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Rep. Scott Peters (D-CA) On Government Shut Down For First Time In Nearly Seven Years; Hollywood Fumes Over New "AI Actress"; Trump Hands Out Public Land, Millions Of Dollars To Save Big Coal. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired October 01, 2025 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:30:35]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking this morning the federal government is at a standstill after lawmakers failed to agree on a funding extension by the midnight deadline. Neither side showing signs of giving in or even figuring it out, and it goes without saying at this point neither side is taking any blame for where this has ended up.

Democrats want to see policy changes in order to sign on with the GOP majorities, like extensions of Obamacare subsidies that are set to expire at the end of the year. Republicans say no, not now. They want to first extend funding for seven weeks, and current funding levels, and then they say then they will negotiate with Democrats on health care changes.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that some 750,000 federal workers will be furloughed every single day. And then there are the kind of unknown number of workers deemed essential who will be working without pay until this thing is over.

President Trump has a new threat for Democrats.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The last thing we want to do is shut it down but a lot of good can come down from shutdowns. We can get rid of a lot of things that we didn't want, and they'd be Democrat things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: CNN's Alayna Treene at the White House for us. So Alayna, what are you hearing from there this morning?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, I think a key question Kate, right now of course, is how do we get out of this? How do we end a shutdown? How do the two sides come together? And for now that seems very far off.

Instead of, you know, having these negotiations like we saw try to take place on Monday here at the White House, both sides are blaming each other. They're throwing insults. They're mocking one another.

And just from the White House perspective -- I mean, if you go to the White House's website, Kate, there's a banner -- a breaking news banner that reads "Democrat Shutdown." Democrats in their own words. It essentially directs users to a compilation video of different Democrats in the past saying that shutdowns are bad. That video also playing on a loop right now in the White House press briefing room just to give you a sense of how the White House is kind of playing up the politics of this.

And that really -- I mean, when you asked me what am I hearing, what I'm hearing from the White House is they're not that worried about the politics of this, and that's despite knowing that recent polls show voters actually blame both parties for a shutdown.

But they argue that they have a good story to tell about why Democrats should be taking the blame. They're referring to how they are trying to negotiate a short-term funding deal and have these conversations over health care benefits play out over a longer period of time.

But we're hearing the same argument, of course, from Democrats as well.

But I think one thing -- one of the most interesting things, at least from the White House perspective, to keep an eye on is that we know that the president himself as well as some of his top officials -- most notably the White House budget chief Russ Vought -- they see this as an opportunity -- this shutdown -- to enact potentially permanent cuts to the federal government. Ones, really, that there -- they see this as an opportunity to try and expand the president's executive authority.

We heard from Russ Vought yesterday in an interview. He essentially said that there are all manners of authorities to keep this administration's policy agenda moving forward. He said that includes reducing the size and scope of the federal government. That they're going to look for opportunities to do that.

We are reporting, of course, as well that they're looking at potential widespread layoffs again throughout the federal government while this is happening. And the reason this is so important is because they can do this without congressional approval because of a shutdown.

The president himself kind of talked about that yesterday as well, Kate. He said essentially that they can use this as pretext to make "irreversible actions without congressional approval" such as benefit cuts and slashing programs that Democrats care a lot about.

This really does have the potential to be very painful from Democrats for what the White House is planning. So all of that still a question of when it could happen, if it will happen. But definitely, things that the White House planning behind the scenes.

BOLDUAN: All right, Alayna Treene. Thank you so much -- Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Joining me now is Congressman Scott Peters, a Democrat from California. He also sits on the House Budget Committee and is part of the Problem Solvers Caucus.

Let me first ask you, are negotiations going on right now and, if so, how are they going?

REP. SCOTT PETERS (D-CA) (via Webex by Cisco): Well, good morning.

I don't believe that they are. I think it's really a shame. And I would just point out we're in this situation where Democrats have no power to call those negotiations. The Republicans are in charge of the Senate, the House, and the White House.

[07:35:05]

And it wasn't until the day before, September 30 -- everybody knows September 30 is the funding deadline -- that the president first called people in to talk and then didn't have serious discussions. He's known all year that he's had to get a few Democratic votes in the Senate. Instead of sitting down like the dealmaker he says he's supposed to be and saying what's it going to take to get a deal all he said is just extend the day for seven weeks.

