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The Story Is with Elex Michaelson

Japan Quake Leaves 13 Dead, Rescue Teams Hunt For Survivors; Strong, Slow Moving Storms To Bring Flood Threat To Northeast; France And Spain Race To Contain Fires Before New Heatwave; Saudi Arabia Joins U.S. Military Strikes On Iranian Proxy; Israeli Officials Calls Trump Netanyahu Meeting Very Positive; Fauci To Appear At Senate Committee Hearing In Hours Ahead; Attorneys: ICE Arrests at U.S. Airports Happening More Often; FAA: Hundreds of Being 737 Jets May Need Seat Inspections; LVMH CEO Pushes Back Against Claims of Family Feud; Making Standard Rules for Driverless Vehicles in Emergencies. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired July 29, 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]

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Largest freshwater swamp in North America as well more than 850 plant species, nearly 50 mammal species and 90 species of reptiles and amphibians. Congratulations to them.

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

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Los Angeles, The Story Is with Elex Michaelson.

MICHAELSON: I'm Alex Michaelson live in Los Angeles. Coming up, the story is rescue efforts underway right now in Japan after a major earthquake kills more than a dozen people. We're live in the region.

The story is striking Iraq, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia forces hit Iranian proxies together after a surprise attack.

And the story is Fauci on the Hill. America's former top infectious disease expert is expected for what is likely to be a combative hearing. We'll talk COVID politics and more with my panel. Trust me, it's about to get heated.

But we start in southern Japan where we are getting a clearer picture of the scope of devastation from a deadly earthquake. Japan's prime minister says that Tuesday's powerful 6.8 magnitude quake has killed at least 13 people so far. And there is a mad scramble right now to reach others who may be pinned beneath the rubble to try to keep that number from rising.

Much of the action centered on a shopping mall that partially collapsed after an explosion. Meanwhile, we're starting to see images of some of the damage. This video here shows part of a castle which is now crumbling. In other places, entire blocks of homes have been destroyed. CNN's Kristie Lu Stout watching all this live in Hong Kong. Kristie.

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Elex, urgent rescue efforts are underway. In fact, the race is on to find and reach survivors in a shopping center that was partially collapsed in a presumably to be gas explosion. This after a powerful 6.8 magnitude earthquake rocked Southern Japan on Tuesday. This was an earthquake so powerful it brought down buildings, bridges.

It's also taken lives. At least 13 people have died. Dozens more have been injured. We know tens of thousands of people are without power. We know 300,000 people have been ordered to go into evacuation centers. And we're closely watching what you're looking at your screen right now.

The situation at this collapse shop shopping mall and the scenes are absolutely horrifying. After the quake hit, an explosion tore through this building. As you could see, one side of the mall there was just ripped away in this blast. You could see the exposed steel beams, the debris that's been strewn about everywhere.

This is a major shopping center with some 200 stores there. And I also want to line up dashcam video that we managed to source that shows you the moment of the explosion. And there you have it. You see it ripping through, unleashing this large cloud of smoke into the road and into the sky. And officials say it appears that a gas leak is to blame. But it's not clear how many people remain stuck in the debris and in the rubble.

Now we're also keeping an eye on a paper factory in the quake zone where a large industrial sized chimney collapsed. You're looking at aerial video of Nippon Paper Industries. It's in Yasuhiro City. There is extensive damage there and several people are unaccounted for.

The Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has been giving updates on this earthquake disaster as well as the emergency response. And she has pledged a government response that will be, in her words, full force. I want you to listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANAE TAKAICHI, JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Power outages have occurred in some areas. I ask everyone to take action to protect themselves, including evacuating to a safe location while also taking precautions against heat stroke. The Takaichi administration will do our utmost. We will respond with the full force of the government, prioritizing human lives above all else.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Now, the earthquake took place in southern Kumamoto Prefecture. There is a nuclear power station there in the quake zone, but according to the IAEA, thankfully no cause for concern. Elex.

MICHAELSON: Kristie, we have a CNN crew on the ground in the quake zone right now. What are we hearing from them, especially about the mood among residents? LU STOUT: Elex, we do have a CNN field team that is there in the quake zone led by the field producer Yumi Asada and the quake survivors, people there. They have been warned that there will be more tremors to come. In fact, there'll be more aftershocks in the week ahead. They've also been warned of the risk of landslides.

