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The Story Is with Elex Michaelson

Trump Says Big Decision Looming On Iran Following Talks; U.S. Embassy In Israel Says Non-Essential Staff Can Leave; Open AI Reaches Deal With Pentagon For Use Of AI Models; Trump Givers U.S. Agencies 6 Months To Stop Using Anthropic; Bill Clinton Releases Video After His Testimony On Epstein; Lawmakers Grill Bill Clinton For More Than Six Hours; Bill Clinton - I saw Nothing, And I Did Nothing Wrong; Trump Doesn't Endorse Candidate In Texas Senate Primary; Trump Floats Friendly Takeover Of Cuba; Pakistan Defense Minister - Taliban Clashes Mean Open War; Aired 12-1a ET

Aired February 28, 2026 - 00:00   ET

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

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LAURA COATES, CNN HOST: Thank you all so much for watching, because "The Story Is" with Elex Michaelson picks up next.

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN HOST: I'm Elex Michaelson live in Los Angeles. Here are the big stories right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "The Story Is" big decision. President Trump weighing military action in Iran with his live Republican Congressman, Cory Mills.

"The Story Is."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Not only would I not have flown on his plane if I had any inkling of what he was doing. I would have turned to him in myself and let the call for justice for his crimes, not the sweetheart deal that he got.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bill Clinton speaks after his marathon day testifying about Jeffrey Epstein.

And "The Story Is" TikTok's creator of the year.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Me and my family are in Perlin, Texas, and this small woman owned business has been reaching out to U.S. for weeks.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Keith Lee is with U.S. live ahead of his first ever food festival.

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

MICHAELSON: It's nine o'clock here in Los Angeles, at midnight in Washington where President Trump says he has a big decision to make about Iran. The President on Friday acknowledged that he is facing a difficult choice in how to proceed with that country following talks this week with Tehran about its nuclear program.

President Trump says he is not happy with how the discussions are playing out.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Got a lot of things going on. Now we have a big decision to make, you know that not easy. You got to make a deal that's meaningful. We hit them real hard, as you know, with those beautiful B-2 bombers recently knocked out their nuclear capability. But I'd rather do it the peaceful way, but they're very difficult people. I want to tell you that. They're very dangerous people, very difficult people.

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MICHAELSON: The U.S. has amassed its largest buildup of military forces in the Middle East since the invasion of Iraq in 2003. As President Trump has repeatedly suggested, he might take military action against Iran. That could happen at any time. Nuclear talks with Iran set to resume next week. Oman's Foreign Minister, a key mediator in the talks, says Iran agrees it will no longer stockpile enriched uranium. That means Tehran would never have enough material to create a nuclear weapon if both sides reach a deal.

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BADR ALBUSAIDI, OMANI FOREIGN MINISTER: The most important achievement, I believe, is the agreement that Iran will never ever have a nuclear material that will create a bomb.

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MICHAELSON: The U.S. ambassador to Israel is warning non-essential embassy staff that if they want to leave the country due to the possibility of a U.S. strike on Iran, they should leave today. CNN's Jeremy Diamond has the latest from Tel Aviv.

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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is the latest indication that the United States could be gearing up for potential strikes against Iran. The U.S. embassy in Jerusalem on Friday authorizing non-emergency personnel to leave the country citing unspecified safety risks. This was an email from the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, to this personnel telling them that those wishing to leave, should do so today, and he wrote today in all capital letters.

In this email that he sent on Friday, Mike Huckabee said that there was no reason to panic and that this guidance was being given out of an abundance of caution, but it is the latest in a series of indicators pointing to the potential for U.S. strikes on Iran. And that's because Iran has made clear that should the United States carry out strikes there, it will not only retaliate against U.S. military bases in the Middle East, but also directly against Israel, which for its part has indicated that it may join those U.S. strikes against Iran should President Trump pull the trigger on that.

And that remains uncertain at this point. The President on Friday, expressing some frustration with the direction of the negotiation and saying it would be nice to get achieve his goals without the use of military force, but that sometimes he said you have to do it with. And so you add that to this massive military buildup that we've been witnessing in The Middle East over the course of the last month that has really accelerated in the past week with a second aircraft carrier now joining those U.S. naval and air assets in The Middle East.

You also have some really unusual sites here in Israel, at least nine refueling planes that are now positioned at Israel's International Ben Gurion Airport, and also about a dozen F-22 stealth fighter jets at an Israeli military base in Southern Israel, a very, very unusual sight, to see those types of stealth fighter jets positioned in Israel.

