere death threats. These are specific death threats. There is a lot going on those tournaments and everything.

HAQ: This is how young the industry is, right?

STALLWORTH: Yeah.

HAQ: There is no room for mistake. And the type of celebrity and investment that has been put on the backs of young Black men --

STALLWORTH: Right.

HAQ: -- absent any training or social explanation or guidance, it is a lot of responsibility and they're just starting freshman year of college with this now.

BEGALA: They are. But he is a young man who is alleged to have been involved. This isn't just -- I didn't know he waved a gun around on an Instagram video (ph). This is real world. Somebody is killed.

WILLIAMS: It actually smacks of cases that I've worked on, which you've got this young man, the crime takes place, a guy is affiliated with the victim or whatever else, and that kid is done. The mere fact that he is now a witness to a homicide, folks are going to be after him for a very long time.

BEGALA: Have there been allegations that he was a participant? I don't think there have been. Right?

[23:35:00]

WILLIAMS: Even if not --

COATES: He has not -- to be clear, he has not been criminally charged --

BEGALA: Right.

COATES: -- at all in this matter. A woman's life was lost. But the allegations circling around whether he returned a lawfully or illegal (ph) firearm to its owner, and that owner ultimately was involved in using it. That is the crux of the allegation. It does not stop the fact that this is circling around them.

WILLIAMS: Even if he had nothing to do with it, the fact that some other guy thinks that he might have and puts his life in peril for a long time. You see it all the time. It -- we can debate an hour about the sort of toxic issues that lead us to this point. But --

COATES: We don't have an hour. Let's go to break, everyone. We are so close to having that full hour to talk about it because it's an important issue. We will stay with the story. Up next, everyone, the dangers of artificial intelligence. A school district says that a high school student, well, several of them, make deep fake videos, including one of principal seeming to go on a racist rant, scaring parents and also students. We will talk about it next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COATES: An upstate New York school district says high school students made shocking deep fake videos, including one impersonating a principal seeming to go on a racist rant, and there were more videos, some with what seemed to be threats to Black and Latino students. CNN reached out to the Carmel Central School District for comment but we have not heard back so far.

The Board of Education did post a statement on their website saying, in part, as an organization committed to diversity and inclusion, the Carmel Central School District Board of Education is appalled at, and condemns these recent videos, along with a blatant racism, hatred, and disregard for humanity displayed in some of them. Words in a statement alone feel inadequate. We must go beyond words. Collectively, we must work to end racism.

Joining me now is Abigail Santana who is a parent of a 10-year-old in that Carmel Central School District. Abigail, thank you for joining me. I, too, have a 10-year-old, so I thought we are sisters in spirit and that notion with what that is like. But I cannot imagine what it was like to have even heard about this happening and to be perhaps confused as to whether it was real or not. What did you think when you first learned about this?

ABIGAIL SANTANA, MOTHER OF 10-YEAR-OLD STUDENT IN DISTRICT WHERE DEEP FAKES SURFACED: When I first learned about it, I was actually at work. I was sent the video maybe less than 30 minutes from that email that was sent out from the school board. I literally was in shock.

I immediately called the superintendent right away when I saw that video because it -- what they wrote in the email did not state the threats that the video had in there. It just said the racism and it was taken care of. But no one knew that there were threats made to our children in the school district.

COATES: And in trying to explain to some people what a deep fake is -- I mean, it takes an explanation, right? It takes some understanding of what it is. Let alone trying to describe to a child whether it is real or not. Of course, a deep fake by its nature is somebody using words into somebody else's body like a ventriloquist, essentially. But does he understand that it was fake? I understand that he is scared to go school as a result of it nonetheless.

SANTANA: Yes, my child does -- you know, understands that it's not real. It wasn't the principal who said those words and that it was three high school students. But the fear is still there, unfortunately, because those words and the things that were said, it is hateful and it's honestly very, very disturbing for anyone to hear or listen.

COATES: Describe to me a little bit about what was contained in those videos because even if it wasn't from the principal, the fact that those thoughts were out there, that students in the district that your daughter attends believe that to be somehow appropriate or fun in some way. Tell me what she saw.

SANTANA: The video my daughter actually saw was a video game of her school, completely out of what her middle school looks like, with an active shooter inside shooting at students inside the classrooms that look like the classroom she sits at.

The video that I saw when I was at work was the video of the principal with the teens voice-over stating the N-word and stating that they wish they would go back to Nigeria and that they were going to bring the machine gun and shoot all N-words in the class, in the school.

Another video that I saw also indicated about KKK and that they were going to lynch all the Blacks and Hispanics, and that the KKK legacy will live on. That's tough to hear in such a town that things like that happen.

COATES: Abigail, unbelievable to think about that. Again, a 10-year- old exposed to this. We all saw it. Just reading that first note compared to what you just described, for some parents who probably did not follow up or were aware of it, that's a huge disconnect. I really wish you the best.

SANTANA: Yeah.

COATES: Thank you so much for telling me about what happened and for everyone to better understand. I appreciate it.

SANTANA: Thank you.

COATES: Back with the panel now. I mean, we're talking about this conceptual deep fake. The whole weeks, months, we've been talking about artificial intelligence and the beauty of it.

[23:45:01]

We played around with creating cover letters and calling people's parents, pretending to be that person. But there has always been this looming threat about the sinister side of A.I. and what can really be done.

