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Connect the World

U.S. Launches New Attacks on Iran as Leaders Trade Threats; Zelenskyy Speaks to U.S. Envoys About Restarting Peace Talks; Trump Speaking on Iran's Military in March, April, May and July; a Review is Being Conducted by the Secret Service After Leak; U.S. Secretary of State Rubio Meets Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov. Aired 9-10a ET

Aired July 23, 2026 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[09:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: This is the scene in the Strait of Hormuz where Iran and the United States are trading dangerous straights

as Washington ups the ante on Tehran's eye for an eye policy. It is 04:30 p.m. in Iran. It is 05:00 p.m. here in Abu Dhabi. I'm Eleni Giokos.

This is "Connect the World". Also coming up, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks with President Trump's key envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared

Kushner as Kyiv explores how to revive peace talks with Russia. And what is Elon Musk's next big move?

We'll tell you what he said about the prospect of a Tesla SpaceX merger that would create a $3 trillion giant. All right. We're around 30 minutes

to go before the start of trade in New York. It is not looking very good right now. You've got the Dow Jones tumbling north of 500 points, down 1

percent S&P down 1 percent and NASDAQ also taking a tumble of 1.4 percent.

It's on the back of earnings that we saw from Alphabet and Tesla, as well as major concerns about escalation here in the Middle East. I want to point

out what's happening in the oil price market right now. You've got Brent crude that is nearing $100 a barrel is the highest level that we've seen

since late May, and as you can see, it's up 6 percent right now.

We know the Houthis have targeted vessels in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, and importantly, that creating a lot more escalatory rhetoric. President Trump

saying that he's willing to target Iran and hold Iran responsible for any attacks conducted by the Houthis. You can see WTI crude sitting up 5

percent sitting at $91 a barrel.

We'll delve into those numbers a little later. But in the meantime, America's top diplomat has a blunt warning to Iran today about President

Donald Trump's latest threats in the war. Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaking a short time ago on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in the

Philippines. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: I think I saw, you know, guys. I saw Araghchi, their foreign minister, who the other day say or something about

their policies, an eye for an eye. The president's policy is a head for an eye. I mean, honestly, that's what it's going to be.

I mean, they will pay a very heavy price for the things they do. They're already paying a very heavy price.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GIOKOS: Rubio's comments come after his Iranian counterpart recently described his country's defense doctrine as an eye for an eye. On

Wednesday, President Trump posted on social media that the U.S. would bomb and destroy one bridge or power plant any time Iran targets a ship in the

Strait of Hormuz.

This is all coming as the U.S. hits Iran for a 13th straight night with Iran firing back at regional neighbors, including Jordan. Nic Robertson is

following developments for us from Jerusalem. Nic, good to see you. I mean, these are just escalatory comments. The rhetoric just upping the ante in

terms of the probabilities of what could come next.

And then you're hearing about Axios reporting around a b1 bomber that will be deployed by the United States. There's a lot that's going on. Please

unpack this for us.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah, look, let's unpack this head for an eye and eye for an eye. These statements, Marco

Rubio saying President Trump's doctrine is ahead for an eye, and the foreign minister of Iran, saying it's an eye for an eye, and that, as you

say, came out of the statements of President Trump saying that if any ship was hit, he'd hit a bridge.

The Iranians said that they would hit a bridge inside the Gulf countries. Now we've had a very, very real-world example of an eye for an eye in the

past hour or so. Overnight, one of the U.S. strikes hit an Iraqi-Iran border crossing right in the southwestern corner of Iran on the Iranian

side, killing two people.

Well, what has just happened in the past hour or so, less than 20 miles or so away from where that happened? An Iranian drone has been flown into an

Iraqi-Kuwaiti border post, according to the Kuwaiti Defense Ministry, and that border, that Iraq-Kuwait border, very close to where the U.S. strike

was, is now closed, or has certainly been closed because of this drone strike.

So, an eye for an eye doctrine isn't just rhetoric here right now. We're literally seeing it play out.

