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The Story Is with Elex Michaelson
Federal Judge Dismisses Cases Against James Comey And Letitia James; Pentagon Threatens Senator Kelly Over Illegal Orders Video; Trump Optimistic Over Ukraine Peace Deal; Ukrainian Sumo Wrestler Makes History In Japan; Congressional Hearing Focuses On L.A. Immigration Operations; U.S. Designates Maduro as Member of Foreign Terrorist Organization; Chaucey Billups Pleads Not Guilty in Alleged Gambling Scheme; "Wicked for Good" Soars with $226M Worldwide Opening; Variety Names 100 Best Comedy Movies of All Time. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired November 25, 2025 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The story ends with Elex Michaelson.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God, look, it's starting.
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ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: We begin with breaking news, and it's extreme weather. At this hour a tornado watch is still in effect for much of eastern Texas and neighboring Louisiana. That severe weather system expected to reach as far east as Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas in the coming hours.
Supercell thunderstorms devastated the Houston area on Monday. Reports of several tornadoes, people in Harris County say tree trunks snap like toothpicks as one twister ripped through residential neighborhoods. You see some of it there. Rescue efforts still underway after more than 100 homes are damaged.
You get a good sense of it from the air. Meteorologists warn that the ensuing cold front could also bring large hail and more heavy winds to a region that does not need that.
Now to the big political story of the day. A federal judge has dismissed the indictments against two of President Trump's political foes, at least for now. Former FBI Director James Comey was accused of lying to and obstructing Congress. New York Attorney General Letitia James was charged with one count each of bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution.
The judge said that President Trump's appointment of interim U.S. attorney Lindsey Halligan, who was leading the prosecution, was not valid. But the judge left open the possibility that Comey and James could be charged again by someone else. Here's U.S. attorney General Pam Bondi will. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAM BONDI, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: Be taking all available legal action, including an immediate appeal to hold Letitia James and James Comey accountable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: President Trump did not comment directly on the ruling, but CNN's Kristen Holmes asked the White House spokesperson for a response.
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KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: What was President Trump's reaction to those indictments against Comey and James being thrown out?
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: His reaction was -- we've seen this before. We've seen partisan judges take unprecedented steps to try to intervene in an accountability before. But we're not going to give up. And I know that the Department of Justice intends to appeal these rulings very soon, if they haven't already.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: James Comey responded to the judge decision in a video posted to Instagram.
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JAMES COMEY, FORMER FBI DIRECTOR: I know that Donald Trump will probably come after me again and my attitude's going to be the same. I'm innocent, I am not afraid, and I believe in an independent federal judiciary. The gift from our founders that protects us from a would be tyrant. It's time to stand up and show the fools who would frighten us, who would divide us, that we're made of stronger stuff.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Letitia James issued a statement saying, quote, I am heartened by today's victory and grateful for the prayers and support I've received from around the country. I remain fearless in the face of these baseless charges as I continue fighting for New Yorkers every single day.
The Pentagon is taking aim at another one of President Trump's perceived enemies. We're talking about Senator Mark Kelly, Democrat from Arizona. He and five other Democratic lawmakers released a video just last week warning of threats to the Constitution institution and reminding service members of their duty to disobey legal orders or disobey illegal orders. That's important, illegal orders.
Kelly, of course, is a retired Navy captain. Big space hero as well. The Pentagon is threatening to recall him to active duty to face a possible court martial or administrative punishment. Kelly says the administration's attempt to intimidate him will not
work. He posted on X quote, I've given too much to the country to be silenced by bullies who care more about their own power than protecting the Constitution.
Now to big breaking news overseas. Russia is launching deadly strikes on Ukraine's capital city. Ukrainian officials say that Russian ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and attack drones are now targeting residential buildings across Kyiv. State emergency service says at least two people have been killed, nine more wounded after a nine story building was hit. Kyiv's mayor says some of the areas of that city are also experiencing power and water supply outages.
And we have just learned in the last few minutes that a U.S. official telling CNN that U.S. and Russian officials are holding meetings in Abu Dhabi and they're discussing a proposed plan for ending the war and these talks will resume in the coming hours.
