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AXIOS Reporter Maria Curi is Interviewed about the New York Congressional Race; Schlossberg Loses Primary; Congress Passes Housing Affordability Bill. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired June 24, 2026 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:33:32]
AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish. Thank you for joining me on CNN THIS MORNING.
It's half past the hour. Here's what's happening right now.
Acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte wasting no time. Sources tell CNN he fired six political appointees hired under former DNI Tulsi Gabbard. He also reportedly removed 45 career officials from their posts. Additional cuts could come in the weeks ahead as Pulte pushes to shrink the agency.
And the fifth round of peace talks between Israel and Lebanon, mediated by the U.S., took place at the State Department Tuesday. Iran has threatened numerous times to leave negotiations with the U.S. over Israeli strikes in Lebanon. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is trying to separate those talks from the U.S.-Iran negotiations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: It's separate because Lebanon is a sovereign country.
Now, there's an Iranian issue with regard to Lebanon, and that is their support and sponsorship of Hezbollah. And so that will -- that factor will be discussed as part of our conversations with the Iranians.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Israel says the strikes are in self-defense against Hezbollah.
And NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, deemed the Trump whisperer, will meet with President Trump today. Now, their meeting comes ahead of the annual NATO summit, which is in two weeks. And Trump is still threatening to leave NATO altogether.
And we have the winner of New York's Democratic primary race to fill congressman Jerry Nadler's seat.
[06:35:03]
Big tech, in a sign of what's to come in the midterm elections, A.I. companies poured cash into the race. Micah Lasher is the winner. But the second-place finisher, Alex Bores, who calls for A.I. regulation, was at the center of a proxy battle between OpenAI and Anthropic. Super PACs, partially funded by Claude maker Anthropic, spent a whopping $18 million in support of Alex Bores. And then a super PAC, partially funded by OpenAI's co-founder, spent $8 million opposing him. Now, Bores, who's a former Palantir employee, is at the forefront of pushing A.I. regulation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEX BORES (D), NEW YORK ASSEMBLYMEMBER: Last year I passed the strongest A.I. safety bill in the country over Donald Trump's executive order. I followed it up this year with the strongest bill to protect kids from A.I. chatbots. Both of those bills were opposed by the entire A.I. industry, including by Anthropic. It's just that the battle lines in this race, in particular, are whether we can regulate A.I. at all. And for that question, most people are on the side that we need some regulation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: So, joining us in the group chat, Maria Curi, tech reporter for "Axios."
Thank you for being here.
While we're talking, I'm going to put up the names of some of the future super PAC. These are guys who spent money in opposition to Alex Bores. You have Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz, Greg Brockman, who's president and co-founder of OpenAI. Why this spending on this district?
MARIA CURI, TECH POLICY REPORTER, "AXIOS": You know, it's really interesting because at the end of the day, Alex Bores and Micah Lasher have a lot of similarities when it comes to A.I. regulation.
CORNISH: That's why I didn't get it. I was like, I don't understand this spending.
CURI: Right. Lasher is actually the co-sponsor of the Raise Act, which is one of the strongest safety legislation bills in the country right now. Lasher also supports a data center moratorium. And that's something -- that's one of the most extreme A.I. positions to be taking right now. And so, I think what this ultimately did was make Alex Bores a stronger candidate, a more well-known candidate in the race.
CORNISH: In the future.
CURI: In the future. And that --
CORNISH: Yes. And then let me play for you --
CURI: Yes.
CORNISH: In the meantime, they might have woke up this morning to hear this from Micah Lasher. As we said, New York 12. Here's how he talked about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHA LASHER (D), NEW YORK CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: I have some news for the two big A.I. companies who've taken such an unusual interest in who won this congressional seat. I won't be taking my cues from either of you when it comes to protecting our kids, our jobs and our environment
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: What's at stake here then?
CURI: At the end of the day, you know, this super PAC, across the country, the Leading the Future Super PAC, has spent more than $100 million in races. And out of the 29 races --
CORNISH: I'm sorry, say that again.
