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The Story Is with Elex Michaelson

Officials - U.S. Deploys Thousands More Marines To Region; Trump - No Ceasefire When We're Obliterating The Other Side; Trump Calls NATO Allies - Cowards - Over Strait Of Hormuz; U.S. Removes Sanctions On 140M Barrels Of Iranian Oil; Trump Says He's Considering - Winding Down - Military Efforts; Hawaii Dam At Risk Of Imminent Failure From Storms; No Video, Audio With New Purported Statement From Khamenei. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired March 21, 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]

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: The 41-year-old putting up 19 points and got 15 rebounds to help his team snag their 8th straight win. He now looks to -- he now looks to set to -- he's going to be breaking some additional records too. The all-time record set by Robert Parish in 1996 when the Lakers played the Orlando Magic tomorrow. Appreciate you watching. Stay with us. The next hour of "The Story Is" begins right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.

SANDOVAL: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. I'm Polo Sandoval in for Elex Michaelson. We want to begin with U.S. President Donald Trump who says that he is now considering winding down military efforts in The Middle East.

But many are skeptical based on the new deployments in the region. In a post on Truth Social, President Trump said that the U.S. is getting close to meeting its objectives. That includes eliminating Iran's air force and navy and degrading its missile capability. Tehran doesn't believe those claims from the U.S. President. A senior Iranian source says that America's military posture in the region hasn't changed significantly.

Meanwhile, U.S. officials saying thousands more marines and sailors there are being sent to The Middle East. Earlier on Friday, Trump also reiterated that the U.S. has won the war, and he also downplayed any efforts for a ceasefire.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Well, look. We can have dialogue, but we don't -- I want to do a ceasefire. You don't do a ceasefire when you're literally obliterating the other side. They don't have a navy. They don't have an air force. They don't have any equipment to -- they don't have any spotters. They don't have anti- aircraft. They don't have radar, and their leaders have all been killed at every level. We're not looking to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Iran continues to strike U.S. military bases. The U.S. official says that two intermediate range ballistic missiles missed a joint British-U.S. military base in the Indian Ocean on Friday. And also on Friday, Iranian state TV read a statement attributed to the new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei. There was no audio or video of him, however, and he has not been seen publicly since the U.S. appointed and reportedly injured him nearly two weeks ago.

President Trump has also called NATO allies cowards for not helping secure that critical Strait of Hormuz. And this comes as U.S. officials are now working to avoid a potential months long closure. An assessment determined that Iran could possibly keep that waterway shut for up to six months for American ships and their allies, and that's according to multiple sources familiar with the document. But White House and Pentagon officials, they insist that the assessments and that time frame, that they were not being seriously considered. CNN's Mike Valerio joins me live from Beijing as we begin our coverage.

Mike, it's good to have you. Bring us a dispute on the very latest from the White House and the impact on what's happening in The Middle East.

MIKE VALERIO, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's interesting. So you have the President calling American allies cowards over here in this bucket. But then over on the other side of the equation, Polo, it seems as though we have the vague outline, the impressionistic storyline of American allies beginning, and I stress beginning to come together with some sort of vision of how they can potentially help the United States reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

So again, as you mentioned in the open to the show, the President posting on Truth left and right, it's going to be so easy. No problem that this is such an easy task. It's not an easy task as revealed by the reporting from our own Kylie Atwood, who is our State Department Reporter extraordinaire. She has new reporting that is out in the past couple hours where she's been speaking to a senior European diplomat where it's become clear that several nations are trying to put together several layers of what nation X can do, for a purpose Y to accomplish Z, to essentially make the Strait of Hormuz safe for passage.

And when we're talking about this XYZ example, Kylie, she outlines in her reporting that this is not just going to be a parade of ships making sure that oil tankers are OK and guarded against. It's not just ships lining up one after the other. But according to her reporting, we're talking about intelligence from the sky, interceptors, minesweepers, escorts, counter drone capability, and warships for firing against missiles that may still be capable of being launched from the Iranian coastline.

So that is starting to come together according to the latest, what is being said to CNN that capitals throughout Europe are beginning to talk to one another, to Foggy Bottom the State Department headquarters in D.C. of who can do what. Meanwhile, we have about eight countries that have signed on to a joint statement saying that they are ready to do what is appropriate Polo to reopen the strait. So that includes, at this hour the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Japan, Canada, and newly added to the list within the past couple hours Bahrain, which is the first Gulf nation to do so to signal that it wants to be part of this coalition to make the strait navigable for all ships once again.

