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The Story Is with Elex Michaelson
Trump to Campaign for Republicans Ahead of Midterms; Outrage Erupts in Ceuta as Migrant Crisis Drags On; Mistrial Looms on Lindsay Clancy Murder Trial; State of U.S. Economy; Kennedy Center Takes Down Prominent Outdoor Sculpture; Kennedy Center Takes Down Prominent Outside Statue; Author: Techn Billionaires Striving for New Political Order; Woods Pleads No Contest to Reduced Charge in Plea Deal; Chipotle Opens Its First Restaurant in Seoul. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired September 03, 2026 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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DONTE STALLWORTH, FORMER NFL PLAYER: They probably wanted to, but there's still going to be a lot of pushback from the owners who essentially own the NFL. It's not necessarily the commissioner or the players, it's really on the owners.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Donte, Michael, thank you both.
And thank you for watching. "THE STORY IS WITH ELEX MICHAELSON" is up next.
ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Elex Michaelson live in Los Angeles.
Comin up, THE STORY IS campaign blitz. President Trump is going all in on the midterm elections, promising to fight for every Republican seat he can save. Control of Congress hanging in the balance, and rising prices and the war in Iran. But will his presence on the campaign trail help or hurt GOP candidates?
THE STORY IS migrant surge. Spain's border crisis has reached a breaking point, with thousands marching across the country calling for stronger border controls after a mass influx of migrants from Morocco.
And THE STORY IS deadlocked jury. No verdict, no consensus, no clear end in sight. Jurors in the Lindsay Clancy trial remain deadlocked, raising the prospect of a mistrial. One of the country's most closely watched criminal cases in years.
ANNOUNCER: Live from Los Angeles, THE STORY IS with Elex Michaelson.
MICHAELSON: The top story is new details on what happened during the latest round of strikes between the U.S. and Iran. Those attacks come amid renewed escalation in the region after weeks of military silence. Two U.S. officials tell CNN that American forces hit nearly 60 military targets around Iran, but they also escorted 40 commercial oil vessels through the Strait of Hormuz at the very same time. U.S. forces reportedly fended off a range of attacks from Iranian
forces from both the air and the sea during that escort. This comes in addition to other strikes launched into neighboring countries by Iran. President Trump says the U.S. was specifically targeting Iran's radar systems to stop their military from observing ships moving through the Strait of Hormuz. He also noted that the upcoming midterm elections are not influencing his decisions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't know how much more they can take, but, you know, whatever it is, it doesn't matter. And I'm not affected by the election. Number one, I'm not running, but my party is running and I'm going to help my party. But I think my party respects the fact that we're not allowing Iran to have a nuclear weapon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Outgoing Republican Senator Thom Tillis is calling on President Trump to replace his Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. In a post on X, Tillis praised top military brass, including Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, who were recently pushed out by Hegseth. Tillis went on to say this about Hegseth, quote, "I have never witnessed more inept management of the brave men and women who serve our country. He is intimidated by competence and retreats to ginning up culture wars instead of soberly attending to the vital work of our national defense and the health and well-being of our fighting force."
President Trump is planning -- making plans to travel the country, campaigning for Republicans ahead of November's midterm elections. He says for the next few months, there will be no pleasure, no playing golf, just work, fight and win. Recently in South Carolina, the president urged voters to pretend that his name is on the ballot in November.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I will be with you 100 percent all the way to November. So I'm going to go to Alaska, and I want to buy a lot, buy a real lot. And I'm going to, you know, hopefully get Dan and we're going to go to Texas and work for Ken Paxton. But we're going to take that final 30 days, Mr. Speaker. So I'm relying on you guys to give me some names where I say is either tied or you're winning by a little bit, or you're losing by a little bit.
In some cases, you can be losing by a lot. And we'll bring you over the line. But mostly it's if you're close and we'll get -- I think we'll get all those people elected.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Our panel is here to discuss. Ian Calderon is a former Democratic leader of the California State Assembly and the CEO of Majority Advisors. And John Thomas, Republican strategist and managing director of the government and financial advisory group Nestpoint. Gentlemen, welcome back to THE STORY IS.
John, as the Republican strategist here, let's talk about the Republican strategy that's going on. President Trump at the White House talking to a bunch of Republicans about his midterm strategy tonight. What did you make of what he said and what he should be doing right now?
JOHN THOMAS, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, first, it's unorthodox. Typically, when the party is in power, typically they let individual members that have tough reelects distance themselves from the president. President Trump isn't doing that. In fact, he's doing the reverse this time. He's going front and center in certain races where he believes he can help. And the gamble that he's taking is that he alone can shift the turnout model. We -- the news talks about his approval ratings and the generic ballot.
