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The Story Is with Elex Michaelson

Trump Open To Trilateral Summit With Xi And Putin For Nuclear Talks; Trump Administration Delays Approval Of Patriot Missiles For Ukraine; Trump Rallies On Republican Turf As Midterm Fears Mount; Yemen Urges U.N. To Back Houthi Terrorist Designation; French Government Works to Restore Order after Widespread Rioting; NYT: New Evidence of a Possible Accomplice in Killings; Judge Spars with Trump Administration Over Gold Course Renovation, Elon Musk Will Give a SpaceX Share to Every U.S. Child. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired October 20, 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]

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: And luxury at the Victoria's Secret Fashion show, bringing out all the glitz and glam in Los Angeles on Sunday. Kylie Jenner flying a bit higher than the rest of the angels, modeling the diamond brassiere you see on your screen with a price tag of, get this, $50 million.

Thanks so much for joining us this hour. Stay with us. The next hour of The Story Is starts right now.

Thanks for being with us. I'm Erica Hill. Elex Michaelson has the night off. Coming up, the story is an end to the war.

President Trump signals he's open to a meeting about ending the war in Ukraine, but without the Ukrainian president as the relationship between Washington and Kyiv continues to crumble.

The story is unrest in France, thousands arrested after a weekend of violent protests. How officials are trying to crack down on the worst rioting they have seen in years.

The story is the O.J. Simpson case, more than three decades after his murder trial made headlines around the world. There is new information about whether OJ may have had an accomplice.

The top story this hour, a deepening rift between the Trump administration and Ukraine. As President Trump says he's considering a trilateral meeting with the leaders of China and Russia.

He is slamming Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, for not helping to end the war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Zelenskyy says you're on the wrong side of history on this one. DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Zelenskyy said Zelenskyy doesn't know what he's talking about. Zelenskyy is a man that should have had this war settled a long time ago. I think it's time for somebody else to negotiate on behalf of Ukraine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: A U.S. official says President Trump believes a meeting with Putin and Xi Jinping could advance efforts to end the war in Ukraine. That official says the talks were actually proposed by Putin earlier this month. Important to note those talks would not include Ukraine's president. A bipartisan group of lawmakers, meantime, hosted a video call with Zelenskyy on Monday making clear their support is with Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. THOM THILIS (R-NC): When I was in Kharkiv and in Kyiv about a month ago, and I saw the devastation. I saw what this murderer, Vladimir Putin has ordered. Russians are lying. Putin is lying. Putin is playing President Trump like a fiddle. And history is not going to look good on an America that failed to rise up and defend the Western world if Putin actually gets his way. And I believe that a summit with Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, two countries who want to overwhelm the world, is absurd.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: President Trump has sparked bipartisan backlash after reaching a deal with Russia, of course, to allow diesel exports and also waiving Russia related sanctions. On Monday, he once again spoke highly of Russia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Russia frankly has been fine on Ukraine. They haven't been doing much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Those comments by the president come in stark contrast to what Ukraine is reporting on the ground. Zelenskyy said a Russian drone attack on Monday killed six people, including three children in a park.

I do want to warn you the images from that scene are disturbing and difficult to watch. The Ukrainian president also said a one year old girl who was in a stroller was killed along with her mother. An 11- year-old was among those killed in the attack. This happened in the Kharkiv region.

Officials say the drone hit an area of the park that's a popular gathering spot for residents and families near a fountain and cafe.

This latest attack coming is the Washington Post is now reporting the Trump administration is holding up Patriot missiles for Ukraine. According to that reporting, the administration has not approved the transfer of Patriot interceptor missiles. Ukraine needs to protect itself from Russian attacks.

The Washington Post also reporting at least some of the Patriot missiles are from countries friendly to Ukraine, but they do require the defense secretary to approve the handoff. When asked about the reporting, a senior Pentagon official said, there has been no change to U.S. policy regarding intelligence sharing or any capabilities we're enabling Europeans to provide to Ukraine.