[09:05:00]

How much further either side chooses to take this, how President Trump may want to respond for this attack, Iranian attack on a border post there in

in Kuwait, an ally that houses many U.S. troops, remains to be seen. But the doctrine, according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, ahead for an

eye.

So, it's an escalation doctrine, and that's where we're at. We seem to be in escalation territory, and that seems to play into the reports. We don't

have confirmed yet that the U.S. using B-1 bombers as well, which is an escalation in its bombing capacity. These aircraft can carry two dozen

2000-pound bombs or a dozen cruise missiles. They're very capable and they're very lethal.

GIOKOS: Yeah, indeed. Look, President Trump, interestingly, has placed a new condition, and this is a story that we were covering yesterday on this

nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia, a day after formally approving it, saying that the country now must join the Abraham Accords.

We know President Trump is very transactional. You know, everyone was surprised around allowing Saudi Arabia to have civilian nuclear enrichment

on its soil without the International Atomic Energy Agency essentially having oversight. Are you surprised when you see this as being a caveat?

ROBERTSON: In a way, no. I mean, I think from the Israeli perspective, and there was a feeling here that allowing Saudi Arabia to enrich its own

uranium and not have an international sort of inspection regime have one brokered bilaterally with the United States, which the United States.

And we heard this from Secretary of State Marco Rubio today would be a strong and robust oversight, and better that the U.S. had that oversight

than, let's say, it was Saudi Arabia was buying these civilian nuclear power plants from, let's say, Russia or China. That was a safe way to go.

But here in Israel, the belief was this was a dangerous path, and I think the view was as well, certainly within the government circles, that the

President Trump's position could be changed. That he has really created what I would interpret at the moment as an impossible hurdle for the Crown

Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, to accept has been very, very clear since Israel's response to Hamas's attack in 2023, the Gaza war.

More than 70,000 Palestinians killed, 1,200 Israelis killed, 250 taken hostage at the beginning, but more than 70,000 Palestinians killed. The

Crown Prince in Saudi Arabia said quite simply, if I'm going to have normalization with Israel, there needs to be an Israeli recognition of a

Palestinian state.

And it's become apparent over time that this -- that the Crown Prince doesn't believe that's something Prime Minister Netanyahu is going to do,

and the prime minister here has not given an indication, is willing to do it. So, I think what President Trump has put up here is a roadblock for

however long it may take to get around it or get over it for the Saudis to move ahead with this deal.

Now, will they throw it up in the air and turn to another country, which is sort of what Secretary Rubio was hinting their options had been prior to

going down this path.

GIOKOS: Yeah.

ROBERTSON: Yes, are we surprised that President Trump has changed his mind? He does change his mind. That's his prerogative. He's done it now. There

was pushback from Israel.

GIOKOS: Yeah, I mean, fascinating turn of events. I mean, the question is, is it going to bring Saudi Arabia to that table in terms of normalizing

with Israel? Lots of questions there. Nic Robertson, always good to have you with us. Your analysis always so vital.

DANIEL DALE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Thank you --

GIOKOS: I want to bring in CNN's Daniel Dale, who's been closely looking at some of President Trump's key claims rather about the war. Daniel, really

good to have you with us. Look, President Trump has been pushing a triumphant narrative about Iran for military capability control of the

Strait of Hormuz.

I mean, many people have a lot of thoughts about that. So, give me a sense of what the reality is.

DALE: So, one of the things President Trump has said repeatedly is that Iran's military has been completely eradicated. I want you to listen to

just some of his comments on the subject.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Everything they have is gone, including their leadership.

They would knock that their navy is gone, their air force is gone, most of their missiles are gone.

We basically wiped out their military in about two weeks.

Look, they have no military left.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DALE: It was always clear, even at the time he said this, that these were significant exaggerations, if not outright falsehoods. We know that Iran

retains significant capabilities, and Iran has essentially fact-checked these claims with its own actions.

[09:10:00]

Even after these comments, of course, it has been able to attack countries in the region, attack commercial shipping and, of course, attack the United

States are killing soldiers, injuring more than 100 U.S. service members in recent weeks. So, this claim is just not true.

