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Trumps Says War with Iran "Is Going to End" After the Midterms; Soon: GOP Kicks Off First-Ever Midterm Convention in Dallas; Third Anthropic Employee Warns A.I. Could Kill All Humans 3-3:30p ET

Aired September 09, 2026 - 15:00   ET

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

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[15:01:22]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Stealing the Show: President Trump making the Republican midterm convention all about Trump. But will that hurt candidates who are actually on the ballot?

Plus, Unreasonable Doubt: Jurors from the Lindsay Clancy murder trial are speaking out, discussing how they were close to finding her not guilty, but a single male juror wouldn't budge. You'll hear directly from them.

And a chilling warning on A.I. An Anthropic employee quitting the company, saying, quote, "The people building A.I. earnestly believe it could kill us all by the end of the decade." Optimistic.

We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: We have breaking news. President Trump is now heading to Dallas for the Republican Party's first ever midterm convention. Just ago, after a brief delay when an emergency slide was deployed on Air Force One, the President spoke with reporters at Joint Base Andrews and gave a preview of what he might say about one of the biggest issues facing the country right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, you've been saying for weeks that oil and gas prices are going to come down.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They will.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oil is now back above a hundred dollars a barrel.

TRUMP: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do you explain this to Americans who are wondering when prices are going to come down?

TRUMP: Well, I think it's very easy to explain to America. All you have to do is say, will you let Iran have a nuclear ...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: CNN's Steve Contorno is live at the convention site in Dallas.

Steve, the President also just addressed the elephant in the room about why so many Republicans are not coming.

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, it's the elephants who will not be in the room that are going to be interesting to see tonight because we do know that there are a lot of Republicans who have chosen to attend and embrace Donald Trump and this convention, this unconventional convention that he is holding just weeks before the midterm elections. But several Republicans won't be there because they are facing competitive races for the House, the Senate, some gubernatorial candidates.

Now, Trump, though, says it's not about not wanting to be seen with him, but rather a space issue. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Several Republicans in competitive races are not coming to the convention. Do you understand why they're deciding not to come?

TRUMP: Everybody that's -- everybody is coming to the convention. Everybody wants to come. The reason that some people are not coming is because we don't have room for 500 politicians. We have room for the ones that have a close race, if they're slightly behind or slightly ahead or tied. But we don't have rooms for people that are 35 points up and don't need to be there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CONTORNO: Now, we are starting to get ready behind me for this evening's events. We should expect speeches from several of Trump's Cabinet members, as well as Republican lawmakers, close allies, and the President himself will speak tonight. He'll also speak tomorrow night and deliver closing remarks after Vice President J.D. Vance speaks, just an example of how this really is a Trump fest, a Trumpapalooza, as some Republicans have called it. And he's really testing just how much Republican voters and the American public want to see of President Trump and -- and closely tie themselves to the Republican tickets heading into these midterm elections.

KEILAR: All right, Steve Contorno, thank you for that report. Boris?

[15:05:06]

SANCHEZ: Let's get some perspective from pollster and communication strategist Frank Luntz. Frank, great to see you as always. Do you expect this convention is going to make a big difference with voters come November?

FRANK LUNTZ, POLLSTER AND COMMUNICATION STRATEGIST: People are going to be paying attention to it. We're past Labor Day, so now we're into the homestretch when voters start to make up their minds. And there is clearly some challenges the administration is facing and some successes.

So, I don't know how to call it because we've never seen this before. And that's the one thing that I've now learned about this political system in 2026. Whatever you thought was going to happen doesn't. And whatever you never anticipate happening does. So, it'll depend on the speeches. It'll depend on the communication.

And one thing's for certain. The economy, even though we're in a conflict with Iran, most voters prioritize economic issues. And most voters will prioritize what affects themselves as they get up in the morning and when they go to sleep at night. Are they better off or worse off today than they were two years ago?

SANCHEZ: So, it's unfortunate that the soundbite we had just a moment ago of President Trump there on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews didn't play all the way through. Because it sounded like his pitch was going to be, when asked about oil prices being high for Americans, basically ask them about the alternative. Would they prefer Iran to have a nuclear weapon? It sounds like you would argue that the economic pain would be more of a priority for voters going in to cast their ballots.

LUNTZ: But accept that a nuclear weapon is an extreme situation. And it's something that we know from the polling that we've been doing over the last 15 years, that the American public does not trust the government of Iran, does not want it to have a nuclear weapon, and believes that the government is hostile to the US. Now, what's key here is how that's communicated.

Let's be candid. This administration has had a number of successes and a number of challenges when it comes to communicating why it is engaged with Iran right now, and that the public most certainly will do whatever it can to prevent any kind of nuclear conflict or confrontation. That said, if it's not explained that way, if it's not communicated that way, the public says, why are we doing this?