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And so you put all of that together in addition to multiple other countries issuing travel advisories, to Israel and other countries in the region, and it certainly looks like there is a very real possibility that the U.S. actually moves forward with these strikes. We simply do not know yet, but again, everything does seem to be on high alert for that potential. Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.

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MICHAELSON: Jeremy Diamond, thank you. From Israel to Washington now, joining me live is Republican Congressman, Cory Mills. Welcome back to "The Story Is."

CORY MILLS, U.S. HOUSE REPUBLICAN: Thanks for having me.

MICHAELSON: This week, you posted this on X "To be clear, I do not support regime change in Iran. I support regime elimination for a new Iran free of Islamic dictatorship, oppression, subjugation, and genocide. The largest state sponsor of terror must be stopped to have peace and stability." What does that look like?

MILLS: Well, again, I mean, the biggest thing is, is that you can't negotiate with terrorists. We know that the Ayatollah and this regime has to be the largest state sponsor of terror. It has continued to fund proxy militias in Yemen with the Houthis, in Iraq with Hashd Al- Shabi, in Lebanon with Hezbollah, as well as for many other militias across there to include Hamas. And so we have to understand that what Iran responds to just like in The Middle East, and I've spent a tremendous amount of time living in The Middle East and working in the Middle East, is they respond to strength. Iran knows that they can't win on the battlefield. So what they've done is tried to win in the negotiation room.

And what happens is, is that you get the same thing that happened with Resolution 2231 or the failed JCPOA that President Trump took us out of where they violated it on multiple occasions sending mid-range ballistic missiles to the Houthis and to other areas while trying to comply with the IAEA enriching well past the actual duties. And so, this is not a regime who respond the nice talk and easy letters. They respond to force, and that's why the strike in the Natanz, Esverhan, and Fordham really raised their eyebrows.

And look this is not the 2005 Green Revolution. The Iranian people want change. When they talk about a change, they're not talking about a change in the regime. They're talking about a change in the country to rid itself as a glob of Islamic dictatorship.

MICHAELSON: President Trump ran against the idea of forever wars in The Middle East. He mocked the war in Iraq. He said, we're not going to do that. How do you do regime change in Iran without sending boots on the ground, without an extraordinary commitment of both American lives and treasure to pull that off. And do you think that's where the American people are?

MILLS: Well, I agree a 100 percent with the President when it comes to not getting involved in these stupid forever wars, but also I watched how we continue to mess things up in Iraq, whether it's Paul Grimmer and the poor decisions of the 2005 Iraq constitution whereby they actually set forth sectarian democracy that had not existed since pre- apartheid South Africa and Northern Ireland, which gave raise to Iran's strength within the actuals country.

Whether it was the idea of nation building or whether it was the idea of thinking that you could insert diplomacy, that is not what this President is about. If you look at Venezuela, if you look at operation midnight hammer, these are precision strikes that get key results. And what are we asking for? We're asking for Iran to never be able to have a nuclear weapon capability. We're asking if they turn over all of the nuclear enriched capabilities and in their mid-long range ballistic missile programs.

When they fail to comply in that and they fail to have the inspections by IAEA, they only respond to strength, and that is what peace through strength really means.

MICHAELSON: But in Venezuela, they got rid of Maduro, but they did not get rid of the regime. They left behind basically his entire government. Taking one person out is much less complicated than completely changing the government. What exactly do you want to see happen?

MILLS: Well, you're actually saying it right now. You're exactly right. Think about what we did in Iraq with the ideas of De- Ba'athification, where we actually ridded the entire nation of their key generals, taking them back to privates, and turning them into insurgent groups. The idea is to eliminate the -- potentially, the head of the snake, which is the Ayatollah and even his son, and return it back to the people of Iran. Look at a transitional government with someone like Reza Pahlavi, his royal highness and the crown prince, and then looking at a free election and democracy.

The people of Iran are out in the streets right now protesting, losing their lives. We talk about 30,000, 40,000 peoples who lost their lives.

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I can assure you that number is far, far higher, but they are not stopping. They are not backing down because they want their voices to be heard. They want a free Iran. This is not the green revolution. This is not the 12-day war. This is not the 2005 protest. This is a new Iranian generation who wants to see freedom.

So what we have to do is support that as President Trump has said with help is on the way by trying with diplomacy. But when diplomacy fails and they don't respond to nice letters and what our actual demands are, you have to be prepared with the buildup that we have to make these key precision strikes to eliminate the key individuals and return Iran back to the people as it was 47 years ago.

