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Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) is Interviewed about DHS Funding; Trump's Numbers with Voters; Ted Tremper and Charlie Tyrell are Interviewed about A.I. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired March 27, 2026 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Forty percent roughly throughout the week, close, hovering around there, of TSA call-out here at George Bush Intercontinental Airport. So, that has led to the situation where, at best, there are about half of the security lines opening and fully functioning here at any given time.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, and it does depend on the airport. I mean Atlanta, Houston, you know, LaGuardia all having problems this morning, but there are some airlines like Newark that are doing OK this morning. It is where you pick and choose that you have to go. You never know what you're going to get.

Ed Lavandera, thank you so much. Do appreciate your reporting throughout the week.

Erica.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Sara, thanks.

Joining us now, Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell of California. He sits on the Homeland Security Committee. He's also, of course, running for governor of California.

Congressman, good to have you with us this morning.

I understand timing is still up in the air at this point, but my colleagues up there with you on The Hill, they're reporting that House Democrats are leaning toward supporting the Senate bill. Are you in that camp?

REP. ERIC SWALWELL (D-CA): Yes, I have always said that I will support TSA, every other part of DHS, I'm not giving a penny to ICE or Border Patrol. And the reason why, Erica, is that Americans have seen what ICE has done to our community. And this White House thinks that they can execute Americans in the streets and then have Americans wait millions of hours in lines at the airports, and that we won't forget the chaos.

And I can't speak for the rest of the country. I can speak for Californians. And from Modesto to Monterey, from Folsom to Fresno, they are saying, hell no, to the way that this White House is running the Department of Homeland Security. They don't want another penny for ICE or Border Patrol. They want TSA to be paid immediately. That's what we have the opportunity to do now.

HILL: Well, in terms of what may or may not happen, I just want to read for you -- so Jake Sherman over at "Punchbowl" just tweeting, from Speaker Johnson, calling him somewhat noncommittal on passing the bill. So, he's tweeting that Speaker Johnson said, quote, "we want to solve these problems as quickly as possible, but we also understand this dangerous gambit about not funding security of the border and the ability to deport criminal, illegal aliens is a serious problem for the country." And he goes on to say, "they are inflicting this upon the people."

What's your reaction to that from the speaker and what that means for this potential bill?

SWALWELL: Well, let -- yes. Well. let me ask you this, if there's such a problem of violent immigrants in our country, why were they able to put thousands of ICE agents in our airports to hand out bottles of water? I mean it just shows that this was a solution in search of a problem. And the American people had asked for violent individuals to be removed. And we have now found out that 94 percent of the people who have been arrested and deported are nonviolent individuals.

And so the real issue that we have in our country right now is that there's a lack of trust between Americans and ICE and Border Patrol. And nobody is asking for more funding for Border Patrol. Everyone would like to wait a lot less time at the airport.

HILL: Last, quick question for you when it comes to this funding. Senator Schumer, after this was passed in the wee hours, touting the fact that the Democratic caucus had remained united throughout the shutdown. Is that the win for Democrats?

SWALWELL: It's a win for the American people, but it's Democrats showing that when we fight, we can win. And in the past we've seen this approach where you send eight page, strongly worded letters objecting to policies of the White House. And instead, show, not tell leadership actually can deliver and yield results. And I think you're going to see the same thing under Speaker-to-be Jeffries in the House today.

HILL: Let's talk Iran, if we could, for a moment. The president, our reporting, is reviewing multiple options. Every single one of those carries a risk of heavy casualties and very little guarantee that any of those options would successfully end the conflict in Iran. There are also a number of Republican lawmakers arguing they've really been in the dark here about the administration's long term plans, and are mostly united when it comes to drawing a line on ground troops being deployed.

That being said, Speaker Johnson said earlier this week that, you know, funding, additional funding for the Pentagon would probably be part of a second Republican only reconciliation bill. How do you imagine that playing out in this moment? SWALWELL: Yes. I don't imagine there's going to be a lot of support

from Democrats. And there's Republicans who I've talked to who are also very nervous about supporting a war that has no plan and no justification for why we did it. In fact, the president seems more focused and has more planning for the new ballroom at the White House than he does for the Middle East.

