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The Story Is with Elex Michaelson
Trump Addresses the Nation on Prime Time; Search for Person of Interest in Brown University Shooting Enters Sixth Day; Nick Reiner Makes First Court Appearance in Los Angeles; Australian PM Announces Crackdown on Antisemitism in Wake of Shooting; Four Arrested in Alleged New Year's Eve Terror Plot; Oscars to Leave Broadcast TV for YouTube Streaming in 2029. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired December 18, 2025 - 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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LAURA COATES, CNN HOST: Thank you all for watching. Our coverage continues.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: THE STORY IS Trump in prime time.
What did we learn from the presidential address? CNN's Ron Brownstein here live in our studio.
THE STORY IS Nick Reiner makes his first court appearance to face charges for murdering his parents Rob and Michele. The new video CNN just obtained.
THE STORY IS California terror plot foiled. First assistant U.S. attorney Bill Elise live here in studio with new details.
And THE STORY IS Oscars headed to YouTube. Variety's Clayton Davis here with the big changes that are coming to the big show.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Live from Los Angeles, THE STORY IS with Elex Michaelson.
MICHAELSON: Welcome to THE STORY IS. I'm Elex Michaelson.
The top story is President Trump's address to the nation. He started by blaming his predecessor Joe Biden for things like inflation and rising health care costs. He even bragged about border security, the end of the war in Gaza, lower prices, and for prescription drugs. But it was tariffs and the economy where the president focused a lot of his energy, predicting that the best is yet to come.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: After 11 months, our border is secure, inflation is stopped, wages are up, prices are down. Our nation is strong. America is respected and our country is back stronger than ever before. We're poised for an economic boom the likes of which the world has never seen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Many of the president's claims did not reflect what Americans are saying in the latest polls, which put his approval rating in the economy in the mid to low 30s. Still, President Trump largely refused to acknowledge any weakness in the economy on his watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: After years of record-setting falling incomes, our policies are boosting take home pay at a historic pace. Under Biden, real wages plummeted by $3,000. Under Trump, the typical factory worker is seeing a wage increase of $1,300. For construction workers, it's $1,800. For miners, we're bringing back clean, beautiful coal, it's $3,300. And for the first time in years, wages are rising much faster than inflation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: CNN's fact-check team pointed out that President Trump repeated numerous false claims during his speech, something that Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin of Maryland agreed with.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): It seemed as much a manic episode as a speech. I could not believe the delivery, but on the substance, it was like opposite day in third grade. It was just the exact inverse of the truth about everything. This manic scrambling episode of firing a bunch of phony statistics at people is a reflection of the fact that the country understands that completely, and they understand the president has made a hash out of everything with his terrible, unconstitutional tariffs.
Then he tries to compensate for the tariffs' ruinous effects on rural America by throwing money at farmers. And now he's trying to throw money at soldiers. But that's not how you build a strong economy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Tens of millions of Americans are about to see their health insurance premiums skyrocket with Obamacare subsidies expiring at the end of the year. But President Trump does not want the government giving money to insurers under Obamacare. He says he'd rather it go directly to Americans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The current unaffordable care act was created to make insurance companies rich. It was bad health care at much too high a cost. And you see that now in the steep increase in premiums being demanded by the Democrats. And they are demanding those increases. And it's their fault. It is not the Republicans' fault, it's the Democrats' fault. It's the unaffordable care act. And everybody knew it. (END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: The Republican controlled Congress punted on the issue of health care. A live picture from Capitol Hill, possible House vote on extending Obamacare subsidies is on hold for the holidays. Earlier, several swing district Republicans, frustrated by the inaction, went for sort of a nuclear option. They joined Democrats to try to push through a health care fix. Their efforts fell short.
CNN's congressional correspondent Manu Raju asked Republican lawmakers about that revolt.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What do you make of the fact, I mean, these swing district members, you know, are forcing this vote?
REP. ERIC BURLISON (R-MO): To me, they're stabbing the rest of the party in the back. We took a bold stand, and I think the president is absolutely right. Like throwing money at insurance companies doesn't solve the problem. This is, to me, a betrayal to the rest of us Republicans.
RAJU: Is the speaker out of step with your constituents on this issue?
REP. BRIAN FITZPATRICK (R-PA): On this issue, yes, because we did what was in the interest of my bosses back home.
RAJU: How would you characterize the speaker's handling of the issue of ACA subsidies?