And I think that's unacceptable in this situation because today, Sara, people are start -- going to start getting notices about the --

SIDNER: Yeah.

PETERS: -- increases in their insurance premiums for health care that are taking place --

SIDNER: Yeah.

PETERS: -- as a result of the big, ugly bill that was passed this year.

So we've got to get this done. We've got to get to work. Got to get to work. And there's no reason for delay.

SIDNER: Let me talk to you about what the president has been saying. He posted a second, like, unhinged AI-generated video of Democratic leadership with him playing mariachi in the background. That followed the racist video he posted of Hakeem Jeffries in a sombrero hat. He also posted pictures last night of his first-ever meeting with Democratic leadership this year where he has "Trump 2028" hats on his desk.

You're part of the Problem Solvers Caucus. How do you problem solve with a president who is really busy trolling and taunting Democrats at this point?

PETERS: It's really difficult. You know, I do think it's really changed the context in a way we've never seen before.

You know, it was President Trump who said -- in 2013, he said, as a citizen -- he was criticizing President Obama. He said that the shutdown falls on the president's lack of leadership. He can't even control his own party and get people together in a room. A shutdown means the president is weak.

And this president acts like a tough guy but he can't get anything done. He certainly is not -- if that's -- if this is his idea of negotiating -- you know, putting out memes and sort of insults, I don't think that's getting any -- getting us any closer to a solution.

It was the Trump administration last time. We had a 30-some day shutdown under the first Trump administration. I don't think he knows what he's doing. And when he says he's supposed to be making a deal I don't -- I don't -- I don't understand how this is how you solve a problem by throwing insults.

You've got to get people in the room. Maybe some short-term agreement could come out of that as you're negotiating in good faith. But to wait until the day before the deadline you knew about all year and have a meeting and do a pro forma -- you know, for show meeting and then blame the other side, I think it's a little ridiculous.

They're in control of everything. Let's have them convene us --

SIDNER: You made the point --

PETERS: -- and figure out a solution. We've got both problems to deal with.

SIDNER: Yeah. You make the point that the Republicans are in control of the House, the Senate, and have the presidency.

But Republicans made this point that Obamacare health care subsidies that Democrats are insisting need to be extended now don't actually expire until the end of the year.

Why couldn't Dems just pass this short-term budget to keep the government open and then negotiate over the health care issues?

PETERS: Well, you know, it's true that they don't officially expire until later but that doesn't mean that people aren't making plans now. I mean, health facilities are closing because they know Medicaid cuts are coming. And insurance companies are sending out letters -- literally today people will start to see them -- saying your premiums are going to go up because of what the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress have done.

So that's why we can't wait. We've got to get on this soon or we're going to get -- we're going to have irreversible damage for people who need health care in this country.

SIDNER: Are you worried that Democrats are actually playing into the president's hand? Because he's been very clear that he wants to cut down hundreds of thousands of federal jobs and he's promising mass permanent layoffs during this shutdown. He wants a smaller federal government. So do Republicans.

Here is what he said about the shutdown.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: So the last thing we want to do is shut it down, but a lot of good can come down from shutdowns. We can get rid of a lot of things that we didn't want, and they'd be Democrat things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Are you worried about what he's saying there, which he is targeting Democrats and saying look, the shutdown is happening so I'm going to make it worse?

PETERS: Well, Democrats aren't asking him to do this. We're not asking him to punish federal workers because he's angry with how things are going, and he can't get things done.

If he does that it will be something like the DOGE situation where he found out it wasn't -- you know, the federal bureaucracy I think is something like four percent of all federal spending. It's not like you save a lot of money. But the people in the -- who do those jobs mean a lot. And when you -- when you cut them -- and he found this out through DOGE -- often it doesn't work out like you thought it was.

I mean, he cut the people who guard our nuclear stockpiles. Oh, we have to hire them back. And so we're going to go through that again.

I don't think it's going to look very good for him. It's certainly not going to serve the country and it's not going to get us back to the table and solve the problems that we need to solve.

[07:40:05]

We need to be in the Oval Office with the leadership of all parties talking about how to -- what it's going to take to get a deal to keep this government going for another year. And that's what the president is supposed to do. It seems like to me he's doing the opposite.

SIDNER: Congressman, can I quickly ask you your comments on what you heard from President Trump yesterday suggesting he was going to use "dangerous" -- use the military against what he called "dangerous cities" as a training ground for the military. I know California has seen troops --

PETERS: Yeah.

