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One World with Zain Asher
Former President Clinton Gives Deposition Over Epstein Files; Signs Of Progress But No Breakthrough In Nuclear Talks; Bodycam Video Shows Encounter Between Refugee And Police in 2025; paramount Emerges Victorious In Bidding War For WBD; CSIS: Xi's Military Purge Could Hinder The Ability To Fight; Serial Stowaway Sneaks Onboard Flight From New York To Milan; Man Accidentally Hacks Into 7,000 Robot Vacuums; Closer Look: Progress And Setbacks In Modern Online Dating; Aired 12-1p ET
Aired February 27, 2026 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:00:34]
ASHER: All right. Under oath, former President Bill Clinton faces questions from lawmakers about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. The second hour
of "One World" starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JAMES COMER (R-KY): We already had a big portfolio of questions for him and that increased yesterday.
REP. SUHAS SUBRAMANYAM (D-VA): Let's be real. We are talking to the wrong president today.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president of the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: What lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are hoping to hear from the former president.
Also ahead, on notice, the U.S. Ambassador to Israel says embassy staff should leave today but that there's no reason to panic amid simmering
tensions with Iran.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: A convicted stowaway is in custody again this morning after allegedly sneaking onto a United Airlines flight to Italy
from the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Found and determined how exactly does a woman who was arrested for sneaking onto a plane before, get away with it again. Stunning details,
ahead.
Also ahead, let's face it. Let's face it. Dating just isn't what it used to be. Later on this hour, a seasoned between expert about how to meet and
keep that special someone.
All right. Coming to you live from New York, I'm Zain Asher. You are watching the second hour of "One World."
We begin in New York where former president Bill Clinton is testifying behind closed doors about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. It follows
his wife Hillary Clinton's testimony in front of the House Oversight Committee for more than six hours yesterday, while Republicans have sought
to pair the two in their relations with Epstein, the information they can provide, it appears to be vastly different.
It's underscored by the fact that Mr. Clinton visited Epstein's private island at least 16 times. Mrs. Clinton, for her part, has stressed that she
never knew or communicated with the disgraced financial year.
Ahead of the questioning today, we heard from the Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee with on this issue.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COMER: I will say this. It's very difficult to get people in for these depositions that have great power and great wealth. And I used yesterday
and today as an example. It took seven months, seven months to get the Clintons in here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: The Clintons' testimony sets a precedent and ranking Democrats are calling for Donald Trump to testify given his relationship with Epstein as
well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ROBERT GARCIA (D-CA): He appears in the Epstein files next with -- next to Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell almost more than anybody
else. So it's time for the president to answer questions about why files are missing from the DOJ, why there's been a White House cover-up, and why
we continue in that administration to call this investigation a hoax.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: The Clintons have not been accused of any criminal wrongdoing in this case.
Let's discuss all of this with Karen Finney, CNN political commentator, and former senior adviser to the 2016 Clinton presidential campaign. Karen, so
good to have you on.
One of the things that -- I was actually speaking about this with a legal expert in the past hour. And one of the things that he kept on reiterating
is that the Republicans should be very, very careful, because obviously, by all appearances, anybody sort of looking at what's happening today sees
this as simply, or partly at least a partisan exercise.
And if Democrats take control of the House come November, there are a lot of concern about potentially how this might backfire on Republicans, but
also what sort of precedent this set's going forward, especially given how frequently Donald Trump's name is mentioned in the Epstein files as well.
Give us your take.
KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think -- it's great to be with you. And, yes, I think that's absolutely one of the things the
Republicans aren't thinking about because they're so focused on this political gimmick and gamesmanship.
You know, one of the most startling things this week to come out was a report by, I believe, was NPR that showed thousands of documents maybe
being withheld from the Department of Justice that might implicate or that mentioned President Trump, I should say.
And so the question becomes, why is DOJ hiding that? And why is the committee not interested in reports like that?
And look, it does set a precedent. I mean, again, you know, we know that Mr. Lutnick has said he initially was not truthful about this, and then
later acknowledged that he had been to the island.
[12:05:12]
So, how do you call in a former president, but not -- who has never been to the island? And I believe has said, and we'll say, I just saw his opening
statement come out that he was completely unaware of any -- any of the activities.
How do you not then call in someone like Mr. Lutnick or Mr. Trump who, you know, have so much more potentially that they could make known about what
Mr. Epstein was doing?
ASHER: But it's not just that, right? Because I mean, you know, Bill Clinton, we've seen the photographs of him. He's obviously mentioned in the
Epstein files. He's traveled on a private jet with Epstein. And then on top of that, Epstein visited the White House while Clinton was in office, so.