[01:05:00]

And then finally, we're going to add end on this with the Treasury Secretary announcing we didn't get to this last hour. It's going to be a month, Polo, a month reprieve for removing the American oil sanctions against Iranian oil that have been placed since about 2018 when the U.S. pulled out of the joint Iranian nuclear deal. So that has the goal of trying to put more barrels of oil into the pipeline. These are Iranian barrels of oil that are already at sea, already on boats, so they're not newly being produced exactly.

But still, analysts be them traders on exchange place in Lower Manhattan or traders in Hong Kong are telling us that, yeah, the goal is to keep the price of oil down, but it's still going up, and Iran is being paid no matter what, Polo.

SANDOVAL: And on Friday night, we also heard from the U.S.'s Ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz. Mike, talk to me about what we heard from him. Did he speak anything else about the Trump administration continues to keep on the table the idea of possible conventional troop deployments. Did he address that?

VALERIO: Yeah. And a real hesitancy. He did address it. It's about a 40 second sound bite we want to play for everybody watching. So let's play it, and we'll talk about it on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL WALTZ, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: I don't think anybody should expect this to look anything like we saw in back in 2003, two decades ago with a massive invasion. I think that's a lot of misinformation that's out there. But he could always retain a very limited capability there. I'm a former special operator. They have the capability to go and take WMD in a very targeted way. There are other options on the table, but I think if President Trump could avoid that, he absolutely would. If we can do this and degrade those capabilities from the air and from the sea, that would be the preferred option.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALERIO: So a little more background. He's talking about the possibility, Polo, of U.S. troops, special forces specifically getting Iranian nuclear material. That's what he's talking about, a specialized operation to, from his point of view, surgically go in and get the nuclear material and get it out of there. But when we talk to analysts, and our reporting for the better part of a week has conveyed this, who is to say that all the nuclear material is in one spot? It could be spread throughout the country.

And if some mission were to go forward, it wouldn't analysts tell us just be like the raid in Pakistan that killed Osama bin Laden, a very surgical in and then out, it could be a much larger picture to make sure that American troops stay safe, Polo.

SANDOVAL: And we've heard from the Israelis time and time again that that nuclear stockpile hidden beneath the earth in Iran, that that is a must in order for them to consider this a successful campaign. Mike Valerio is always grateful for your reporting. Thank you.

Let's get some more analysis now on what continues to on this conflict that is ongoing. Head over to Mark MacCarley. He's a retired U.S. Army Major General. He's also the Founder of the MacCarley & Rosen law firm. He's speaking to U.S. from Glendale, California. General, appreciate you joining us.

MAJ. GEN. MARK MACCARLEY, U.S. ARMY (RET.): My pleasure.

SANDOVAL: So is the White House seriously considered sending in troops possibly taking that critical island that Kharg Island? Walk us through the challenges that would come with taking it and then holding it if we were to see an operation like that.

MACCARLEY: Way to best answer that question is to look at what is taking place at this very moment. So the Department of War issued orders to two marine expeditionary units. As you well know, in those units there are approximately 2,100 to 2,500 U.S. marines. First of those units is coming from approximately, what we call the Okinawa area of operations for the Marine Corps in the Pacific.

And the second orders just recently issued out of San Diego. But what's important is the timing. These are ships. They have no other method of moving that number of marines and equipment with the marines, but on ships. That's two weeks before we're going to see the presence of U.S. marines in or about the Persian Gulf.

Now in terms of a campaign or operation strategy, and I always have to caveat this by saying, I am no longer privy to the war plans in the Department of War.

[01:10:00]

So any of us who participate as contributors are in a sense speculating based upon experience. But my view of this, if this land operation were to be initiated, would consist of seizing Kharg Island for multiple reasons. The first and primary is it is the most significant oil processing geographic location for the Iranians. And the second, once that island is taken and pacified to some extent, it will serve as a very significant what we call intermediate staging base. And for those who have a logistics background, that means where you keep your weapons, your ammunition, your marines until such time as to deploy.

But to get directly to the point, I see that the first order of business, if in fact we move would be the development of a very small enclave circling the Strait of Hormuz on the Iranian side with its pivot point Bandar El Abbas, which is a 500,000 population and really the center of that strategic area in the Persian Gulf. SANDOVAL: So presumably that would be able to secure some sort of elevated positions along the street of -- Strait of Hormuz to assist in securing that passageway.

