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The Story Is with Elex Michaelson

Any Moment - Trump's Name To Be Removed From Kennedy Center; Iranian FM - Nuclear Issue Will Be Negotiated In Phase Two; Trump And Iran Say A Potential Agreement Is Within Reach; Trump - Top Tren De Aragua Leader Killed In U.S. Strike; Spencer Pratt Vows To Carry On After Election Loss; UFC Fights Set For Sunday On White House South Lawn; SpaceX IPO Makes Elon Musk World's First Trillionaire; Aired 12- 1a ET

Aired June 13, 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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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: No further programming for the Kennedy Center, so it'll be an open question to see how the administration will handle it moving forward. Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, who helped lead the charge to remove the name, called the judge's ruling in this case overwhelming, adding, "You can fight against injustices and win." That does it for me tonight. Thank you all for watching.

"The Story Is" with Elex Michaelson is next.

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN HOST: Welcome to "The Story Is." I'm Elex Michaelson live in Los Angeles. We are following four breaking stories right now.

President Trump's name is being taken down from the Kennedy Center in Washington as we speak. There are also new developments on a potential memorandum of understanding with Iran. Plus, the U.S. says it has killed the leader of Tren de Aragua. And right here in Southern California, team USA has just wrapped up their first World Cup match, and it was a dominating performance.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

MICHAELSON: We've again with breaking news in Washington, where it's just after midnight, and the Kennedy Center has just missed a court order deadline to remove President Trump's name from that building by midnight. The federal appeals court upheld a judge's order requiring the senator to remove Trump's name by the end of Friday. Crews have been working for hours on scaffolding, but so far, the name remains in place.

CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is there live. Sunlen, what's happening now? And it sounds like there's a crowd around you.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There certainly is, Elex. There is a hundreds of people here gathered late on a Friday evening to see this symbolic moment, frankly, and we just heard in the countdown to midnight Eastern Time here, the crowd counting down to midnight, and the name is still on the building. But we have been watching over the course of many, many hours here, a crew of about a dozen people slowly, foot-by-foot building the scaffolding behind me going up to that level where you see those top workers there, the level right at where it adds Donald Trump's name.

Now that is what the court here in D.C. compelled the Kennedy Center to do by midnight Eastern Time tonight. They were delayed by many hours for thunderstorms. The feeling is right now the crowd is just waiting to see what happens next. Likely, the next step would be to chisel off those letters. But, certainly, this is a remarkable moment more so than what's happening on the ground here. But the symbolism, the fact that this is such a politically charged moment.

This has now become a politically chargeability when in the past it has been a political institution. The fact that President Trump came in and he replaced the board with his allies and his friends, he became the Chairman of the Board. It's been through many political twists and turns, many legal twists and turns as well, but certainly a significant moment here in Washington really underscoring the political divide.

And I can't tell you enough how remarkable it is that you have many hundreds of people here in Washington D.C. coming out in the middle of the night to bear witness to what's going on here tonight at the Kennedy Center. Elex?

MICHAELSON: And, Sunlen, it's also kind of remarkable that President Trump, who is known for fighting and fighting and fighting on so many issues on this one, seems to have sort of given up, right, and allowed this to happen.

SERFATY: It's been so interesting, and I'm just looking behind me here to watch what the workers are doing. There's a feeling in the air that at any moment, something could happen. But you're absolutely right. After the last court order is then when President Trump basically signaled that he's stepping back from the Kennedy Center over Truth Social, he mentioned something that he would turn control over to Congress that he's not able to do what he wants to this building, that indicating to many that this has been so bogged down and illegal matters that he may step away from it.

But we do know that he was on the phone call on Thursday evening with the Board where they discussed appealing, and they did this late, last ditch effort today to try to appeal the judge's decision. That got shot down, and a federal judge said that the name ultimately does come down. But, again, a very significant moment. I'm sure you can, Elex, hear the crowd around me erupting. Whenever a worker moves here closer to a letter, it shows how every person in this crowd really is hanging on every moments, on every letter that possibly could come down, would potentially be a huge significant moment.

Not only for D.C., but certainly for the Trump administration. The President has made this building really a pet project, and he had has over the course of the year made this his personal quest to remake this building. He, as Chairman of the Board, still will have a say in what happens at this campaign, so it'll be interesting to watch in the days and weeks ahead after this symbolic moment happens. What exactly happens next, Elex?

