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One World with Zain Asher
Ukraine Hits Crimea Bridge with Underwater Explosives; Dozens Reported Dead after Israeli Troops Open Fire Near Aid Site; Exit Poll Projects Lee Jae-Myung Elected President; Colorado Firebombing Suspect Charged with Hate Crime; Acting FEMA Chief says he was Unaware U.S. Had "Hurricane Season"; Major Ethical Questions Raised Over AI, Including Job losses. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired June 03, 2025 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ZAIN ASHER, CNN HOST, ONE WORLD: Ukraine is leaning into new technology to counter Russia's advances. "One World" starts right now. New video from
Ukraine shows its forces hit a key bridge connecting Russia to Crimea. It comes days after drone strikes destroyed bomber aircraft at bases deep
inside Russia.
Plus, South Koreans go to the polls in a presidential election, and projections show they have voted for change after months of turmoil and
division, last of the country has turned a new page. And the global economy facing ever stronger headwinds, and a new report lays the blame at Donald
Trump's feet. I'll speak with the economist behind the latest study.
Coming to you live from New York. I'm Zain Asher. My colleague Bianna Golodryga will join me in the next hour. This is "One World". 1195 days of
war, and the prospect for peace in Ukraine is growing increasingly distant as Kyiv intensifies its attacks and the Kremlin reiterates its hard-line
demands.
Ukraine delivered what could be another significant blow to Russia on Tuesday, using underwater explosives to strike a bridge that serves as a
critical supply route for Moscow's military. Hours earlier, Ukrainian drone attacks on energy infrastructure in Russian occupied parts of Kherson and
Zaporizhzhia led to widespread power cuts.
It all comes just days after Kyiv's daring mission, code named Spiderweb made it clear that Ukraine still has the ability to inflict devastating
blows and catch the Kremlin by surprise. Ukraine officials, meantime say that Russian forces are advancing in the North, putting the city of Sumy
within range of artillery and drone attack.
The Kremlin now says it's unlikely face-to-face talks between Presidents Putin and Zelenskyy and Trump will happen in the near future. Let's bring
in CNN's Nic Robertson, joining us live now from London. Nic, these attacks clearly show that Zelenskyy really does mean business in terms of trying to
cripple the Kremlin's military.
Is Zelenskyy right, that this is going to be the absolute best and pretty much, from his perspective, the only way to get Putin to become much more
serious about peace negotiations?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: You know, I think there are two things or two audiences, rather, in play for President Zelenskyy,
and the way that he is influential in directing Ukrainian forces, whether in these sorts of strategic attacks on the Crimea bridge or the Spiderweb
attack on Russia's long range bomber aircraft.
It is both too Putin to put pressure on him, to show that Ukraine is in the fight and is capable of doing serious damage to some of Russia's strategic
capability. And I think the other message is very clearly to President Trump, who President Zelenskyy still wants to win over. I think one of the
indications of that was the meeting in Istanbul, that one of the aims of Zelenskyy's negotiating team.
And Zelenskyy has said this as well, that he believes that a meeting of leaders, both Zelenskyy and Putin, along with Trump and other potential
leaders, is a way to resolve the conflict, which really is the way that President Trump likes to think about how he gets peace -- you know, peace
deals done.
So, I think on one hand, Zelenskyy is messaging Putin with these strategic actions. On the other hand, his messaging, his messaging President Trump,
with language that President Trump may find attractive, that Ukraine is open for a 30-day ceasefire, that it wants to negotiate directly between
leaders.
But he's also showing President Trump, who has said Ukraine doesn't have any cards to play, that Ukraine, yes, has cards to play. And the idea of
trying to take down the Crimea bridge has been a long-standing aim of Ukraine, vital, as you say, for Russia's war aims in Ukraine.
That bridge built at a cost of about $3 billion. Ukraine has tried to hit it and take it down two times previously, both by blowing up the road, by
trying to drive water borne explosive drones into the pilings of the bridge, and now this underwater explosion, 1100 pounds of TNT equivalent
explosives Ukrainians say.
Shows how much they want to bring that bridge down. It's not going to change Russia's ability in the short term to fight the war.
[11:05:00]
But as you say, this is a lot about signaling, but Putin signals coming from that meeting just yesterday in Istanbul were very clear. His team
there have really essentially drawn lines that Ukraine is not going to cross and make may conditions that they are not going to -- not going to
sign up to.