SIDNER: -- come in during protests.

What is your take on that?

PETERS: Well, I'm from San Diego where we're very proud of our Marines and our sailors, and our Coast Guard.

And first of all, I have to say it has so bothered me to see the military around Washington, D.C. standing in Metro stations with nothing to do. That is not what these young people train to do. They train to defend our country. And I think the last thing we want to do is training them with guns -- 18-year-old kids -- in our cities. I think it's about the dumbest thing I've ever heard. You know, we -- these are -- these are jobs for police forces. In

Washington, if the president wanted to bolster law enforcement in D.C. the federal government controls the D.C. budget. Give D.C. more police. That's the appropriate role for the -- for the -- for the police.

And the military is supposed to defend us against foreign attack. And this notion we're going to train our military in our cities seems to be dangerous, seems to be counterproductive, and it misses the point of the military which, you know, I guess you might expect from someone who has never served.

SIDNER: Congressman Scott Peters, thank you -- appreciate it -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: So her name is Tilly Norwood and at first glance she appears to be a young actress looking for her big break and posting about it on Instagram.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TILLY NORWOOD, AI-GENERATED ACTRESS: Let's get to know each other, and thanks for watching.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: But this actress is actually completely AI-generated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tilly Norwood, 100 percent AI-generated by some company called Particle6.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She'll do anything I say. I'm already in love.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Girl-next-door vibes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Like if a Sunday roast went to drama school and got BAFTA optimized.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But can she cry on Graham Norton?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Of course, she can, and it will be clipped, subtitled, and monetized on TikTok by lunchtime.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Hmm. So this has gotten Hollywood talking and fuming. Major stars speaking out after reports that talent agencies actually wanted to sign Tilly Norwood.

CNN's Clare Duffy is here with much more on this. Um, what's going on here?

CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH REPORTER: Yeah. I mean, just listening to that clip there -- the idea that the first major instance of this that we've seen is a young woman I think is sort of telling. That as you hear in that video we can do anything with her.

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

DUFFY: That's the idea here is that these AI actresses could potentially fill in for roles that human actors perhaps don't want to take. The creator of this says that she's something altogether different from human actors, but Hollywood is not buying that. This speaks directly to the fears that Hollywood actors have had that their work has been used to train these AI systems --

BOLDUAN: Right.

DUFFY: -- that could potentially be used to replace them.

And just to give you a sense of the backlash here I want to read to you some of the comments from Hollywood actors who have taken to her Instagram page to express their frustration and anger.

Cameron Cowperthwaite said, "This is incredibly thoughtless and frankly disturbing. I hope this backfires in every way humanly and well, non-humanly possible."

Mara Wilson says, "You didn't make this. Hundreds of real workers, real photographers, camera operators -- heck, even farmers, made this. You took their work and pretended it was yours."

And Sophie Turner just says, "Wow...no thanks."

The actor's union site AFTRA also put out a statement about this saying that "SAG-AFTRA believes in create -- believes creativity is and should remain human-centered. The union is opposed to the replacement of human performers by synthetics." And also said they believe that human people don't want to watch this AI-generated media.

Now, the creator of this, Eline van der Velden, founder of AI startup --

BOLDUAN: Um-hum.

DUFFY: -- Particle6 which creates this kind of digital content, again says this isn't meant to be a replacement. She said, "To those who have expressed anger over the creation of our AI character Tilly Norwood: she is not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work -- a piece of art. Just as animation, puppetry, or CGI opened fresh possibilities without taking away from live acting, AI offers another way to imagine and build stories."

So trying to frame this as something altogether different.

BOLDUAN: Um-hum.

DUFFY: But I think that's probably cold comfort to the actors who feel like this wouldn't exist without their work and their likenesses.

BOLDUAN: Yeah. I mean, it also is just highlighting there is -- you know, this is coming and this needs to be dealt with before you've got AI actors and actresses all over the place.

DUFFY: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: This is definitely highlighting that for sure.

It's great to see you, Clare. Thank you so much.

DUFFY: Thank you.

[07:45:00]

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us the real impact of two hurricanes. You can see it. We're going to show it right there. That is the real impact so far, and the worst of it may be yet to come.

