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The Story Is with Elex Michaelson

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Aired August 22, 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 AND CORRESPONDENT: "Nancy Kissinger was a powerhouse of ideas and insights that she put to work throughout her life in government and philanthropy and as Henry's most valued and trusted advisor. She was the ultimate diplomat as wise as she was discreet. I know how completely Henry admired and loved her. Diana and I were fortunate to call her a dear friend and to see their extraordinary partnership in action over the decades. We will miss her greatly."

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: Coming up this hour on "The Story Is," let the ballroom commence. Supreme Court throwing a lifeline to President Trump's White House makeover, at least for now.

"The Story Is" social media protection. California could soon pass some of the country's most significant restrictions on social media use for kids, and it likely could be a national model. The man who authored that bill is here live.

And "The Story Is" make your picks. The NFL regular season a little more than two weeks away, it is time to set those fantasy football lineups. We have Yahoo's top expert here to help you.

But we begin with this at this hour. I'm Elex Michaelson. Thanks for watching "The Story Is." No agreement between two of the world's largest trading partners. It's breaking news here on "The Story Is" after a deadline for a new trade deal between the U.S. and Canada just passed without a deal and talks collapse. It's all happening within the last hour. This means that 50 percent U.S. tariffs on some $20 billion in Canadian goods are now in effect.

The Prime Minister of Canada, Mark Carney, says that he decided to suspend the talks in Washington, and his statement said that Canada will match the new U.S. tariffs "Dollar for dollar." He added "Progress has not been enough to meet our objectives for Canadians. Last minute changes in the U.S. proposed terms were unfair, uneconomic, and called into question the reliability of any deal." The U.S. immediately labeled the collapse talks as a missed opportunity for Canada. In a statement, U.S. trade representative's office blamed Canada for walking back earlier commitments, making new demands, and retaliating against the U.S.

Now as those talks were taking place, President Trump was spending the evening in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, stumping for Darline Graham, the sister of the late Senator Lindsey Graham. That states Republicans primary, will happen on Tuesday, and the Republicans there will decide whether she will be the GOP senate candidate on the ballot this November facing off against the Democrat.

President Trump working hard to try to get her over the finish line.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: With your vote for Darline on Tuesday, we are going to send a message straight to the Democrat party headquarters in Washington. We're going to tell them that we will never abolish I.C.E. We will never surrender our constitution. And we will never allow our country to even think about being a communist or even a socialist country. We're not going to let it happen. Darline Graham has devoted her entire life to the people of the state just like her brother.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Friday's event was a rare campaign trail appearance for the President who has a lot in the line since some of his endorsed candidates recently lost their primaries. Plus some state Republicans have concerns after Graham's shaky performance on foreign policy at a debate stage where she said that, "National security is not my thing."

Now the Supreme Court is allowing construction of President Trump's controversial White House ballroom to go on at least for now. Chief Justice of the United States, John Roberts, blocked a lower court ruling that would have halted the work. Remember, there's a giant hole in the ground right outside the White House. Roberts' order does not address the actual legality of the ballroom project, but it tells the Supreme Court that it has more time to try to consider the Trump administration's appeal to keep the construction going while they consider it the construction could be going seven days a week.

President Trump was quick to praise the decision. He posted on Truth Social, "The military/ballroom complex. Notice he's changed the phrasing of this. Being built on the hallowed ground of the White House, which is so vital to national security, will be the greatest of its kind." He started talking about the military aspect after the poll numbers for the ballroom were very low.

Returning now to "The Story Is" Joe Walsh, former U.S. Republican House Member, host of the Social Contract with Joe Walsh, not a huge fan of President Trump, and Van Jones, CNN's Senior Political Commentator, former Obama administration official. We got the big guys here over a big night.

Let's start though with the tariffs, the breaking news, Joe, that we've seen in the last hour. Trade war with Canada?

JOE WALSH, FORMER U.S. HOUSE REPUBLICAN: 20 seconds on the damn ballroom before I get into tariffs. And I don't know where Van is on this. Whoever the Democratic nominee is in '28 had better freaking pledge that whatever that thing is on the White House ground is coming down.

[01:05:00]

MICHAELSON: Why? Actually, let me play Ken Devil's advocate on that.

WALSH: Nothing, Elex, pisses me off more than this. He is an authoritarian. He's a fascist. That damn ballroom is a concrete example. I mean, a living, breathing example. He has no legal authority to do it, and he's going to do it. And the Supreme Court's going to allow him. He's got to come down.