ASHER: All right. Nic Robertson, live for us. Thank you so much. Let's bring in Alexander Gabuev. He is the Director of the Carnegie Russia
Eurasia Center. He joins us live now from Berlin. Alexander, thank you so much for being with us. Good to see you again.
I want to touch on something that Nic Robertson, our reporter, that said, but also something that Zelenskyy also mentioned. This idea that these sort
of series of brazen, bold attacks are not just to send a message to Vladimir Putin. It's also to send a message to Trump to show that, look,
Ukraine still has it right, that Ukraine deserves America's respect. Will that message get through to President Trump do you think?
ALEXANDER GABUEV, DIRECTOR OF THE CARNEGIE RUSSIA EURASIA CENTER: I don't have a crystal ball to read President Trump's mind, but I know that there
are a lot of people around President Trump and the current U.S. Administration that believe that Ukraine is doomed, that Ukraine to use
Trump's expression doesn't have good cards to play, and that the easiest way to stop this number of casualties and carnage that the Russians are
inflicting is to accept the Russian terms.
And I think that President Zelenskyy and his military team are showing to American leadership that Ukraine still has very powerful cards to play. And
that's a pretty successful demonstration.
ASHER: From the Russian perspective, I mean this -- these are very serious blows to Russia when it comes to just some of the destruction we've seen
when it comes to Russia's military. Just walk us through how difficult it is going to be for Russia to actually replace some of what was destroyed
because some of the bombers that were targeted aren't even in production anymore, as I understand it.
GABUEV: That's right, we still need satellite inventory to fully verify the amounts of losses. But what's been established by now is that Russia lost
about 10 percent so 12 out of 120 its long-range bombers, some of them nuclear capable, and part of the Russian strategic nuclear tribe that also
involves nuclear submarines and ground-based missiles.
So, this is pretty significant, and even by the description of the Russian nuclear doctrine, would be a scenario where Russia would contemplate or
consider a nuclear option for retaliation. Russia obviously will not do that in that case, but that's a significant blow to prestige.
That's definitely a big blow to the Russian counterintelligence effort. It's showing that the Russian FSB, the major successor to KGB, is far more
successful in chasing dissidents or people who are supporting Ukraine and transferring money or opposing this war, rather than chasing real Ukrainian
intelligence operators.
Nevertheless, I think that 10 percent is pretty painful, but Russia has still a lot of planes, the most-deadly attacks against Ukrainian cities are
not done by the missiles launched from these aerial platforms, but rather by Russian ballistic missiles. So unfortunately, Russia still has a lot of
steam to go and inflict pain on Ukraine, and that's Putin's message, that he will not be deterred by such painful and humiliating blow as this,
Russia can absorb this pain and carry forward.
ASHER: They can absorb it, but it's still utterly humiliating. Now the Kremlin knows that some of these military targets deep within Russia are
vulnerable. What does it do with that information?
GABUEV: I think that the Kremlin really wants now to act upon this information and try to think about ways to protect its critical
infrastructure. However, this is the message, not only to the Kremlin, but also to militaries all around the world, including the United States.
What Ukrainians did was really brilliant, just one big car parked with drones that were pre-positioned there. Problem is that so many juicy
targets, both military and civilian critical infrastructure, are vulnerable to this type of attacks prepared either by capable states or by terrorist
groups.
So, a lot of militaries and companies will need to think how -- on how to protect their targets from attacks like the one we've just seen implemented
by the Ukrainians.
ASHER: And just quickly, I'm just going to ask you the same question I posed to Nic Robertson there. This idea that Zelenskyy is hoping that with
the sustained bombardment continuing to hit Russia where it hurts, that somehow that's going to bring Putin to the negotiation table and make him
serious all of a sudden about peace. What do you make of that calculation?
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GABUEV: I think that this is only part of Zelenskyy's plan definitely attacking Russian military capabilities, particularly those as the
strategic bombers that are used to terrorize Ukrainian cities. Is a legitimate and useful avenue to approach the problem.
But major problem Ukraine is facing now is Russia's advances on land. It's a very wasteful way to take over Ukrainian territory, but Russia has been
steadily gaining Ukrainian land since early 2024 at prohibitive costs for any normal country, but not for Russia that's throwing a lot of bodies on
this problem.
And unless Ukraine finds a way to stabilize the front line and deliver a stand mate and bring the message across to Mr. Putin that no matter how
many bodies you are throwing on this problem, you will not solve it. You will not get more Ukrainian cities until that Mr. Putin will push.
There are ways to do that, and I think that President Zelenskyy and his team are working on that, creating prepared defenses, mining the contact
line, and investing into drone production, but they're still far away from achieving success.