And then on the Strait of Hormuz, President Trump has claimed at least twice this week that the United States completely controls it and Iran has

no control over it. Listen to his comments on that subject.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We control the strait. They don't control anything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DALE: Again, obviously untrue. In fact, just Tuesday, the U.S. Navy- controlled Joint Maritime Information Center based in Bahrain said that commercial shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz had fallen to a

three-week low. That IRGC harassment activity continued.

That Iranian attacks on shipping in Omani waters in the area had been a significant deterrent to commercial shipping. So, you can quibble about the

definition of the word control, but it is entirely clear, and I think clear internationally, that Iran exerts significant influence over what happens

in the Strait of Hormuz, and has been the major reason why commercial traffic there is so low.

GIOKOS: Yeah, exactly, and I mean, one only has to look at the actual traffic and the options that you know vessels have right now, and opting

often for the Iranian route. You know, oil prices, Daniel, are about to hit $100 a barrel. Brent Crude sitting at 99.81 right now. President Trump has

been talking about oil prices are going to come down.

This is just a small blip. It's going to end very soon. What is the reality?

DALE: The reality is they're rising. So, there was a basis, in fact, for some of these claims briefly in in late June and early July, when the

ceasefire with Iran still existed. Oil prices had come down significantly from the wartime highs of March, April, and even May.

But then they have kept going up as these continued to exist. They're going down. He posted on social media on Sunday saying that oil prices are

dropping fast. That was entirely untrue at the time. They were rising quickly. They're up roughly. Last I checked this morning, another 5 percent

today alone.

We see this this red sea drama that's contributing to the further increases. So, this claim that they are tumbling quickly, that they are

plummeting right now, just not accurate once more.

GIOKOS: Daniel Dale, thank you so much. Well, there you go. $100 a barrel on Brent crude oscillating now, just below 100 and hitting that really

crucial threshold. We'll be monitoring the oil prices as this day goes on. An escalation is, of course, what we're hearing from both sides.

Daniel Dale, thank you so much for that. Well, it's Take 2 for the White House Correspondents' Dinner happening in Washington D.C. this Friday. The

original event was abruptly shut down in April when a gunman rushed through a Secret Service checkpoint and opened fire.

The director of the service defended that night's security arrangements, pointing out that the gunman was stopped and told reporters Wednesday the

system worked. The alleged gunman has pleaded not guilty to attempting to assassinate the president. His trial date is yet to be set.

A Secret Service agent assigned to Vice President J.D. Vance's security detail has been placed on administrative leave amid an internal

investigation into an alleged leak. Sources tell CNN, the agent is suspected of sharing information used in a news report that included

details about Vance's travel and security operations.

The investigation comes as the Trump Administration has vowed to crack down on what it views as unauthorized leaks to the media. CNN's Betsy Klein is

following the story for us. Betsy, good to see you. What more can you tell us, and what are CNN sources telling you about this investigation?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Eleni, last week our colleagues at MS NOW had some really fascinating reporting about tensions

in Vice President J.D. Vance's Secret Service detail. According to their reporting, there were frustrations from the agents assigned to the vice

president about that burden of demands for personal travel for the vice president, along with members of his family.

And notably, they specifically raised concerns about a planned trip aboard Marine Two to Joint Base Andrews for golf lessons for the vice president's

son. That ultimately was canceled due to weather, but the report had raised alarms among the FBI, the Secret Service, as well as White House officials

who were very concerned and fuming about the disclosure of these operational details about the vice president's plans.

Now, Secret Service, we are learning, have placed one of the agents on Vance's detail under an internal review. That person has been put on

administrative leave after being suspected of disclosing this information. Now, the review is going to be conducted internally by the Secret Service.

[09:15:00]

It's not clear. If there's going to be some sort of administrative punishment, or if there could be potentially criminal charges here. But

this story was really remarkable to me because one of the hallmarks of the Secret Service is that discretion. It is extremely rare and unusual for

agents to disclose this level of detail.

