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The Story Is with Elex Michaelson

Cuban Border Agents Fire Upon Florida-Tagged Speedboat, Killing Four; Dozens Of FBI Records Apparently Missing From Epstein Files; U.S. And Iran To Hold More Nuclear Talks In Geneva; Kim Jong-Un Vows To Step Up Nuclear Weapons Program; Patel Ousts FBI Personnel Tied To Inquiry Into Trump's Retained Classified Records; GOP Rep. Tony Gonzales Faces Pressure From Party Over Affair Allegations; Lawmakers Grill Trump's Pick For Surgeon General; What's Next in Benedict Bridgerton and Sophie Bates' Romance. Interview with "Ted" Actor Max Burkholder; Interview with Democratic Candidate for California Governor Betty Yee; Anthropic Drops Core Safety Pledge During Pentagon Fight; NASA's Mike Fincke Says He had the Medical Event on ISS; Stone Age Artifacts Show Complex Symbol Organization. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired February 26, 2026 - 01:00   ET

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

[01:00:00]

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR:With this incredible sight, you're looking at cherry blossoms in full bloom along the Kawazu River in Japan. Remember, Japan gave more than 3,000 cherry blossom trees to the U.S. over 100 years ago as a gesture of friendship. Most of those are in Washington. Japan is gifting another 250 trees this year for the US's 250th birthday this year.

Thanks for watching this hour of The Story Is. You like our new monitor? I certainly do. The next hour of The Story Is starts right now.

The story is conflict off the Cuban coast, a speedboat shot at by the Cuban government.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPODNENT: This incident is likely to add another layer of strain to an already fragile relationship.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: The story is North Korean military parade. CNN's Will Ripley live in the region.

And the story is Ted is back. Max Burkholder stars alongside America's most inappropriate teddy bear. He's live in studio.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Los Angeles, The Story Is with Elex Michaelson.

MICHAELSON: Thanks for watching The Story Is. I'm Alex Michelson. The story is off the coast of Cuba where Havana says its border guard troops have shot down and killed four people on a speedboat in Cuban waters who were trying to, quote, infiltrate the island.

Cuban Interior Ministry says the boat was registered in Florida and was carrying Cubans who live in the U.S., one of whom allegedly opened fire on those Cuban forces. Havana accuses the group of trying to infiltrate the island for, quote, terrorist purposes. United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio said no U.S. government personnel were involved and promised an investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: But we're going to find out exactly what happened here and then we'll respond accordingly. Suffice it to say it is highly unusual to see shootouts in open sea like that. It's not something that happens every day. It's something, frankly, that hasn't happened with Cuba in a very long time. But we're going to find out. We're not going to base our conclusions on what they've told us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: The Cuban Interior Ministry released this statement, quote, Cuba reaffirms its willingness to protect its territorial waters based on the fact that national defense is a fundamental pillar for the Cuban state in favor of protecting its sovereignty and the stability in the region.

Joining me now from New York is Will Freeman, a fellow for Latin America Studies at the Council foreign Relations. Will, welcome. The story is for the first time.

WILL FREEMAN, FELLOW FOR LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: Thanks for having me.

MICHAELSON: What do you make of this particular incident and how unusual is this?

FREEMAN: Well, it's very unusual. Nothing like that has happened at all in recent years. I mean, in fact, you have the U.S. and Cuba have cooperated since the mid-1990s to repatriate Cuban vessels that are spotted leaving Cuban waters. People trying to migrate by sea.

There's been fluid cooperation on that now for a number of years. So there's actually protocols in place and there's communication between the Coast Guard and Cuban authorities in the event of unexplained vessels like this. So it's pretty unusual.

MICHAELSON: What would you say is the current status of the Cuban government and their grip on power?

FREEMAN: Well, you know, people have been predicting that the Cuban regime will fall for the last 60 years, and every time, they've been wrong. And no matter how weak the regime looks at any given moment. So, I don't want to come back later and regret my words here. But I will say that as long as I've watched the situation, this is the

weakest and most fragile the regime has ever looked, at least from the outside. We're talking about a regime which can no longer keep the lights on, in which hospitals are failing and cutting back on basic procedures of doing surgery without anesthesia, where you have police no longer able to keep order.

And this was the one thing that Cuba did have, was there was very little crime. But now you're seeing that rise as well, street robberies, muggings, et cetera.

So it's really all signs of a regime potentially in its final days, of course, after pushing back against both internal pressure for change and external for many, many years, and resisting that. But it does seem that the regime is now running out of options.

And allegedly, there are these talks going on with the Trump administration, with Marco Rubio himself, about what the future might look like on the island.