ASHER: All right. Alexander Gabuev of life for us there. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. It's happened again, Palestinians, desperate for food, have
again come under fire as they travel to an aid distribution site in Southern Gaza earlier today. A local hospital and the Palestinian Health
Ministry say at least 27 people lost their lives; dozens of others wounded.
The Israeli military says its forces opened fire after what it's called suspects approached despite warning shots and deviated from designated
access routes. This is the third day in a row that people have been killed on their way to a distribution point operated by a U.S. and Israeli backed
group. All this as aid experts say that famine conditions in Gaza are getting worse.
Jeremy Diamond joins us live now from Jerusalem with details. So, Jeremy, if this happened just once, that in and of itself would, of course, be
problematic, but I think the fact that this has happened three days in a row is making it really difficult for people who are watching this around
the world to digest and to understand. Walk us through what the IDF is saying. What's their explanation here?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Well, the Israeli military has, in fact, acknowledged that it did shoot people about a half
kilometer away from this aid distribution site this morning. They claimed that they fired warning shots first and then directed fire towards
individuals who were continuing to approach Israeli troops in a threatening manner.
Of course, we are seeing images from the ground that reflect a far more significant story, with at least 27 people having been killed, according to
the Palestinian Ministry of Health and the Director of the Local Al Nasr Hospital. And we are seeing individuals who were simply trying to reach
this aid distribution site and to get food. And as you point out, it is now also a pattern, as this is now the third day that we have seen people who
were going towards this aid distribution site be shot on the way.
A similar incident happened on Sunday when more than 31 people were killed. In that incident, the Israeli military never officially acknowledged
responsibility, although an Israeli military official did tell us at the time that they had indeed opened fire on individuals about one kilometer
away from that aid site, which is exactly where Sunday's shooting took place.
The bottom line is that this incident is once again drawing attention to this controversial U.S. and Israeli backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, to
the way in which they are operating, and to the concerns that we have heard from humanitarian aid officials for weeks now, even before these incidents
started to take place.
They warned that having a very small number of aid sites at a distance away from where the population lives, making people walk several miles at a time
through dangerous combat zones, through Israeli military lines that you were going to see a scenario like this unfold and indeed, that is exactly
what appears to be happening.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, for its part, they acknowledged this incident that happened today. They tried to distance themselves from it by
saying that it was in an area, quote, well beyond our secure distribution site. But let's make no mistake about it, the people who are on these
routes, on this coastal Al Rashid Street, whether they be a kilometer away, a half kilometer away from this aid distribution site.
The only reason that they are there is because they are hungry, because they are desperate, and because they are trying to get food at this aid
distribution site. And still, we are seeing people continue to brave what many in Gaza are starting to call a death trap, simply because they have no
other option, Zain.
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ASHER: Yeah, not to mention that after the two-month blockade, the enclave is still, of course, at risk of famine, so people really are desperate.
Jeremy Diamond, live for us there. Thank you so much. Still to come, South Korea elects a new president after months of political turmoil. What this
election means after the previous leader plunged the country into chaos?
Plus, a new report says that Trump's trade wars will do more harm in the U.S. and around the world than we previously thought, details ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: All right, a new report out today is signaling the tariffs President Trump imposed in May could do more economic damage than expected. The Paris
based OECD, a group of 38 mostly wealthy nations, sharply downgraded its forecast for U.S. growth this year to just 1.6 percent.
Just three months ago, it was predicting 2.2 percent and it says that other countries are set for slower growth too, particularly Canada, Mexico and
China, which, of course, are the countries that are going to be hurt most by Trump's tariffs.
Alvaro Pereira is Chief Economist at the OECD, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. He joins us live now from Paris.
Thank you so much for being with us. Obviously, this is a slight --
ALVARO PEREIRA, CHIEF ECONOMIST, OECD: Thank you.
ASHER: -- slowdown compared to what the OECD was predicting back in March. But just explain to us how countries around the world hand can prepare
themselves and protect themselves from this fallout precipitated by the United States.
PEREIRA: Well, we know that there's been a huge increase in trade and policy uncertainty, and as a consequence, that's been done and with,
obviously, the imposition of very large tariffs, and this is having an impact, not only in terms of business conference, investor conference, but
also in terms of activity indicators.
And so that's why we've ungraded virtually everybody going forward. I think the most important policy message that we have in this outlook is that
countries should get together and negotiate and trade agreements. Lowering trade barriers will boost growth and decrease inflation, and so I think top
priority is get to the table, get the agreements out.
