Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Polls on GOP's General Election; Early Government Access for A.I.; Jason Lynch is Interviewed about the End of "The Late Show." Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired May 21, 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]

CARRIE CORDERO, CNN LEGAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Law, and therefore it doesn't have authority to make and issue the judgments that the Justice Department is saying it's going to make.

And then the officers are also making, Sara, constitutional claims under the 14th Amendment because there is a specific provision in the 14th Amendment that says that debts cannot be paid for obligations made to individuals involved in insurrection or rebellion.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: You mentioned this, that this is all sort of predicated on a personal -- a lawsuit in a personal capacity by Donald Trump, where he sued because a contractor leaked some of his tax returns.

Look, he's now suing the agency that is controlled by his own administration. Is there any precedent for something like this? I have never heard of something like this in any time in American history. Is there any precedent for this?

CORDERO: I'm not aware of cases, at least in our modern history, that involve a sitting president suing their own government. And so that's why the courts that were looking at that particular civil suit were requesting additional briefing. And basically, the family, the Trump family, settled this case before some of those briefings and articulation of their legal arguments were made before the courts. But it gets to this bigger issue of what the president has alleged was weaponization or the use of lawfare, which is the use of the law or legal proceedings to target opponents. And so, this settlement that gets to weaponization seems to be a way that allowed him, therefore, to settle.

The other question it raises, though, is that it's not just January 6th defendants who potentially, at least under the way that the settlement looks to be crafted, it's not just January 6th defendants that potentially could apply for regress under this new commission or this new fund. There are individuals who potentially have been prosecuted by the Trump administration itself who could allege that their prosecutions were politically motivated and they could potentially apply.

SIDNER: Yes. CORDERO: So, it's really a new creation of something.

SIDNER: Yes, like the FBI director, James Comey, where a judge said that that is what it appears to be, that was a political prosecution and the case was dropped. And now there's another case.

Carrie Cordero, this opens up so many things, but a lot of Americans are quite upset about it because it is taxpayer dollars that go into that fund that could end up paying those who were violent on January 6th. It's got a lot of people feeling deeply troubled about it. Thank you so much for walking us through the legal aspects of it all. Appreciate it.

Fred.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Sara, happening right now, star of "The Pitt" actor Noah Wyle is at a rally on Capitol Hill with his mother. What he's fighting for.

And new reporting on how the president is looking to rein in the question, this question, is it too little, too late?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:37:44]

SIDNER: All right, early voting wraps up tomorrow in the Texas Senate primary runoff. The president says he is confident his pick, State Attorney General Ken Paxton, which, by the way, he just announced this week, will defeat longtime incumbent GOP Senator John Cornyn on Tuesday.

CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten joining us now.

I mean the president's saying, hey, I've got it in the bag. The guy that I've picked is going to win. I mean, what does it tell us? Is he right?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: I would just say, look, Trump is the general of the Republican Party and Republican primary voters are, in fact, his soldiers. And you can see it in the Texas polling his impact of an endorsement.

Now, this is, of course, before, of course, the endorsement came down. But look at this, 55 percent of Texas Republicans said they would be more likely to vote for the candidate that he endorsed, versus just 36 percent who said no impact, just nine percent said that they'd be less likely to vote for the candidate he endorsed.

The bottom line is this, what Donald Trump wants, he almost always gets in Republican primaries. Because when you see numbers like this, 55 percent of Republicans in Texas say they're going to be more likely to vote for whoever he endorses, and that, of course, being Ken Paxton, it's no wonder the president's so confident.

SIDNER: Well, we're seeing this over and over and over again in primaries, even though people look and go, well, his approval ratings, it doesn't matter to those who are the core voters who are MAGA all the way. You're seeing it play out again and again. Where do the prediction markets put the Texas Senate runoff post Trump endorsement?

ENTEN: Yes, you see this 55 percent right there and then it is no wonder in the Kalshi prediction market. I mean you could just see the movement towards Ken Paxton.

SIDNER: Good grief.