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But polling, the snapshot in time only matters if the turnout model holds steady and Trump is gambling that he can turn out his base, which would allow some of these tight seats to hang on.
MICHAELSON: And in the past he has turned out his base, which is why he's won a lot of presidential elections.
IAN CALDERON, FORMER CALIFORNIA STATE ASSEMBLY MAJORITY LEADER: I mean, in true Trump fashion, he is making it about himself. And, you know, it's a double-edged sword because on the one hand you need his base to show up and turn out so that his voters show up. But he's also having to spend time going to a lot of states where he shouldn't really have to be fighting and that's more indicative of the challenges that he's facing, his party is facing, and that Americans are facing just an everyday costs and expenses.
MICHAELSON: Well, one of those states, of course, is Texas, where John Cornyn is the incumbent senator. He said, if I would have become the nominee, you wouldn't have to spend a lot of money there because he would have won against James Talarico. Donald Trump endorsed Ken Paxton, the attorney general there. That race looks very close based off of recent polls. And President Trump talked about Ken Paxton. Quite the endorsement. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Ken Paxton. You might not like the way he dresses. And I say this. It's so insulting to him but I might as well say it. You might not like the way he looks. You might not love his look. You might not love his television interviews. But he was the best attorney general in the country. Perhaps he was one of the best in the entire country. And that speaks a lot louder than the suit he's wearing that doesn't look so great.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: I mean. THOMAS: Look, he's being honest. He isn't a great dresser, which is
actually unique because typically when you're running for the United States Senate, they typically are the best dressed of the bunch. So, yes, Ken is not wearing tucked-in shirts and things like that. But --
MICHAELSON: And for Trump, he notices that sort of thing. And he --
(CROSSTALK)
THOMAS: Yes, I mean he thinks --
MICHAELSON: Wait, when he says you're -- when he says you're a bad television performer, that's quite an insult for President Trump.
THOMAS: Sure. I mean, he'll get after his own Cabinet member's shoes. I mean, he'll get to that level of granularity. But you can see what the president is doing is attempting to say, look, Ken needs to run on his record, not how he looks. And look, President Trump will be useful in a place like Texas for Ken Paxton. And President Trump has a lot of money in his super PAC, and he's going to hopefully spend it for Ken Paxton.
I think at the end of the day, Ken Paxton will prevail. Does Ken have a lot of baggage? Yes. But I think the challenge the Democrats are going to have is oftentimes these campaigns need to be about introducing new information, negative information about Ken Paxton. Every voter in the state of Texas knows Ken Paxton, good, bad and ugly. So it's going to be a little tricky for them to define Ken.
MICHAELSON: But that being said, it's not like he's up so big in the polls. I mean, that would be something you could say if he's up by 10 points.
THOMAS: Sure.
MICHAELSON: And everybody knows everything.
THOMAS: Sure.
MICHAELSON: A lot of polls shows he's losing.
THOMAS: You're right. So what Ken has to do is go negative against James Talarico as Democratic opponent, because most Texans don't know James Talarico. So James is vulnerable to being defined by Ken Paxton or Donald Trump.
MICHAELSON: How do you see the Texas race?
CALDERON: I mean, this -- you know, I get a little PTSD because I go back to the Beto O'Rourke days when there was a lot of energy and a lot of enthusiasm that Beto was going to win and pull it out, and we were going to flip Texas blue. So, I mean, I think Talarico has got a pretty healthy lead in the polls in Texas. And I think that, you know, as time progresses, the real campaign starts in October. That's where a lot of the money is going to get spent.
MICHAELSON: Well, not that healthy a lead. I mean, it's like up a margin of error by like maybe one or two points.
CALDERON: For Texas it's a healthy lead.
(CROSSTALK)
MICHAELSON: Depending on where it is.
CALDERON: For Democrats that's a healthy lead.
MICHAELSON: Yes.
CALDERON: So, I mean, I mean, you know, this is a -- this is a race that should be in the Republicans' camp like, OK, this is likely to be for them. But he's just a flawed candidate. Paxton is a flawed candidate. And again, they don't love him in Texas. And he's got real baggage that just doesn't exude Texas values.