MICHAELSON: And just real briefly, when we see this kind of buildup, do you -- at this point, expect that there will be some sort of military action, and when do you think that's going to happen?

MILLS: Well, again, this is the largest buildup that we've had since 2003, and this President, as you know, is a person of action. He really does want peace through strength. He really does want to try and find diplomatic resolutions. But when that fails, this President doesn't just go out like Obama and say, I'm drawing a red line in the sand. He will actually carry out his responsibilities. And so with our Secretary of War, our Secretary of State, this amazing cabinet, and our president, I think that he is positioned and ready to strike if Iran refused to basically meet our demands.

MICHAELSON: Yeah. And we'll see. That could happen as soon as this weekend. Republican Cory Mill, congressman, thank you so much for the time, and thank you again for your service to our country.

MILLS: Thank you so much.

MICHAELSON: Have a good weekend. The head of ChatGPT, creator OpenAI says that his company has made a deal with the Pentagon to deploy its models into the military's classified network. Sam Altman posted on X earlier that OpenAI has reached an agreement with the U.S. military that includes what he calls a deep respect for safety and a desire to achieve the best possible outcome.

Altman says the deal honors OpenAI's most important safety principles prohibiting mass surveillance of Americans and human responsibility for the use of force, including for autonomous weapon systems. The OpenAI deal comes as Donald Trump is giving all federal agencies six months to stop using technology from AI giant Anthropic. That company rejected the Pentagon's demands to allow it to use Anthropic's Claude AI system for all, "lawful purposes."

Similarly to OpenAI, Anthropic voiced its unwillingness to allow Claude to be used in autonomous weapons or for the mass surveillance of U.S. citizens. The Pentagon says it has no interest in using AI for either of those purposes and that it simply needs the freedom to use the technology it is licensing without limitations. On its website, Anthropic said it would challenge the Pentagon's decision in court.

We are hearing directly tonight from former U.S. President Bill Clinton for the first time since he was deposed by the House Oversight Committee today. Lawmakers grilled Clinton for more than six hours about his ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. He said he saw nothing, did nothing wrong, one day after his wife Hillary Clinton gave her deposition.

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BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: The America was built on the idea that no person is above the law, even presidents, especially presidents. So here's what I told the committee. First, I had no idea of the crimes Epstein was committing. No matter how many photos they show of me, I have two things that at the end of the day matter far more than any interpretation of 20-year- old photos. I know what I saw and more importantly, what I didn't see. And I know what I did and more importantly, what I didn't do.

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MICHAELSON: Lawmakers across the aisle said former President Clinton answered every question the committee had. Top Democrat on the committee is now pushing for President Trump to testify, saying that Republicans have set a precedent with Clinton's historic deposition.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you concerned at all about President Bill Clinton being deposed and that that sets precedent for you and your family.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I don't like seeing him deposed, but they certainly went after me a lot more than that. I don't like -- I don't like him. Look, I like him, and I don't like seeing him deposed.

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MICHAELSON: CNN's MJ Lee has more now from Chappaqua, New York where the Clintons testified.

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MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL ENTERPRISE CORRESPONDENT: Two back to back Clinton depositions and the one of Bill Clinton on Friday could not have felt more different than the deposition of Hillary Clinton on Thursday. We are learning a lot of new details about the kinds of questions that Bill Clinton fielded behind closed doors in this deposition on Friday.

[00:15:00] We are told that he was shown multiple photos, for example, of him with women in the Epstein files. He was asked whether he had sex with some of those women, and he each time said that he did not. That includes the photo of him in a Jacuzzi with a woman who face is redacted. He said that he didn't know who that person was.

We also know that he was asked about various other references of him in the Epstein files, including in travel logs, plane logs. And when Epstein's name appeared in the White House visitors logs during the Clinton administration, he apparently told lawmakers that he remembers first meeting Epstein in the early 2000s on Epstein's plane.

We also know that he was asked a number of different questions about the current President Donald Trump, and he is said to have told a story about being at a golf tournament with Donald Trump in the early 2000s, and Trump reportedly said to him that he had a recent falling out with Jeffrey Epstein over a land dispute.

Now I did ask Chairman Comer after the deposition wrapped up whether he'd definitely learned new information about Jeffrey Epstein and his crimes, and this is how he answered that question.

