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The Story Is with Elex Michaelson
Trump Claims War in Iran Has Been "Won"; Israel Ramps Up Strikes on Beirut, Southern Lebanon; Aid Trickles into Cuba Amid Energy Crisis, U.S. Oil Blockade; Lengthy Security Lines Wind Through Houston Airport; Obstacles Threaten Republican Plan to End DHS Shutdown; Interviewing Gavin Newsom; Conflict Affecting Markets, Fuel Prices Across Asia; Kim Jong-un Issues Bold Message to Donald Trump; Jurors Find Meta Liable in Child Sexual Exploitation Case; Debate Canceled Amid Uproar Over Excluded Candidates of Color. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired March 25, 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 ANCHOR: Brandon Alinger, thank you so much.
BRANDON ALINGER, COO, PROPSTORE: Thank you. Thanks for having me on.
COATES: Thank you for watching. "THE STORY IS" with Elex Michaelson is next.
ANNOUNCER: Live from Los Angeles, THE STORY IS with Elex Michaelson.
ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Elex Michaelson, and THE STORY IS in the Middle East where missiles light up the night sky over Israel. President Trump is claiming victory in the war with Iran. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I think we're going to end it. I can't tell you for sure. You know, I don't like to say this. We've won this. This war has been won.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: But sources tell CNN about 1,000 U.S. soldiers are expecting to deploy to the region in the coming days. This as President Trump suggests that a mysterious goodwill gesture from Iran is helping diplomatic efforts to end the war.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: They did something yesterday that was amazing actually. They gave us a present. And the present arrived today. And it was a very big present worth a tremendous amount of money. And I'm not going to tell you what that present is, but it was a very significant price. And they gave it to us and they said they were going to give it so that meant one thing to me, we're dealing with the right people. UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Is that nuclear related?
TRUMP: No, it wasn't nuclear related. It was oil and gas related.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Meanwhile, an Iranian source tells CNN there has been outreach between the U.S. and Iran, and Tehran is willing to listen to suitable proposals to end the war. But we're also hearing from an Israeli official that a deal, quote, "does not appear to be tangible right now."
In the foreground of these mixed diplomatic messages, missiles are still flying over the skies over Israel and the West Bank as the war rages on.
Let's bring in CNN's Mike Valerio live from Beijing.
Mike, what can you tell us about these potential talks and this apparent present?
MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I don't think I have any developments on the apparent present, Elex. Stand by for more information on that. Maybe we can talk about that in the next hour. But interesting reporting on who Iran wants or I should say doesn't want for the next round of negotiations.
We have new reporting that's led by Kylie Atwood, CNN's own at the State Department, saying that Iran does not want Steve Witkoff or Jared Kushner to be part of the negotiations that hopefully end this war. They have said through back channels to Washington, D.C., that they much prefer Vice President Vance for the reasons that we discussed when we were here talking on the show this time yesterday, because Vance is seen as somebody who would want to end the war quickly.
The direct quote from Kiley's reporting is the perception is that Vance could be intent on wrapping up the conflict, one of the sources said, because of his long standing position, even from his days as an author and being in the Senate as being an isolationist, not advocating for U.S. foreign wars and action abroad.
But these sources concede that Trump is really going to send whoever he wants to these negotiations. And the president, I know we heard from him at the top of the show, a couple sound bites, let's hear from him one more time and we'll talk about it on the other side. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We're in negotiations right now. They're doing it along with Marco, J.D., we have a number of people doing it. And the other side, I can tell you they'd like to make a deal.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: There's been reports that the vice president is leading those negotiations? Is that true? TRUMP: Well, he's involved in them. J.D. is involved and Marco is
involved. And Jared Kushner is involved. Very smart guy. And Steve Witkoff, smart guy, is involved. And I'm involved.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VALERIO: So it's kind of like everybody, the whole suite right there.
Elex, we also want to get to that 15-point plan, the 15-point proposal that we were also talking about yesterday. This is new reporting from the "Wall Street Journal." We're working on it also as part of our reporting targets for today. So the question is what exactly is in the 15-point plan. And it's much as what we have heard going into the first round of negotiations, or I should say, the negotiations before the war started.
So the journalists saying one of the points are calling on Iran to dismantle three new -- three main nuclear sites and any enrichment on Iranian soil, suspend its ballistic missile work, curb support for proxies and fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz. So that's pretty much everything that the president wants and more. Sources that we're talking to are saying it's going to be really hard, understatement of the day here in Asia, for Iran to agree to any of that since those are probably, you know, five points of their main leverage cards right there.