The U.S. President Donald Trump is expressing optimism on a peace deal between Kyiv and Moscow. Ukraine's president says negotiators reached a new draft framework during weekend talks which keep Ukraine's concerns on the table for discussion. President Zelenskyy is set to speak with European allies on Tuesday and says he will soon speak with President Trump as well.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Today our team reported on the new draft of steps and this is indeed the right approach. I will discuss sensitive issues with President Trump.
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We must also be aware that Russia will not ease the pressure on us, on Ukraine, on our people, these days, these weeks. We must be very attentive to air raid alerts and all similar threats of attack. We understand exactly who we are dealing with.
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MICHAELSON: The Trump administration's original peace plan included several key issues that Ukraine and its European allies found too favorable to Moscow. President Trump had also recently claimed that Ukraine had not expressed enough gratitude for the U.S. efforts to help the country.
Republican Congressman Don Bacon says he doesn't have faith that the Trump administration wants to protect Ukraine. Here's some of his conversation with my colleague Jim Sciutto.
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DON BACON (R-NE): In the end, the European plan that was set out yesterday was 10 times better than our plan, which is embarrassing, but I'm hoping common sense prevails. America is supposed to be the leader of the free world. We're not acting like it right now in this case. And we need to be a defender of Ukraine. That's a free country, a democracy that's being invaded. We should be clear that we're on their side.
So the President's comments on Ukraine have been reprehensible. I know for a fact Zelenskyy has said many times that he's been grateful. The people of Ukraine are grateful for our help, but he tends to blame Ukraine for Russia's invasion. I don't get it.
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MICHAELSON: Dominic Thomas is CNN's European affairs commentator. He's live with me right here in Los Angeles. Dominic, welcome back to The Story Is. We should point out that Don Bacon is retiring from Congress. So all of a sudden it's much easier to be very free in what you say when you don't have to worry about a primary base or anything like that. So that's an interesting and important piece of context there.
OK, so we're just hearing about these conversations between the U.S. and some of the Russian officials. The Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll is there in Abu Dhabi representing the United States. What do you make of that? How do you read that?
DOMINIC THOMAS, CNN EUROPEAN AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Well, they've met before. They've met there before. There are all sorts of meetings going on right now because there are so many stakeholders in this conversation. Obviously Ukraine and Russia, but beyond that, NATO leaders, the United States, the European Union, European leaders, all of them impacted by this multiyear long conflict that has been taking place and are eager to find some kind of peace resolution and put this to an end.
But only if it's something that is sustainable moving forward and makes the necessary statements about who was at the origin of this particular conflict.
MICHAELSON: Right. Because we heard about this draft proposal last week, and it pretty much gave Russia everything it wanted. And Ukraine was really irritated, and all of Ukraine's allies were irritated. But what kind of leverage does Ukraine have? President Trump has said, President Zelenskyy, you don't have the cards. Do they have cards?
THOMAS: It fluctuates because we've seen President Trump vacillate from unambiguous support for President Zelenskyy towards a more lukewarm approach to him and falling for certain Russian kind of talking points, because ultimately what he's interested in is a win, is a peace treaty that he can take responsibility for.
But that peace treaty will not be worth the paper it is signed on unless there is recognition that the invasion and occupation of Ukrainian territory is a violation of international law and unless measures are put in place to deter Russia from future incursions, not just in Ukraine, but in those particular areas of Europe and the European Union, such as the Baltics, that share land borders with Russia, that are particularly concerned about the ways in which this international conflict plays out domestically for President Putin.
MICHAELSON: So are you sort of suggesting that President Trump doesn't really care about the details, he just wants to have the headline, I ended the Russia, Ukraine War and let's all move on.
THOMAS: So that's partially true. Having said that the support for and coordination with NATO and Europe has been there in this conflict and that his presence and the U.S. presence in this is absolutely incontrovertible through NATO and through these other organizations. But the lack of consistency has undermined the process.
And at the end of the day, that process can only reach a sustainable outcome if certain boxes are check primarily those that will protect the sovereignty of Ukraine and other countries in that immediate sphere around Russia moving forward.
MCHAELSON: So part of what Ukraine has wanted for a long time in order to do what you're talking about is to get into NATO and to have European Union support as well.
THOMAS: Right.
MICHAELSON: Is that realistic? Is there really a scenario where that ends up happening?
THOMAS: Well, what's realistic is for a sovereign country to choose its future. That's been a simple talking point.