JAMES COMER, U.S. HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE CHAIR: We're going to bring more people in. We're not finished. We didn't want to announce names before today. It was so hard to get the Clinton's in. I didn't want to do anything to jeopardize losing them. I think we learned some things. We were hoping to get more, but there were many questions as you will see, hopefully, in the next 24 hours when the videos were released.

LEE: And, of course, the lawmakers on the house oversight committee are very much focused on trying to figure out what other individuals who might have information about Jeffrey Epstein could come in for questioning in the near future. MJ Lee, CNN, Chappaqua, New York.

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MICHAELSON: President Trump has yet to endorse a candidate in the Texas Republican Senate primary. While in Corpus Christi on Friday, he skirted around the issue and praised all three of the Republicans. Talking about incumbent Senator John Cornyn, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, and Texas congressman Wesley Hunt. President Trump said he would probably endorse someone but may wait until after the primary on Tuesday night. Meanwhile, the Democratic race between U.S. house member Jasmine Crockett and state representative James Talarico also heating up. Crockett just got a high profile endorsement from former Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris.

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KAMALA HARRIS, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Jasmine has the experience and record to hold Donald Trump and his billionaire cronies accountable. But Jasmine can only do it if people like you vote early. Today, Friday, February 27th, or on election day, Tuesday, March 3rd. It's time to turn Texas blue.

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MICHAELSON: Tuesday night, we will have extended coverage of the results right here on "The Story Is."

Now go to this. A Columbia University student is suing federal officials after she was detained by immigration officers on Thursday. Ellie Agaveya, who is from Azerbaijan, was in her university residence when officers from Homeland Security arrested her. DHS says she overstayed her student visa, which was terminated in 2016. Columbia University says the officers gained access to the building under false presences by saying that they were looking for a missing child.

Agaveya was later released after New York City's Mayor, Zohran Mamdani, raised her case with president Trump. A hearing on the lawsuit is scheduled for March 6th.

Still to come here on "The Story Is" President Trump says Cuba and the U.S. are talking while Trump is floating a potential friendly takeover of the island. What does that mean? Speaking of Paramount, Skydance pushes forward with its bid to take over Warner Bros. Discovery, parent company of us here at CNN. What it'll take to see the deal actually happen next.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We could very well end up having a friendly takeover of Cuba.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And what about the boats, though --

TRUMP: After many, many years, we've had a lot of years of dealing with Cuba. I've been hearing about Cuba, since I'm a little boy, but they're in big trouble. And, we could very well, something good, I think very positive for the people that were expelled or worse from Cuba that live here.

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MICHAELSON: That was President Trump floating a "Friendly takeover of Cuba" as the U.S. has engaged in talks with Havana. President did not specify what a takeover would actually look like or a potential timetable for action. His comments come two days after a U.S. citizen was killed when Cuban officials opened fire on a speedboat. Havana says they were trying to "Infiltrate the island." Secretary of State for the United States, Marco Rubio, says the coast guard is investigating.

Pakistani's Defense Minister says the latest clashes with Afghanistan mean open war. Two countries have been trading deadly shelling and mortar fire. On Thursday, the Afghan Taliban launched attacks on Pakistani military stationed along their disputed border. They said it was retaliation after Pakistan bombed their militant camps. After the Taliban attacks, Pakistan launched air strikes that hit Kabul and Kandahar. Pakistan said the Afghan Taliban is a "Illegitimate regime that sponsors cross border terrorism." While Afghanistan says it's still open to finding a "Peaceful solution."

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Transatlantic ties may be fraying as some American diplomats ruffle feathers in their European host countries, including the U.S. ambassadors to Paris, Brussels, and Warsaw. Some are questioning the undiplomatic diplomacy, which they say amounts to an American attempt to meddle in European politics. Our Melissa Bell explains.

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MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The most undiplomatic of diplomacies. American ambassadors in France, Belgium, and Poland at odds with their host countries. In Paris, Charles Kushner, Jared Kushner's father, briefly banned from access to the French government after failing to turn up when summoned.

PASCAL CONFAVREUX, FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON: To summon an ambassador is completely part and parcel of diplomatic grammar. It's -- and so sometimes when you have ambassadors who are not carrier diplomats, it can lead some incomprehension.

BELL: In Poland, it was the U.S. ambassador himself who cut ties with the speaker of the lower house of parliament after he's spoken out against giving President Trump the Nobel Peace Prize. And in Belgium, U.S. Ambassador Bill White keeps weighing in to an investigation into circumcision practices in Antwerp's Jewish community, most recently tweeting, the case should be immediately dropped. Although he did at least turn up to the foreign ministry when summoned.