MICHAELSON: All right. Not to channel my friend Bill Maher here, but there are other things to consider more than the ballroom. And think about this. What's wrong with the United States having a ballroom? This is the White House where you host foreign leaders. Why does that have to be done on a tent? I mean, isn't there some you may hate President Trump, but the concept of having something at the White House, how is that not --

WALSH: -- but you jump in. But I'll just say this man, and then jump in. With everything with Trump, we just brush by. He had no legal authority to do it.

MICHAELSON: Well, but regardless of that, could there could it be nice to have the ballroom at the end of the day?

VAN JONES, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think it would be a wonderful thing. We could have a ballroom. We could have a tree house. We could have all kinds of things. He could play with his little toys, but he's got to follow the law. My kids might come up with any number of ideas, but if they are illegal, I guess, as a matter fact, I like them. Well they can't do them.

MICHAELSON: And, of course, the way he did it is quite something, which is to just destroy it.

JONES: Yes.

MICHAELSON: Have a giant hole in the ground and say, stop me now.

JONES: Exactly.

MICHAELSON: What are we going to do? Just leave this the way that it is. So he put everybody in a weird position.

WALSH: It is just the ballroom, but it's a symbol of his authoritarian issue. JONES: How much time we spend knocking it down, I don't know. But I will say the damage that he did to the White House, he destroyed the White House to do this. And I think the Supreme Court is destroying the constitution. These guys just figure out they never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity to do the right thing.

JONES: Guys, you don't -- the Supreme Court didn't have to involve itself at all. But what they've done now, they made the whole thing moot. A lower court said, hold on a second. You got to pause this. Because if it is illegal it should not be going forward. That's common sense. The Supreme Court comes in with the opposite of common sense. It says, well, go ahead and keep building it even if it's illegal. What does that mean? That means most people, once it's built, they're not going to be like my patriot here and bring a wrecking ball to knock it down. They've basically given this thing. The Supreme Court just gave this thing to Trump today.

MICHAELSON: Right. And now Trump has every incentive to keep that thing. Let's go, baby. Build baby build, right? And try to get that thing built as quickly as possible. So the original question, how about those tariffs?

WALSH: It did not --

MICHAELSON: No. That's OK. We'll go there.

WALSH: And Van led last hour with -- we are at war with our friends, our allies. This election, Republicans should get their butts spanked in November because this guy has single handedly mucked up this economy. And you see that no better than his, again, illegal tariffs. He's at war with our friends.

MICHAELSON: Yeah. And it's going to cost the American people and the Canadian people.

JONES: I mean, listen. There are whoever you are at night watching this show, there are thousands of dollars missing from your bank account, because of these tariffs. These tariffs weapons grade stupid, industrial strength stupid. They've done nothing but antagonize our friends and drive up everybody's cost for no good reason. And now we're doing it. We're tripling down on it with our best friend.

MICHAELSON: And isn't it amazing that the companies have been paid back because of the tariffs. But who hasn't been paid back?

WALSH: Me.

MICHAELSON: The rest of us. We had to let our prices go up, and god knows the companies aren't going to be giving you a rebate next time you show up. So that feels messed up. And a lot of people also feel like the system is rigged against them when it comes to AI. This idea that AI is coming to take their jobs. That AI data centers are maybe coming to their community, taking their power. They're not getting a piece of that. And they feel like they're on the short end of the stick. And we have seen this incredible bipartisan pushback against AI data centers, including in places like Texas, where the Governor of Texas is against it. President Trump, though, was asked about that today. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: If a Republican's against the data center, that's OK with me. I will -- I'm only saying that if I ran a community now there are different types of communities. But generally speaking, if I ran a community, if I was a Mayor or if I was a Governor of a state, I would want to have the data centers because they bring tremendous income.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Interesting. I mean, the politics of this are really interesting. Why do you think the data centers are so much more than just about data centers?

JONES: Well, I think the AI community is got to be very careful now. We need AI, the medical breakthroughs. We don't want China to beat us. But the way that they're playing their hands now, you're starting to be like, look. These data centers are going to be there. They're going to take up a lot of land, a lot of water, a lot of energy.

[01:10:00]

The jobs don't really come after the thing gets built.

MICHAELSON: Opposite of that. A lot of people lose their jobs.