And I spoke with one former agent a short while ago, who really reacting to this, saying it was negligence at the highest degree. He told me this

person had telegraphed the movements of two Secret Service protectees, one of which is a minor, and that automatically puts that person in the

spotlight when their job is to keep those protectees out of the spotlight.

But this also speaks to something that I have been reporting on for years, and that is the extreme morale crisis within the Secret Service. This is a

high-stress, high-intensity job. They have persistent staffing shortages, a lot of burnouts there, and it marks also the latest development in what has

really been a broader crackdown by the Trump Administration on efforts to end unauthorized leaks to the press, in its view.

And weeks ago, that just a couple of weeks ago, four "The New York Times" reporters were issued subpoenas over a report that they had on security

concerns around the president's Qatari gifted Air Force One, seeking to get them to testify before a federal grand jury.

So, this just the latest example of that, but this time with some more complicated security constraints, Eleni.

GIOKOS: All right, Betty Klein, thank you so much. The Ukrainian President says he's been speaking with U.S. envoys about restarting peace talks with

Russia. Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner on Wednesday to discuss how to resume talks.

Posting on X, that it was quote, a good important conversation on how to reinvigorate diplomacy and bring peace closer. Zelenskyy also thanked

President Trump for his support. Meantime, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

They met Thursday morning on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in the Philippines. Neither answered reporters' questions about Russia's war in

Ukraine or whether Russia was supporting Iran's attempts to target U.S. troops. The U.S. State Department later said they discussed the U.S.-Russia

relationship and the need to end the war in Ukraine.

Another day, while high temperatures slowing efforts to get major wildfires in Spain and France under control, will be live in Madrid with an update.

That's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GIOKOS: -- to bring you up to speed on the wildfires burning across southern Europe, in southwestern France, more than 10,000 people have been

evacuated because of the place to the west of the city of Bordeaux. Hundreds of firefighters have been deployed.

In Spain, emergency services are still battling the country's largest wildfire of the year in Guadalajara Province.

[09:20:00]

After almost a week, it has devoured 32,000 hectares of land, and local people are calling it an ecological disaster. On Wednesday, the prime

minister visited the emergency response center and gave this update.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PEDRO SANCHEZ, SPANISH PRIME MINISTER: More than 100,000 hectares have been burned as a result of the wildfire or wildfires across Spain. To put that

into perspective, that is the annual average that Spain experienced over the past decade.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GIOKOS: All right. Pau Mosquera is in Madrid for us. I mean, devastating scenes coming through from Spain. What is the latest on the efforts to try

and contain these wildfires?

PAU MOSQUERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As we speak, Eleni, hundreds of emergency workers are actively working on extinguish the many wildfires that have

been declared all over Europe. In the case of Spain, authorities' concern is primarily focused into the wildfire burning on the surroundings of La

Mierla town in Guadalajara, central Spain.

That wildfire that was declared a week ago has so far scorched 32,000 hectares of land. And this is why around 200 firefighters are right now

working on the perimeter of the fire to try to contain it as quick as possible, but this is no easy task. And actually, the authorities say that

this is one of the largest wildfires recorded over the century.

And it's just happening days after of Los Gallardos wildfire, the deadliest one ever registered in the south of the country, as it claimed the life of

13 people. But unfortunately, this situation, Eleni, is no strange to our neighbors. In France, they had to evacuate around 10,000 people overnight

because of the wildfire that is burning in the commune of Saumos.

And many of those evacuated were in different campsites that are located in the area. And that's why also hundreds of firefighters are still now

effortlessly trying to extinguish the fire as soon as possible. Now, the authorities all over Europe, Eleni, are worried because the risk of

wildfires is going to be high all over the summer.

And if the situation continues like that, more wildfires can be declared, and it can be very difficult for the emergency workers all around the

continent to try to work and extinguish all of them in a short period, Eleni.