CURI: This super PAC, Leading the Future, has spent more than $100 million in races across he country.
CORNISH: OK. Because I've been talking about AIPAC. I've been talking about VoteVets on war. And in the meantime, in the background, you're telling me $100 million has been spent.
CURI: More than $100 million. And out of the 29 races that they have gotten involved in, they've won 28.
CORNISH: The other thing I'm interested in, I was reading in "NOTUS," the newsletter, Palantir hiring two new lobbyists with Democratic Party ties. Is this a thing where they're leaning into the party they think will be in power come midterms?
CURI: Right. It could be that. You know, what's really interesting about Palantir talking point in all of this saga is that the co- founder of Leading the Future is a Palantir co-founder as well. And he went after Bores over Bores' ties to Palantir, even though Bores left because of ethical concerns. And so Palantir has become kind of a sticking point in all of this.
CORNISH: Yes.
CURI: But it's across the aisle, present.
CORNISH: And probably because the co-founder -- the co-CEO, or CEO, Alex Karp, just in March said this to CNBC. He's not shying away from the question of how the public will react as voters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ALEX KARP, CEO, PALANTIR: If you are going to disrupt the economic and therefore political power significantly of one party's base, highly educated, often female voters who vote mostly Democrat and military and working class people who do not feel supported, and you feel like that's -- you believe that that's going to work out politically, you're in an insane asylum.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CURI: Alex Karp is interesting in his own political donations.
CORNISH: Very.
CURI: He's gone back and forth between Democrats and Republicans. It's like as, in a personal level, he can't decide.
But I think what we've been hearing across the board from CEOs are these big, alarmist statements. Whether it has to do with jobs, it's mostly had to do with job displacement, and yet they are moving as fast as possible to release this technology, which begs the question, what do you actually want to see here? What do you want to be done here?
CORNISH: One -- oh, go ahead.
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I would say, the class inversion since the '80s and '70s is really one of the most powerful dynamics in American politics, with Republicans doing better among blue collar workers, increasingly across racial lines, Democrats doing better among white collar workers.
[06:40:03]
But what -- that was driven mostly on cultural grounds. What's happening in the A.I. era is you get a reinforcement on economic grounds, where you now have, I think, in white collar America, a lot of the economic anxiety that really helped drive blue collar America in the other way in the '80s.
CORNISH: Yes, which featured in New York 12. Yes.
BROWNSTEIN: I mean we -- there used to be plant closing legislation aimed at blue collar workers in the '80s. Now there's kind of proposals for A.I. job loss legislation aimed at white collar workers. And it tends -- the economics is going to push in the same direction as the culture.
CORNISH: Big time. You had --
BROWNSTEIN: Education toward Democrats, blue collar (INAUDIBLE).
CORNISH: You had Microsoft's A.I. -- Microsoft's chief, actually, allude to this, talking about the similarities between the promises of globalization, '80s, '90s, and what turned out to be the reality for workers after. For my partizans, this is money that lawmakers don't know how to feel
about yet, because in some places, like a Utah, red state, they fought the hell out of a data center. And then you have candidates like this, Democrats, talking about regulation.
So, do we expect to see them taking the money and not talking about it? Do we expect to see a lane for a candidate who cares about A.I. displacement, who suddenly comes to the forefront talking about it?
JARRETT STEPMAN, COLUMNIST, "THE DAILY SIGNAL": Yes, I mean, I think there's a certain amount of localism here. I mean the Republican Party on the national level seems to be much more of the A.I. optimist party. On the local level it's very --
CORNISH: Not so much.
STEPMAN: It's very different.
CORNISH: Yes.
STEPMAN: And, in fact, it reflects the fact that a lot of Americans, on the left and right, are very nervous about A.I. They don't quite know what to make of it. And they're more concerned about it than some of the leaders in Washington who seem to say, oh, it's, you know, this is going to be great. It's going to be transformative. And from our economy --
CORNISH: Yes. And we should say, Trump did sign an A.I. executive order. I was talking with Maria earlier about how, first there were supposed to be big announcement. Then they pulled it after some griping from the tech guys. And then they actually signed one, which does encourage A.I. model sharing with the government and tries to crack down on security breaches linked to A.I.