Zelenskyy, meantime, had this to say to U.S. lawmakers on Monday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: The situation was shooting down these missiles is very bad. We have almost no Patriot interceptors left from the United States partners and unfortunately again, we received no warning from our partners about the first wave of the attack.

This is already the third time in a short period that we have had no such warning about ballistic missiles and we have received no clear explanation from our partners, our strategic partners from Washington, why this is happening.

[01:05:10]

The Pentagon is delaying the delivery of missiles that our partners have already paid for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: We are also closely following the U.S. midterm elections, which are now, of course, just two weeks away. President Trump pulling out all the stops to turn out his MAGA base despite the president's record low approval ratings. Trump kicking off a seven day, seven state campaign blitz in reliably red Kansas on Monday. The president making his pitch for Republican Senator Roger Marshall, who is fighting for his political life against Democrat Adam Hamilton.

A New York Times Santa poll of likely voters from late September shows Marshall and Hamilton tied at 45 percent. Here's Hamilton's take on the president campaigning in Kansas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADAM HAMILTON, U.S. SENATE DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE FOR KANSAS: Well, I took it as a big compliment. I took it as a statement that the Republican Party felt they needed to send the most powerful man in the country to try to save Roger Marshall. And I think it's only going to hurt him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: The president's red state blitz will take him, as you see there, to both north and South Carolina, Iowa, Florida, Georgia and Michigan as well. Here's more, though, on that appearance in Kansas Monday from CNN senior White House reporter Betsy Klein.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Kansas has emerged as one of the most unexpected battleground contests in this midterm race. And Democrats here are hoping that they can pull off a victory for the first time since 1932. President Trump coming here to make a push in the Wichita suburbs for Republican Senator Roger Marshall, who is engaged in a tighter than expected race against the Democrat Adam Hamilton. He's a pastor from a megachurch and this is a red state in a red county that President Trump carried by 16 points back in 2024.

President Trump framing Hamilton as a radical leftist. He said that Hamilton, quote, doesn't have our values. He said that he, quote, doesn't act like a pastor. But we have seen through this polling that Hamilton has been able to peel off some registered Republicans in this contest.

The president's appearance really underscores how Republicans are on the defense and we are seeing these Republican aligned groups pour millions of dollars into bolstering Marshall's campaign. President Trump making his closing argument. Listen.

TRUMP: We're going to win the Republican House and the Republican Senate. We're going to do great. And in this election, I'm asking you to pretend, please, that I'm on the ballot. Americans are going to stand up and declare that we will defend our culture, we will protect our civilization, we will preserve our religion, our values and our heritage, and we will never let our nation be conquered or destroyed by people that hate us.

KLEIN: President Trump's presence here in Wichita is part of this overall midterm strategy aimed at bolstering his MAGA base. And I've talked to a number of undecided voters in this area and even here at this rally, and they are saying that they are concerned about these economic issues, the price of gas, the price of diesel, President Trump's tariff policies. Those are all reasons why Marshall doesn't necessarily have this lockdown just yet.

I also spoke with one Republican who is on the ballot, and he says that economic discontent is a major issue he is concerned will impact Republicans both up and down that ballot. And we saw some signs of that discontent. President Trump interrupted repeatedly by protesters in at least four instances here in Park City, Kansas. Betsy Klein, traveling with the president in Park City.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HILL: Earlier, I spoke with CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein. I asked him whether campaigning in Kansas is a smart move for the president, if he is trying to help Republicans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Look, I mean, this is the president's trip to Kansas is a perfect encapsulation of the challenge facing every Republican Senate candidate or incumbent in one of these red states. I mean, you know, the Senate battlefield is almost entirely in states that voted for Donald Trump.

Susan Collins is the only Republican Democrats are targeting in a state that voted for Kamala Harris. In fact, she's the only one left, Republican Senator Roy Cooper. And in North Carolina, a state Trump won narrowly. Everything else, Erica, on the battlefield is a state that Trump won by double digits in 2024.

So, you know, it is not irrational for Republicans in those states to hope that Trump can turn out some of the Republican voters who are dissatisfied with the way things are going in his second term and are now showing less enthusiasm about voting. There is a pool of Republican voters available to them in that states.