And when I talk to Californians, here's what they tell you. When Joe Biden took office back in 2021, and fast forward to today, we're paying $2 more in gas because of the president's foreign policy on tariffs, on the goods that we consume in California. We're paying a lot more because of the president's tariff policy. And so he's costing us in every way. And people just want him to focus on the reason he ran for president, ostensibly, which was to bring down the costs. He's done the opposite. He has raised the costs. And he said he would have fewer wars. He's added more conflicts to the map.

HILL: Lastly, real quick, before I let you go, your colleague, Representative Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, appeared before the House Ethics Committee yesterday.

[09:35:02]

his is over allegations, right, the disaster -- federal disaster relief funds were used for her 2021 campaign. Should she be expelled?

SWALWELL: That's coming before the Congress. And if she broke the law, she should be. We all have to be held to the same standard. And I know that if it gets out of that committee and goes to the floor, we'll have to weigh that on the merits. She's entitled to due process but no -- no one, not a member of Congress, certainly the president of the United States, is above the law.

HILL: Congressman, appreciate your time this morning. Thank you.

SWALWELL: My pleasure. Thank you.

HILL: Just ahead here, we are hearing from the director of a new documentary exploring the world of A.I. Taking a closer look at what's really at stake if we get this wrong.

Plus, KFC with the puffer jacket that is already on Sara Sidner's Christmas wish list. Why? It packs a punch of pickles. Yes, and it looks like it keeps them cool and ready to access whenever you need a crunchy little snack.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:40:25]

SIDNER: So, how are working class Americans feeling about the job that Donald Trump is doing? We've got our data chief here, Harry Enten, joining us.

How are people feeling who are making 50k or under, which is considered, you know, from statistics, the working class in America.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: You know, the working class, those making 50k or less, those making under 50k, were a big swing vote. Were a big swing vote in the 2024 election. Trump was able to win them. That was a very important part of his coalition.

But look at this now. Look at the net approval rating that he has with those making under 50k. Down it goes. Look at that. That's a 26-point switcheroo in the latest average of polls. Look at that, minus 24 points. The working-class voters are abandoning Donald Trump. Those who helped put him over the top in 2024 are saying, you know what, not for me right now.

SIDNER: Look, the two big issues were the economy and immigration. Those -- poll after poll showed us, that you would bring us, that that's what people cared about, whether they were working class or not.

So, what is it this time that has really made people sour?

ENTEN: You know, it's, to quote James Carville, it's the economy, stupid, or the economy, smarty, when I'm talking with you, Sara Sidner.

SIDNER: Nice try, Harry.

ENTEN: I try. You know, I'm trying to suck up, you know? But look, if you look at those who, again, making under 50k, who they trusted more on the economy back during the 2024 election. What you see? You see that they trusted Donald Trump over Kamala Harris. Look at that, by a five-point margin. And then they have completely, completely shifted away from the president of the United States. He is way underwater. We're talking well more than a 20 point shift away from the president of the United States. His net approval rating with them right now is absolutely atrocious when it comes to the economy. They have seen what has happened. They have seen what has happened on tariffs. They have seen what has happened with the war. They have seen the gas prices go up. And you just say to yourself, if you're a voter making under 50k, you know what, the economy, it is not where we want it to be and therefore we are turning against Trump on the economy and we are turning against him overall as well.

SIDNER: He made some promises to get this fixed quickly, and people are still very much hurting. Things still very expensive.

Give us some sense of how this might impact Congress for 2026, which is quickly -- the midterms are quickly approaching.

ENTEN: OK. So, this is what's so important here, right? Something could be happening to Donald Trump, but it's not necessarily going to impact the race for Congress. That's not the case here. That is not the case here.

I mean just take a look at the choice for Congress, for those who are making under 50k. Look at this. In 2024, they went with the GOP by a very similar margin they went for Donald Trump, right. A two-point win for Republicans amongst those making under 50k. But now they are favoring Democrats by 12 points on average. This to me looks a lot more like 2018, when Democrats were able to win back the U.S. House of Representatives, then it looks like, 2024, when, of course, Republicans were able to hold onto their House majority and win the presidency. 2018. The good times may be coming back for Democrats, at least with those making under 50k.

SIDNER: Look, the tariffs certainly have had an impact on all voters working class in particular, because the less money you have and the more expensive things are, you know, it makes things tighter and tighter.

ENTEN: It makes it very tight.

SIDNER: So, the question is, is there any chance that the Americans suffering through this are going to get some kind of stimulus check from tariffs? You're rolling your eyes.