MACCARLEY: Yeah. No question about it. It's going to be significant. You're not talking about a lot of territory because of the weapons systems that so far have been called into duty. And I do reference those amphibious ships. They have acronyms LHD LHA. Those ships are specifically designed for amphibious entry into contested area of operations. So I would foresee again from my limited vantage point that these expeditionary units would find themselves in something resembling an amphibious entry into that particular area.

They would then move very rapidly, control the specific nodes of both communication, command and control, and to remove any military obstacles to maintaining a certain this small enclave to allow us to further penetrate and attack those weapons, the Iranian weapons of choice right now, anti-ship missiles, drones, mines, and the little fast boats that come around with a couple of Iranians in them that are used to attack.

SANDOVAL: That would be an incredible undertaking, but at least we have a better understanding of what could possibly play out. Thanks to you, retired Major General Mark MacCarley. As always, grateful for your expertise. Thank you for your time.

Well, senators from both parties they met late into the evening on Friday working on a deal to end the stalemate over the funding for the Department of Homeland Security. Democrats, they're refusing to approve those funds without significant reforms to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency after two U.S. citizens were shot and killed earlier this year at the hands of two of their agents.

White House Border Czar, Tom Homan. He says that the discussions, those haven't ended. Republicans insisting that the White House has improved its offer to Democrats, though they declined to provide any actual details on their counter. But as negotiations go on in Washington, airports across the U.S., they are seeing long lines for security screenings. The Transportation and Security Administration says that nearly 10 percent of its workforce did not show up to work on Thursday. They've been working without pay for over a month now. Democrats, they've offered several bills that would fund the TSA and other critical departments, but they've been rejected by Republicans.

The Transportation Secretary now warning that the situation could get even worse in the coming days.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN DUFFY, U.S. TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: TSA can't function because the teams are so small. I mean, but you and I lived this through the last government shutdown when we had air traffic controllers who when they came upon missing the second paycheck, their lives don't function. And this is very similar to TSA agents. The only difference is TSA agents make a lot less than air traffic controllers. And so I think as we come into next week, that second paycheck is due a week from today as they're going to miss that. If they do, if a deal isn't cut, you're going to see what -- what's happening today look like child's play.

This is going to be -- these are going to be good days compared to what's going to happen a week from now as America tries to travel. And again, do I -- is this still safe as you go through the airport? Yes. But it takes a lot longer because you have less agents working.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Joining us now is former TSA Assistant Administrator, Lee Kair, who also leads the transportation and innovation practice as principal at the Chertoff.

[01:15:00]

Lee, thank you so much for taking the time to join us.

LEE KAIR, PRINCIPAL, TRANSPORTATION & INNOVATION, CHERTOFF GROUP: Thanks for having me.

SANDOVAL: So, Lee, on CNN, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, he warned that wait times at some airports are likely to worsen if TSA officers miss yet another paycheck next Friday. Offer some perspective here. Just how much worse could travel potentially get if this funding fight continues?

KAIR: Well, I think it's important to start this whole conversation just highlighting that this is the most elevated threat environment that we've seen since 9/11. That really can't be understated, and this is the third government shutdown for DHS since the fiscal year began on the 1st of October. And during that time, TSA officers have spent more time working unpaid than paid. If that was in your job description, you would never take that job.

So TSA officers are the people responsible for keeping air travel safe, and they're doing that work under significant financial and personal stress. So -- it's -- they're having to make impossible choices of, do I put have enough money to put gas in my car so I can get to work? Or do I need to call out and you have a side job where I'm able to feed my family. So and that stress is really starting to show operationally with, they're seeing hundreds of resignations. High call out rates nationally, well over 10 percent.

Some airports as high as 55 percent. Wait times exceeding three hours. It's really getting significant and only going to get worse, I think.

SANDOVAL: You serve the agency for roughly two decades. So clearly, you were mentioning you stay in contact with some of your former colleagues. I mean, what are they sharing with you about how they're having to make up for the loss of some of that staffing, either because the sick outs or people as you point out having to take up other opportunities elsewhere?

KAIR: Yeah. So what they're having to do is they're having to consolidate their operations at some airports. I think they saw that today in Philadelphia as an example, where they're having to close checkpoints altogether because of those staffing shortages. You also see the airports and airlines asking passengers to donate fuel cards and cars that they can use to buy food. You have -- the staff -- the senior staff at the airports, the Federal Security Director staffs are bringing in food sometimes just give them something officers some food so they can -- so they're able to work throughout their shift.