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We saw, ironically, Finland and Sweden join NATO, which I would argue is a gross miscalculation of Russia. Not only has Europe rearmed in a way that it has not done since World War II, but two other countries joined NATO. And Ukraine sees that as the path forward for a security agreement and through the European Union, a diplomatic protective shield, as well as, of course, being part of this incredible trading zone. So you can understand that.
And let's not forget that in 1994, Ukraine, in an agreement known as the Budapest Memorandum, signed with the U.S., with Russia, with Ukraine and the U.K. gave up its nuclear arsenal and transferred it to Russia in exchange for peace agreements. That has not held up. So you can understand why that security shield is absolutely imperative.
MICHAELSON: They don't trust anybody. You told us -- you told us were going to protect us. We give you all of this and look at what happened.
THOMAS: Exactly.
MICHAELSON: Why should we trust you now?
THOMAS: Right. And it's not just 2022 to now. This has been going on since 2014.
MICHAELSON: Yes. THOMAS: These are just simply the latest. And the country is in a situation of vulnerability, of course, because the impact of this conflict on the Ukrainian people, on the country, has been absolutely devastating and it must come to an end.
MICHAELSON: But isn't that E.U. membership or NATO membership just a deal breaker for Russia?
THOMAS: I'm not sure, because once again, there's some flood, there's fluctuation there. There has to be an understanding that Ukraine is going to expect some kind of security agreement. What is that going to look like? Russia is reluctant to sign on to troop increases in that particular region. So without troop increases, without an opportunity for Ukraine to develop its military, simply having the word of a U.S. President who one day will change is simply not enough.
NATO provides that shield and that protection. And I think without that, it's going to be very difficult for this agreement to be sustainable. And ultimately the European Union, European allies and NATO allies do not want that unless they can guarantee that there's a deterrence model in place to prevent this again moving forward.
MICHAELSON: What's a timeline on a deal? What sense are you getting right now? Are we close?
THOMAS: I'm not sure we're close to a sustainable deal. Are we close to some kind of interruption in conflict as the negotiations goes on? I think that's highly likely. This is a complex, multi-generational conflict that is unfolding here. And the fact that tonight we opened up with very significant bombings on the capital Kiev indicates the extent to which Russia is applying pressure. But it's still unclear as to what it sees as the full outcome of this beyond territorial occupation and the kinds of red lines that President Zelenskyy has talked about as being unsustainable for his people.
MICHAELSON: Dominic, thank you so much for coming in. We appreciate it. And just on a lighter note, it's great to see you out of the tie.
THOMAS: Yes.
MICHAELSON: And look at you in your turtleneck.
THOMAS: I did that for you. Yes.
MICHAELSON: The relaxed evening version of Dominic. Thank you so much.
THOMAS: All right.
MICHAELSON: Speaking of fun, are you a sumo wrestling fan?
THOMAS: Yes.
MICHAELSON: Are you? OK, well, I got something for you here. A Ukrainian refugee has won an elite level sumo wrestling competition in Japan. The 21-year-old emerged victorious from the November grand Sumo tournament on Sunday. In just three years since fleeing Russia's invasion.
He has rapidly risen in Japan's hyper-competitive world of professional sumo wrestling. Japanese media says after his latest win, the country's national sumo governing body is considering promoting him to the second highest title. Who knew, right?
THOMAS: Unbelievable.
MICHAELSON: You can do anything, I guess, if you get out of there.
Ahead, immigration enforcement is in focus. L.A. Mayor Karen Bass meeting with members of Congress over ICE activity in the city. They had a big hearing for the whole country today focused on LA. Karen Bass on set with me, next.
Plus, two former NBA players and more than two dozen other suspects in court today answering to charges in an alleged rigged poker scheme that's connected to the mob. CNN's John Miller joins me. Look at how the prosecution could play out.
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MAYOR KAREN BASS (D) LOS ANGELES: Immigrant families deserve justice. U.S. citizens deserve justice, and the Constitution requires it.
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MICHAELSON: That is L.A. Mayor Karen Bass leading a procession of activists to a congressional field hearing on Monday here in Los Angeles over the issue of immigration. You just saw her testifying at that field hearing. And now L.A. Mayor Bass joins us here on The Story Is. Welcome back to the show.
BASS: Thanks for having me on.
MICHAELSON: Of course, you're a former member of Congress.
BASS: That's right.