JONES: Exactly. And then you've got, the social media is hurting our kids' brains, and you've got the trillionaires. So it started to become a symbol. Once something but kicks on symbolic meaning, both parties start firing on it, and now you've got a problem. So I think Trump is the -- when you see a Donald Trump who's got every incentive to give the tech trillionaires a pass, when he says you can speak out against it, let's -- there's a backlash coming.

WALSH: The data centers are another concrete example of the wealthy thriving right now. And to Van's point, all the rest of us taking it on the chin.

MICHAELSON: Well, and not only thriving, and I don't think people necessarily are against other people succeeding, but then taking from you, which is what's bad. Taking the power. Taking the jobs and taking the water and all of that. And that visual, which is something is also problematic. And this concept of AI is perhaps the most important thing for Congress, the next President, next Governor of a place like California. And it was talked about last night on the debate stage in the senate debate where Seth Moulton, the Congressman, who is running against Ed Markey, the senator who's 80-years-old. And here is what was said about the issue of AI.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator Markey, do you personally use AI platforms like Claude or ChatGPT in your work? ED MARKEY, U.S. SENATE DEMOCRAT: I use whatever is inside of my iPhone and my iPad, whatever comes up. And I don't know what companies my iPad might be using.

SETH MOULTON, DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE FOR U.S. SENATE: And with all due respect, Senator, if you don't even know what you're using on your phone or your iPad, like this is why we need a new generation of leaders.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: A comment from each of you, you're making a face. So repeat that face you were just making watching that.

JONES: Look, I mean, this is why I think Seth Moulton, has a real point. If you don't know the difference between an app -- this app, that app, your iPhone, your iPad, you probably shouldn't be regulating AI in the most important moment, probably in civilizational history with this new technology, which can change everything. And we do have too many people, I'm afraid of an 80s or 90s almost generation when hang on, and people like Seth Moulton trying to come on and being blocked by that.

WALSH: They've been in Washington too long. So many people, Republican and Democrat. We need a new generational leaders.

MICHAELSON: That being said, polls show Ed Markey probably going to win.

JONES: Probably going to win.

WALSH: Probably going to win.

MICHAELSON: Right. With the backing of a lot of young people too and Bernie Sanders and AOC and the all rest of it. So people say that, but a lot of it is interesting to see. That election in a couple weeks, Darline Graham's election on Tuesday. Great to have both of you guys here. Open invite. Welcome anytime.

JONES: This is my guy.

MICHAELSON: What a team. Thanks, guys.

All right. As soon as the war with Iran is over, President Trump says oil prices will fall. Speaking in that rally in South Carolina on Friday, the President also said that he views the Strait of Hormuz as an American territory right now. Iran pushing back on all that had pushing back on President Trump's threat of a "Economic D-Day." The President had earlier threatened the most crushing economic operation against Iran in a social media post. You see it right here on your screen. In response, the Iranian Foreign Minister says new sanctions would pave the way for a return to full scale classic colonialism.

The Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Oman's ambassador to the U.S. on Thursday following President Trump's threat to bomb the country over its negotiations with Iran. To Ukraine now where officials say Russian double tap strike has killed at least 15 people and wounded at least a 130 others. Video right here shows a drone hitting a shopping center in Central Ukraine and then erupting into flames. Smoke from an apparent earlier strike already visible in the background. The President of Ukraine, Zelenskyy says a second wave of drones targeted emergency crews half an hour after the first strike. He's now vowing to respond to that attack.

Coming up, social media giant Meta may have to pay a hefty sum that is found liable for harming young people's mental health.

Up next, my next guest is a man who is trying to pass multiple laws to set the damages for social media companies and to ban them for kids. It's a potential model that's going to be used around the country. Assemblyman Josh Lowenthal, my guest, live next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELSON: A high court judge in the U.K. has ruled that Prince Harry, Elton John, and other high profile figures will have to pay $13 million towards the legal costs of a British tabloid publisher. The group lost a case against the publisher of the Daily Mail last month. They had accused the tabloid of using unlawful information gathering for stories it published about them. The court ruled that Prince Harry and the others must pay the initial $13 million by next Friday. The full estimated legal costs are about $47 million. Publisher welcomed the ruling at least one of the high profile claimants is reportedly considering whether to appeal the costs judgment.

The U.S. justice department has reached a $400 million settlement with TikTok and its parent company. It is the latest settlement in a wave of lawsuits alleging harm to children by social media giants. The justice department sued TikTok in 2024 claiming that the app failed to stop children from joining and illegally collected their personal data. TikTok said back then that many of the allegations, "Relate to past events and practices that are factually inaccurate or have been addressed."

