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The Story Is with Elex Michaelson

Apple Unveils First Foldable iPhone At Product Showcase; Trump: $5,000 To All U.S. Adults If GOP Keeps House And Senate; Democratic Sen. Fetterman Makes Surprise Video Appearance; Trump Headlines Night One of Event in Dallas, Texas; SEC to Discuss Expelling LSU from the Conference; Small Island Off Yemen Becomes Strategic Prize in Iran War. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired September 10, 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: Foldable smartphone along with a number of other upgraded products and features in Cupertino on Wednesday. The new phone duo is roughly the size and shape of a passport when folded and the thinnest iPhone yet when opened. It's also the most expensive, starting at just under $2,000 in the U.S.

Apple is hardly blazing a new path, though, as rivals Samsung and Motorola have been selling foldable smartphones for years. You would have known about this if you watched us a couple of nights ago when Mark Gurman from Bloomberg previewed all that, and everything he said turned out to be right.

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: And I'm Elex Michaelson, live in Los Angeles. Coming up, President Trump headlines a midterm rally in Dallas. What he's promising Americans even though he's technically not on the ballot. A Democratic senator shakes up the party. Why John Fetterman made a virtual appearance at the Republi

can National Convention. Plus, could artificial intelligence kill us all? One ex-Anthropic researcher thinks so. This isn't a joke.

We'll break down his startling social media report, which has been seen by tens of millions. But we start with the top stor.y

President Trump's marathon speech at the Republican midterm convention, first time they've ever tried this. He is urging voters to pretend that his name's on the ballot in November and promising a big payout if Republicans retain control of Congress. The president spoke for more than 90 minutes, claiming credit for a booming economy, lower prices, foreign investment, and a secure border.

He also bragged about his administration's success in the war with Iran, saying that gas prices would fall as soon as the conflict is over. And he says it's going to fall right after the midterm election.

In the meantime, he promised a cash reward if his party keeps its hold on the House and the Senate in November.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: So if the Republicans win, you win with us, and you get $5,000. It will be called the Trump Dividend. We'll call it the Trump Dividend. Congratulations.

Now all we have to do -- now all we have to do is win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: The convention feature a parade of Cabinet members and GOP lawmakers. But some of the party are hesitant to appear with the president, whose approval rating has consistently been in the mid-30s. There was a surprise video, though, from Democratic Senator, Democratic Senator John Fetterman.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN FETTERMAN (D-PA): Yes, I'm a Democrat. Why am I here talking to you today? Because, well, I'm a common-sense Democrat. I'm always going to stand with America. I'm always going to reject the extremes and socialism and that anti-American way of life.

Dave McCormick is the kind of senator that gets the job done, and he's going to fight for Pennsylvania.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: And did clarify that he would remain a Democrat if after November. Let's bring back our panel victims' rights attorney, Gloria Allred, and John Kobylt, host of The John Kobylt Show on -- thank you so much. Welcome back to the show.

So, Gloria, in the last hour we interviewed Democratic Congressmember Sydney Kamlager-Dove. She called that $5,000 dividend a bribe. What do you call it?

GLORIA ALLRED, VICTIMS' RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Well, I really haven't had a chance to explore whether that's actually legal to pay someone to vote a certain way. But that's an interesting question which I'll have to explore. But it reminds me of there's going to be a chicken in every pot. We've heard that back in history.

And you know, he's given, you know, these Trump accounts which by the way, was not his money. It was a donor's money for babies that were born at a certain time. But I guess he figured out they can't vote yet. So let's give it to the adults.

But notice he said only if the Republicans win both the House and the Senate. And the predictions are the Democrats are going to win the House, maybe the Senate. So, anyone don't start figuring out what you're going to spend your $5,000 on. I don't think it's going to happen.

MICHAELSON: You kind of laughed when you heard that.

JOHN KOBYLT, HOST, "THE JOHN KOBYLT SHOW": Yes, I did. Well, it's going to cost over $1 trillion, which doesn't exist. A trillion dollars.

MICHAELSON: Well, we're already $40 trillion in debt. So what's -- well, it's an extra trillion, right?

KOBYLT: Right. Is anyone going to notice if you're about 40 million in debt?