SANDOVAL: Do you see the potential for irreversible damage to the agency that you helped lead for such a long time?

KAIR: Yeah. So that is the concern that I'm hearing from within the organization that as this continues, it's going to be harder and harder to maintain operations. But frankly, it's going to be even more difficult to rebuild that workforce even after the funding resumes. They have this many people that are separating from the agency. They're going to have to hire new staff. They're going to have to completely retrain them, and they're going to lose a lot of experience from those officers that have been around for so long doing such a great job protecting the American public.

SANDOVAL: We've heard from people who have shared their nightmare experience of traveling the last couple of days. At the same time, we've also heard from some people who wait times of 10 minutes or less. Can you just give us some insight on, like, why is there such a different kind of experience for travelers out there?

KAIR: Well, it's going to vary airport-by-airport. A lot of it depends on the -- if that airport happened to be having a peak at that time, it's really exacerbated by the shortage of staff. It also really varies by airport. For example, if they have public transportation where the gas prices putting food up fuel in the -- on their cars is not impacting them as much in some airports rather than others, so it is going to really vary across the country based on different cost of living and different positions.

But I think it's going to start getting worse throughout the entire country as this continues. Because officers are just not going to be able to continue operating without having a paycheck.

SANDOVAL: It's absolutely unpredictable. I always tell my family just get there extremely early just in case. Maybe you'll be one of the lucky ones, and it'll be a breeze. I don't want to let you go also without just really punctuating that earlier point, Lee. I mean, do you see that -- but if this continues, do you see the potential for even airport closures, especially those small facilities that have smaller units working?

KAIR: Absolutely. So I think that is the concern is that this could get to the point where it's going to impact the ability for airports to operate, or to significantly restrict the amount of time that they're able to operate during times could be small airports because they don't have enough staff to open in the first place, or it could be larger airports where there's such delays that they start having to have flight cancellations.

[01:20:00] And I think it's also important to note that TSA has other missions as well. They're responsible for all modes of transportation. They also responsible for security of mass transit rail system, even pipeline security. And in the current threat environment, particularly with the cyber threats that are coming in, physical threats, there are concerns in other modes of transportation as well. This is not just limited to aviation.

SANDOVAL: No. I've seen those men and women with those TSA badges working at other events as well, some of those large scale events. Really do appreciate your time. Lee Kair, thanks for your perspective.

KAIR: Thank you very much.

SANDOVAL: Still ahead on "The Story Is" powerful storms hitting the Hawaiian island of Oahu causing some catastrophic flash flooding and also forcing evacuations near a dam that is dangerously close to failure. Are -- is the situation getting any better? An update on the way.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANDOVAL: We want to get to the latest now on a flash flood warning that's been issued for Oahu island in Hawaii. This is now the second significant storm event in just a week that's hit that state. Thousands of people, they've been ordered to evacuate the island because of a 120-year-old dam, which was at risk of imminent failure. A catastrophic flash flooding from the storm, it has cut off some towns, destroyed homes, and also forced rescues from the storm in Northern Oahu.

Heavy rain and strong winds from last weekend's storm set off dangerous flooding, landslides, and sinkholes, and even knocked out power to thousands of people throughout the region. Flood watches and advisories, they've also been issued across the Hawaiian islands.

Joining U.S. now is KITV reporter, Reid Fowler. Joining me from Honolulu. Thank you so much for joining us, Reid. I'm care -- we just heard a little while ago from Molly Pierce from the Oahu Emergency Management Office saying that the situation is improving. However, there are still evacuations happening. Curious where you are. What are the conditions like? What's happening?

REID FOWLER, KITV REPORTER: Yeah. Polo, thanks for having us. And, yeah, the conditions right now, it's raining here in Honolulu in our main metropolitan area on the South side of the island. Like, a lot of what has happened, a lot of the disaster on the north side of the island, specifically when you're talking about the dam, the Wahiawa Dam affecting areas like Haleiwa, like Waialua, where evacuation was already put into place, was already executed early in the morning.

We talked about that dam, right, that Wahiawa Dam where that level was at 85 feet. That's the level where they're going to have a mandatory evacuation. By around 5:00 p.m., we're looking at that being around 83, a little over 83-feet. The imminent danger for that dam is 90- feet. It has decreased throughout the day as crews try to drain, obviously, that dam and get the water out of the way from those low line areas.