And on top of that, Elex, is an additional risk and that of heat stroke. As you can imagine, after a major earthquake like this, many people are staying outdoors.

[01:05:04]

They plan to spend the night outdoors. And temperatures there in the quake zone very high. Right now, the forecast for Wednesday, 34 degrees Celsius or 93 degrees Fahrenheit. So it's just danger upon danger, risk upon risk for people there in the earthquake zone, Elex.

MICHAELSON: And we know, Kristie, that this area and Japan as a whole, no strangers to devastating earthquakes, has some of the toughest building codes of anywhere in the world.

LU STOUT: Yes.

MICHAELSON: And the fact that we're seeing this much damage is indicative of just how big this quake is. Thank you for your coverage. I know you're going to stay on top of this over the next several hours as well. Kristie Lu Stout for us in Hong Kong.

Now to some severe weather across the northeastern United states. More than 36 million Americans under flash flood watches as thunderstorms slowly churn across the region. Places like Orange, New Jersey, already feeling the effects. You can see here, cars submerged in floodwaters.

Heavy rainfall set to continue through Wednesday with 1 to 3 inches per hour possible in New York City. More than 12 million people along the east coast under severe thunderstorm watches as well. The most at risk areas for flooding will shift further north into New England in the coming hours.

We're already seeing travel impacts from the weather. More than 2400 flights canceled in the U.S. today, according to tracking website FlightAware. Nearly 300 already canceled for the day ahead.

Earlier, I spoke with meteorologist and climate scientist Chris Gloninger about the flooding threat. He says storms like this during the night especially dangerous.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS GLONINGER, METEOROLOGIST AND CLIMATE SCIENTIST: The problem is with flash flooding, you see images like that, you can't see a whole heck of a lot. And when you have flash flooding at night, people oftentimes turn their phones off. They don't get the wireless emergency alerts. And that's when flash flooding certainly can turn deadly. It's the overnights that we really are concerned about as we shift into the day tomorrow, though, as you can see daylight, that threat will continue, but at least people are awake and aware of what's going on. As I mentioned, though, then the threat will then shift into parts of western and central Massachusetts, down through central Connecticut, where we may see 6 to 10 inches of rain.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: It is now morning and daylight in Europe, where yet another intense heat wave is settling in across Spain and France, meaning more challenging conditions for the crews that are battling wildfires in those countries making all this worse.

There is no rain in the forecast, the opposite of the northeastern United States. About 330,000 people forced to evacuate across the two countries. But now some towns in both Spain and France are allowing some people to return home.

French officials have said a wildfire in the hard hit Giron region is now stabilized but not yet contained. So some progress there. Spain is battling its largest wildfire in history in the southern Avila province. Residents say they've never seen anything like this before.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CESAR GALLARDO, WILDFIRE VICTIM (through translator): Here, practically everything was burning. The fire had already passed through during the night, but practically it was very sad watching the house camera and seeing your house burn down, because this is my home, after all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Joining us now live is Kristina Dahl, the vice president for Science at Climate Central, joining us from San Francisco. Thanks so much for being with us. Welcome to The Story Is.

KRISTINA DAHL, VICE PRESIDENT FOR SCIENCE, CLIMATE CENTRAL: Thanks for having me.

MICHAELSON: I know you say that climate change is having an impact on all this, exacerbating this. How do we know that? How is this different from simply being hot or rainy, which we've seen so many times before in the summers?

DAHL: Yes, it's a great question, because in the Northern Hemisphere in the summertime, we expect it to be hot, and there are times when we expect it to rain heavily. That's natural day to day weather. But the types of severe weather that we're seeing right now on both sides of the Atlantic, with this imminent heavy rain in the Northeast and these incredibly dry fire prone conditions, hot fire prone conditions in Europe, are really consistent with what we expect to see on a warming planet.

And the way that scientists tend to try to quantify the influence of climate change on these kinds of extreme events is by using a combination of observations and models to try to distinguish between what the climate is giving us today and what our climate would be like in a world without climate change. So we're able to make those kind of quantifications on an event by event basis.

MICHAELSON: Yes. Governor Newsom here in California likes to say the hots are getting hotter and the dries are getting drier. And we see some examples of that in both of these regions right now.

