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The Story Is with Elex Michaelson
Firings Now Underway At Office Of Director Of National Intelligence; Trump Threatens Prison For Reflecting Pool "Vandalism"; Conflicting Statements From Vance, Iran Over Nuclear Access; U.S. House Committee Reaches Bipartisan Deal On Social Media Rules For Youth; Save Ukraine Aims To Rescue Those Allegedly Taken By Russia; Labour Party Looks to Burnham after PM Resigns; Reports Giannis Antetokounmpo Traded to Miami; Fans Celebrate World Cup; Music Industry Titan Clive Davis Dead at 94. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired June 23, 2026 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:00]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Los Angeles, The Story Is with Elex Michaelson.
ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: And we begin in Washington, D.C. where sources tell CNN large scale firings are underway at the office of the Director of National Intelligence. Bill Pulte took over as acting DNI last week despite bipartisan criticism and of his lack of intelligence experience. He's a housing official with a record of making mortgage fraud allegations against President Trump's political enemies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREW MCCABE, FORMER FBI DEPUTY DIRECTOR: Bill Pulte has zero intelligence experience, never been in the military, never served in law enforcement. He's not been associated with any of the 18 separate government agencies that currently make up the intelligence community.
So if charged with culling the workforce by 20, 30, 40, 50 percent, how on earth will this guy know who to fire? I'm told that one of the other questions, his first questions when he arrived last Friday at the DNI was he inquired as to would he get a security clearance and what kind would it be.
He doesn't know already that the job he's stepping into will enable him to have every piece of the government's most sensitive intelligence. Not just secret, not just top secret, code word protected, ultra-sensitive programs that identify human sources, that identify exquisite cyber collection platforms. All of that could cross his desk at any moment. And he doesn't know what sort of security clearance he has.
SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ): You don't just go in, in a doge way and start throwing people out. You do it in a substantive, methodical way by somebody who has extensive national security experience. He has absolutely none.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Sources previously said that Pulte was looking to cut hundreds of intel jobs. You see him there? He was at the White House on Monday, standing next to reporters as the president signed executive orders and answered questions.
Federal judge says that Department of Justice subpoenas of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and other Democrats are not constitutional. The DOJ is seeking records in its investigation of resistance to its immigration crackdown. The judge calls the move a retaliatory effort to harass political opponents of the Trump administration. The Justice Department says it will continue to investigate.
President Trump says vandals have damaged the Reflecting Pool at the National Mall in D.C. and they should face up to 10 years in prison. Trump's threats come after a $14 million makeover that has visitors seeing green instead of the American flag blue that president says that he wants. CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is in Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: You're going to have something you're going to be very proud of.
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A peeling bottom.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's still not fixed. And it is. It's disappointing.
SERFATY (voice-over): Arrests for alleged vandalism, a high profile lawsuit, and one $14 million green hued pool. The President's Reflecting Pool makeover is now overflowing with controversy.
TRUMP: We did a hell of a job, but everybody's looking at that reflecting pool.
SERFATY (voice-over): And yet 18 days after the pool was filled with water renovation, President Trump is now saying the pool will likely need to be shut down and drained again, blaming it on what he says are vandals that have forced a new round of repairs.
TRUMP: I can't help it if somebody goes in with a knife and starts hacking it up. And we also have pictures of it. You know, we have.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you release the photos?
TRUMP: Yes, at the right time. You'll see it. You'll see it in court.
SERFATY (voice-over): Administration officials say that police have made several arrests at the Reflecting Pool alleging vandalism.
TRUMP: And I understand they've arrested five people and they have another five people that are under investigation.
SERFATY (voice-over): Three time U.S. Olympian David Hearn says he was arrested after touching blue material partially detached from the bottom of the pool.
DAVID HEARN, FORMER U.S. OLYMPIAN: I took my left hand glove off and reached down into the water and sort of felt the end and bent it around a little bit.
SERFATY (voice-over): Hearn denies vandalizing the pool and says he was cited with destruction and defacing government property and disobeying a government employee.
JEANINE PIRRO, U.S. ATTORNEY FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: There are several citations that have been handed out to individuals and these are cases that will be prosecuted to the full extent.
SERFATY (voice-over): On Truth Social without evidence, the President wrote, they took some form of knife or blade and put a 250 foot long gash into the beautiful facade of what took so much work, competence and money to build and complete. He added, quote, they also poured corrosive and destructive materials into the pool.
Today, Trump increased the size of the alleged gash.