MICHAELSON: Yes. And of course, we know this has been something that's been very personal for Marco Rubio due to his family history there for a very long time. Will Freeman, thanks so much for sharing your insights. Really appreciate it.

FREEMAN: My pleasure.

MICHAELSON: Hillary Clinton will testify in the day ahead before the House Oversight Committee investigating Jeffrey Epstein. That'll be followed on Friday by testimony from her husband, former President Bill Clinton.

[01:05:00]

Committee Chair James Comer says no one's accusing the Clintons of any wrongdoing. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reports that Bill Gates has apologized to his foundation staff during a town hall over his own ties to Epstein.

Gates reportedly admitted that he had two extramarital affairs that Epstein later discovered, but they did not involve any of Epstein's victims.

We are learning that the word Trump did not make the cut in multiple Epstein files, documents released by the Justice Department. A CNN review shows dozens of FBI witness interviews from the Epstein investigation appear to be missing from the release files.

An evidence law provided to attorneys for Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell includes serial numbers for about 325 FBI witness interview records. But more than 90 of those records don't appear to present on the DOJ website.

Among the missing records are three interviews related to a woman who told agents that Epstein repeatedly abused her starting when she was approximately 13 years old. She also accused Trump of sexually assaulting her. Inclusion of someone's name in the Epstein files is not evidence of wrongdoing. President Trump has consistently denied wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.

In a statement, the White House called the allegations false and pointing to a previous DOJ statement that some of the documents contain untrue and sensationalistic claims against President Trump.

In terms of the missing files, the Justice Department spokesperson said, quote, we have not deleted anything. And as we have always said, all documents responsive were produced. Spokesperson said documents not included in the release were either duplicates, privileged, or part of an ongoing federal investigation. Donald Trump has not been charged with a crime connected with Epstein.

Voices are coming out in support of and against the president and any potential missing files. CNN spoke with U.S. house Republican Anna Paulina Luna and Epstein survivor Marina Lacerda about the issue. Here's what they had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ANNA PAULINA LUNA (R-FL): I think the Jeffrey Epstein case in itself will kind of go down in history as one of those things that we might not fully ever get the answers on. And what I will tell you is that even though initially I was very, very critical and very pressuring of the Attorney General, I have since, in the name of this investigation, had many conversations.

And I was actually able to also recently secure one of the files for the victims that had been denied previously under multiple administrations to include Biden in her files so that she could actually go through therapy and actually get the help that she needed regarding recovering from all of this. And so there are efforts that are being done by members of Congress working with the DOJ.

I think President Trump has been pretty trans as is, though he actually publicly posted on his social media. And also too, you know, I've talked with him about it, and he's been very transparent about it. And to be clear, I think -- I mean, I've told him directly that he, that A, this is the right thing to do, and he agrees. And then also, too, though, he said, I have nothing to hide.

And I think that's evident in that he passed this law. But I want to also point out the fact that we actually asked victims directly if the president, currently President Trump, was involved, and they've all exonerated him.

And so what I never liked about this from the beginning is because I was literally in January of this past year the only member of Congress pushing on this issue because of my task force. And it seemed at some point that it did become partisan. And as you're seeing, this is a bipartisan issue. There have been many politicos, many rich and powerful on both sides that have been photoed with Jeffrey Epstein at his island, whatever it might have been.

And the point is that there is a differentiating factor. A, did someone actually engage in criminal wrongdoing? And B, were they simply in the wrong place at the wrong time? But then also, this aspect of you have the American people not trust government, and that's why we need transparency on it, and that's why we're conducting the investigations that we are.

MARINA LACERDA, EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: First, need to ask, I don't know what victims she has asked about Trump. None of the victims. I should speak maybe just for myself. I am very close with the victims. None of the victims have been asked about Donald Trump. That's number one, I'd like to say.

And when we say that, she said there's a tip line. Why are we even going to the tip line if there's six pages of allegations that Donald Trump is in there? We need to be investigating those six pages. And maybe they're not the victims that stand by me, right, that are beside me. Maybe these are new victims that we haven't, you know, investigated or asked the right questions. I think that's what we need to be asking here.

And when we look around other countries, Europe is bringing down monarchies. They're doing everything. I was just in Norway. We have Princess Mette answering to these questions. She is a princess. There is a royal family there. They are doing everything they can. What are we doing here in America? We are continuing to protect the rich and the powerful, and they will continue to do the same thing that they have done before, which is abuse and traffic women and men as well.

We have to look at ourselves and say, we are the United States of America.