MICHAELSON: Back with members of Congress today.
BASS: Yes.
MICHAELSON: What was the main point of this?
BASS: Yes, well, we actually asked for a congressional investigation into what was going on with ICE, in particular some of the abuses that have taken place, but also specifically about U.S. citizens who have been detained and also people who are here legally who have the proper status and the proper papers.
And so I asked Robert Garcia, who was the former mayor of Long Beach. We are fortunate that he's from our area and he is the lead Democrat on the Government Reform Committee. And what we're attempting to do is establish the data and to do the investigation now while the abuses are occurring.
What typically happens is four or five years after the fact, then people want to look backwards. And we want the data compiled now so when the political winds change, that people will be held accountable for what they are doing right now.
MICHAELSON: So Congressman Garcia is the ranking member on the House Oversight Committee.
BASS: Right.
MICHAELSON: And so their website just today put up this dashboard.
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We want to put this up on the screen. And basically what it is people can submit instances that they feel were potential abuses of power by federal law enforcement when it comes to immigration. And as we scroll here, you can see some of those potential issues there that would then be investigated going forward. And you think this is crucial?
BASS: Compiling the record? Absolutely. Because it's my hope that in the future we will never, ever repeat this moment in history where you essentially use the U.S. military inappropriately, using them to deal with a domestic situation, which we have laws against, that you would just detain people.
There's over 5,000 people in the Los Angeles area alone that have been detained. Many of them have been deported and sent to other countries that they're not even countries that they're from, and sometimes don't even speak the language. This is an egregious assault on the American people, and I don't want it to ever see it happen again.
MICHAELSON: But you know that there's no evidence of any American citizens that have been deported. And if you're in this country illegally, you run that risk.
BASS: Not deported, but detained.
MICHAELSON: Right.
BASS: Why should a U.S. citizen even be detained? There was a young woman, a student, who came and provided testimony today. She was detained for three days because basically she was a victim of one of those sweeps where they would roll up a car, would roll up, jump out of the car and detain someone.
MICHAELSON: But if you're in this country illegally, you legally don't have a right to be here.
BASS: Right.
MICHAELSON: And the federal government has the right to kick you out. Right?
BASS: This is true, which is why we need to have comprehensive immigration reform, like we did in the 80s when the last time there was comprehensive immigration reform. What we did was we essentially said for everybody that is here now that is contributing constructively to the country.
I mean, you know, in Los Angeles, we have sectors of our economy that are dependent on immigrant labor, legal or illegal. We don't need for there to be mass deportations that takes place. It hurts our city.
MICHAELSON: But the criticism of that is that L.A., some people feel, is relying essentially on slave labor, that it's unregulated, that it's unfair to those people and it's unfair to the workers who are doing things the right way.
BASS: Well, let me just tell you that I absolutely recognize that immigrants, especially undocumented immigrants, can be exploited. It's not slave labor. And if it is, then the employer needs to be arrested and detained as opposed to the workers that are just barely trying to survive.
But, you know, there's a lot of reasons that people come in. You know, there's the whole situation of parents who bring in a child and the child, you know, came here innocently. Why should that child be deported to a country that they don't know anything about?
So until we address comprehensive immigration reform, we have these situations. But this administration has chosen to go about immigration in such a brutal, brutal manner. And it started in L.A., and as we predicted, it's moved to other cities.
MICHAELSON: Yes. And that's part of what I think you were trying to do here today is to tell the L.A. story because --
BASS: Right.
MICHAELSON: -- it is instructive to the rest of the country. And we have seen this happen in other cities.
BASS: Yeah, that's great.
MICHAELSON: What do you think the most important lesson that the rest of the country can learn from LA?
BASS: Well, the most important lesson is to resist this. This is an authoritarian move. The U.S. military is never supposed to be used in a domestic situation. What I am worried about probably the most is that this becomes normalized and that Americans accept military intervention in our cities. This should not happen. It was not needed here, and I'm sure it wasn't needed in any of the other cities where the military intervened.
MICHAELSON: Where were the Republicans today?
BASS: I don't know. That's a good question. I can tell you where they weren't. They were not at this hearing.
MICHAELSON: What does that say to you?