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MICHAELSON: I just can't imagine what it's like, the mindset of these construction workers who are used to usually doing their job without a crowd cheering for every movement that they make. Sunlen, obviously, there's more work to be done. We're keeping an eye on this. When they start to actually take it down as the crowd is chanting for, we will go back to you. But we've got some other stories we want to get to as well.

The U.S. military says that it shot down multiple Iranian attack drones near the Strait of Hormuz. Central command is blaming Iran for trying to disrupt commercial shipping in the critical waterway. That comes as the U.S. and Iran are closing in on a potential agreement that could be signed by the end of the weekend. That would trigger 60 more days in negotiations. But both sides are giving conflicting details about what would actually be included in that framework.

A senior Trump administration official says that Iran would fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz while the U.S. would end its blockade on Iranian ports. The officials said the agreement would also lead to dismantling of Iran's nuclear program and the destruction of its nuclear material. But Iran's Foreign Minister says that still has not been worked out.

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ABBAS ARAGHCHI, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (translated): Now the topic of the nuclear issue has been postponed to five agreements. So there are different reasons for this, and now we cannot discuss that. The demands were not acceptable, so there are issues, on which we could agree.

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MICHAELSON: Iran says the agreement would also include sanctions relief and a plan to resolve the conflict in Lebanon and "All other fronts." Joining us now is CNN National Security Analyst, Alex Plitsas. Alex, the U.S. downing Iranian drones, do we really have a deal here? Because we've been so close and been told that so many times. What would make this different?

ALEX PLITSAS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: So we have been told that many times, but as we broke some news on this program with you a couple of days ago, I'm still hearing the same consistent messaging now. I've spoken to you today Pakistani officials, regional mediators, U.S. officials at both the Pentagon, and the State Department, the White House, as well as the Iranian back channel. And I'm getting the same thing across the board that we are very close to a memorandum of understanding. My understanding and speaking to these officials is that the details have largely been worked out, but it was the sequencing of events that was the problem and particularly because the Iranians were looking for money upfront without concessions. But one of the senior Pentagon officials I spoke to today stressed that he said, "I need to make it clear to you that this is a performance based, a deal here that the Iranians are not going to get anything, unless they're performing and executing their responsibilities under this." And there's a lot of this back and forth that's really kind of face saving. There's not really another way to phrase it with the public rhetoric that we're seeing. And even the comments that were just made, you played by the Foreign Minister. Well, we get the details of the nuclear issue in Phase 2, which is true. But at a high level, the agreement, hey, we're going to give up the highly enriched uranium. We're going to agree to some sort of moratorium on enrichment has to be reached in this phase before you get to the next one.

So it seems like we're closing in on a pretty high level agreement here. Still a lot of work to be done. It'll trigger a 60-day period of negotiations, but definitely a lot further along than we've been to date.

MICHAELSON: But the thing that you've told us so many times before has been the hang up is the nuclear front. Where are we on that?

PLITSAS: Yep. So what I'm hearing from officials is that there is now some sort of tacit agreement on the nuclear issue in terms of giving up the highly enriched uranium or destroying it, having it removed from the country and then the enrichment ban as well would take place over some sort of negotiated period of time. And I'm told that this would also be this MOU would be wider in scope in terms of the issues dealt within the JCPOA and therefore the officials I spoke to are characterizing as it a better deal for that reason. But obviously until we see the language and the scope of it, that's just what we're hearing from officials. But it was clear what was leaked out, and that's the interesting part too because it ties the first part of your question.

I apologize for not getting to it before. About the drones hitting that were just shut down. The Fars News Agency that's associated with the IRGC, was putting out a 14-point plan that didn't actually line up with what I'm hearing from officials in Pakistan, the U.S., Iran, and elsewhere. And it looks like the IRGC is continuing to try to take actions to undermine this. And we've been hearing for months that IRGC officials have been trying to undermine Iranian civilian government officials in reaching a deal, and it now looks like it continues to manifest itself in a little bit more public fashion, and we're witnessing that play out.

MICHAELSON: Alex Plitsas, one of these nights, we will be with you when there is a deal. But yet again, we're talking about more negotiations. Some night it'll happen. Thanks, Alex. Great to see you.

One of the top leader, this is a big story too breaking tonight.

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One of the top leaders of an infamous Venezuelan gang known as Tren de Aragua has been killed. U.S. President Donald Trump posting about three hours ago that he was eliminated in a U.S. military strike. The gang is one of the most notorious criminal groups in Latin America, and it is designated as a terrorist organization in the United States. Rafael Romo monitoring those developments. He joins us live from Atlanta.