[01:10:00]

We believe in justice. We need to -- we need to really, really work together united, not just the victims, all Americans. And we need to ask for transparency here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Those conversations during Laura Coates Live here on CNN earlier. Americans and Iranian delegations will begin indirect nuclear talks in Geneva in the coming hours. The Iranian foreign minister is already in Switzerland and will discuss Tehran's position with the Omani foreign minister who is mediating the negotiations.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the discussions will focus largely on Iran's nuclear program, but he says Tehran's refusal to discuss its ballistic missiles is a big problem. Iran's foreign minister says that a deal is, quote, within reach, but only if diplomacy is given priority.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABBAS ARAGHCHI, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: We have learned lots of lessons from the last war. So we are even more prepared. And that means, by the way, that the aim is to prevent a war. When you are prepared for a war, you can prevent it. Otherwise you are inviting it to your home. So we are fully prepared, not because we want war, because we want to prevent the war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Meantime, the Trump administration has imposed new sanctions on more than 30 individual entities and shadow fleet vessels. It says that they'll enable Tehran's illicit petroleum sales and ballistic missiles and weapons production.

Negotiators from the U.S. and Ukraine are scheduled to meet in the coming hours in Geneva. Ukraine's President Zelenskyy says he spoke by phone on Wednesday with President Trump, his son in law Jared Kushner and U.S. Special envoy Steve Witkoff.

According to Russian state media, the Kremlin says there are currently no plans for Vladimir Putin to speak with President Trump. Spokesperson went on to say that a meeting involving the Russian, U.S. and Ukrainian leaders is possible if there is a big peace deal.

Now to a new show of force from North Korea, a military parade with goose stepping soldiers marching through the streets of Pyongyang, and a promise to strengthen North Korea's nuclear capabilities and weapons production.

Leader Kim Jong Un and his daughter presided over the event wearing matching black leather outfits. And state media also issued a new warning to the US. CNN's Will Ripley, who has made many visits to North Korea, is tracking all this live from Taipei.

Will, welcome back to the show. What does a North Korea with more nuclear weapons actually mean for the rest of the world?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it means that they are a nuclear weapons state even though they are undeclared as one by the United States, which continues to kind of insist on this official policy of pushing for North Korean denuclearization even though they've written it in their Constitution that there's no way they're going to give those nuclear weapons.

They've seen what happens to other countries that give up nuclear weapons and then the leadership is forcefully pushed out. And they certainly are intent on protecting their leadership. That's part of the reason why Kim Jong Un brings his daughter to all of these public events, especially the military.

MICHAELSON: It appears like we're losing Will's signal right there. What he was talking about is this idea that his daughter is brought around as a successor. I believe we have Will back black leather look, which is quite a look. What do you make of her very prominent placement?

RIPLEY: Yes, she's growing up before our eyes ever since she was first unveiled to the world, Elex, back in 2022 at a missile launch. Interestingly, kind of like Kim sending a not so subtle signal that his regime, his lineage, is going to be protected by a nuclear arsenal. And so we've seen her image sort of evolve from young girl holding her

father's hand to now she's wearing designer suits. She actually walks in front of her mother at public events. She stands right by her father's side at events like military parades, wearing designer clothing, the leather jackets, just like her -- like her father.

Obviously she bears a striking resemblance to him, which is really important in a country like North Korea, where it's still unclear who will be the fourth generation leader, the successor to Kim Jong Un. There's a lot of speculation inside South Korea that it's going to be this young woman, but that has not been officially declared by the North Koreans.

They actually held a major political gathering in recent days. They did not announce any new titles for her. They did announce a big promotion for Kim's younger sister, but as of now, his daughter, while she appears with him quite a lot. And it seems to be that she's being set up for something. It's really unclear what the plan is inside North Korea. We don't even officially know her actual name, Elex. They've never -- they've never reported that.

But one interesting thing I just wanted to point out quickly about this parade last night that really struck me. You saw 14,000 troops and basically no weapons on display. You didn't see any nuclear capable missiles or missile launchers.

[01:15:02]

It's not entirely clear why that is. They did hold a huge military parade like four months ago where they unveiled some of these weapons for the first time. So maybe they don't want to diminish the impact. President Trump didn't even mention North Korea during his State of the Union address. And yet we know that President Trump is coming back to this region at the end of March into early April to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

And Kim, even though he said that there'll be immediate retaliation if there's a threat to North Korean sovereignty, he also did leave the door open for talks with the United States if in his words, they change their attitude, particularly about those nuclear weapons. So, it seems like North Korea kind of held back with the military messaging. Interesting timing given all the other things happening.