MICHAELSON: And what about this idea of quote-unquote, "conservatives with money"? I think Donald Trump, was --

KOBYLT: Yes. Well, he's not that.

MICHAELSON: Yes.

ALLRED: How about -- how about if he really addressed affordability and, you know, really was able to reduce the price of groceries, but he can't because we're paying the tax because of the Iran war, which he kept bringing up tonight. And I'm sure Republicans are saying, please don't say it. Don't say it.

[01:05:00]

MICHAELSON: I'm sure a lot of people would like to get $5,000, though, hat would help them pay some of their bills. He, you know, for many, many years has talked about crowd sizes. He sort of talked about that tonight as well. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: This place is packed. Do you think the fake news, you know what they're going to do? The fake news will go around and see that man up there. He's leaving for the bathroom. He'll be back in two minutes. Up in the -- they'll take a picture of his seat while he's gone, and they'll say, Trump did not fill up the arena. The arena was not filled. Look at the seat.

So please, if you don't mind, don't anybody go to the bathroom with a --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Was a long time to hold it. He spoke for almost two hours.

ALLRED: And the people are sitting there with their drinks. So, you know, I think people are willing to make sacrifices for the country, but I don't know about a sacrifice for Trump not going to the bathroom when they have to go.

MICHAELSON: Well, I mean, it was part of the reason he apparently is in Texas and talked about it a lot is this very close Texas Senate race, which traditionally is not a close Senate race. Ken Paxton running against James Talarico. He said once again about Ken Paxton that he's not very attractive or not very good on TV. This is his endorsement.

KOBYLT: He doesn't dress well.

MICHAELSON: This is his endorsement of him. But here's --

ALLRED: Quite a love letter he's sending him, isn't he?

MICHAELSON: Here's what -- here's what Paxton had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEN PAXTON (R-TX): He wants to tax your tips, he wants to tax your overtime, and he even wants to tax your Social Security. California already has two senators. It doesn't need a third.

But that's exactly what James Talarico would be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: James Talarico getting a lot of money from California. Interestingly, he's actually coming to California in the day ahead to raise money. And he also was supposed to appear on Jimmy Kimmel Live as part of that.

But this is breaking news just in from the last hour. Jimmy Kimmel announcing on his show tonight that he will not be airing his interview with James Talarico because of a new threat from the FCC. This is what happened with Stephen Colbert last year, where the FCC threatened potential fines or problems as a violation of what they call the equal time rule if he would have gone forward with this interview. Here's what Jimmy Kimmel said in his monologue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE": And so, out of consideration for our local stations, especially our ABC affiliates in Texas, who would have to deal with this nonsense, my interview tomorrow with James Talarico will not air on television. It will be posted on YouTube instead. It will not be on TV.

So, if you want to learn about a candidate for the Senate tomorrow, you will have to go to the Jimmy Kimmel Live YouTube channel, where you will see it in its entirety. And thank goodness we have that, because in the America we live in right now, that is the best that we can do until November, of course.

Make sure you're registered to vote, by the way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: So one of the things Jimmy Kimmel pointed out was back in 2015, Donald Trump was a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live. I actually was backstage then and interviewed him backstage. Also interviewed Bernie Sanders backstage and other candidates. He said Donald Trump had no problem with that back then.

But now, apparently, there's this issue. Some people see this as a chilling overuse of government authority. How do you see it, John, as a broadcaster?

KOBYLT: This power the FCC has is an anachronism. This was created back in the 1930s when there were no television stations and maybe some major cities had five radio stations. So they didn't want too much influence from one side or another. They wanted to regulate.

Like, if you have this party on, you got to have this party on, which made sense in the 30s, when broadcasting was scarce. Outlets were scarce. Now we are overwhelmed with outlets. Some of them happen to be on the traditional broadcast frequencies, but most people are watching cable and streaming and podcasts and everything else on the Internet. So, it doesn't matter anymore.

Jimmy Kimmel can't have an outsize effect anymore. There's just too much competition. So, the whole premise is ridiculous.

MICHAELSON: Do you think this is government overreach?

KOBYLT: Oh, absolutely. I don't think the government should have any say in what anybody does on any show or newscast.