Rafael, talk about how significant a blow this is to Tren de Aragua.

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Elex. Well, it's hard to tell right now if this is a significant blow to Tren de Aragua. What I can tell you is that for several years, the criminal group has terrorized South American countries, including Venezuela, its country of origin, as well as Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, and Peru. In the last few years. This transnational gang moved into the United States as we initially reported in June of 2024 as part of a CNN exclusive investigation.

Law enforcement officials accused alleged members of the gang of multiple crimes, Elex, including creating an alleged multi-state human trafficking ring forcing immigrant women into prostitution. There was also the mysterious killing of a former police officer in South Florida and attacks by alleged Tren de Aragua members against police officers in New York.

I can also tell you, remember the arrest of a drug dealer in Chicago. But in any case, the death of Hector Rustin Ford Guerrero Flores, also known as Nino Guerrero, this leader of the Trend de Aragua, indeed a significant blow to the criminal organization. The U.S. justice department said in December 2024 when it indicted him, and I'm going to read this part of the statement here, Elex, that Guerrero has been the mastermind of Tren de Aragua's evolution from a Venezuelan prison gang into a transnational terrorist organization that committed countless acts of violence, extortion, and drug trafficking all over North America, South America, and Europe. So that gives you an idea of the kind of individual that we're talking about, Elex.

MICHAELSON: And in terms of Trend de Aragua, they're believed to be responsible for the death of Laken Riley, who is an American citizen who was killed. Is this retribution for that?

ROMO: Yes. That that's what President Trump is saying, and that's, something that very specifically he wrote about in his post in making this announcement about the execution, and it was in Truth Social, by the way. The President said that during his campaign to his second term in office, he pledged to expel what he called these monsters from the United States and bring justice to families of those they slaughtered, including, in addition to the name you mentioned before, Jocelyn Nungaray, who was 12 at the time of her death, and, of course, Laken Riley, who was murdered here in Georgia. I covered the trial by a man with alleged links to the gang.

With this action, the President, said the United States military has brought retribution for them, their families, and their loved ones.

MICHAELSON: Rafael Romo, staying up late for us. Thank you so much for joining us with this breaking news.

Now we want to go back to Washington. Live pictures from the White House now where the UFC fight on the South Lawn will go ahead as planned after a federal judge rejected a last minute bid to block that event. The judge ruled Friday that the two people who filed the lawsuit did not have legal standing to challenge it. He also said canceling the event would because significant financial harm, since the UFC has already spent more than $60 million on it.

Multiple fights scheduled for Sunday, which is President Trump's 80th birthday. You see that live picture right there where the cage is set. CNN Sunlen Serfaty in Washington following that story as well. Sunlen, what do about that?

SERFATY: Yeah. Elex, right now, we are still monitoring the name potentially coming down tonight, but we do have word now from the justice department attorneys that are representing the Kennedy Center, and they have just filed an update with the court. They are essentially saying that they intend to comply with the court deadline, but acknowledging that they missed this midnight deadline. The attorneys representing the Kennedy Center said that while the work is ongoing, they noted that the thunderstorms in the Washington area caused delays in the works.

We saw ourselves here on the ground that the crews had to go inside. There was considerable lightning and thunder. Work stopped for multiple hours. According to this filing late this evening, they said crews expected to fully remove President Trump's name in the early hours of June 13th. Now the U.S. district judge had previously set that 11:15 p.m. Eastern Time deadline for the center to comply with this order, notably at this moment since they just filed this.

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We have not yet heard a response from the judge. Not yet recurred what will happen next. But certainly, the administration, the justice department attorneys representing the Kennedy Center tonight acknowledging that the crews were delayed by those thunderstorms, and in essence, asking for more time by acknowledging that the deadline was missed. The big question is when the name will come down. There is a considerable size as we talked about earlier in this hour, Elex, who are out here trying to bear witness to the name coming down.

They may have to wait a little longer. We're not sure how long. You still see the crews working behind me. I was just down there a few minutes ago closer to where the crews had this large cooler, and it was filled with water and Gatorade. They're sweat pouring down their face. They certainly have been working for hours and hours, but they were working against that court order deadline a minute that they did indeed miss.

So certainly some last minute political and legal maneuverings on the part of the team in the justice department representing the Kennedy Center at this hour, Elex.