But when you look at the fact that his wife was -- was called yesterday and his wife had to sort of sit in a -- in a deposition. I mean, that is
problematic for a lot of people because by her account, she didn't even --
FINNEY: Yes.
ASHER: -- know Jeffrey Epstein not -- not only does she have no knowledge of -- of his crimes, but she didn't even actually know him.
So based on that, what is the Republicans' argument? You know, perhaps you could justify Bill Clinton, maybe. Even though there's not necessarily
apples to apples comparison with also getting Donald Trump or Howard Lutnick, as you point out.
But what would be the rationale to have Hillary Clinton?
FINNEY: Well, there isn't a rationale to have -- I mean, the only rationale is a political rationale that this is, you know, a spectacle and a gimmick.
And this is an effort on in part to fake transparency.
It's not transparent because as the Clintons had requested to have this open, they're not -- none of the -- the depositions or these hearings are -
- are open to the public as they should be as frankly the survivors themselves have asked for a level of transparency that we have not seen.
So, it does make people, I think, it leaves one to say well then this must be politics, because particularly, I thought it was interesting when
Secretary Clinton mentioned they had asked her about UFOs and a long debunked Pizzagate issue scandal here in -- in Washington was not a scandal
that ended up being a complete fraud that terrorized a community here in Washington D.C.
So, sure, it -- I mean, why bring her? And he will -- he is clearly going to be answering questions today. But again, it makes you wonder if this is
meant to be a serious -- man, I feel like I'm going to quote Logan Roy, you know, these are not serious people, right, that if you were serious about a
thoughtful investigation, they -- it would be conducted in a much more serious manner, and in a manner that was designed to get to the facts and
make more information available that rather than behind closed doors and sort of cherry picking who they want to talk to when and what questions are
asked.
ASHER: Yes. And I mean, a lot of people are also saying that this could backfire and Republicans, not just in terms of Democrats possibly taking
over the House come November, but if the goal of Republicans is to keep this out of the news and stop people from talking about it, then having the
Clintons deposed does the exact opposite.
Karen Finney, live for us there. We have to leave it there. Thank you so much.
FINNEY: OK.
ASHER: All right. The U.S. ambassador to Israel has told embassy personnel who do want to leave the country that they should, quote, do so today,
that's according to a source familiar with Mike Huckabee's email to staff that came as non-essential embassy personnel were cleared to leave Israel.
It comes as a source tell CNN that U.S. President Donald Trump has been briefed on potential military operations in Iran over its nuclear program.
Meantime, the USS General Ford, America's largest aircraft carrier, will soon be arriving off the coast of Israel. Nuclear talks in Geneva Thursday
ended with signs of progress, but no agreement. The U.S. and Iran are set to continue talks in Vienna next week.
Oman's foreign minister is headed to Washington to meet with Vice President J.D. Vance. Sources say the two will discuss efforts to reach a deal with
Iran.
CNN's Jennifer Hansler joins us live now from Washington. So, Jennifer, we know that, obviously, there was no breakthrough yesterday, even though
progress has been made.
But there is still a lot of diplomatic activity just in terms of J.D. Vance meeting with the Omani foreign minister. We know that Secretary of State
Marco Rubio is heading to Israel next week as well. So, there's clearly still, at this point, a clear attempt to sort of stave off any kind of
military action. Donald Trump himself has talked about diplomacy being the preferred route here.
Walk us through where things stand and what -- what is the latest in terms of the progress that has been made in the negotiations so far.
JENNIFER HANSLER, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT REPORTER: Yes, Zain. So we're kind of seeing these two parallel messaging and these two parallel public tracks
playing out, of course, the one you mentioned is the diplomatic track. We have the Omani foreign minister meeting with J.D. Vance, we believe,
potentially right now to talk about a potential diplomatic off-ramp to what is going on here.
[12:10:11]
The Omanis, of course, have been the key negotiator in these talks between Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner and the Iranian team in Geneva in Oman and
then next week as well.
They are trying to find an off-ramp here, because President Trump, as they keep saying, both Trump himself and his adviser, that he would prefer a
diplomatic outcome.
And now, the Omanis have said there has been progress made, but there are still huge gaps based on what we are hearing from our sources and from our
team's reporting, particularly on this issue of enrichment.
The U.S. has continued to maintain that they do not want Iran to be able to enrich uranium. Iran said that's a red line, that they are not going to
stop. They are going to keep doing it. They are not going to send off their enriched uranium to another country, as has been demanded by the United
States. So, there are still key gaps in that point.
And another issue that has come to the fore more and more in the past several days is this issue of Iran's ballistic missile program.
Now, this is something that is not being discussed at the current moment. Instead, this is something that the U.S. needs to see in future talks,
according to U.S. officials. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called it a big problem that they are refusing, in his words, to discuss this issue with
the U.S. or anyone else.