ALLRED: And I think the Trump administration is very much in support of free speech, as long as it's their speech. But they don't want anyone else necessarily to be able to have equal time or free speech. And that is very disturbing because that's our First Amendment to the United States Constitution, and we all cherish that. And this is a threat to stations.

I mean, the FCC really only regulates the local stations, but that's a threat to ABC. It's a threat to other broadcasters as well, and they shouldn't have to decide their guests based on a threat from the government.

[01:10:08]

MICHAELSON: Well, to your point, though, about other ways of getting the word out, when this happened with Stephen Colbert, and it did not air on TV, they put it on YouTube only. It drove a lot of people to the YouTube page that had nine and a half million views, which is significantly higher than Stephen Colbert's TV average. So, it ended up getting more people to watch it on YouTube.

ALLRED: Yes.

MICHAELSON: I'm sure that this will probably drive even more attention to James Talarico. And of course, James Talarico ended up winning the nomination after that.

ALLRED: Well, that's exactly right.

KOBYLT: That's what I'm saying. The policy is from almost 100 years ago. MICHAELSON: Yes.

KOBYLT: So it's absurd. There shouldn't even be a discussion about this anymore.

ALLRED: Well, that's not --

KOBYLT: Just let everybody do what they want with whatever show they have.

ALLRED: Except Project 2025 does have views that go way back, taking us way back. But we're not going back. We're going forward.

MICHAELSON: Well --

ALLRED: Especially in November.

MICHAELSON: This story just breaking. It's going to get a lot of attention, I'm sure over the next day or so ahead. Gloria, John, thank you so much for being with us.

ALLRED: Thank you.

KOBYLT: Thanks for having us.

MICHAELSON: At the Republican convention, President Trump also defended his decision to strike Iran, despite the Treasury Secretary's warnings at the time that it could hurt the economy.

The president said that Tehran was close to getting a nuclear weapon, and he's now raising the possibility of another strike on a suspected nuclear site, Pickaxe Mountain, after reports of new activity there. President Trump also suggested renaming the Strait of Hormuz after who himself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: And by the way, oil would be going down as soon as we win the war with Iran, which is taking place right now. We'll win it. We're winning it. We control the Hormuz Strait.

I think we should call the Hormuz Strait. We should call it the Trump Strait. I should get something out of this. The Trump Strait.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Two things notable about what he just said there. He called it a war with Iran, which he hasn't always said. And he said after we win the war with Iran because in the past he said several times, we've already won that conflict.

President Trump also said that the war will end immediately after the midterms and gas prices will fall, like right after the midterms. This comes as at least seven oil tankers have been hit in and beyond the Persian Gulf since Tuesday as the U.S. and Iran step up attacks. The escalation briefly pushed oil above $100 a barrel for the first time since July. Not good for everybody's gas prices.

Now to this, a 27-year-old artificial intelligence researcher for Anthropic has publicly quit the company, citing concerns over the development of AI. In a resignation thread on the social media platform X, which was seen by over 40 million people, Jacob Coxon said that the people working on AI believe it could, quote, "kill us all by the end of the decade," adding that we are quote, "gambling with our lives."

After Coxon posted that message, a more senior Anthropic employee commented that he was correct. A number of AI employees have quit publicly over the past several months and years citing safety concerns. Coxon spoke with CNN's Anderson Cooper earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JACOB COXON, FORMER ANTHROPIC AI RESEARCHER: I think it's really important to just look at the rate of progress and say, for example, in areas like coding or math. A couple of years ago, these AIs were just about helping humans a little bit. They could give you suggestions. Now they're close to replacing them.

We still need humans at the moment, but quite plausibly within a year, we'll no longer need humans for doing research in many areas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAELSON: Joining me live is Jacob Ward. He is a CNN contributor, a technology journalist and founder of the ripcurrent.com. Jacob, welcome back to The Story Is.

JACOB WARD, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Hey Elex, it's great to be with you. Thanks so much.

MICHAELSON: I want to put up on the screen your latest post on the ripcurrent.com, and here's what it's titled. "He helped build ChatGPT. Now he says AI could kill us all." That's quite a -- a provocative headline there.

