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Watchdog Says Advanced AI Threatens Global Financial System; J.D. Vance, Abdul El-Sayed Hold Dueling Michigan Campaign Events; Closing Arguments Underway in Tupac Murder Trial; Health Officials Say It's Safe to Eat Lettuce. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired August 31, 2026 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

HADAS GOLD, CNN AI CORRESPONDENT: The industry itself, as we're just hearing now, is waving red flags, essentially begging for the tools to help regulate or even just set standards for this new technology. But Washington has been set with turf wars, you know, and the typical slow pace of legislation, but they're begging for anything to be done.

I spoke to Meta's former head of AI cybersecurity. He was in that position until just earlier this year. He said that we are in an early COVID moment, that there needs to be an emergency vibe in terms of how fast we need to be moving for this. He said that frontier models should be treated as dangerous materials and there should be government testing standards.

But the way it stands right now is we have this executive order from the White House where the AI companies will voluntarily submit their models for review by the government. But there's still a lot of sort of gray area on exactly how that's going to work. There's no standards in place, you know, for this testing.

When you're testing nuclear material or working with viruses, there are standards in place to keep everybody safe. That doesn't exist for AI right now. There is a small group in the Commerce Department called the Center for AI Standards of Innovation.

They already have agreements with the AI companies. They're already doing the testing. They have the technical capability, but they're very small.

They don't have a leader right now. And there's sort of a -- there's not a consensus right now in Washington on who should be the point group or person to handle AI oversight. There's the Department of Treasury.

There's Commerce. There's the Pentagon. There's Department of Energy.

Everyone kind of has a piece of this. And it's just sort of a mess right now, as it was described to me. Congress, for their part, they're working on a few pieces of legislation, but we all know how fast Congress moves.

And I've been told that at best we might see some actual, you know, real legislation coming close to becoming a full bill, maybe the next eight to 12 months. But as we all know, this technology is moving a lot faster than that -- Boris.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: No doubt. Hadas Gold, thank you so much for that reporting.

Just ahead, all eyes are on Michigan right now, where Vice President J.D. Vance and Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed are both holding competing events, the latest when we come back.

[14:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Vice President J.D. Vance is in Battleground, Michigan, stumping for the president's super PAC, MAGA, Inc., amid Trump's trade war with Canada. And any moment, as we are looking at live pictures here, Vance is set to rev up voters at a campaign-style rally in a Detroit suburb.

SANCHEZ: He is headlining MAGA, Inc.'s first public campaign event in Michigan. But the vice president is sharing the spotlight. Democratic Senate candidate in the state, Abdul El-Sayed, held his own event just moments ago in Detroit, and he had some choice words for the Trump administration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABDUL EL-SAYED, (D) U.S. SENATE NOMINEE: Michiganders have been struck by yet another disastrous Trump policy. The expansion of a trade war with Canada. Now, we're here in Michigan.

We all know Canadians. Canadians are like the only people in the world who are going to preemptively apologize for something they didn't even do. So if you're starting a trade war with Canada, it's because you're the a**hole.

Who better to invite to Michigan, to declare war on Michigan, than Ohio J.D. Vance? You want to declare war on Michigan, ask any Michigander, who do you like better, Canada or Ohio? I think all of us will tell you we're good with Canada.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Let's discuss with former Republican Congressman Charlie Dent and Democratic strategist Chuck Rocha, former senior advisor to the Bernie Sanders 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns. Rocha, also the president of Solidarity Strategies. Appreciate you both being with us.

Chuck, first to you. You heard El-Sayed there. Michigan versus Ohio, and Canadians will apologize before they even do anything wrong.

What do you make of that messaging? Does that land with voters?

CHUCK ROCHA, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER, BERNIE SANDERS 2016 AND 2020 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNS: It does. And right now in Michigan, there's a lot of debate over left and right and all the things, whether we're going to talk about Piker, we're going to talk about Muslims, we're going to talk about Jewish voters. What really matters in Michigan, where people like to drive big-ass trucks like me, is the price of gas and the war and things like that.

Will something that's happening on the left, Hasan Piker, I'll bring it up, you don't have to, or somebody saying something stupid on the internet, does that matter more to a voter than the price of gas? Is the real question. I said this earlier, Donald Trump got elected being surrounded by a bunch of dumb people around him, whether it was a white supremacist or Tony Hitchcliff or somebody else, and he was going, look, those people don't speak for my campaign.

And there was enough American people that were hurting enough to be like, we're good with that. Donald Trump will break things, and he's not part of the system. And that's how he got elected.

The difference in this election is it's a midterm, so it'll be a lot less people voting, and it's just the most motivated people.

KEILAR: Charlie, I wonder, as we're looking here at the vice president, speaking at this MAGA Inc. event, the group is ramping up for the midterms here, they've declined to publicly preview any spending plans, and you know, we're looking for signals about where they're going to put their money as an important thing here. Is this an event that Mike Rogers needs?

Does he need their money?

