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The Story Is with Elex Michaelson
Iran Claims To Have Attacked U.S. Military Bases In The Middle East; Police Blast Water Cannons At Belfast Protesters Amid Unrest; Bill Gates Testifies On Capitol Hill For Ties To Jeffrey Epstein; Mexico Getting Ready To Host Tournament's Opening Match; Protesters Slam Justice System After 11-Year-Old Murder; 11-Year-Old's Murder Rattling French Government; "Groundswell" Documentary Examines Regenerative Agriculture; Battle Raging Across U.S. Over A.I. Data Centers. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired June 11, 2026 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Los Angeles, The Story Is with Elex Michelson.
ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks for watching The Story Is. I'm Elex Michaelson. We're live in Los Angeles. And tonight the top story is fresh tension in the Middle East.
Iran says it has launched retaliatory attacks on American military targets across the region after the latest round of U.S. strikes on Iran. U.S. Central Command says those attacks targeted Iranian military sites and came in response to, quote, Iran's unwarranted and continued aggression.
The U.S. military says those strikes are now complete, but that may not be the last of it. President Donald Trump reportedly is warning that the bombing would continue for another night if a memorandum of understanding is not reached with Iran. CNN's Paula Hancocks starts us off. She's live in Abu Dhabi.
Paula, what is the concern in the region for strikes?
PAULA HONCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Elex, this is a region that is on tenterhooks at this point. You wake up every morning wondering what the Iranian retaliation has been, what the U.S. strikes have been. This morning, for the second day in a row, we saw it was Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan that bore the brunt of the Iranian retaliation. We saw in Kuwait, for example, Iran saying that it was targeting U.S. military bases in those three countries.
In Kuwait, the airspace had to be shut. Flights had to be diverted as they were intercepting incoming missiles and drones. We know in Bahrain, which of course is home to the U.S. navy's Fifth Fleet, that was also targeted. And in Jordan, the U.S. embassy in Amman told Americans to find shelter, to shelter in place as they also came under attack. So what we're hearing from the Iranian side, as they say that they targeted six -- 18 significant targets. They say that they will continue to target U.S. interests in the region if the U.S. continues with their strikes against Iran. We've certainly seen many of those strikes focusing around the Strait of Hormuz, that key waterway. Many locations there, we understand from Central Command were targeted. Elex?
MICHAELSON: Yes. So is this pressure campaign, Paula, likely to actually work on Iran?
HANCOCKS: It hasn't in the past, and I think the overwhelming expert opinion is that it won't in the future either. This is not a regime that buckles under military pressure. We have seen that time and time again. But what we're hearing from the U.S. President is that the bombing will continue tomorrow if the Iranians do not agree to this memorandum of understanding.
This is a deal that has remained elusive, in fact, elusive. It's not actually the deal. It's a memorandum of understanding to stop the firing, to extend the ceasefire, to open the Strait of Hormuz, and then to deal with the more difficult topics of Iran's nuclear program, for example. So there is no evidence at this point that the Islamic regime will buckle under any kind of military pressure. Elex.
MICHAELSON: That's what makes this situation so complicated. Paula Hancocks reporting for us live in Abu Dhabi. Paula, thank you.
Now to a situation that is just awful to see. The images of police in Northern Ireland are preparing for more days of violent anti- immigration protests. On Wednesday, they used water cannons against angry crowds throwing objects at police vehicles. It is the latest escalation after mass rioters broke into homes and set fire to buildings and vehicles. In recent days, protests were sparked after a Sudanese man was charged in a brutal stabbing attack on Monday in Belfast.
Since then, migrants have been targeted by rioters in what Northern Ireland's first minister has called outright thuggery. The unrest comes at a time of heightened racial tensions in the U.K. and beyond, with social media and far right figures accused of fueling divisions.
A new book is revealing that Vice President JD Vance tried to help clear the president's name following reports of his ties to late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. In a Situation Room meeting last summer, Vance suggested that former Fox News host Tucker Carlson should interview Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell in prison.
He believed it would help President Trump if Maxwell was willing to say that he had not participated in Epstein's wrongdoing. That is all, according to an excerpt from a New York a new book by New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, which is due out later this month.
Meanwhile, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates testified before the House Oversight Committee about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. That comes after the billionaire was mentioned several hundred times in the Epstein files. He told lawmakers on Wednesday that Epstein tried to use information about his extramarital fate affairs against him.