But, again, with more rain coming through over the course of the weekend, that's the real issue. Around 230 evacuations throughout the day of over $1 billion of damages, Polo. And this is something that our governor, Governor Josh Green, has mentioned to us throughout his updates throughout the day is that there is a ton of damage. Talk about flash flooding as well. We had that Kona low storm just a week ago. That's the issue as well. Not so much the winds that we had again last week at the high winds.

We're going to get some of that this weekend, but it's really the saturated ground where you see a bunch of the issues that the ground just can't support all of this moisture that's going to be falling down over the next couple of days. That's where you get the flash flooding. That's where you get some of these trees falling down on major thoroughfares.

Again, we're in Honolulu right now. It's not necessarily that bad, but you look over the course of today about 13 or 14-inches of rain at about 5:00 p.m. earlier today on Friday near Schofield Barracks, one of our army bases, and that's near the Wahiawa Dam. The main parts of issue right now as crews come out and try to clear the thoroughfares, clear the streets is the issue of rescuing those people and getting people out of the flood zone areas.

Central Hawaii. So we're talking about Oahu where we're at right now where it's heavily densely populated. And the county of Maui, those are the two places, places like Lahaina that are no strangers to disaster. There are on evacuation notices, so not exactly executed, but evacuation advisories to where if things do worsen, those counties are going to be evacuated because of the flash flooding.

We see air and water rescue teams out there getting people out of the north shore. And again, crews all throughout the day, all throughout the weekend are going to be working to get people to safety, to shelters where they can obviously find safety. And again, all the government officials are advising residents to stay off the roads if possible, Polo, but I'm going to send it back to you in New York because, yeah, it is getting rainy out here and/or expecting a worse conditions coming into the weekend.

SANDOVAL: Yeah. The weekend begins, but the work is far from over for rescue crews there as you point out. Our thanks to KITV reporter, Reid Fowler for that as many people hoping for a break in the clouds. And back with much, much more in a moment. Don't go anywhere.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SANDOVAL: Welcome back to "The Story Is." For the second time since Mojtaba Khamenei was appointed as Iran's new Supreme Leader, he has purportedly released a major public statement without any video or audio of himself. The statement was read out in his name on state television on Friday, ostensibly to mark the start of the Persian New Year. But he has not made any public appearances since being chosen as Iran's leader earlier this month, and that's not raising questions about his health, about his whereabouts.

So let's talk more. I head over to Shervin Pishevar. He's an adviser to Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran's last Shah. He joins me from Los Angeles. Is it's good to see you again, Shervin.

SHERVIN PISHEVAR, ADVISER TO REZA PAHLAVI, SON OF IRAN'S LAST SHAH: Thanks for having me.

SANDOVAL: President Trump, he says he's considering a winding down of the war while also sending in more troops. What's your read of the White House's apparent mixed messaging? Does he seem to be looking for an off ramp?

PISHEVAR: No. I -- that this has been the first AI war of America, and it's been incredible to see the precision lethality that's been utilized to dismantle and decapitate this evil Islamic regime.

[01:35:00]

Everything is going as planned. It's only been a few weeks of action here and the hunters are becoming the hunted. This week is the beginning signs of the next phase of what is happening which is defections from the military. And the messages to the people from the Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi and from President Trump is to stay in their homes, wait until the moment that it'll be safe for them to come out on the streets to demand a new system. And there's a plan.

The Iran prosperity project where I'm an advisor has built 175 page plan with a 100-day plan to a referendum and election and voting on a new form of democracy. And all of that has been planned for -- by some of the smartest people we know. And if you see the economic impact of the Iranian diaspora, you'll see what is the potential of a free Iran. Well, there'll be over $1 trillion of trade with the U.S. The Iranian Americans just in America have created 7 trillion of economic impact. Imagine what a free Iran with 93 million brilliant Iranian swap will do for the world.

SANDOVAL: Sure. And when you say that everything is going as planned, in your view, you don't think that the White House has had to essentially reassess when they encountered the complication with, for example, with the Strait of Hormuz and now having to ask for allies to essentially step in and assist them?