MICHAELSON: The work goes on. Still, the name is up, and we're keeping our eye on that. And as soon as that name starts to come down, we will go back to Sunlen. In the meantime, let's talk about the World Cup. Well, it's been 32 years since the U.S. last hosted the World Cup. American fans were out in force at Los Angeles stadium, bringing that electric energy to team USA's opening game against Paraguay tonight. And the home squad did not disappoint easily, beating the South American underdogs 4-1. They dominated from the start, scoring three goals, seemingly stunning Paraguay in the first half. Paraguay rallied with a late goal, but couldn't bridge the gap before the Americans scored again in extended time. Four goals is the most the U.S. has ever scored in a single game in World Cup history.

CNN's Coy Wire caught up with some excited fans earlier as they headed into the stadium. Listen.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: See, I just love the spirit. I've always feel like we've been the underdog, and I just feel like we honestly got it today. And I really hope that everyone feels the same way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Soccer was absolutely almost nothing. And to see it grow to what it is now, from '94 to now, it's remarkable, and I'm so passionate.

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MICHAELSON: For more, I want to bring in the man who made that happen. Alan Rothenberg is known as the godfather of U.S. soccer. He helped to orchestrate soccer at the LA Olympics in '84, then organized was in charge of the men's World Cup in '94 and the women's World Cup in '99. He's also the Founder of Major League Soccer, and he writes about all of that in his new book, which is called the big bounce, the surge that shaped the future of U.S. soccer. Welcome.

Thank you for making this moment possible. Let's talk first about how well the team did. Compare that to what you've seen U.S. teams do in the past.

ALAN ROTHENBERG, FOUNDER, MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER: It was the best I've ever seen them perform in a serious competition, not a friendly match, especially the first half.

MICHAELSON: The best ever. The best the U.S. team has ever played in the four decades or so you've been doing this.

ROTHENBERG: Yes. It was really remarkable. And I'm so happy to be talking about it tonight after your lead stories. This is nice to have something positive to talk about.

MICHAELSON: And something that can bring the country together. I mean, talk about that aspect of this as well. A time of so much division that this is one of the few things that America can rally behind regardless of party.

ROTHENBERG: Absolutely. And I think the way they performed really has excited fans. Going in, a lot of people were apprehensive, including myself, because the team had sort of been spotty in the friendly matches that they had been playing leading up to the World Cup.

It was hard to get a grasp on how good they were going to be. Their players are scattered all over the world, playing in different leagues for different clubs, different styles, and trying to get them all together and play as a team, was in question. Well, they answered the question beautifully. They played a really phenomenal game. So the Olympics are about to be coming back to LA. In 1984, the Olympics were in LA. Peter Ueberroth was running them. He asked you to run the soccer portion of it. You weren't even really a soccer fan that much. You didn't know that much about soccer. You got into it and realized, oh my god. Look the whole world is doing this. We could do this here and help to bring the World Cup to America in 1994, the Women's World Cup in 1999 as well.

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What do you think it is about soccer that America didn't get for so long that the rest of the world has gotten for so long that you now get?

ROTHENBERG: Well, it was sort of considered, and it sounds terrible to say, a foreign sport.

MICHAELSON: Yeah.

ROTHENBERG: And so when it was first getting its feet on the ground, and particularly the media, sort of dist it. And I think they didn't understand it. They thought it was a low scoring boring game. Well, the low scoring makes it exciting because for 90 minutes, one great play or one bad mistake, is like life or death. And so it's absolute tension for all that time.

So it's a buildup. While the North American Soccer League in the 70s is kind of flourished but then collapsed, it still sparked interest. Youth Soccer started to grow like crazy. And, of course, the wave of immigration brought people in to this country who had grown up in soccer mad countries. And so that all came together. '84 was really crucial because we sold out matches at the Rose Bowl, at Stanford Stadium, huge crowds. And that's when FIFA, felt that, well, maybe we could take the risk of bringing the World Cup to the United States, and we won't be embarrassed.

And so they made that decision. And then, fortunately for me, they asked me to come in and run the '94 World Cup.