TRUMP: Well, let's put it this way, when you have a 350, I think it's 350, not 250. A 350 foot slit from one end to the other.
SERFATY (voice-over): Tampering with federal property carries a prison sentence of up to 10 years in federal court.
[01:05:00]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've never seen this many National Guards in the national park area. They came up to me and two other women asking if we've touched it and then just promoting us not to that we would get arrested or charged with vandalism if we did.
SERFATY (voice-over): President Trump and the U.S. attorney in D.C. have been very clear they intend to push forward to penalize those accused of wrongdoing as much as possible.
SERFATY: And earlier today, we saw several trailers full of equipment come down to the Reflecting Pool and start unloading equipment. You'll see some of that behind me. Workers tell us that those are actually six security cameras that will go up and give 360 degree views of the Reflecting Pool at all times.
Meantime, President Trump has convened a meeting with the contractors of this project to talk about the necessary repairs and of course, draining the reflecting pool once again. Sunlen Serfaty, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAELSON: President Trump's top diplomat will be heading to the Middle East to discuss the agreement with Iran. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain, key U.S. allies in the region. You will also meet with the Gulf Cooperation Council. The group is expected to play a key role in implementing elements of the memorandum.
Meanwhile, there are conflicting statements from the U.S. vice president and Tehran if nuclear inspectors will be allowed back into Iran. Iran's state media reports that Tehran did not discuss the nuclear issue during negotiations in Switzerland and did not accept any new commitments. Let's bring in CNN's Kristie Lou Stout live in Hong Kong with the latest. So which is it, Kristie?
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, there appears to be some progress, especially in issues like the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and setting up a hotline there, like the lifting, temporary lifting of sanctions of Iranian oil. But there seems to be this misunderstanding when it comes to Iran's nuclear program. We have these conflicting statements over the issue of nuclear monitoring.
Earlier we heard from the U.S. Vice President DJ Vance who sounded this upbeat tone in regards to the pace and the progress achieved in these ongoing talks. And he said that Iran had agreed to accept inspectors from the U.N. Nuclear watchdog, the IAEA. But Iran has pushed back, saying that it is not accepted any new nuclear commitments.
Meanwhile, the U.S. President, he's watching events proceed very closely and he weighed in, basically saying that Iran was will agree to have inspections. This is what he told reporters on Monday.
He said, quote, if Iran does not live up to their agreement or if they're not behaving, I will do what I have to do, unquote. And that's the U.S. President basically saying that military action remains on the table. Now we continue to monitor developments of the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran has agreed to set up this telephone hotline that would allow the United States and other countries to call to coordinate and to clear up any misunderstandings when trying to negotiate transits of vessels through this critical waterway.
According to marine traffic data, there has been a steady uptick in the number of crossings. In fact, according to marine traffic, in the last 24 hours, there have been at least two dozen ships that have crossed the Strait of Hormuz. But this still pales in comparison to the numbers of vessels that used to cross the strait before the war. That the daily tally was anywhere between 110 to 125.
Another element that we're keeping an eye on is the U.S. has temporarily lifted sanctions on Iranian oil. This is significant. This was a key commitment in the MoU. It allows Iran to sell crude and crude based products and to receive payment for that.
And so we're continue to keep an eye on the price of oil and we continue to see that downward slide. If we bring up the price of Brent crude oil, that's the global oil benchmark, it's currently trading lower, about 1/3 of 1 percent lower. And West Texas crude oil, the U.S. benchmark, trading about 2/10 of 1 percent lower. These technical talks for peace are ongoing. They will continue in the days ahead. Elex. MICHAELSON: It's interesting, Kristie. I remember talking to you so often when that number was well over $100. So it is good to see it going in the right direction for all of us when it comes to gas prices. Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong.
LU STOUT: Absolutely.
MICHAELSON: Thanks for keeping track of all that for us. Now to a heartbreaking update and the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie. Investigators confirmed that a note sent to CNN and to other media outlets in February said that Guthrie had died soon after she was abducted from her Arizona home and that whoever kidnapped her did not mean to kill her.
It was sent right after a ransom note demanding millions of dollars in exchange for Guthrie's release. Authorities believe that both notes came from the kidnapper or kidnappers. Law enforcement had requested to hold off on reporting what was in those notes so they could verify any future communications with her abductors. They say the investigation is still active and ongoing.
The story is technology.