The problem they have is that in all -- virtually all, or probably all of those states that are in play, Trump's approval is now under 50 percent, even though he won 55 percent of the vote or more.

[01:10:00]

And that means Republicans face the risk that for every additional GOP voter now on the sidelines that the president might turn out with a visit like this, he alienates one of those independent or soft Republican voters who are now disenchanted with his second term. It's a tightrope they have to walk. But on balance, I think they have clearly concluded that it is a better bet than facing the potential of a significant turnout differential in these final weeks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Still ahead on The Story Is, the escalating conflict between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia. What Yemen is now urging the U.N. to do about this Iran backed group.

Also ahead this hour, France grappling with its worst rioting in years following widespread anti-government protests which turned violent over the weekend.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:15:07]

HILL: Returning to our top story, a Russian airstrike killed three people in the Kyiv region overnight. This comes as President Trump says he's open to having a trilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Trump says they would talk about denuclearization. A U.S. official, however, says Trump also believes such a meeting could advance efforts to end the war in Ukraine.

Notably, the official says the talks were proposed by Putin earlier this month and those talks would not include Ukraine's president, Vladimir Zelenskyy. Here's what President Trump said about that possible meeting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: would do it not so much for Ukraine because Russia, frankly, has been fine on Ukraine. They haven't been doing much and the same thing with China. We would have it to talk about nuclear weapons.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Would you meet with presidents Xi and Putin to discuss the end of the war without Zelenskyy there?

TRUMP: Well, I would meet in order -- anything I can do to end the war, whether somebody's there or not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Despite those comments from President Trump and some of his recent actions, a bipartisan group of lawmakers hosted a call, video call with Zelenskyy on Monday making clear that Congress is committed to standing with Ukraine. President Trump has sparked bipartisan backlash after reaching a deal with Russia to allow diesel exports and also waiving Russia related sanctions.

Joining me now, retired Major General Mick Ryan, a retired major general in the Australian army, senior fellow for Military Studies at the Lowy Institute and author of the War for Strategy and Adaptation under file. General, it's good to have you with us this hour when we look at where things stand.

We just heard the president say there Russia's been fine, haven't really been doing much. We've heard about the attacks, of course, in the Kharkiv region in Kyiv as well, overnight, without these Patriot missiles, without intelligence, which we're learning Ukraine has not had in advance of some of these attacks. What are Ukraine's prospects right now?

MAJ. GEN. MICK RYAN (RET.), AUSTRALIAN ARMY: Well, unfortunately, Ukraine's prospects have gone from pretty good to not so good in a very short space of time. The strategic momentum it developed earlier this year has almost evaporated given Trump's commitments to procure diesel from Putin and, and this slowdown in intelligence as well as a slowdown in Starlink. All of these things, a cascading series of disasters for Ukraine.

HILL: You talk about this cascading series of disasters. It's also notable, even just the shift in the last couple of Months. So we heard from President Trump, I believe it was July 8th, beginning of July, saying that they would be licensing. They were going to give a license to Ukraine to make Patriots backtracked on that about three weeks later.

And now we've seen over the last several days, really leaning in to Russian talking points. Clearly there was a rift here with President Zelenskyy. Is there anything that you see in recent days or weeks that you think signals where this much more public shift came from?

RYAN: Well, I think this might be more along the lines that Trump's always been thinking about Zelenskyy and Ukraine. He's harboured ill will against Ukraine ever since his first impeachment. He certainly has no love for Zelenskyy. Their meeting in the White House oval office in February 2025 was an absolute disaster.

So I think this is actually us seeing Trump really return to where he wants to be on Ukraine policy. He's more aligned with the thinking of people like Putin than he is around Democrats like Zelenskyy.

HILL: He has said, as we noted, he being President Trump, he is willing to meet with Putin and Xi. Not Zelenskyy, though. But they would talk about ending the war again without Ukraine at the table there. What does Xi Jinping bring to that?