BASS: Well, it says to me that immigration reform is a hyper partisan issue. And it also says to me that the Republicans are still afraid of the administration. Although with what's happening with Marjorie Taylor Greene, I don't know, maybe there's a crack in that wall. Maybe the Republicans are actually going to stand up and govern.
MICHAELSON: I mean, you're a former member of Congress.
BASS: I am.
MICHAELSON: You know all these people, you know her, you know all them.
BASS: I do.
MICHAELSON: What do you think is going on there? I mean, what do you think's going on with her? And what do you think's going on with the Republican Party? Now reports that some might be resigning, which could give the Democrats the majority.
BASS: I actually believe what she said, which is she's tired of her life and her family being threatened. And Elex, I don't know if we ever had this conversation, but I remember before January 6th, my Republican colleagues off the record would say, yes, we don't agree with him. We know some of this stuff is crazy, but if we don't act like we agree, he'll primary us. Profound change.
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After January 6, they said yes, we know the stuff he's saying we don't agree with, but we're afraid of our family and our personal safety. That is deep that they felt that. And so when I heard her say that was consistent with what my former colleague said.
MICHAELSON: Lastly, it's Thanksgiving. What are you most grateful for?
BASS: Oh, gosh, I'm grateful to be in the city that I love, that I've been born and raised in and all that we have to offer. Very grateful for my family and their patience. But I will tell you, though, that's actually not my focus this Thanksgiving.
My focus this Thanksgiving are on the families who have missing family members who in some instances don't know where their family members are because they've been detained. Maybe they've been deported, maybe they haven't. My thoughts this Thanksgiving are with the families in the Palisades, Malibu and Altadena or who are not in their homes and who are worried that the clock is running out on the rental assistance that they've been giving.
I've called on banks to extend the forbearance, which means that people shouldn't have to pay their mortgage in addition to rent while they're rebuilding. And I'm happy to say that the Bank of America responded and they are
going to extend it for two more years. Because people, you know, this is a very, very tough time. Holidays are tough even under the best of circumstances. But in a situation where you have experienced terrible tragedy and grief, it gets accentuated during holiday season.
MICHAELSON: Indeed, we're thinking of them. But we're also grateful for you for coming in.
BASS: Thank you.
MICHAELSON: Thank you so much, Madam Mayor. We really appreciate it.
BASS: Thanks for having me on.
MICHAELSON: More of The Story Is right after this.
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ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Well, welcome back to THE STORY IS. I'm Elex Michaelson.
Let's take a look at today's top stories.
At least six people have been killed by a Russian bombardment on Kyiv overnight. Ukrainian officials say Russia used missiles and drones to target residential areas across the capital city.
The mayor of Kyiv says some areas are also experiencing power and water supply shortages from that assault.
The controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is set to officially close its operation inside the enclave. GHF suspended its work late last month at the start of the ceasefire.
The U.S. And Israeli backed foundation had been operating since late May, but limited aid for desperate Palestinians led to chaotic scenes. And authorities in Gaza accused Israeli forces of fatally shooting dozens of civilians near one of the sites in Rafah.
The U.S. has now formally labeled the Venezuelan president a member of a foreign terrorist organization, that designation kicked in on Monday. It gives the Trump administration more power to go after Nicolas Maduro, his allies, assets and infrastructure.
Legal experts say the designation does not explicitly allow the use of lethal force against him. But Trump administration officials claim they now have more options for launching strikes inside Venezuela.
Stefano Pozzebon picks up the story from there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: The Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, did not personally react to the designation of several members of the Maduro government, including the president himself, Maduro himself, as members of a supposed foreign terrorist organization called the Cartel De Los Soles, which is a collective name that members of the press and diplomats here in Venezuela used to refer to the fact that many government officials in this country are accused of being involved in narco trafficking.
In his weekly TV show late on Monday, Maduro was more keen to speak about other issues concerning Venezuela when it came to geopolitics. He's making the reference to talks that he had with Xi Jinping rather than addressing these new designation.
Earlier on Monday, his government wrote in a statement that those accusations are laughable lies.
But it's important to point out that Maduro, especially in his shows and his appearances as he appears on TV here almost on a daily basis, is really portraying the message that nothing of that pressure coming down from Washington is breaking through, that nothing of this pressure is changing anything for regular Venezuelans who are going on, frankly, with their daily lives even after 16 weeks of a standoff between Washington and Caracas.