[01:10:00]
A bipartisan group of U.S. House lawmakers has reached a deal on sweeping online child safety legislation known as the Kids Online Safety Act. The proposal would require new safeguards for minors on digital platforms, from social media to AI chatbots. Legislation includes stronger privacy protections, expanded parental controls, and new transparency requirements for tech companies.
POLITICO reports the bill could reach the House floor as early as next week, then would still have to go to the Senate and then, of course, be signed by the president.
For more, I want to bring in CNN contributor Jacob Ward, a technology journalist and host of the Rip Current podcast. Jacob, is this thing good for kids? Does it have real teeth?
JACOB WARD, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, this is the real question, right, Elex. I mean, we've never really done this before. The United States, as you probably know, is one of the least regulated digital environments in the world. We don't have data privacy laws in this country. We don't even have data transparency laws in this country.
And so we are in totally uncharted territory when we talk here about trying to update child online protection really for this new social media era we're in. There are some protections here and there, but this would in theory be a whole new thing. So we don't know.
And the big question here, I have a bunch of them. One of them is, is this in fact going to have any enforcement chief. Right? There is no duty of care, as the -- as the legal minds call it in this bill. This is more or less telling these companies that they're going to have to, you know, put up warning labels or take every possible precaution, but it doesn't really hold them to account for that, as parent groups have been demanding.
And so that toothlessness has people pretty worried. And then there's also this question of whether you can in fact force these companies to figure out who's a kid and who's not without forcing all of us to turn over even more private information to them, including some kind of identification for children. Some privacy advocates say that that, in fact hands these companies more surveillance powers rather than less. And of course, we're in this era right now, Elex, of incredible legal action against these cases.
As you'll recall, there was the Los Angeles verdict and then the New Mexico verdict. Both went against social media companies. And so the other question here is, will this law in some way change the legal standing of those cases going forward? It's a big, confusing ball of wax because again, we've just never really been in this position before, Elex.
MICHAELSON: And will this allow states to go tougher if they want to, meaning that this is a floor but say a state like California says we want to do more intense regulations, is that allowed?
WARD: Yes. This is the problem, right. Is that if this creates a weak federal floor that winds up overriding state law, because, as you know, right, Federal law preempts state law in most cases. Well, then that's something that these companies have really been dreaming of. I mean, Big Tech really has wanted there to be, they would say, a unified central federal law.
But what they also, I think, wouldn't mind is if that federal law were a lot weaker than what all of these state laws have been. I mean, California has been moving very quickly on this. Illinois has been moving fast. I mean, we've got a lot of states for whom really the only laws that protect Americans are state law.
And so the worry that a lot of attorneys general have, and they are all raising the alarms about this, is that this could establish some sort of federal law that would be so weak as to basically take the legs out from underneath these state lawmakers. Elex.
MICHAELSON: So this passed in a House committee in a bipartisan way, which is a big deal because not much does this these days. But it's not done yet. It's still got to go to the House floor, still got to work with the Senate, still got to be signed by the president, sort of what's next in terms of Capitol Hill, in terms of that process, the pressure points ahead and where this could end up?
WARD: Well, certainly, I mean, getting this past the president is one question. You know, it's -- the guy goes back and forth every day on tech. One day he is the best friend of these folks. That's why so much of Silicon Valley turned out to support him when it came to big donor dollars and the rest of it for his 2024 bid.
And then the next day, he changes his tune, and suddenly he's demanding to see AI models before they're released and all sorts of other things. So, it's very hard to read the president right now as it is on so many things. And, you know, and as to the whether there's any chance that Congress could fall out amongst itself, you know, as you say, it's an incredibly bipartisan position. Nobody wants kids harmed online.
You know, kids is what brings Americans still together at a time of otherwise deep division. And so, if anything, what we know is that there is enormous political appetite doing something. And I guess one way to think about it is that these companies have been, you know, they've been experimenting all this time. They've gotten to ship and then fix.
Maybe the lawmakers have a chance here to do it once, see if it works and then try again. That's sort of the rule of software, Elex.
[01:15:05]
MICHAELSON: We know that Australia, the U.K. have moved to sort of ban social media, at least addictive social media for teenagers. What exactly would this do, what Congress just passed? How would it change my kids, your kids, social media experience?
WARD: Well, in theory, it would require these companies to, you know, basically make sure that they knew who was a kid and who was not. Up until now your kids and mine can get onto a platform fairly easy. They can lie and get their way on there pretty, pretty quick.