RYAN: Well, I think for Xi Jinping, he has to play a careful game because he actually benefits from this war continuing by countries like the United States and Europe being absorbed by a conflict in Eastern Europe means they can't interfere in what he's trying to do in Asia and in the Western Pacific.

So he has an interest in this war continuing. He's obviously selling a lot of stuff to Russia that he may not be able to otherwise. But at the other side of the coin, Xi wants to be seen as one of two of the most powerful men in the world. He does not really want Putin at the table because Putin is not the equal of Trump and Xi when it comes to military or economic power.

HILL: When we look at where things stand, we also heard from the president. He said maybe it's time for somebody besides Zelenskyy to negotiate.

[01:20:03]

What's interesting is that the more often that Zelenskyy is attacked, the more popular he actually becomes in Ukraine.

RYAN: Absolutely. I mean, Zelenskyy's popularity is waxed and wane throughout the war has been largely popular. But every now and then there might be a corruption scandal which sees his popularity plunges. This only helps Zelenskyy politically at home and in Europe as well.

I think that, you know, these demands that Zelenskyy step aside or something like this, I think that he'd probably like nothing more. But in the middle of a war, Ukrainian law prevents having elections and quite frankly, an election would just be targeted by the Russians and another opportunity for Putin to kill more Ukrainians standing in line to vote.

HILL: Major General Mick Ryan, really appreciate you joining us through their perspective.

RYAN: Thank you.

HILL: Yemen's internationally recognized government is now urging the United Nations to designate the Iran allied Houthis as a terrorist organization. All of this coming as the Houthis claim to have carried out strikes targeting Saudi state oil company Aramco, airports and military sites as well.

Houthis say these operations are all just a response to the latest wave of Saudi airstrikes which they say killed and wounded dozens of people, mostly women and children. Saudi authorities have not publicly confirmed any of those claims.

But these escalating hostilities have really been a major setback for the kingdom's economic ambitions. Saudi Arabia just announcing that it has canceled its major conference which is known as Davos in the desert, pushing it out to 2027 following this latest wave of Houthi attacks.

Egypt's parliament meantime is expected to vote next week on whether to authorize its armed forces to help defend Saudi Arabia against the Houthis if the kingdom asks for Cairo's support.

Joining me now, Hisham Al-Omeisy -- Al-Omeisy rather, who's a conflict analyst and senior Yemen adviser with the European Institute of Peace.

It's good to have you with us. What would, as I noted, there is this push now for the U.N. to designate the Iran allied Houthis as in fact a terrorist organization. What would that change?

HISHAM AL-OMEISY, SENIOR YEMEN ADVISER, EUROPEAN INSTITUTE OF PEACE: It would basically just give the government a bit of moral boost and, and sort of like the additional legitimacy in going after the Houthis, but on the ground. I don't imagine it could change much. You have to remember the government itself has not designated the Houthis terrorist group through the parliament. There's a draft law, but it hasn't been passed yet.

So then asking it from the U.N. is just to get that international cover for the -- for their operations as also for the Saudis to attack the Houthis inside the country. But the thing is that as I mentioned earlier, the reality is on the ground speak differently whether they're designated or not. They're already designated by the Americans as an FTO. It didn't change the equation.

It didn't make the Houthis any weaker. And the government is currently struggling and pushing back the Houthi forces in places like the Red Sea and now in the heartland and places like Taizz, where the Houthis actually captured additional territories. And they're currently besieging the city of Taizz, which is one of the last bastions of the Yemeni government, where no water is allowed, no electricity is allowed, no food is allowed in there, and there are no humanitarian corridors. Also have attacked a lot of southern governorates.

They've attacked Jabba today. They attacked the camp there. They killed close to 70 soldiers, wounded more than 200 people. There are 30 people are actually missing as of now in that place. And these are new recruits that the government was planning to use for internal security in these southern governorates where the Houthis do not even exist.

HILL: So in terms of that too, in terms of those -- those attacks at that military camp, as you mentioned, the head of Yemenis, of Yemen's rather ruling presidential leadership council has promised a firm response. I mean, what is that firm response in this moment based on what we're seeing and based, as you point out, right in the territory that they've been able to capture?