MICHAELSON: Another close race is in Maine, where Susan Collins has evaded political gravity for many years, winning in a state that she probably shouldn't win. She is running again in a state that backed Kamala Harris for president, and she sat down with Jonathan Martin on his show on "Politico" and Jonathan Martin asked her about the two different models. The sort of Lindsey Graham model of dealing with Trump is, I didn't like him, but now I like him and I'm all about him. Or Liz Cheney, who was. I didn't like him. I'm really all against him. And of course, Liz Cheney not in Congress anymore. Here's what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R-ME): Well, I would say that I don't fit either of those models. With the case of Liz Cheney, what influence does she have today? Really?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: What influence does she have today? Basically saying that Liz Cheney went all in going against Donald Trump. She was basically banished from the Republican Party. She's sitting on the sidelines, and we don't hear from her. And this idea that it's better to deal with President Trump than to go all in against him. Does she have a point?
THOMAS: I mean, I think she actually does have a point. I mean, not to -- you know, I can remember the last time that Susan Collins was on the ballot.
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There was a lot of energy that she was going to be beat, and that, you know, you know, we were going to flip that and that she was going to lose. And that's just not the -- not the case. But she cannot turn her back on Donald Trump. She's already been in bed with him when it comes to the votes and her positioning in Congress. And it's going to make it really difficult for her to get to where she needs to be, if she's going to win without his support. CALDERON: I mean, her job is not to be an ideologue. Her job is to get
things done for her constituents. That's essentially she's saying, I need to retain power. I think the difference, though, and it's a good comparison between Liz Cheney and Lindsey Graham. The difference is in South Carolina, you know, Donald Trump is up -- he's a net additive when you're running for reelection in South Carolina typically. In Maine, he's a net drag. So it's more complicated for Senator Collins.
But she makes a great argument so that she can come back to her constituents and say, look, I disagree with the president, sometimes I agree with him, but my job is to represent you. And that gives her this narrative.
MICHAELSON: And how do you see that race?
CALDERON: I think she -- I think she wins. I mean, she is a special breed. She's, like you said, defied gravity before. And I think she has a unique brand independent of whomever else is in power. But, look, the winds are against her nationally. And I'm sure she, you know, rues the day that Donald Trump comes to Maine. And there's a reason he's not coming to Maine much.
MICHAELSON: Yes. All right. You guys are sticking around. We'll have more with you throughout the next two hours here on THE STORY IS.
John Thomas, Ian Calderon, thank you so much.
To Europe now, Spain's prime minister is set to address parliament in the coming hours about the migrant crisis in Ceuta. He'll speak after a national day of protests was held Wednesday in solidarity with the Spanish enclave. In late July, tens of thousands of migrants stormed across the border from Morocco into Ceuta. Most later returned, but officials say thousands remain in that city.
And as Clarissa Ward reports, local residents have had enough.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Thousands and thousands of people have taken to the streets of this relatively small city of Ceuta. Just 84,000 people actually live here, and so many of them are out tonight to demonstrate just how fed up they are with this crisis. You probably remember it was just over a month ago that more than 70,000 migrants came in from the border with Morocco, the majority of them returned to Morocco.
But the Spanish government says at least 5,000 migrants still remain. The local authorities here say the real number is actually 9,000, as many as 9,000 migrants, including more than a thousand unaccompanied minors, which creates huge problems for a small community like this in terms of feeding them, housing them. A lot of these migrants are sleeping rough in makeshift shelters, on the beaches, and people here, you can hear it.
They are saying, enough is enough. You see over and over again the slogan, Ceuta is not for sale. Ceuta will defend itself. They want Spain and the government to take the initiative to bring this crisis to a rapid end.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAELSON: Clarissa Ward in Ceuta for us.
At least two people are dead after a mass shooting in downtown Minneapolis. Police said the gunman also dead likely from a self- inflicted gunshot wound. That incident leaving several people injured, including three police officers. One official says that police responded to reports of gunfire in a high rise building on Wednesday afternoon. Inside, they encountered what's been described as haze, which limited their visibility before the officers were injured.
One official says police went to the same building earlier in the day after a dispute that may have been related to an eviction.
The jury in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial will return on Thursday to continue deliberations after nearly 30 hours over five days. Twice now the jury has told the court that they cannot come to a unanimous verdict. 36-year-old Clancy, a former labor and delivery nurse, has pleaded not guilty to charges of murdering her three children. If the jury remains deadlocked, the judge may choose to declare a mistrial, which would end the trial without a clear resolution and raises the possibility of a retrial.
CNN's Ivan Rodriguez is at the courthouse in Plymouth, Massachusetts, with the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN RODRIGUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The jury has now sent a second note to the judge, this one saying, quote, "After much deliberation, we are not able to reach a unanimous decision."