GIOKOS: Pau Mosquera, thank you so much for being on top of the story for us. I want to get you up to speed down some of the stories that are on our

radar. President Trump's Former prosecutor Jack Smith is facing a new push for criminal charges. The House Judiciary Chairman referred Smith to the

Justice Department, accusing him of misleading lawmakers during last year's closed-door testimony about his team's investigation into Mr. Trump and the

2020 election.

An investigation has been called for after a fatal shooting by police in Madison, Wisconsin. Bystander video from the scene shows a man being

tasered by officers before shots are fired from close range. Police say the man pulled out a knife and injured an officer while they were trying to

arrest him.

None of the officers were wearing body cameras. And happening soon on Capitol Hill, Former Barclays CEO Jes Staley is expected to face questions

behind closed doors as part of the House Oversight Committee's investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. Staley's ties to the late convicted sex

offender began in the early 2000s when Epstein was a client of Staley's at J.P. Morgan.

French authorities are investigating the death of a professional model scout who introduced multiple young women to Jeffrey Epstein. The cause of

Daniel Siad's death is not yet known. The French prosecutor says there will be an autopsy to determine how he died.

Siad was reportedly mentioned in the Epstein files more than 2000 times. And CNN aired an exclusive interview with him just a few weeks ago. Our

Melissa Bell is in Paris for us.

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A French model recruiter linked to Jeffrey Epstein has been found dead at his home in the

suburb of Colombes near Paris, according to prosecutors. Daniel Siad had been the subject of renewed scrutiny in the wake of the latest releases of

the Epstein files by the U.S. Department of Justice.

For over a decade, he'd arranged for the late sex offender to meet several models.

[09:25:00]

CNN's Katie Polglase recently interviewed Siad, who said he'd had no reason to believe that two women he'd recommended to Epstein had been harmed by

him, even though those two women told CNN that they were indeed abused by Jeffrey Epstein.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANIEL SIAD, SWEDISH-FRENCH MODELING SCOUT: My work with him has been strictly professional. I never doubt that, because I never heard anything

from anyone introduced him who came back to me that they had a bad situation with him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BELL: Siad said he believed that Epstein was a Casting Director for Victoria's Secret and for a modeling agency. CNN has found no evidence to

support that claim.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SIAD: I didn't know a lot about him until when he comes to Paris, and I told you again, he said he pays his due to the government. So, for me, he's

free man. He's clean. He was such a powerful person, and how can I not trust him?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BELL: Epstein ties to the modeling industry are part of ongoing investigations, including a criminal probe launched this year in Paris

involving Siad, according to the city's chief prosecutor. Now Siad's lawyer has pointed to the stress that the man was under due to the unbearable

waiting and, I quote, the stigma cast upon him.

Siad's lawyer's statement also calling for respect for his loved ones as they mourn, adding that he died and was innocent. Siad himself was also

facing accusations of abuse. A model accused him of rape when she was working in France in 1990. Siad had also denied that accusation.

His death certainly marks the latest macabre twist in the Epstein saga and a reminder of the ripple effects of the revelations from the Epstein files,

and of the fact that they are far from over. Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.

GIOKOS: All right, so we're a few minutes to go for before the start of trade in New York, and we're tracking the oil price. Brent Crude sitting at

over $100 a barrel, WTI $91 a barrel. It's all about the Middle East, and of course, across the board, market futures showing a red star to the day.

As you can see, red across the board. We'll bring you an update on this in just a few seconds. Stay with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GIOKOS: Welcome back. I want to check in on oil prices are climbing sharply with Brent Crude, the global bench mark at a seven-week high. You can see

it is just below $100 a barrel, and frankly oscillating between just above $100 and just below as markets are trying to find sort of a bottom to this

day, given the escalation that we've seen, not only concerns around the Strait of Hormuz, but also what we're seeing in the Bab al-Mandab Strait.

[09:30:00]

Major concern that we're seeing a new front opening up because the Houthis are now engaged in a blockade to any vessels that emanate from Saudi Arabia

and any Saudi ports. You've got WTI crude sitting at $91 a barrel. Both benchmarks much higher. Right, markets in New York opening up as we speak.