This week, social media giant Meta is on trial in Oakland, California. The company is being accused of harming young people's mental health with addictive features.

[01:20:00]

If Meta is found liable, one of the key questions will be how much the company has to pay out. California lawmaker wants to define how much social media companies will require to pay in damages. That legislator is Josh Lowenthal. He's a Democratic Assemblyman from Long Beach, and he joins us live. Welcome back to "The Story Is."

JOSH LOWENTHAL, CALIFORNIA STATE ASSEMBLYMEMBER: I appreciate your continued interest, Elex. MICHAELSON: So you're watching this trial closely in Oakland, and you say it relates to something called AB 2 which would define damages. Let's put this up on the screen as either $1 million per child or trouble damages, whichever one is higher. Talk to us about what that means, what that looks like, why the need for it?

LOWENTHAL: Yeah, what we're seeing around the country right now is there's case-after-case that's taking place, but nobody really knows what a proper damage amount should be. And really it has to be meaningful so that the platforms change their ways. And that's what we're going for here. We're not trying to make attorneys rich. This really isn't about financial penalties. It's about a change in behavior. So we need to make sure that the platforms are paying an amount that's actually going to make their shareholders cause them to knew.

MICHAELSON: So what does that actually mean? So if I sue a social media company and a judge or a jury decides that they are liable because of addiction issues that I get paid $1 million per child?

LOWENTHAL: What it actually means is that every product that children use has a duty of care. Helmets, seat belts, car seats, toys. And social media platforms should be no different. So if there's harm that is being caused due to negligence that's proven in court, then juries know exactly what the amount should be that they should have to pay.

And really what this is about at the end of the day is prevention because we want the social media companies, the risk management, the finance departments, the legal departments inside these companies to say, hey, slow down. You need to work with regulators. You need to work with pediatricians. You need to stop fighting and litigating against all these guardrail bills and instead lean into regulation because otherwise we're really going to suffer.

MICHAELSON: Another thing you're looking at is called AB 1709, which would essentially be a way to change social media apps for kids. This is some of what you described as the addictive features, an infinite scroll, autoplay, notifications, algorithm. And you're saying to the social media companies, you got to get rid of those features for teens or else you can't have the apps.

LOWENTHAL: Yeah. This is the equivalent of saying to young people, listen, we're not banning you from riding a bicycle or a skateboard, but while you're on it, you need to be in a helmet. And we're not outlying social media for young people that have these features. We're saying to the social media companies, you can't offer these services to young people. You have to stop that whatsoever. If those features are effectively like being in a casino and on slot machines, and it's got to end.

MICHAELSON: And so you have, it's already passed the assembly, the senate. There's a final vote this week. You think this is going to pass?

LOWENTHAL: It's moved all the way through the legislature. It's heading to its final vote this coming week, then it goes to the Governor's desk.

MICHAELSON: And you think the Governor is going to sign it?

LOWENTHAL: This is a Governor who has always led with safety. And despite enormous pressure from the platforms, he always makes sure that kids and families come first.

MICHAELSON: That sounds like a yes. So I know you -- we talked to you live on this show when you were in Australia. You've talked with leaders in other countries, other states. This California model is a model that other states might be adopting, right?

LOWENTHAL: That's how we're building it. We're building it so it can be cut and paste throughout the United States and is a model for the rest of the world, and we think we found the secret sauce.

MICHAELSON: And lastly, you're a father. You say that this work is the most important work you've ever done of your entire career. Why is that?

LOWENTHAL: Well, listen, I have a 16-year-old, a 14-year-old, 12-year- old that I love immensely, and I'm watching them struggle. We have a laboratory in our home right in front of us, and it's got to change. So it is the most meaningful work I will ever do in my life for sure.

MICHAELSON: Meaning taking on. And what about the pushback from the social media companies? I mean, that's got to be pretty intense on.

LOWENTHAL: It's intense. They're under a lot of pressure from Wall Street to continue to return and the problem that we have right now is we're not aligned. This is not tobacco. We're not trying to put them out of business. We just need to align. They need to understand at the end of the day they're wellness companies and they need to lean into this moment so that we can all be healthier.

MICHAELSON: Are they wellness companies or are they engagement companies? Are they data companies?

LOWENTHAL: It depends who you ask. But I like to think that that they're not the biggest problem, that they are the solution to this.