PISHEVAR: Again, it's only been a few weeks, and the Islamic regime is being dismantled piece-by-piece. Their leadership is gone, defections are beginning. This is a one of the most historic operations and liberation operations that we've ever seen. So I have a high confidence in the U.S. military and the IDF and what they're carrying out against this regime. Let's not forget this regime killed 43,000 innocent defenseless Iranians just a couple of months ago in two days. They're capable of absolute evil and this is deterrence against a regime that was seeking a nuclear bomb. They attacked 14 of their neighbors and shocked the whole Middle East. And if they had a nuclear bomb, they would have used it.

SANDOVAL: And to your point, about a handful of executions that we saw the regime carry out just a couple of days ago here. This after President Trump just a few months ago said that there would be a price to pay if that happens. So we'll see how that plays out.

Chairman Pishevar, unfortunately, we do have to leave it there. Great to see you again.

PISHEVAR: Of course. Thank you for having me.

SANDOVAL: Please come back again. Much more after a break.

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SANDOVAL: We now want to bring you a CNN investigation that is shedding new lights on the death of a previously missing California teen, Celeste Rivas Hernandez. The report tracks her long and repeated connection to a rising musical artist known as David. That includes multiple photographs and videos of the two together. The 14-year-old's body was found in the trunk of a car owned by David over a year after she was first reported missing.

Well, David has been named as the target of a grand jury investigation into the girl's death. CNN Senior Investigative Correspondent Kyung Lah with the story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KYUNG LAH, SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: The ritzy Hollywood Hills, an unlikely place for murder investigation until last September when neighbors became suspicious of a parked Tesla. Describe it for me.

PAYMAN DANIELPOUR, NEIGHBOUR: There was a big dent in the back and in the front. It looked like a it'd been hit multiple times.

LAH: The Tesla was towed. Employees at the lot noticed a strange smell and called police. LAPD detectives found a body dismembered and stuffed into two different bags. The victim was a runaway, Celeste Rivas Hernandez. She would have turned 15 the day before.

STEVE FISCHER, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR: She -- for months, most likely months, was stuffed in that Tesla and just left there.

LAH: Steve Fisher was hired to unearth evidence in the case, which starts here a search warrant on the Tesla. The registered owner, David Anthony Burke. This is Burke, better known to millions of fans as the singer David. He spells his name D-4-V-D, has hundreds of millions of views on YouTube, and was the most Googled person of 2025. Prosecutors and court records describe David Burke as a target of a grand jury investigation who "May be involved in having committed one count of murder." David's lawyer did not want to speak with CNN due to the grand jury investigation.

FISCHER: The Tesla is owned by him. We have photograph evidence that she was with him over a long period of time.

LAH: David was on the cusp of global fame. Celeste, just beginning her troubled trail as a runaway, but she didn't seem to be hiding.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. I need it.

LAH: This is David's Twitch stream dated January 2024, about a month before Celeste is first reported missing. She's 13 here, and it's after 3:00 a.m. People on the stream even mentioned her name. David and Celeste island trip, public statement from David's girl.

DAVID ANTHONY BURKE, SINGER, SONGWRITER: Delete everything.

LAH: February 15th, the next month, Celeste is reported missing for the first time. Days later, a person close to Celeste sends this email shared with CNN. It's sent to david@mogul.vision. Mogul Vision is David's management company.

[01:45:00]

There's been talk that the artist David possibly has something to do with the disappearance of 13-year-old Celeste Rivas. If that statement holds any merit, please do the right thing and take her home.

FISCHER: She arrived back home. She got she came back home.

LAH: After that email was sent?

FISCHER: Yeah.

LAH: The person who shared that email with us didn't want us to say who they were, fearing for their safety. Celeste's hometown, Lake Elsinore, California, sits 75 miles from Hollywood, and we've learned David made that drive. We uncovered this photo taken in early 2024 in Lake Elsinore. That's David. We were able to track the exact location of this photo to this parking lot here in Lake Elsinore. It's about a third of a mile from Celeste's home.

And looking at the construction in the background of this photo, we're able to determine that this photo was taken sometime between January and March of 2024.

ETHAN MALDONADO, POSTED PHOTOS ONLINE: It's like a small town. You're not really like celebrities just coming over here chilling.

LAH: Ethan Maldonado posted the photos. He says he got them from a classmate. One photo shows David with other young people, but CNN cannot verify why this meeting happened. Here's why it matters. The photos were taken some time in the months of Celeste being reported missing. The last time was on April 5, 2024. But is she really missing? This photo from May 2024 shows Celeste among family. CNN confirmed the time and place using geolocation to a relative's graduation. She is missing.