Let me just orient this conversation a little more. I want to play for you a really good -- well, I want to call it deep fake. It's not really Tom Cruise. Listen to this. Tell me if you're surprised.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: Well, every now and then, I like to treat myself. And it's good because discipline -- oh. Oh, my God. I think there is bubble gum inside this. Well, that's incredible! Incredible! How come nobody ever told me there is bubble gum (INAUDIBLE)? Oh, yeah.

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COATES: Okay, I repeat 10 times over. That's is a deep fake. That was not Tom Cruise. That was a deep fake. But it's a good one. And it shows you how it can be made fun. It also shows you the idea of, what if this were to happen with someone in a position of power? I'm not talking about, you know, (INAUDIBLE) bubble gum inside of the (INAUDIBLE). This could be far more dangerous.

NASH: Yeah. You know, it has been five years since an actor named Jordan Peele did of deep fake of Barack Obama. It was very convincing. That was also a warning to all of us about the technology that we're dealing with here and the uses that it can be put to, very destructive uses, as we're seeing here in New York.

But imagine this in international political stage like if Ronald Reagan could almost start a nuclear war with a hot mic moment. Imagine a deep fake video of President Biden threatening war against Russia. Imagine any political candidate, you know, in a deep fake video saying something they didn't say.

COATES: I mean, we are equipped, I think, to obviously know each time. That is the beauty of a deep fake and the problem with that.

BEGALA: You know, this is what -- what technology has done wrong, technology can fix. Right? If you go on social medial right now and try to post the latest episode from "The Last of Us," the HBO hit --

WILLIAMS: No spoilers. I won't spoil it.

BEGALA: -- it won't last a second.

COATES: Right.

BEGALA: -- because embedded in all those platforms is technology that spots commercial stuff and kills it right away. They could do this with (INAUDIBLE) tomorrow but there's no money in it for the tech companies. So, either they do it and the government should (INAUDIBLE).

It's not hard to fix. If they can do it for "The White Lotus" and for "The Last of Us," they can do it for these deep fakes. And I think -- obviously, I think they should.

If 10-year-old kids can do this, what is North Korea going to do? And Iran and China and Russia. What are others going -- make Dr. Fauci a deep fake saying, don't get the vaccine, it will hurt you. You know, the potential for evil here is so great and the responsibility of these tech companies is so vast, and they seem to not exercise it.

HAQ: That's the point. The responsibility has to be navigated and understood. And right now, we have a Senate where the average age is 74 years old. And we've seen senators grill the wrong CEO about the wrong tech company. Right? This is the state of government oversight and regulation in an emerging industry where 10-year-olds are better able to navigate it than the people we put in charge.

COATES: Unbelievably scary, everyone. We'll be right back in just a moment. Wow.

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[23:50:00]

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COATES: Antarctica is a sight that very few people will ever get to witness in person. And as beautiful as it appears, behind the beauty, the climate crisis is melting the sea ice and impacting wildlife.

CNN's chief climate correspondent Bill Weir traveled there, and now he's back. Bill?

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Laura, it was a once-in- a-lifetime trip. I tell you, I've been all over the place, but this is by far the wildest place I've ever seen with my two eyes.

And few places filled me both with as much wonder and worry as Antarctica these days. We happened to set sail just as it was announced that the southern part of our globe had reached the lowest amount of sea ice for the second straight year in a row.

That doesn't mean anything to us living up here in the rest of the world, but down there, it means the penguins and the seals and the whales are already being forced to adapt to a changing world.

We want to show the first time surrounded by these penguin colonies. They are not finding these colonies further south than ever before as the peninsula warms up. The nests were delayed by a couple of months due to freak snowstorms. The littlest chicks we saw beside couples building those nests, that generation probably won't survive the winter.

And then as the sea ice goes away, that's the bottom of the food chain because that's where creole hangs out, the little crustaceans that feed everything from the penguins to the whales. So, ecologists are worried about the future with all of these pressures adding up at the same time.

We were with actually whale scientists who are taking pregnancy tests of these magnificent creatures from ideographs (ph) with a crossbar that would shoot these darts to measure not just whether they're pregnant but the stress levels, and putting together a data set to see the health of the ecosystem down south.

And these magnificent big creatures, we are learning more and more every year about how valuable they are to healing the earth, to fertilizing oceans, bringing back fish stocks and carbon capture as well. [23:55:00]

So, every whale counts. But there is a success story at the bottom of the world. The whales, the penguins, a lot of the seals, elephant seals were decimated a couple of generations ago by industry. But after the Antarctic Treaty, a lot of those creatures have come back to full strength. Now, healthy populations.

The ozone layer above Antarctica is healing as a result of the treaty arrangement with the land that set aside for peace and science at the bottom of the world. So, you could find hope there if you focus on that.

But the warming is sort of baked-in. Long term, we have to worry about the same warm water that's disturbing these penguin colonies. It's also disturbing the bottom of these ice shelves. It's keeping all that fresh water locked on land down under. And if it's released, that means coastal cities around the world will be forcibly rearranged.

The hope is that we can control just how much that happens, how fast it happens with a transition off of fuels that burn. That's what the scientists have been calling now for generations. And when we were down there, there was actually an ocean treaty that passed the U.N. as more nations try to protect the high seas where so much pollution is evident, both plastic pollution and noise pollution for the animals, ghost nets that are floating around out there.

So, a lot to think about with the health of the planet when you take it from the perspective of down below. But I wish I could share with everybody, when you see how beautiful and how much amazing life is left, it makes you want to work for it even more. Laura?

COATES: Hmm. Thank you so much, Bill. You really paint the picture. I thank all of you also for watching. Our coverage continues.

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