ENTEN: Look at this. On Monday he had a 66 percent chance of winning. Up like a rocket, right? Up like a rocket. Ninety-five percent. Houston, if you are, in fact, John Cornyn, you have a big problem. But if you're Ken Paxton, you have a big time solution. Two thumbs up, as the president likes to say. Right now, the Kalshi prediction market giving two thumbs up to the idea that Ken Paxton is, in fact, going to be the Republican nominee.

SIDNER: The prediction markets have to be looking at what just happened in Kentucky and elsewhere. Give us some sense of, hey, they look at this, they're like, OK.

ENTEN: Yes, this has been one of the best weeks for Donald Trump when it comes to endorsements. You saw it in Kentucky on Tuesday. I mean, just look at this.

[09:40:00]

Look at this, Massie's Kentucky Four GOP primary performances. In 2022 he got 75 percent. In 2024, he got 76 percent. In 2026, look at this, just 45 percent. The big difference was that Donald Trump came in, campaigned very vigorously against Thomas Massie. And when you go against President Trump, as I like to say, quoting the great film "Good Burger," you go in the grinder. And that's exactly what happened to Thomas Massie. Because Donald Trump is just a figure you don't want to mess with in Republican primaries.

SIDNER: It was not a good burger for Massie.

ENTEN: No, it was a very bad burger.

SIDNER: He had a rough time. Yes.

Louisiana. Are we seeing Trump's dominance there as well?

ENTEN: Yes, I mean, look, this was a rare burger for Thomas Massie and it was an extra rare burger, of course, for Bill Cassidy. I mean, this is why I say it was just such a great week for Donald Trump. Just look at this. I mean, we've spoken about this before. I asked our viewers, could you find any , performance that was worse for a sitting incumbent senator who was not appointed? No, Bill Cassidy's 25 percent was the worst ever primary performance for an incumbent senator. My goodness gracious. All because they went against Donald John Trump. Just 25 percent of the work -- 25 percent of the worst since at least the end of World War II. SIDNER: What is interesting, though, is that John Cornyn, in the Texas

race, he voted with Trump 95 percent or 90 percent of the time. But the couple of times he didn't, Trump went for him, and now he's going for Paxton. We'll see what happens.

ENTEN: We'll see.

SIDNER: Harry Enten, the prediction markets are usually pretty close to being right. Appreciate it.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:46:01]

WHITFIELD: All right, new this -- new this morning, we're standing by for a potential new executive order by President Trump focused on artificial intelligence and cyber security. Sources tell CNN that the order will push for a voluntary government review of new A.I. models before they're released publicly. Some of the biggest players in A.I., including Anthropic and OpenAI, have engaged with the White House on the executive order.

CNN's Hadas Gold is joining me now.

What do we know?

HADAS GOLD, CNN A.I. CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so we are expecting, according to sources I've spoken to, that this executive order will be signed later today, this afternoon. And the most important aspect of it is a period of time, a voluntary review period, where these big A.I. companies, OpenAI and Anthropic, for example, will submit new versions of their models for the government to take a look at up to 90 days before they are publicly released to everyone else and unleashed on the world. This will give time for the government to review these new models and help fix and prepare our critical infrastructure, talk to other industries, like banks, to help them prepare for this, because these new models can be so capable, especially when it comes to things like hacking and cybersecurity, where there is a fear that if they're just unleashed to the public without giving these critical infrastructures places -- time to prepare for them, that the hackers will just have the upper hand here.

What is important here is that this is a shift from the Trump administration because when Trump first came into office, they were taking a very hands off approach to A.I. regulation. They said that they wanted the industry to thrive. They didn't want to have any regulation.

And the sources I'm talking to are still emphasizing that this is a voluntary review period. But we do understand that the industry has been very much involved in working with the White House on this executive order.

One of the biggest things, though, that's been a sort of back and forth is the amount of time that the government will have to review these A.I. models, because, as I understand it right now, according to my sources, the review period is 90 days. That is three months. That is a very long time in the world of A.I. These models come out at such a rapid pace that from day one to day 90, you could have potentially two different models released.