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Gates also said he had no knowledge of Epstein's crimes, vowing that he was, quote, never victimized anyone. Here's how one lawmaker who was in the room described Gates closed door testimony.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. SUHAS SUBRAMANYAM (D-VA): Bill Gates is one of the richest people in the world. He may have been the richest person in the world at that time. And so he would have had access to private investigators. He would have had access to the things that none of us have access to when it came to judging the background and even character of anyone he met with to support his foundation.
And so the fact that he would let Jeffrey Epstein, you know, come into his orbit and be a part of fundraising for the Gates Foundation is certainly troubling. And to that he apologized. He's being cooperative, but certainly I think it raises concerns in my mind.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Bring in our political panel now. Caroline Heldman, a political scientist, Democratic strategist, and professor of critical theory and social justice at Occidental College. And Joel Pollack, opinion editor at the California Post and former senior editor at large at Breitbart News.
Caroline, you've thought so deeply and written about these issues for so many years. I want to play some sound from Bill Gates.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL GATES, MICROSOFT CO-FOUNDER: Glad to be here voluntarily to testify. I hope my testimony is helpful to the work -- important work of the committee to find justice for the victims. Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you regret your friendship with --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Do you find it credible, this idea that he had no idea? It's just there?
CAROLINE HELDMAN, PROFESSOR, CRITICAL THEORY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE, OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE: Not at all. Yes, not at all. Just look at the timeline. Right. So it's 2006. The news breaks in a local paper in Miami and then makes headlines in the Daily Beast and goes across the national news in the country. 2008, He is convicted. So you have knowledge of multiple allegations of Epstein engaging with underage girls.
So anything that happened, really after 2006 and 2008, people had access, they had knowledge. Don't tell me that their staff didn't do a background check. You didn't even need to do that. It was in the media if you were paying attention. So, no, I don't buy it. And I think anyone who had contact with him after that point is suspect in my book.
MICHAELSON: I mean, this whole thing's so gross, Joel.
JOEL POLLAK, OPINION EDITOR, CALIFORNIA POST: Yes, look, it's been a scandal with the Clintons, and now it's a scandal surrounding the Trump administration. And it remains that way because this is a little peek behind the curtain of what goes on in the lives of wealthy and powerful men.
And I think what Epstein did was create an illusion of moral permission, or if you want immoral permission, where these men who are under public scrutiny all the time and surrounded by aides and assistants thought they could get away with things. And he used that space that he created for them to get things he wanted.
But I don't think he was an ally of Donald Trump. In fact, the Epstein files tend to show that he was trying to help Trump's enemies. He tried to coach Michael Cohen how to testify against Trump in front of Congress.
MICHAELSON: Well, at one point they were friendly.
POLLAK: Yes, many people were. But after a certain point, Trump threw him out of Mar-a-Lago and their relationship fell apart. People have those kinds of stories. But I agree that once you have someone who is convicted of these kinds of crimes, it's not just extremely poor judgment to continue your relationship with them as it was before, but it's really self-destructive.
MICHAELSON: And, you know, Bill Gates is one of the great philanthropists of all time. What he's done with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a lot of credit goes to his wife as well for that.
How does this change the way we see him and what he's done not only with the philanthropy, but then also one of the great technology leaders of all time?
HELDMAN: Well, and then what does it look like, right, when we're all gone? What will history tell about Bill Gates? It will definitely have a line about Jeffrey Epstein. Right. And Donald Trump, I mean, he was a good friend. And Bill Clinton, I look at Donald Trump and Bill Clinton in the same basket here. Donald Trump lied about not being on his plane. We now have evidence he was on at least eight times.
He lied about being close friends with him, but he had 14 different contacts in his black book, so. And the same with -- with Bill Clinton. This is not a partisan thing and I'm glad it's coming out. But boy, won't this be the thing that we talk about when we're all gone?
MICHAELSON: Yes, it's just awful. And hopefully we don't have this sort of situation happen again. Meanwhile, let's talk about the elections here in California and,
Joel, at the California Post, you guys are all over this, especially the election that has not happened of Spencer Pratt and the mayor's race. CNN is out with some new reporting on CNN.com. I want to put up on the screen about this investigation that President Trump talked about.
He said this headline is Justice Department Officials dance around Trump's unsupported Claims of California Election fraud.
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And we want to bring up one quote in particular. The Justice Department has launched no new criminal cases connected to how the city administered last week's contest goes on to say, according to a source familiar with the matter, even as the President said on social media last week that such an investigation was underway. I mean, right in the middle of our show, right around this time at night, we were talking about it.
He posted on Truth Social media that the U.S. attorney was looking into this. The next night, we had the U.S. attorney on who would not confirm an investigation. Your reading of this whole situation?