The reason why I'm bringing this up is because, at this point you've got international intelligence agencies warning that A.I. models are advancing so quickly they could overwhelm government and business defenses, like not one day, but months from now.
ANTJUAN SEAWRIGHT, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: When you talk about A.I., Ron, we're not talking about Antjuan intelligence. We're talking about artificial intelligence.
CORNISH: Yes, we did not make that mistake. But continue.
BROWNSTEIN: But they spelled it out in the executive (INAUDIBLE).
SEAWRIGHT: But I think, within my part, there are real conversations about how they impact these communities locally, from driving up high utility costs that most Americans cannot afford from the environmental concerns.
CORNISH: But that's why I'm asking. It's not clear where the parties fall on these things.
BROWNSTEIN: Well -- SEAWRIGHT: Well, I think -- I think we have a mixed bag. I think we have a mixed bag feeling within the party because I don't think that people are clear about the long term impact and the effects that they're going to have on communities. And I would just say, for folks who are taking money from A.I. and still not certain about where they stand, I call it research.
CORNISH: OK.
In the meantime, let me come to you about this warning because, first of all, there's always warnings about A.I. every few weeks, every few months, to be honest. And the latest one, you know, it's giving Skynet, just the idea that there could be the next hack that comes, could be, I guess, driven by the A.I. itself. Can you explain this?
CURI: So, here's why this executive order matters and is important. And it has to do with this as well. This executive order essentially says that A.I. companies, they need to have a certain level of transparency, and it's voluntary, but A.I. labs realize they have to do it.
CORNISH: Yes.
CURI: They have --
CORNISH: And Anthropic did something like this, in fact, just a few months ago.
CURI: And Anthropic did it and received explicit approval from the government to release its models. But we're now seeing that they've shut down their most advanced models to allies around the country, and even foreign nationals within the U.S., including top researchers at Anthropic, how do you protect against cyberattacks if you don't have access to the most advanced models.
CORNISH: Especially if you're used to -- Trump is used to doing transactional business with political allies and friends. So, with Anthropic, right, he and Hegseth, they get sideways with Anthropic. They don't like the person who runs it. And yet still the technology was so, let's say, scary that Anthropic, in the middle of being called a supply chain risk, went to the government and said, I think you should know about this.
CURI: Yes.
CORNISH: There's this weird push-pull where, like, we want them, we want to control them, but we can't, it's out of our control.
CURI: Right. And we've reported on this, you know, extensively, that this does have to do with real cybersecurity concerns, that these models could be jailbroken.
CORNISH: Yes.
CURI: But it also has to do with personality clashes and the fact that the Anthropic CEO has not figured out a way to communicate effectively with the Trump administration. And we're seeing OpenAI, a rival A.I. lab, continue to release advanced models and not face export controls the way Anthropic has.
CORNISH: Because they're going to go with him to the Middle East. They're going to go with him to -- like the relationship is there.
CURI: Totally (ph).
CORNISH: OK. Since this is non-partisan, thank you guys for playing with me on it. It affects us all.
Maria Curi, thank you so much for being here.
CURI: Yes.
[06:45:01]
CORNISH: Next on CNN THIS MORNING, there -- a Kennedy lost in New York. So, after Jack Schlossberg's loss, is the Kennedy legacy losing its power?
Plus.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): It is possible to find bipartisan, common ground on legislation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: All right. So, we all agree the rent is too high, but can Congress come together to fix it?
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CORNISH: Once upon a time the name Kennedy carried some weight in U.S. politics. Last night, Jack Schlossberg, JFK's only grandson, lost in a crowded and expensive congressional primary in New York City. He's Caroline Kennedy's 33-year-old son.