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And then finally, let's end on this. We were talking about Pakistan yesterday and the potential for a meeting in Islamabad where the vice president would go and speak face-to-face with Iranian officials about an offramp to this war. The reporting that we have right now at this hour is even among American officials who want this to happen. It's looking like it may not happen. The sources are pretty skeptical that it may come into fruition. It's a possibility, but they're not as excited or jazzed about it as they were yesterday, Elex.
MICHAELSON: Mike Valerio, thank you.
And when President Trump is asked who's leading the negotiations, President Trump is leading the negotiations. Not anybody else on his staff. I think that's probably his answer there.
VALERIO: Yes. Yes.
MICHAELSON: Thank you, Mike. We'll see you next hour.
Israel ramping up its offensive on Lebanon. The IDF saying earlier that it had targeted fuel stations across the country. This as Israel expands strikes on the capital Beirut, and moves to cut off Southern Lebanon.
CNN's Jeremy Diamond has the latest there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: The Israelis say that they have blown up five separate bridges across that Litani River, which separates, you know, the southernmost area of Lebanon, which is considered to be Hezbollah stronghold, Shia majority area, from the rest of Lebanon. The Israeli military says that it is to prevent Hezbollah from smuggling weapons into Southern Lebanon, where Israeli troops are increasingly encroaching on Lebanese territory.
But Lebanese officials say that this is also posing a humanitarian problem, preventing people from eventually being able to return to that area and preventing those who are still living south of the Litani River from getting the essential supplies that they need in order to live. And this all comes as the Israeli defense minister and other top Israeli officials are indicating more and more that the future holds a ground operation for the Israeli military, a significant offensive into Lebanese territory.
We know that Israeli troops are already operating, you know, a few miles into Lebanese territory, but we've heard yesterday from the Israeli finance minister, the far-right minister, Bezalel Smotrich, today from Israel Katz, both of them kind of pointing at this strategy of controlling the entire area up to that Litani River, holding the territory in the future. And we don't yet know if that means using ground troops to do so.
But it does come, as the Israeli government today, you know, raised the cap for the number of reserve soldiers that they can have, up to 400,000 from 280,000. Doesn't mean they're going to call all of them up, but it certainly does give the Israeli government the option to do so if they wanted to carry out a major offensive in Lebanon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAELSON: Jeremy Diamond, reporting in Tel Aviv there.
Now here in Los Angeles is Benjamin Radd, political scientist, senior fellow at the UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations.
Welcome back to THE STORY IS. Thanks for being here live with us tonight.
BENJAMIN RADD, POLITICAL SCIENTIST: Thank you.
MICHAELSON: You say we are in the military dictatorship phase. What does that mean?
RADD: This is now a junta basically. We are left with the hard line IRGC components left. There is basically these are -- some of whom have experience from the Iran-Iraq war. These are those who are sort of have a military perspective, a fighting perspective towards this, less diplomacy. And for them, they'll see this to the end, whatever the end entails. And I think that it's now basically leadership by committee so long as the supreme leader remains absent.
MICHAELSON: Yes. We have no idea if he's even alive. We haven't seen him. We have not heard him. So, I mean, essentially what you're saying that everybody that's left, almost everybody they know was just killed. A lot of their family members were killed. They're not necessarily the warm and fuzzy type. Right?
RADD: And you know what? There really weren't any warm and fuzzy types to begin with. But what we're left with now are no more diplomats and those who have experience dialoging with the West, who were involved in prior negotiations, who have those relationships and the trust that you need to really break through moments like this.
MICHAELSON: So these guys are used to fighting, not necessarily used to negotiating. So how do you negotiate with them then?
RADD: Well, you don't until they decide they have enough leverage and they hold enough cards to then negotiate. What they don't want to do is what they've done in the past, which is negotiate from a point of weakness, where they feel the United States could at any point resume any of the offensive they're doing. They want to make sure that the pain is such that the U.S. won't consider reengaging in this way again.
MICHAELSON: So how do they do that?
RADD: They do that by exacting enough of a price, by making it so painful for the United States economically, not necessarily attacking U.S. forces, which they'll try to do, but basically raising the stakes, raising the economic stakes, which we're seeing now with the Strait of Hormuz being their one major leverage point.
MICHAELSON: Essentially make everybody pay at the gas pump, and then they may be frustrated with their leaders in Washington.
RADD: And then take it out on the elections, in the midterms, and all that. Yes, right.
MICHAELSON: So the news of the day, we hear about more potential troops, more ground troops potentially heading to the region. What would they do in that scenario?