Now, I do know, according to my sources, that the industry has pushed back to have a shorter review period, as short as 14 days long. So, we'll have to see what the ultimate order says, what it says specifically about that review period, because, again, this industry is developing so quickly. These models come out so fast. And now we're seeing that the White House is recognizing, there needs to be some sort of government involvement here because when you have these models that are so capable. And what changed here are these models from Anthropic, like Mythos, like a new OpenAI model, that it's like having millions of hackers who can work 24/7, who can spot vulnerabilities at an unprecedented pace. And that's why you see the government is now saying, all right, we have to step in and at least have a look at these models before they're released publicly.

WHITFIELD: And the White House feels confident that it has the expertise to do those reviews?

GOLD: Well, they're going to be working in partnership with these A.I. companies, which I think is key here.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

GOLD: Because they need as much expertise as they can get.

WHITFIELD: Right. Hadas Gold, thank you so much.

GOLD: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, Sara.

SIDNER: You know what A.I. didn't do this morning. It did not alert me that green was the color of the morning. I'm learning that now.

All right, this is insane. A huge fireball exploding in New York near Wall Street in New York.

As you might imagine, that brought back terrible memories. And NYPD says there was no suspicious activity. It was all due to a car catching fire and exploding. Police say an MTA worker got into her vehicle and noticed black smoke after trying to start the engine. The worker was able to get out before the fire and explosion. First responders then rushed to the scene, put out the flames and, incredibly, there was no one injured during all this. But, boy, did that freak people out.

All right, Emmy Award winning actor Noah Wyle is leading the real life charge for bipartisan legislation focused on health care workers. The star of "The Pitt" is joining hundreds of doctors, nurses, medical students and health care professionals to push lawmakers for funding for three health care focused bills. [09:50:08]

Wyle's mother, a registered nurse of 50 years, joined him at the rally.

Our Dana Bash spoke to Wyle before this rally.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: What's the most important thing that you want these lawmakers to know? And you're doing this in a bipartisan way.

NOAH WYLE, ACTOR, "THE PITT": That's the hope. You know, cancer isn't partisan. Heart disease isn't partisan. So, health care policy shouldn't be partisan either. And, you know, it's one of the few arenas where nobody checks your political affiliation before you get treated or before you accept treatment. So, few of these policies actually go into helping the lives of the people that are actually doing the work. There's a lot of stuff that's patient centric. There's very little that's actually practitioner centric. So, that's what we're trying to do is just put a little bit more awareness on the trials and tribulations of the people who put our broken pieces back together every day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: He is an incredible guy. A great actor.

WHITFIELD: He really is.

SIDNER: I mean, you really think that he's a doctor.

WHITFIELD: You got to be fit to do an interview up and down the stairs too.

SIDNER: Right. And he's not huffing and puffing.

WHITFIELD: Right. No.

SIDNER: But a great guy. You can see more from that interview with Noah Wyle at noon on "INSIDE POLITICS" with our Dana Bash.

WHITFIELD: I might be huffing and puffing on that one.

All right, tonight, it's the end of an era. Hard to believe. After nearly 11 years as host of "The Late Show," Stephen Colbert will sign off one last time. Details about tonight's finale are being kept under wraps. CBS canceled the show last year, three decades after it launched with founding host David Letterman. It was a shocking move because the show is typically the highest rated in late night. And it sparked accusations that CBS caved to political pressure from the Trump administration.

In a new interview with NBC, Letterman says the end of "The Late Show" is a, quote, "huge mistake and loss for American culture." Let's talk more about all of this with David -- I mean Jason Lynch.

Sorry. He is the curator of the Paley Center for Media.

And I wonder, I mean, what's your prediction, so to speak? We know there are kind of mystery guests, but do you think this will be a night of tears or kind of jaw-dropping laughter? What do you think?