MICHAELSON: Josh Lowenthal, thank you so much for coming in. We'll continue to track this work, that big vote happening this week here in California.

[01:25:00]

Thank you for watching "The Story Is." For our international viewers, Quest World of Wonder is next. For our viewers in North America, I'll be back with more, including a look at Tupac Shakur's trial, and later, what you need to know about fantasy football if you're drafting in the next couple weekends. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELSON: Welcome back to "The Story Is." I'm Elex Michaelson, let's take a look at today's top stories. 50 percent U.S. tariffs and some $20 billion worth of Canadian goods now in effect after a Saturday morning deadline passes and Canada suspends trade talks with the U.S.

[01:30:00]

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said late Friday that Canada will match the U.S. tariff "Dollar for dollar. The U.S. said that Canada missed an opportunity to partner with the U.S.

President Trump says as soon as the war with Iran is over, oil prices will start to fall. He repeated some of his claims about the war during a visit to South Carolina on Friday night. The President also said he views the Strait of Hormuz as an American territory right now. He largely glossed over the war though as he rallied for Republican senate candidate Darline Graham.

The U.S. Supreme Court is allowing construction of President Trump's controversial White House ballroom to continue for now. Chief Justice John Roberts blocked a lower court ruling that would have halted the work. Roberts' order does not address the legality of the ballroom project. It gives the Supreme Court more time to consider the Trump administration's appeal.

Duane Davis, the man of orchestrating accused of orchestrating the 1996 murder of rapper Tupac Shakur spoke out in court on Friday. In a heated moment, Davis addressed the judge after jurors left for a lunch break accusing prosecutors of endangering his family by revealing his home address. Davis claimed his home and family had been repeatedly targeted by vandals. Later, Davis attorney declined to give details about those alleged incidents.

CNN's Josh Campbell has more on the trial.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Week one of the trial, the man accused of taking part in the murder of legendary rapper Tupac Shakur is complete, and the star witness so far, the defendant's own words. Duane Davis has pleaded not guilty to allegations that he helped orchestrate Shakur's killing. In a 2008 police interview, prosecutors played for the jury. Davis claimed the shooting of Shakur and rap producer Suge Knight near the Las Vegas Strip nearly 30 years ago was done out of retribution.

Davis said his nephew, Orlando Baby Lane Anderson, had been beaten up earlier that night by Shakur's entourage. Hours later, Davis, Baby Lane, and two others spotted Shakur and Knight driving and pulled up alongside.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You did a U-turn, so then you pulled alongside of it. You guys are in the car. So you hand the gun to the back seat?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah. I gave it to Dre. Dre was like, no, no, no. And Lane's like, give it here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Lane starts blasting. You say Suge looks over. He sees you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I seen a bullet going to Suge's head. I thought he was dead. I thought he was dead. He must have scraped him or something in the head or something.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So Tupac's trying to jump in the back seat. And what's Suge doing? Just ducking?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ducking. He couldn't really duck because he was too big, you know?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMPBELL: A Las Vegas medical examiner testified about the wounds Shakur received.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He died of gunshot wounds of chest and abdomen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And do you have an opinion as to the manner of death?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And what is that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Homicide.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMPBELL (voice-over): The jury also viewed video clips from a 2018 documentary entitled Death Row Chronicles. Davis was interviewed for the show and provided a moment by moment explanation of how the shooting happened while a recreated dramatization was displayed on screen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When we pulled up, I was in the front seat. Happen to see my friend, Suge.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You said the shots came from the back. Big Dre, Orlando, who shot Tupac?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to keep it for the code of the streets. It just came from the backseat, bro.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMPBELL: In his police interview, Davis also claimed that disgraced rapper Sean Diddy Combs offered a $1 million bounty to have Shakur and Knight killed, allegations that Combs has repeatedly denied. He has not been charged in connection with this case. Now despite past comments by Davis describing his role in the shooting, he and his attorney now claim he made it all up and was merely trying to make money off of his stories. Of course, the major question that will decide his fate, which version of the story will the jury ultimately believe. The trial is expected to last several more weeks. Back to you.

MICHAELSON: Yeah. It is amazing how many people are paying attention to that trial. Josh, thank you. Lindsay Clancy's defense team, another case that everybody's following has rested its case after calling 10 witnesses. Prosecutors accused Clancy of killing her three children, but her attorney says that she should not be held criminally responsible because she was suffering from postpartum psychosis. One of the final defense witnesses was a forensic psychiatrist who testified about Clancy's state of mind at the time of the killings. Sherrell Hubbard has more on the trial.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The counts can I see it sidebar?