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The judge brought the jury into the courtroom and read special instructions known as a dynamite charge, also known in Massachusetts as the Tui Rodriguez instructions, which gives the jury a final instruction to reach a verdict. The idea is to blow up any impasse to avoid a hung jury and mistrial. The instruction asked jurors to consider the reasonableness of their own opinions and others, and to continue deliberating toward a verdict.
Part of it says, quote, "You should consider that it is desirable that the case be decided." If the jury remains deadlocked, the judge could decide to rule a mistrial, in which case these proceedings would have no resolution, and it would also open up the door for a trial in the future with a completely new jury.
In Plymouth, Massachusetts, I'm Ivan Rodriguez.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAELSON: Still to come, Venezuela's leader is thanking President Trump for several new oil deals. More on what these deals include ahead. Plus, yet another change to the appearance of the Kennedy Center. Why this piece of public art is being removed. And later, Chipotle Mexican grill is hoping to stand out in East Asia's crowded scene. How the American chain plans to win over diners in Seoul.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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MICHAELSON: Venezuela's leader is praising President Trump after a series of new oil deals she says could help pull her country out of years of economic crisis. Several major energy firms, including Chevron, are expanding projects to boost Venezuela's oil output. The deals were signed in Caracas in the presence of the country's interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, and the United States secretary of energy, Chris Wright.
Wright says the deals will bring prosperity to Venezuela.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS WRIGHT, ENERGY SECRETARY: The mission is to bring peace, freedom, opportunity and prosperity to the people of Venezuela. I believe the deals that are signed today, tens of billions of dollars of investment ultimately, many thousands of jobs, these are critical in starting this ball rolling of peace, opportunity and prosperity for everyone in Venezuela.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Under the new agreements, Chevron says it plans to invest more than $7 billion into its Venezuelan oil projects and double production to about 600,000 barrels a day within five years. This is separate from a recent U.S.-Venezuela oil field pact that gives the U.S. access to 17 oil fields. The White House is calling the deal the biggest oil deal in world history.
The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield has hit its highest level in almost three years. It rose about 4.8 percent on Wednesday. The rise in yields isn't just happening in the U.S., as other countries have reported a similar trend in recent weeks. At the same time U.S. oil prices are back above $90 a barrel with all of this putting investors on alert for potential pressure on the stock market. As we're looking at the numbers there, we do see a bit of a downturn, which is good news for most folks.
Also of concern, a steep rise in yields could impact consumers by pushing up the cost of mortgages, auto and other loans.
Joining us now to discuss the state of the economy is Stafford Nichols, research director at Beacon Economics.
Welcome to THE STORY IS for the first time. Great to have you here.
STAFFORD NICHOLS, RESEARCH DIRECTOR, BEACON ECONOMICS: Thank you. Glad to be here. MICHAELSON: I want to put up a headline on the screen from CNN, which
talks about what's going on with the bond markets. And it says, "Yellow lights are flashing in the most important market on the planet, the U.S. bond market." Why are they and what are the numbers telling us?
NICHOLS: At a high level what they're saying is that investors are telling the U.S. government, look, I want to be compensated a little bit more to buy your debt. Ultimately, they're saying that we need -- we're not quite as sure about the future. And so that's why they've gone up a bit. There's three or four main reasons that are driving that. The first is just kind of short term. Recently, as you mentioned, oil prices have gone up and so there's some inflationary pressure there.
But there's also longer term inflation worries. So earlier this year and even last year, people thought that maybe the federal interest rate would lower a little bit and inflation would come down. But now folks are saying that actually it's probably going to continue to rise. And that actually interest rates might go up. Then another one is that there's actually some places for investors to put their money, that could have a good return.
So a lot of A.I. investments, also interest rates around the world are going up. So that gives international investors some place to put their money. And then the last piece, and this is kind of long term and structural would be around the size of the federal debt. It's just gotten -- it's over 40 trillion and that's, you know, it's long term, but it's starting to worry people a little bit.
MICHAELSON: In terms of oil, we just showed Secretary Wright in Caracas, this oil deal. Does that impact my gas prices anytime soon?
NICHOLS: Unfortunately, I don't think it will any time soon. I think this is going to be several years, five, 10 years down the road before we really see any significant impact.
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Of course, it's useful to note that Venezuela has the largest known oil reserves in the world, over 300 billion barrels. And just for comparison's sake, the U.S. has about 40 or 50, so six times larger there. But they produce about a million barrels of oil a day right now. Again, comparison, U.S. makes about 14 billion. So it's not enough to have a significant change and move the needle on the market, and because it will take years to build out this infrastructure and process all this oil, it will take years.