POLLAK: Well, I think they are looking into the practice of ballot harvesting to see what went on in some of these homeless shelters, for example, where you had almost 1,200 people registered to vote at a shelter with fewer than 200 beds. It doesn't necessarily mean it was illegal because homeless people are allowed to register, even at geographic locations.
But as the voting process unfolds, that individual who registers there still has to get that ballot and vote for themselves. And there is some suspicion that the ballot harvesting operations that were going on in California, it's one of the only states that allows it.
Most of the world considers it fraud, by the way, to turn in other people's ballots. This ballot harvesting operation has become a part of the way that parties, not just Democrats, but also Republicans, have learned to do it. It's become a part of the way that the parties are running the elections. And it is very concerning.
I mean, I almost feel that there are so many weaknesses in the California system of voting that the burden of proof should be on people to prove there isn't fraud because it is so vulnerable to manipulation. I'll give you one example. One example. This isn't illegal, by the way.
This is legal. But L.A. voters raised the sales tax on themselves by half a century, half a percent, after telling pollsters that the cost of living was the biggest issue. We heard all about affordability. Affordability. Now people are raising sales taxes by half a percent.
And when you look at measure ER, which is the sales tax measure, it hides the fact that this is a sales tax increase. You don't get there until way down in the paragraph. It starts out by talking about how -- MICHAELSON: Yes.
POLLAK: -- the President and Congress have cut funding. So there's this manipulated language. People don't know what they're voting for. It's very confusing.
MICHAELSON: Yes.
POLLAK: And that's done deliberately. And I think that's the problem with California's election.
MICHAELSON: Well, that does happen in other states as well. Explain what ballot harvesting is for people that may not know. Basically what it means is that you get a ballot, somebody else can turn it in for you if you sign and they sign that, you know, and then they turn it in. And that is something that both parties here do.
Spencer Pratt said to me the day before the election, I've got a great ballot harvesting operation. It's going to be the key to my victory. So it's not just a democratic thing. And we've seen that Republicans use it successfully. There are questions, though, about whether that should continue.
But to this question about fraud, how do you respond to what Joel just said?
HELDMAN: Well, I think it's dangerous for us to be spreading misinformation that our elections are not reliable if there is no evidence. And that is exactly what is happening here. It is -- it strikes at the heart of democracy when you are causing people to not have faith in their political systems.
We saw this in 2020, leading up to this election, we actually predicted, many of us were predicting on air that Donald Trump would use the long process, the inclusive voting process in California claim fraud. And let's be clear, the reason it takes so long is because those signatures that say under penalty of perjury, this is my vote. Those signatures are being checked against a database and if they don't match up, they're being cured, meaning that there's a confirmation process to make sure they're valid.
We knew that Donald Trump would be using this to spread disinformation. And I am especially concerned because Elon Musk has amplified this. I'm concerned about November. I think that this will be used in order to cast some doubt on what happens with the midterm elections.
MICHAELSON: There are -- quickly.
POLLAK: Well, the reason it takes a long to count is that California allows people to turn in ballots up to seven days late. It's not just the signatures.
MICHAELSON: Plus --
HELDMAN: That's correct. MICHAELSON: If they're postmarked on election by election.
POLLAK: Right.
MICHAELSON: You can't just randomly show up with a ballot.
POLLAK: I should have received a ballot. I didn't. I had to go vote in person. But it's supposed to be mailed to everybody. There are other Palisades residents who were displaced by the fire who did not get ballots. So there are so many problems with the system. And there have been convictions --
HELDMAN: That's not fraudulent. But yes.
POLLAK: But there was a conviction before the election of a woman who was paying people to register to vote and sign ballot petitions. And she's been doing this for quite some time. Now, it's one case. But the problem is that because so much of voting is surrounded in secrecy, it is very hard to find evidence.
MICHAELSON: Yes.
POLLAK: It doesn't mean it isn't there. It doesn't mean that if there's fraud, it necessarily would have changed the election. I mean, I think the fraud probably happened on a scale, let's say, I would estimate --
MICHAELSON: Yes.
POLLAK: -- personally of around 1,000 to 5,000 votes. That's not going to cover the gap between Pratt and Raman. I think Raman and I said this before the election. Raman had a chance to come second for completely conventional reasons.
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But the way these elections happen --
MICHAELSON: Yes.
POLLAK: -- even -- even people outside California, I mean, Nate Silver, the pollster, said California is such an outlier in the way it counts votes and how long it takes that it has to undermine confidence in the way the system.
HELDMAN: Can I respond quickly.
MICHAELSON: Really quickly, because we're out of time.