CHARLIE DENT, FORMER REPUBLICAN CONGRESSMAN: Well, I think Republicans need the Trump money, for sure. And probably that's the best thing that the Trump folks could do to help Republican candidates is to spend money. Showing up at rallies in swing states is probably not particularly helpful, especially in a state like Michigan, which is obviously feeling the repercussions of the trade war with Canada.

So I think that's a problem. Republicans fully expect Trump to spend money. They didn't allocate money for the Texas Senate race, for example.

Now that Ken Paxton has been nominated, that's coming off of the ledger of Donald Trump, not off the Senate Republicans.

[14:40:00]

So right now, yes, Republicans need money, and probably a little less of the president or the vice president showing up in these competitive areas.

SANCHEZ: Charlie, I want to get your thoughts on what Chuck was just saying about Abdul El-Sayed and his campaign. And what matters most to voters? Chuck is making the argument that they care more about the price of gas than statements from Hasan Piker, some online streamer, or even statements from Abdul El-Sayed himself, as he's apologized for some anti-Semitic remarks that were made earlier this year, talking about hurt people, hurt people, as the result of an attack on a synagogue in West Bloomfield, Michigan. It does open the door for Republicans to make the argument that folks like El-Sayed are detached from their values, though, doesn't it?

DENT: Yes, certainly. I agree with Chuck that the economy is certainly the driving issue of this election. But El-Sayed gives Republicans a tremendous opportunity to make inroads with many of those more centrist, independent voters who aren't particularly aligned with one party or the other.

Mike Rogers comes across as a guy on team normal. He was an FBI agent. He was in the Army, a longtime congressman, chair of the Intelligence Committee.

And he can, I think he has an opportunity to pick up a lot of some Democratic voters who are disillusioned with El-Sayed for the reasons you just cited, the anti-Semitism, the DSA type positions and positioning that he has taken throughout this campaign, I think leave him very vulnerable. So I think I see a lot of upside from Mike Rogers. Of course, Mike Rogers' challenge, of course, are the overall atmospherics.

You know, he's perceived by many as being too close to Donald Trump, and that could hurt him as well. But bottom line is in any other year, I don't think El-Sayed would have a shot of winning this race. But just because the political dynamics are so difficult for Republicans, that's keeping him in the game, notwithstanding his own personal baggage.

KEILAR: You don't need to have a shot in some other year. You need to have a shot in the year you're running, right? And so this might just be really fortuitous for him. We'll see.

I wonder -- Chuck, Senator Bernie Sanders told Politico he believes that some leaders in the party, in the Democratic Party, are rooting for El-Sayed to fail. He said the donor class views El-Sayed and other progressives in his mold as a threat to oligarchy and a threat to American foreign policy because of where American foreign policy is on Israel and Benjamin Netanyahu -- really, Benjamin Netanyahu is who he mentioned.

Is that credible, and is this a schism? Is this like a normal kind of primary schism that Democrats can get over, or do you see this as one they can't?

ROCHA: I saw that interview this morning, and I would humbly disagree with my boss. And I would say, don't listen to what I say. Look at the money that they're spending.

Today, Chuck Schumer and his super PAC are up with an ad attacking Rogers on his support for the Iran war. And because directly tying it to what I said earlier, to gas prices, that's what people in Michigan care about. And if you had somebody from the establishment, nobody's more establishment than Chuck Schumer, his PAC is spending not $10, but lots of money in behalf of saying, don't vote for Mike Rogers, vote for Abdul. If there are other folks out there that are chirping, maybe, but I would just disagree and say, I see Chuck Schumer and Mr. Jeffries as the leader of the party, and right now they're spending money. No peso, no say-so is what I say.

KEILAR: I love that. Charlie and Chuck, thank you so much to both of you.

Jurors right now are listening to closing arguments in the murder trial of Tupac Shakur, and the defense just invoked Ocean's 11. What is that about? We'll have that next.

[14:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Now to a Las Vegas courthouse where the Tupac Shakur murder trial is in the final stretch. Closing arguments are underway in the trial of Duane Davis, who is accused of orchestrating the murder of the late rapper. Davis has pleaded not guilty to a first-degree murder charge.

And throughout the trial, prosecutors using Davis's own words against him, though, they say he effectively implicated himself in the killing during police interviews, media appearances, and in his memoir.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BINU PALAL, PROSECUTOR: The state's position has never been that Duane Davis just wants to unburden his soul to let everybody know about what happened. That he feels this guilt that he just needs to let off his chest. That's never been the state's position.

The state's position is Mr. Davis's actions are always driven by his self-interest. That doesn't mean it's not true. It just means that that's the lens from which he will look at these things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: CNN's Josh Campbell is following the trial. Josh, tell us what else is happening in court.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Well, right now, Brianna, the defense is doing their closing. We heard from the prosecutors earlier in the day. And as you mentioned, their strategy has been to essentially pin this all on Duane Davis's own words.

He, of course, has pleaded not guilty to a murder charge here. But what prosecutors have said is, you know, don't listen to us. Listen to all of these recordings with Duane Davis speaking with police many years ago.