They have made these claims that Iran is seeking to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles. Iran has rejected those claims, but
this is becoming a key potential sticking point in any future diplomacy as well.
At the same time, as these diplomatic talks are going on, we have seen, of course, this massive, massive military buildup in the region. There are
huge amounts of U.S. military assets. And there are increasing signals that something could be coming to the fore, that message from the U.S.
Ambassador to Israel.
Mike Huckabee telling his non-essential staff if they want to leave to do so today, they have authorized the departure of non-emergency staff and
family members to leave the embassy in Israel.
There was also an order departure from the U.S. embassy in Lebanon. So, we are seeing these mixed signals that seem to speak to the fact that all
options still remain on the table here, Zain, and there may not have been a decision by the U.S. president yet. Zain.
ASHER: All right. Jennifer Hansler in Washington for us. Thank you so much.
All right. Pakistan's Defense Minister is declaring open war on Afghanistan accusing it of exporting terrorism. A Taliban spokesperson says that
Afghanistan wants to find a solution through dialogue. The two nations have been trading tit-for-tat attacks this week.
Islamabad says, that Friday's strikes targeted Afghan defense facilities in the capital, Kabul, and elsewhere.
This video you see here from Pakistan security forces show a Pakistani flag and outpost inside the Afghan border. Residents of the border areas say,
they are caught in the middle.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Everyone on the border has been worried since last night. We appeal to both countries to open the border.
We are poor people. We earn our livelihood from this border. Now our livelihood has also stopped.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Last weekend, Islamabad hit what it said were militant camps in Afghanistan. The Taliban's military launched what it calls a retaliatory
attack late Thursday.
All right. Key questions are being raised after the death of a nearly blind refugee days after he was released from the custody of federal immigration
agents.
Friends and family gathered at a mosque in Buffalo, New York on Thursday for a funeral for Nurul Amin Shah Alam.
The 56-year-old refugee was arrested last year after what his son described as a misunderstanding. And we now have body camera footage from that
arrest. It ultimately led to Shah Alam spending more than a year behind bars.
After his release from jail earlier this month, the border patrol agents briefly took custody of him on an immigration detainer, but realized he was
not eligible for deportation, so they dropped him off alone at a closed coffee shop in near freezing temperatures. His body was found days later,
about four miles from the shop.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection defend the action of their agents, but local officials are actually demanding now an investigation. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN RYAN, BUFFALO MAYOR: The Border Patrol officers had no protocol of what to do with the disabled man who doesn't speak English, who is confused
and lost. And you know what they did? They dropped him at a closed coffee shop.
That's why we do not cooperate with ICE, Homeland Security, and Border Patrol.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: I want to take a closer look at Shah Alam's tense encounter with police one year ago that led to his arrest. Shah Alam's son says that he
went for a walk using a curtain rod as a walking stick, became lost and wandered onto private property.
[12:15:10]
Lauren Hall from our CNN affiliate, WGRZ, has more on that encounter. And we warn you -- warn you though that some of the images you're about to see
here are disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey. What are you doing?
LAUREN HALL, WGRZ REPORTER (voice-over): Police records show on February 15, 2025, officers were called to a home on Tonawanda Street by someone
reporting a stranger trespassing in their yard. That stranger was 56-year- old Nurul Amin Shah Alam.
Body camera footage shows the two responding officers approaching Shah Alam who was carrying two slender black poles.
The officers repeatedly ordered him to drop the poles.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Put it down.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Put that down.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Put it down. Down. On the ground.
HALL (voice-over): At one point, he sticks them into the ground, but never fully let's go, eventually waving the poles in the air at the direction of
the officers. That's when both officers fire their tasers.
Delta 280 radio, give me more cars.
NURUL AMIN SHAH ALAM, REFUGEE ABANDONED BY BORDER PATROL: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tase. Put it down.
HALL (voice-over): One, hit Shah Alam but has not effect. The other appears to malfunction.
The officers then tackle Shah Alam to the ground and handcuff him.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Get on the (BLEEP) ground. Get on the (BLEEP) ground.
HALL (voice-over): During the struggle, he bites both officers.
SHAH ALAM: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's going to bite you.
HALL (voice-over): More officers arrive along with an ambulance and once subdued, Shah Alam is placed on a stretcher where officers say they smell
alcohol.
Officers attempt to communicate with him, but it's clear they cannot understand the language he's speaking.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have no idea who he is. We don't know what language he speaks.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Spanish? Do you speak Spanish?
SHAH ALAM: OK.
HALL (voice-over): The only English words he speaks are OK and I love you, which he even sings from the back of the ambulance.