ASHER: As I understand it, this report was based on U.S. tariffs remaining in place over the next two years, 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum
and cars and a 10 percent blanket tariff on all goods from around the world.
[11:20:00]
We know that Trump has threatened actually to double the steel tariffs to 50 percent instead of 25 percent and that's set to actually go into effect
tomorrow. Just explain how that I mean, obviously it's so hard to predict what's going to happen from one day to the next, because obviously the
president does tend to change his mind quite a bit. But just explain to us how that might impact growth around the world too?
PEREIRA: Listen, I think the most important then speculating this or that about the particular tariff or some trade barriers. Again, the most
important thing is tried to understand what will happen if everybody starts raising tariffs around the world, that means less growth, that means less
jobs, that means more inflation.
And so, we end up with a world in which everybody becomes worse off and with more inflation. So that's why, once again, it's quite important that
countries get together, see what are their grievances against each other and get an agreement to lower trade barriers.
You know, more than close to a billion people in the last few decades came out of poverty because of trade. Trade has been one of the engines of
growth and prosperity of the world, and is absolutely essential, as long as we also fix some level playing fields and some problems that still exist.
But after we do that, I think the most important thing is exactly that nations trade more with each other, because that's good for them and it's
good for their people. It is good for the world too.
ASHER: Since April 2nd, the U.S. has signed a trade deal with the UK. It wasn't a particularly lengthy or robust deal. It was sort of thing on
details and changes, but still, nevertheless, a deal is in place between the U.S. and the UK.
If other countries follow suit, if the Trump Administration is able to sign a deal with several other countries, what sort of impact might that have?
Has much of the damage I guess my question is, has much of the damage, just in terms of the uncertainty alone, already been inflicted here?
PEREIRA: Well, we are assuming, our working assumption is basically the 10 percent tariff will stay, and then we were hoping that the rest the
reciprocal tariffs won't, will go away from the deals. But obviously, if we get the situation which we have 10 percent and we add more tariffs, this
will certainly have a negative impact on growth and on jobs too.
So, we think that is very important the administration and the other countries get together and are able to bring down trade barriers, not only
the tariffs, but also other trade barriers that exist because that will allow us to have much more prosperity and much more productivity and
growth.
ASHER: Just in terms of how governments handle this. You know, some governments might, for example, try their best to tighten their belts and
restrict day to day spending, so they have a little bit more wiggle room in terms of public investment at a time of this kind of sort of economic
crisis.
Is that what you would suggest governments around the world to do? And obviously when it comes to developing countries, that's a little bit
trickier, because they don't necessarily always have the economic wiggle room, but at least for developed countries, is that what you're
recommending?
PEREIRA: Well, we recommend countries like Canada, for example, we recommend that many of the reforms that we've been talking for many decades
finally get implemented. So, in case of Canada, to decrease inter provincial barriers. The same thing in Europe.
We think that is important, is that countries go ahead and invest in skills. They're able to spur more housing investment, business investment.
So, all those things will be important. So, in the face of a big shock that we are facing here, countries should, first of all, on the international
sphere, be able to get an agreement. Second, in domestic sphere, they should go ahead when introduced reforms that have been postponed for a
while, but it's time to implement them now.
ASHER: Pereira, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
PEREIRA: Thank you.
ASHER: New details are emerging about the attack on a Jewish gathering in Boulder, Colorado, ahead a look at the charges the suspect now faces.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:25:00]
ASHER: Welcome back to "One World". I'm Zain Asher in New York. Here are some headlines that we are following today for you. Nuclear talks between
Iran and the U.S. are at risk of collapsing, according to sources familiar with the situation. An Iranian source calls the latest U.S. proposal
incoherent and disjointed.
U.S. President Donald Trump posted on social media Monday that the proposed agreement would not allow Iran to enrich uranium. Iran has said all along
it does not intend to stop enriching uranium.
Ukraine says it struck a key bridge connecting Russia to Crimea with explosives planted underwater. Security service of Ukraine says it was the
result of a special operation lasting several months. It is the third time the bridge has been hit by a Ukrainian attack.
The Sean "Diddy" Combs' sex trafficking trial picked up again today in New York, a former security guard who worked at a hotel where Combs was seen on
video assaulting his then girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, has been giving evidence. He says that Combs called him personally to ask for his help
keeping the video of the incident under wraps.