So we'll have to watch the space very closely. I wouldn't expect a meeting anytime soon between Trump and Kim because the two sides aren't talking. But I've been surprised before. Stranger things have happened.

MICHAELSON: Well, and they've met before, you know, and we know they've exchanged letters before. So you know, it's not an impossibility for sure. Will Ripley live in Taipei, thank you so much for that.

The FBI director Kash Patel has ordered the firings of at least 10 employees who were involved in the investigation of President Trump's alleged mishandling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate. People briefed on the matter told CNN the ousters are part of a wider internal investigation that Patel ordered into the probe that led to criminal charges against Trump and two of his employees.

The firings just the latest in a series of moves by Patel to push out agents and other employees who worked on the Trump documents case, as well as cases related to the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol.

One day after the family of Nancy Guthrie offered up to a million dollars for information leading to her return. There has been heavy police activity outside her home in Tucson. The FBI said the large award led to more than 750 credible new tips. That figure likely even higher now.

Investigators have yet to reveal whether those tips have generated any new evidence and there's still no word on any suspect. The 84-year-old mother of NBC anchor Savannah Guthrie has now been missing for nearly a month. Savannah Guthrie said her family is, quote, blowing on the embers of hope, but they also know their mother may just be lost.

There is more to come here. Here on the story is including mounting pressure on a Republican Congress member amid allegations that he had an affair with a staffer who later took her own life.

Plus, President Trump's nominee for surgeon general faces tough questions from lawmakers about her positions on vaccines and her qualifications for the job at all. Well, the details just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:22:00]

MICHAELSON: The FBI served search warrants at the home of LA Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho early Wednesday. That is the home right there. They also searched the school district's headquarters. The LAUSD says it is cooperating with the investigation and had no further information.

A third location was also searched near Miami, Florida, where Carvalho previously oversaw Miami-Dade County Public Schools for more than a decade. The FBI says the reasons for the searches are under seal. Carvalho has been an outspoken critic of President Trump and his immigration policy. He previously urged authorities not to conduct immigration enforcement within two blocks of schools.

A Texas congressman is facing pressure from both sides of the aisle, including his fellow Republicans, to resign amid a growing scandal.

Tony Gonzales is accused of having an affair with a staffer who later died by suicide, but he says he's not going anywhere. More now from CNN. Sunlen Serfaty and a warning. Some of the details are disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REP. LAUREN BOEBERT (R-CO): Tony Gonzales needs to resign, a disgusting pig. SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Calls for Republican Congressman Tony Gonzales' resignation are intensifying, including from members of his own party.

REP. TIM BURCHETT (R-TN): I think he needs to go. I just -- that's the line. Harass an employee. Male harassing a female employee. I just can't stomach it, dude.

SERFATY (voice-over): Amid new lewd details emerging of his alleged affair with a congressional staffer who later died by suicide in September.

LUNA: I think that this is a gross reflection of everything wrong with Washington.

SERFATY (voice-over): Text messages from 2024 obtained by CNN show racy messages between Gonzalez and his then regional director, Regina Santos-Aviles, Gonzales asking her explicit sexual questions and pressuring her for a photo.

Then send me a sexy pic, he writes. She responds, this is going too far, boss. So how long have you thought I was this hot? Since you worked at the chamber. He writes back, Santos-Aviles husband discovered the alleged affair and exposed it to her coworkers via text in June of 2024, saying, I just wanted to inform all of you that we will be getting a divorce after my discovery of text messages and pictures that she's been having an affair me with your boss, Tony Gonzalez for some time now. He spoke to CNN's Erin Burnett out front.

ADRIAN AVILES, LATE WIFE HAD ALLEGED AFFAIRS WITH REP. TONY GONZALES: She had been acting a little strange and that's when I felt like I needed to go through her phone and that's when I found out about everything that was going on.

SERFATY (voice-over): Over a year later, Santos-Aviles died after setting herself on fire outside her home.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Do you think that the alleged affair with Congressman Gonzalez was behind her tragic death?

AVILES: He predatorized my wife, you know, and he pushed her to the sense of having an affair. I mean, I made that evident in the messages that I released.

SERFATY (voice-over): The congressman has denied the alleged affair.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are those text messages correct? Are they accurate?

REP. TONY GONZALES (R-TX): I am not going to resign.

SERFATY (voice-over): And remains defiant.

[01:25:05]

GONZALES: And I serve the people of Texas every single day. I serve them yesterday, I serve them today, I'll serve them tomorrow. I'll serve them the next day. I'll serve them the day after that.

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-KY) HOUSE SPEAKER: The allegations are alarming and detestable.