So, I can't give you an answer that's accurate until I know how the White House explains what it's doing.

SANCHEZ: I also wanted to get your thoughts on President Trump. Not necessarily the way that he communicated it, more so the fact that there are a lot of prominent Republicans that aren't going. He says that they're not coming to the convention because they -- they sold out. They don't have any room. But I'm pretty certain that if Senator Susan Collins of Maine, who's trying to keep her seat and -- and keep Republican control of the Senate, wanted to go, they would find room for her, right? Why do you think so many are not going to the convention?

LUNTZ: There is -- there -- and I -- I don't want to sound like a mouthpiece for the White House because obviously I'm not. And I appreciate the opportunities that you've given me to explain the mindset of the American voter. In the end, it's going to be what matters to them on a local level, on a neighborhood level, and most importantly, on a house-to-house level. Am I better off? Do I feel more safe and secure? Have promises been kept, or have they been broken?

And in the end, people answer them differently. This president has decided to put himself in the center of this communication. And that's a tragedy that we haven't seen. But he is correct in understanding that in off-year elections, the average Trump voter doesn't participate. And I say to you, and I say to every viewer, the key to this election now is not these general numbers. I don't care about what the overall numbers are. I care what the turnout is. Because if the turnout is in the upper 30s, lower 40s, that's going to be a challenge for the Republicans because that means that Trump voters are not participating in the off-year election. If the turnout is closer to 50 percent, it means that the polling numbers are likely to be more accurate, more off-election voters are participating, and that will be good for the President and his political party. I can't judge it.

And I've been critical about pollsters on this network before, that they're making claims and assumptions that they have no reason to be doing. You tell me who's going to vote, and I'll tell you what the outcome is going to be.

[15:10:02]

SANCHEZ: Frank Luntz, always fascinating to hear your perspective. Thanks so much for being with us.

LUNTZ: Thank you for having me.

SANCHEZ: Still to come, an A.I. researcher warning of doomsday scenarios, why he says the technology could wind up killing all humans within the next decade.

Plus, the latest legal fight over abortion medication access, how a case in Louisiana could end telehealth abortion nationwide.

And later, jurors in the Lindsay Clancy trial are speaking out what they are saying about the sole male juror that was a holdout in the case and eventually led to a mistrial. That and much more coming your way on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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[15:15:02]

KEILAR: New today, a third Anthropic employee has come forward warning that A.I. could wipe out humanity within the next decade. This Anthropic employee posting, "A.I. developers believe their technology could cause human extinction or similarly bad outcomes. This could happen in the next few years. In general, the more senior employee, the more concerned they are."

SANCHEZ: This is the latest in a number of apocalyptic warnings issued since yesterday when Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon said he was quitting, posting this, quote, "The people building A.I. earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade."

A short time later, a current and more senior Anthropic employee posted, quote, "Jacob is correct here. We really do earnestly believe A.I. could kill all humans. I personally think it's greater than 10 percent within the next decade."

With us now to discuss is Nick Thompson, CEO of the Atlantic, also the host of "The Most Interesting Thing in A.I." podcast.

Thanks so much for being with us, Nick.

Do you see this differently than previous doomsday warnings about A.I.?

NICHOLAS THOMPSON, CEO THE ATLANTIC: I do think this one is different. I mean, Anthropic has talked about existential risk for quite a long time. I think what's amped it up is the recent drama where A.I.'s escaped their sandboxes, acted without human supervision, hacking the Hugging Face.

So, we've seen some of the dangers that the A.I. companies have been warning about. And then secondly, the reason I think it's amplified right now is that it's clear to people researching A.I. that the speed of improvement is actually faster than they all predicted, which makes some people excited and some people terrified.

KEILAR: I can't believe I'm asking this question, but if it destroys humanity, how is that going to look?

THOMPSON: It's not going to look great for people at the A.I. companies and it's not going to be good for us. I will say this though, when the A.I. companies talk about destroying humanity and about extinction, they do mean that literally, but they also kind of mean it a little bit differently. And they're talking about a world in which A.I. completely dominates us, not one in which we're absolutely wiped off the face of the planet.

So, to answer your question, it would look terrible. I should also add here that there are a lot of really smart people who work at other companies, who work at AI, who don't think the risks are this high, who do think the risks of bad things happening, but who do not think that the risks of extinction are 10 percent or higher.

So, there is a live debate. It is not a settled fact that this is the actual risk that we face.

SANCHEZ: An OpenAI employee, Jason Wolfe, chimed into the conversation saying he thinks there are quote, "A number of ways that A.I. could go poorly for humanity," and that we will quote, "be quite lucky if we managed to find and stay on the narrow path between all the bad outcomes."

So, you've got employees and competitors that on some level are agreeing. I mean, do you see this conversation as a plea for regulation, for -- for some sort of guardrails to be set by the powers that be?