And all of this is happening as our team in Washington was able to confirm that the White House has been given an option to hold a direct phone call between Nicolas Maduro himself and the president, Donald Trump. A direct phone call that would lead, of course, to more formal negotiations, even though, as we just said, Maduro has just been designated a member of a foreign terrorist organization.
At this moment, late on Monday night, we understand that President Donald Trump has not made a final decision on whether to take that call.
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POZZEBON: Although he did say that he was open to speaking in person with Maduro in the past.
For CNN, this is Stefano Pozzebon -- Caracas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAELSON: The head coach of the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers Chauncey Billups, has pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from an alleged gambling scheme. He's accused of helping to lure unsuspecting gamblers to a mob-run poker game that they didn't know was fixed.
30 other people charged in the case also entered pleas in federal court in Brooklyn on Monday. Billups, currently on leave from the Blazers, and posting a $5 million Bond to stay out of jail.
CNN chief law enforcement analyst John Miller joins us now from New York. John, welcome to THE STORY IS for the first time. JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, thanks for
having me.
MICHAELSON: So how will this case likely be prosecuted? What's next here?
MILLER: Well, I mean, they were all in court today. Who's going to get bail? Who's not going to get bail? Who's going to enter a plea? All of that. But that's 31 defendants.
What is likely to happen is between now and September, if that's the trial date that the judge sticks with, you're going to see people look at the evidence in the discovery. They're going to -- you're going to get your guilty pleas, people who just want to get this over with and get the best deal they can.
You may see people become cooperators and, you know, go to work for the government as witnesses in return for leniency.
But it's a gambling case. It's not a narcotics conspiracy where they're facing 65 years in jail. So I think you're going to see a lot of guilty pleas. Who's ever left and probably the big names, the sports figures, will likely go to trial. But I think you'll see a much smaller crowd.
MICHAELSON: What do we know about potential connections to organized crime here?
Well, this is a remarkable story of organized crime because you have gambling, which is an old staple of organized crime going back to Capone, ok.
MICHAELSON: Right.
MILLER: But you also have in New York City from Greenwich Village to the Upper East Side to East Hampton, with the swells out there during the summer, you've got -- you've got poker games being controlled by the Gambino family, the Lucchese family, the Genovese family.
You've got multiple organized crime families involved in these things. And the games are all rigged.
And using these sports figures, you know, the coach from the Portland Trail Blazers; another former player, Chauncey Billups.
(CROSSTALKING)
MILLER: Exactly. Those were called the face cards. Those were the faces that they say, hey, he's going to be at the game. You're going to meet him, you're going to love him. That was to draw the gamblers in figuring, well, if those guys are there, it must be a legit game.
Here's the problem with that. They weren't just the draw to get people to the table.
According to the indictment, they were willing and active participants in the actual cheating. They knew the signals. They knew the plays. They have text messages in the court documents showing them saying, no, I know how to do this. Which makes them more than just, you know, catnip.
MICHAELSON: Which is crazy if you think about how much money they've made and the fact that they really probably didn't need to do this. So what message does this send to others in the sports world, do you think?
MILLER: Well, in the sports world, you know, gambling is a complicated thing. Obviously you can't bet on your team. You can't bet against your team. You shouldn't bet in your league. All of that.
And if they get that, that's one thing. But I think there's this perception that, you know, if it's off site, if it's a poker game, if it's something else that it's probably fair game. You know, these are high testosterone people. These are people who like to take risks. It's why they're in sports.
Gambling is probably a natural side act when you -- when you hear the stories of the card games on the team plane and the bus and what they bet on, on the side.
It's not surprising, but I think it's one of those things. You know, there's an old saying about this, which is when -- how do you know when a rooster fight is fixed.
MICHAELSON: How?
MILLER: When the roosters fighting a duck. How do you know when its fixed by the mob?
MICHAELSON: How?
MILLER: When the duck wins. And what I'm saying here is when you're a well-known sports figure and you walk into a room and the people running the game you know, have the look and feel of people who are members of organized crime. And, you know, most of the people in that business kind of exude that vibe. You should know that you're probably getting into something that is going to be a little less savory than you think it is.
And once you are, and that's what's alleged in this case, not just a player, but you're a part of that. It gets back to your earlier question.
They make a lot of money, and if they are at a gambling game where they're part of the cheating team, it probably means they have a gambling problem too --
[01:39:51]
MICHAELSON: Yes.