REP. NICK LALOTA (R-NY): He needs to do better. He needs to allow for a vote that both addresses the short and long term issues of Obamacare.
SEN. LISA MURKOWSKI (R-AK): When people feel that they have counted on or waited for their Congress to act on an issue that they feel is a huge priority, and they see no action. There's consequence to that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: The president's speech comes as approval numbers reach new lows. Some of the latest polls show rising prices are causing real hits to his popularity. The NPR-Marist poll finds just 36 percent of adults like the job he's doing on the economy, which is the lowest rating President Trump has received in the six years this poll has asked that question.
A just released CNN Poll of Polls put President Trump's overall job approval at 39 percent, with 58 percent disapproving.
Joining me now to talk about all this is Ron Brownstein, CNN senior political analyst, Bloomberg opinion columnist. Great to have you live in studio.
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Good to be here.
MICHAELSON: Thanks so much for doing this.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Thanks for having me. Yes.
MICHAELSON: Presidential address brings you in here.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Right.
MICHAELSON: What was your big takeaway?
BROWNSTEIN: You know, to borrow the word from the congressman, it was kind of manic in delivery. But when you kind of boil it down, it was really Ronald Reagan's message from 1982. Stay the course. Tariffs are great. I'm still going to try to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which in polls is more popular than it's ever been. Inflation has been stopped. A boom is coming. Basically, you don't know how good you have it, but you will eventually.
If I was a Republican worried that the voters think that he is not focusing enough on the problem that they elected him to solve above all, which is their cost of living, I would not have come away reassured by that speech.
MICHAELSON: You know, a speech like this in prime time, when you ask all the networks for air time, is something you don't get to do that often, and usually it rises to a certain level where something new is announced. He announced that he's going to be giving $1,776 to certain members of the military, about a million people, which I'm sure they're grateful for as a warrior bonus.
Besides that, not a lot of news from this. I asked on X the question, what did you learn from this? And here's some of the responses that we got. Kind of all over the map.
BROWNSTEIN: OK.
MICHAELSON: Put some of these up on the screen. This came in from Garrett. "President Trump's speech tonight validates why I and numerous others before the believe the Democrats will win the 2026 midterms." This one from a Republican viewer, "700 or $1,776 for each service member? Kind of cool." And even Governor Newsom's press team responded to my question. "That grandma is getting her health care ripped away." Bringing it back to the issue of health care.
What did we learn from this?
BROWNSTEIN: He talked a little -- he previewed there might be some policy on housing affordability next year, but mostly it was, you know, what I learned from this is something we kind of already knew. There is never a new Trump. There is never a turning the page. He has a series of arguments that he makes, about elites, about immigrants, about cultural issues about the Affordable Care Act. And, you know, there's an audience for that. He's shown there is an
audience for that. But what got him over the top in 2024 was not that audience. It was another four or five points of the electorate, disproportionately tilted toward low propensity voters, toward younger voters, black men, Latino men and women who voted for him primarily because they felt their cost of living was out of control under Biden, and they thought he was going to do better.
And you see, even in FOX polling now, Elex, roughly three times as many people say that his economic policies are making their life harder than easier. It's like 3 to 1 ratio. And, you know, there was just very little acknowledgment that the country may be looking for something a little different than what he's giving them.
MICHAELSON: And those voters you're talking about probably aren't watching CNN.
BROWNSTEIN: No.
MICHAELSON: And they're not watching FOX News either.
BROWNSTEIN: Right.
MICHAELSON: They're watching their own receipts at the grocery store. Right?
BROWNSTEIN: The problem, the core -- without a doubt, the core problem of his second term is that the public faith in his ability to manage the economy has collapsed. In his first term, almost always half or more of the country approved of his handling of the economy and his approval rating on the economy was almost always higher than his overall approval rating, which meant it was a floor lifting him up.
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As you look now on the screen, you know, his approval rating on the economy now is routinely lower than it ever was in his first term. And this is something that is really hard to talk people out of. It's like really hard to convince people, you know, who are you going to believe me or your lying wallet? Right?
MICHAELSON: Right. And it was a huge problem for Joe Biden,
BROWNSTEIN: Right.
MICHAELSON: Who talked about Bidenomics, and he said inflation is transitory and people didn't belie that message at all.