[06:50:02]
Schlossberg finished a disappointing third in a race that also had all of that A.I. spending we just talked about and well-known cable news name George Conway. Schlossberg spoke after his defeat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACK SCHLOSSBERG (D), NEW YORK CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: We need to do things differently. We don't just need younger candidates. We need different leaders. We need different voices.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Unfortunate background for him there, since he is quite literally on the cutting room floor. BROWNSTEIN: Ah.
CORNISH: But everybody liked the way he had a deft use of the media, which is also part of the Kennedy legacy.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Yes. Look, I mean, we are, I think, further from JFK's election than he was from the Spanish-American War, OK. So, like, it's a -- it --
CORNISH: But we are closer to the arguments about the effects of TV and celebrity on politics.
BROWNSTEIN: It's a long time. Yes. No, and, look, I mean, you know, having name I.D. is valuable. I mean it's tangible. It's -- it costs you a lot of money to get known. Like, look at what happened in California. I mean, in, you know, in like in the governor, it costs a lot of money to get known, but it doesn't supersede everything else.
CORNISH: Yes. Right.
SEAWRIGHT: I was just going to say, name doesn't mean game, Ron.
BROWNSTEIN: Right. Right.
SEAWRIGHT: And I think that --
CORNISH: Have you been saving that?
SEAWRIGHT: No, I haven't. But name doesn't mean game. And I think when you have this change election environment where people want to test drive something different, I don't think the name relatability helps you in these cases. And I think it was very telling (ph).
CORNISH: You think that actually played against him?
SEAWRIGHT: No.
CORNISH: Because he was trying to show, things need to change. He was speaking the language of the modern Democratic Party.
SEAWRIGHT: He was speaking to some in the modern Democratic Party. But also there's something about local relationships and how they play out in these elections.
STEPMAN: Yes.
SEAWRIGHT: And I think the winner in that district had solid foundational local relationships that gave them ultimately the advantage.
STEPMAN: Yes. And I just -- I don't know if the Kennedy name has much cachet, especially with -- it's already going out with millennials. Gen , maybe a little summer (ph) revival (ph).
CORNISH: No, see, we argued about this just now.
STEPMAN: Yes, I just --
CORNISH: Anyone who watched FX's "Love Story" --
STEPMAN: Yes, that's true.
CORNISH: Has picked up a cigarette and relived the '90s because of the Kennedy mystique.
STEPMAN: But it still seems like a very long time ago. A little mystique, but it's been broken, I feel, within the last few generations. That's how far we're getting from it now.
CORNISH: Even with RFK in the White House?
STEPMAN: Yes, but, see now --
CORNISH: Where are you from again?
(CROSS TALK)
CORNISH: "Daily Signal"?
SEAWRIGHT: That's the reason people voted against him.
(CROSS TALK)
CORNISH: I tried. I tried. I'm trying to help y'all in this discussion.
One more thing. It's a bit of good news, because it's bipartisan. President Trump expected to sign a housing affordability bill. It passed with rare and overwhelming support in both chambers of Congress.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): Today's vote proves that it is possible to find bipartisan common ground on legislation that actually helps the American people.
SEN. TIM SCOTT (R-SC): If we would just focus on the American people and listen when they speak, we would remember two things. Number one, they hire us. We work for them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: So, this could be the first clear sign that Congress is hearing the concerns from the American people around the issue of affordability.
So, what's in this legislation? It would limit private equity from buying up homes. We know this is a really big issue from people who are concerned that private equity is buying up homes and driving up costs. It's supposed to make manufacturing homes easier and cheaper to build. Tough one given local zoning laws. And that's why this is here. Attempts to ease zoning and permitting rules. I can't help but think, looking at the polling showing Trump's
handling of the economy, that, as Tim Scott said, maybe they are finally listening.
BROWNSTEIN: I am -- well, that's funny because I was thinking of President Trump at the 2020 Republican Convention talking about how Democrats want to override zoning rules and bring multifamily housing to all the suburbs. I mean, remember, that was like a big --
CORNISH: Oh, yes, yes, yes.
BROWNSTEIN: That was a big thing. And essentially it was -- it was bringing non-white people to white suburbs was kind of the clear underlying message.