[01:10:04]

Meanwhile, when you have fires, regardless of climate change that are this big, they often can create their own weather systems. Talk about that, what we're witnessing right now.

DAHL: Yes. So you may have heard the term in the last few days fire cloud or pyro cumulonimbus cloud, which is quite a mouthful. But when you have the intense heat, heat of a wildfire and a lot of hot air rising, you can tend to get these convection systems much like a thunderstorm and you get these big billowing clouds of smoke that can actually generate their own thunderstorms and lightning, which is really worrisome because that lightning can spark more fires and the high winds with those systems can carry embers from one place to another and spread the wildfire.

So, you know, these fire clouds, clouds are the kinds of things that really confirm the severity of a fire that's taking place on the ground.

MICHAELSON: Yes. And sometimes we also see when there's enough wind, what they call firenadoes or fire tornadoes. And that's also sort of an example of its own weather system as well. Kristina Dahl joining us from San Francisco. Thanks so much for sharing your perspective.

DAHL: Thanks for having me.

MICHAELSON: Turn now to the Middle East. An Iran aligned militia says that several of its bases in Iraq were hit by U.S. and Saudi strikes. Quote, a number of people were killed and wounded. U.S. and Saudi forces say they are conducting strikes together. That's important against Iran backed militias in Iraq after attacks on U.S. forces and Saudi oil facilities.

Meantime, U.S. Central Command says the military successfully intercepted an Iranian quote, unquote surprise attack on U.S. forces in the Middle East. Video obtained by CNN appears to show interceptors stopping Iranian missiles over Jordan where U.S. troops are based. CENTCOM says U.S. forces remain at a high state of readiness.

Here's what President Trump said earlier when asked about talks with Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We hear that you're talking right now with leaders on Iran, but Iran has come out publicly and said we're not talking to the U.S. we're not politicians --

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: That we are talking a little while ago because --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So could you tell me who you're talking to, Mr. President?

TRUMP: For some reason -- for some reason we can be in the midst of a beautiful discussion and they'll come out and say we're not talking or we didn't discuss nuclear. Well, that's all we discussed because they'll never have a nuclear weapon. They understand that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Kentucky Governor Mandy Beshear -- Andy Beshear speaking with CNN's Kaitlan Collins earlier about the war in Iran and what he thinks needs to be done to bring it to a close.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ANDY BESHEAR (D), KENTUCKY: This is a war that needs to end. But if we are going to actually finish it, we actually need to send grownups to the table. We have foreign servant officers who have spent their entire lives wanting to understand every nuance of every word or gesture that an Iranian negotiator might make at the table. And Donald Trump doesn't let him go.

He sends a developer, a son in law or oh my goodness, JD Vance, we with zero experience to this table. That is not a serious effort to get us out of a war that's harming the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: The president of the United States hosting the prime minister of Israel in a closed door meeting at the White house on Tuesday. U.S. and Israeli officials calling the discussions between Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu, quote, positive and productive.

And although an Israeli official says the partnership between the two countries are, quote, stronger than ever, there are some differences as well. CNN's Nic Robertson explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: What's being projected from around the prime minister. Here is a positive meeting. It belies the tone that the president gave on that Fox and Friends interview. However, we've also heard from the defense minister Israel Katz speaking on TV here a little earlier this evening saying that yes, there are differences between what the United States and what Israel wants the war with Iran. And absolutely they do see Iran still as being a threat.

He also said something we haven't heard Israeli officials put on the record before. He said that U.S. fighter jets have been taking off from Israel for their strike missions on Iran. Now, it was common knowledge that the U.S. refuel tanker aircraft, the Strato Tanker KC135 were being based here in Israel and were being used to support that military operation.

But here is putting on the record the defense minister here saying that actually U.S. fighter jets are taking off from here, which in a way puts Israel in some level of jeopardy from response from Iran, which has not done that and has been seen as a signal of Iran not wanting to escalate so far.

[01:15:03]

So the messaging I think here is, is very much around the prime minister to project a positive image of a relation, a positive relationship with President Trump because Prime Minister Netanyahu needs that in the polls here and reaffirming here in Israel for a U.S. audience and a domestic one, of course, that Israel is doing everything to support the United States in its war with Iran.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAELSON: Nic Robertson, thank you for that. It's been a busy 24 hours on Capitol Hill. We're looking at a live picture there where it's after 1:15 in the morning. U.S. senators earlier invited the president of Ukraine to watch the vote on a new Russia sanctions bill.