PIERRE VIMONT, FORMER FRENCH AMBASSADOR OF U.S.: The American foreign policy has a very strong ideological content nowadays, and one should not be surprised that it is there. But on the question of, interference in domestic politics, I think it has to be put very strongly to the American side that this is not what diplomacy is all about.

BELL: Ambassador Kushner entered the fray of a political domestic controversy after official U.S. comments suggesting that far left violence was on the rise here in France. In a furious response, the French Foreign Minister replied that France had no lessons to learn from the reactionary international.

The killing of a young far right activist in clashes with the far left a few weeks before local elections had deepened political divisions in France even before the United States weighed in.

CONFAVREUX: We are allies. We are not aligned, which is always also something that helps us to tell the truth or what we think is our truth to our allies. BELL: Something the Foreign Minister is expected to tell Ambassador Kushner face-to-face when the two men meet again, it is expected in the next few days. Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.

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MICHAELSON: Thanks to Melissa. A Bolivian military plane carrying a payload of money crashed in rough weather, leaving at least 15 people dead and around 30 others injured. It happened Friday near the capital of La Paz. The new banknotes were being moved from the country's central bank. Social media video showed chaos at the scene of the crash as people tried to gather money on the ground. Local authorities used water hoses and tear gas to keep crowds at bay.

Live picture from right outside our window here at the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank. The bidding war for that iconic tower and the company it represents might be over, but the fight may just be beginning for Paramount and its plan to take over Warner Bros. Discovery. Paramount Skydance has emerged victorious in the months long battle for Warner Bros. Discovery and its vast media empire, including this company, CNN.

CNN's Chief Media Analyst, Brian Stelter, looks at how the deal could play out. Brian?

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BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: This new deal is now moving down the road and pursuing regulatory approval. The Netflix deal is gone. Paramount is the new story, but there are still many possible twists and turns here. The Trump administration will have to bless Paramount's deal. And given Paramount's close ties with the administration, there is a kind of conventional wisdom or consensus in Washington that the DOJ will go ahead and approve the deal. Although nothing is certain, we've learned that time and time again with the Trump administration and Trump 2.0.

In fact, in some ways, right now, President Trump has an unique amount of leverage over CBS, over its parent company Paramount, given that Paramount badly wants this deal to get approved. So keep an eye on that. Also, keep an eye on the regulatory picture in Europe because there are many different countries that will have a chance to review this new merger agreement. And there is some action on the state level in the U.S. Some state Attorneys General also raising red flags.

We heard on Friday from California Attorney General Rob Bonta who said this on X. He said, I'm in conversation with my AG colleagues about Paramount. That means he's talking with other states about possibly banding together to file a law suit to try to block the deal. But Paramount exuded a lot of confidence on Friday, saying that it believes it'll get this deal done and passed all the regulatory challenges by September.

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Yes. By the end of September. That is the goal for Paramount because come October and beyond, it'll have to pay even more to take over WBD.

And then as the Hollywood trade magazine Variety put it, then comes the even harder part because Paramount, once it takes over WBD, will be laden with debt and levered to the hilt. Paramount has basically promised to Wall Street analysts and investors that it will find billions of dollars of synergies, meaning cutbacks. And there are many people at both the Paramount movie studio and the Warner Bros. movie studio highly concerned about what those cuts could mean and just how badly they will be cut.

There is anxiety as well in the newsrooms at CNN all around the world because there are questions about whether Paramount CEO, David Ellison will uphold and protect CNN's editorial independence. We've not yet heard from Paramount about its vision or its plans for CNN.

However, we do know there is an expectation that there will be some sort of attempt to bring together CNN with the Paramount News Division, CBS News. There's a lot more to come on that because it's a lot easier said than done. A lot more to come about all angles of the story. And like I said, Paramount believe they can get this done by September. That means at the earliest, this is about six months away. Elex, back to you.

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MICHAELSON: Yes, Brian. And interesting, you brought up the attorneys general, Rob Bonta, the California Attorney General has told me before that the attorneys general from the Democratic party are on a daily Zoom call where they all talk about potential cases, and this clearly is part of that call.

Still to come, in a CNN exclusive, a Chinese whistleblower exposes China's surveillance state. Howie says China spies on its citizens even here in the U.S. Ivan Watson's special report next.