HELDMAN: Yes. George W. Bush did a study and you are 37 times more likely to be struck by lightning than engage in voter fraud in the United States.
MICHAELSON: Yes, really quickly. The Knicks tonight came with the biggest comeback in the history of the NBA Finals and unbelievably exciting game. All the stars are out. Taylor Swift out. Your -- your big take away from the game tonight.
HELDMAN: Well, obviously Taylor Swift is my big takeaway from the game wearing a Stevie Knicks, K-N-I-C-K-S shirt and homage to her mentor as well as the Knicks and a bunch of other celebrities wearing this fun having this cultural moment. So fun.
MICHAELSON: Two reactions.
POLLAK: Number one, let's not forget there was another team because they have fans. Some of them watch CNN. They are feeling sad. It's not just a story about people celebrating in New York. It's also about San Antonio and they could still come back and win. But here's the thing. I grew up a Chicago Bulls fan and I watched Patrick Ewing and Michael Jordan go at each other every year.
And the Knicks always fell short. And then finally they got past Scottie Pippen and the Bulls and then they lost to the Orlando Magic.
MICHAELSON: Yes.
POLLAK: And so it was -- it's -- it was always a choke. You know, the Knicks fans are used to seeing these chokes --
MICHAELSON: At the last minute.
POLLAK: -- and they have almost seen them in several games in the postseason.
MICHAELSON: Almost.
POLLAK: But the Knicks have held on this time.
MICHAELSON: It's been almost 50 years since they last won a championship.
POLLAK: Yes.
MICHAELSON: It looks like it's probably going to happen this year. Caroline, Joel, thank you both for coming in.
This week is an embarrassment of riches for sports fans. The NBA Finals and very soon the football World Cup, meaning like tomorrow alive or today, depending on where you're watching us. A live look at Aztec Stadium in Mexico City. We talk about what we can expect from world's biggest sporting event. Max Bretos here, next.
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MICHAELSON: So many people over the next 24 hours, we focus on Mexico City and the iconic Aztec State Stadium. Let's look at it. It's soon going to host the first match of the World Cup.
The opening ceremony starts about 12 hours from now and right after that we'll see host Mexico face off against South Africa. Both sides busy doing some last minute training. The South African team's nickname means the boys and Mexico's refers to the three colors on their jerseys. Images of the beautiful games biggest stars like Lionel Messi are lining the streets. Mexico is hosting 13 of the 104 World Cup matches expected to generate several billion dollars in revenue.
Co-hosts the U.S. and Canada compete in their first matches on Friday, both playing on home soil. MLS play by play announcer Max Bretos is one of the most recognized voices in North American soccer. Thank you for being with us right here in Los Angeles.
America gets its turn in a couple days, but you know, such a -- such a big international moment and one of the stories we're tracking is this Somali ref wanted to come in and be a part of but wasn't allowed.
MAX BRETOS, PLAY-BY-PLAY ANNOUNCNER, MLS ON APPLE TV: Yes, his name is Omar Abdulkadir Artan. This is huge for Somalia. They're never going to qualify for a World Cup. They had one of their own, this referee coming in and now the immigration and everything security wise is super tight and as much as we'd like to have seen him officiate again, they found out that there was a connection to suspected terrorist organizations.
He had a diplomatic passport, and he was supposed to have a different passport. A lot of logistics, but I think it plays into how serious the security is. And this was the one episode.
We also have Iran. Their team is training in Tijuana and they're allowed to come to games in the U.S. and they have to leave right afterwards. So it's a little messy, but I think we have to understand the sensitivity of the security. This is one referee of hundreds of referees, of thousands of players and everyone.
Hopefully we don't have any more of this because we want to talk about the soccer. But for the referee who's already back in Somalia, an unfortunate development.
MICHAELSON: There's every aspect of this story. There's the sports story, but then there's also the security story, the cultural stories, the traffic, the money. It's so big.
BRETOS: We've never seen a sporting event like this. 104 Games. It's 40 days. It's insane. Three countries, 16 cities. Unbelievable.
MICHAELSON: So let's start, though. We're about to finally have that soccer. Talk about the soccer. What do you expect for the next couple of days for Mexico and USA and Canada as they start off?
BRETOS: I think the tournament's going to go pretty much chalk, as they say in the NCAA tournament. The big teams are going to make it. The one surprise is I think it's going to be the host countries. I think Mexico is going to do really well. They're going to have a huge advantage because not only does Estadio Azteca play at altitude, which they're accustomed to.