MILLER: -- because they need more money. MICHAELSON: And we know so many sports figures like Michael Jordan,
Charles Barkley, others well known for gambling large scales of money during the season and off season on other things as well. This is not an isolated thing. But these people obviously are facing criminal charges because of it.
MICHAELSON: John Miller, thanks so much. Those of us in Los Angeles still miss you at the LAPD. It's not the same without you. But it is great to have you joining us from CNN in New York.
MILLER: Well, thanks for having me. Miss L.A., too.
MICHAELSON: John, we got to get you out here sometime soon.
The woman institutionalized for the 2014 slender man stabbing is now back in police custody. Morgan Geyser who stabbed her then sixth grade classmate 19 times to appease a fictional Internet Boogeyman, now awaits extradition back to Wisconsin after she fled from a group home on Saturday.
Police say that Geyser cut off her bracelet monitor, took a bus to Illinois with an unidentified adult. She was found 150 miles away at a truck stop south of Chicago.
At first, she refused to give police her name, saying she had quote, "done something really bad".
Geyser's scheduled for a court hearing in Illinois on Tuesday.
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MICHAELSON: Jimmy Cliff, who helped to popularize reggae music, has died at the age of 81. Born during a hurricane, Cliff had his first hit at age 14 and later starred in the 1972 movie "The Harder They Come". He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame back in 2010. We send our love to his family.
You're watching THE STORY IS. Our international viewers, WORLDSPORT is next. But here in North America, we've got a treat. Segun Oduolowu is here for the first time talking entertainment, the "Wicked" at the box office. He wore his green.
Plus, what is the greatest comedy of all time?
We'll be right back as we look there live from Burbank, the Warner Brothers Studio.
[01:41:57]
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bring me the broom of the Wicked Witch of the West so I have proof.
(END VIDEO CLIP) MICHAELSON: That is part of the trailer for "Wicked, for Good", which brought in $226 million across the world over the weekend. The sequel wraps up the original story of the Wicked Witch of the West.
More than half of the films earnings are from the U.S. box office alone, a good sign for Hollywood after a historically slow October.
Joining me now is entertainment journalist Segun Oduolowu, did I almost get it?
SEGUN ODUOLOWU, ENTERTAINMENT JOURNALIST: Close? You were close.
MICHAELSON: Ok. Do it for me, so.
ODUOLOWU: Oduolowu, so my mom, who's watching, Oduolowu you know I was going to represent and wear the green for Elphaba.
MICHAELSON: Right. You're more Elphaba than Glinda.
ODUOLOWU: Oh. Always more -- Listen, Cynthia Erivo could sing the dictionary to me and I will pay to watch.
MICHAELSON: Is she not like the most talented singer out there? It's unbelievable.
ODUOLOWU: No, it's baffling, Elex. And more importantly, a wise person sitting at this table said it's all about the money, baby. And that is exactly what "Wicked" is about.
This is all about the money. Like it, love it, hate it -- whatever.
MICHAELSON: Well, and the decision to put it into two movies -- was all about the money, too.
ODUOLOWU: It's a money grab.
MICHAELSON: It was not really necessary for there to be two wicked.
ODUOLOWU: No? Well, no, there wasn't. The play itself is two hours long split with a 15-minute intermission. We got a year intermission and five hours' worth of film. But this is Hollywood. Expect a "Wicked 3" like so. Please, everyone.
MICHAELSON: Find some way.
ODUOLOWU: I don't want to who's going to be a part of it somehow. I don't want to spoil it for people who haven't seen it. But Dorothy makes a little bit of an appearance.
So do not, don't think that they won't go after the cash.
MICHAELSON: Ok, so the big story with "Wicked" is that, you know, the Rotten Tomatoes, which does both the critics score and the people score. Critics score 69 percent. We got all these bad reviews. We talked about that last week. The people score 96 percent. So a huge disconnect. ODUOLOWU: Years ago when I hosted a show for Rotten Tomatoes as a film
critic, people don't understand that Rotten Tomatoes is an amalgamation of critics, a bunch of critics. So people weighing in.
And again, they have their own biases, what they like, what they don't like. But it's really about the people and the audience score is what you should really go on if you're going to go or take someone to watch it.