JASON LYNCH, CURATOR, THE PALEY CENTER FOR MEDIA: You know, if we know Stephen Colbert, I think it's going to be a little bit of everything. You know, this is his chance to really cement his legacy. I think there's going to be a lot of surprises. I just look back at his finale for "The Colbert Report" 11 years ago. Completely surreal. It was also packed with about 50 plus celebrity cameos. I don't think we'll see that many this year, this time around, but I do think that he'll keep us on our toes and hopefully it will be something we'll talk about and look back fondly on for years to come.

SIDNER: Jason, I want to hit on something that Letterman said, that this is sort of part of the American culture, the American zeitgeist, and has been for decades. And to have it go, I mean, what does that mean and what does it say about where we are? Because the media landscape, of course, is ever changing. But in this show, Colbert has made it on to social media like nobody's business.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

SIDNER: People are clipping it constantly.

LYNCH: Yes. You know, we always say, when a late night show talk show host signs off, we always call it the end of the era, but this really does feel like the end of an era because it's not just CBS saying, OK, we're going to bring another host in. They are -- they are ending "The Late Show" franchise completely. And, you know, there is this. Yes, the landscape has changed for TV. Linear ratings aren't what they were. But to your point, what these hosts, what Colbert and other hosts say on their shows still makes global headlines. It gets clipped. It still has an impact. Yes, it's not necessarily in the TV ratings, but they still have an impact. We still have that connection with people, and that's a connection now that's going to be lost without Colbert here.

WHITFIELD: Yes. Is it your fear that this is kind of the end of like television, you know, political satire, or do you see it reinventing itself in some other way, shape or form? Because there really is a thirst, a hunger for it still.

SIDNER: Yes.

LYNCH: There absolutely is. And, you know, what is so important about these shows is that you need these comedians to react in real time to the news of the day. Whether it's serious, whether it's silly, we want that interaction. And I certainly hope, and I'd like to hope that it will continue, that it will find a way to continue. To your point, it still continues on social. And it would have been unfathomable even a decade ago to think that late night, as we know it, would cease to exist. And, you know, now I look at the remaining crop of late night hosts, and it's not out of the realm of possibility to think that these will be the last late night hosts that we ever see.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my gosh.

LYNCH: And when they end up stepping down, whether it's of their own volition or not, that that -- that will be it for this genre. I hope that's not the case, but it's quite possible that it will.

SIDNER: Yes, I do want to ask you about how people are generally seeing this from across the media, but also the audience. Do they believe CBS, that this is just about money and this was a financial decision, or do they really look at this as the pressure coming from the Trump administration down onto CBS that ended up pushing this show off?

[09:55:17]

LYNCH: I mean, I think there was a lot of different factors into it. But even if you put the political stuff aside, I mean, late night is in a precarious spot with, again, TV kind of struggling to justify its existence, again, with ad revenue being down. So, I do think it's a little bit of everything that went into it. And that's why it makes a decision like this, you know, for CBS to say, hey, listen, you know, our hands are tied. It's the money.

But everybody, you know, you're seeing it across the board, you're seeing budgets cut, things being scaled back. Bands, you know, being kind of cut, you know, music. So, there are budgets being cut. But there is still a way to make this -- these shows viable. And I hope the networks figure it out before it's too late.

WHITFIELD: Well, we're going to find out tonight. And maybe this means, right, you're closing one chapter and there will be another chapter anew, like you said, if networks kind of figure it out.

SIDNER: Figure it out.

WHITFIELD: I mean there's always a way to do something cheaper, right? I mean aren't we seeing that all the time? Hello.

SIDNER: YouTube. I mean he's going to end up somewhere for sure.

WHITFIELD: Right. I think so.

LYNCH: Yes. Yes, absolutely.

WHITFIELD: All right, Jason Lynch, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Oh, go ahead. Quick, quick, quick, quick, quick. OK. Never mind.

SIDNER: But, guess what?

WHITFIELD: OK.

SIDNER: "SITUATION ROOM," they'll have more, don't worry, they're up next.

WHITFIELD: All right.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)