Speaking in interviews with the media. Read his own book in which he describes his alleged role in this incident. Prosecutors say he didn't pull the trigger 30 years ago whenever Tupac Shakur was shot not far from where we are here in Las Vegas. But they're describing him as a so-called shot caller, the person that orchestrated it. On the flip side, what the defense is saying, and this is really an unusual argument, the defense is essentially saying our client is a liar.

[14:50:00]

They're saying that the defense attorney actually said that, look, my own client has been peddling BS. They didn't use the initials. He used the actual word in saying that, look, he only told these stories about his involvement in order to try to make money off of this story. But in reality, he was not involved.

That is a lot that a jury is going to have to grapple with here when, again, on the one hand, you have all of these recordings. You have the defendant in his own words. His attorney now saying don't believe what he's saying.

The final point I note is that here in Nevada, this is different, Brianna, from all of the trials that you and I have covered over the years, in that here the jury can ask questions along the way and question witnesses. That's been interesting because so many of the questions have seemed to have been somewhat taken exception with the work of law enforcement, how the investigation was actually handled, dare I say critical of the police in certain circumstances. That will be interesting.

Of course, all it takes is one juror who does not want to convict for this to either be a hung juror or to convince their colleagues. But that's been insightful to hear along the way what the jury has actually been thinking through their questions -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes, it really has been interesting just to hear them pipe up. Josh Campbell, thank you so much.

And now to some of the other headlines we're watching this hour. Police in Switzerland say they've arrested a 43-year-old man after a shooting and a rave that killed one woman and wounded five others. The shooting took place over the weekend in a northern town. The slain victim was identified as a 22-year-old woman with Italian citizenship.

Police say a motive and the exact circumstances of the incident remain unclear.

SANCHEZ: Also, severe weather headed to an area of the country all too familiar with it. Parts of the Gulf Coast now under a tropical storm warning as an intensifying system is taking shape heading for Texas and Louisiana. It is expected to form into a tropical storm, Tropical Storm Edouard, by tonight.

It's gusty winds and heavy rains are forecast to hit the Texas- Louisiana border tomorrow. Forecasters say torrential rainfall could come down at a rate of two to four inches an hour, likely leading to flash flooding.

And golfer Scotty Scheffler is $10 million richer today after winning the FedEx Cup in Atlanta this weekend. Scheffler started Sunday three shots behind the leader and then on 13, Scotty grabbed the lead and never looked back. A final round 66 and a three-shot win. At just 30 years old, he's now past Tiger Woods as the all-time career earnings leader, a victory that pushes Scheffler to more than $130 million in earnings to go with his 21 PGA TOUR wins.

Coming up, the question everyone wants to know, is it finally safe to eat lettuce? Does everyone really want to know this?

KEILAR: They do. In fact, it came up in my discussions over the weekend at least three times, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Wow. Well, we'll tell you where the cyclospora outbreak stands next.

[14:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: If you've had some trouble knowing what is safe to reach for at the supermarket this summer, you're not alone. There's a long list. While the FDA typically investigates about 25 foodborne illness outbreaks per year, there have already been a dozen announced in just the last two months, with the most well-known being the cyclospora outbreak that's affected lettuce.

KEILAR: Yes, and that leads us to ask, is it safe to eat lettuce now or is it not? And the answer seems to be yes, but. Yes, but.

The answer is yes, but. It has a major asterisk here. CNN's Meg Tirrell explains what we can and cannot eat.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this outbreak of cyclospora was specifically tied to shredded iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms of Mexico, and the Best Buy dates for that lettuce went out to August 3rd. And so health authorities are saying that really should not be on shelves in stores for anyone to find. And certainly if it's in your fridge, you don't want to eat it.

So just to remind people of the scope of this outbreak, more than 11,000 cases have been reported from 20 states specifically tied to this iceberg lettuce-related outbreak. Almost 500 people have been hospitalized, and there have been two deaths reported, which are very rare occurrences due to cyclosporiasis. Now, the FDA said last week that, quote, it remains confident that all recalled iceberg lettuce related to this specific cyclospora outbreak is off the market.

And if you look at sort of a timeline of the cases, of the illnesses that people experience specifically in Michigan, which really is the epicenter of this outbreak, you can see that most people got sick in the beginning of July. And that outbreak, that recall was initiated July 17th of the iceberg lettuce. And so while you still do see a few cases being reported out into August, it's important to note just for the timeline of this, that it can take up to two weeks for people to become sick after they ingest the parasite.

And then beyond that, it can take six weeks for health authorities to tie a case back to this specific outbreak. So that explains why we might still see cases building up of this, even as health authorities say folks should not be encountering this iceberg lettuce. If somehow you do have this shredded Taylor Farms iceberg lettuce that expired as late as August 3rd, folks say absolutely do not eat it.

Now, in general, food safety experts are pointing out that while people may be worried about eating lettuce, that really produce is an important part of a healthy diet. So folks should not be scared away from fruits and veggies. If you are concerned about food that's been recalled, FDA has a list of food recalls on its website.

Also, cooking your produce kills pathogens, including cyclospora. So cooking up to 160 degrees Fahrenheit through roasting or boiling can be a way to eat vegetables. Harder to eat salad that way, of course.

And then also, of course, just general food safety tips.

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