MICHAELSON: But years down the road, it could turn out to be a good thing. It certainly sounds like.
In terms of the economy as a whole, there's a lot of doom and gloom out there. And obviously a lot of people are frustrated by higher prices that they have to pay. But you say the state of the economy is actually pretty good. NICHOLS: That's right. You know, as a whole, it's certainly not
booming, but we're absolutely not in a recession. So I kind of grade the economy as maybe like a B, B plus, B minus or so right now. The reason I say that is because household spending is still pretty strong. It has been coming down, but that's really strong. And that's about 60 percent of our GDP. So that's important. Unemployment is pretty low, close to 4 percent.
And GDP growth last quarter was around 1.5 percent. Not great. It was 2 percent, 2.5 percent or so over the last few years. So we're kind of coming down. But we're -- it's still a healthy economy overall.
MICHAELSON: Although a lot of people don't feel that way, especially when it comes to prices for food and gas and all the rest of that, that they see every day as well. You do say that there are some storm clouds that you're worried about in the forecast. What are those storms look like?
NICHOLS: That's right. So, you know, if you look at the jobs number, the number of jobs created each month, it was about 34,000 or so, which is OK. But if you look under the hood a little bit, you'll see that the vast majority of those jobs were created by the health care industry. All of the other industries really aren't creating many jobs. So that's kind of a precarious situation to be in.
I also see some consumer debt issues starting to rise. For example, credit card debts going up a little bit. Auto loan delinquencies are going up a little bit. They're still low overall, but going in the wrong direction. And then lastly, the big call it a hurricane is the federal debt. Again, I have to mention that. I mean, like I said, over $40 trillion and every year our deficit is $2 trillion so that means we take in $5 trillion as a federal government. And then we spend $7 trillion.
And I just don't see any political movement to, you know, fix that situation. So, one of the sayings I like in economics is things that can't go on forever don't. And that is, you know, I'm afraid what we're facing then.
MICHAELSON: At some point the bills going to come due?
NICHOLS: That's right.
MICHAELSON: And then you got to pay that. And if you don't have that money, what happens to that, too? That's not great.
NICHOLS: Right.
MICHAELSON: Stafford Nichols, research director at Beacon Economics, thanks for being with us for the first time. Great to have you here.
NICHOLS: Thank you. My pleasure.
MICHAELSON: The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, with its board handpicked by President Trump, has made another controversial move. This time dismantling a prominent piece of public art. That sculpture is called "Blue" and depicts a stick figure mid kick. A former curator told CNN last year that President Trump wants all new art.
CNN's Sunlen Serfaty has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With little warning, cranes piece by piece dismantled and removed this 24-foot statue from the grounds of the Kennedy Center today. The abrupt action sparking outrage from activists, marking another dramatic change to the iconic arts institution made under President Trump as he works to reshape the center in his name and style.
TRUMP: There's really nothing like it in the country.
SERFATY (voice-over): The sculpture called "Blue" was first installed in 2019. The Kennedy Center says it was the center that requested the sculpture to come down, portraying a de-installation as common practice yet giving no public explanations as to why it came down now. But those who worked at the center say the piece of art was targeted early on after Trump took over the center as chairman of the board.
JOSEF PALERMO FORMER CURATOR: As part of the renovations, they want to get rid of the outdoor art here on the campus at the Kennedy Center. And the reason why is because President Trump wants all new art for the reopening of the center.
SERFATY (voice-over): A source familiar with the matter disputed Palermo's account of the situation. Activists pointing a finger at political motivations, saying the removal came, quote, "at the behest of a petulant crybaby."
The Kennedy Center has been largely dormant. Its productions and shows falling silent as the future of the arts institution remains in limbo, bogged down in a legal and cultural battle.
TRUMP: We ended the woke political programing and we're restoring the Kennedy Center as the premier venue for performing arts anywhere in the country.
[00:30:08]
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Last month, lawyers for the center threatened to demolish the building is they were not allowed to close for a two-year renovation.
TRUMP: In the coming months, we'll fully renovate the dated and the -- really, the entire -- the infrastructure of the building.
SERFATY (voice-over): A federal judge has blocked renovation plans, ruling they were made unlawfully, which the center and White House officials have continued to fight.
HOWARD LUTNICK, U.S. COMMERCE SECRETARY: There are chunks of concrete falling off the ceiling in the garage. When it fell off last time at 4 a.m. in the morning, OK, you clean it up in the morning. But if it fell on somebody, that would be an unmitigated disaster. SERFATY (voice-over): Meantime, in a dramatic provocation, the Kennedy
Center board voted last month to re-add Trump's name to the facade, this time with an etching saying the president "restored and renovated the building."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take it down! Take it down!
