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Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) is Interviewed about the Democratic Party; Polls on Independents; Battle Grows Over A.I. Regulation. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired August 31, 2026 - 09:30   ET

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

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[09:31:59]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, the debate within the Democratic Party over support for Israel, campaign donations linked to pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC, back in the spotlight. First, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed, he spent the weekend apologizing to Jewish Democrats for a statement he made back in March about the horrific attack on a synagogue near Detroit, saying that he should not have said then, hurt people hurt people, after what authorities said was a targeted attack against Jews. And then another Senate Democratic candidate spent Sunday dodging questions about ties to the pro-Israel lobby, AIPAC.

I want to play for you Congressman Chris Pappas of New Hampshire with CNN's Manu Raju.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR: There's a big debate in your party about if -- about AIPAC. I'm wondering what you think. Do you think that AIPAC is a group that does good for America?

REP. CHRIS PAPPAS (D), NEW HAMPSHIRE SENATE CANDIDATE: Well, I appreciate the support I have from individuals out there, and I'm fighting to change the way that our campaign finance system works because it's ridiculous the amount of big money that's in politics.

RAJU: Just to be clear, do you welcome AIPAC's support? Do you welcome their endorsement?

PAPPAS: Well, look, I welcome the support of individuals. And I've shown how I'm willing to take on the Netanyahu government to support legislation and to support efforts to restore stability and an opportunity for peace and a two state solution in the Middle East.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Joining me right now is Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida.

It's good to see you again, Congresswoman. Thanks for being here. Chris Pappas there, through that conversation with Manu, it was very

clear he was avoiding answering the question that Manu was posing. You have received a similar amount, according to financial records I've seen as -- from AIPAC, as Pappas has, this cycle. What do you think about where this conversation around this has gone? Do you welcome that support from AIPAC this cycle?

REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D-FL): Well, I think it's totally unacceptable, Kate, to demonize the contributions from individuals who are contributing based on the things that they care about. I welcome support from, like Chris does, and I saw that interview yesterday, I welcome support from people who have all kinds of different points of view and ideas. And what's the most important thing right now is focusing on the issues that are important to my constituents and voters at home, which is making life more affordable. That far and away is what I heard from when -- heard from folks when I was knocking on their doors and making phone calls all across my district. They are struggling. And the Trump administration is funneling tax cuts to billionaires, putting money, stuffing money in his own pockets, in the pockets of his family members. And that is where the focus needs to be and where Democrats are going to continue to keep the focus throughout this fall campaign towards putting a gavel in Hakeem Jeffries' hand so he can become speaker of the House of Representatives and we can really commit to lowering people's everyday costs.

[09:35:00]

BOLDUAN: Look, even in your former role as a former chair of the DNC, you know that there are a wide range of views within the Democratic Party, and have been for a long time. But when you look -- this is absolutely part of the conversation that we've seen in many races in the Democratic primaries to this point. In Michigan, this became a central tension point in the senate race with Abdul El-Sayed winning that primary, as was mentioned as I came into this segment. He, speaking to a group of Jewish Democrats this weekend, apologized for past comments that he made. Very -- I mean saying that it was a mistake that he said that after that horrific attack on the synagogue. What do you think of his apology?

SCHULTZ: Well, I'm certainly glad that he began the trip towards making amends, but he's got a lot more work to do. What is important here, though, again, my colleague Chris Pappas said this yesterday, I agree with him, there is widespread unity across our party, across our caucus. We're the most unified caucus in the House of Representatives that we've seen in many years. There are always disagreements, but the candidates that are running on the Democratic ticket across the country are singularly focused on bringing down people's housing, health care, gas, utilities and food costs. And that's where the rubber meets the road with voters.

It is incredibly important that we fight bigotry and anti-Semitism. And any candidate that, you know, refuses to disavow, step back from any kind of bigotry is really, like I said, has a lot of work to do and may never get there. But the bottom line is that we have more that unifies us in the Democratic Party than divides us. This has been ongoing across the philosophical spectrum in our party for a decade, if not more.

Take a look at the MAGA extremism on the Republican side. I mean, they have white nationalists that they embrace. They refused to -- they refused to disavow the more than 100 members of Congress who actually voted to overturn a legitimate election when they voted in 2020. I mean, this is just a party that has gone off the rails of extremism. And the voters are showing all across the country in special elections that even in the most Republican seats, where Donald Trump won by upwards of 20 points in some places, the Democratic nominee wins those elections because they want us vote -- voters want us focused on making life more affordable for them.