SERFATY (voice-over): House Speaker Mike Johnson, stopping short of calling for his resignation, but did summon Gonzales into his office Wednesday.

JOHNSON: I said to him publicly and privately, he's got to address that directly and head on with his constituents.

SERFATY (voice-over): Johnson is balancing a razor close margin on Capitol Hill, a margin that would become even slimmer if Gonzales were to go, which would make it tougher for Johnson to advance the GOP agenda.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not the speaker of the House, don't get me wrong, but we've got some very thin numbers.

SERFATY (voice-over): Complicating things further, Gonzales is in the midst of a tough GOP primary fight against Brandon Herrera, a YouTube personality who ran against him in 2024. Gonzales beat him in a runoff then by just 354 votes.

JOHNSON: There's a primary there in less than a week. These things will play out. So we're allowing that to happen.

SERFATY: And certainly many Republicans up here on Capitol Hill are looking ahead to Tuesday's primary in Texas as a way that this potentially could get solved and letting the voters essentially decide this problem for them. If Congressman Gonzales does end up winning, it is very clear this problem will not go away.

Congresswoman Nancy Mace herself, her and also a sexual assault survivor. She says she intends to likely bring a censure resolution which essentially is a formal reprimand of a sitting member. Sunlen Serfaty, CNN on Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAELSON: Here's more now of Erin Burnett's interview with the husband of that former staffer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AVILES: I don't care too sense about the whole political matter behind it. I don't care that, you know, it's two seats in the -- I don't care about all of that. You know, I care about facts. I care about what he has done and how he's continued to lie on Regina's name.

You know, he's -- he's sitting there and just -- he's a -- he's bold faced, lied about it, you know, about everything. And to say that the facts are going to come out, I would bet that he does not want me to release all of the messages that show how gross of a man he is.

BURNETT: So for you, I guess, Adrian, are you saying that this is about justice for her and for people knowing the truth of who he is, that this is about her right for you?

AVILES: Absolutely. Yes. Of course. This is, you know, this is not only about her, but this is also about my son and showing my son that, you know, we -- we stand up to cowards. This guy's a coward and we're going to stand up to him and we're not going to allow him to bully us like he's bullied everybody else.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: President Trump's nominee for surgeon general faced some tough questions at her confirmation hearing. Both Democrats and Republicans grilled Dr. Casey Means on Wednesday over positions on health issues.

She appeared reluctant to comment on the specific advantages of like the flu vaccine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TIM KAINE (D-VA): Do you believe that there's no evidence that there's. The flu vaccine has efficacy in reducing serious injury or hospitalization? This is an easy one, doctor. This is an easy one.

CASEY MEANS, SURGEON GENERAL NOMINEE: I support the CDC's guidance on the flu vaccine.

KAINE: Do you think the flu vaccine reduces the risk of hospitalization or serious injury?

MEANS: I've said it.

KAINE: You're a doctor.

MEANS: I believe vaccines save lives. I believe a public health strategy.

KAINE: The flu vaccine, does it reduce the risk of injury or hospitality --

MEANS: At the population level, I certainly think that it does.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Dr. Means was an early ally of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr's campaign to make America healthy again. She made it clear that she does not back vaccines, but stopped short of saying that all parents need to get their children vaccinated against measles. She does not, by the way, currently have an active medical license and she did not finish her residency. So there you go.

Much more news still ahead, including have a little bit of fun. The hit TV series "Ted" returns for season two next week. Star of the show Max Burkholder is live with me to talk about that next. Maybe his qualifications for surgeon general. Who knows all that coming up when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:34:59]

MICHAELSON: Back to THE STORY IS. I'm Elex Michaelson.

Let's take a look at today's top stories.

Cuba says its troops shot and killed four people on a speedboat in Cuban waters who were trying to quote, "infiltrate" the island nation. The Cuban interior ministry says the boat was registered in Florida, was carrying Cubans who live in the U.S.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has confirmed that no U.S. government personnel were involved, but says the U.S. will do its own investigation.

A military parade got underway in North Korea to mark the end of the ruling party's week-long congress. Leader Kim Jong-un and his daughter watched as troops marched through Pyongyang. State media says North Korea has launched a five-year plan to bolster its weapons systems and nuclear capabilities.

[01:34:39]

MICHAELSON: Tech giant, Nvidia, beat expectations again in its quarterly results. The chipmaker reported $68.13 billion in revenue, nearly $2 billion higher than expected. The company, the backbone of the A.I. industry, also reported record quarterly and full year revenues.

Let's talk entertainment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LUKE THOMPSON, ACTOR: What do you mean to do?

YERIN HA, ACTRESS: Being a mistress is the last thing I would ever want.