And market futures showing a red day all round. It is not only because of concerns around escalatory rhetoric, both by President Trump and, of

course, from Iranian leadership, but also tech earnings that we saw overnight, as you can see, Dow Jones down over 1 percent.

The S&P and NASDAQ also firmly in the red, and we're watching Wall Street's reaction after two of the world's most valuable companies kicked off what's

expected to be another closely watched earnings season for Big Tech, Tesla and Alphabet both reported their second quarter results after the closing

bell Wednesday.

Both companies raising questions about the massive investments that are needed to compete in artificial intelligence. Right, let's take a look to

see how Elon Musk's electric vehicle maker is trading after shares slumped some 7 percent in pre-market trading, as you can see, down almost 10

percent right now.

I want to bring in Allen Root, Associate Editor at Barron's, and he was previously a Wall Street Portfolio Manager and Equity Analyst. Sir, really

good to have you with us. I mean, looking at what we're seeing on Tesla and also Alphabet. It's pretty clear the market doesn't like what it heard

yesterday on those earnings reports. Take me through it.

ALLEN ROOT, ASSOCIATE EDITOR AT BARRON'S: Yeah. Yeah, you hit the nail on the head. You know, this market is AI, and we are in a period of AI fear. I

think if you connect Tesla and Alphabet's earnings, higher spending on AI opportunities, whether it's a Gemini chatbot or a self-driving robot taxi,

a few months ago that drove stock gains.

Now that's driving stock decline. So, if you look at Google, incredible quarter cloud growth exceeded expectations, but they're going to spend $200

billion building out their AI business instead of 190 billion, so they raised their capex guidance. They did the same thing in April, the April

quarter, the stock went up 10 percent.

You know, today Alphabet stock was down 5 percent in pre-market trading. Tesla is in similar story, not exactly the same. They're going to spend 25

billion or more this year, and then capex is going to rise in the future years. Free cash flow has sort of evaporated because of all of these AI

opportunities that Elon Musk believes in earlier in the year that supported the stock.

Now that doesn't support the stock. So, the broader narrative is people are freaked out about AI and the AI arms race and whether this is ever going to

generate an appropriate return.

GIOKOS: Yeah, I mean it's a massive cash burner. I'm looking at all the tech stocks right now. I mean Apple is down, Amazon also taking a knock,

Meta, also down 3 percent It's across the board because it's going to be very expensive. It's a cash burner, and we -- you know, it's a race, as you

say.

Who is going to come out on top here? It's almost the sense that whoever spends more is going to get this right.

ROOT: Well, that's -- that is, you know, you were once rewarded for spending the most. And you know privately held anthropic and OpenAI valued

at close to a trillion dollars, not profitable, but spending literally hundreds of billions of dollars over the coming in the past and over the

coming few years to build out their AI models.

You know, so the perception was money leads to winning the AI arms race. That narrative will end eventually. There will be winners and losers. I

mean, if you look at like the tech stocks that you just talked about, Alphabet's cloud growth has been incredible. AI has clearly benefited the

search business, the efficiency of search, so it has a real ROI story.

You know the hyperscalers, Amazon and Microsoft. They've also seen big cloud growth and have sort of direct relationships with like my AI spending

turning into revenue. People like Meta, not as clear. Tesla not necessarily as clear, and one other one, SpaceX, right?

SpaceX is trying to essentially compete with OpenAI and Anthropic, and wants to put data centers in space, and it's not clear necessarily that

they will be a winner either. So, we're still in early days, and you know I would just say that the third quarter shaping up a little nervy.

[09:35:00]

GIOKOS: Yeah. Yes, indeed. I mean, SpaceX and data centers in space, you know, major ambitions. But in the meantime, there's talk about a merger

between Tesla and SpaceX. You know, how is the investor community reading into this? A positive or a negative?

ROOT: So, I think you're right. More than it's interesting because it would be the largest merger in history by many factors. Wall Street, there's more

than a handful of analysts who have like surprisingly come out in print and said that this should happen in 12 to 18 months.