MICHAELSON: Which is a men and, of course, the women's game took off with the '99 World Cup as well and Brandi Chastain and all those great moments. I want to put up on the screen a quote that Alexi Lalas, who played on the '94 team who was broadcasting tonight, said about you. And he talked about, "Alan Rothenberg was just what soccer needed in the 90s. Like any true visionary, he had the ability to look around corners and peer into the future and see things that others didn't." So you were able to do that back then. So give us your crystal ball now, and look into the future. How does 2026 -- how does this World Cup change soccer forever in this country? ROTHENBERG: We started at ground level zero in 1990, and there's been all this phenomenal progress, and we're at ground level 75, 80. I don't know what. And I think the excitement, and certainly today, really kicked it off perfectly, is going to take us to yet another level. You have these billions of soccer fans around the world, and it's going to be millions in the United States are going to see it. They're going to enjoy it, and it's going to lead to further acceleration of both the MLS and the NWSL, the women's league.

And also just from a commercial standpoint, one of the places that MLS, despite all of its successes, lagged a little is in rights fees.

MICHAELSON: Yeah. For TV.

ROTHENBERG: And rights fees are the bloodline.

MICHAELSON: That's how you make money in sports. That's why the NFL is the number one league in the country, right?

ROTHENBERG: Yes. And so my hope, and I think it's very realistic, is that there's going to be heightened interest which means more fans, which means more sponsors, which means more rights fees, which is also going to help accelerate the sport.

MICHAELSON: Better players, and then the players get paid more. And that's what we've seen in the WNBA as well.

ROTHENBERG: Yes.

MICHAELSON: Their rights fees went up, and now the players are getting paid more. Alan, thank you for making this happen for all of us. We got to thank you as we enjoy this process. It's got to feel good.

ROTHENBERG: I feel great. It's really a great night.

MICHAELSON: Thanks, Alan. Appreciate it. And, of course, you can check out his book The Big Bounce, as well.

Coming up, a former reality star looking to break into politics did not make it, in the LA Mayoral Election, but Spencer Pratt says he is not done yet. Details of a pretty wild video he put out today. Plus, Elon Musk makes history as the world's first trillionaire with a T.

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ELON MUSK, SPACEX CEO: If, people had told me this was going to happen, I was like, man, you must be smoking some really good crack.

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SPENCER PRATT, FORMER MAYORAL CANDIDATE: You think you can get rid of me that easily? My goal hasn't changed. I've been laser focused on stopping these commie animals, and I will stop them. If you think we uncovered a lot of fraud and evil in the campaign, just wait. We have some recordings of one of your exalted candidates doing and saying something that would make her resign in shame. So Karen, Nithya, ask yourself, is it possible that one of your employees may have a recording of you doing or saying something that would force you to resign in disgrace?

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MICHAELSON: That was former LA mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt who learned earlier this week that he failed to advance the general election. He insists he is not done yet. In a three minute video posted on Friday, he vowed to keep fighting using clips from movies, news broadcasts, even a UFC fight.

Joined now by Caroline Sunshine, who was a Communications Aide for the 2024 Trump presidential campaign, and Loren Piretra, host of the Loren Piretra show.

Caroline, let's start with you. That was, I guess, a concession video, not like any we've ever seen before. Good move? Classy move? Smart move? What do you make of it?

CAROLINE SUNSHINE, COMMUNICATIONS AIDE, TRUMP 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: I think an on brand move. I think he still retains the rays and the auras, the kids say, and I think it's smart for him to keep look. He obviously tapped into something, right? The demographics of LA, we were kind of talking are what they are. It was always going to be so difficult for someone in his position to win, but he did tap into something.

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And I would kind of like to see Spencer go into live streaming, I think. Like, I think there could be a really interesting role for him as just a voice still. He could certainly make Karen Bass and Nithya Raman's life uncomfortable. So it'll be interesting. And he has a real -- he's a real media talent. So I think there's a place for him.

I also had heard reporting through the grapevine that, like, he's been in contact with Elon Musk and may have met up with him. And so I'd be interested to see where that goes. I've heard he's talking to a lot of people.

MICHAELSON: What do you make of this video?

LOREN PIRETA, HOST, THE LOREN PIRETA SHOW: That video was a hoot. Spencer Pratt is now waging a war on City Council, a building he couldn't even get into with 25 percent of the vote. And Spencer Pratt, his feelings are hurt because the city of Los Angeles showed up to vote, and they voted him into third place. He lost. He didn't go on to the primaries. And now he's claiming that he has this piece of evidence, video evidence that's going to destroy these two electeds. My thing to Spencer is, listen. If you have footage that the people of Los Angeles need to show, prove it. We need to see it. Otherwise, it's probably time to pack up the ring light and keep it moving.