SHAH ALAM: I love you. I love you.
HALL (voice-over): The video ends as EMS takes Shah Alam to ECMC.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: That was WGRZ's Lauren Hall reporting there.
All right. Still to come here on "One World," President Xi Jinping continued purge of the Chinese military has impacted the very top ranks,
what it could mean for the country's fighting ability, just ahead.
Plus, we are following the apparent end of the bidding war for some of the biggest names in media.
We'll also be taking a look as well about how one man accidentally hacked into 7,000 vacuums to and expose a major security flaw with the help of
A.I. Stay tuned for that too.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:20:30]
ASHER: All right. This is just in to CNN. A tram has derailed in Milan, Italy. These are actually live pictures happening right now from the scene.
Authorities tell Reuters that one person was killed and several others are injured. The tram reportedly came off the tracks. There's no comment yet
from the tram company. We will bring you more information on this story as soon as we get it.
All right. Paramount's Skydance is the apparent winner of the month's long bidding war to acquire Warner Brothers Discovery, that is the parent
company of CNN and Netflix, backed out of negotiations on Thursday, refusing to match Paramount's most recent offer valued at $31 per share.
There are a number of next steps for Paramount and WBD to seal the deal, including approvals from regulators in both the United States and Europe.
But barring any further surprises, Paramount is now positioned to amass a sprawling entertainment news empire of dozens of television assets, lots of
movie studios and two network newsrooms.
For more on this, I want to bring in CNN media analyst Sara Fischer. So, Sara, what -- what's interesting about this is that this was a month's long
saga, lots of back and forth.
Paramount continued to re-up their bid, willing to pay more and more. And now it appears that they have emerged the winner. They're now willing to
pay $31 per share. And they're also agreeing to pay the $2.5 billion breakup fee, right? That WBD essentially would owe Netflix.
Talk to us, first and foremost, about why Netflix decided to back out. They said that, you know, this would -- this would be a nice to have asset at
the right price, but not necessarily at any price whatsoever.
Why did Netflix back out and why was Paramount -- why has Paramount been so determined to acquire WBD?
SARA FISCHER, CNN MEDIA ANALYST: Let me take that second question first. In Hollywood, there's been this notion that scale really matters. That the
only way that you can compete with big tech, like Netflix or Amazon Prime Video, is if you have a lot of assets to be able to do so and a massive lot
of subscribers.
So, that's why David Ellison wants all of this. And remember, he really wants the studio assets, Warner Bros. pictures and the streamer, HBO Max.
I think the cable units are kind of nice to have here. His team has said that they think that these cable companies are valued at $0. So, I think
that they're hoping that if they bought the whole thing, it made their whole bid more attractive for what they really want, which is the Hollywood
stuff.
And then on why Netflix backed out, it just wasn't financially prudent. You know, at the end of the day, Netflix would have liked to have had more
assets to be able to attract more streaming subscribers as well but at a price that made sense.
When you get to a place where it's no longer financially attractive, as they said, it made it a lot easier to walk. And remember, there's a couple
benefits to them walking too.
For one, Paramount has promised to pay Warner Bros. Discovery's break-up fee. So Netflix is going to get $2.8 billion by walking away from this
deal.
And then two, it walks away. And at least two of its big competitors in Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount, with a massive regulatory road ahead
that's distracting, that's costly.
It also leaves Paramount saddled with unbelievable amounts of debt. So for Netflix, there's actually a lot of upsides to walking just as much as there
was an upside to staying in.
All right. Sara Fischer, live for us. I mean, you know, obviously, one of the sort of key issues is really what happens to assets like CNN, for
example, especially as it pertains to journalistic integrity.
And, you know, we all know that the elephants are close to President Trump. So that is a major concern as well, the consolidation between potentially
CNN and CBS and also Warner Bros. along with Paramount. We shall see.
There's a lot to, as you point out, it does still need regulatory approval. So much to see here, so much to watch. And I know that you'll be taking
note.
Sara Fischer, live for us there. Thank you so much.
All right. As the purge of China's military continues, Xi Jinping has taken it to the very top. Last month, he targeted his highest ranking general. A
new report from a Washington-based think tank says that 36 generals and lieutenants have been officially purged since 2022.
CNN's Simone McCarthy explains what the shake-up could mean for China's military and its ability to fight.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SIMONE MCCARTHY, CNN SENIOR CHINA REPORTER: Almost the entire top Chinese military leadership gone. And the purge goes deeper than it appears,
according to a new report from a Washington think tank.
[12:25:10]
Let's start with China's Central Military Commission, the powerful group of generals that controls the People's Liberation Army led by Chinese leader
Xi Jinping. Here they are in 2023.