I think it is viewed by the investor community as positive. Don't forget that SpaceX and Tesla, by virtue of Elon Musk's abilities, has an

incredibly loyal small retail shareholder base. I think that they would support the deal. I mean, there are reasons. They're both companies are all

about AI.

They obviously have some overlap. The most important overlap being Elon Musk. You know, it's not easy that it will happen.

GIOKOS: Yeah.

ROOT: I would say that SpaceX, Tesla merger is sort of helping Tesla stock, maybe to the tune of 40 or $50 a share. I think it's sort of neutral for

SpaceX stock right now, which is sort of doing its own thing, just recently becoming public, struggling to find a level where investors like it.

GIOKOS: Yeah. OK. So, another question, and it's quite interesting because Elon Musk says that his Grok imagine AI platform is going to make a

historically accurate Odyssey adaptation. He says by the end of the year, and I wonder. I mean, can AI give a better account of mythology than humans

can?

Keeping in mind, there's always an adaptation, and that's what happens when you create sort of a you know a movie on you know historical poetry or you

know books. But what's your sense?

ROOT: So, I mean, sometimes we need to call things as they are. I mean, people on X.

GIOKOS: Yeah.

ROOT: I'm on X, partly to follow Elon Musk. It is sort of a nanosphere. I'm going to call it a toxic nanosphere. You know, the X community sort of lost

its mind over casting decisions. So, the idea that Grok can make a movie that is photorealistic and interesting and watchable, fascinating

implications for Hollywood implications for what AI can do and how much AI compute we need.

GIOKOS: Yeah.

ROOT: The Odyssey bit of it. I said what I said, and sometimes you just got to call it like you see it.

GIOKOS: Yeah, I mean, would I want to watch AI actors, you know, touching this? I don't know. We'll see. Allen, great to have you with us. Much

appreciated.

ROOT: Yeah, this is the -- first one, right?

GIOKOS: We are going to a short break. Yeah, there isn't. It isn't. I know, and that's the thing. It's like, how's it going to sit with the humans?

ROOT: Yeah, you can watch a --

GIOKOS: All right, we've got to go. I've got to jump to break. Thank you so much. I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:40:00]

GIOKOS: -- satellites are getting the attention of SpaceX. This week, the company launched a mission that's aimed at keeping those satellites in

operation. Ashley Strickland has the details for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 3, 2, 1, ignition and liftoff. Go Falcon, go MRV, and go MEP.

ASHLEY STRICKLAND, CNN SPACE AND SCIENCE WRITER (voice-over): SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, this week,

carrying a spacecraft designed to repair satellites and keep them running longer. Until now, satellites that are running low on fuel or are in need

of repair are usually deemed out of service and sent to a graveyard orbit far from Earth or deorbited.

To solve this common issue, aerospace and defense company Northrop Grumman developed an MRV, a mission robotic vehicle equipped with robotic arms and

three mission extension pods.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stage separation confirmed.

STRICKLAND (voice-over): After launch, the robot detached from the rocket and began its year-long climb into geosynchronous Earth orbit. Once there,

the MRV will use its 10-foot arms to install the pods onto aging satellites. The pods carry their own fresh supplies of fuel, which can

prolong the life of a spacecraft for up to eight years.

Northrop Grumman says the robot can also relocate, inspect, and repair spacecraft while in orbit. The MRV will be the United States' first multi-

mission robotic servicer, and the three pods were the first of their kind to ever launch. The company says the spacecraft is expected to be

operational for about 10 years. Ashley Strickland, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GIOKOS: The European Union has signed off on Paramount's merger with Warner Brothers Discovery, the parent company of CNN, regulators say Paramount

made several concessions, including an agreement to abandon a film distribution deal with Universal in Europe.

In the U.S., 12 state attorneys general are challenging the buyout, claiming it would stifle competition. Paramount says the opposition, and

the opposite, rather, is true. A U.S. federal judge has put the deal on hold for now to consider the antitrust lawsuit. All right. We're going to a

short break. Coy Wire is up next with the "World of Sport".

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[09:45:00]

(WORLD SPORT)

[10:00:00]

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