RADD: So one scenario would be that they would go and retrieve, locate and retrieve the 400 or so kilograms of highly enriched uranium that is still out there, that that the United States can't seem to account for.
[00:10:08]
And that's one of the key elements President Trump put forward when he launched this operation was basically securing that uranium. And then maybe secondly, identifying where Iran is hiding and storing some of these additional ballistic missiles. We kind of know where they are. They're buried underneath mountains that even the B-2s bunker busters can't seem to penetrate. So maybe a way to neutralize or prevent Iran from accessing those missiles, but I think primarily it's to find the nuclear material that seems to be at the heart of this.
MICHAELSON: And in terms of the Strait of Hormuz, do ground troops move into that region to try to get the thing open? RADD: They need to have enough forces to secure passage. They need to
make shipping companies feel that they can risk sending the cargo through. They need to make sure insurers feel comfortable with this. I'm not sure if a few thousand would be able to do that and to stabilize the coastline, while also preventing Iran from firing any rockets from the mainland.
MICHAELSON: So how long can Iran hold out without negotiating?
RADD: So let's keep in mind the country is dysfunctional from within. The people are -- 80 percent of the country is sort of hates its leadership, is looking for change. They're top tier leaders are now all gone. Everybody who's there doesn't have experience at the senior level. So there's chaos, right? They're not the sort of, you know, as people say, this 10-foot tall, you know, creature that is difficult to fight.
It's probably a few more weeks before they basically are suffering economically as well from all of this. So I'd say the five to six weeks was what I had envisioned as being the timeline for this, and we're getting close to that.
MICHAELSON: But in the meantime, probably gets worse before it gets better.
RADD: It usually does.
MICHAELSON: Yes. Benjamin Radd from UCLA, always good to see you. Thank you for stepping us through each and every step of this whole thing.
RADD: Thank you.
MICHAELSON: Desperately needed aid is slowly trickling into Cuba after that country was plunged into total darkness twice last week, humanitarian aid, ship carrying solar panels, toiletries, food and medicine docked in Havana on Tuesday.
The island is grappling with a deepening economic crisis and a U.S. blockade of critical oil supplies.
CNN's Patrick Oppmann reports from Havana.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So right behind me, you can see this boat that is coming from Mexico. It is bringing aid, humanitarian aid, food, medicines, solar panels, all items that are very badly needed in Cuba at this moment. It is part of an effort, part of a flotilla of boats that will be arriving to show solidarity with Cuba. These are activists that support the Cuban government, that have wanted to show that the Cuban government is receiving backing as the U.S. tries to strangle off all energy, all oil shipments to this island.
So it's not a very large boat, but it has tons of aid aboard. We've seen other aid arriving by air over the last several days. Certainly, there's much more demand on the island right now than any one aid group, any one group of activists can meet, and we hear them singing and shouting to us. And so this is really more about the optics, the support that Cuba still receives. This group is not without its criticism, though, because they're delivering the aid to the government. But we have seen some of them say they're already arriving to hospitals that arrived by air.
So while Cuba is dealing with the worst energy crisis in many, many years, dealing with a U.S. administration that is trying to bring the island's government to its knees to force political and economic change here. Certainly there are groups around the world that will continue to support this island and the government that is in in control here.
Patrick Oppmann, CNN, Havana.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAELSON: Thank you, Patrick.
Still to come, some TSA agents say they feel abandoned and forgotten since other DHS workers are getting paid during the partial government shutdown. We'll have reaction from union leaders just ahead.
And later, these four candidates of color were snubbed in a big debate in the California Governors' Race, which didn't end up happening. Politico's California bureau chief Melanie Mason, here on set to describe the very, very strange state of that very important race.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:18:37]
MICHAELSON: Markwayne Mullin has been sworn in as the next secretary of U.S. Homeland Security. The former Oklahoma senator says he wants to keep the embattled department out of the headlines, and suggested he won't unfairly target so-called blue or Democrat-run cities and states. However, he remains a staunch supporter of President Trump's controversial immigration crackdown.
Mullin will also inherit the department's shutdown that has caused Transportation Security Administration personnel to go unpaid. Officials say more than 450 TSA agents have resigned since the start of the partial government shutdown. In fact, more than 3200 TSA workers called out on Monday. That's after nearly 12 percent of all workers across the U.S. called out on Sunday.
TSA employees have been working without pay, and union leaders say they feel abandoned and unvalued, especially as ICE agents who are getting a paycheck have stepped in to assist at select airports.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EVERETT KELLEY, AFGE NATIONAL PRESIDENT: The administration sent ICE agents to airports as replacement workers. That's like giving a person dying of pneumonia a teaspoon of cough syrup. It doesn't address the problem, and it's not going to work.