THOMPSON: es, I think there is a plea for regulation and for action by the powers that be. I think what needs to happen is there's a real problem in A.I. right now. And that is that everybody who works in this field knows that it's really important to put time and effort into safety, to make sure that the models are aligned, meaning that they act in our best interest.

But what has happened is because the race is so competitive between Anthropic, OpenAI, the other big companies, and to another degree between the United States and China, all of that alignment work has been pushed to the side. And so, the game theory problem that everybody who studies AI knows exists is that we somehow need to figure out through cooperation in the US, through regulation and through international cooperation, how you can accelerate the work on safety, accelerate the work on making A.I. entirely beneficial and aligned and do it in a way that everybody does it.

Because right now everybody is afraid of doing it because then they worry they'll fall behind and then China will get ahead or our fierce competitor will get ahead and that would be bad. So, we're in a very bad situation from a game theory perspective. Government can change that, corporations can change that, individuals can put pressure and help change that.

KEILAR: Okay. Well, I mean, that's kind of interesting. Maybe it answers my next question. You mentioned Hugging Face, the service for accessing open source, meaning unrestricted and openly available A.I. models. And it was hacked recently by OpenAI models that kind of jumped out of the sandbox. So, you think we're not past the point of no return of actually having control of the models that already exist, that A.I., it's not too smart to regulate?

THOMPSON: Oh, we're definitely not past the point of no return. There are -- remember, you can regulate through humans, you can build, you can -- you can design the most powerful A.I.s that help regulate other A.I.s.

[15:20:00]

There are many different routes to get this under control. The question is just making sure there's international alignment, making sure there's national alignment, making sure there's sensible regulatory policies. We are definitely not past the point of no return.

KEILAR: Because we can use the A.I. to regulate the A.I.

SANCHEZ: It's reassuring to hear you say that.

KEILAR: I know, it's pretty sure where we're at.

THOMPSON: You know, it takes a good guy with an A.I. to stop a bad guy with an A.I. That's what we always say here.

SANCHEZ: That's a good point. We just got to get that good guy before Arnold Schwarzenegger comes barreling through a wall and --

KEILAR: That's right.

SANCHEZ: That was a documentary, right, that they made?

KEILAR: Right. Well, it might become one, Boris. Nick, thank you so much for being with us. Really appreciate it.

THOMPSON: Pleasure to be here, thank you.

KEILAR: Still ahead, a federal appeals court is hearing arguments on a case that could restrict access to abortion medications. We have the details.

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[15:25:26]

SANCHEZ: The battle over abortion access is once again before a federal court. And this time the fight is over how easily women can get abortion pills, including in states where abortions are banned. Today a panel of judges heard arguments over whether to make Mifepristone harder to obtain nationwide. It's a key drug used in the most common method of abortion in the U.S. CNN's Katelyn Polantz is here with details on the case.

So, Katelyn, walk us through what happened in court.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, today in court there was skepticism from all three judges about whether this should be a question at this time for the courts or if this is a problem or a question that should be solved by the Trump administration and the Food and Drug Administration, which would be the regulatory body over the abortion drug Mifepristone.

The FDA, they've been doing a review of Mifepristone for some time, questions about is it safe. But Louisiana wanted to jump ahead of that review and get the courts to intervene and say that it was harming women in Louisiana if they were getting in the mail an abortion drug, so prescribed through doctors that would be by telehealth or remote visits, not doctors in the state of Louisiana.

Now, one of the issues with this is that the federal government, even the Trump administration, has argued in court that one state can't criminalize or punish something that is done in another state. So, the -- the opposite political corollary here to what the Mifepristone would be, would be like the state of California saying Louisiana firearms dealers can't ship firearms into California.

So, today it really seemed like these judges were highly skeptical that Louisiana has the ability to bring and win a case like this.

SANCHEZ: Are we anticipating this is going to wind up before the Supreme Court?

POLANTZ: It very much could. These are the cases that go to the Supreme Court, and actually that's another piece of this right now that led the judges to have some skepticism that the Supreme Court previously had a chance to step in here and grant Louisiana the relief it wants, stopping the -- the mail-order abortion pill into its state. The Supreme Court didn't do that, and so this is very likely to go back to them. They may look at some broader issues like whether Louisiana has standing here, but it is one of those things where we kind of have seen where SCOTUS tipped their hand already.

It's one of those questions, though, that's going to be a big deal for the court and also Fifth Circuit, usually helpful for the administration, but in this case it's two liberal appointees, Democratic appointees, and one Republican appointee.

SANCHEZ: Katelyn Polantz, thank you so much for bringing us that report.

POLANTZ: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Still to come, gas prices are on the rise across the U.S. as the price of oil hit a hundred dollars a barrel following new strikes in the Middle East. We'll be right back.

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