And so it would -- in theory require these companies to come up with a better way of doing it. Now, would they actually be able to be prosecuted or sued in some way if they didn't do that? That's the part that's not clear yet. But, you know, it would in theory turn up the, you know, the -- it would make it more difficult for kids to get online, in theory.
But what it would also do is require you as a parent and your kid to come up with a way of proving that your kid is the age that they are, hand over some sort of identification on this kid. That's the problem, right, that all these privacy advocates are talking about.
And so it really is a, could be a very, you know, a new world here. But what it really speaks to is there's a growing concern on the part of parents and on the part of lawmakers that this stuff has gotten out of control and some kind of regulation has to come online. Because as I, as we mentioned here, Elex, there's really no laws at all about this in the very country that invented this stuff.
MICHAELSON: And it's hard for Congress to keep up. It's not fast on anything. And this is moving so, so fast. Jacob Ward live for us from the Bay Area. Thank you so much.
WARD: Thank you.
MICHAELSON: Just ahead on the story is 20,000 teddy bears filling the National Mall in Washington, each one representing a child allegedly abducted by Russia in its war on Ukraine. CNN speaks with one organization working to find those children and bring them back home.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [01:21:15]
MICHAELSON: Ukraine has a new target in its effort to beat back the Russian invasion, it's hitting energy targets in Crimea, which Russia seized from Ukraine back in 2014. This right here is drone footage of an attack on an oil depot in Crimea. Those attacks have led to fuel rationing and power outages across the Black Sea peninsula. Ukraine hopes that making life difficult in Crimea will put more pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate an end to the conflict.
Meanwhile, in the U.S., a public display of thousands of teddy bears, which you see right here in the nation's capital, serves as a stark reminder of the many Ukrainian children who have disappeared during this war. CNN's Jim Sciutto spoke with one organization that's bringing -- trying to bring those kids home.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST (voice-over): 20,000 Teddy bears on the National Mall, each one, say organizers, representing a Ukrainian child abducted during the ongoing war with Russia. I've covered the Ukraine war since Russia's invasion and have heard firsthand how the war has broken families apart.
KATYA PAVLEVYCH, ADVISER, RAZOM FOR UKRAINE: So Ukrainian government has verified, I think to date, 20,000, 570 cases of abduction of children. But this number is growing as they verify more cases.
SCIUTTO (voice-over): Anastasia was one of those children.
ANASTASIA CHVELOVA, RESIDENT OF KYIV: I was 15 years old. I was studying in college and I was in Kherson at that time. Her son was invaded by Russians. And that's when everything happened.
SCIUTTO (voice-over): As the war began, Anastasia was planning to flee Kherson before Russian police stopped her at a checkpoint. She says she was held in Russian captivity for roughly 10 months before she managed to escape with the help of her mother and the nonprofit Save Ukraine.
CHVELOVA: I had to survive violence towards me and abuse. They allowed themselves to do anything they wanted. For example, they could enter our rooms when we were taking baths. But the condition of this dormitory was so dire they were happening inhumane things as well as the rape of 13 years old girl whom I know.
SCIUTTO (voice-over): Russia has denied its carried out mass child abductions, claiming they transferred Ukrainian children to Russia for their own safety. Ukrainian advocates say Russia is intentionally capturing the children to erase their Ukrainian identity.
PAVLEVYCH: All the children have been subjected to reeducation and indoctrination. And then there's also more harsh realities. Some were taken to military camps where they went through very aggressive militarization. SCIUTTO (voice-over): Since Russia's first invasion of Ukraine in 2014, Save Ukraine says it has rescued more than 1,300 children through what it calls an underground railroad.
MYKOLA KULEBA, FOUNDER AND CEO, SAVE UKRAINE: The war in Ukraine has traumatized our children physically, emotionally and culturally. Our recent report Return Every Child gives a devastating picture on how Russia's aggression targets not just territory, but the very identity and future of Ukraine's youngest generation through forced indoctrination and trauma.
SCIUTTO (voice-over): In March, the U.S. allocated $25 million towards identifying, tracking and returning Ukrainian children abducted by Russia. U.S. first lady Melania Trump has helped with the return of some two dozen Ukrainian kids.
MELANIA TRUMP, U.S. FIRST LADY: As you can imagine, this is not an easy feat, but I applaud leadership from both nations in working with my representative and me to bring love and safety back to each individual who has been displaced as a result of this horrible war.