There's also the pollution near Mexico. This is not me saying it. This is well known in Mexico that it makes it hard to play there. So they'll have an edge. They're healthy, they're strong. The U.S. are coming in healthy and strong, and they had a really good buildup. I think most people would agree. And even Canada is a very athletic team.
This is their best team. I think all three will make the round of 16, but we'll get a good taste of it over the next two days. So the host countries are front and center here.
MICHAELSON: And it's fun to see people come to America that maybe haven't had a lot of time here. There's one German man that you're following on social media.
BRETOS: I don't know his full name, but it says Freddie and he was -- Argentina played Iceland at Jordan Hare Stadium in Alabama. So we all talk about the NFL stadiums, but there's this magic to the college football places. So he's doing posts going, I'm here in Jordan. I'm going to do my German accent. There's a -- there's an eagle flying around. And it's war eagle. We know about it. But to a German, they can't believe there's an eagle flying around.
MICHAELSON: Right.
BRETOS: And then there's posts of him driving through Atlanta, Georgia. There it is -- but this is if we want to put our best foot forward. You put college football. That is absolute magic. I'm a big Florida State guy. If they could have played all the games at college football venues, as much as the big NFL venues are good, it would have been very special.
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But I think tourists are going to be gravitating to the American charm in small towns. There's a lot of, you know, a lot of these teams are stationed in little areas all over the country and those, those neighborhoods and those towns are gravitating towards it. So I think there's going to be a lot of positive stories that will hopefully outweigh the ones like we saw with the Somali --
MICHAELSON: All that being said though, we are not seeing some of the numbers of tourists that they were hoping for. Right?
BRETOS: And I think we're going to find out. Yes, they've said -- they mentioned about the hotels. They've drawn some back. I have a sneaky suspicion that people will be here, but I think by now we would have sensed the swaths of them. I think maybe a quarter or a third will be here.
What -- the most these venues are going to play to and the fact that we're such a big country is American fans who may be from different countries or just want to watch the game. I think that's what we'll see at the stadiums. I don't think they're all going to be full, but they're going to be closer to full than empty visually, although I could be mistaken as we see the first rollout of games, we'll know very quickly by the end of the weekend.
MICHAELSON: Yes. And maybe we start to see some of the ticket prices start to drop if that's the case.
BRETOS: My friends are trying to get into SoFi for USA-Paraguay or Los Angeles Stadium as FIFA are calling it and the prices are going up and up and the quantity of tickets. So I think at least that game, the USA games, I think we're going to see and if they do well, more interest for those tickets a lot more.
MICHAELSON: Max, have fun. It's going to be great.
BRETOS: We did it, Alex. We did it.
MICHAELSON: We've been talking about this for years. Now it's finally here. Finally time to play.
BRETOS: What we do now?
MICHAELSON: I know. Well, we watch the games and we'll talk about them tomorrow here on The Story Is. Thank you, Max.
Turning now to France where the killing of an 11-year-old girl has sparked protests, outrage and scrutiny of the country's judicial system. Critics say authorities missed clear warning signs about the suspected killer long before the girl's deaths.
CNN's Saskya Vandoorne reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SASKYA VANDOORNE, CNN PARIS BUREAU CHIEF: A man accused last year of raping a 10 year old girl was never investigated or charged. Now France is asking whether that failure cost an 11-year-old girl her life.
VANDOORNE (voice-over): The 11-year-old went missing from her family home in southwest France at the end of May, authorities said. After several days of searches, her body was found on a nearby farm, according to French media reports.
The suspect, the 41-year-old father of a classmate, is now under formal investigation and in custody. He told police, Lyhanna was in his car on the afternoon she disappeared, but that he dropped her off at a swimming pool, BFMTV reported.
The man, Jerome Barella, had previously been flagged to police on at least two occasions for allegations of sexual violence against minors, with the latest coming in 2025 when he was accused of raping a 10 year old girl. No police action was taken in regard to either complaint.
An attorney for Barrella told BFM that his client was presumed innocent.
VANDOORNE: Many here are shocked that repeated warning signs were apparently missed with critics accusing authorities of prioritizing procedure over protection, the case has reignited a broader discussion over how seriously sexual violence is treated here in France. VANDOORNE (voice-over): One person who's been campaigning on this
issue is Caroline Darian, the daughter of mass rape survivor Gisele Pelicot.
CAROLINE DARIAN, GISELE PELICOT'S DAUGTHER: When you use the suffering of victims, I know what I'm talking about. You see the ordeal victims have to endure. It destroys lives.
In Lyhanna's case, as in so many others, we have a problem in France. What is our justice system doing? We have four times fewer prosecutors in France than the European average. People file complaints, and nothing happens.