And I want to read a little bit more from what Jacob Coxon posted online that got so much attention. He said, quote, "The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade. This is not a marketing stunt. If anything, many executives and senior researchers will couch their phrasing in the press to sound sensible. But I hear the same people express fear privately. No other human activity poses this level of danger."

When he says that AI could kill us all, what does that mean? How would that happen?

WARD: Well, this is the question I've been getting all day, and it is -- it is so interesting to think about, right? Because I mean, we are, I think, already grappling with the idea that this stuff might take all of our jobs and reprogram our brains and reprogram our relationships to one another. But what Coxon and others are talking about here is the capacity of this technology to do things like exploit our infrastructure, you know, set off some sort of environmental disaster, innovate some kind of horrible zoonotic disease we've never thought of or thought to try and build a cure for.

[01:15:24]

You know, what he's talking about here is the potential that this technology could sort of supersede all other technology. And what's so interesting about this moment we're in right now, Elex, is that all of these different people at all these different companies, their ideas are kind of converging at this one particular moment. I mean, the same week that we've seen Coxon make his move, just on Sunday, we saw the chief scientist of OpenAI write a long blog post, literally, about what he called the alien intellect of AI and how it could pose an enormous problem. And he's basically sort of arguing, almost begging for authorities to try to institutionalize the internal rules that these companies have for themselves.

So, I think all of these folks are, to some extent or another, recognizing that this thing is very much beyond our control. Not just in the sense where if you ask it a question, it never answers the same way twice, but in that it's inventing new ways to hack your phone or create a new piece of chemistry that they have no way of predicting, and they worry no way of controlling dynamics.

MICHAELSON: So this is stuff created by humans that we continue to make stronger. Clearly, Coxon is sounding the alarm as loud as you can sound an alarm. What is being done to save humanity? Or are we just allowing this to proceed, and we're all, like, walking to a slow death here?

WARD: I mean, this is the thing, right? So Coxon is bringing up a couple of interesting dynamics in the air industry. One is that as he's described in his -- in his thread on X, and as we've seen researchers as recently as July sign a long letter about, they basically feel like no company can stop itself from continuing this race to the cliff, that the competitive pressure they are under means that they can't reasonably step away.

He says in his Twitter thread that he believes that people at OpenAI, where he worked for three years, haven't internalized the stakes fully. But people at Anthropic, where he says they have, in fact understood it, just don't trust anyone else to make this stuff safely.

And so, the thing he's basically doing here is it reminds me of someone like running out into the street and screaming for help because they can't get anybody to pick up on 911. And that's because there's nobody on the other end of the phone right now. There's really no agency or governmental body that's willing to step in here and make the difference. And that seems to be why Coxon decided to be so loud here.

I mean, you know, this is very much the sort of the attitude that we saw around something like the Manhattan Project, where all of these scientists who otherwise would be utterly morally opposed to the idea of building an atomic weapon, felt they had to before our adversaries did. But the truth is, I mean, in the case of AI, you know, only one person

ever walked away from the Manhattan Project for moral reasons. We now -- Coxon is now joining a long list that depending on your definition, extends from either three to maybe 41 people who've lost in the last few years left in the last few years because they're so frightened by this thing. So, it's really very much like you say, a cliff that everyone is approaching, and they just don't see an off ramp to, which is why they're asking the government to step in.

MICHAELSON: You can see Jacob write a lot more about the Manhattan Project and the comparison on his latest Substack post as well. Jacob Ward, thank you so much for being with us. I don't know if I feel better after that, but at least I know that we are getting the word out and --

WARD: I've been bumming everyone out all day at least.

MICHAELSON: That's important -- it's an important conversation. Still ahead on The Story Is, California lawmakers approve a bill focused on helping families find healthy foods more easily. What is ultra- processed food? They're going to tell you this could be a national model. It just passed unanimously. The author of it is here live. Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:23:28]

MICHAELSON: California lawmakers have just passed a bill aiming to establish an official state seal for non-ultra-processed foods. Fishel says its purpose is to help people make better-informed and healthier choices about what they eat. The seal would help foods be instantly identifiable, like popular USDA organic label. The bill would also require grocery stores to display non-ultra-processed foods, guaranteeing easier access.