FISCHER: When she's having contact with the family, which first thing that you're supposed to do is call the detective or call 911, say, listen. She's here.

LAH: We knocked on after door in Lake Elsinore. No one, including Celeste's family talked to us on camera. After Celeste's body is identified, David's online fandom erupts partly because of something in his own music videos, violence. Romantic homicide released in 2022 includes a dead girl. And then in one more dance, David puts his own body in a trunk.

Let's be very clear, though, because we are talking about art. There's no proof that he did this simply because he produced this art.

ANTHONY FANTANO, MUSIC CRITIC: People should be allowed to freely live out whatever kind of fantasies they want in the art that they create. I think at the very least, it should sort of like, cause us to call into question the series of events and start to at least look into it further.

FISCHER: She was 14-years-old and stuffed in that trunk. I just don't know how anybody -- even if you weren't involved, if you had any knowledge that she was in that car, how you could live with yourself and not report it.

LAH: It's now a little more than six months since Celeste's body was found in Burke's Tesla. And so far, there have been no arrests in her death, but the grand jury is continuing to hear from witnesses. We did reach out to Mogul Vision David's management company, but did not hear back. And we do have much more to this and an extended video story on this case, which is now streaming for subscribers at cnn.com/watch. Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.

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SANDOVAL: Well, still to come on "The Story Is" an icon in martial arts and in movies passes away, remembering Chuck Norris' life and legacy. We'll be right back.

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[01:50:00]

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SANDOVAL: Action hero Chuck Norris has died at the age of 86. Norris was well known for his legendary fight scenes and martial arts expertise. CNN's Stephanie Elam has more on Norris' life and his legacy.

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CHUCK NORRIS, ACTOR: I was a very shy, introverted kid growing up.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Chuck Norris didn't stay that way for long, thanks to the martial arts.

NORRIS: I was sent to Korea when I was in the air force. And I started training over there, and then I came back and got out of the service and started teaching. And to get students in my school, I became a karate fighter.

ELAM: Some of those students were stars like Steve McQueen, who encouraged him to become an actor.

NORRIS: I retired as the world karate champion, and I was looking for something to get involved in a new goal for myself, and I had thought about acting. I talked to Steve McQueen about it, and he encouraged me to pursue it. He said if I would apply myself like I did in the martial arts, that I would maybe have a chance at it.

ELAM: Norris's first memorable part was Bruce Lee's furry and formidable opponent in 1972s Way of the Dragon. Five years later, he landed his first leading role as a truck driver searching for his missing brother in Breaker! Breaker! Throughout the 70s and 80s, Norris made a name for himself as a rugged action hero in movies like Lone Wolf McQuade, Missing in Action, and Delta Force.

With his film career cooling off in the 90s, Norris made the switch to television. The tough guy won new fans with his long running series Walker Texas Ranger.

NORRIS: You have the right to remain silent.

ELAM: Off screen, Norris was a supporter of conservative causes and candidates like former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.

NORRIS: This race is extremely important for all of us.

ELAM: A born again Christian, Norris expressed his faith as an author and columnist and advocated for religious education in public schools. In later years, he became an internet sensation as the subject of humorous Chuck Norris facts, which satirized his tougher than tough image. He read a few of his favorites on The Best Damn Sports Show Period.

NORRIS: When the boogeyman goes to sleep every night, he checks his paws up for Chuck Norris.

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ELAM: Norris kept poking fun at himself when he returned to the big screen in The Expendables 2.

SYLVESTER STALLONE, ACTOR: I heard another rumor that you were bitten by a King Cobra.

NORRIS: Yeah, I was. But after five days of agonizing pain, the cobra died.

ELAM: Online, on screen, and on the mat. Chuck Norris struck a chord with the public and left his mark as a performer and an athlete.

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SANDOVAL: Actor Val Kilmer, he's set to appear posthumously in an upcoming film, and it's thanks to the use of generative artificial intelligence. Kilmer, who died at the age of 65 last April, he will take on a role in As Deep As The Grave. He was cast in that movie before his death, but he was unable to work on set due to his throat cancer diagnosis.

First Line Film says that his appearance will be the first time a movie studio has used AI in this way. The filmmakers say that they work closely with Kilmer's estates and his daughter adding that this will be a fitting way to honor Kilmer's attachment to the character.

Thank you so much for joining us for "The Story Is." Elex Michaelson back here on Monday. For now, the news continues with my colleague Ben Hunte. For now, I'm Polo Sandoval, New York.

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