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MICHAELSON: CNN is getting a rare look into the extent of China's surveillance state from a Chinese whistleblower. Ivan Watson sits down exclusively with that whistleblower who reveals how he says China spies on its citizens at home and abroad.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Making noodles the old fashioned way. Ma Rullin works in a Chinese restaurant in Midtown Manhattan. His life transformed since he moved to the U.S. two years ago from China, where he enjoyed much more status and financial comfort because he spent 24 years working as an official for the communist party. But now he's making the extremely rare decision to speak out against the Chinese government. MA RULLIN, CHINESE WHISTLEBLOWER (translated): The religious database I designed hurt many people. What I'm doing now is my repentance, my apology.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In a country that is officially atheist, Ma, a member of China's Hui Muslim minority, spent much of his career monitoring fellow Chinese Muslims as well as Christians.

IVAN WATSON, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Was your department involved in closing churches and closing mosques?

RULLIN (translated): Yes. Absolutely.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For the last few years, Ma says he was an official in the United Front Work Department, a vast shadowy wing of the ruling communist party.

RULLIN (translated): The United Front has access to all surveillance systems. At least three different types of cameras are installed at mosque entrances inside mosques, churches, and prayer halls.

WATSON: Did some of the work involve trying to recruit informers?

RULLIN (translated): Yes. Every mosque has them. They're paid and rewarded annually.

WATSON: Was anybody ever punished because of this spying and the information that you gathered?

RULLIN (translated): Yes. Detention, reeducation through labor, and prison, all of those happened.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: CNN cannot independently verify these claims, but we have been able to confirm Ma worked as a Chinese Communist Party official. Ma's work also involved escorting and monitoring Chinese Muslims going on pilgrimage to Mecca.

WATSON: Here in the U.S., do you think there are people from the Chinese government looking, watching?

RULLIN (translated): Definitely. There's no doubt.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: U.S. law enforcement is investigating and prosecuting a growing number of cases linked to alleged Chinese interference.

WATSON: In 2022, the FBI searched the third floor of this building in Lower Manhattan and charged several people, accusing them of running a secret Chinese police station here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of these suspects, U.S. citizen Liu Zhen Huang, has pleaded not guilty, while another has pleaded guilty to acting as an agent of the government of China.

WANG WENBIN, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN (translated): The so called overseas police stations you mentioned do not exist at all. China has always adhered to the principle of non-interference in other countries' internal affairs.

ROMAN ROZHAVSKY, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF COUNTERINTELLIGENCE & ESPIONAGE, FBI: It's been very aggressive and widespread.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This senior FBI official accuses Beijing of creating what he calls an Orwellian climate of fear in Chinese communities in the U.S.

ROZHAVSKY: We've seen them send officials here to harass individuals. We've seen them hire private investigators to try to get them to commit violence against individuals.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One critic of China says he's felt this pressure firsthand.

[00:40:00]

Lin Hal is a Chinese immigrant who lives and works in New York City. In 2019, pro-China protesters beat him up in Midtown Manhattan, when he attended a rally to support the visiting president of Taiwan.

LIN HAL, VICTIM OF BEATING AT NEW YORK PROTEST (translated): I was shocked because I never expected to be threatened or beaten on American soil.

WATSON: Should people here in the U.S. be paranoid and looking over their shoulders for agents or proxies of foreign adversaries?

ROZHAVSKY: If you're a vocal dissident with a large following, I would say yes.

WATSON: It's that dangerous?

ROZHAVSKY: Yes.

WATSON: Here in the U.S.

ROZHAVSKY: Yes.

WATSON: Do you have estimates of how many people might be acting as proxies for or as agents for a government like China here?

ROZHAVSKY: I couldn't give you exact numbers because, but I --

WATSON: Is it in the hundreds or thousands?

ROZHAVSKY: I think hundreds would be accurate.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: CNN has requested comment from the Chinese government, which has long denied interference on foreign soil.

WATSON: Are you happy here?

RULLIN (translated): Yeah. Very, very happy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whistleblower Ma Rullin knows he may face problems for speaking out against the Chinese Communist Party. For now, he prays for protection from a higher power.

WATSON: Do you have any regrets?

RULLIN (translated): At least I'm no longer doing bad things now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ivan Watson, CNN, New York.

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MICHAELSON: Thanks to Ivan. What a story there. After the break, we changed things up. Viral social media star food critic, Keith Lee. You've seen him. He's got 17 million followers. He was the TikTok creator of the year. He's here live standing by to talk success, food, community action, and his big food and music festival coming to New Orleans. Stay with us.