That measure, which was backed by the late Senator Lindsey Graham, advanced with a vote of 86 to 12. The sanctions would be paired with tariffs against the top five importers of Russian oil and natural gas, including India and China. Lawmakers say it's important for the bill to pass before the Senate goes to recess.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): This bill says to Vladimir Putin, your days of war are numbered. You are on the losing side. Better to come to the table now than sacrifice more lives, waste more money, crater your economy, destroy your standing in the world. America stands with Ukraine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Senator Richard Blumenthal there. Zelenskyy and also met with President Trump at the White House. He says they had a good meeting and discussed air defense ideas and reviving diplomacy with Russia. Both President Zelenskyy, Prime Minister Netanyahu in town to offend -- attend the funeral for Lindsey Graham.

U.S. and world leaders joining friends, family, constituents of the late center to honor his life. Funeral services for the South Carolina Republican who died on July 11 at age 71. Held Tuesday at Washington National Cathedral. President Trump delivered remarks paying tribute to Graham, highlighting his decades of public service.

Fox News host Sean Hannity also spoke, remembering Graham's close relationship with the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: I see Prime Minister Netanyahu is here. Mr. Prime Minister, you too have been a dear friend of mine for 30 years. It's an honor to have you. And Lindsey would have been blown away that you took this long journey with your beautiful bride to be here today. He loved you. He loved the state of Israel. He loved the people of Israel. Under your leadership, Israel has been one of America's most consistent and loyal allies.

He was never shy to say it to the day he passed. Lindsey, he was often unfairly characterized as a warmonger. I've heard that false criticism a lot. It's not true. The truth was the opposite. Lindsey desperately wanted and talked to the president about a lasting peace in the Middle East.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: In the hours ahead, Graham will be laid to rest officially at his beloved home state of South Carolina, while his beloved U.S. Senate has a contentious hearing, as expected over the COVID pandemic.

It could mark a latest showdown between Dr. Anthony Fauci and Republican Senator Rand Paul over the origins of the virus. My panel has different views on this. We're going to get into it, why this matters.

Plus, new developments when it comes to ICE and where they are tracking people down. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:22:59]

MICHAELSON: In a 51 to 47 vote, the Senate has officially confirmed President Trump's pick for Director of National Intelligence, Jay Clayton, inherits a shrinking office of national intelligence. The former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York will replace interim Director Bill Pulte, who oversaw sweeping staff cuts ordered by President Trump during his only 40 days in the job.

Meanwhile, America's former top infectious disease expert is set to appear on Capitol Hill in the coming hours for what is likely to be a combative hearing.

Dr. Anthony Fauci is expected to appear Wednesday before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, chaired by Republican Rand Paul. Fauci and Paul have previously clashed over the origins of COVID-19 and the U.S. response to the pandemic.

Ahead of the hearing, the Senate committee released hundreds of pages of Fauci's personal diary without even giving them a heads up that they were doing that.

Let's bring in our panel, Dina Doll, attorney and legal analyst with MeidasTouch on the left and on the right, John Ziegler, host of the Death of Journalism podcast. Welcome back, both of you. John, you talk a lot about 2020 and COVID. Why does COVID and 2020 matter in 2026?

JOHN ZIEGLER, HOST, "THE DEATH OF JOURNALISM" PODCAST: Because this was the most important thing that's happened in the modern history of America, at least since World War II. And I think a lot of mistakes were made. I think it's incredibly important to understand why those mistakes were made in what I think was mostly a moral panic.

Let's be clear. The pandemic was real. It was terrible. A lot of people lost their lives. But there were some decisions made specifically by Dr. Fauci that I don't believe hold up under scrutiny. And this diary is astonishing. This is to me, is far more significant than the Epstein files ever possibly could have been.

Yet the media coverage of the Epstein files is a thousand times more than what we've seen so far on this. I'm not that interested in the lab leak theory, which I know Rand Paul is going to get into with Fauci tomorrow. I'm way more --

[01:25:05]

MICHAELSON: This idea, the lab leak theory, is that maybe Fauci was ordering some testing --

ZIEGLER: Right.