[01:25:00]
SCIUTTO (voice-over): However many thousands remain left behind. Anastasia's message to them is don't give up.
CHVELOVA: I really ask everybody who is either trapped in occupation or are looking for their children who are trapped in Russian control. Do not believe those words that I've been told by them. Do everything that you can to escape or rescue your loved ones.
SCIUTTO: Jim Sciutto, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAELSON: Coming up, Britain's revolving door of Prime Minister takes another turn. Keir Starmer's resignation means for the ruling Labour Party and how will the likely next PM govern differently.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:29:57]
MICHAELSON: Britain's Labour Party is entering a new era after Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced that he will step down. His resignation follows months of declining popularity, mounting pressure from lawmakers and members of his own government.
Newly-sworn in MP Andy Burnham is widely expected to succeed Starmer as party leader, a move that would make him the country's next prime minister.
Under British law, Labour does not have to hold a general election until 2029, but Trump ally, Nigel Farage, who leads the far-right Reform U.K. Party, says the British public should get a say right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NIGEL FARAGE, REFORM U.K. PARTY: I demand, we at Reform demand, a general election. After all, when the Conservatives were chopping and changing prime ministers, Labour kept saying there should be a general election.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Let's discuss all this further with CNN European affairs commentator Dominic Thomas, who joins us now. Dominic, welcome back to THE STORY IS.
DOMINIC THOMAS, CNN EUROPEAN AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Thank you so much for having me on, Elex. Great to see you.
MICHAELSON: So Andy Burnham, widely expected to be the next guy in charge. Who is he and how is he likely to govern differently than Keir Starmer?
THOMAS: Yes. Well, I think, you know, you're absolutely right that this whole process since the local elections just over a month ago was set up in a way for Andy Burnham to return to parliament.
And I say return because he's a former member of that parliament who left to become the mayor of Greater Manchester, right, which is this very large district, I think 27 constituencies, over 3 million people in that region and in the crucial part of the U.K., where there's very strong Labour leadership.
But in an area where Reform, the far-right party, has also been encroaching on voters. And the by-election that he won sent a very strong message that he has a lot of support in that area, and also that he's the kind of candidate that has a good chance of standing up against Nigel Farage's party, who actually underperformed in that particular process.
So he comes to parliament with experience, obviously, becoming a prime minister is a very different challenge. And I think it's important to put that challenge in context, that when Keir Starmer won this, or rather, his party won this massive majority just two years ago, it was on the heels of 14 years of Conservative Party leadership, five prime ministers, and people were incredibly disaffected with the two-party system and with the Conservatives.
And so moving forward, a lot of the problems that Keir Starmer inherited on the global stage, on the local stage, are also going to be those of Andy Burnham. And the challenge, of course, is that his party is in power.
And essentially in picking ministers and so on, he's just simply going to be reshuffling the deck of cards, picking different people within the party, which also potentially exacerbate existing factions within the Labour group there, Elex.
MICHAELSON: So I mean, is there a substance change or is it basically just a style change? THOMAS: Well, I think that there's a bit of both. First of all, just
simply having a new person with dynamism and momentum, I think is a good thing for the party as it decides where to go in the years moving forward.
As you mentioned earlier, they don't have to have a general election until somewhere in 2029. But it is likely that he will call one slightly earlier than that because at the moment he will be yet again a selected prime minister rather than somebody elected through a process where the party then decides who the leader will be. So I think that is important.
In terms of the sort of the political orientation of Andy Burnham, it's not that he's that different to Keir Starmer. But certainly when it comes to surrounding himself with individuals, he needs to think very carefully about the shifting political landscape in the U.K. just in the last two years, where we saw in the local elections the rise of the Greens. And where we see Reform performing very well.
So he's going to have to address those particular issues while also positioning himself on the global stage where the whole range of challenges there also impact, of course, domestic politics.
MICHAELSON: We just saw Nigel Farage. He's calling for a general election. How much power does he have right now? How much juice does he have with what's going on?
THOMAS: Right. Well, in terms of parliamentary representation, they're minimal. But in terms of the general polling that he's been receiving over the past months, certainly since Starmer came to power, is that they're doing very well.
And we see here, and it's paradoxical because we're on the 10th anniversary today of the -- of the Brexit vote, is that those questions around immigration, around national identity continue to be extraordinarily polarizing.
And that's something that Andy Burnham is going to have to address. Those are feelings, they don't have much correlation with the realities of what is an incredibly diverse, lively economy and country.