VANDOORNE: And with the French presidential election less than a year away, candidates from across the political spectrum has seized the case as evidence of systemic issues.
VANDOORNE (voice-over): Forcing the current government to acknowledge failings in the French justice system.
GERALD DARMANIN, FRENCH JUSTICE MINISTER: One must know how to recognize when we make mistakes that lead to the tragedy that we know, out of respect, for the family, of course, but out of respect for all French people.
VANDOORNE (voice-over): And tasking authorities to look into 70,000 other complaints of sexual violence towards minors by mid-July. French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu has even gone as far as suggesting that the punishment for serial rapists of children be raised to a life sentence from the current 20 years.
Lawmakers in the French Parliament held a minute of silence on Tuesday to mark the tragedy, but all this has done little to placate the thousands of protesters who took to the streets across France this week.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have real issue hear, how can we ensure our children can go out safely and won't encounter repeat offenders? This is today's topic.
VANDOORNE (voice-over): Meanwhile, the family of Lyhanna is still struggling to come to terms with her tragic loss.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our whole little world has collapsed. Once again, I have no words to describe the horrific tragedy that has struck our family. Standing before you all today and talking about Lyhanna feels surreal.
[01:30:05]
VANDOORNE (voice-over): The pressure is now really on for the French government to try and quell this very palpable anger by pushing through stricter laws tackling sexual violence towards children and addressing what French President Emmanuel Macron called unacceptable failings in the justice system.
Saskya Vandoorne, CNN -- Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: There's much more to come on CNN, including my chat with some filmmakers on a mission to protect the environment and sustain the soil that grows our food. Ian Somerhalder, former star of "Lost" and "Vampire Diaries", here next.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOODY HARRELSON, ACTOR: I know what you're thinking. "Not another depressing climate documentary."
Well, this film is different. This film is about food.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Actor Woody Harrelson says this isn't another depressing climate documentary. In fact, "Groundswell" argues one of the most powerful tools for fighting climate change may be sitting right beneath our feet.
Narrated by Harrelson and Demi Moore, the film travels across five continents, exploring how a different approach to farming could help reverse some of the damage already done to the planet.
Joining me now are the film's director, Josh Tickell, and executive producer Ian Somerhalder, who many of you may recognize from the hit series "Lost" and "The Vampire Diaries". Great to have both of you here on THE STORY IS for the first time. Congrats on the documentary.
IAN SOMERHALDER, ACTOR/PRODUCER: Thank you, sir.
JOSH TICKETLL, DIRECTOR, "GROUNDSWELL": Thank you.
MICHAELSON: So Ian, what is regenerative farming?
SOMERHALDER: You know, it's when you break it down like this, people go, oh, that's it. Regenerative agriculture is just literally the use of planned grazing methods and using living, growing plants. Agriculture at scale to sequester enormous amounts of carbon dioxide.
Now, when you do that, you feed and revitalize all the microorganisms in that soil. So healthier soil, healthier plant, healthier people, healthier planet, healthier economy, healthier everything.
So it's really kind of an amazing situation of reducing inputs and making profit.
MICHAELSON: And how is this different than some of what we see now?
TICKELL: Well, the difference between some of the movements that we've seen thus far with land, they don't really build soil. And when you build soil, you build the nutrition in the food. And that's what drives our health.
So if you think about sort of the original vision for Ted Turner, Robert Redford, people like this, they wanted to rebuild the ecosystem of America because they knew that that would rebuild the economy of America.
MICHAELSON: And in terms of the food, this is healthier food, right? How so?
TICKELL: Well, we've lost about 50 percent of our nutritional density in food since the 1950s. Regenerative agriculture brings that back. It brings it back not just to the level where we were. It's even higher. So the food has more nutrition per bite.
MICHAELSON: And you talk about this idea of a depressing climate documentary, because so much of this becomes very political and very depressing. And this is trying to do neither of those things. This is really focused on this idea of hope.
SOMERHALDER: Bringing it together and the hope side is this unbelievable thing that people can feel, right. This isn't a depressing climate documentary. Honestly, this is the feel-good movie of the year, right?
So if you want to feel good and like the thing is too, it moves very quickly. So you get a lot of stuff in there. That's the genius of what they were able to do. But you want to watch it over and over again and people can't -- they don't know why. They're watching it over again -- over and over again, but they just feel better.
And that is the key. And that's -- every like, every view of this film is a vote for an amazing, amazing future.
MICHAELSON: Well, and also another argument you make because people say when they hear climate stuff, they think that's more expensive. But in this case, the argument is it's actually cheaper.