SHERRELL HUBBARD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After 18 days of testimony from both sides in the triple murder trial of former nurse and mother Lindsay Clancy, the defense rests. Before resting, the defense called 10 witnesses to testify about her mental health. A forensic psychiatrist, the defense's final witness testified Friday that Clancy was, "Frankly psychotic at the time of the killings."

VOICE OF DR. PHILLIP RESNICK, FORENSIC PSYCHIATRIST: It was almost like she was a puppet and someone else was pulling the strings.

[01:35:00]

HUBBARD, (voice-over): Clancy doesn't deny killing her three young children in 2023, but her attorney argues Clancy should not be held criminally responsible because of mental illness. This week, the defense has called several witnesses to the stand in an attempt to focus on her mental health struggles, including immediately after the killings.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She had bipolar disorder with postpartum psychosis. In addition, she was unable to conform her behaviors to the rule of law.

HUBBARD, (voice-over): After the defense rested on Friday, prosecutors presented rebuttal witnesses. Prosecutors have painted the crime as premeditated. The DA's office alleges Clancy was not in a state of psychosis and instead killed her children, "Deliberately and meticulously."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As I understand the deaths, they were done methodically one by one in a way that was organized. Similarly, her attempt at suicide was organized and thoughtful in a sense.

HUBBARD, (voice-over): Lindsay Clancy has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and faces life in prison if convicted. I'm Sherrell Hubbard reporting.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MICHAELSON: Up next, the multi-billion dollar business impact of fantasy football. One of Yahoo's top experts here live.

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[01:40:00]

MICHAELSON: "The Story Is" week two of the NFL preseason, of course, one of the worst products on TV. The New York Jets crushed the Pittsburgh Steelers 17 to nothing in their preseason game Friday night. Veteran quarterback Geno Smith is back with the team that drafted him in 2013. He completed all seven of his passes on his only drive for 65 yards and a touchdown.

Meantime, the Green Bay Packers defeated the Denver Broncos 33-13. Despite the loss, Broncos quarterback Bo Nix made a successful return from a broken ankle completing six of nine passes for 76 yards and a touchdown. The only reason a lot of people watch is to think about their fantasy football teams. For millions of football fans, one of the biggest weekends of the season is upon us. The NFL hasn't even officially kicked off yet.

It is draft weekend for many in fantasy football. Some will draft in the following weekend. Here's how it works. Fans draft real NFL players, quarterbacks, running backs, receivers, kickers to build their dream team. Then they earn points based on how those players perform in real NFL games. And there's often more than just bragging rights on the line. Some fantasy leagues play for cash. Others have creative penalties for finishing last.

Joining me now is Hayden Winks. He's co-host of the Podcast Yahoo Fantasy Football with Josh and Hayden. Of course, Yahoo, where so many people play fantasy football. Welcome to "The Story Is" for the first time.

HAYDEN WINKS, CO-HOST, PODCAST YAHOO FANTASY FOOTBALL WITH JOSH AND HAYDEN: Yeah. And when I give bad advice, you guys get to yell at me. That's how this thing hold that's how pretty much how this thing works.

MICHAELSON: OK. So you got to come back in a couple weeks if this doesn't go well.

WINKS: Yes.

MICHAELSON: So talk to us about how big fantasy football is. This is big, big business.

WINKS: So there's about 50 million people that play in just North America, and a lot of those drafts were going to -- are going to happen this weekend and the following weekend. And even if you're not in a league, you're going to start noticing fantasy football punishments out in the wild. You might see, like, a clown suit out there. So it's not just about the bragging rights for winning. There's also punishments for these leagues. So really, it's really come into, like, a more of a cultural thing than just the bragging rights. It's really a way to just hang out with your friends. I have league mates, who have been doing this for a couple of decades. My dad has been doing this for 30, 40 years. I got a league with my grandpa. He's 86-years-old, and he beat me last year.

MICHAELSON: Oh, that's nice. And a lot of people stay in touch. I'm in a league with some of my high school friends, go Agoura Chargers. I'm in league with some of my college friends from, PhiSci USC, my fraternity, and it keeps people connected. And there are often money associated with this and often sort of humiliating things for the person that loses.

WINKS: Yes. Last place in my league, he has to run eight miles. We're going to be at the bar and as he's running, drinks are on him.