[01:34:50]
THOMAS: But they're going to have to address the underlying causes that fuel that xenophobia, that stigmatization of migrants. And that's where Nigel Farage has done very well.
And let's not forget, constantly bolstered by intrusions from Trump or Trump's surrogates who keep criticizing the U.K. on questions like immigration, on questions like green politics and so on. And so that bigger context, I think, is also an important.
MICHAELSON: Yes. And you think about in that ten years since Brexit, there have been six prime ministers, which is quite something.
Dominic Thomas, live for us, thank you so much. Appreciate you sharing your perspective.
THOMAS: Thank you.
MICHAELSON: Of course, that politics can be pretty divisive. This has been pretty unifying.
World Cup celebrations are circling the globe as teams progress through the group stages.
Still ahead, how Scotland's fans in particular are preparing for an upcoming match in Miami. They're really quite something.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MICHAELSON: We're following breaking news from the National Basketball Association. Sources tell ESPN's Shams Charania and the Associated Press that the Milwaukee Bucks are trading Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Miami Heat.
[01:39:51]
MICHAELSON: The deal reportedly includes Bobby Portis heading to Miami. In exchange, the Bucks are getting Tyler Herro, Jaime Jaquez Jr., two other players, at least three future first round draft picks.
Giannis, at 31 years old, is a two-time MVP, ten-time all-star, led the Bucks to an NBA championship in 2021. One of the best players in the NBA.
Meanwhile, to the charm surrounding the World Cup, it's rooted in its power to unite people around the world. And this year, the global soccer community is spreading joy across North America.
Thousands of Scottish fans are descending upon Miami's vibrant Cuban neighborhood, Little Havana. Despite the Florida heat, crowds cheered on a procession of bagpipes as the city prepares for Scotland's match against Brazil on Wednesday. Locals and tourists alike say they love the cultural collision.
Here's how a Miami baseball fan reacted to the summer soccer takeover.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just been crazy, man. Like I've been a Marlins fan my entire life and it's just cool seeing how beautiful sports can be, bring everyone together. Marlins, Scots fans, you know, we just have a good time, watch some good baseball, watch some good football as they call it, and drink a lot of beer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Here to help us unpack all of that is Emmy award-winning journalist Segun Oduolowu. Segun, those folks could be in the streets cheering Giannis coming in.
(CROSSTALKING) MICHAELSON: It's a huge trade.
SEGUN ODUOLOWU, JOURNALIST: It's a huge trade. Look, Segun Oduolowu, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bam Adebayo -- Nigeria is here.
Look it is about time we brought Giannis who's got an NBA --
MICHAELSON: Greek, by the way, not Nigerian.
ODUOLOWU: No. He's Nigerian by way of Greek. Antetokounmpo is --
MICHAELSON: Yes.
ODUOLOWU: But look we spoke on the set about Bam scoring 83 points. Now you bring Giannis in. The other minor pieces, that doesn't matter. What really does is that Milwaukee is getting three first round draft picks. That's a lot.
And the Tyler Herro and you know the different body parts. And Jaime who we love because --
MICHAELSON: Very good.
ODUOLOWU: -- he's ex-UCLA. He's a former, you know, he's a former UCLA player.
(CROSSTALKING)
ODUOLOWU: But look at you -- just look at you, the knowledge of all L.A.-based basketball players.
But I think this shakes up the East. The Boston Celtics were trying to get Giannis. They would have had to give up Jaylen Brown.
MICHAELSON: Yes.
ODUOLOWU: And they offered Jaylen and two first round draft picks.
MICHAELSON: Were willing to do so.
ODUOLOWU: Were willing to do so. But Pat Riley, Miami, the king of rings just when he wanted like he wanted Lebron. Like when he got Chris Bosh and brought that dream team down to South Beach. He's brought a two-time MVP already an NBA champion.
I think right now the East is up for grabs. And Giannis in Miami is beautiful music.
MICHAELSON: Well he brought Shaq to Dwyane Wade. Of course my -- Pat Riley comes from the Lakers days of showtime.
ODUOLOWU: Look at you, everything comes back to L.A.
MICHAELSON: Well yes. But he loves stars.
ODUOLOWU: He loves stars. MICHAELSON: And that was all about stars. And he he's now brought one
of the biggest stars. I mean this is one of the biggest trades in the history of the NBA.