Look, you know, I mean, housing is -- it's tough for the federal government to have a real big impact on even the states. Like California has struggled to pass policies at the state level that shift local zoning decisions by not (INAUDIBLE). So --
CORNISH: But that's legislatively tough. Is it politically tough to tell private equity to kick rocks when they give money in elections as well?
BROWNSTEIN: No.
CORNISH: I mean these are huge entities.
STEPMAN: They are, but there's a groundswell of American -- of the American people who are very upset with the fact that their housing is very expensive, especially the younger generations. A lot of millennials, the youngers, can't afford a house.
CORNISH: So, who do they blame?
STEPMAN: And they feel that that's Americans dream.
CORNISH: Because right now we're going to put up that polling, 70 percent disapproval on the economy. Are they blaming Trump for that?
STEPMAN: I don't know if they're blaming Trump. Of course, he's the president of the United States. So, people, of course, are going to be angry at the party in power. And that's -- that seems to be Trump.
But at the same time, again, you saw this as a bipartisan bill. People are angry about the housing issue, period.
[06:55:02]
It's on -- it's happening in blue states and red states across the board. And even in places like New York City, you have Mamdani, who has tried to open up more housing. A lot of Republicans are kind of OK with that. And so it's -- I feel that sort of -- that sort of crosses the line on this particular issue. That's why they even got anything bipartisan.
CORNISH: Yes.
SEAWRIGHT: I think this is a step in the right direction. But by and large, I think this is a pimple on a rhinoceros' butt when you think about how --
STEPMAN: Yes.
CORNISH: How do you come up with this stuff?
SEAWRIGHT: When you think about the housing crisis that we're facing in this country, because it's largely around affordability.
STEPMAN: Yes.
SEAWRIGHT: The average homeowner, first time homeowner, in this country now is 40 years old. People cannot afford to pay the rent. You have a Republican Party and including the leader of the campaign on the Republican Party --
CORNISH: Yes, we're going to put up home sales while you're talking.
SEAWRIGHT: Who says that we have a housing issue in this country because illegals have come to this country zapping up all the housing. They refuse to come to grips with the reality that it's an affordability issue. And it's an accessibility issue.
STEPMAN: Well --
CORNISH: One second. I just want to point out one thing. I played Tim Scott at the start of that. I did not play Tim Scott earlier in the show when we were talking about Trump's lead priorities in the SENATE, which are the SAVE Act and the filibuster. So, why is the guy whose main job is getting more senators hired who are Republicans not in that conversation, but featured heavily in this one?
SEAWRIGHT: Well, you can run, but you can't hide. The reality is he, Tim Scott, understands that every single issue that they campaigned on in the last election cycle, Republicans and Donald Trump are underwater on. And he does not want to bear the responsibility for losing the majority in November.
CORNISH: How do you avoid that? That's his job.
BROWNSTEIN: Well, no. And they are facing the conundrum of the president's party in a midterm when the president is unpopular. On the one hand, they clearly need to keep Trump relatively quiescent so that he will do what they need to help turn out their voters. On the other hand, Trump is looking at a 70 percent disapproval rating among independents, and they also need independent voters in most of these states. And it's kind of like a no win game. If you show independence from Trump, you risk him, you know, throwing a thunderbolt at you and depressing base turnout. And if you don't, it's very hard to get enough purchase among those independent voters who disapprove of him two to one. It's just not easy. It's not unique to Republicans in '26, but it is the core problem we face. CORNISH: All right, we're going to hear a lot this week, especially
after this lunch today where the president is heading to The Hill. We've got stuff going on with Israel and Lebanon.
I want to hear about your group chats for a minute. Let's cleanse the timeline. What are you talking about in your world?
STEPMAN: I'm actually getting geared up for the Fourth of July, for the 250 celebration. New York City.
SEAWRIGHT: With Vanilla Ice?
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
STEPMAN: I'm very excited. Actually, in New York City.
CORNISH: It's still June.