THOMPSON: How else am I to be with a woman society has made it impossible for me to be with?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You must be brave. You cannot let fear stop you from letting your heart speak.

THOMPSON: Sophie.

HA: Mr. Bridgerton, do you need something?

THOMPSON: No. I found it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Bridgerton fans you only have to wait about an hour and a half more to find out what happens to Benedict Bridgerton and Sophie Bates' relationship. That's when Netflix drops the rest of Season 4 of the regency era romance.

The second Bridgerton son who had appeared would never marry in previous seasons, has now fallen in love. Part two of Season 4 will hopefully tell us whether they'll live happily ever after.

Now to something a lot more funny.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Teddy what happened?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Next time you start that thing, knock first.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, I can't find my underwear.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, what do you want us to do?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get back here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Run, Johnny.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh geez. Whoa.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: The hit TV series "Ted" returns for Season 2, premiering on Peacock next week. The show from creator and producer, Seth MacFarlane of "Family Guy" fame, follows teenage John Bennett, played by Max Burkholder, as he navigates growing up with his foul-mouthed teddy bear, Ted, voiced by MacFarlane.

The show is a prequel of the "Ted" film series, starring Mark Wahlberg as the grown-up version of John Bennett.

Max Burkholder, star of the show, joins me now here live in studio. Welcome to THE STORY IS. Congrats on the show.

It's hilarious.

MAX BURKHOLDER, ACTOR, "TED" TV SERIES: Thank you so much.

MICHAELSON: It's so funny.

BURKHOLDER: It's good to be here.

MICHAELSON: So Season 2 --

BURKHOLDER: Yes.

MICHAELSON: -- you're a senior, right?

BURKHOLDER: Senior in high school. At the start of the season, yes. Not too much of a departure from Season 1, where I was an indeterminate age in high school. I don't think we ever mentioned the exact year.

MICHAELSON: Yes.

MICHAELSON: Yes, and stopping being a virgin is a big focus.

BURKHOLDER: It's a huge focus. I mean a huge focus for the character. You know, it remains to be seen. I won't share whether or not that's a huge focus for me at 28 years old, but --

MICHAELSON: But you're doing you're doing your thing or trying to do your thing. That's a big part of what we're going to see for this season.

BURKHOLDER: Exactly.

MICHAELSON: And it's a worldwide phenomenon. When you launched on Peacock, within three days you became the biggest show in the history of Peacock, right?

BURKHOLDER: Yes, man. Two years ago, I think people are really starved for this particular kind of comedy. It's the kind of thing that doesn't get greenlit or made as much anymore, and you got to hand it to Seth because he has a lock on it.

I mean, with "The Naked Gun" coming out last year as well with Liam Neeson. Like this -- this is the kind of thing that people want to see.

MICHAELSON: Yes. And we all need a break. The news is so intense as we've shown throughout the last couple hours.

BURKHOLDER: Yes.

MICHAELSON: And so, you guys are all over the world. You just came back from Mexico, right --

BURKHOLDER: Yes.

MICHAELSON: -- where you went to a Lucha Libre.

BURKHOLDER: I went to Arena, Mexico to see to see some Lucha Libre. And I got to say, man, those guys like the athleticism, the performance. It's incredible.

I mean, like, I almost cried when one of them was getting his mask ripped off of his.

MICHAELSON: And one of -- one of -- somebody in the crowd had a Ted mask.

BURKHOLDER: Yes. As I was waiting in line to get some popcorn, a guy rushes up to me and grabs me by the shoulder, turns me around and he's pointing at his head and he's got like furry ears, like a green luchador mask that he's clearly made himself. And I couldn't help but be impressed.

MICHAELSON: That is amazing.

So of course, "Ted" is the teddy bear, but the teddy bear when you film is not actually there. How does it work?

BURKHOLDER: Well, how it works is any time that the bear is on camera where we can see him, there's nothing there on the day in real life. You're acting with complete empty space.

Luckily Seth is just off camera reading the headlines in real time with you. Otherwise, it would be tough to really nail the timing.

MICHAELSON: Yes. Because he -- and he's directing every episode as well.

BURKHOLDER: He's directing every episode. He's there. He's managing to watch three screens for the three cameras reading his lines because asking him to memorize all of that at the same time would be a little bit too much. And yes, I don't know how he does it.

MICHAELSON: What is the most shocking thing you've ever heard come out of Ted's mouth?

BURKHOLDER: Are you sure I'm allowed to say that on this show, man.

MICHAELSON: Well, it's late. Yes.