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KEITH LEE, FOOD CRITIC, CREATOR & CULTURAL INFLUENCER: Me and my family are in Perlin, Texas, and this small woman owned business has been reaching out to U.S. for weeks. I'm not even a sweet person. This is immaculate. I love Texas. Am not lie. I'm so I love Houston. This is delicious. I don't say this often. Out the dough. I'm talking about around the corner. This place, in my opinion, the best dessert I've ever had in my life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: That is viral food and critic and influencer Keith Lee. His restaurant reviews on social media have helped small businesses draw massive crowds, helping many stay open through difficult times. Now after winning TikTok creator of the year, Lee is launching a new food and music festival in New Orleans to celebrate that city's food, community, and culture. Keith Lee joins me now live in studio. Keith, congratulations on all your success. What's sort of the backstory? How did you know that you had something here?

KEITH LEE, FOOD CRITIC, CREATOR & CULTURAL INFLUENCER: So I've been a professional fighter for 10 years. I start just my love of food --

MICHAELSON: MMA, you're talking about, right?

LEE: Yeah. Professional cage fighter. So my love of food came from me wrestling through high school and being a professional fighter, focused on my diet and what to eat and what not to eat. And that kind of just spun into me starting to record myself to get comfortable in front of the camera for my MMA interviews. That's my brother. Shout out to my brother.

MICHAELSON: Yeah. LEE: He fought before me. But I just start getting -- want to get comfortable in front of the camera. I was trying my own food, cooking for my wife, cooking for myself, and that spun to me trying mom and pop shops around the country.

MICHAELSON: Yeah. And because you did all that working out, could you kind of eat what you wanted to?

LEE: Absolutely. Now I can.

MICHAELSON: You really could do whatever you want. And so you end up choosing a lot of places that are small businesses, and it really lifts them up. How do you choose who to use this for? Because you now have 17 million followers. So if you're doing a post on them, that's an unbelievable advertisement.

LEE: My main goal is to go to mom and pop shops that are around the country that have great food, great customer service, but may need the marketing. So we specifically go to places that are in food deserts or underprivileged or in places that don't have the visibility, and we do it for absolutely free. The way I choose them is one, discernment. I pray a lot, and so I just kind of go off of what I feel like I'm supposed to do.

But, also, we might get 10,000 to 20,000 requests, and we kind of just as a family, go through them and figure out what makes the most sense location wise.

MICHAELSON: 10,000 or 20,000 requests. So tell us the story. We just were looking at you at the Puttery, what's the name of that dessert place that we were just -- what was the backstory there?

LEE: So the Puttery was a black woman owned spot in Pearland, Texas, which is the outside or the outskirts of Houston, Texas. It's maybe 30 minutes from the city. And it was a very small owned spot, like as big as the studio. It's way smaller than the studio, actually.

MICHAELSON: Yeah.

LEE: And when they first reached she said that they were on a verge of closing, that she had no idea what she was going to do for rent. We went. Now she has three locations, and this is over two years ago.

MICHAELSON: Wow.

LEE: And she's actually going to be featured at the festival that we throw May 16th in New Orleans.

MICHAELSON: That is so cool. Tell U.S. about the festival, while you bring it up. So how's that going to work?

LEE: The festival is a music family food festival. It's focused on community. It's focused on bringing small restaurants from around the country and to one designated area. This is an inaugural thing, so this is the first year. We're doing it in New Orleans, because New Orleans is one of the very first places that I did food tour at. [00:50:00]

And it's just a place that I'm allowed to definitely --

MICHAELSON: Is there a better food city in America than New Orleans?

LEE: I don't think it's a lot of --

MICHAELSON: Yeah.

LEE: So it's just one of the very first stops, but we will be traveling. And this is the first one. And like I said, it's music. We have 10 different performers. We have obstacle course for my family's competing against other families. Very old school, welcome home, Roscoe Jenkins, family reunion style. It's about community. It's very kid inclusive. It's family inclusive, and I can't wait for everybody to come enjoy.

MICHAELSON: I love how you lift people up. I got emotional watching your video about dynamite Korean barbecue.

LEE: Yeah.

MICHAELSON: This was an individual whose dream it was to have his own restaurant, and you helped make that dream come true and make it very successful for him.

LEE: Yeah. So he dreamed about having a restaurant for 10 years. He finally got the restaurant right after he got it. He got a diagnosis of having Stage 3 tongue cancer. And right before he reached out, he said that it was again the same situation about the clothes, very slow, no foot traffic. A lot of these places have great food. They just don't have the marketing, and they don't -- they can't afford the marketing because they put all their love and their effort and their money into the restaurant itself. So it was on the verge of closing. We went lying around the corner. God is amazing.