Since then, all but one of the generals has been expelled or placed under investigation, including Xi's highest ranking general and longtime ally,
Zhang Youxia, who was targeted last month. That's just the very top.
Since 2022, around 100 military officers have potentially been purged, the Center for Strategic and International Studies found.
For example, CSIS said joint staff Deputy Chief Jing Jianfeng, hasn't been seen at functions since last year.
A purge of this scale affects roughly half of the 176 leadership positions in the PLA when taking into account positions that have been purged more
than once.
So, what does this mean for China's military? The report authors say that replacing top ranking generals will be more challenging, because the ranks
of up and coming officers have been diminished.
And the empty seats could hinder China's ability to fight and impact any potential plans Beijing may have around using force to take control of
Taiwan.
Xi has spent years trying to eliminate corruption in the military as he consolidates his own power. And in the black box of China's military, it's
difficult to know exactly what's behind the moves.
Some argue that cleaning house, eventually, could make China's military even stronger.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: All right. Welcome back to "One World." I'm Zain Asher.
Back to our top story this hour. Former U.S. president Bill Clinton is right now testifying behind closed doors in the Epstein investigation by
the House Oversight Committee.
And we actually want to make a correction for something that we said earlier this hour that Mr. Clinton visited the island 16 times. That is
actually incorrect. Mr. Clinton has always denied visiting Jeffrey Epstein's private island.
[12:30:12]
According to a CNN analysis though, Mr. Clinton did fly on Jeffrey Epstein's private plane at least 16 times between 2002 and 2003. And
Republicans say they have a lot of questions.
In his opening statement, he said he had only a brief acquaintance with Epstein and that he saw nothing and did nothing wrong.
A hearing today comes on the heels of Hillary Clinton's deposition that lasted more than six hours.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: I answered every one of their questions as fully as I could based on what I knew. And what I knew
is what I said in my statement this morning. I never met Jeffrey Epstein, never had any connection or communication with him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: CNN's MJ Lee is in Chappaqua, New York. MJ, the deposition is underway. Talk to us about the sorts of questions that former president
Bill Clinton is having to answer right now.
MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL ENTERPRISE CORRESPONDENT": Yes. The deposition is underway. Began about an hour and a half ago. And we have the full
opening statement that the former president delivered two members of the House Oversight Committee.
And, Zain, it's very clear that there are two things that the former president clearly wants to emphasize today. One is denying any wrongdoing
on his part. And second is denying any knowledge about Jeffrey Epstein's crimes and actions.
Let me read a little bit more from what he told lawmakers. He said, "First, I had no idea of the crimes Epstein was committing. No matter how many
photos you show me. I have two things that at the end of the day matter more than your interpretation of those 20-year-old photos.
I know what I saw, and more importantly, what I didn't see. I know what I did, and more importantly, what I didn't do. I saw nothing and I did
nothing wrong."
Now, importantly, he also previewed in those opening remarks that he is often going to answer questions that lawmakers give him with the words, I
don't recall. He said, he's simply not going to say something that he's not sure of and emphasize that some of these interactions that he had with
Epstein took place many, many years ago.
And he acknowledged in those remarks that he understands that it's probably going to be not satisfying to the lawmakers.
Particularly, just keep in mind for these Republican lawmakers, they have been fighting for the Clintons to be deposed in this manner for a number of
months.
I think all of this goes to show you, and is a good reminder of just what a different day today is compared to yesterday when we saw Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton being deposed.
And as you laid out before, you know, Bill Clinton is not Hillary Clinton, as far as the relationship with Jeffrey Epstein goes. He did have an
established relationship with him. He had flown on his plane. We know that there were photos of Bill Clinton in the Epstein files released by the
Justice Department, including the former president with Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's co-conspirator, in photos with women whose faces have been
redacted.
So, Zain, we are gearing up for another very long day yesterday for a reference. The members were in there with Hillary Clinton for just under
seven hours, including that interruption in the middle of the day.
And even Democrats that I've spoken with have said that they are ready for some tough questions for the former president.
So, trying to emphasize here that it doesn't matter if it's a Democrat or a Republican inside that deposition room, they want to try to get some
answers about Jeffrey Epstein.
ASHER: All right. MJ, thank you so much. Appreciate that.
All right. The serial stowaway has struck again, this time, managing to make it all the way to Milan, Italy from New Jersey.
According to a law enforcement source, Svetlana Dali sneaked on board a flight at Newark Airport on Wednesday night. By the time the crew members
actually noticed that she had no ticket, the plane was actually well on its way to his destination.
Dali was previously convicted for side stepping security and making her way to Paris from New York in late 2024.
CNN law enforcement reporter Mark Morales has more for us from New York.