MICHAELSON: -- and then maybe America helped to engineer COVID, which Fauci says isn't true.

ZIEGLER: Right. I'm way more interested in what we did here in America. As the father of two young daughters who had their lives largely destroyed for two years in decision making that I think was ill-advised and had no backing. I want to know how, how and why those decisions were made. And we've already learned from these diaries that Dr. Fauci lied publicly about who was behind the shutdowns here in California and New York.

He bragged about those. He lied about data including the death rate. He lied about all sorts of things. But here's the part that I think is most significant and what I think your viewers need to understand most.

This was a man obsessed with his own celebrity. It is off the charts in these diary entries. And why does that matter? Because when you want to be loved, especially by the liberal elites, it is going to impact your decision making because you want to maintain that love.

You want the pandemic to go on as long as possible because it is the greatest thing that has ever happened to you. And when you flip on masks as Matt Fauci -- as Fauci did in February of 2020 to May in 2020, he did so because his fan base, the liberal elites, demanded that he do so because it was a virtue signal for anti-Trump supporters. And my children had to wear masks uselessly for two years school because of those decisions.

MICHAELSON: Dana, there's a lot to get into there.

DINA DOLL, MEIDASTOUCH LEGAL ANALYST: Lots unpack first. I think it's a mischaracterization of his diary significantly. I do not think he lied. I do not think he was obsessed with celebrity from what I've read with the diary, but also there are --

MICHAELSON: He talk a lot about media.

DOLL: He discussed it. But it was a personal diary. He was detailing his life which included celebrity interactions. But the fact is, I mean I also know somebody who died in his young 30s who.

ZIEGLER: We all do.

DOLL: We all do.

ZIEGLER: I'm sorry. None of the mitigations help that.

DOLL: The fact of the matter is they did help that.

MICHAELSON: We don't know that. We don't know that.

DOLL: They did help.

ZIEGLER: More they died.

DOLL: It was difficult.

MICHAELSON: Yes. Well, it didn't. I mean my point is that other people may have died of some.

DOLL: It prevented deaths. It prevented deaths. This was a man in his young 30s. He left behind a very -- a baby and a young wife. And we would have had a lot more deaths if Fauci and others had not closed it down.

Was there ramifications with closing it down? Of course. It was a lose, lose situation. The fact of the matter is I remember sitting and watching and hearing Trump as president talking about bleach and people were grateful that Dr. Fauci, who is a renowned physician, head of the NIH for years, was able to calm us and provide us with guidance.

But the fact of the matter, this hearing isn't really about did they make the right decisions or not, which honestly could be litigated about forever. It is this vindictive retribution which is the entire Trump MAGA regime. It's all about retribution. And Fauci has gone. He's had harassments. He's had death threats for just trying to be a public servant and honestly doing the best he could.

MICHAELSON: Well, Joe Biden was concerned that Anthony Fauci would be prosecuted by the Trump administration. So he pardoned him for everything that he had done previously. And now some of that could change. So we -- this is a quote from CNN.com, Paul could attempt to renew calls for perjury charges based on the scientists remarks in Wednesday's hear hearing. If he lies during the hearing, that's a new lie and the pardon won't cover that. And so that's what he told Fox Business.

Do you think this is like a perjury preper (ph)?

ZIEGLER: Yes. Look, perjury is purposely very difficult to prove. I'm not one of these people that says Fauci should be in jail. A lot of conservatives believe that. I want accountability for wrong decisions.

MICHAELSON: What does that look like?

ZIEGLER: I want him to admit he was wrong about things. He admits so in his diary. If you use basic logic because he either lied in his diary or lied in his public statements, you can't do both. He was wrong about a lot.

And we need to learn from the past so that if anything like this ever happens again, we don't make the same mistakes. We devastated our education system, our economy, and we did all sorts of things that I believe we are going to rue for years and years. I just want the truth. I just want some accountability.

DOLL: I mean, if Rand Paul wants to know why Trump messed up the handling of COVID he can. But this should not all be on Fauci's step.

MICHAELSON: Is it possible that both of them screwed up?

ZIEGLER: Yes.

DOLL: Well, but where's the Republican Party asking for Trump?

MICHAELSON: And other people screwed up?