AL-OMEISY: Well, unfortunately, they've been promising a lot of firm responses for the past few weeks. I've seen a lot of chest drumming, but no serious actions. They've been struggling in Bab al-Mandab. They've been recapturing some of the locations that they've loss of the past six weeks, but with very little progress.

We are hearing a lot of promises, but we haven't seen a lot of action. As I said, in places like Taizz and places like Aden, the airport was attacked. The Yemeni cabinet was attacked last week. And what's becoming apparent with the passage of time and the diversification of the portfolio of targets is that the Yemeni government lacks countermeasures.

It cannot protect its forces, and it's heavily relying on Saudi airstrikes. But there's so much that the air cover, or for the Saudi air cover, could do without ground forces retaking or recapturing Houthi controlled areas and also pushing back Houthi forces.

[01:25:02]

Houthis, unfortunately, have a lot of manpower and they have -- they're proving that they actually have sophisticated weapons that they've basically sourced not just from Iran, but also from other countries. They're getting a lot of components from China. They have ballistic missiles, they have drones.

And just today, for instance, they attacked the city of Madhab (ph) with five ballistic missiles. And the Yemeni government don't have countermeasures for those kind of missiles or those kind of arsenal that the Houthis possess. And this is one of the reasons why the Yemeni government is actually struggling. And this is one of the reasons why the Saudis are also seeking support from other countries, like what you just mentioned, from Egypt to protect its southern border.

HILL: You know, you just touched on, right, sort of what all of this has exposed about the capabilities and frankly, the arsenal of the Houthis. What has it also exposed about Saudi's efforts and Saudi's capabilities?

AL-OMEISY: Well, the one thing that I've always said about the Saudi capabilities is that they do excel in a conventional warfare, but in an asymmetric warfare with the Houthis. This is a guerrilla warfare. It's lacking. They've tried and tested everything for the past 11 years, since the start of the war in 2015.

They didn't manage to push back the Houthis or dislodge the Houthis from the main areas like the capital Sanaa, or the southern border with Saudi Arabia. And they continue to struggle unless they support a unified force inside the country, arm them well, provide them with countermeasures, kind of also mobilize the tribes and mobilize the anti-Houthi coalition to dislodge the Houthis from some of the main areas, especially on the Red Sea coast, especially in the north of the country and the southern border of Saudi Arabia. And in places where the Houthis are actually kind of hopeful to

capture oil rich provinces, governorates like Shabbat and Hadhramout. And they always, they think that the Houthis are not going to push south. They only want to maintain control over the north, which is a false perception.

Houthis want to control the totality of the country and they have regional ambitions. This is one of the reasons they continue to accumulate a lot of sophisticated weapons. And they're not just only getting it from Iran, they're outsourcing and they're getting really good at it. And they're building a lot of alliances across the Red Sea. They're building alliances with the Al-Shabab al-Mu'min in Somalia, they're building alliances with other places. They're building alliances even with the pirates from Somalia. They're pragmatic that way.

But while they're basically building these strong coalitions, unfortunately the Saudis did not manage to build a strong coalition of anti-Houthi forces inside the country.

HILL: Yes, it is so (INAUDIBLE) to say the least. Hisham Al-Omeisy, really appreciate you joining us. Appreciate your insight. Thank you.

AL-OMEISY: Thank you.

HILL: Just ahead here on The Story Is, it was one of the so called crimes of the century. We're joined by a New York Times correspondent who uncovered some explosive new information about the O.J. Simpson murder case and a potential accomplice.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:31:28]

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: France is working to restore order after its worst rioting in years erupted over the weekend. Officials, in turn imposing curfews in a number of cities on Monday night, including for parts of Paris. Those curfews have since been lifted. The unrest, though, is drawing reaction as well from around the world.

Here's CNN's Melissa Bell reporting from Paris.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The violence taking France and the world by surprise. Clashes and looting that turned so many streets in France to chaos. Town halls vandalized or torched. Attacks, said the president, on the French Republic itself.

EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translator): Those who sought to bring down the republic will be held accountable.

Bel: The state of public services, the high cost of living, and anger at the government drove more than half a million people to the streets. But things took a dark turn even before the marches began. Air that is heavy with tear gas because already there have been some

scuffles between protesters and police here at the Place de la Republique.

This -- two marches that are set to set off from this Central Paris Square really not due to start for another 45 minutes or so. But already the scenes have been pretty violent. And again, the air is very thick with tear gas.

Very quickly the protests descended into chaos. With hundreds of shops looted, the far right, which leads the polls ahead of next year's presidential election, is laying the blame for the violence and destruction squarely at the government's feet.

JORDAN BARDELLA, PRESIDENT OF FAR-RIGHT NATIONAL RALLY (through translator): If France is still standing, it's no longer thanks to a government that ran for the hills. But thanks to the dedication of our law enforcement.

BELL: President Trump weighing in, blaming migrants and urging French borders to be closed fast. At times it seems, hoping for a revolution.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Let's go to the beautiful country of France and get involved in the revolution.

BELL: MAGA also seizing on the protests and sharing pictures to warn of similar chaos should the Democrats wrestle back control of Congress in the midterms. The vice president blaming Western liberals for importing the Third World in the name of diversity and compassion. And House Speaker Mike Johnson sending a warning to Americans of what happens when the, quote, "radical, Marxist, insurgent left" gets its way.

[01:34:52]

BELL: Moscow too, is watching, accusing France of hypocrisy in demanding uncompromising condemnation and strict measures to deal with riots at home whilst releasing angry press releases about the inadmissibility of suppressing protests elsewhere.

Political polarization inside France is also adding fuel to the fire, with the far-left joining protests to demand action from the government and fears now for next year's presidential poll.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): There's no way we will allow violent minorities to impose an agenda of violence and prevent us from holding this election.

BELL: The government is to hold talks this week with French political leaders to urge them to calm their rhetoric, even as it seeks to control its streets.

Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE) HILL: New reporting from "The New York Times" is raising questions about whether the man accused of carrying out one of the most notorious murders of the 1990s may have had an accomplice. And also just what happened to the missing murder weapon?

O.J. Simpson was acquitted in the 1994 double murder of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman, but was later found liable for their deaths in a civil case.

Two reporters investigating the long-scrutinized killing zeroed in on an informant who appeared willing to sing. But his testimony wasn't used at trial. It came in very late, and that informant's brother is also sharing some stunning revelations.

My next guest, one of the journalists behind this investigative report titled "O.J. Simpson: A Secret Informant and a Decades' Old Mystery". Mike Baker is a national investigative correspondent for "The New York Times" and joins us now from Los Angeles.

I have to say, I read this and I couldn't -- I couldn't put it down. And it sort of read like a movie that almost no one would believe was true and yet all of the details are in there.

I mean what -- what led you down this path for this story?

MIKE BAKER, NATIONAL INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Yes. I mean, it was -- it was really some shocking stuff to us even -- you know, when we started down the path, I think there were a few core elements of it.

One, always been chatter around O.J. Simpson about whether there was assistance in the case. The murder weapon was missing. No one ever found it.

And, you know, even more importantly, I think in 2007, when O.J. Simpson wrote his book, "If I Did It", it was a hypothetical account, in his words, of the murders.

He describes himself at the crime scene and says someone else was with him that night, that there was a friend with him, that he handed his bloody clothes and the murder weapon to, and that asked that friend to get rid of it.

So even since then, since 2007, there's been this sort of curiosity about who that friend might be, if that person is even real.

And -- and so that was part of it. It's like setting out to figure out whether there was a person and who that might be.

HILL: You unearthed so much -- so much information in your investigation, much of it surrounding Joseph Ippolito, Joey Ippolito and his potential role in this -- in this murder, but also in O.J. Simpson's life. Can you just connect those dots for us? Why he showed up here?