I mean, this is incredible. To do it once, already beggar's belief. And then to suddenly wake up realizing that she had done it again is -- is
quite astounding.
How has she managed to pull this off twice?
MARK MORALES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT REPORTER: Well, and to your point, when you go through these airports and you see how much security there is, I
mean, you're taking everything out of your pockets, in some instances, you're even taking your shoes off.
It's remarkable knowing that she's done this multiple times and every indication seems to be that in this instance, she did what has worked for
her in the past, which means she gets there. She gets to the gate. She sees a gate agent who seems to be preoccupied presumably with what she was
supposed to be -- or what -- what they were supposed to be doing at the gate at that time. And she just mixes into a crowd and slips on through.
[12:35:13]
I mean, we saw that she did this when she did it when she got onto her flight to Paris in November of 2024.
And this seems to be her MO at this point, sneaking through the crowd, get past the gate agents and get onto the flight.
From what we understand, she's still in custody in Milan. And now it becomes a task of, how do we get her back?
So there's multiple agencies that are involved in this, possibly the State Department. You have even the U.S. Attorney's Office. We know that Customs
and Border Patrol will have to process her once she gets back.
But that's going to be a whole issue in -- in and of itself, because the last time she did this, there was a lot of start and stop with -- with her
bringing her back.
So you're going to have a lot of different agencies that are going to have to sort this out. You get this technical situation.
And -- and plus, she might be headed for more legal trouble than we think. If we think back to when she was convicted of this in Brooklyn, she spent
seven months in federal custody. And she was also under a supervised release provision.
Her doing this and sneaking back on this flight and getting to Milan is a violation of that. So, she could possibly be headed for even more legal
trouble than we think.
ASHER: All right. Mark Morales, live for us there. Thank you. We'll see what happens.
All right. Still to come, we'll take a look at how one man accidentally hacked into 7,000 vacuums and exposed a major security flaw. Stay tuned for
that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: All right. Let's get a quick check on how the U.S. markets are doing. Down across the board, the Dow is down one and a half percent. S&P
500 down more than half percent. And the NASDAQ is down about one percent.
All right. The clock is ticking on the Pentagon's deadline for Anthropic to further lift it's A.I. safeguards. It's given the company until 5:01 P.M.
Eastern Time today. The Pentagon wants to be able to use Anthropic's Claude A.I. system for all lawful purposes, but Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei is
holding firm and insists that Claude not be used in autonomous weapons nor for the mass surveillance of Americans.
In a few hours, a young woman who is suing Meta and YouTube resumes testimony in a landmark trial that could set a precedent for social media
companies. Her mother is also expected to take the stand as well. Kaylee, quote-unquote, claims her childhood social media addiction left her anxious
and depressed, saying the company's intentionally designed features to be addictive, especially for children. Google and Meta deny the allegations.
[12:40:24]
And the Japanese sensation, Pokemon, turns 30. The franchise's creator was inspired by his love of discovering and catching insects and small animals
launching pocket monsters on Nintendo Game Boy back in 1996.
The franchise now includes a T.V. show, movies, trading cards and games with revenues of more than $100 billion.
All right. A man has revealed how he accidentally gained control of 7,000 vacuums, exposing major security flaws with the help of A.I.
CNN's Clare Duffy spoke with the man, Sammy Azdoufal, who says he was just trying to connect his own vacuum to a game console controller.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH REPORTER: So in theory, you could have used someone else's vacuum and navigated it around their home to see whatever you wanted
to see.
SAMMY AZDOUFAL, SOFTWARE DEVELOPER: Our launching deep cleaning at 420 for everyone? Yes.
DUFFY: Software developer Sammy Azdoufal was building an app to hack his DJI Romo smart vacuum. He wanted to use his PlayStation controller to make
it move. But in the process, he accidentally uncovered a major security flaw.
With the help of an A.I. chatbot, Sammy discovered he could also access what he says were roughly 7,000 other vacuums, allowing him to get their
approximate locations and even remotely control other people's vacuums.
He could also see through other users' live camera feeds and hear through their vacuum's microphones, features typically in place to help the vacuums
navigate around a home and respond to voice commands.
AZDOUFAL: When it happened, my wife started to hide the camera from the robot because she was scared. I don't know. I freak out. I was scared.
Sorry. This is making me laugh or nothing. But why are they going to put a microphone in a vacuum? Like, I don't know. I don't get it.
DUFFY: Sammy immediately reported the flaw to DJI. After some back and forth, the company fixed it. DJI did not respond to a request for comment
from CNN.
But Sammy says, there's an important takeaway here for consumers thinking about buying any smart home device.