MICHAELSON: I mean, but Caroline, is there some danger in the tone of this that in a time when, we have seen assassination attempts where we have seen people target it. To be that vitriolic against people may motivate people to do things that they shouldn't.

SUNSHINE: Yeah. I mean, he has a talent for capturing attention, and he's definitely not afraid to be polarizing. I obviously worked for the President, and so I'm very aware of the deny, deny, deny attack, attack, attack never surrender playbook. And I'd be remiss if I didn't say that that can be effective. Spencer is not doesn't seem like he's the type to take a knee, and I think that might give him enough momentum to keep going. And the guy lost his house, right? And so he has played this whole thing like, I'm -- I don't have anything to lose. And it seems like the posture that he's going to keep taking.

And, again, from what I've seen, deny, deny, deny attack and attack, never surrender, and carry people through a lot of things that other politicians can't survive.

MICHAELSON: Yeah. Well, speaking of fight, President Trump is getting ready to host a UFC fight on the White House Lawn. We have live pictures as they're getting ready for that. There's been legal fights to try to stop that. This whole thing is built. $60 million spent by UFC on this. You think this is a good way to use the White House Lawn?

PIRETA: When I think about this and when I think about what the people need in this moment, it is not men in a cage, shirtless, lubricated, fighting each other under a Budweiser sign. People are without health care. Health care is unaffordable. They can't afford to put gas in the car. The cost is astronomical. And people voted for Trump because they believed that he was going to make their lives more affordable.

But instead, what we're getting is this mix between an 80-year-old birthday party and a pride parade. And what are American citizens doing? We're paying for the bill for the Super Bowl level security.

MICHAELSON: You're saying this is the pride parade?

PIRETA: It's giving pride parade. There is going to be shirtless men lubricated in a cage under, a Budweiser logo and a crypto logo. It's kind of giving something we'd see in West Hollywood on a good weekend.

MICHAELSON: Caroline, what are your thoughts? Because we know this is -- he a way that he's been able to motivate young men, his connection to the UFC.

SUNSHINE: Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. So well, I guess first my question would be, like, when the Biden administration was having topless pride activists on the South Lawn taking their top off. Did that bother you or were you good with that too or this taking it too --

PIRETA: I think I don't know about this scenario. My point is, listen, what American people want in this --

SUNSHINE: Wait, wait, wait I talk with influencers on the South Lawn at the Biden White House. That did happen.

PIRETA: What the people want right now is they want affordable health care. They want vaccine files.

SUNSHINE: (Inaudible). Were you OK with that?

PIRETA: No. Of course not. What I'm saying is that --

SUNSHINE: Just curious.

PIRETA: We want some adults back in the building. What we're seeing right now is a display, a spectacle from Trump. He is failing to deliver on everything, and he can only distract so much. And we know that the reason this UFC fight, this moment is going down is because he wants to enrich the life of himself, his billionaire cronies. He's an investor in the parent company. So that's no secret here that he's always been about enriching the lives of himself and his other billionaire pals at any expense.

MICHAELSON: Right now, we are looking at his name about to come down off of the Kennedy Center building. We've been looking at live pictures of that throughout the night. Here's the work underway. This is an example, Caroline, of an instance where President Trump has sort of given up at this point in terms of a legal fight on this. What do you think is the symbolism of this moment?

SUNSHINE: I think the symbolism is it makes me laugh when people on the left will often say President Trump is a dictator, and they do no kings protests because frankly, you guys, if he was really a dictator, you think this would be happening.

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He'd be able to keep his name on a building. So I think it really just refutes that argument entirely. Like, obviously, President Trump is nowhere near close to a dictator because, as you can see a judge, just like it they do with a lot of things with Trump administration, can step in and overrule. I think it's symbolic that D.C. generally as an entire political apparatus still remains so antagonistic to the President.

This is more trivial to me. But like the President just this past week, what's not trivial and it's in the same vein, wanted to get his nominee, Bill Pulte, through the confirmation process. He controls both the house and the senate, and democrats were able to tell republicans, listen. You need to get rid Pulte as the acting nominee. Get a new guy.

MICHAELSON: And there were plenty of Republicans who were uncomfortable with Bill Pulte. A lot know we were uncomfortable with Bill Pulte. And we said that he had no intelligence experience.

SUNSHINE: Yeah. MICHAELSON: Quickly, one or two sentences on what we're seeing here tonight.