Right afterwards, he actually ended up passing away. But before he passed away, he told me that he was able to see his dream come true, and he was able to see exactly what he's been working for his whole life. And we threw a memorial service for him at the restaurant where over 4,000 people showed up in less than a day's notice and allowed his wife to see all that hard work that they've been putting in paid off.

MICHAELSON: How does that feel for your heart?

LEE: It's amazing, man. It's amazing. I'm just a vessel.

MICHAELSON: I mean, do you cry in that scenario?

LEE: I get emotional.

MICHAELSON: Yeah.

LEE: Because I think I'm just the person who is in front of the camera, but the real superhero here is the people who are willing to go out and go patronize these businesses, understand how important it is to support small businesses, and understand how important it is to come support something is vital to the community like Keith Lee's family day.

MICHAELSON: And you've also been very open about your mental health as well.

LEE: Yeah.

MICHAELSON: How has this changed your mental health?

LEE: I've gotten a lot better. But I still -- I'm still a human being, so I still deal with seasonal depression, anxiety. And I think it's very important to speak on it if that's something that you are dealing with. Because I'm just a testament of no matter what you're going through, you can be where you're supposed to be at if you believe him.

MICHAELSON: Yeah. And TikTok creator of the year.

LEE: Absolutely.

MICHAELSON: Everybody on the whole platform using it for so much good. And you highlight your family as well --

LEE: I do. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

MICHAELSON: -- you travel with your family.

LEE: I do.

MICHAELSON: Brought a big part of your family here tonight.

LEE: Everywhere.

MICHAELSON: They're all here, which is one of the biggest entourages anybody's ever brought here, which is good. And is your mother-in-law, Stephanie Carter, is here.

LEE: Absolutely she is.

MICHAELSON: And we want to bring her in for a second. Because she came in. She's apparently a big viewer of CNN and "The Story Is." She's going to sit down. I just want to give her some love just because I loved your energy so much. You're something else.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you. Thank you.

MICHAELSON: Talk about your pride for this young man here and how this platform has changed so many lives.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Including mine.

MICHAELSON: Yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. It's a blessing just to see him grow in this to come out of the anxiety that he has. It helps him with that. But, yeah, it's amazing to see to see how fast to everything, how he's touching lives. I'm hearing testimonies.

MICHAELSON: Yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People really crying that of mental illness because it's real. Mental illness is real. It is. And so on this path this weekend, we were hearing stories of how he changed him. Because of him, they were able to come out and now be able to speak openly. So it's a blessing. It's a blessing.

MICHAELSON: And how does it feel beyond CNN?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look here. This is -- I would have never imagined sitting here on CNN number one, my number one news station. And to see you, I was in shock. They didn't tell me that we were going to be CNN.

MICHAELSON: Yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And you were going to do the interviews. When I saw you, hey, that's another one off my bucket list.

MICHAELSON: Send it love to you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, yes.

MICHAELSON: Thank you.

LEE: Thank you sir for being patience. Thank you.

MICHAELSON: Thank you very much for what you do and the way you lift people up. I love it.

LEE: Famileeday.com, May 16th. I would love to see you all there.

MICHAELSON: Say that one more time.

LEE: Famileeday.com. That's F-A-M-I-L-E-E-D-A-Y dot com, and I would love to see out there.

MICHAELSON: Great.

LEE: Thank you.

MICHAELSON: Still to come as the race for California governor heats up. One Democratic candidate is touring the state, introducing himself to voter as his campaign gets underway.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, a Democrat running for California Governor, tours Pacific Palisades slowly recovering from last year's fire that burned nearly 7,000 structures here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you think, Mr. Mayor? Now that you've actually seen it for yourself? MATT MAHAN, MAYOR SAN JOSE: I was absolutely devastated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Next hour, my exclusive sit down with the Mayor of San Jose plus businessman, Rick Caruso. What they said about Governor Newsom is interesting and newsworthy and not what you would expect from a democrat. Stay with us.

[00:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELSON: Happy birthday, Pikachu and Ash. The popular media franchise Pokemon turned 30 on Friday. Pokemon started out in Japan in 1996 as a video game called Pocket Monsters. Since then, it has become the world's most valuable franchise with an animated TV show, movies, trading cards, figurines and more.