Why are we making TSA employees the pawn on the chessboard? It's not that these employees and their families are hungry. They're beginning to starve.
CHRISTINE VITEL, AFGE LOCAL 777 EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT: I just have a message for Washington. Pay us. Stop holding us hostage. Give us our money.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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MICHAELSON: Our Ed Lavandera is in Houston, Texas, where George Bush Intercontinental Airport warns travelers may have to wait four hours or more in security lines on Wednesday.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's been another stressful and nightmarish day of traveling through George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas, where once again, many passengers, thousands of them facing lines that were about four plus hours, in many cases, winding their way through different levels of the airport.
Now, why is it happening here? The call-out levels, according to the data we're getting from TSA, is that it's close to about 40 percent of TSA employees are calling out at this particular airport. So that is complicating factors. We are in Terminal E, the line winds its way. Once you get down past that area that is the promised land, but the line actually starts two floors below us.
We're late in the afternoon here, so the lines are starting to ease up. But this is the middle floor. There's another floor below it where the line starts out, and it kind of winds its way through the lobby of the terminal here and outside of the terminal as well. But the -- it's, you know, the times and the amount of time that passengers here have spent in lines have been very dramatic. Many passengers missing flights, many of them trying to figure out exactly how to best navigate all of this.
So in some cases, showing up in one -- we met one man who showed up almost 12 hours before his flight took off earlier on Tuesday. And that is what passengers are trying to figure out and navigate right now. We have seen continued presence of federal agents here, ICE agents, at the airport. It's not clear what they're doing to help alleviate and speed the process up of passengers getting through security.
The wait times today were very similar to what they have been in days previously, so that hasn't changed so much that we've been seeing them mostly on the fringe and helping people navigate the maze of lines that exist here in this airport.
Ed Lavandera, CNN, Houston. (END VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAELSON: Ed, thank you.
Senate Republicans are moving forward with their plan to end the Department of Homeland Security shutdown, but they are struggling to sell the proposal to Democrats and even possibly to President Trump. Calls for funding all of DHS, except for a small portion of the immigration enforcement budget. The president said Tuesday he was pretty much not happy with the deal. Sources say top Republicans think he actually is on board.
Democrats are planning a counter offer. As one senator put it, we don't want roving bands of masked agents grabbing people off the street. Senate Republican Leader John Thune says DHS could reopen this weekend, but the ball is in the Democrats' court. He added that Republicans could use other means to pursue the president's goal for more ICE funding, and passing his voter I.D. bill, known as the SAVE America Act.
Joining me now from Houston, Jonathan Martin, a senior political columnist for Politico, host of the brand new YouTube show called "On the Road," where he gets to eat with the best politicians at the best restaurants in the country. I'm so mad I'm not doing that show.
Jonathan Martin, welcome to THE STORY IS for the first time.
JONATHAN MARTIN, SENIOR POLITICAL COLUMNIST, POLITICO: Great to be with you, Elex. Thanks so much for that plug. I appreciate it.
MICHAELSON: Let's -- yes, let's start with the DHS negotiations. Where are we at? How close are we to a deal?
MARTIN: Oh, I think you'll see a deal because lawmakers smell jet fumes. And when they smell jet fumes, that means that they want to get on the plane and get back to their states and districts before a big recess. And that's where we are now. They're bumping up against Easter recess here at the end of the week. And it's just hard to see them going home, Elex, for that two-week break without restoring funding to DHS.
They're like college students. They work best with deadlines, hard against them. And that's where we are now. There's going to be squawking about the deal. You'll hear the squawking until the minute that the roll is called, but they'll pass something to reopen DHS. It's just untenable not to going into a break for two weeks.
MICHAELSON: Well, so much of this has been about sort of this fight between Democrats and Republicans and how to fight for the Democratic Party. And that's part of what you get into in your newest episode of "On the Road," where you sit down with the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, in San Francisco, and you bring up the trolling that he has been doing of President Trump and the criticism among some in his own party, including the governor of Maryland, who, by the way, could be running against him for president.
Let's watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTIN: Governor Wes Moore from Maryland said the other day, Democrats don't need a Democratic version of Donald Trump. I think he may have been alluding to you, at least implicitly. Does that bother you?
GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D), CALIFORNIA: No, because I love Wes. I was just with him at Jesse Jackson's memorial and we sat next to each other. I was reminded how much I respect and admire him.
MARTIN: But that take, though.