DOLL: I mean, Trump was president.

MICHAELSON: And there was an overreaction and shutting down beaches didn't make any sense. And why don't we admit some of that stuff now, so that way we can move forward and talk about this logically so we can avoid this sort of things. And both parties made mistakes in this whole thing because there was mass panic and overreaction.

[01:30:00]

But you also understand that because people didn't want to have deaths on their hands, and you understand how some of the people respond to that.

OK, let's turn talk about what's happening --

ZIEGLER: Wow, that was awesome.

MICHAELSON: -- with ICE right now.

And there is some new CNN.com reporting about this idea that ICE is getting more involved at airports. ICE arrests at U.S. airports are happening more frequently, attorneys say.

We want to show you a few different videos of what we're talking about.

There was a Ukrainian woman at SFO who was arrested, accused of visa overstay, arrested at the airport. The mayor of Richmond happened to see this, heard her screaming "help me". He thought it was maybe a human trafficking situation because the ICE officers were plain- clothed.

In Denver, another arrest stopped on a jet bridge. Another incident of visa overstay, more plainclothes officers in Vegas.

There was an incident where a gentleman was stopped when people walking nearby were concerned and questioned the ICE officers who were plain-clothed. They walked away and left the guy with one handcuff on. And then that's what happened there.

I mean, does this make sense as a -- as a policy? And, you know, there are plenty of people that do overstay their visas. That is a big part of immigration problem.

DOLL: It makes sense as a policy if your policy is fear. That is I mean, watching -- those are just short clips. I watched the video of the young woman from Ecuador, and her friend is frantic. She knows she's not going to even know where this girl is going.

She has these people who are not in uniform, and we've heard over and over, people can't locate their friends and family. They can't talk to their lawyer. They're in these horrible, inhumane conditions.

So now they're in an airport and they have that information because obviously, we all know the names of who are flying. But these people are also in the records the Department of Homeland Security could find them another way, because obviously they have their names and information.

They do it in this very visible and scary way because it scares other people. And that is their immigration policy right now.

ZIEGLER: Look, I actually have a very opposite view on this. I live north of Los Angeles and Farm county -- country. I actually think that the ICE raids are way overblown. I have not seen any real-life proof that anything has really changed. I think this has gotten way more media coverage than it deserves.

These are visa overstays. There are very few ways to curtail someone's life when they're overstaying their visa, other than curtailing their travel. So if they're allowed to travel wherever they want, why would they ever not overstay their visa?

This is an incredibly important part of our immigration system. We don't have a country if we don't have a reasonable immigration system. And I don't think what's happening here is unreasonable at all.

MICHAELSON: But to her point about fear, I mean, isn't that part of the point of what Stephen Miller and others are trying to do to try to increase self-deportations? Because it's cheaper to get people scared and get them out on their own. DOLL: Yes.

ZIEGLER: There could be some of that, but these videos are not good politically in general.

DOLL: I know somebody's speaking about not knowing anybody personally. I know somebody personally who self-deported who was here for years.

ZIEGLER: Illegally.

DOLL: Left -- But the point is, the fear. He did it during the L.A. raids last summer. He was the most hardworking family person. Left behind his wife and children. I don't know how that's good for our country, but we are scaring people.

I know another father, again who had to wait in detention center for months. A for-profit detention center before being deported.

ZIEGLER: So maybe don't break the law and you're not going to be in that situation. Fear is a good motivator.

(CROSSTALKING)

DOLL: Neither of them are criminals. 70 percent of the people --

ZIEGLER: They're criminal when they came here illegally.

DOLL: That is not -- it's not a crime. It's a civil violation. And the fact of the matter is they're not criminals.

MICHAELSON: All right. We're going to have to leave it there for now.

DOLL: Sure.

MICHAELSON: But it's great talking with both of you, guys. Thank you for bringing your perspectives -- John Ziegler, Dina Doll.

Coming up here on THE STORY IS, a real-life family feud ripped from TV's "Succession", or is it? The CEO of luxury fashion's biggest brands says he wants to set the record straight.

[01:34:02]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELSON: The Federal Aviation Administration says hundreds of Boeing 737 Max jets registered in the U.S. may require seat inspections. The proposed directive, issued on Monday, would apply to over 450 planes with seats that might be incorrectly installed.