ENTEN: Nah. That ain't going to happen. I mean, you know --

SIDNER: I'm asking. There was a promise (INAUDIBLE). $1,000 or whatever.

ENTEN: There was. There was a promise. There was a promise. Some Democrats are actually trying to revive it in Congress. But, at this point, you look at the Kalshi prediction market. There is just a very low chance of that happening. That chance has been declining over the last few months, obviously, as you got that Supreme Court ruling coming in on tariffs.

SIDNER: Right.

ENTEN: And so, at this point, what you're looking at is well less than a 50 percent chance that they get those tariff checks by 2027. So, you know what, at the end of the day, what we're seeing is those working class voters have turned against the president of the United States. They were a key swing vote in 2024. And at this point, that swing vote is swinging towards the Democrats. And it may swing them back into a majority in the House of Representatives and maybe the Senate as well.

SIDNER: A lot of warning signs there. Harry Enten, thank you so much.

ENTEN: Thank you, my friend.

SIDNER: We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:49:14]

HILL: This is a really important development to share with you this hour. KFC U.K. unveiling a new jacket. It's got a built in snack storage. A clear puffer. Look at this. What is that filled with, you ask? No, not the color of the season, green, it's pickles. Yes. The jacket is in celebration of the new pickle-themed menu available exclusively in the U.K. and Ireland. Bad news here, it's not for sale. You can win it though through a giveaway on Instagram. It comes with a straw so you could even drink the pickle juice. And, by the way, it may be just me. So backstage there's this jar of pickles that belongs to Berman and Sara. But look, there's just like one sad little pickle left.

SIDNER: So good. We could use the jacket. Get it for us.

HILL: So, if you had the jacket, maybe you could have more pickles backstage. There we go.

SIDNER: Delish.

HILL: So, we know what Sara and Berman are hopefully getting for Christmas. KFC U.K., if you're listening, they have needs.

[09:50:02]

Lastly, the kangaroo on the lam. An entire community in central Wisconsin is now searching for a missing kangaroo. This adorable little guy, in his denim diaper, or maybe its jorts, we're not sure, his name is Chesney. He escaped from Sunshine Farm. He lives there with his brother, wait for it, Kenny. It's Kenny and Chesney. Or just Kenny Chesney. He has been spotted bouncing around. He got scared by a barking dog, apparently, so he jumped out. He's been running around. The problem is he's too fast to catch. So, everybody's on the lookout. Cute guy. Denim shorts. Goes by Chesney.

SIDNER: Yes. Adorable. And do you know what one of Kenny -- one of Kenny Chesney's songs is, all I want for Christmas is a real good tan.

So, I'm just letting you know that the -- that the little kangaroo has already got one. So, everything is good. Everything's fine.

HILL: He does have a tan.

All Sara wants for Christmas is a pickle jacket.

SIDNER: That's it. That's all I want. It's very simple.

New this morning, a new documentary, "The A.I. Doc: Or how I became an Apocaloptimist" is exploring the rise of artificial intelligence, as well as its potential risks to humanity. The film features interviews with some of the biggest names in A.I., including OpenAI's Sam Altman, while raising some really serious questions about the future of A.I. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRISTAN HARRIS, CO-FOUNDER, CENTER FOR HUMANE TECHNOLOGY: I know people who work on A.I. risk who don't expect their children to make it to high school. I -- what the --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How does A.I. understand pretty much everything?

SANMI KOYEJO, ASST. PROF. COMPUTER SCIENCE STANFORD: It's surprisingly straightforward. Intelligence is about recognizing patterns. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Patterns.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Patterns.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Patterns.

JEFFREY LADISH, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PALISADE RESEARCH: If you have learned those patterns, you can generate new information.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A.I. is moving so fast.

DEBORAH RAJI, RESEARCHER, U.C. BERKLEY: It's being deployed prematurely. There's so much potential for things to go wrong.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why can't we just stop?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Yikes. The film's producer, Ted Tremper, and co-director Charlie Tyrell, joining us now.

Gentlemen, thank you for this. Although you have gotten me feeling pretty, what's the word --

HILL: Scared?

SIDNER: Yes.

HILL: Yes.

SIDNER: Frightened.

HILL: Yes.

SIDNER: Let me ask you this. First of all, what the hell is an apocalyptimist (ph)?