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NEWSOM: Right now we'll lose this country if we are not aggressive. Pushing back and reminding the state.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: He later said that Wes Moore was a great basketball player and football player, but in terms of the substance of this, though, there is a big fight in terms of how to fight back against Trumpism and perhaps J.D. Vance or Marco Rubio, the future of the Republican Party. What do you make of that dynamic and how Newsom fits into it?
MARTIN: Well, look, I think Gavin Newsom wants to run against Donald Trump until the last possible second that he can. And I think, Elex, that Gavin Newsom's theory of the case is that you can run against Donald Trump in 2028, even though he's not going to be on the ballot. You know, Democrats ran against Hoover for a long time after he was gone from the White House.
I think the theory is that Trump is such a massive, divisive force in the country that if you're a Democrat, you can win the primary and then potentially win the general by still running against Trump.
You know this, Elex, from covering Gavin Newsom for years. He is somebody who does not want to choose sides in his party's factional disputes. He doesn't call himself a progressive. He doesn't want to call himself a moderate either. He doesn't want to take a side. He wants to be somebody who can unify the party and not choose. And I don't know if that's possible given where we are.
Can you do that in a year and a half long primary? I think it's going to be tough. But he really wants to keep the focus on Trump. And as he says, he believes the country demands it. And I think that's a pretty popular view in his party right now. If it wasn't, his numbers wouldn't be as good as they are today.
MICHAELSON: Well, and that's a big part of his book, "Young Men in a Hurry." He doesn't really take positions on pretty much anything. Right? It's a book about him and this journey of discovery.
MARTIN: Yes.
MICHAELSON: And it's -- and it's an interesting book, as you point out. And these two worlds of Gavin Newsom.
MARTIN: Yes.
MICHAELSON: One, his mother, who didn't have a whole lot of money, single mom, latchkey kid living in her house with his sister, and then his father, who was best friends with one of the richest guys in the world. They would go on these crazy expeditions around the world. His father loved politics, wanted him to run. His mother told him, you should not run. You don't know who you are and politics caused the divorce with your father.
And you asked this question, which I thought was very telling and something I don't think anybody has ever asked him before on camera. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTIN: But dad would want you to run, and mom would have misgivings, you think?
NEWSOM: I'm not chasing. I've come to grips with -- I'm -- I think my -- I knew one thing. My dad was proud of me and my mom was proud of me. I'm not chasing that. And I just now I'm chasing only one thing. And that's whether or not I can make my kids proud.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: What did you make of that moment and sort of, and who is Gavin Newsom after your experience with him?
MARTIN: It was one of the most poignant parts of the interview. It came at the end, and, Elex, it was one of the few moments that he was somewhat flummoxed. He's one of the most smoothest operators you and I have ever covered in American politics. He's been -- he's been at this -- at this game for decades now. People forget he was kind of a boy mayor in his 30s in San Francisco over two decades ago.
I haven't seen him in that kind of moment where he sort of caught off guard, like I did with that question, because it is so personal. And here's also why. He's grappling with the same questions now that his parents dealt with. You know, he says that his parents' marriage was wrecked by politics. His dad ran two losing campaigns. He was crestfallen. It broke up the marriage. Well, now, Gavin Newsom has had a successful career in politics, but he's now grappling with whether or not to go to the highest wrong because he's got four kids of his own, and he's concerned about his candidacy, the impact on his kids, and what it could do to them because of what his own experience was when he was growing up given his dad's choice to get involved in politics.
It's so poignant, it's so personal. And I think that's why he struggled with that question because he's living this right now.
Elex, I asked him, I said, what's the whip count in your family? You got your wife Jen and your four kids. You know, you got five votes there, they got a veto. And he said, it kind of varies day to day, but this is a live question. All of us assume Gavin Newsom is running for president. It's a done deal. I think it's still more of an open question because he does have these personal, deeply personal issues that relate to his own childhood and his own parents and their breakup of their marriage.
MICHAELSON: And he says that his own son asked him not to, and said that we're not ready for that.
MARTIN: Yes.
MICHAELSON: And so that's something that's weighing on him. I got to say, there's been a lot of interviews with Gavin Newsom in the last few weeks, and yours is among the best, really, really interesting.
MARTIN: Thank you.
[00:30:06]
MICHAELSON: If you want to get a better sense of who this guy is, good and bad. Jonathan Martin's "On the Road" on YouTube is a really great way to do that.
Congratulations, Jonathan, on the show. Big fan of you and great to have you on this show for the first time.
MARTIN: You're -- you're a good man, Elex. Thanks. Appreciate it, man.