CNN's aviation correspondent Pete Muntean breaks down some of the causes for concern.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: The FAA warning puts it bluntly, saying seats could come loose and hurt those sitting in them, injure passengers nearby, and even block the aisle during an evacuation when seconds count.

Boeing has not directly commented on this, but it did alert airlines to this potential problem back in December. The FAA proposal would simply make these inspections mandatory.

United, American, Alaska, Southwest and Allegiant -- all operate Boeing 737 Max airplanes. The FAA is not grounding these airplanes, and this inspection is relatively straightforward.

It doesn't require new parts, so it should not result in significant downtime for airlines or major flight disruptions for passengers, which is key during this peak of summer travel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAELSON: Pete Muntean in Washington.

The CEO of LMVH -- LVMH, I should say, is pushing back against a series of articles written about his family and business. Bernard Arnault owns a luxury empire that is home to brands like Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Fendi and more. And a profile on the billionaire businessman suggests he uses money and fear to hold it all together.

[01:39:48]

MICHAELSON: The articles prompted a response from the CEO, saying, quote, "It seems I am the head of the last royal family of France. I learned this reading Le Monde, between two cups of tea.

CNN's Saskya Vandoorne has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SASKYA VANDOORNE, CNN PARIS BUREAU CHIEF: In a rare display of his trademark irony, Arnault mocked the idea of a family feud. Writing, "With the Arnauts, apparently there is no discussion, only plotting; no deliberation, only rivalry. It's the stuff of novels."

Arnault appears to be saying that the real-life plot of the hit show "Succession" exists only in fiction, not inside the Arnault family.

Now, the reason the speculation has been so intense is because this is not just a family story. It's about the future of one of the world's biggest luxury empires, whose brands include Louis Vuitton, Dior and Tiffany.

All five of Arnault's children hold senior roles within LVMH, fueling years of debate over who will eventually succeed the 77-year-old.

And yet, Arnault insists there's no drama behind the scenes. He says his children run the group's brands and even call each other on Sundays. For now, Arnault has shown no sign of stepping aside, saying earlier

this year that the question should be asked again in 7 or 8 years when he reaches the company's age limit to be chairman and CEO.

Saskya Vandoorne, CNN -- Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAELSON: Thank you for watching THE STORY IS.

For our international viewers, "WORLD SPORT" is next. For our viewers here in North America, I'll be right back with what's next for robo taxis like Waymos. Are new regulations about to come?

Stay with us.

[01:41:34]

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. KEVIN MULLIN (D-CA): Driverless cars have real potential to improve safety on our roads and reduce injuries and fatalities.

And while I very much want this technology to succeed, we need to make sure it's being developed and deployed safely. We have seen disturbing and frankly, an unacceptable number of incidents where autonomous vehicles inadvertently interfere with emergency responders.

That is why today I am announcing, I am introducing the AV Emergency Response Coordination Act.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: That was Democratic California Congressman Kevin Mullin introducing a bill that would require operators of autonomous or driverless vehicles to provide first responders with clear, standardized emergency response protocols. The bill would also require a 24/7 hotline for public officials to communicate directly with autonomous vehicle companies when one of their vehicles is involved in an incident.

Joining us now from San Francisco is Chase DiFeliciantonio, a tech reporter for Politico, where he covers A.I. and automation policy.

Take a look at the headline on the story he wrote for politico.com on Tuesday. "San Francisco mayor backs national robo taxi rules after Waymo meltdowns".

Chase, welcome to THE STORY IS. And please pronounce your last name correctly for me.

CHASE DIFELICIANTONIO, TECH REPORTER, POLITICO: My last name is DiFeliciantonio. Not the first time someone's had trouble with it. No worries. MICHAELSON: There we go. I want to make sure that we get it right on

the record. I thought that Michaelson was a lot of letters for the back of a jersey. So I appreciate that.

Let's talk about this legislation and what exactly it does, why the need for it.

DIFELICIANTONIO: Right. So Mullin's legislation would require NHTSA, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, to basically establish these minimum safety standards and protocols for how AV, autonomous vehicle operators work with local public safety personnel.

So this is not just Waymo. It's a wide range of autonomous vehicles, is what this is envisioning. They'd have to create a 24-hour hotline for officials to communicate directly with AV companies, you know, during incidents and emergencies.