The critics, they're ink-stained wretches that write for, you know what they like, what they don't. But if the critics score, which is -- I'm sorry -- with the audience score, which is around 90 plus and its certified fresh, take -- go see it if you want to.
MICHAELSON: Do you like it?
ODUOLOWU: I would say that it is wicked for mid. It's not for good, it's for mid. It's the songs in the second half are not as big or as enjoyable as the first half of the movie. There's a lot that was thrown in there. It's a darker themed movie.
I have a five year 5-year-old that I would not take to see this film, just because the themes are a little bit too much for children.
So for me it was mid. It's ok, I see what they're setting up for Maybe a "wicked 3", as I said, just to just jump the shark.
And again there are about 15 wizard of oz books that were originally written. They've got enough source material. If they want to play this out, they will.
MICHAELSON: Meanwhile, Simon Cowell is back because we haven't seen enough of him, apparently.
ODUOLOWU: Never. And Netflix put out a trailer. He's doing another boy band show, this time as a Netflix thing. You think of him with, you know, "X Factor", and he helped launch One Direction. What do we know about this show?
ODUOLOWU: So this is produced by his production company, Psycho. And you're going to see a part of side of Simon Cowell that you've really never seen before.
A lot of the times it's just him, the judge, right. On "America's Got Talent "or "American Idol", he's just sitting there and he's just giving withering responses to people who can sing or can't.
But his love is his eye for talent, is finding those singers, those bands. You mentioned One Direction. Fifth Harmony is another band that he found.
So he loves doing that. And you're to see this in this Netflix special, which airs December 6th. Or it starts -- it comes to us in December 6th.
[01:49:47] ODUOLOWU: And you're going to see parts of Simon him with his battle with health. You're going to see him hooked up to an IV. You're going to see him searching and working with his team of people to find out who's going to be that next big pop star.
This is what he loves. Whether or not we will love seeing Simon kind of in real life, as opposed to just, you know, two dimensions. It's going to be interesting.
MICHAELSON: And are we in a different era where you can actually launch somebody this way? Because it's been a while since one of these shows launched somebody that was mega, mega, mega famous.
Segun, stay with us.
ODUOLOWU: We'll do. We have more?
Here's the question. What is the greatest comedy movie of all time? "Variety" has a list; you may not like the number one. We'll get into it when we come back.
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MICHAELSON: We're back with entertainment journalist Segun Big-O. And this is the big question. What is the best comedy of all time?
Well, variety.com put together a list of the 100 greatest comedies of all time. According to them, here's their top five.
At five, "Waiting for Guffman", Christopher Guest; number four, "The Great Dictator", number 3 Annie Hall, from Woody Allen. Number two, some like it hot and at number one, the Naked Gun from the files of police squad. The Leslie Nielsen flick, which is very funny but funniest movie of all time?
ODUOLOWU: No, this list is an absolute travesty/mockery. Ok, first and foremost, that's not even the best Christopher Guest film. "Waiting for Guffman" is not better than "best in Show".
"The Naked Gun". There is no naked gun without first "Airplane", which is way down on the list, but the funniest movie, the greatest feat of comedic genius ever is Eddie Murphy in The Nutty Professor, playing multiple characters, having a conversation with themselves.
They put the Nutty Professor on there, but they put the Jerry Lee Lewis -- Jerry Lewis, version of it, not the Eddie Murphy one.
There are so many omissions. The mission that, to me is absolutely madness is "Tropic Thunder". You cannot make that movie today.
MICHAELSON: No you can't.
ODUOLOWU: It is the funniest movie that they kept off the list. Shame on them. They kept off Friday too. And there's other things about it that make me mad, but yes.
MICHAELSON: Clearly they needed a little more. --
ODUOLOWU: They should call us. Yes, maybe a little bit more diversity in the thing, right?
MICHAELSON: This is whole thing.
ODUOLOWU: Just a tad.
MICHAELSON: Yes, yes. I don't know. Just your funniest movie of all time.
M1; Oh, Eddie Murphy, "Nutty Professor". And then yes.
MICHAELSON: The movie that makes me laugh the most is Austin Powers. But I don't think that's the funniest movie of all time. I just love it.
ODUOLOWU: It sure isn't "The Naked Gun", that's for sure.
MICHAELSON: Thanks for watching. We'll see you tomorrow. More of THE STORY IS.
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