SERFATY (voice-over): After it was instructed to be removed in June and has been covered by a tarp ever since.
SERFATY: And I'm standing here in the grass of where this sculpture once was. Crews came in and took hours to remove parts of this sculpture, being by beam earlier on Wednesday. And you'll see here in the ground still this hole where the sculpture once was.
And still the plaque, an acknowledgment to the artist, Joel Shapiro, who made this art installation and died only last year.
And you'll see this is just in the shadow of the main Kennedy Center building. This in the area where a lot of people picnic right by the REACH Complex, which holds smaller scale concerts.
And again, the Kennedy Center officials, they are offering no explanation as to why, specifically, now this piece of art was removed, other than routine deinstallation.
Sunlen Serfaty, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Still ahead this hour, a disturbing warning about tech billionaires allegedly trying to take over the U.S. government. Sounds like something out of a dystopian novel, but my next guest says it is happening right before our eyes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:36:54]
MICHAELSON: The largest school district in the United States is temporarily banning the use of artificial intelligence in most public- school classrooms.
New York's one-year moratorium will apply to nearly 600,000 students from kindergarten through eighth grade.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani says the policy is designed to protect students' critical thinking abilities, as well as their relationships with teachers.
Mamdani added that the tech industry wants us to believe that A.I. in early education is necessary and inevitable, but, quote, "We don't see it that way."
My next guest says that Silicon Valley tech billionaires linked to the Trump administration are pushing a political agenda and that their tech authoritarian movement, he calls it, wants to replace elected governments with corporate rule.
Journalist Gil Duran is the author of the new book, "The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley, Fascism and the War on Democracy," which just debuted at No. 3 on "The New York Times" bestseller list.
Gil Duran, welcome back to THE STORY IS and congrats on the book's success.
GIL DURAN, AUTHOR, "THE NERD REICH": Thank you.
MICHAELSON: It's very interesting. I want to start with the way that you sort of start the book and put up a picture on the screen.
This is Donald Trump's inauguration back in 2025. And look who is right there in the front row. We see Elon Musk. We see Jeff Bezos. We saw Mark Zuckerberg, all of them standing in front of President Trump's cabinet inside the Capitol. What do you see when you look at that image?
DURAN: I see the richest men in the world joining forces with an authoritarian president who promised to be a dictator on day one. I see --
MICHAELSON: He says he joked about that. But yes.
DURAN: It hasn't seemed like a joke in a lot of ways. The way he's throwing his weight around, tearing down the East Wing of the White House, with help, by the way, from the tech industry that is funding his new Epstein Ballroom there on the White House.
So, at every step of the way, we've seen, in this Trump regime, a major funder and supporter is the billionaires of Silicon Valley, which seems like a big change to a lot of people, but actually is not.
MICHAELSON: Of course, the ballroom has nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein. But -- but -- let's talk about what -- what you're talking about in terms of this book.
One of the main forces that you profile in this is Peter Thiel, the billionaire. For folks that may not know who he is, who is Peter Thiel, and why should they care about him?
DURAN: Peter Thiel is a billionaire, the co-founder of PayPal and Palantir, the massive surveillance government contractor. And he's been a big Trump supporter for many years.
And for decades now, Peter Thiel in his private life has publicly, actually, given speeches in which he questions the need for democracy, questions whether democracy is the right way for the country to be run.
And my book is about a cult of Silicon Valley billionaires who believe that technology, specifically crypto and A.I., will make democracy obsolete in the 21st Century. And I trace this back through Thiel's history of public speeches and
the creation of a network that is now at the center of the Trump administration as crypto becomes the biggest donor in our political system.
MICHAELSON: Well, and in terms of the center, I mean, literally at the center of it, one of the folks that Peter Thiel is especially close to is J.D. Vance, the vice president of the United States. Talk to us about their relationship.
[00:40:12]
DURAN: J.D. Vance is almost entirely a creation of Peter Thiel. At every step of his career since law school, it's been Peter Thiel guiding the way.
J.D. Vance became a venture capitalist at a firm co-founded by Thiel, started his own firm with money from Thiel, became a Catholic because of Peter Thiel, became a senator with an historic amount of funding from Peter Thiel, and then became vice president, even though he had called Donald Trump "America's Hitler," because of the intervention of Peter Thiel and other Silicon Valley oligarchs.
And J.D. Vance, in his Senate campaign, expressed some extremist ideas that come from Curtis Yarvin, a fascist philosopher who was also funded by Peter Thiel.