BROWNSTEIN: He said tonight inflation was stopped. Was that his exact phrase? You know, the other thing, Biden had two big responses. Initially he kind of said, well, it's not really as bad as you think, or it's getting better. The other one was to focus on investment. All the investment he was bringing in, the new factories. He was hoping. In fact, he did bring in a lot of investment. He did open a lot of factories were built on EVs or chips. Trump is doing the same thing. The problem is, is that when people are
worried about prices, jobs and investment are not an antidote. If you're an Hispanic guy working in Las Vegas and your rent is too high and your grocery bill is too high, the fact that an A.I. center is opening somewhere in the southeast really isn't that relevant to what you're worried about.
MICHAELSON: And those don't always -- are not always felt right away. It sometimes takes some time for that investment to be felt. The issue of health care.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
MICHAELSON: How important is that? Because that for a lot of people has been a voting issue as well.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes. You know, look, as we talked about before, overall, the image of the Democratic Party is as weak, I think, now as it has been since the late '80s and early '90s, since before the Bill Clinton reformation. But even at their lowest points, and they've improved in the kind of the hydraulic fashion of people losing faith in Republicans, Democrats are gaining. But even at their lowest points, the public trusted them more on health care than on any other issue.
They have a substantial advantage over Republicans on health care and the end of these ACA subsidies are coming after the one big beautiful bill impose the largest cuts on Medicaid ever that will ultimately cost something around 10 million people their coverage. We're talking 15 million, 16 million people are going to lose coverage overall through their actions this year. You know, they came in in 2025 and certainly in 2024 they ran, we're not going to repeat the mistakes of the past. We're not going to make a head on attack on the Affordable Care Act.
And yet they've kind of backed into that by going after both pillars of it, the ACA exchanges and Medicaid, at a time when they're also cutting taxes that predominantly benefit people at the top, and they have basically set themselves up for the same argument that Bill Clinton used against Newt Gingrich. They're cutting government programs that funds health care for the middle class to fund tax cuts for the rich. And that is a bad place to be in.
MICHAELSON: Although sometimes Republicans have won on the health care issue, which is how Newt Gingrich got in there in the first place as speaker of the House.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
MICHAELSON: Lastly, quickly, your new column on Bloomberg today is about sort of the change in demographics and how many seats are actually up for grabs because we have seen these huge swing elections back in 1994, huge swing, 2010, huge swing, 2018, huge swing.
Can we even do that anymore? Are the districts so gerrymandered that you can't do that? BROWNSTEIN: And not only are they gerrymandered, but the basic point
of this story was looking at the educational, racial and income characteristics of the districts, and the parties now have almost completely reversed positions from where they were in the early '90s. Democrats dominate districts that are diverse and well-educated. Republicans dominate districts that are predominantly white and predominantly non-college, basically reflecting the presidential level coalition.
And each party has established so much of a hold over its stronghold that there are very few seats left for them to squeeze out from the other side. And what that means is it is harder to have swings, because the swings are when you have mismatched districts, when there are a lot of blue collar -- Democrats in blue-collar districts, in '94 and 2010, they got swept away. A lot of Republicans in white-collar districts. In 2018, they got swept away.
What's left is pretty grinding trench warfare. You know, the last three Congresses, neither party has had a majority of more than 10 seats. That has never happened before in American history in three consecutive sessions. And that's kind of the world we live in.
MICHAELSON: You think about some of those other swing districts or swing elections are 40, 50 seat swings, and we're probably never going to see that again, at least not for a while.
BROWNSTEIN: Absolutely.
MICHAELSON: Ron Brownstein, thank you for coming in.
BROWNSTEIN: Good to be here.
MICHAELSON: I feel like I just got a great class from a great professor. This was really fun.
BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.
MICHAELSON: I appreciate it.
On to some news and this is, you know, such sad news. The manhunt for the person of interest in the Brown University shooting now entering its sixth day. Police say the description of the gunman provided by witnesses matches the description of the person authorities are looking for. Meanwhile, there are growing questions about the limited number of security cameras around the building where that attack happened.
Joining me now is CNN's Brian Todd, who's following all the developments from Providence, Rhode Island -- Brian.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. Elex, we have new information tonight on this intensifying manhunt and on a second person that police are looking for to get him to try to help them identify the real person of interest that they are looking for in this shooting.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CHIEF OSCAR L. PEREZ JUNIOR, PROVIDENCE POLICE DEPARTMENT: We still don't know what the person is or who he is.
TODD (voice-over): Still no break in the manhunt for the gunman behind the deadly Brown University shooting. Five days after the shooting, police asking for the public's help finding a person who may have crossed paths with the person they're looking for, saying they don't believe the second person is necessarily involved in any type of criminal contact.