The governor of California, Gavin Newsom, has until the end of the month to either veto or sign this bill into law. Joining me now is the author of that bill, California Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel.

Welcome to The Story Is, Assemblymember. Thanks so much for being here. So why are you doing this?

JESSE GABRIEL, CALIFORNIA STATE ASSEMBLYMEMBER: Yes, thank you for having me, Elex. It's great to be here. As you and I talked about, this is actually the fourth bill on ultra-processed foods that we have worked on over the past four years. We understand that this is a public health issue. It's something that a lot of parents want to know is that they can have confidence that the foods that they're feeding their kids don't have harmful additives.

And so, we have worked to phase those additives out of schools, to phase ultra-processed foods out of school. And now we want to take our work to the grocery store. And we've heard from a lot of parents, from a lot of consumers, that they want to eat less ultra-processed foods, but they're not really sure how to identify them and how to identify those foods quickly and easily.

And so, we're going to take the lead, as you mentioned, of the USDA organic model and put a seal right on food so consumers can know quickly and easily which products are healthier and which products are ultra-processed.

MICHAELSON: What is an ultra-processed food?

GABRIEL: So an ultra-processed food, the best way to think about it is this is a food that is the opposite of a whole food. It is industrial, industrially manufactured. The key here, the touchstone, is really a lot of additives. So, if you think about a food that has emulsifiers, artificial colors, artificial flavors, textures, if you pick up a product and turn it over and the label's got 20 ingredients on them, and you need a PhD in chemistry to understand what half of those ingredients are, that's probably an ultra-processed food.

[01:25:23]

MICHAELSON: So we're in an era where there's not a lot of stuff that's done in a bipartisan way. Not only was this done in a bipartisan way. This was passed unanimously in both the Senate and the Assembly. How did you do that, and why this issue?

GABRIEL: So that was done very intentionally, and that's something that we're really proud of. We said, as we have done this work, that the three legs of our stool are bipartisan, common sense and science based. And so, we have seen that.

We are in a moment where, for all of the disagreements in Washington, for all the dysfunction in Washington, Republicans and Democrats can come together around this very common-sense premise that we should be protecting our kids from harmful food additives, that we shouldn't be exposing them to chemicals that are linked to cancer or reproductive harm or neurobehavioral harm. And so, we've had wonderful conversations with Republican colleagues, said, yes, I get it.

This is -- this is something that we should work on together. And so, as you mentioned, the bill passed the state assembly 72 to 0. We had very progressive Democrats and very conservative Republicans come together to support them.

MICHAELSON: The governor going to sign it?

GABRIEL: I hope so. I hope so. He signed three other bills of ours. He's been a big champion. I think he cares a lot about this issue. So, we're hopeful.

MICHAELSON: We've been talking about this for years, and when I first profiled you doing this, a lot of Republicans mocked you for this, and they thought that this was way over the top.

And then Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. became the Secretary of Health and Human Services and frankly adopted a lot of the stuff you were doing. And now they applaud it, which is how has that been a game changer? And have you worked with the administration at all on this? And do you see this as kind of a national model?

GABRIEL: We do see this as a national model, and we're very proud of the role that California has played in changing the national conversation. I remember that conversation with you, and they were making fun of us and saying we were going to ban Skittles and ketchup and all these things that turned out not to be true. But we have intentionally leaned into the fact that there is bipartisan support for this.

And so, we have been able to change the national conversation. We now have 30, more than 30 states- red states, blue states- that have followed California's lead that have introduced versions of our legislation. We actually had a bill a couple of years ago to phase out four specifically harmful chemicals from food. The Biden FDA then followed our lead to phase out two of those chemicals. So, we're really proud of the work that California has done.

And we think -- we think we're leading the national conversation. We see red states like West Virginia want to follow the California model. That's a very gratifying thing.

MICHAELSON: Has Kennedy done a good job on this? Maybe not everything else, but on this issue.

GABRIEL: So I will say I am appreciative of the fact that we have Democratic and Republican support. I think what I have been disappointed by, and a lot of folks in the Maha movement have been disappointed by, is the lack of action at the federal level. So, there's been a lot of conversation about this. There's been a lot of rhetoric about this.