And the results are in. There is a new Fat Bear Week champion, guys. Why 32 Chunk stole hearts and won by a landslide.

(COMMERCIAL)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A new announcement from the Trump administration -- a promise to open millions of acres of public land and spend hundreds of millions of dollars to prop up the coal mining industry. At the same time, the White House is also rolling back regulations on air and water pollution to keep aging power plants open.

CNN chief climate correspondent Bill Weir is with us with this new announcement.

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: But just a though experiment at the household level. What would it take -- how much would I have to pay you to heat your house with coal? Like the old- fashioned Oliver Twist way and all the mess that comes with that. That is what the president is really proposing on a national scale here.

[07:50:05]

We'll just put up the bullet points here and I'll talk you through them.

This plan is $625 million to extend the life of coal-fired power plants -- those that economically would be shut down. Some are just kept running because they know if they shut them down they would never come back online.

Thirteen-point-one million acres of public land for mining, discount leases, lower royalty rates from mining companies to pay. Eased air and water restrictions -- that's a key part. So if you didn't want a coal-fired power plant in your neighborhood before when there were regulations, they'll be less regulations around that now.

And, of course, renewables, at the same time, are being dialed back. Solar and wind on federal land. So not only picking winners but punishing the opponents. But just to give you a point of reference on the energy landscape, coal made up about 52 percent of American electricity generation in 1990. Right now it's down to 16 percent because wind, solar, and natural gas are cheaper, faster, easier. Coal decline is what cut U.S. emissions even as the economy grew. The U.S. is one of a couple of dozen countries that's managed to bring down and bend the curve there.

And they're tying this, of course, to baseload power and the rising demand of AI.

Chris Wright, the energy secretary, said in statement, "Beautiful, clean coal will be essential to powering America's reindustrialization and winning the AI race. These funds will help keep our nation's coal plants operating and will be vital to keeping electricity prices lower and the lights on without interruption."

Opponents would say no; it's only going to make electricity more expensive when you stop wind farms that are almost all the way done. The cheapest forms of electricity with solar.

"The Trump administration's attempt to ban clean energy and prop up dirty and costly coal will not only cause costs to keep going up, it will also risk the health of our communities and threaten public lands that belong to all of us," said Matthew Davis of the League of Conservation Voters in a statement.

And all of this sort of leaves out the climate implications. Every ton burned of fossil fuels puts ecosystems further at risk.

And then there's the safety implications of the people who make this. In a couple of weeks there will be a protest at the Department of Labor from communities affected by black lung because silica regulations have not been enforced -- those protect miners from black lung -- because of cuts at the EPA and Health and Human Services.

BERMAN: We'll see where this goes in 2025.

Bill Weir, thank you very much.

WEIR: Yeah.

BERMAN: Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Thank you, John.

New this morning the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins says the U.S. farming economy is "in a significant challenge" as farmers struggle with the impact tariffs are having on their livelihood.

It's been five months since President Trump announced his global trade war. As a result, China, the world's biggest soybean buyer, is now refusing to purchase American soybeans, instead turning to countries like Brazil and Argentina. That export alone was worth nearly $25 billion last year.

Over the weekend Senate Majority Leader John Thune said farmers will need a bailout this year.

Joining me now is John Boyd Jr., founder and president of the National Black Farmers Association. Thank you, sir, for being here. Love the hat.

Trump's tariffs idea was that China relied so heavily on the U.S. market that it would force Beijing to accept trade terms that helped American consumers and businesses, including farmers.

What is it doing for your farm?

JOHN BOYD JR., FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT, NATIONAL BLACK FARMERS ASSOCIATION (via Webex by Cisco): Well, right now, American farmers are really struggling out here.

Within 10 months, the president has caused complete chaos for America's farmers with his -- with his tariffs. Twenty billion dollars to Argentina alone, and they're the ones actually selling soybeans. So the president says he's a great dealmaker. Well, the president got played on this one and the American farmers are hurting at this.

And you mentioned this secretary, Ms. Rollins. We haven't had no communication. We have 160,000 members in this country and we haven't been at the table with the agriculture secretary. And for her, the president doesn't like to take blame so you may blame her, you know, when this thing continues to roll out.

And then we have the vice president, so American farmers are losing farms, and his real estate company is buying America's farms. So instead of the administration helping us, they're buying the farms and they're causing complete havoc.