ODUOLOWU: No it's huge because it's a power shift, right. No one knows what's going to happen with Milwaukee. We just saw the Knicks, absolutely, you know kill the alien every everyone I thought here that San Antonio was going to win. The Knicks proved us all wrong.
Now you've got arguably one of the best players ever in the NBA in Giannis with Bam Adebayo and with Pat Riley who knows how to get this done.
MICHAELSON: Yes. Although we saw with Oklahoma City sometimes when you get that many first round draft picks, you can create something special.
ODUOLOWU: We'll see.
MICHAELSON: Let's talk about the World Cup as well.
ODUOLOWU: Yes.
MICHAELSON: It is crazy to see the way --
ODUOLOWU: Everywhere.
MICHAELSON: -- this is taking over, especially in the U.S., which is a frontrunning country.
ODUOLOWU: You said it.
MICHAELSON: And has not always embraced soccer, but loves winners.
ODUOLOWU: Yes.
MICHAELSON: At a time when soccer is gaining more popularity. Record ratings because the team is good and the merchandise is like sold out.
ODUOLOWU: You hit -- said it, Elex. Front runners. Americans love front runners. And that team came out with four goals. Then the next game, two goals. They've already won their group.
I'm putting stickers into books on the World Cup with my six-year-old daughter, trying to identify which players come from, where. We, who love football, are now appreciating football because the teams are good.
You've got Messi in it. He just broke the record for goals in the World Cup. People are actually watching this and they're cheering. They're having a good time.
We led in with Scotland taking over, you know, Scottish fans taking over Miami. They've taken over Boston. Wherever the fans are -- wherever the country's teams are playing throughout North America, you're seeing the fans support. And because again, United States, when it's our team, they're winning.
Going to the knockout round, you can't beat that.
MICHAELSON: It's been interesting to see the Americans and North Americans --
ODUOLOWU: Yes, the North Americans.
MICHAELSON: -- sort of learn about a lot of these countries. And also these countries learn about North America.
ODUOLOWU: Yes, you have got -- going into a grocery store, if you're from like the Democratic Republic of Congo and you're seeing all of the choices that we have, like the idea of Costco is lost on so many of these countries, just the access (ph).
But also just like there was, there was a -- there was a tourist in Texas who was just like, everything in Texas is big. Like the food is big.
[01:44:46]
ODUOLOWU: If you're coming from Japan where it's like bite sized portions of sushi and you get that Texas fried steak, America is really showing what it means to put on a show.
We've got stadiums everywhere, and we've got all of these teams. You got Messi and Argentina playing in Kansas City. Everywhere you can imagine, you're -- and you're seeing our stars go to the games as well.
Our NBA stars, our Major League Football -- or NFL football stars, our Major League Baseball stars. They're going to the games and they're having a great time.
MICHAELSON: And at a time when we need more cultural exchanges --
ODUOLOWU: Yes we do.
MICHAELSON: -- some of this can go beyond the soccer pitch, right?
ODUOLOWU: I hope so.
MICHAELSON: In terms of showing some of the cultural understanding at a time when we need some of that.
ODUOLOWU: You're right. There was fear that with some of the stuff going on in the country, we wouldn't have these large crowds or they wouldn't be -- they would be apprehensive to cheer for their teams.
We're not seeing that. We are seeing full-throated takeovers of bars. It doesn't matter if you know the country.
I'm learning that Cape Verde -- Cape Verde has some of the most beautiful people I've ever seen in my life. Just by looking into the stands and like, oh, look at Colombia, I need to go to that game. And fans are doing that too. You're seeing people appreciate just the
fever pitch. Look at that fever and pitch, you know, soccer pitch.
MICHAELSON: Yes. Look at you.
ODUOLOWU: Look at that. So you're seeing people appreciate how much this means to these fans coming all the way to America and Canada and Mexico to see these games.
It's big. And yes, cultural exchange is necessary.
MICHAELSON: It's a lot of fun.
ODUOLOWU: It's necessary, through sports.
MICHAELSON: And the next match for Team U.S.A. is Thursday right here in southern California.
ODUOLOWU: Are you going.
MICHAELSON: Yes. No, I got to do this job. I don't know. I'm in CNN.
ODUOLOWU: All right. I'll go.
MICHAELSON: You're going.
ODUOLOWU: Yes, I'll go.
MICHAELSON: All right. Segun, thank you so much.
We'll be back with more of THE STORY IS including honoring a life well-lived next.
