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CNN Live Event/Special
The Fourth In America: Celebrating 250. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired July 05, 2026 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Wow.
DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: Oh my goodness.
SANCHEZ: A thumping, bright celebration of the country's 250th birthday. I've never seen a fireworks show like that.
BASH: Or felt it.
SANCHEZ: Or felt it. Yes, quite the exclamation point on the celebration in the nation's capital.
BASH: Absolutely perfect for America 250.
Look, they wanted to break the world's record. It's hard to imagine that didn't just happen.
SANCHEZ: That was incredible. I hope they broke it. I bet well find out tomorrow. It looked like they did.
BASH: It definitely did. That was just absolutely amazing. And guess what? It's not over yet. The fireworks are not done. We're going to bring you a amazing show from San Diego, after a quick break.
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ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Wel -- welcome back to CNN's special coverage of the Fourth in America.
A live look tonight at the Hoover Dam outside Las Vegas, adorned with a giant American flag on this celebration of 250 years of independence.
CARI CHAMPION, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Look at this shot. It looks beautiful where we are. We just had a moment. Let's just be honest with the folks we talked about it. Things kind of
ran late. So we want to set the scene. We were able to watch some of the fireworks from the nation's capital while we were here in San Diego for the Big Bay Boom. And as you know, it's arguably one of the best fireworks show in southern California.
MICHAELSON: Yeah. I'm Elex Michaelson with Cari Champion.
So let's now bring you from just a few moments ago, literally moments ago, the Big Bay Boom in San Diego, the biggest fireworks show in the West Coast.
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MICHAELSON: And we have been listening to Chris Stapleton performing "Tennessee Whiskey" at the L.A. Coliseum, as we look there at Seattle, the space needle, we've been looking -- or I'm sorry, that is in Las Vegas.
CHAMPION: All the same.
MICHAELSON: We have been looking at so many extraordinary --
CHAMPION: Yeah.
MICHAELSON: -- locations just in the last few minutes. We saw here in San Diego, we saw Saint Louis, we saw Las Vegas, we saw Seward, Alaska, all in the last few minutes.
So many all of these firework shows happening within the last hour or so. An extraordinary moment and such great music listening, especially to Chris Stapleton.
We also heard from Queen Latifah there, who was also performing in Los Angeles, the coliseum hosting one of the America 250 celebrations for $17.76. People could get into that event.
CHAMPION: That -- I don't know what you can get into any more with less than $20.
MICHAELSON: Not a Chris Stapleton concert.
CHAMPION: I love Chris Stapleton. I love "Tennessee Whiskey". That was obviously his breakout performance. His breakout single. I'm curious as to anyone for you tonight that was your favorite that you heard?
MICHAELSON: I mean, there were so many great performers. It was fun.
CHAMPION: Not one in particular.
MICHAELSON: Lil' Wayne. I kind of liked that.
CHAMPION: Okay. Okay. He stole that from me. I was going to say I love Lil Wayne at BottleRock. And you're right. You can take it. Jennifer Hudson was great, though, as well.
MICHAELSON: Jennifer Hudson was great.
CHAMPION: She was at the -- in Hollywood, Florida. I think what we had tonight and of course, I love Charlie Puth. I might be a little -- just because I might be an Internet child. I might love him a little more than most.
MICHAELSON: Yeah.
CHAMPION: But what I felt was really special about tonight and what we decided to celebrate was America's birthday. And everyone celebrates differently.
Independence Day means something different for everyone, for you and for me. And I believe at this time, especially when the country feels a little divided, we needed something to bring us together and remember our why. And I think that is so important.
Everyone has a different definition. And tonight I felt that it was important that we talked about why it was so special for you and I.
MICHAELSON: Yeah. You know, Walter Isaacson has a great new book about the Declaration of Independence. And that first sentence, which he saw the perfect sentence in the English language, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." That revolutionary sentence which was written 250 years ago, has changed the world in so many ways.
And this experiment that were in, of being a democratic republic that is self-governing, that we have to fight, and we're not always perfect.
CHAMPION: Yeah.
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MICHAELSON: We've had a whole lot of wars.
CHAMPION: Yeah.
MICHAELSON: But over the years, we've worked to get through them, and we've worked to make ourselves a more perfect union. And there's so much distraction and so much divides us, but that ultimately is what birthed this country and birthed the idea of America. It's such a beautiful thing and I'm so grateful for everybody. Especially, we saw all those military veterans up on the stage tonight, too.
CHAMPION: I think that was actually a highlight of the night. We had an opportunity to see that. MICHAELSON: Yeah.
CHAMPION: I do want to say you -- thank you for saying this. The idea of what America should be is still why we believe.
MICHAELSON: Uh-huh.
CHAMPION: It's still why we are here today. It's not perfect, but the idea of what it could be and our fight, our continual fight for freedom and our fight to be here and live the way in which we want that pursuit of happiness that you talked about.
MICHAELSON: Yeah.
CHAMPION: And so it has been a pleasure to work with you, my friend. I don't know if this will happen again, but I hope so.
MICHAELSON: I hope so. I hope so. It's worth -- it's worth fighting for.
And thanks -- by the way, real quickly, a shout out to the entire CNN technical team around the world who's been working around the clock and working for months and months and months to make this incredibly technically complicated thing, make it possible. And a big shout-out to everybody around the world that have been watching us all day as well. It has been an incredible evening from coast to coast.
CHAMPION: We really appreciate you again. Let's take a look at some of the best moments that we got to celebrate with you tonight. And remember, this is a holiday for all of all of us and celebrate, as you wish. Happy Fourth of July, everyone
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