MICHAELSON: So, we reached out to Peter Thiel. We did not hear back from him in time. Did you reach out to Peter Thiel?
DURAN: Multiple times in writing my book, but Peter Thiel refuses to answer tough questions. He's got a talent for avoiding tough interviews.
For some reason, no one in the press ever asks him about his speeches against American democracy. Or, in fact, in 2010, he said that the government is fundamentally evil.
Why is a government military industrial complex intelligence contractor calling the government evil? That's a question somebody should ask Peter Thiel.
And Peter, if you're listening, I'd love to ask you.
MICHAELSON: That would be interesting, to see the two of you together.
And one of the things that you start the book with is this book that has really influenced Peter Thiel and other folks. It's called "The Sovereign Individual."
What does that book say? And -- and why does that matter now?
DURAN: "The Sovereign Individual" was a 1997 book that predicted that, in the 21st Century, technology, specifically crypto and A.I., would make democracy obsolete and lead to the collapse of nations, including the United States. It sounded like a kooky, apocalyptic book at the time. It was reviewed
very poorly. But the book was so influential on Peter Thiel that he has credited it with being part of the reason he started PayPal, as an effort to get ahead of creating this new digital currency, which we now know as crypto and which has become a weapon of mass corruption in American politics, with hundreds of millions flowing into our electoral system and billions flowing directly to the Trump family in a system of corruption so massively and so open that it's almost impossible to describe it adequately in words.
MICHAELSON: And President Trump, we know, has made over $2 billion from cryptocurrency during this presidency alone.
DURAN: Some estimates put it as high as 5 billion. But between 2 and 5 billion.
And you know, Jimmy Carter had to sell his peanut farm. And the Trump family is just completely in the crypto business, in the venture capital business. It's happening right in front of our eyes. And this is the stuff that Peter Thiel has been predicting and talking about for decades. And that's why I wrote my book, to tell people.
MICHAELSON: And again, the book is called "The Nerd Reich." Gil Duran, thanks so much for coming in and appreciate you sharing your perspective.
And again, we'd love to have Peter Thiel on the show, with or without you, to hear his perspective, as well.
We'll be back. Coming up, Tiger Woods reaches a plea deal following his car crash in Florida earlier this year. Why prosecutors say they could not prove the DUI allegations in court. That's next.
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MICHAELSON: President Trump is wishing Tiger Woods well after the golf superstar reached a plea deal in his DUI case stemming from a car crash in March.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I know Tiger very well. He's a great guy. He's unique in so many ways, especially as an athlete, but also as a man.
You know, he suffers great pain. He's going to have somebody drive him from now on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: In court on Wednesday, prosecutors described a, quote, "erosion of evidence" in the case. Woods agreed to plead no contest to a reduced charge and accept a five-year suspension of his driver's license. CNN's Randi Kaye explains why prosecutors agreed to that deal.
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RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was an interesting day in court with Tiger Woods. He changed his plea from "not guilty" to pleading "no contest."
KAYE (voice-over): He -- regarding the DUI charge that he was facing, driving under the influence, the state amended that charge to willful, wanton, reckless driving. He pleaded "no contest" to that. He was fined $1,000, and he will lose his license for five years.
On the other charge, for refusing a urinalysis test. So, the deputies had no way of knowing what kind of medications or drugs were in his system at the time.
The state decided on an adjudication of guilt, and he was fined $500 for that and also losing his license for five years.
Now, those license suspensions will be served concurrently. So, a total of five years.
Now, the judge said to him, "For the safety of the public, if you are caught driving, you will be immediately taken back to jail."
In court with him was his -- was his girlfriend, Vanessa Trump.
And the prosecution before all of this happened said that the reason they were entering into an agreement with Tiger Woods was because of an erosion of evidence.
And later, the state attorney spoke about this. He basically said that --
KAYE: -- even though the deputies believe that Tiger Woods was impaired that day, they believe that he had some -- he had been using so many pills and medications that he had developed a tolerance to it.
[00:50:06]
So, it would have been very hard to prove that he was impaired, because he may have just been very tolerant of taking these medications.
Now, of course, this all stems from a rollover crash that happened back in March of this year.
KAYE (voice-over): Tiger Woods driving his Land Rover behind a pickup truck that was pulling a trailer. The pickup truck went to turn. Tiger Woods swerved to get around, and it ended up clipping the trailer and flipping his car and ended up pinned on the ground on the driver's side. He actually had to crawl out of his Land Rover on the passenger side.