But when you look at it, they haven't passed a single law. They haven't passed a single regulation. They haven't banned a single chemical. And you also see other folks in the Trump administration, the EPA, going in a different direction. You saw the work that they did with pesticides, which was exactly the opposite of what Secretary Kennedy has talked about.

So, my dad always says actions speak louder than words. We're in California. We're doing the action. And we think that there could be a lot more action in D.C.

MICHAELSON: They just defined ultra-processed food a few weeks ago on the federal level. We'll see what happens next on that. Congratulations on the success of this bill.

GABRIEL: Thank you very much.

MICHAELSON: Jesse Gabriel, assemblyman from Southern California. Next here on The Story Is, a big meeting in the day ahead for college sports. Southeastern Conference: what they're considering in their showdown with LSU. Look who's joining us. Paul Feinbaum has been the leading authority on Southern sports for more than two decades. He's with me next to discuss the controversy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [01:33:10]

MICHAELSON: Back now to our top story.

The Republican midterm convention, headlined by President Trump on the first night of the event in Dallas. The president addressed the crowd as he looks to keep his party in control of both the Senate and the House.

When voters head to the polls in just a of weeks in the critical midterm elections, he's vowing to campaign hard for Republicans.

THE STORY IS college football and a battle between the Southeastern Conference and Louisiana State University. Members of the SEC are scheduled to meet in the day ahead to discuss expelling LSU from the conference.

The SEC objects to the Tigers' push to add players to their football team who spent time at NFL training camps over the summer. On Tuesday, reports surfaced that LSU decided two of the players at

issue will not play for the team this season. Some state courts, including in Louisiana, have paved the way for athletes to play a fifth year in college.

Joining me now is Paul Finebaum, ESPN commentator, "New York Times" bestselling author. The man when it comes to college football. It's an honor to welcome the legend to THE STORY IS for the first time. Paul, welcome.

PAUL FINEBAUM, ESPN COMMENTATOR: It is my pleasure. Thank you so much.

MICHAELSON: So nobody knows this story like you. You've got the best sources. What are your sources telling you about what's really going on right now between LSU and the Sec?

[01:34:37]

FINEBAUM: Well, what is going on is a de-escalation. We were at DefCon 1 on Tuesday afternoon, for the first time in the history of my existence, which is a very long time. I've covered this league for 40 years.

It was possible that the league was going to kick out a member, a charter member. By the end of the day, things had calmed down. The president at LSU, Wade Rousse, who's fairly new on the job, sent a letter to the SEC commissioner in Birmingham, Greg Sankey, and said, well, we'll figure something out. We're not going to play these guys. And we -- nor will we disrupt your meeting on Thursday.

The SEC had called a meeting of the presidents to consider whether or not they were even allowed to kick out another member. It had gotten that serious. So that's where we are.

MICHAELSON: Was this essentially the SEC calling LSU's bluff?

FINEBAUM: Yes. Since this happened about 28 hours ago, almost every politician in the state of Louisiana has spoken out, and they've all been very, very critical of the SEC and these are not minor politicians. Well, some of them are.

Bill Cassidy, who's on his way out. John Kennedy, the senator, unloaded on the SEC. But the most important person who has spoken later on Wednesday was Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House. His deputy, Steve Scalise, the majority leader, are both graduates of LSU. And Mike Johnson is very angry about this.

And this would normally not be that big of a deal. But in about a week and a half, the Senate is about to take up what is the most important college sports legislation in history, the College Sports Act, which is co-sponsored by Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell.

I promise you, I'm not trying to get into your work here --

MICHAELSON: No. Please.

FINEBAUM: -- but this is very interesting that they're threatening the SEC. And I think there's a secondary message or a subliminal message like if you penalize us, we may come back after you.

The SEC, by the way, is very much in favor of this College Sports Act. And the reason primarily is that nobody in college athletics has done their job for about 15 years. So, you ready for this? They're asking Congress to bail them out.

MICHAELSON: So yes, the organization that works so well.