[01:46:24]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLIVE DAVIS, MUSIC PRODUCER: You look for the -- it's a natural gift within people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Legendary music producer Clive Davis talking about how he spotted generational talents like Jennifer Hudson.
Davis, died Monday at the age of 94. In his seven decades in the business, he either signed or nurtured superstars like Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, Alicia Keys, Bruce Springsteen, Jennifer Hudson, Billy Joel, Janis Joplin, and the Grateful Dead, to name a few.
CNN entertainment correspondent Elizabeth Wagmeister conducted one of the final sit-down interviews with Davis. She joins us now. What a life. ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: What a life and
truly what a legend. We do not use that word lightly. This was a legend in the music industry.
And as you said, Elex, I sat down with him for one of his final interviews. Let's take a look at his life.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVIS: I never thought in a million years that I would discover artists. I don't read music. I don't play music. It's just in the gut.
WAGMEISTER: Janis Joplin, Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, the Grateful Dead, Bruce Springsteen, Santana, and the list goes on. Clive Davis, known as the Man with the Golden Ears, either discovered them or help catapult them into music superstardom.
DAVIS: My parents died when I was a late teenager. I had no money to rise above the station. I studied law to become a lawyer. The fates were good. Luck was in my way, and the firm that I went to work for represented Columbia Records.
I became their general counsel for five years. And then overnight, I was made head of the company.
WAGMEISTER: His knack for finding talent was almost immediately evident.
DAVIS: From the signing of Janice Joplin and Donovan and Blood, Sweat and Tears and Santana and then Chicago, and when they all hit one after another, and I was there making that judgment, and I saw them all come through, it obviously gave me confidence to keep going.
WAGMEISTER: And not only did Davis find all the right artists, he also found them the right songs.
DAVIS: Regarding Whitney, I discovered her when she was 19. And we embarked on this odyssey, breaking every record.
(MUSIC)
WAGMEISTER: That song convinced Davis, Houston was a superstar.
DAVIS: That's a song I commissioned for the life of Muhammad Ali eight years earlier. And there's this young teenager singing "The Greatest Love of All" like I never heard it before.
WAGMEISTER: Davis was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1932. In a career spanning more than 50 years, he won four Grammy Awards, a Grammy Trustee Award, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000.
Davis married twice and had four children. In 2013, he released a memoir called "The Soundtrack of My Life". In it, he revealed that he was bisexual.
DAVIS: I opened myself up to the possibility of having a relationship with a person rather than a gender.
WAGMEISTER: In one of his final sit-down interviews, Davis told me what he was most proud of.
What do you want people to remember you by? What is your legacy?
DAVIS: My legacy is that I discovered or nurtured an unusual array of the most gifted artists of all time, and that they felt safe. But to see that they were still headlining arenas all over the world, and were not one-hit wonders, was such a great feeling.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAELSON: It is incredible to see the size and scope of that career. I know you say that your interview with him is one of your favorites of all time. Why is that?
WAGMEISTER: It really was. First of all, it's rare that you are sitting across from someone and you actually say to yourself, as a journalist, I am sitting with a living legend.
I sat with him. It was supposed to be a 15 or 20-minute interview, Elex. I was with him for more than an hour. Just hearing the stories of his life and something that really struck me is, he was in his 90s when I interviewed him.
[01:54:49]
WAGMEISTER: He was so prepared. He wanted to be up to date on current events. And I remember at the time, there was something going on in the news with Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake.
He had an article printed out next to him about Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake. He wanted to make sure that he would be able to talk about it and speak on every topic that might be asked of him.
Also, my dad is from Brooklyn, New York. He is from Brooklyn, New York. We just spoke about my dad and he just wanted to hear about his upbringing.
And then the final thing that I will tell you, I remember from his interview, he had the cutest dog. He had a King Charles Cavalier who was on the couch next to him. And the dog was snoring so loud that we had to stop down on the interview three different times because our audio was picking up on the dog snoring. And Clive was just kind of like, yes, that's my dog. You know, just very regular.
MICHAELSON: Yes. And amazing also and hosts one of the biggest parties of the year, the Grammy's party every year. It'll be interesting to see if they continue that tradition next year and honor him as well.
WAGMEISTER: Yes.
MICHAELSON: Elizabeth, thank you so much. Always great to see you.
WAGMEISTER: Thanks, Elex. MICHAELSON: And thank you for watching THE STORY IS. We appreciate it.
Great to be back home after a week in Austria.
We'll see you tomorrow with more of THE STORY IS.
[01:56:02]
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