TED TREMPER, PRODUCER, "THE A.I. DOC: OR HOW I BECAME AN APOCALOPTIMIST": Well, an apocaloptimist is someone who can --

CHARLIE TYRELL, CO-DIRECTOR, "THE A.I. DOC: OR HOW I BECAME AN APOCALOPTIMIST": Yes, I mean, an apocaloptimist --

HILL: Apocaloptimist.

SIDNER: Oh, apocaloptimist. Got it. Good grief. Go ahead.

TREMPER: Yes. Charlie, do you want to take it or would you like me to?

TYRELL: It's someone who understands -- yes, can you hear me, Ted? Uh- oh.

HILL: Go ahead, Charlie.

TREMPER: Yes. TYRELL: An apocaloptimist is someone who understands that there's a likelihood or a possibility of things not going well, but you still have to hope for the best so that you can not just hope for the best, but you have to believe in a possible, optimistic future in order to move towards it. If you just accept that things are going to be doomed, then that's the way that we're going to go. So, you have to believe and move the needle towards things going well. It's holding both things at once because this technology is both, it's good and bad at the same time because both things are possible with it.

HILL: So, on the heels of that, though, there's a question to Sam Altman here, which is, you know, the head of OpenAI. When in the film you say, I want you to tell me something is going to go well. And, Ted, he says, that's impossible.

TREMPER: Yes. That's one of the challenging things with A.I. is that it's truly impossible to separate the promise of A.I. from the peril of A.I. So, we need to, as a -- as a species and as a planet, look at both of those things and each, in our individual lives, move the needle towards getting the most promising things while avoiding the peril, which is truly possible.

SIDNER: What is one of the biggest perils that you noticed as you're talking to all these different people? You're talking to engineers. You're talking to the heads of the biggest companies that are focusing on A.I. What were some things that that perhaps frightened you, or at least made you go, oh my God, like, this is, this is, this is potentially really problematic?

TREMPER: Well, you know, the dangers range from --

TYRELL: I mean, one of the ones --

(CROSS TALK)

SIDNER: Sorry, to -- I'll let Ted -- I'll let Ted take that.

TYRELL: Oh, sorry, Ted.

TREMPER: Yes. The dangers of -- the people have really compelling cases of, you know, mass unemployment ranging up to 50, 60 percent of society being unemployed all the way to human extinction. And on the flip side, there's the possibility of curing all disease. So, it's -- they each -- each person in their individual silos, the optimists and pessimists can make really compelling cases for either side. And that's why we're sort of left in this middle wondering what's going to happen. And that's where kind of our human agency kicks in. Like we have to actually act together and, you know, steer the ship.

HILL: Charlie, the trailer that we just showed, there's a person at the end who says, why can't we just stop? I think a lot of people may feel that way. This is moving so quickly that it's hard to keep up. It's kind of hard to wrap your head around. Is the sense that you got that it's too far gone to stop, or is there perhaps a growing movement of people who are saying, let's try to slow this down and manage it better. [09:55:00]

TYRELL: There are. So, I mean, one of the biggest and most concerning realizations I had making this film was the fact that there probably isn't any kind of off switch. You know, it's a tool that we can't decide to reject because it's already here. It's like we say in the film, it's almost like the discovery of fire. But that being said, you know, the fact that something isn't going away doesn't mean you can't live with it. And there is a movement of people and people that are organizing, including many of the subjects in our film, to speak to the advocacy for safety that's required, the advocacy for regulation and making sure that this is done right to be something that reflects our values and our needs, rather than, you know, possibly the greatest money making machine ever made.

SIDNER: Yes, I mean, look, I really like the idea that you guys are still optimists. But we can see the two potential dangers of this and the good that could come of this. Things like, as you mentioned, you know, medical advancements. It could be pretty incredible.

HILL: Yes.

SIDNER: Here's the thing, when it comes to regulating, Congress can't even get TSA paid for 40 days.

HILL: Yes.

SIDNER: So, this is where the problem is.

HILL: They are not going to be the answer on that, I do not think.

Ted Tremper, Charlie Tyrell, great to have you both. The film is "The A.I. Doc: Or How We Became An -- OK I'm going to try to say it -- Apocaloptimist."

SIDNER: You got it.

HILL: There you go. In theaters today.

SIDNER: Have a great day. "THE SITUATION ROOM," next.

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