BURKHOLDER: Yes. The most shocking thing -- I think I have a favorite joke that, like shocking, at the very least, that in its like lack of raunchiness. The Milgram Experiment joke in Season 1, talking about how easy it is to convince a group of people to like, go invade another country. That was -- that was a really shocking one, I think. Yes.

MICHAELSON: Yes.

But I mean, it's -- it is -- it is crazy how much stuff comes out of Ted's mouth.

BURKHOLDER: Yes, 100 percent.

MICHAELSON: And it seems to work.

BURKHOLDER: It goes into his mouth, comes out of his mouth. I mean like, there's I think clips of him like vomiting stuffing all over the --

[01:39:47]

BURKHOLDER: Don't ask me how his, like body works, because that's something that keeps me up at night, that Seth refuses to answer my question.

MICHAELSON: Think about how it -- how it actually works.

BURKHOLDER: He eats. What happened -- I don't know. I don't know, man. It's -- philosophically I don't understand it.

MICHAELSON: And you and Seth go way back. Your acting career started on "Daddy Day Care" when you were three years old. BURKHOLDER: Three years old.

MICHAELSON: And you've had a long and accomplished acting career ever since then. And oftentimes Seth MacFarlane sort of made cameo appearances, right?

BURKHOLDER: Yes. Yes, he is making cameo appearances in my life, absolutely.

No -- I started doing voices for "Family Guy" when I was maybe 6 or 7 years old and would do them on and off whenever they needed, like little kid voices.

And then when I was 19, I think I got cast in a guest spot role in "The Orville", his sci-fi show. And I remember my first day on set where I was in my wardrobe for the first time, and the costume designer was, you know, sort of showing me to Seth. And Seth makes comments about what needs to happen and what needs to, you know, sort of like ignoring me.

Turns around, sits back in his director's chair, and then at a certain point hops up turns around, and just goes, oh, Max. Just having completely -- yes.

MICHAELSON: And yet then when he thought of this you're back in it again.

BURKHOLDER: And then here I am again. Yes, it seems fate has us coming together.

MICHAELSON: What do you think makes him so brilliant?

BURKHOLDER: What do I think makes him so brilliant? I think -- I think his actual, like real life love for the stuff that he's putting together. He's a real actual lover of comedy. He's a real, actual lover of, like, good, smart, intelligent, funny writing that -- despite the fact that it's well-crafted, doesn't take itself too seriously.

MICHAELSON: Yes, and it's very, very funny. It debuts March 5th on Peacock, all the episodes at the same time.

Max, congratulations and thank you for making us laugh at a time when we need it.

BURKHOLDER: Absolutely. It's been a pleasure.

MICHAELSON: Thanks for watching THE STORY IS.

For our international viewers, "WORLD SPORT" is next. For our viewers here in North America, I'll be right back with a candidate for California governor.

[01:41:47]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) MICHAELSON: Californians have not yet decided which gubernatorial candidate they want to replace Governor Gavin Newsom at the Democratic convention this past weekend. None of the nine candidates earned the 60 percent necessary to win an endorsement, but there was a surprising shakeup.

Former state controller Betty Yee came in second in the endorsement vote, behind Representative Eric Swalwell. Statewide, Yee has a tough hill to climb. She's polling less than 2 percent among likely voters in a recent poll. A new poll just came out in the last hour that showed her about 5 percent.

Betty Yee joins me now live in the studio. Betty, welcome to THE STORY IS for the first time.

BETTY YEE, DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE FOR CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR: Thank you.

MICHAELSON: Congratulations on this weekend.

YEE: Thank you.

MICHAELSON: A lot of folks were surprised by that. How did you pull that off?

YEE: Well, this is all about relationships, right? And so whether it's my professional career or as a party activist, a lot of deep relationships. And people know my work and so they felt confident about putting a vote up for me.

MICHAELSON: For some folks that are watching this, this will be their first introduction to you.

YEE: Yes.

MICHAELSON: Can you tell us a little bit about who you are and why you're running?

YEE: Absolutely. Well, first of all I'm the proud daughter of immigrants who came here from China. Raised six kids at a time when they were able to sacrifice and put us all through college. And this is what motivates me to do the work today where we want that dream for every California family.

I'm a nerd at heart. I'm a nerd that likes to get things done. And I think for me it's about, you know, just having a trusted leader that people can count on who understand the struggles that they're going through.

MICHAELSON: Well, fellow nerd here and you also were elected statewide with a pretty big margin.

YEE: Yes. Yes.

We carried the record of having earned the most votes of any statewide candidate when I ran for reelection in 2018.

MICHAELSON: Yes. And so you worked on as controller, right, on a lot of the business of California.