AZDOUFAL: Let other users be -- be your beta testers before you. So the company will fix the issue before you buy it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: All right. Still to come, the Valentine's Day season is, of course, in the rearview mirror, but love never goes out of style. We'll look at how
singles are connecting in modern times.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:45:26]
ASHER: All right. We are going to take time out from today's headlines, and instead, take a closer look at the evolution of online dating.
New technologies like A.I., facial recognition, and social media algorithms are changing our world so fast, it can be hard to keep up.
Earlier this month CNN's Clare Duffy spoke with the CEO of popular dating app, Hinge, to learn more about Gen Z's dating habits. Hinge surveyed more
than 30,000 users. CEO Jackie Jantos explains what they found.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACKIE JANTOS, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, HINGE: This report that we recently put out was really about the communication gap.
So, for example, we know people want to have rich and deep conversations, but that's really not meeting their experience on the app or when they meet
in person. So, we really started to identify all of these gaps and what people's wants and needs are and what they're actually experiencing and
getting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: And in 2023, the Pew Research Center found that on average, one in 10 adults met their partner through a dating site.
Though, an "Axios" survey from that same year found that around 79 percent of college students surveyed were actually not using those apps.
Let's discuss the trends in online dating with my next guest, dating coach Matthew Hussey. He is also host of the podcast "Love Life with Matthew
Hussey." Matthew, so, so good to have you on the program.
As I mentioned there, there are massive changes of foot when it comes to Gen Z and their dating habits, especially online. We are entering, at least
for that group. This is the group of sort of 14 year olds to 29 year olds, dating app fatigue. People who sort of feel as though the endless sort of
swiping culture. Ghosting is a massive problem when it comes to dating culture.
And this idea that dating apps tends to sort of reward people who are good at game playing, if you will, and that people who are genuinely looking for
connection, who are open and vulnerable tend to get sidelined (ph).
Based on that, if Gen Z is getting tired of the dating game, especially with online apps, what will dating culture look like, Matthew, 50 years
from now or so?
MATTHEW HUSSEY, DATING COACH: Fifty years is too long, I think, for me to be able to comment. Over the next few years, I -- I think we're already
seeing a return to -- to live. People want to -- people are so disillusioned.
Gen Z are especially disillusioned because they grew up with these apps. You know, at least for the millennials, they were a novelty for a minute.
But for -- for Gen Z, they've always had them. And they know better than anybody how frustrating they are. They know that they don't even know half
the time whether they're talking to a bot.
And if they're talking to a real person, there's a very high chance that that person, if they ever meet up with them for a date, is going to look
anything like their profile picture.
So, this is a -- a group of people who was -- who many of them are either deciding to opt out of dating, which is by the way happening across the
board in different age groups is people saying, you know what I'm done.
If this is what dating is presenting me with right now, if this is the experience the apps are giving me, I'm out. I don't need to meet anyone. I
don't need to find anyone. I don't think that's going to make people happy long term, but that's the short-term decision many people are reflexively
moving to.
But those who aren't ready to give up, a lot of them have just become so disillusioned that they've -- they've canceled their app memberships.
They're deciding to try to get out in person.
But even that's challenging because many of us are not used to the idea of walking over to someone and having a -- a conversation with a perfect
stranger.
And many of us don't have the community involvement that it requires to get to know someone over time so that you don't have to randomly approach
someone in a coffee shop that you go to. You can meet someone in a class that you go to and say hi this week and how are you next week and maybe get
their number a month from now. We don't have those communities for many people anymore.
ASHER: So -- so moving away, especially for the Gen Z, moving away from perhaps online dating apps to perhaps more real life communication and
connection.
When it comes to the institution of marriage, I'm curious to get your take. I know that you recently got married a few years ago, but -- and
congratulations, by the way.
But when it comes to the institution of marriage and how marriage is going to change, I mean for a lot of people who are stuck in so-so marriages,
right? People who are stuck in mediocre marriages where the only way to perhaps get out obviously is through lawyers and court cases and alimony
and child support.
[12:50:06]
A lot of people think to themselves, well, if that's my option, this is my bed, I'm just going to lie in it. I'm going to stay in an unhappy marriage.
If that is the institution of marriage as it -- as it exists today where, you know, rather than sort of disrupting your life, many people are just
deciding to stay in unhappy marriages, how do you think the institution of marriage is going to change and evolve in the future too?
HUSSEY: I think, Zain, it's ultimately -- it already has become something that's, for a lot of people, a decision they arrive at much, much, much
more carefully and more intentionally.
I like to think that that might mean in the future more marriages work because they -- you know, people aren't just jumping into a marriage in
their 20s because that's the thing to do. People are first asking themselves, am I ready?