But -- because there is a bigger question about money and college sports, especially since this thing called Name and Likeness has been put in place where athletes can now make money off their name and likeness. Some of them making more money in college than they could potentially in the pros.

That act that's before Congress, what exactly would it do? And do you think that it's enough for what college sports needs right now?

FINEBAUM: Well, if you listen to Ted Cruz, it will solve every problem under the sun, including your grocery bill. But I'm not sure it will. College athletics did this to themselves. They could have paid athletes 10, 12 years ago $1,000 and given them a free Big Mac, and they would have been happy.

Instead, today, Bryce Underwood, who's the quarterback at the University of Michigan, his deal -- from Louisiana, he was a Louisiana quarterback. Instead of going to LSU ironically, he went to Michigan for about $12 million.

Now, where did they get that money? You ready? Larry Ellison. He founded Oracle.

Larry Ellison did not go to Michigan, but his wife did. And she asked her husband if he could spare $12 million, which was not a big deal for a guy worth about $8 billion. And that's how that's where we are.

Mark Cuban basically bankrolled the Indiana National Championship Team. It's happening on every campus right now.

MICHAELSON: Well, Paul Finebaum, who not only does college sports, but apparently is ready for the political panel. So if you're ever visiting Los Angeles, come join. Clearly, you're ready to go. Bring in the politics and the sports. Two things we love to talk about here on THE STORY IS.

Thanks so much for being with us.

FINEBAUM: What a pleasure. Thank you.

MICHAELSON: Coming up, a CNN exclusive report. The small island off the coast of Yemen is now a strategic prize in the Middle East. Our Nic Robertson goes there to find out how this island could influence the war with Iran, next.

[01:39:07]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELSON: Global oil prices are back above $100 per barrel as fighting in the Middle East raises concerns about prolonged disruptions to oil supply.

Now, a tiny island off the coast of Yemen could play an outsize role in the U.S. war with Iran and the global economy.

CNN's Nic Robertson has this exclusive report from there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yemen's navy is taking us to Perim Island, the heart of a little-known local war that's getting pulled into America's war with Iran.

So what happens here next could affect us more than the Iran war already has. These islands, this vital waterway, the price of oil -- it is all vulnerable right now. And what happens here could impact President Trump's political fortunes.

In recent weeks, Iran-backed Houthis have hit several Saudi oil tankers on these waters. They're a bypass to the Strait of Hormuz. As we find out, Houthis are a constant threat here.

Suddenly, we just had to turn around. We're told it's because drones have been reported.

In the end, this is a hot war, and this is one of the epicenters of that war.

Our second attempt getting closer.

This here that you're looking at out across the Red Sea, the Bab al- Mandeb Strait -- the narrowest point on that Red Sea.

Those ships out there. That's what this is all about -- commercial shipping critical for the global economy. Eventually, we make it and greeted by Yemeni government forces keeping the vital waterway open.

[01:44:51]

ROBERTSON: Not many outsiders make it here. We're the first international journalists they've seen in years. But we're not going to have long. The Houthi drone is still a threat.

And it looks for all the world like the place that time forgot. It is really stuck out here in the middle of the ocean, looking out across the ocean this way.

Yes. Bab al-Mandeb. Bab al-Mandeb -- and looking across out there, you can see Africa across there. Djibouti, literally just across the sea there.

Perim is at the strait's narrowest point, just 12 miles from Africa. Since Iran blocked shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, Saudi diverted its oil exports through the Red Sea, helping keep global oil prices down.

10 percent of global oil used to flow through here, it's down to about less than half of that, or about half of that now.

And if the Houthis get control of the Red Sea, if the Iranian proxies, the Houthis, get control of the Red Sea, they could shut the oil flows here down -- down to almost nothing.

What we don't see on our short visit is a military force that measures up to the scale of what's at stake for the rest of the world. For the commander in charge of this region, that's a worry.

Because the Houthis would try to kill you, right? The Iranians would love to have you dead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So many times.

ROBERTSON: So many times. I know.

Vice President Tarik Saleh is a rarity at the moment. A political leader still in Yemen and still fighting the Houthis.