BOLDUAN: Speaking of pushes to disavow on -- in both parties, there's been a push to break away from the words of Hasan Piker. Bernie Sanders is talking kind of about this whole thing in a new interview with "Politico" that's just out. And here's the reporting from "Politico Playbook," Congresswoman. It says, "it's not Hasan Piker that Bernie Sanders is worried will tank Democrats' chance at keeping a critical Michigan Senate seat. It's Democratic Party leaders who he believes are rooting for Abdul El-Sayed to fail." Here's the quote, "I think there are a few who would say, you know what? It's not worth it, Sanders said, asked if there were Democrats who want to see El-Sayed lose."

Do you think there are Democratic leaders who are rooting for El-Sayed to lose this?

SCHULTZ: Hasan Piker is a stone cold anti-Semite. Period. Stop. And again, I'll emphasize that what we should all be focused on and rowing -- and we are all rowing in the same direction on, is that people's gas costs are too high because of Trump's illegal war that needs to be brought to an end, that there appears to be no end in sight, more attacks over the weekend. Housing costs. Housing is skyrocketing out of control. We have the second most expensive housing costs in the country in south Florida. We have to bring down people's health care costs. I know that as a breast cancer survivor, if you don't have your health, you don't have anything. And you have to be able to afford to go to a doctor. That's what unifies us in the Democratic Party.

But there is no welcome mat for anti-Semites and bigots in the Democratic Party. And I know we're unified across the board on that. And voters have proven that.

BOLDUAN: Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, thanks for coming in today.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thank you, Kate.

Happening right now, the jury back and deliberating in the murder trial of Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mother accused of killing her three children. A verdict could drop at any moment. When it does, you will see it here.

Plus, a new power struggle in Washington over who is policing artificial intelligence. Why experts are warning the consequences could be enormous.

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[09:44:12]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: We are getting ever so close to the midterm elections day by day. And one of the key groups that could swing this one way or the other, those people in the middle, largely the independents. How do they feel and what do they feel the most important issues are?

One man knows the answer. CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten.

Look, independents, they tell us they're concerned about prices, about spending. How do they feel the president's been doing on that?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: You know, independents, Johnny B., are the name of the game. You win independents, you win elections.

Inflation, of course, was the key reason that Donald Trump was re- elected to a second term. But independents have done a 180 on President Trump. Look at this. On inflation, independents on Trump and inflation. In August of 2024, look at that, he was more trust than inflation by 12 points over Kamala Harris.

[09:45:04]

A very big reason that he won. I don't know why that green isn't going. Let's see. No, it's not going. Isn't that interesting?

Anyway, he -- that was the reason he won, right, plus 12 points. Look at this net approval rating now though. Whoa, way down there. We're talking about, what is that, we're talking about a 76 point switcheroo on the president of the United States, an issue in which he beat Kamala Harris by 12 points. He is now 64 points under water. You don't see changes like this. But the key issue that got him elected now is way down there in the Gulf of Mexico.

BERMAN: A 76-point swing was so big it broke the pen.

ENTEN: It literally broke the -- it broke the pen.

BERMAN: It broke the pen.

ENTEN: See.

BERMAN: It broke -- you can't draw, the number is so high there.

Independents, who do they say they trust more right now on these types of issues?

ENTEN: You know, this is one thing, right? You see this flip of Trump, right? But what about the Republican Party at large, right? You go in the last midterm when inflation was such a big issue. Party trusted more on inflation among independents. In August of 2022, look at that, the Republican Party was trusted more among independents by 27 points, 27 points four years ago. Look now who independents trust. They now trust Democrats by 18 points. What is that, Johnny B.? That's a 45- point switcheroo.

Again, the issue that got Republicans, the House of Representatives back during the 2022 midterms, just a complete 180 from independents on inflation. Now they trust the Democratic Party by 18 points. You just rarely see these types of switches. Clearly, the independents are very perturbed.

BERMAN: But it wouldn't be a big deal if they didn't care about inflation, right?

ENTEN: Right. It wouldn't be a big deal. But what's the top issue? What's the top issue for independents right now? It's inflation at 38 percent. And you look at what number two is. It's the economy, very closely related, at 14 percent. We're talking more than 50 percent of the public either saying inflation or the economy. And then the Iran war is three at 10 percent, which also has a lot to do with inflation. So, this is going to be the key issue in the midterm elections for independents. And they really, really, really hate Republicans and Donald Trump right now.

BERMAN: And they really care about it. Where do people see gas prices going, which has been a big part of this?

ENTEN: Yes, you look at the Kalshi prediction markets, you can see that the chance that gas will be above $3.50 a gallon on Election Day, way up. It was about 50/50 at the end of June. Now we're talking much closer to about 80 percent there and about.