MICHAELSON: All right. Coming up, a defiant message from North Korea's Kim Jong-un. Why he is accusing the U.S. of state-sponsored terrorism and saying he'll never, ever get rid of his nukes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:35:15]
MICHAELSON: The war with Iran is having an effect on stock markets and fuel prices across Asia, and some countries are taking steps to try and limit the impact.
CNN's Hanako Montgomery live now in Tokyo with the latest on that -- Hanako.
HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Elex.
So, you know, as you mentioned, a lot of countries and regions are now beginning to feel the pinch of this U.S. and Israel's war with Iran as it enters yet another week of fighting that just does not seem to abate.
And Asia is hit especially hard. It actually consumes more than 80 percent of the oil that crosses the strait. In India, for example, we've already heard reports that some factories are being forced to shut. Also, rickshaw drivers, for example, complaining of massive lines at gas stations as they're trying to stock up on fuel that they need to get to work, to get to school.
Listen to this one driver who said he waited nearly 4 to 5 hours just to get oil. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): There are long queues. There's a shortage of gas here. Pumps are shut everywhere. How are we supposed to run our businesses in this situation? We have been standing in line for four hours. Gas is expensive everywhere. We are waiting for 4 or 5 hours. How will we even cover our vehicle expenses?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MONTGOMERY: Now, meanwhile, the Philippines, for example, on Tuesday has declared a national energy emergency. It's actually the first country in the world to declare this because of a war being fought thousands of miles away.
Now, in an executive order signed by the president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., it reads, quote, "The declaration of a state of national emergency will enable the government to implement responsive and coordinated measures under existing laws to address the risks posed by disruptions in the global energy supply and the domestic economy."
Now, Marcos, the president, has said that a committee is being set up to figure out how to supply energy and oil to people who are extremely vulnerable in this situation.
But also, of course, in South Korea, we're seeing another similar example, with the country announcing a 12-point countrywide energy saving campaign.
Now, this campaign is not imposed on the people. It's actually just recommended. But, for example, urging people to take shorter showers, riding bicycles for short trips, also avoiding charging phones and electric vehicles at night to, again, avoid charging mobile devices and electrical appliances for very long hours to, again, cut energy sources, and also to ensure that energy is being used appropriately during such a crunch.
So, again, Elex, many countries and places across Asia are feeling the pinch right now as this war continues to worsen in the Middle East. And many countries now are trying to figure out a solution in an energy crisis that really just does not seem to be letting up any time soon -- Elex.
MICHAELSON: It is remarkable that one decision by Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu impacting every single country in the world.
Hanako Montgomery in Tokyo for us. Thank you, Hanako.
Now, while the U.S. says that Iran must not be allowed to build nuclear weapons, North Korea is insisting its right to have nukes as, quote, "irreversible."
The leader of that country, Kim Jong-un, telling Parliament that he is strengthening the North's nuclear arsenal. And he had a bold message for President Trump following another round of missile tests earlier this month.
CNN's Will Ripley picks up the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): North Korean leader Kim Jong-un walks into Parliament with confidence. State media claims he just won reelection by a landslide with 99.93 percent of the vote.
In front of a packed house in Pyongyang, Kim has a defiant message for President Donald Trump.
KIM JONG-UN, NORTH KOREAN LEADER (through translator): The United States is now resorting to acts of state-sponsored terrorism and aggression. The hostile forces wanted us to make a different choice, preaching a payment for our giving up of nuclear weapons. But the present situation clearly proves our nuclear possession is irreversible.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Kim never names Iran. He doesn't have to. His message to Trump is blunt: when diplomacy fails, only brute nuclear force will do.
Ever since the Iran war broke out, a string of high-profile North Korean weapons tests. This salvo of cruise missiles fired from Kim's flagship destroyer, the Choe Hyon.
Days later, a barrage of what state media calls a dozen nuclear- capable rockets.
Kim, joined by his daughter and rumored successor in training, the teenager believed to be named Kim Ju-ae. She's even getting behind the wheel of a brand-new tank with her father riding shotgun.
[00:40:05]
Kim and his daughter busy flaunting their firepower.
And Russia? Praising its anti-U.S. partnership with Pyongyang. During coverage of the Iraq war, Russian state TV airing footage of North Korean troops training near the Ukrainian front, glorifying soldiers who chose suicide over capture. A clear signal Russia has North Korea's back.
And back in Pyongyang, Kim is honoring families of fallen troops, doubling down on nuclear weapons, and telling his military -- and his people -- to prepare for war.