After six months of political turmoil, South Koreans voted Tuesday for a new president. Exit polls project Opposition Leader Lee Jae-myung will
succeed Yoon Suk Yeol, the disgraced former leader who plunged the democratic nation into chaos by declaring martial law in December.
Here with me now is Jeremy Chan a Senior Analyst at the Eurasia Group on China and Northeast Asia. Jeremy, thank you so much. It appeared that Lee
was headed for a relatively easy win, because there had been so much public anger and discontentment because of the martial law imposed by President
Yoon back in December.
Just explain to us whether this shift is merely an immediate reaction to what we saw in December or it's indicative of something that might last a
little bit longer, something that could be long term here?
JEREMY CHAN, SENIOR ANALYST CHINA & NORTHEAST ASIA, EURASIA GROUP: That's very good question. I think you've nailed this election. You know, on the
head this was widely seen as a referendum on Yoon, and more broadly, the Conservative Party.
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And so, Lee's decisive victory should be seen as a strong political mandate from the electorate, to change the way that the politics is run, and
potentially policy as well. Regarding the durability of the shift, a lot of it will depend upon how Lee governs once he takes office starting tomorrow.
Does he take the country in a more left leaning progressive direction, which he had tried to do for the last 20 years? Or is he going to be more
of the centrist, sort of pragmatist that he has campaigned on over the last six months that will determine his approval rating and then, therefore,
sort of the durability of this sort of political shift.
ASHER: Talk to us about what challenges he faces in the short term. You've got North Korea's evolving nuclear threats. You've got Donald Trump, as a
lot of countries are facing that particular challenge in the sort of America first policies, but you also got a slowing economy as well. How do
you think he will handle those three things?
CHAN: So, I think that what's interesting is Lee will take office immediately, and he won't have his cabinet around him, at least initially.
There will be no transition period that will make sort of the early days of his administration more challenging. I think his two biggest obstacles
initially will be reviving economic growth.
You've seen OECD, the Bank of Korea, et cetera, marking down GDP forecasts, the country will be lucky to avoid a recession in 2025 and I'll be top of
mind for Lee vis-a-vis the U.S. you're right. Ongoing negotiations have essentially been put on ice pending his election, and so he will have
roughly five weeks to try to get a package agreement, quote unquote across the line with Washington by July 8th.
And regarding North Korea, I think it's more of a medium-term issue. I don't think Kim in the North has signalled a whole lot of interest in
engaging directly with Lee quite yet, although he will find a far more sympathetic counterpart in Yeol than he had over the last three years.
ASHER: When you think about the conservative candidate Kim, I mean, did he just given what happened with President Yoon? Obviously, he belonged to the
same party. Did he stand a chance in these elections at all do you think?
CHAN: I don't think Kim himself did. I mean, he was a little too far right to begin with. The Conservative Party sort of lost their opportunity or
their chance by not nominating a more center right candidate. Partly, that was just because a reaction to the division in the party following Yoon's
disastrous martial law declaration December, that really divided the Conservatives down the center.
And so, Kim was more or less dead man walking. The fact that he wasn't able to align his candidacy or campaign with the more center right option also
proved a death knell for any sort of chance that he may have had.
ASHER: How does the people power party? How do they go about essentially renewing their reputation? Their reputation has obviously been tarnished by
President Yoon's actions, but also, there's been so much internal fighting and feuding about how to handle what President Yoon did? And so, the party
is in turmoil. This could be an opportunity for them to sort of regroup, right? So just explain to us how exactly they go about doing that?
CHAN: Well so, Lee will inherit unified government for the next three years. The next General Election won't be until 2028 which means that the
PPP on the right will essentially be in the political wilderness for at least three years. They can, while they're there, turn the page on Yoon
martial law and sort of the misdeeds of the past, and focus more on being a party in opposition.
Therefore, criticizing Lee, both domestically and foreign policy, and trying to benefit from any sort of short-term downturn in his approval
rating, or any sort of gas or scandals that that emerge in the meantime. I think that's really kind of the path to recovery for the PPP, but it's
going to be a long and winding road 2020 at the earliest, and likely not till the next president election at 2030.
ASHER: All right, Jeremy Chan live for us there. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. The suspect in Sunday's anti-Semitic attack in Boulder,
Mohamad Soliman has been charged with a federal hate crime. Soliman made his first court appearance Monday by video link from jail. He did not enter
a plea.
He's now facing 16 counts of attempted first degree murder, among other charges, and could spend life in prison if convicted. At least a dozen
people were injured and Soliman allegedly threw two molotov cocktails at a group of people who are calling for the release of Israeli hostages. Our
Whitney Wild is in Colorado, with more.
WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: We're learning quite a bit more about what led up to this attack and how it was actually carried out.
Law enforcement says that Mohamad Sabry Soliman planned this attack for a year. At one point he actually tried to get a gun. He'd taken a concealed
carry class.
He learned to shoot, and then when he went to purchase this gun, he was denied because he is not a U.S. citizen. That's when he decided to make
molotov cocktails. And what he told law enforcement was that he learned how to make molotov cocktails basically by watching videos online.
He waited until one of his five children, his daughter, graduated high school to carry out this attack. And on the day of the attack, he drove to
Boulder, he dressed as a gardener to try to get as close as possible to this group. And that's when he threw two Molotov cocktails at this group.
[11:35:00]
And that's when he threw two Molotov cocktails at this group. He had 16 more Molotov cocktails he did not detonate. He is now facing a very long
list of charges, 16 charges for attempted first degree murder. He is also facing charges for the 16 molotov cocktails he did not detonate. He is also
facing charges in federal court. He is facing a hate crime charge.
The law enforcement at the federal level and the state level has made very clear that the maximum sentences for these long lists of charges that he's
facing is in effect, life behind bars. Just the state charges alone, if he gets the maximum sentence is more than 400 years behind bars.
We are also learning more about the victims. We know that they range in age from 52 to 88-years-old. One of them is a holocaust survivor. We now know
the total number of victims is 12, and when we last spoke with Boulder Police, the latest information on the two victims. There are two victims
who remain in the hospital. We don't have much detail beyond that, back to you.
ASHER: Thanks to CNN's Whitney Wild for that report. All right, still to come here on "One World" will Congress follow Elon Musk's lead? Republicans
begin to consider writing Musk's efficiency cutbacks into the books. We'll explain next. Plus, a stunning comment from the man running the nation's
Emergency Management Agency. Does FEMA -- does the FEMA Director even know that the U.S. actually does have a hurricane season? We'll talk about that
story.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: All right today, Donald Trump is beginning the process of formalizing the cutbacks made by Elon Musk and his team at the Department
of Government Efficiency, the White House has sent Congress a $9.4 billion rescission package. Rescission is the process of eliminating spending that
Congress had previously agreed to.
This package includes major cutbacks of public TV and radio stations, among other things, Congress has 45 days to vote on the cuts. If the measure
fails to pass, Trump will be required to reinstate the spending. CNN's Senior White House Reporter Kevin Liptak joins us live now. He's tracking
this story for us. So, the House is really up to them, essentially, to codify the DOGE cuts. Just explain to us how likely they are to do that.
[11:40:00]
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPOTER: Well, I think it's likely to be approved in the House. I think the Senate is a different story. And
look, there's a reason why this kind of rescission pass -- package has not been passed by Congress in many, many years. It can be a difficult task for
the White House to ask lawmakers to claw back money that they themselves have already approved.
And so even some Republicans, like the Appropriations Chairwoman Susan Collins, may have some issues with doing just that, and so this will be an
important test for President Trump and for Republicans to demonstrate their willingness to pull back some of this money.
And it will be an important moment, because already some of these cuts that the president has enacted simply through executive action are already being
challenged in court, and doing this through Congress would essentially eliminate that potential risk. At the end of the day, this $9.4 billion is
really kind of just a drop in the bucket, one of the cuts that Elon Musk's DOGE has already made.
That, in it of itself, was already a fraction of the trillion dollars that he promised to cut from the federal government. And so, this is really sort
of a small amount of money that the White House is asking to be clawed back. Some of it would be going towards public broadcasting, the
Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds National Public Radio and PBS.
The bulk of it, almost $8.3 billion would be going towards foreign aid programs, including USAID. This is money that goes to education programs,
reproductive health programs, also UNICEF, the UN children's funding organization, PEPFAR, which is the Presidential Emergency Plan for AIDS
Relief, all of these programs that have been cut and that now the White House is asking Congress to withdraw funds from.
So, I think it's an open question of whether this will be successful or not, but it is something that the White House has been discussing
internally for months. Listen to the president's Budget Chief, Russell Vought, discuss kind of this process.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUSSELL VOUGHT, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF MANGEMENT AND BUDJET: I want to see if it passes. I think we're very interested to make sure it passes both the
House and the Senate. But we're very open to sending multiple bills. We want to send up general rescissions bills to use the process if it's
appropriate, to get them through the House and the Senate.