You know, as AVs have kind of expanded, particularly in San Francisco, we've had them for quite some time, but now they're moving to cities across the country. They're becoming even more commonplace in some places.

You're running into more issues where they don't operate perfectly in crowds and in emergency situations.

Waymo has learned a lot really quickly and jumped on this and found ways to communicate with cities like San Francisco.

But there's kind of holes in how this has worked so far. So there's been some really notable incidents particularly in San Francisco where this has not gone great during Fourth of July recently and last year during a power outage.

So you're seeing local authorities now working with the congressman to try to change that.

MICHAELSON: Well, speaking of that, the local authorities we saw behind him, the mayor of San Francisco, Dan Lurie, who's been a big supporter of Waymo in the past. What do you make of him and some of these, you know, very pro tech leaders now calling for regulation in this space.

DIFELICIANTONIO: Right. I mean, it's interesting. Last year, Lurie kind of came into office offering a bit of a hand to tech, offering Waymo to expand its services in parts of San Francisco where it wasn't particularly allowed. And kind of looking at tech as a way to buoy the city's economy and its image kind of coming out of the pandemic.

Now you're seeing, not necessarily like a complete about face, Lurie can be kind of a measured step by step operator here. But he is essentially saying, we have had these recent incidents that have really frustrated first responders and particularly the public.

You're seeing him come under pressure, I think, from the residents of San Francisco. There was after the recent, you know, issues, there was a public hearing at the board of supervisors where Waymo had to show up and answer some pretty tough questions.

Local authorities like Lurie in California, at least, they don't oversee Waymo. They don't oversee autonomous vehicles, autonomous ride hailing.

The state does. And obviously, the federal government can if it wants to. So Lurie is basically saying we need to change how this operates. They need to be required in some way to work with us.

Now to be fair, Waymo does do some of this voluntarily, but this would make a lot of this -- these requirements under law.

[01:49:49]

MICHAELSON: And early on this, Mullin talked about the path forward when it comes to Congress. Does he have the votes for this sort of thing? And is this something that might actually be bipartisan?

DIFELICIANTONIO: Well, if you ask Mullin, he thinks it definitely or potentially could be something that could be bipartisan. I think, you know, and to use kind of the Washington parlance, he's kind of socializing the bill at this point. And he said he's had some good conversations in committee.

I asked him today at the press conference where Lurie and also the chief of -- the fire chief for San Francisco was there, as well, as well as the police chief. I asked him today, you know, if this is something that he thinks could become part of a larger bill, there's a long stalled, they call it the Highway Bill. It's essentially a large infrastructure bill in Washington.

He said, you know, in his -- in his understanding, that's kind of how these things work, that he has to move this around, get people to buy in, hopefully Republicans.

It's an uphill battle because it's a Republican, Republican-controlled Congress at the moment.

But if he can make this part of a larger effort that has a good chance, then he has a good chance.

MICHAELSON: Yes. And it may not be a Republican House for that much longer.

Chase, thank you so much for joining us live from San Francisco.

We'll be right back with the next -- the big stories for the day ahead. Stay with us.

[01:51:05]

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MICHAELSON: Let's take a look at the big events we're tracking for the day ahead. America's former top infectious disease expert is expected to appear on Capitol Hill. Dr. Anthony Fauci, expected to appear before a Senate committee chaired by Republican Rand Paul. Fauci and Paul have previously clashed over the origins of COVID 19 and the U.S. response to the COVID pandemic.

Senator Lindsey Graham's home state is preparing to pay tribute to his legacy. Graham's body returned to South Carolina after Tuesday's funeral service at the Washington National Cathedral. In a few hours, he will be honored with a procession at the state house in Columbia before a private burial.

Pope Leo is set to host a concert for peace near Rome. He'll be joined by Italian singer, Andrea Bocelli. Concert aims to use music as a universal language to reach nations around the world. The event will also feature an international children's choir.

We'll have more on those stories tomorrow on THE STORY IS, as well as my special report with legendary actor William Shatner and his daughter Melanie, who both successfully battled stage four cancer at the same time.

It's an inspiring, emotional and funny conversation tomorrow on THE STORY IS.

I'm Elex Michaelson. I'll see you then.

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