YEE: Well, managing, you know, billions of dollars -- hundreds of billions of dollars for California. And you know, my roots really began from managing dollars and cents, literally from my parents' laundry and dry-cleaning business.

MICHAELSON: Ok. So money --

YEE: yes.

MICHAELSON: -- matters to people.

YEE: It matters.

MICHAELSON: This is widely seen as one of, if not the most unaffordable state in the country at a time when affordability is the biggest issue.

What are you going to do that the other candidates aren't going to do that the governor hasn't done already to make my life and everybody's life cheaper.

YEE: Well, what we have to do is to focus on just what are the cost drivers in people's lives. And right now we know that it's housing, health care, and for many families, child care and elder care.

And so what do we do to really bring those costs down but also look at how we lift wages up at the same time? And this is something that we know has to happen because we have a growing wealth gap here in California. And it's affecting not only our brown and black communities, but also our middle class now.

And so really bringing those cost drivers down relative to how we provide health care, child care, and then looking at how we boost wages.

MICHAELSON: What's the specific policy idea on how to actually do that?

YEE: Well, boosting wages -- what I want to do is to grow the economy. We're going to have budget deficits for the next period of years. And so it's either going to be cutting the budget, raising revenue, which we probably will have to do both.

We have to grow this economy. We're the fourth largest economy in the world. We should be living up to our ambition of creating jobs that really are paying more livable wages.

MICHAELSON: How do we address homelessness?

YEE: We have to have better coordination between who's actually touching our homeless population. So coordination between our cities and counties. Counties providing the services, cities obviously seeing them on the streets, but working with our business community as well because I think we all have to be -- have a commitment to be sure that we are rehousing those who are homeless as quickly as possible. But also making sure they're getting the services. And we have to build more housing that's affordable.

MICHAELSON: Obviously at the convention this past weekend, you literally could like, talk to everybody.

YEE: Yes.

MICHAELSON: But in a state of 40 million people, that's impossible, right.

YEE: Right.

MICHAELSON: A lot of this is based off of raising a lot of money, getting your name out there. The new PPIC poll that just came out shows you at 5 percent. How do you break through? What's the path to victory?

YEE: Well, the path to breakthrough really is to bring this message home for people, right? And really to relate to them. I've been running a grassroots campaign, so I've been doing direct voter engagement for almost two years now. And so I do believe that we have some name identification around the state when it comes to people on the ground.

But what we're going to have to do -- we've been holding back our resources because frankly, there's been no focus on this race until recently. And we are going to be using it wisely to get our message out.

[01:49:50]

MICHAELSON: And what is the bottom-line message of why Betty Yee over the 55 other people that seem to be running?

YEE: Well, I -- it's really about having somebody who's a leader that's no gimmicks about getting down to business and really making California add up for everyone again.

MICHAELSON: Great. Thank you so much for coming in and sharing your view.

YEE: Thank you.

MICHAELSON: I appreciate it. Hopefully we have longer conversations going forward --

YEE: Thank you.

MICHAELSON: -- as well.

More of THE STORY IS coming up right after this.

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MICHAELSON: A.I. firm Anthropic is rolling back its core safety principles in the middle of a fight with the Pentagon. The company says the change in policy is in response to competition in the fast- growing A.I. market.

[01:54:45]

MICHAELSON: A source tells CNN the move is unrelated to the company's talks with the Pentagon. Anthropic is in the middle of a dispute with the Pentagon over red lines in its A.I.

The Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, is giving the firm until Friday evening to loosen some guardrails on its A.I. or risk losing its $200 million Pentagon contract and possible blacklisting from future government work.

Anthropic says it is concerned about its products being used for A.I.- controlled weapons and mass surveillance.

Veteran U.S. astronaut Mike Fincke has confirmed that his so-called medical event last month led to his hasty exit from the International Space Station. Fincke did not reveal details of what his actual medical condition is, but he said his crewmates in space quickly stabilized him with guidance from the surgeons on the ground.

The agency then determined Fincke, along with three crew members, should return to earth to take advantage of advanced medical imaging he could not receive on the ISS.

Symbols and markings carved into figurines and tools that are more than 40,000 years old are giving scientists new insight into the Stone Age. Experts say the script, shown here, features the same levels of complexity as early versions of the first known writing systems.

More than 200 of the artifacts were found in southwestern Germany. Experts found patterns in the symbols and a logic to how they were selected, but so far they don't know what they could exactly mean.

Thanks so much for watching. I'm Elex Michaelson.

Tomorrow I'll be joined by Rick Caruso and candidate for governor Matt Mahan. See you then.

[01:56:28]

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