We also have pocket rescissions, so there's a lot of things that we're looking at, all of them here towards figuring out how to make these guys
permanent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIPTAK: No, the process here is somewhat complicated. It's different from ordinary pieces of legislation. Once this package heads up to the Hill,
which we expect, you know, within the hour, that will start a 45-day clock for lawmakers to approve or reject it. They can make some changes to it,
but if they don't pass both chambers of Congress, those cuts will now become or the spending will now become permanent same.
All right. Kevin Liptak, live for us. Thank you so much. Workers at the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency, were stunned on Monday at a staff
meeting. Acting Director David Richardson told FEMA employees, apparently that he didn't even know that the U.S. had a hurricane season.
Richardson, who has no prior experience in managing natural disasters, was appointed by Homeland Security Secretary Kristie Nome last month, the
department said Richardson's comments was just a joke. FEMA has shrunk dramatically under Trump, raising concerns it may not have the staff to
handle hurricanes and other disasters.
CNNs', Gabe Cohen joins us live now with more on this. Not to mention the fact that hurricane season started on Sunday. It lasts through November,
and of course, the U.S., as we've seen in past years, is really vulnerable to devastating disasters. And so, to have the Head of FEMA essentially
saying that he has no idea that the U.S. has a hurricane season beggars belief. I think the question is, was it a joke, or was he serious?
GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Zain that is the question. And look, plenty of FEMA staffers took this as a joke, and as you mentioned, that's
what the Department of Homeland Security is saying. That it was they told me in a statement that FEMA is laser focused on disaster response and
protecting the American people.
But I also spoke with FEMA personnel who was in that briefing, who really could not tell if Richardson was kidding or if he was essentially saying
that he was pretty unfamiliar with hurricane season before taking this role at FEMA about a month ago. As you mentioned, he came in with very little,
little to no experience managing natural disasters.
He was appointed by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem after she fired the last guy, the last acting head when he broke from Trump -- other Trump
officials and said he does not support eliminating FEMA. Richardson came from the countering weapons of mass destruction office at Homeland
Security.
And he really came in with a bang saying that he was in charge. He told FEMA personnel that he didn't have any personal. Dealings about the agency
he was really only there to execute on the president's mission, to essentially do what President Trump tells him to do.
[11:45:00]
And since that time, he has brought in several other, about a half dozen Homeland Security officials, also with very limited experience handling
natural disasters, who are in the FEMA front office with him effectively running the agency, and that is what makes these comments so alarming to a
lot of FEMA staffers, who are essentially saying how much experience is at the top of this agency right now?
And what information will those leaders be using in the weeks and months ahead? Amid hurricane season, when lives and communities are on the line
and decisions have to be made very quickly, Zain, there is this growing concern that FEMA just is not up to the task, and comments like we saw
yesterday, joking or not, are only amplifying those concerns within the agency.
ASHER: Now we're also learning that FEMA is not planning to put out an updated disaster plan for the hurricane season. What more can you tell us
about that?
COHEN: Yeah, so that also came out of this briefing yesterday, Richardson had said FEMA was preparing this updated disaster plan after they rescinded
FEMA Strategic Plan a few weeks ago. Now they are saying they're not going to be putting out an updated disaster plan. Instead, they're sort of going
to default back to how the agency functioned during hurricane season last year.
But the problem with that Zain is that this is not 2024 FEMA since then, about 10 percent of the agency, as far as we can tell, is gone. The
workforce, close to 30 percent expected to be out by the end of the year. And a lot of the people who have left are some of the most senior leaders,
the most experienced personnel who really wrote the playbook on disaster response and recovery in recent months.
And so, it is not going to be so easy as Homeland Security has been sort of dimming the light switch at FEMA for months now. Not going to be so easy to
just thrust it back up to 100 percent and say, how about we behave as we did last year and respond the way we did last year when there are all these
concerns about cuts, about trainings that have been paused, and about the agency just not being prepared in general for the task ahead.
ASHER: Gabe Cohen, live for us. Thank you. Harvard University is pushing back on Donald Trump's efforts to cut federal funding to the school. In
court filings on Monday, Harvard cited a Defense Department official who said research is being done by the school is essential to understanding
biological threats to the U.S.
Harvard is suing the administration seeking to restore more than $2 billion of federal funding. The University says the cuts would disrupt several
research projects, including studies on Paediatric HIV AIDS and Breast Cancer. All right, the AI revolution is coming, whether we like it or not.