MICHAELSON: OK. That's quite something. So it's a big market. It's not just guys. There's lot of women that are involved with this as well. And there's different ways to do it. One is called a snake draft, right? Which is essentially that you have like one through 12. You start here, go there, you take turns taking pics, it snakes back and forth. The other, which is more complicated is called an auction draft. How does that work?

WINKS: Yes. So that is any players available, and you can just bid on a player. And basically what happens is instead of being in your draft slot, you can just choose the players that you want. So you can you're marked players that you want to be drafting, and then as long as you have the highest bid, you're going to get that player guaranteed.

MICHAELSON: And so that's way more complicated.

WINKS: Yes.

MICHAELSON: There's a lot more strategy involved. So if you're just starting out at this, you may want to do the snake draft, because the great thing if you do it on Yahoo is the computer can basically tell you what to do.

WINKS: Yeah. Auto drafts, my rankings are right there in the Yahoo app if you guys want to go off of that. But, yeah, it's a lot easier. You just stay at the top of the queue, draft the players, and there's a lot of strategies. Like, the more you dig into it, the more strategy you come up with. But just pick your players.

MICHAELSON: And in terms of strategy, there's some suggestions from you. So one is to wait on a quarterback. People think the biggest names in football are quarterbacks. You want a quarterback soon. That's not where you get your points in fantasy football. Pick 2 running backs by round 5, you say, and wait on kicker and defense.

WINKS: Yeah. Quarterback, it's really deep. Usually, league is about 10 to 12, people in the league. There's probably about 16 to 18 quarterbacks that are generally available, so you can wait. And there's a lot of like, big names. Patrick Mahomes goes a lot later. And then with the running backs, that's where I think there's more of a cliff this year where there's about 15 guys that I trust, and then the rest of the group, I really don't trust. So you draft your running backs, draft your wide receivers early on, then wait for kicker, wait for defense, wait for your quarterback. But the quarterback one is the big mistake.

MICHAELSON: And you've got some names of players to look at, especially if you're doing one of those auction drafts. These are people that you want to focus on. Let's put this up on the screen. And a lot of these players have changed teams. Kenneth Walker, who was the Super Bowl MVP was on the Seattle Seahawks last year. He's now with Kansas City Chiefs with Patrick Mahomes. Jaylen Waddle now with the Denver Broncos. A.J. Brown who was with the Eagles now with the New England Patriots. Caleb Williams still the Chicago Bears quarterback fight on from USC.

[01:45:00]

And this last suggestion, tell us about him from the San Francisco 49ers.

WINKS: Yeah. De'Zhaun Stribling was somebody that was a surprise pick. He went 33rd overall to the 49ers. Not a whole lot of people knew what he was. He wasn't even that productive in college. And then what happens is there's a bunch of injuries on the 49ers, and then he's been lighting it up in the preseason. So we were rolling some highlights. There's been tons of highlights for De'Zhaun Stribling. And, if you get a draft him, a great, team name, the Strip Club, that's where we're going. Round 10, draft De'Zhaun Stribling. That's what we're going for. It's going to be a big party in San Francisco.

MICHAELSON: That'll be fun. And you say so there's some value in people that have changed teams because you think they may do better in these new situations.

WINKS: Yes. Those are going to better offenses than they were in the season prior. And then for Kenneth Walker, Patrick Mahomes got a torn ACL. Travis Kelce, he's been busy this off season. He's going to be the center points of the Kansas City Chiefs, obviously, the team that's been in the Super Bowls for years and years. It's going to be a new styled offense. Kenneth Walker is my most drafted player.

MICHAELSON: Interesting. And the hardest thing, of course, is injuries in fantasy. So you could spend all your money on one of these players, and then that doesn't work out. Hayden Winks, good luck. This is the fun time of year for you, right?

WINKS: Yes. Busy time.

MICHAELSON: It's going to be crazy. Best of luck to everybody if you're drafting this weekend. Still to come, some churchgoers in Northern California have 24/7 access to their pastor thanks to technology. It's a crazy story. Our Nick Watt takes us to church to find out more next.

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[01:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELSON: The pastor of a church north of San Francisco here in California is using artificial intelligence and other technology to help him better serve the needs of his congregation. CNN's Nick Watt went to church to learn more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Passion, emotion, love. Black Americans are world leaders at making worship very, very human.

WATT: My church when I was a kid was like this. I might still be religious.