SUNSHINE: We know that Trump would brand the surface of the sun if he was able to pull the permits in time. He's put his little tacky little logo on everything from stakes to bibles to cell phones that don't exist to toilet paper. This man will stop at nothing to pursue his vanity projects. And at the end of the day, what the American people really want is the Epstein files release. We want adults back in the buildings that are making decisions about how families are going getting fed and if they're able to put gas in their cars.

So I'm not going to entertain this conversation and justify Trump's vanity project with outrage. What I will say is that we just want to see some adults working again.

MICHAELSON: All right. Lauren, Caroline, thank you for sharing your perspectives. We appreciate it, and we will continue to that breaking news from Washington as we watch those live pictures.

Also ahead on "The Story Is" Elon Musk's SpaceX debuted on NASDAQ. Ben Bergman joins me next to break down the record breaking numbers after the break. What is Elon Musk going to do with a trillion dollars? Stay with us.

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MICHAELSON: Elon Musk has become the world's first trillionaire, that's with a T, after his space technology company, SpaceX made its debut on Wall Street's NASDAQ market. The company exceeded expectations, finishing the day at over a $160 a share. That is up 19 percentage points from its opening price of a $135. SpaceX is now valued at over $2 trillion making it the sixth most valuable publicly traded U.S. company.

As for Musk, his personal net worth is now estimated to be around $1.26 trillion. Let's bring in Ben Bergman. He's a Senior Correspondent and Business Insider. We just had a graphic up there. Let's bring that back up, Ben, to talk about this concept of what is a trillionaire. What does that compare to? So he's got more wealth than plenty of countries, more than the economy of most countries. The entire GDP of Manhattan is about a trillion dollar. Virtually, every sports team in the world, he could buy all of them if he wanted to own the entire league and then some. I mean, this is mind blowing stuff.

BEN BERGMAN, SR. CORRESPONDENT, BUSINESS INSIDER: It is. And there's actually only 21 countries in the world that have a GDP of more than a trillion dollars. And, if you were to take a million dollars, you would have to multiply that by a million just to get to a trillion. The number two person on the list, the Co-Founder of Google, Larry Page, he's at less than $300 billion. Elon Musk, less than two years ago, was at a $195 billion. You can give every person in the world a $122. It's staggering.

MICHAELSON: It is, it is staggering. Is it worth it? Is SpaceX overinflated?

BERGMAN: Yes.

MICHAELSON: Why is that?

BERGMAN: Very much so. Any rational analysis has SpaceX at probably at 800 billion or maybe even 300 billion, which it was valued at about 13 months ago, because it's never made money. It lost $5 billion last year. It's already lost $4 billion this year. It's only bringing in about $18 billion in revenue, and most of that is from Starlink, which is not a great business. It's not an AI business.

So to believe it's worth $2.1 trillion, you have to give it the Elon Musk surplus and believe he's going to do all these things like build a colony on Mars, build data centers in space. And if you believe that, maybe he does deserve to be the world's first trillionaire.

MICHAELSON: Well, to that point, he talked about what he wants to do with SpaceX with his extra money. Here's some of that.

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ELON MUSK, SPACEX CEO: We want to be able to take anyone who wants to go to the moon, anyone who wants to go to Mars, or anywhere in the solar system, and maybe beyond the solar system at some point. We want to be able to take you there. Not just a few astronauts. I mean, you, literally you.

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MICHAELSON: Now he throughout his career has over promised and under delivered over and over again.

BERGMAN: Yeah. He's also delivered a lot.

MICHAELSON: He's also delivered a lot.

BERGMAN: Yes.

MICHAELSON: Right. I mean, SpaceX is an unbelievable thing what he's doing with that and Tesla and Starlink and Neuralink and on and on. I mean so do you think he's going to able to pull this off?

BERGMAN: Well, that's the $2.1 trillion question, and you should buy those shares on Monday if you think he will.

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But to your point, I mean, he said in 2019, there'd be a million Tesla robotaxis on the road. I don't see any on the road six years later. He said a long time ago that we would be in -- have a colony in Mars by now, have a presence there. That's very far off. So a lot of these projections seem very, very far away. MICHAELSON: Well, and also, he was spinning his wheels and sort of Bsing at a point where he was kind of broke. I mean, there's like -- it's like a rags to riches to rags to riches story with him that the first trillionaire is somebody who basically ran out of money at one point, right?