So should we be worried, especially when it comes to our jobs, coming up with thoughts from one major AICU.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:50:00]
ASHER: All, right London, South by Southwest Festival kicked off on Monday. Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is one of the big event topics. AI research
laboratory, Google DeepMind is making its presence known at the festival, and it's happening at a time when AI raises major ethical questions, from
the spread of misinformation to something that worries everybody, the potential of job losses.
CNN's Annaa Stewart interviewed Deep Mind CEO Denise has obvious and joins us live now from London. So, what did he said? We literally look like twins
today.
ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDNET: Indeed, nice action Zain.
(CROSSTALK)
ASHER: What did he say about job losses Anna?
STEWART: Well, this is the thing we speak so much on CNN about the potential of AI, and at same time, we're always talking about risks, and
there are so many. And just last week, there was this big almost Job Apocalypse warning from the CEO of Anthropic AI, saying that potentially,
half of all white-collar jobs, entry level jobs, could be wiped out in the next five years, which is a really short, quite concerning timeframe.
So, I started off by asking sir Dennis whether he agrees with this sort of level of gloomy view. Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEMIS HASSABIS, NOBEL LAUREATE: I don't know. I think my view is we that -- what we know for sure is there's going to be huge change. We and in the
past, when this has happened, industrial revolution, internet era, it's going to be at least of that magnitude, advent of --
STEWART: -- in a shorter period of time.
HASSABIS: -- shorter period of time. And it may be a bigger, bigger change than that. These tools initially will be incredible enhancers for
productivity, so people using these tools for their creativity and other things will be almost superhuman in their capabilities in the next 510,
years.
But then beyond that, you know, we may need things like universal high income or some way of distributing all the additional productivity that AI
will produce in the economy.
STEWART: So, he does recognize there's going to be huge destruction in jobs. He's got a more optimistic view on it, but asked, you know, what are
the big risks for you? What concerns you the most? He's very much focused on what happens when AGI is achieved. This is Artificial General
Intelligence.
Essentially, it's like human level intelligence from a machine, and for him, the two biggest risks here are one that bad actors are able to harness
it and use it for ill means. And the second is, you know, whether or not AI will have too much control if we give it too much autonomy. How will humans
be able to control it in the future?
Two pretty huge concerns there. What is interesting is Google DeepMind is laser focused on achieving this AGI. In fact, DeepMind has been ever since
it started, long before Google acquired it in 2014 and this is a company Zain that doesn't just have -- although many people will know, of course,
Gemini, it has so many AI projects.
Whether it's from medical discovery or scientific research, which, of course, Sir Dennis actually was awarded a Nobel Prize in Chemistry last
year. But also, more recently, video generation and Project Astra, which is going to be harnessed with cameras so you can actually have AI
understanding the world around you now.
Why it has all these different projects is fascinating. All of them, all of them are helping this company try to achieve AGI here is what Sir Dennis
said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HASSABIS: The North Star is, is cracking this general intelligence and then using it for scientific understanding. So, everything that feeds into that
is something that will attempt to do.
STEWART: And Google will be first.
HASSABIS: I hope so. That's the idea. But the most important thing is to make sure it's done responsibly for humanity, given what's at stake,
STEWART: Right? He's saying AGI is 5, 10, years away Open AI XAI, Anthropic. AI, they have timelines more like two to three years. Perhaps
their definitions, though, on AGI is slightly different. It's a bit of a race. There's a huge investor sort of pressure. I think, for the first
company to achieve this.
It's an engineering challenge, but of course, it's also a policy making challenge, because depending on who achieves AGI in the next few years,
where it is achieved? How it is deployed? That will essentially determine whether this is a safe technology or whether it is something that creates a
sort of dystopian future. So, this is what we should all be really concerned about for the future. But at the moment, we all just focus on
chatbots, right? What's chatty Bucha going to tell me next?
ASHER: But I was, you know what? I was encouraged by the fact that he had a very different outlook from the CEO of Anthropic just in terms of job. He
just seemed a bit more optimistic in the short term, at least. Anna Stewart, live for us there. Thank you so much. And finally, this hour, one
of the world's richest men is giving away most of his $200 billion fortune to Africa.
[11:55:00]
According to several reports, Microsoft founder Bill Gates plans to spend the money over the next 20 years on health and education initiatives across
Africa. He'll do it through the Gates Foundation, the humanitarian organization he and his ex-wife Melinda Gates built once all that money is
spent. Gates says the foundation will close at the end of 2045.
All right, stay with CNN. I'm going to have much more "One World" with my colleague, Bianna Golodryga who's going to join me back here, next to me
after this short break, don't go away.
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END