WATT (voice-over): Now pastor Justin Lester is pioneering the inhuman. He's cloned his mind, birthed an AI digital doppelganger, which ministers to his flock when the real man cannot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can make an appointment with the pastor, but I can ask this question right now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's amazing. You have to try it sometimes.

WATT: I will. I will.

WATT (voice-over): I did.

WATT: I'm feeling a little lonely today.

AI VOICE OF JUSTIN LESTER, PASTOR: It's not good for man to be alone. That's scripture. That's truth. And it applies to you right now. Loneliness isn't weakness. It's a signal that you were made for connection. So here's what I want you to do today. Reach out to one person.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I like to use it when, one, he's away or, two, there's a question I'm too embarrassed to ask him, because I feel like I should know the answer to it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some things you may be hesitant to say out loud.

WATT: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So how does it work?

REV. DR. JUSTIN R. LESTER, FRIENDSHIP MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH: I connected on YouTube, my TikTok, my Instagram, and everything I've ever written. So all the way back to --

WATT: OK.

LESTER: Every sermon I've ever preached. Books, all of that are in there.

WATT: Do you obviously evolve as a human and as a preacher and a pastor? Does it evolve with you?

LESTER: Every single day it updates.

WATT: You said in your sermon Sunday to give other people credit. What did you mean?

AI VOICE OF LESTER: Nick, I appreciate you pressing me on that. Let me be real with you. I was talking about giving credit to the people around you.

LESTER: It creeps me out. Because, like, somebody's literally talked to it before and was like, literally thought you had a conversation with me. So I don't have the video part on.

WATT: OK.

LESTER: Because that was weird.

WATT: OK. So if the tech there catches up, will you do so I can look at you?

LESTER: Absolutely. I'll do it. Because I'm curious about it. I'm an innovator.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I got to lie. I would live for that. I live for that.

WATT (voice-over): He's already launched Pastor GPT, which helps other pastors write sermons, and his little church offers coding classes and uses AI to handle the earthly and mundane.

LESTER: Like, I went to school to preach the gospel, to teach the gospel, care for God's people. I did not go to school to email.

WATT: So AI is giving you more time to be human?

LESTER: Yeah. Absolutely. AI, man, gives me more time to be a better father, be a better husband, to be a better pastor. Hospital visits don't have to be five minutes. They can be 20.

WATT (voice-over): But can AI do this?

WATT: And when I watch you preach, I see and I feel humanity. I see and feel frailty. I feel all these human things.

LESTER: Absolutely.

WATT: Can you really bottle that into an algorithm?

LESTER: Oh, no, no, no, no. So AI cannot feel.

WATT: You're also not, like, creating something that's going to replace you.

LESTER: No. I think I'm pretty cool, and so no.

WATT: We're not going to be replacing the pastors.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

WATT: We're not going to be having weird virtual churches --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

WATT: -- with known.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, not at all. I think what we see is an expansion of the church happening.

WATT: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: An expansion of love and expansion of humanity.

WATT: If you try and make the AI twin talk about something random, weird, someone tried Swedish politics, it will not engage. The bot will only talk about things that the real man himself knows about. Also, if you bring up something very serious, homicide, suicide, violence, abuse. The bot will say, that's too much for me. Call the pastor. As the poetic pastor himself says, rivers are great because of the banks. AI is great with guardrails. Maybe that's a lesson for the wider world as well. Back to you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Thanks, Nick. Glad they're not getting into Swedish politics. Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, could be planning a return to acting. A person familiar with ongoing discussions as Prince Harry's wife could join the Netflix show, The Gentleman. All this theoretical for now, the show created by Guy Ritchie has not been confirmed for a third season by Netflix.

[01:55:00]

However, it is produced in the United Kingdom. Now adding to the speculation, the fact that Prince Harry and Meghan just announced that they are planning to move back to Britain with their two young kids. Meghan, of course, stopped acting about nine years ago when something else major happened in her life.

"The Story Is" behind the story. This week, I joined Brian Curtis on the ringer's The Press Box podcast. I shared the story of my interview with then candidate Donald Trump backstage at Jimmy Kimmel live in 2016, what Trump said after he left the room. We talked about a lot of things, including a deep dive into the story behind "The Story Is." You can stream it now wherever you get your podcasts, and you can watch this digital video version on the Spotify app. Thanks to Brian and everybody there for having me. It was a great conversation.

And thank you for watching "The Story Is" all week long. I'm Elex Michaelson. Hope you have a great weekend. We'll see you right back here on Monday.