And it's all at the hands of these tariffs that the president said when he was on CNN yesterday that he loved it. He loves these tariffs. That he loves farmers. But farmers are losing their farm at an all- time high in this country. Bankruptcies are up. Suicides are up. Farm foreclosures are up.

[07:55:00]

And we need a farm moratorium in this country. Why are we losing our farms at a manmade disaster that the president caused? Something has to be done, and Congress needs to step it up and really intervene on behalf of America's farmers.

SIDNER: Yeah. And look, right now Congress is -- has shut the government down, unable to come to a deal. So there are a lot of other issues surrounding that as well.

I do want to go back to something that you mentioned and it's about Argentina. The president pledged a $20 million-plus bailout to Argentina to help prop up Argentina's MAGA-inspired administration.

And I do want to get your reaction to something related to that because the AP published a photo of U.S. Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent's phone during the U.N. General Assembly, saying -- it shows a text from U.S. Agriculture Secretary Rollins, who we heard from -- who says, like, farmers are struggling.

She says, "We bailed out Argentina yesterday and in return the Argentines removed their export tariffs on grains, reducing their price, and sold a bunch of soybeans to China at a time when we would normally be selling to China."

What do you think of this? How are soybean farmers being affected by this?

BOYD: Well, I want to be perfectly clear. China hasn't ordered any soybeans from America's farmers and that's why I said that the president really got played on this one. So he pulls out $20 billion to Argentina and this president and their administration. That $20 billion could have helped save a whole lot of America's farmers here in the United States.

So here they doubled back and then announced selling soybeans to China that we would be normally selling right now. This is harvest time and the prices are at, to me, all-time lows since the '80s. And these countries are really working circles around the president out there.

SIDNER: John Boyd Jr., I do thank you for your time. I know you've been talking to a lot of farmers, and it is really disturbing to hear you say that your suicides are up and that people are losing their farms since we all rely on the food that you all grow and raise, so appreciate you -- John.

BERMAN: All right. Overnight a late-night talent swap. Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert appeared on each other's shows. They traded stories about being taken off the air. Kimmel said he was in the bathroom when ABC first called to tell him about the suspension.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, ABC "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE!": I'm on the phone with ABC executives and they say listen, we want to take the temperature down. We're concerned about what you're going to say tonight, and we decided that the best route is to take the show off the air for now.

AUDIENCE: (Booing).

KIMMEL: That's what I said. I started booing. I said I don't think that's a good idea. And they said well, we think it's a good idea. And then there was a vote, and I lost the vote. And so I had -- I put my pants back on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Kimmel said of the dual appearances, "We thought it might be a fun way to drive the president nuts."

This morning California police looking for criminals who made off with a small utility truck and two highly-trained hawks from a football game. This happened at SoFi Stadium during the Rams-Colts game. The hawks are used to keep other birds away. Authorities found the truck about four miles from the stadium, but the birds are still missing. At least we have a winner -- Chunk the chubby champion, the king of Alaska's Fat Bear Week. Chunk is a 1,200-pound bear with a broken jaw, which apparently does not keep him from eating. He came in first after finishing in second place the last three years in a row. Always the bridesmaid until this year. Wildlife officials say this year more than 1.5 million votes were cast in the contest.

BOLDUAN: No, he won by a lot. And look at him. He persevered even with his injury. That will probably be with him forever. And so did get a lot of votes because he powered through.

BERMAN: It's a story of perseverance -- I think you're right.

BOLDUAN: It is -- champion.

BERMAN: Champion.

BOLDUAN: 32 Chunk.

BERMAN: 32.

BOLDUAN: Isn't it funny? It's kind of similar to the name I call you off set.

BERMAN: Chunky. Great. Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Love you, J.B. Love you, J.B.

Let's turn to this. New this morning the impact from a rare combination of two hurricanes churning side-by-side in the Atlantic all at once was enough to send at least five homes crashing into the water on North Carolina's Outer Banks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got some major breakage. There it goes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: And there you have it.

The Park Service says no one was inside those homes when they fell into the water, thank goodness.

Let me get over to CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam for more on this. And the threat is not over, Derek.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Right, exactly, Kate. So it's amazing that this was the straw that broke the camel's back. Remember, we've had several powerful offshore storms this hurricane season -- Hurricane Erin a couple of weeks ago, an unnamed coastal storm. They are really eroding our coastal defenses.