BAKER: Yes. I mean, his backstory was quite interesting. He grew up on the East Coast. He was a powerboat racer in Florida in the 1970s.

By the 1980s, he was involved in such an enormous drug bust that it actually appeared on the front page of "The New York Times".

Then he gets out of prison and he moves to Los Angeles, he moves to the West Coast. He starts working at a restaurant, and it's there that he really starts getting into this orbit of O.J. Simpson, you know, hanging out with celebrities in Los Angeles and becomes very close with Al Cowlings.

Al Cowlings, if people followed the case over the years remember, he was the person driving the white Bronco during the infamous O.J. Simpson police chase.

And so him, and Joey -- Al Cowlings and Joey Ippolito are very close. And just before the murders, Joey Ippolito had been sent back to prison and then escaped prison.

And so just that fact pattern alone was -- led us to, you know, explore a little bit more about his life and what he was up to. And then even more shocking to us was finding out once he was arrested, he began telling law enforcement that he had personal insights into what happened around O.J. Simpson, the murder weapon, and O.J. Simpson trying to escape justice.

HILL: And so -- so he has said all of these things, and yet he was never called in in the case. And prosecutors were made aware of the information but really, at the 11th hour.

BAKER: You're right. There was an issue here of timing that was really curious. Joey Ippolito gets arrested again in August of 1995. And at that point, the prosecution in Los Angeles had already rested their case.

[01:39:49]

BAKER: You know, it was headed to jury verdict in October. And so here's this, you know, Mafia-linked informant suddenly on their radar. And I think there was a curiosity, you know, if that timing does play out in such a weird way, what do you do with that information at that moment?

And -- but the question that sort of lingered for us was, why not do something with it at any moment? Why not go back and explore whether he had enough information, whether he had enough involvement to really understand where he was in this whole picture.

HILL: Joey Ippolito has since died. But his brother was talking a little bit until he wasn't. What did you make of that?

BAKER: Yes. This was a really, you know, a bit of a whiplash here for us. So in the process of trying to understand Joey Ippolito, what his -- whether he was in Los Angeles at the time of the murders.

We reached out to his brother Sam, and Sam told us he was confident, in fact, that his brother was at the scene of the murders. He said the two of them, the two siblings, had come to Los Angeles together. They were staying in an apartment together that night and that he remembers his brother coming back from helping O.J. Simpson with what appeared to be blood on his hands. He had a bag with him with a heavy object inside.

Joey Ippolito asked his brother then to throw that bag away to get rid of it. And those facts to him were indicative that his brother was in fact at the murder scene with O.J. Simpson.

We were preparing to publish this story -- his story, what he was telling us, along with these other information we learned from law enforcement. And at that point, Sam told us he's retracting everything he's saying because we would not compensate him for his story.

Again, a lot of whiplash for us in trying to understand now, you know, what if his story is true, what if it's false? And, you know, combining that with the records we're getting from law enforcement, quite a compelling situation.

HILL: It is. And a really compelling read. I would encourage anyone in our audience who's not yet had the time to sit down with it, you will not be disappointed.

Mike, really appreciate you taking the time to join us tonight. Thank you.

BAKER: Thank you.

HILL: You are watching THE STORY IS.

For our international viewers, "WORLD SPORT" is up next. For our viewers in North America, stay with us. We'll be right back here with more news.

[01:42:09]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: The Trump administration is going to battle over plans to renovate a public golf course in Washington and turning it into, in the words of the president, a "world-class championship golf course".

CNN's Sunlen Serfaty has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: We're going to basically build a better golf course.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: In open defiance of a federal judge, President Trump is escalating the fight over this 300- acre D.C. golf course managed by the federal government.

TRUMP: You could call it a renovation. It should be very simple. And it's something that the Department of Interior is allowed to do, absolutely. All they want to do is fix up their property. SERFATY: Abruptly announcing he is officially closing the public

course, starting construction to turn it into a championship-style course instead, and going after the judge overseeing a court battle over his plan.