TARIK SALEH, VICE PRESIDENT, YEMENI PRESIDENTIAL COUNCIL (through translator): We told the world that this is an Iranian plan, but no one listened to Yemenis back then. That this is a battle that would not only affect Yemenis, but the region and international community.

ROBERTSON: This is Iran trying to put pressure on President Trump.

SALEH: Exactly.

ROBERTSON: Are you getting any support from the United States?

SALEH: Just talk.

ROBERTSON: Just talk. How do you feel about that?

"Disappointed," he says.

Even so, Saleh is bullish about his troops, claiming gains on the battlefield with new equipment and new tactics hitting Houthi hideouts with quadcopter drone attacks similar to those used in Ukraine.

But it won't be easy. After years of fighting, the Houthis are well dug-in, control the capital, the northwest of Yemen, including much of the Red Sea coast.

The government has the east and the south, with the Houthi attacks pressing towards the last stretch of Red Sea coast under government control.

What Saleh's troops organized for us next is a hard reality check about what they're up against.

So right now we've just got into a big armored vehicle. Interestingly, it's all blacked out. The windows are blacked out, so we don't know where we're going.

It's here to a highly secret and secure stash of Iranian made Houthi weapons snatched, the Yemeni military says, from smugglers at sea.

This sophisticated anti-ship missile capable of hitting tankers from hundreds of miles away, cutting edge anti-aircraft missiles, ultra- high spec optic radar. They readily admit more gets through to the Houthis than they can catch.

What's Iran's strategy with the Houthis?

ABDEL NASSER EL-MAMLOUH, DIRECTOR, NRF MEDIA (through translator): The U.S. siege on Iran in the Strait of Hormuz has made Iran look at its options and activate the strongest one.

The Houthis to close Bab al-Mandeb, they're saying if our economy collapses in Iran, so will the world economy.

ROBERTSON: In recent weeks, the Houthis have been stepping up attacks on Saleh's forces. In Mocha, it's a vital trade port, a regular Houthi target hit multiple times. So much so, the harbor walls are littered with sunk and sinking ships.

And here this is a piece, the tail fin from one of those Houthi missiles. See it heavy, ripped into the ground splattered across here, and the port all across this boat here. So many missiles landed.

The port authorities had to shut the whole port down. 16 people lost their lives, the port director tells me. And 1,500 employees are now without work. The Houthis, he says, are trying to kill their economy as well as the people.

[01:49:48]

ROBERTSON: More than ten years of civil war have all but broken Yemen. Humanitarian groups say more than half the population need their help. But now Iran's war with the U.S. threatens to push Yemen over the

edge. Saleh has a salutary warning for Trump. Yemen's losses could be his economic pain.

SALEH: We see the high cost paid by the international community to secure the passages of few ships through the Strait of Hormuz. If the Yemeni forces were supported right now, they will make more achievements with a much lower cost than the Strait of Hormuz.

ROBERTSON: Trump's Iran legacy is getting more complicated.

Nic Robertson, CNN -- in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAELSON: Our thanks to Nic.

We have today's top stories next.

[01:50:44]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELSON: Welcome back to THE STORY IS.

I'm Elex Michaelson.

Let's take a look at today's top stories.

The late conservative activist and Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk will be honored at President Trump's midterm convention in Dallas in the coming hours. His widow, Erica Kirk, was honored by President Trump earlier at the convention. Kirk was fatally shot at Utah Valley University one year ago today.

Now, the organization he helped to build, mobilize young conservatives is working to secure its own future and perhaps a political future for Vice President J.D. Vance, who they've already endorsed for 2028.

At least five people are dead and more than 80 missing after a ferry caught fire in the western Philippines. According to Reuters, the Philippine Coast Guard says 43 people were rescued after the incident Wednesday night.

Coast Guard video showed flames engulfing much of the vessel. Officials said the ferry's manifest listed 117 passengers and 17 crew members. The cause of that fire is still under investigation.

Thanks so much for being with us for a busy night here on THE STORY IS. The news continues right here on CNN after the break.

We'll be back with you tomorrow for post-game coverage of night two of the GOP convention in Dallas.

Plus, night one of the NFL season in Australia, Rams versus 49ers. We'll have the post-game here as well. Have a great night. [01:56:23]

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