And by the way, we're living in a time where far fewer people are feeling ready anymore. You know, people are well into their 30s saying, I'm still
not ready. I haven't made enough money. I'm not settled enough in my career. I don't feel like I've done enough in my life. So there's a -- a
huge amount of people who just do not feel ready to marry.
And then, of course, combine that with the fact that our level of entitlement generally has gone up in dating. We are presented with pictures
of people who look with one gorgeous person after another. It's one perfect person after another, one curated profile after another.
And it has, for many of us, warped our minds in terms of what our expectations are, what someone's supposed to look like, how much are they
supposed to make, what's the lifestyle that -- what lifestyle should they have.
And there's a huge disparity between all of this -- this idea of what people are and should be versus what they actually are.
And so many people, even people who say, I want to get married. I want to meet someone. Even those people are constantly presented with people that
they say, well, that person can't be it. I can't marry that person. They're not -- you know, that's not who I pictured myself with. So, we have people
not being ready. People's standards going up in areas that don't matter.
And then, of course, even for the people who are willing to say, no, Matthew, I am ready. I'm looking for something realistic. Those people are
out there dating and going, I can't find anyone else who thinks like me. I'm trying to find someone who just wants to commit and have a wonderful
relationship. I'm being realistic about my standards, but I can barely get on a date with someone, let alone get someone to the point of marriage.
And I think that's one of the things that's not talked about enough when we talk about, like, people don't want to get married anymore.
Actually, plenty of people would love to get married. But dating feels so difficult and confusing now and so fruitless that they're opting out of
marriage, not because they don't want marriage. They're opting out of marriage because they don't even see a path to get there.
ASHER: Hmm. And I -- you know, I loved what you said about the sort of Hollywoodification, right, of -- of dating culture. This idea where your
expectations are so high.
My question to you is, have we gotten better at what to look for in a person before we decide to marry them?
I mean, when I was coming up, it was all about the list. You know, you write down a list of 20 sort of superficial characteristics about your
dream partner and you hope to go that you meet that person.
But really, what you should be looking for is how the person you're about to marry handles conflict. You know, what do they like when they're -- when
they're having a bad day?
What do they like when they don't get what they want? What do they like at their worst, basically? Because that is really what you're going to end up
being stuck with, not so much what they're like when they're at their best.
Just explain to us from your perspective, you know, whether we now are a bit more clued up on how to actually choose the right person for us.
HUSSEY: I mean, I don't think so. I -- I think the reality is our standards have gone up in areas that don't matter and we've forgotten to have
standards in the areas that do matter.
So, you know, I'll have someone come to me. I've coached hundreds of thousands of people over the last 18 years. I've had -- I'll have people
come to me and say, you know, Matthew, I've got this amazing person and they do this and they like this and they're so charismatic and we have such
an amazing connection.
And then, I'll learn that this person has treated them horribly for the last two years, kept in a situationship, never committed, picked them up,
put them down at will and disrespected them constantly.
And I want to say -- and when I talk to that person, they'll say, my problem is I have really high standards. And I'll say, you don't have high
standards. You have really high standards for how good looking someone is. You have really high standards for -- for the body they have or for the job
they do, but you have no standards for how they treat you.
[12:55:02]
So, I think that we're not -- we're not selecting for people that are going to make us happy long-term. We're selecting for what our ego thinks is
exciting and attractive, for who we think is charismatic, for who we think is going to be great to -- to show off to -- to our friends or, you know,
someone that we --
ASHER: Post on Instagram.
HUSSEY: Post on Instagram. Some -- something we're still chasing from high school that we thought we wanted. And if I could just get that person, I'll
know I'm enough in life. And we've never grown out of that.
You know, it's a problem. And -- and -- and you're right, Zain, you do have to see someone in different environments. And we're not -- so many people
are not even spending enough time with each other to -- to see each other in -- in different environments, to see if they're truly compatible.
You -- you take the show "Love is Blind" and people are getting engaged after 10 hours of talking to each other in a pod.
You know, that's not -- that's not compatibility. Compatibility is, how are you when my mom gets sick and I need you --
ASHER: Right, right. Right.
HUSSEY: -- to be a little bit understanding of the fact that I'm not my best right now.
Compatibility is, you know, we're -- we're both --
ASHER: Right.
HUSSEY: -- stressed on a Tuesday at 2:00 P.M. and -- and we handle that stress well together, but most people --
ASHER: Yes.
HUSSEY: -- are not getting far enough with anybody to see that.
ASHER: Matthew, loved talking to you. Thank you so much from your perspective. I learned -- just in this five minutes, I learned so much.
Appreciate it, Matthew. Matthew Hussey live for us there.
And that does it for this hour of "One World." I'm Zain Asher. Appreciate you watching. "Amanpour" is up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