So, the bottom line is this, gas prices not looking like they're going to come down come election day. Could be a real disaster for Republicans, especially given the polling on inflation among independents.

BERMAN: Harry Enten, thank you very much.

ENTEN: Thank you, my friend.

BERMAN: We got a lot of news. We'll be right back.

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[09:52:05]

SIDNER: In New York, a search for a familiar face. One that looked a lot like Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Doppelgangers competed Sunday in a Mamdani lookalike contest organized by a social media company. The winner rocked a New York Knicks jersey under a suit jacket. He won a huge prize. Huge. $100.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Congratulations to the new couple.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SIDNER: Love was in the air, literally. The air for one couple who

exchanged wedding vows at 35,000 feet. There they are. Is that a -- what kind of crown is that? I don't know where that -- oh, it's a Southwest crown. I didn't know Southwest had crowns. I thought it was Burger King. All right, the couple was in route to get married in Vegas, but it turned out the Southwest Airlines pilot also happened to be an ordained minister. So, the flight attendants whipped up an impromptu ceremony with a toilet paper veil and all. They officially tied the knot, though, in Vegas the next day.

Does that count, Kate?

BOLDUAN: Yes, an elopement to an elopement. I'm here.

SIDNER: Got it. Oh.

BOLDUAN: Yep. Very. Yep. OK.

SIDNER: He's saying nothing.

BERMAN: I have so many questions, but not enough time.

SIDNER: Me too.

BOLDUAN: And I promise you, we do not have the answers that would be appropriate for television.

BERMAN: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Let's talk about this. There is a power struggle underway that could shape the future of artificial intelligence. CNN has learned that battle is over what should be a pretty simple concept in already deciding, which is, who should regulate A.I. within the federal government. But apparently there's still no clear agreement who should be responsible for overseeing this revolutionary technology, which is leading many to fear that there isn't time for the guardrails to catch up to the tech.

CNN's Hadas Gold has new reporting on this. She's joining us now.

OK. This is -- this sounds like it just -- it's all going to get worked out. What are you hearing?

HADAS GOLD, CNN A.I. CORRESPONDENT: I just -- I only come with fun news.

BOLDUAN: No, no, but it is super important.

GOLD: So, I talked to more than a dozen sources in the industry, in government, in policy about what is going on with trying to regulate this massive tech. We've seen some amazing and sort of scary things happen in the last few weeks and months. A.I. agents going rogue, escaping their test environments, hacking into other systems.

And we know that there is something going on in Washington. And what I am seeing is that the industry itself, the A.I. companies, are waving red flags saying, help us. We need something. Help us set standards. Help us set sort of rules. But instead what we're getting in Washington is kind of the classic turf wars. And, of course, the slow nature of any sort of legislation. But there are so many calls and stark warnings to do anything.

What really struck me is this quote from Joshua Saxe. He is Meta's former head of cybersecurity for A.I. until just earlier this year. He said, this moment "feels like early Covid. There's an emergency vibe that's appropriate here." He said that the frontier models today should be treated like dangerous materials, like you would nuclear materials, like you would a virus that you're testing, and there needs to be government testing standards.

So, as it stands right now, the state of A.I. oversight is sort of a mess. And that's people from Washington will tell you the same thing.

[09:55:00]

There are no industry standards for A.I. companies on anything. When it comes to them testing models that could hack into our utilities if they escape, there's no testings on what those labs, what those sandboxes should look like. Nothing.

There is an executive order from President Donald Trump that he recently signed that gives the government the chance to voluntarily, the companies voluntarily submit their models for review up to 30 days before they're released, but there's still a lot of confusion from the companies themselves on exactly the specifics. And the White House says that they're working that out right now.

There is a group, a small group within the Commerce Department called CAISI, the Center for A.I. Standards and Innovation, that is staffed with all these technical experts who could and already have some agreements with these companies to do this testing. They are critically underfunded. They have no leader right now. And there's a turf war in Washington. Everybody wants a piece of A.I. oversight. The Treasury Department, the Commerce, Department of Energy, the Pentagon, the White House itself. And the industry itself does not have a clear point person on who to direct all of this.

And so, there's a mess right now, but the industry is begging for it. Congress is working on a few bills right now, but it's going to be months before I think we see any sort of real oversight or legislation. In the meantime, the hacks will continue.

SIDNER: And I will (INAUDIBLE).

BOLDUAN: In the meantime.

Thanks so much, Hadas. Big questions to be answered.

BERMAN: All right, thank you all for joining us. This has been CNN NEWS CENTRAL. "SITUATION ROOM," up next.

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