Calling the judge, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes in the case a crazed lunatic. All this as government lawyers filed a formal motion to disqualify her from the case, saying she could not serve as an impartial arbiter of the issues, calling her behavior egregious after the judge said she was furious that the administration may have defied her orders.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is not the White House. It is not behind locked doors, and we can fight for this land, and we are going to.

SERFATY: A federal lawsuit brought by the D.C. Preservation League and local golfers is seeking to halt the renovations, arguing it would take away a public and affordable place to play golf in the nation's capital.

The president has argued the course is dilapidated and unsafe.

TRUMP: It's been allowed to get rundown. It's bad, dangerous, dirty, lousy and it's going to be one of the great --

SERFATY: The president's quest to take over the course is keeping with his efforts to remake D.C. in his style and liking.

TRUMP: Washington was one of the worst places in this country. Now it's one of the best.

SERFATY: However, Judge Reyes has been adamant that no work should go forward until the legal battle plays out. The government has continually assured the federal judge that any plans are still conceptual, and nothing has been finalized, even while the president and his entourage visited the site in June and the Interior Secretary released preliminary plans for the course makeover.

Then, with very little warning this month, the Trump administration cut down nearly 500 trees at the site in a single weekend, saying it was part of a maintenance plan.

Over the weekend, a picture on social media posted by Trump's outgoing press secretary showed a blurred-out map of the golf course on the president's desk, sparking speculation the plan was further along than they said.

And on Sunday, the president formally released the plan himself. The federal judge saying today she doesn't know who to believe.

And it was a marathon hearing on Monday lasting for over seven hours. And it really illuminated these two arguments coming from the Trump administration.

On one hand, you have the Department of Justice attorneys arguing that the tree work here was just essentially routine maintenance, had basically nothing to do with the broader renovation plans of this golf course, of which there is a court order blocking that work from going forward.

And then, on the other hand, you have President Trump himself saying that this golf course will be closed next month, and the renovation will start, in his words, "immediately".

And we saw the judge on Monday really openly struggle trying to essentially square that circle. She said at one point, there's no universe in which all of this coincidentally happened at the same time.

Sunlen Serfaty, CNN, Washington.

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HILL: Coming up on THE STORY IS a share giveaway from Elon Musk. What we know about the SpaceX CEO's plan. That's after the break.

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HILL: Elon Musk says he's going to give a SpaceX share to every child in America, prompting lots of questions, including how those shares would be distributed and whether all American children would actually be eligible.

Here's CNN's Anna Cooban.

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ANNA COOBAN, CNN BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS REPORTER: So Elon Musk is promising every kid in America a stake in his $2 trillion rocket and AI company.

He announced in a post on X on Monday that next year he would give one share of SpaceX to every child in America. Each share was valued at around $146 at market close on Friday.

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COOBAN: And so now crunching the numbers, if we take the U.S. Census Bureau's latest estimates, there are roughly 73 million people aged under 18 in America in 2024.

And we multiply that figure by the SpaceX share price, that would make the potential giveaway by Musk worth around $10.7 billion.

But the details around this are pretty scant. It's not clear exactly how those shares would be distributed to the tens of millions of potentially eligible American children, or whether all of them would indeed be eligible.

There is some precedent, however. Earlier this month, the Treasury Department automatically signed up millions of under 18s to Trump Accounts, a new federal savings and investment vehicle.

And in July, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell and her husband pledged to donate one SpaceX share to roughly two million children already signed up to one of these accounts.

Now Musk's offer came in response to an announcement by A.I. giant Anthropic on Sunday that it would commit at least 5 percent of its shares worth about $48 billion to a fund that would make donations for the public benefit.

A.I. companies are facing mounting public backlash over the safety of their products. Anthropic itself has recently said that A.I. poses existential risks to humanity, as well as the technology's impact on people's jobs and the environmental and social impact of data centers.

So perhaps Musk's offer, if it does come, would go some way to softening the public perception.

Anna Cooban, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HILL: Thanks so much for watching THE STORY IS.

I'm Erica Hill in New York. Stay with us. The news continues right here on CNN after a quick break.

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