TICKELL: Well, you know, fixing the climate isn't an added effect. It's not the central theme of the film. The central theme of the film is fixing the soil so we can fix our health. And the climate follows along.
And in fact, it's cheaper. We only pay farmers about 4 cents of every dollar that we spend at the grocery store. So we're starving farmers and we're eating a lot of bad calories.
Regenerative agriculture, the "Groundswell" movie, the Groundswell movement shows us how we can increase the carbon in the soil, which does all these other good things for us.
MICHAELSON: And talk about the politics of this, which sometimes when talking about this issue can be messy. But you are working with people on both sides of the aisle at the highest level, right? SOMERHALDER: The highest, highest, highest. The great news is, for us,
we stay out of politics. And the beautiful part about it is that regeneration because it's something that its bringing D.C. together.
It's bringing it all together. And we've gotten this comment so many times and it's like the greatest compliment ever. We were in D.C. this -- a little -- almost this time last year, getting "Common Ground" off that -- really launching "Common Ground".
MICHAELSON: Which was a previous documentary in the three-part series.
SOMERHALDER: Absolutely. And it really detailed and we showed -- this sort of uncovered this money pipeline between the agrochemical companies and the congressional bodies and the universities in this country.
And D.C. was just all over it. And Republicans and Democrats were coming together over this.
And that was this thing. Because once you empower small, you know, communities, what happens is farmers start making all this money, they pay more taxes. The school districts get better, the water districts get better, after school programs get implemented.
Like all of a sudden, all these amazing things happen and you're rebuilding America from Main Street up. And that is like huge.
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MICHAELSON: It's huge. And lastly, to that point, in terms of the hope, what can people do? People are looking for action to get involved.
TICKELL: Well, the simplest hope is we vote with our food. Most of us are lucky enough to eat three times a day. Each of those is a vote for a different future.
We've seen companies like Nespresso, the coffee company, really paying attention to that consumer demand. They're 100 percent regenerative. So, you know, when you buy a Nespresso coffee pod now, you're buying a healthy, better tasting coffee.
That's what we want to see all the companies doing. We've got a pledge to get a billion acres into regenerative agriculture. That would radically transform the economy of the planet.
SOMERHALDER: This is big stuff.
MICHAELSON: And it is big stuff, which is reason to watch "Groundswell", which is streaming right now on Amazon Prime.
Josh Tickell and Ian Somerhalder, thank you so much for this really important work that you're doing and for bringing this to our attention.
SOMERHALDER: Thank you so much. TICKELL: Thanks for having us.
SOMERHALDER: Grateful to be here with you. And please see the film. It is the feel-good movie of the year.
MICHAELSON: There we go. All right.
For our international viewers, "WORLDSPORT" is next. For our viewers here in North America, I'll be right back with more of THE STORY IS.
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MICHAELSON: The FBI has seized evidence at a southern California aerospace facility where a chemical tank overheated last month, sparking fears of a catastrophic explosion.
A search warrant authorized agents to seize records related to the chemical storage, use or disposal and equipment used to control or regulate its temperature.
The tank at KGKN Aerospace had overheated, forcing some 50,000 residents to evacuate. The highly-flammable chemical is used to produce plastics such as Plexiglas and dental prosthetics.
The explosive growth of artificial intelligence requires massive amounts of energy. A U.N. report warns A.I. could consume 3 percent of global electricity and use more water than the world needs to drink in just a few years. Now, residents across the U.S. are fighting to keep data centers out of their backyards.
CNN Shimon Prokupecz reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RON GIBSON, INDIANAPOLIS CITY-COUNTY COUNCIL: One, two, three, four.
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Ron Gibson counts the bullet holes in his front door.
GIBSON: 12, 13, 14, 15. And it was a sign that someone conveniently put up under the Indianapolis Coach's (ph) mat and said there are no data center.
PROKUPECZ: Gibson is an Indianapolis city counselor targeted, he says, for supporting a data center in his community.
GIBSON: At some point that night after midnight, we heard loud banging on glass and glass breaking.
I didn't realize that my house had been shot up until daylight. And I saw this door and I could see through the door out. I mean, I could see daylight was coming through the door.
Really touching to me was my son's Lego set was on the dining room table where the bullets went around. And I think about it. I wonder if he'd have been in that space at that time of night. Scary stuff.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You better vote no. You better vote no.
PROKUPECZ: The political backlash to data centers has been fierce nationwide, aided by the rise and fear of artificial intelligence.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We don't need it. We need water.