STEPMAN: I know it's still June, but it's very important. We've got a -- the party's ready to go. And for me, my tradition has always been to go -- usually when I was in Washington, D.C., I'd visit Mount Vernon, put flowers by the grave of Washington. Now I'm going to go to the Hamilton's grave in New York City. Trinity Church.
CORNISH: Wait, you're not going to go to the show?
SEAWRIGHT: With Vanilla Ice.
STEPMAN: No, I'm going to be in New York.
CORNISH: Why are you hating on Vanilla Ice? I'm just trying to figure out if he's going to it.
STEPMAN: No, no. You know what? I'm going to be in New York City. I think there's going to be a huge celebration there.
CORNISH: With Democrats.
STEPMAN: With -- but I will personally go to Hamilton's grave and put some flowers there.
CORNISH: Nice.
STEPMAN: I think he deserves it.
CORNISH: Well done.
STEPMAN: And it's something that's important to me.
CORNISH: All right, Antjuan, what about you?
SEAWRIGHT: My group chat is the co-endorsement from the president in our Republican gubernatorial primary. It's new water we're swimming in here.
BROWNSTEIN: New tradition. SEAWRIGHT: But it's -- Ron, it's almost like if you're from South
Carolina, you appreciate this, cheering for the Gamecocks and the Clemson Tigers in the Palmetto Bowl.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Yes.
SEAWRIGHT: It's just unprecedented. Trump has lost in Iowa. He's lost in Georgia. He was about to lose in South Carolina. So, he wanted to throw this hail Mary pass and endorse two candidates.
BROWNSTEIN: It's like those people who live in the middle of Connecticut and had those half Yankee half Red Sox hats. I mean it was like --
CORNISH: Oh, no.
BROWNSTEIN: That's what -- OK, speaking of celebration hats.
SEAWRIGHT: Half and half.
BROWNSTEIN: Speaking of -- speaking of -- speaking of celebrations for July 4th in New York. My timeline, my group chat, literally is obsessed with, is Taylor Swift really going to get married at Madison Square Garden on July 4th?
CORNISH: Oh.
BROWNSTEIN: Because, like, that would -- I -- she makes it --
CORNISH: I thought, at this point it's happening in Rhode Island, is it not?
BROWNSTEIN: She -- you know, because -- I mean that would be like -- that would be the worst decision ever. I mean, like, like you view yourself essentially as a product or a commodity or a phenomenon. But, I don't know. Mamdani seemed to like hint that it was --
STEPMAN: It was (INAUDIBLE).
BROWNSTEIN: Mamdani hinted that it was coming. He said, we can prepare -- what did he say? We can do the security for the --
CORNISH: We are going to have some reporting on this later today.
BROWNSTEIN: We can do security for a Knicks game. We can do security for -- did he say that?
CORNISH: Yes, he mentioned it.
SEAWRIGHT: Well, then there are going to be watch parties outside the Garden.
BROWNSTEIN: That -- oh, yes.
CORNISH: No. No, actually.
BROWNSTEIN: That's a -- that's a good one.
CORNISH: Is the president going to attend also? I think no. I'm guessing. Wild guess here.
(CROSS TALK)
BROWNSTEIN: I'm guessing no. I'm guessing no on that one.
CORNISH: Is J.D. Vance going to attend. Also, I'm going to say it's a no. Even if she would no longer be a kind of single cat lady, the worst kind of person to be, according to the vice president. No, he's just apologized. You can read about it in the new book.
All right, you guys, thank you so much for talking about this. Ron, I hope you get the answers you're looking for on Taylor Swift's wedding.
BROWNSTEIN: I -- you know. I still haven't found what I'm looking for which is (INAUDIBLE).
CORNISH: Well played. Well played.
[07:00:00]
At 8 a.m. Maggie Haberman, Jonathan Swan reporting on their new book on the Trump administration. It's called "Regime Change." There's going to be lots of interesting details in there, so please stick around.
I'm Audie Cornish. And you know what? I know there's a lot of places where you could choose to spend your time in the morning. And I'm glad that you are spending it with us.
Stay with us. We've got more news ahead.