RIPLEY: There are still signs diplomacy is not completely off the table. Just this month, South Korea's prime minister sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office, raising the possibility of another meeting with Kim Jong-un.
Trump has made it clear he's open to it, and Kim is signaling he could actually be, too. But with one condition: North Korea's nuclear weapons are not up for negotiation.
Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAELSON: Will, thanks.
THE STORY IS in Ukraine, where Russia has launched one of its largest attacks in that war so far. Ukraine's president says at least 40 people were injured across the country after Moscow reportedly fired almost a thousand drones in just 24 hours.
More than half of those strikes occurred during a rare daytime assault.
According to Ukraine's air force, the drones mainly targeted the country's central and Western regions. One of the strikes damaged part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a monastery complex in the Western city of Lviv.
The city's mayor says at least 22 people were wounded in those attacks.
Coming up, a jury orders Meta to pay hundreds of millions of dollars over child safety violations. Details just ahead.
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MICHAELSON: A jury in New Mexico found social media giant Meta violated state law by failing to warn users of its platform's dangers and protect minors from sexual predators.
That landmark decision marks the first time that Meta has been held accountable over concerns about risks to children and teens.
CNN's Clare Duffy has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: Really significant decision in New Mexico here. This case was filed back in 2023 by New Mexico's attorney general, accusing Meta of creating a breeding ground for child predators by failing to keep bad actors off of Facebook and Instagram; failing to prevent them from messaging teens and kids they don't know on the platform; and for failing to warn users and parents about these risks.
DUFFY (voice-over): Now, Meta had pushed back, saying that it is honest about the fact that some bad actors and bad content slip through its safety filters.
But the jury here found Meta liable on all counts for violating New Mexico's consumer protection law, finding that the company willfully engaged in deceptive and unfair and unconscionable trade practices. And they've ordered Meta to pay $375 million in damages.
Now, Meta says it will appeal this decision. And I'll read you what a Meta spokesperson told me in response to this decision. They said, "We respectfully disagree with the verdict and will appeal. We work hard to keep people safe on our platforms and are clear about the challenges of identifying and removing bad actors or harmful content."
And just to take a step back here, look, $375 million is sort of a drop in the bucket for a company as big as Meta, but this is nonetheless a very important moment.
This company has for years faced concerns from parents and advocates and lawmakers over the risks to children on its platform. And this is the first time that we are seeing a jury hold the company accountable for those risks.
This is also just the first phase of this trial. So, there will be another phase presented directly to the judge, where we could see the company ordered to pay additional financial damages and also potentially to make changes to its platform.
DUFFY: And I certainly think that you'll see other state A.G.s watching this result closely. Potentially, this presents an approach for other states to follow with the success of this New Mexico decision.
Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAELSON: Clare Duffy in New York. Thank you. Clare.
Back here in Southern California, the University of Southern California canceled a debate that it planned to host a few hours ago between the candidates for governor.
The university faced days of criticism after it excluded every prominent Democratic candidate of color from participating, who all happened to be polling significantly lower than many of the other folks.
USC defended the methods it used to decide who was invited, but it said the concerns had created a significant distraction from the issues.
And now to some new exclusive reporting from CNN. Hours after USC canceled, candidates Matt Mahan and Tom Steyer scrambled to organize a backup event, including everybody.
But the four candidates who weren't originally invited would only agree if they made a pact with all the leading candidates for future debates, saying, either we're all in, we're all invited onto the stage, or none of us shows up.
The other candidates would not commit to that. Melanie Mason is "Politico's" California bureau chief, coauthor of
"The Politico California Playbook," and one of the smartest people in this space.
Melanie, welcome back to THE STORY IS, one of our favorite guests.
MELANIE MASON, CALIFORNIA BUREAU CHIEF, "POLITICO": Thanks for having me.
MICHAELSON: All right. So, let's start with this, because this show's on in 200 countries around the world, not just here in California.
[00:50:00]
Why do people in the rest of the country and other countries, why should they even care about this in the first place? Why does the race for California governor matter?
MASON: Because the California governor isn't just a California figure. I mean, think about the recent California governors that we've had: Gavin Newsom, Jerry Brown, Arnold Schwarzenegger. I mean, these are national and international figures.
These are people who travel abroad, who almost treat California like a quasi-nation state. They're meeting with heads of state.
And so, when we're talking about the types of people that sort of set the -- the tempo for the rest of the country, certainly for the Democratic Party, the California governor matters a lot. And that's why I think this race matters, even if you're not voting in the race.