BERGMAN: He did. I mean, he teetered on the edge of bankruptcy many times, and SpaceX itself was on the bank edge of bankruptcy, which is, I think, a great testament to his quality of being the greatest founder ever. But SpaceX is a great company, but is it worth $2.1 trillion? It's very hard to get to that number by any rational financial analysis.

MICHAELSON: Ben Bergman, you can check out his work at Business Insider. Thanks so much for coming in. What a historic day for the markets today.

BERGMAN: Thanks so much.

MICHAELSON: Coming up on "The Story Is" the 10 million people cap.

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DELPHINE KLOPFENSTEIN, SWISS GREEN PARTY (translated): It is utterly xenophobic. Ultimately, it makes scapegoats out of foreigners.

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MICHAELSON: It's all head why Swiss voters are so divided on Sunday's referendum to limit the country's population.

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MICHAELSON: Polls will start opening Saturday night in a landmark referendum in Switzerland. Voters will decide whether the country will limit the size of its population. It's a proposal pushed by a major right wing party that argues that Switzerland is facing a population explosion, which is draining its resources.

But as Sebastian Shukla reports, opponents say it'd be a steep price to pay for voting yes.

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SEBASTIAN SHUKLA, FIELD PRODUCER: The faces of Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and Xi Jinping on opposition billboards ahead of a divisive vote on immigration in famously neutral Switzerland. Break with Europe now, the posters ask provocatively and become like these three.

On Sunday, the Swiss people will vote on a simple question. Should the country's population be capped at 10 million? If it passes, Switzerland would be forced to limit its population in the coming decades.

YVAN PAHUD, SWISS PEOPLE'S PARTY (translated): Ultimately, what we want is to protect what we love, to ensure that Switzerland remains a wonderful place to live in.

SHUKLA: At the geographical heart of Europe, the Swiss nation has roughly doubled in size since 1950, surpassing 9.l million people in 2025, over a quarter of those being foreign nationals.

JURG MULLER, DIRECTOR, AVENIR SUISSE: The Switzerland is attractive. The economy is running well. The bulk of migration is coming from the European Union, this is based on the agreement of free movement of persons.

SHUKLA: The vote is also another example of European right wing parties tapping into immigration anxieties. On the YES campaign's website, under a heading titled, the loss of culture and identity, a woman in a hijab appears holding a Swiss passport alongside the phrase "creeping Islamization" and a story about people from North Africa.

DELPHINE KLOPFENSTEIN, SWISS GREEN PARTY (translated): It is utterly xenophobic. Ultimately, it makes scapegoats out of foreigners as if they're the answer to all of society's ills. It is dangerous because it is deceitful.

SHUKLA: There is also heavy pushback from the business community. An umbrella organization for the sector called it the chaos initiative and said, what at first glance looks like a solution to immigration issues turns out to be a dangerous boomerang on closer inspection. The initiative poses a massive threat to Switzerland's prosperity, supply, and stability. A YES vote would also set up a showdown with the EU as the result would be legally binding.

JURG MULLER, DIRECTOR, AVENIR SUISSE: I think in the short term, not too much will happen because the referendum is set up with these thresholds that are not hit yet. But then in the long run, the implications are, yeah, possibly quite wide reaching.

SHUKLA: Once the population hits 9.5 million, the government would be forced to limit asylum and stop family reunifications. Once it reaches 10 million, it would be obliged to withdraw from any commitment to principle of free movement and thereby set it on a crash course with the European Union. Sebastian Shukla, CNN, Berlin.

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MICHAELSON: U.S. government has just dropped a new batch of files on unidentified flying objects. Next hour, documentary filmmaker Dan Farah, who put together the age of disclosure, joins us live in studio to discuss. Stay with us.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK) MICHAELSON: So David Beckham was honored with a star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The honor comes on the same day. The U.S. part of the 2026 World Cup kicked off, but Beckham is the first English soccer player to win league titles in four different countries. Instead of a traditional red carpet, a soccer green pitch marked the occasion. Guests included Tom Cruise and Beckham's wife, Victoria Beckham. Beckham is now the President Co-Owner of Inter Miami CF and says he's proud of what the game has become in the U.S.

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DAVID BECKHAM, FORMER PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALLER: I've always been a dreamer, but I could never have imagined that an honor like this would come to a working class English soccer player like me.

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MICHAELSON: Thanks for watching the first hour of "The Story Is." The next hour starts right now.