PROKUPECZ: In Utah, residents are fighting a proposed 40,000-acre data center that when combined is twice the size of Manhattan.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe this decision should be made after the election.
PROKUPECZ: So meetings like this in Union, Missouri are happening all across the country and really showing the fear and concern.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The burdens would stay local. The profits will leave town. We're asking you please, stop this theft and rape now.
PROKUPECZ: What could a data center do to a community like this?
To find out, we traveled 850 miles from Union, Missouri to a place already familiar with data centers.
Loudoun County, Virginia outside D.C., this is Data Center Alley.
Just in this area alone, there are over 200 buildings that contain data centers, some 50 million square feet, enough to fit eight Pentagons.
BUDDY RIZER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, LOUDOUN CO. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: Having even one data center can double the amount of tax revenue. We've been able to build 30-some schools and 15 fire stations and six libraries.
PROKUPECZ: But not everything went right.
GREG PIRIO, LIVES NEAR DATA CENTER: It is like having constant jet airplanes flying overhead.
PROKUPECZ: Because you can hear it right now, right?
PIRIO: Yes, yes.
PROKUPECZ: Like, take a listen here, right? This is --
That hum you hear, that's coming from this, a massive data center just feet from these homes.
PROKUPECZ: What's it like when you're trying to sleep?
ETHAN DOUE, LIVES NEAR DATA CENTER: It's like a July 4th fireworks going on.
HARI DOUE, MOTHER AND HOMEOWNER: Last night, my son Lucas got up in the middle of the night and said he couldn't sleep and came into our room. So it is affecting their sleep and they have to go to school.
PROKUPECZ: There's another problem.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If it was a southern wind today, all that would be blowing right over this -- our houses.
PROKUPECZ: Diesel backup generators, when they're tested, they pollute.
PIRIO: Those are the days in particular that I feel irritation in my throat.
PROKUPECZ: How do you respond to them?
RIZER: It's a very unfortunate situation because when it was built and approved, it was intended to be on the grid. Then in 2022, we had Dominion tell us, well, we're out of power. They had already built and leased the building. So the only solution for them was the gas turbines.
It is a temporary situation. Eventually the power will be delivered to the site, but that doesn't help them tonight when they're trying to get to sleep.
[01:49:49]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're opening a Pandora's Box that can't be closed.
PROKUPECZ: Back in Missouri, they're fighting two proposed new data center campuses in Franklin County. Bill Hubbard's century-old farm is next to one of them.
Recent reports about a Georgia data center draining water from nearby farms has Hubbard worried.
BILL HUBBARD, FARM OWNER: They say they're not going to drill wells. All these guarantees, you know, 737s weren't supposed to crash.
PROKUPECZ: The company behind one of the campuses says they won't tax local resources.
ROMAN PASEWICZ, PROVIDENT DATA CENTERS: We're developing a closed-loop water system, so it conserves water. We believe we could develop them in a conscious way, getting feedback from the community.
PROKUPECZ: Most here are like the Hubbards. They worry because the land is their life.
HUBBARD: This is home. There's no amount of money that could get me to sell this. No amount of money.
PROKUPECZ: Shimon Prokupecz, CNN -- Union, Missouri.
(END VIDEOTAPE) MICHAELSON: Pope Leo draws huge crowds in Barcelona as he marks a major milestone in the long-running construction of one of the world's most famous churches.
[01:50:53]
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MICHAELSON: Pope Leo travels to the Canary Islands in the coming hours, where he'll meet with organizations working with migrants. The Canary Islands are a major point of entry for migrants from Africa trying to reach Europe.
On Wednesday, the Pope wrapped up his visit to Barcelona with a mass attended by thousands at the Sagrada Familia Basilica. He also inaugurated the iconic basilica's new tower, 144 years after construction began.
During his homily, the Pope praised the building's architect as a man inspired by faith. Look at it.
Meanwhile, the star-studded cast of Disney and Pixar's "Toy Story 5" got a little brighter at the film's premiere here in Los Angeles. Singer Taylor Swift made a surprise appearance, joining actors Tom Hanks, Tim Allen and Joan Cusack on the red carpet along with Conan O'Brien there.
Swift co-wrote and performed a song for the film's soundtrack, titled "I Knew It, I Knew You". You can hear it when "Toy Story" opens -- "Toy Story 5" opens in theaters next week, and it is getting great reviews.
Tomorrow on THE STORY IS I will report from an oil rig with the Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum and the Secretary of Energy Chris Wright. That and more tomorrow.
Thanks for watching tonight. I'm Elex Michaelson.
The news continues right here on CNN after a break.
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