He did take a breathalyzer. There was no alcohol in his system, according to the sheriff, but he did refuse that urinalysis test. And they also found two hydrocodone pills in his pocket.
He did admit to the deputies there on the body camera that he had taken a few prescription medications earlier in the day.
KAYE: So now, he is -- he can put this case behind him, except for now, not being able to drive for another five years.
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MICHAELSON: Randi Kaye in Florida for us. Randi, thank you.
Here in the U.S., Thursday is expected to be a very busy travel day. It is kicking off the Labor Day holiday weekend. Federal Aviation Administration expects more than 280,000 flights to operate across the country over the next few days. Nearly 54,000 flights are expected on Thursday alone.
AAA says Seattle. Orlando, Boston, Denver and New York are the top domestic destinations, but those trips will cost more this year: domestic airfares up 2 percent over last year.
The airline behind this extremely low flyover of a packed rugby stadium says it's now turned over data from the plane's black boxes.
Two jets from South African airline Airlink buzzed DHL Stadium in Cape Town on Saturday. At their lowest altitude, the planes were just 46 feet, or 14 meters, above the stadium's roof.
Airlink officials say the black boxes will show that the jets were within an altitude approved by South Africa's aviation authority. Investigators will examine the data to determine whether the safety rules were violated.
Chipotle is bringing its burritos to East Asia for the first time. The fast casual chain has set up shop in Seoul, joining the city's already bustling food scene.
CNN's Gage Goulding reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Three, two, one, open!
GAGE GOULDING, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Asia is getting their first taste of Chipotle. And the American company, built on burritos is betting a big appetite is here, and it might just pay off.
ANDREW CHUNG, SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCER: This is the best food in the world.
GOULDING (voice-over): Outside of Chipotle's new restaurant in Seoul, the line stretches for city blocks for Wednesday's opening day.
Andrew Chung, a social media influencer, is first in line.
CHUNG: I got here at 11 at night. GOULDING: You got here at 11 p.m. last night?
CHUNG: At night. Yes.
SCOTT BOATWRIGHT, CHIPOTLE CEO: It's like free Chipotle for a year.
GOULDING (voice-over): It's a welcome sight for Chipotle CEO Scott Boatwright, who's doing something that's been done time and time again: bringing a U.S. restaurant to South Korea.
You can't go far here without spotting an American brand that's set up shop in Seoul, an already crowded cuisine scene.
KO NA-YOUNG, CUSTOMER (through translator): There's Shake Shack and Five Guys nearby. And when they first opened, people lined up and went there a lot. But now, their popularity has definitely dropped compared to when they first opened. I think that's natural.
GOULDING: How is Chipotle going to stand out in an already diluted domestic market here in Korea?
BOATWRIGHT: We stand out pretty well in North America already. I think about our brand as more fast casual as we prove to the world that eating high-quality, great tasting food is not an elitist pursuit.
GOULDING (voice-over): But is it really affordable? Let's say you get a chicken bowl or burrito. Add in some guacamole, chips, and a drink. It would cost 21,900 South Korean won, or just over $16, which is a little more than the typical traditional Korean lunch.
GOULDING: Do you think that Koreans will ante up that extra money to come here and buy this?
BOATWRIGHT: I think so, and the -- what really drives that purchase intent is the flavors that are very unique.
GOULDING: Opening day, obviously, wildly successful here. And it comes on the heels of a successful second quarter for Chipotle. The company posting billions in total revenue.
But the real question is, is whether or not this continued international expansion, specifically here in Asia, will drive the revenue that the company needs whenever there's inflation, rising labor, and food costs back in the United States.
BOATWRIGHT: It's a good question. I think there's inflation every year in our business, and we risk-mitigate that inflation by supplier diversification, country of origin diversification. And so, we have a really balanced supply chain. And we're really building Chipotle into a global iconic brand.
Now, that doesn't allow us to take our foot off the gas pedal in North America. We're still going to build 350 new locations in North America this year, with eye toward that similar -- eyes toward that similar growth in 2027. GOULDING (voice-over): Chipotle's CEO is keeping future locations in
Asia under wraps, but the company said more spots in South Korea and adding Singapore is already in the works.
[00:55:05]
For now, though, Seoul gets Asia's first bite.
Gage Goulding, CNN, Seoul.
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MICHAELSON: I'm more of a burrito bowl guy myself.
And by the way, looked like that kid who lined up at 11 p.m. is getting free Chipotle for a year, so that was definitely worth it.
We'll be right back. Our top stories here on THE STORY IS when we come back.
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MICHAELSON: If you want a special $1 coin to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States, you'll have to wait.