MICHAELSON: Yes. And at a time when Donald Trump is president, California is the biggest blue state in the country. And yet, there's now this possibility it could be led by Republicans. We'll get more into that in a moment.
But let's start with this debate. What happened here? Why was this canceled?
MASON: What happened? There was a lot of uproar, because USC, along with its media partner ABC-7, set up these criteria that said, look, here are the people who are going to qualify for the debate.
And what we saw is that some people were excluded and they were not happy about being excluded. And those people who were excluded included the prominent candidates of color.
And so, I think we can get into a real back and forth of whether that was a purposeful exclusion, or if that was just a reflection of their polling numbers, which are quite low.
But at the end of the day is that it was a huge headache for USC. It was a huge headache for the Democrats, writ large. And so, we saw the debate be canceled.
MICHAELSON: I mean, basically, here's where the real problems started. If you look at the recent polling, there are basically two tiers up here is Tom Steyer, Katie Porter, and also --
MASON: Eric Swalwell.
MICHAELSON: -- Eric Swalwell. In terms of the Democrats. And then everybody else is down here.
Now, Matt Mahan was down here, who is the mayor of San Jose, and somehow he was included in that top tier. And so, everybody else, all the candidates of color, were like, why are you letting the white guy do this?
MASON: Which, look, I think that that is a fair question. I think that what we would hear from USC is that Matt Mahan, unlike some of these other candidates, has significant financial backing, right? Both in terms of his own campaign and also from external supporters.
And look, as much as we perhaps don't want to acknowledge it, money is a -- is a pretty big factor, particularly in California races.
But I do think that that was a fair question that was -- that was raised by some of these other candidates of, you know, should -- should outside money, should the ability to get big checks really determine whether you get elevated on stage or not?
MICHAELSON: So, Xavier Becerra, who is the former HHS secretary, former attorney general of California, amazing resume --
MASON: Yes.
MICHAELSON: -- has not done very well in terms of the polling so far. He put out a statement on X, saying, "We won today," sort of fighting back against this.
But did he? I mean, who won in this whole scenario? He won by canceling a debate. So, nobody heard from the candidates tonight.
MASON: It's really hard to think of anybody who's a winner in this, because the truth is, is that this was one of the first opportunities that the candidates had to really get people to engage in this race.
I mean, this race has been going on, it feels like for us, forever. But the truth is, is that most California voters have not really tuned in. And this was going to be an opportunity that was broadcast on television, where people could have an entry point into the race.
And yes, Xavier Becerra was one of those people that was not going to be on stage. So, perhaps for him, it's a moral victory that -- that nobody was onstage.
But the time is ticking. I think in order to get California voters engaged with this, you need things like these televised debates to get there.
So, the primary ends in June. Voting starts in May. The top two advance, regardless of party in California. And recent polls, including one put out today by the California
Democratic Party, show that the top two are both Republicans, Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco, which is quite something in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans 2 to 1.
It is a real scenario where you could have no Democrats on the ballot in the general election.
The party's trying to pressure these guys. But interestingly, the biggest names in the party -- Gavin Newsom; Nancy Pelosi; Alex Padilla, the senator; Rob Bonta, the attorney general, other -- none of them have endorsed anybody to potentially give them help.
MASON: I think that that sort of goes to show just how unsettled this race has been, that there isn't really a clear frontrunner among the Democrats. You sort of have these three that are clustered together.
And look, an endorsement is making a bet, right? It is going out and saying that I think that I'm going to put my political capital behind that person. And if that person doesn't win, then it doesn't reflect that well on you.
And so, we are hearing from people like Governor Newsom saying, oh, you know, I'm a little worried about the fact that there's so many Democrats. But he hasn't taken that step to -- to make his bet, to decide who he thinks should be his next successor.
So, you can complain all you want, but until you're ready to send those signals to the voters of who you think should have that job, I think that those complaints fall on deaf ears.
MICHAELSON: Yes. And meanwhile, the field continues. I think a lot of the candidates see flaws in all the other candidates, which is why this has happened.
But it'll be interesting to see, in the weeks and months ahead, what happens next.
[00:55:03]
Melanie Mason, what a day --
MASON: What a day.
MICHAELSON: -- it has been in this race.
We'll be right back. More of THE STORY IS right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MICHAELSON: 2026 FIFA World Cup tournament less than three months away, and football fans -- or soccer, if you prefer -- celebrating with a world tour of the tournament's trophy.
The first stop in the U.S. was right here in Los Angeles, featuring Italian soccer legend Alessandro del Piero and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass. Upcoming U.S. stops include Chicago, Miami, Atlanta, Boston, and New
York.