PEREZ: We have video footage of the -- that determines to us and detectives that can tell that this person was in the vicinity where the subject of interest was that we wanted -- that we actually have an interest on.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How close?
PEREZ: Close, close enough that we feel that we need to speak with them.
TODD (voice-over): Police also releasing this map today, showing the person of interest's movements before and after the shooting, and the area police are focused on searching. Officials have been pressed as to why Brown University didn't have surveillance video of the building where the shooting took place.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How does a multimillion dollar school not have a bunch of cameras in the hallway?
TODD (voice-over): Providence Mayor Brett Smiley telling CNN.
MAYOR BRETT SMILEY, PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND: This building is on the literal edge of the campus, and the person of interest walked out the door that as soon as he stepped onto the sidewalk, was no longer on campus.
TODD (voice-over): We spoke to some students about how they felt about the lack of cameras. Joseph McGonagle Junior is a friend of the deceased student, Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov. He says Mohammed Aziz sent him these two photos from the same room where the shooting occurred less than an hour before the shooting. The caption reads, quote, "Got dragged to an econ review." He wasn't even supposed to be there. McGonigle says this is the only building without a security guard beyond the lobbies.
JOSEPH MCGONAGLE JUNIOR, BROWN UNIVERSITY STUDENT: Barus and Holley was one of the only buildings that didn't have something like that where they didn't have, like, a security guard waiting there out, like checking you in at the lobby.
TODD (voice-over): He thinks there should be cameras.
MCGONAGLE: If I'm being honest, this is probably the worst building for this to happen in specifically because of these sorts of failures.
TODD (voice-over): Graduate student Ref Bari was just eight feet from the door where the gunman came in.
REF BARI, BROWN UNIVERSITY GRADUATE STUDENT: I mean, no question. Of course, there should be cameras in the physics side of the building. That's without a doubt, right. And, you know, cameras, security, lock doors, all of this is like on people's minds right now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD (on-camera): The chief of the Brown University Police, Rodney Chapman, did confirm the account from student Joseph McGonagle Junior, that there was no security guard in this building at the time of the shooting. And we reached out to school officials for their response to McGonagle's claim that this constituted a security failure, and they have not gotten back to us -- Elex.
MICHAELSON: Brian Todd reporting for us from Providence, Rhode Island.
Brian, thank you so much.
The Los Angeles County medical examiner confirms that Rob and Michele Reiner died as their son, Nick, makes his first court appearance. The latest on the double murder case ahead. Plus, President Trump bashes some of his predecessors in new plaques outside the West Wing. And they read a lot like his social media posts.
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MICHAELSON: Nick Reiner made his first court appearance Wednesday, where his arraignment was set for January 7th. He's accused of fatally stabbing his parents, Rob and Michele Reiner.
CNN's Nick Watt has the latest on the investigation
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NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Around 8:20 p.m. Sunday, that's Nick Reiner, wandering into and out of a gas station. This footage was just obtained by CNN. Moments after he leaves, surveillance cameras in the parking lot pick up police activity. And right there is where Reiner was arrested as we see in these LAPD photographs. Arrested on suspicion of murdering his parents.
They were last seen together Saturday night at Conan O'Brien's holiday party, where Rob and Nick Reiner reportedly argued.
CASEY JORDAN, CRIMINOLOGIST AND BEHAVIORAL ANALYST: By all accounts, Rob and Michele asked Conan if they could bring their son Nick to this party. He was not originally on the invitation list, which shows that they were trying to work with him. They were being inclusive.
WATT: Homicide detectives would like to speak to partygoers according to a source.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your honor, if we could, I would like to ask for a continuance.
WATT: This morning, Nick Reiner, now charged with two counts of first- degree murder, made his first appearance in court.
CNN's Stephanie Elam was in the room.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Nick Reiner appeared very calm in the court. He was seated behind glass and he appeared to be wearing a long blue vest, and his hands were shackled. The only thing that we had heard Nick Reiner say was, "yes, your honor."
WATT: When asked by the judge if he was OK with his arraignment being pushed to January 7th, here's his lawyer.
ALAN JACKSON, NICK REINER'S ATTORNEY: This is a devastating tragedy that has befallen the Reiner family. We all recognize that. Our hearts go out to the entire Reiner family. There are very, very complex and serious issues that are associated with this case. They need to be thoroughly but very carefully dealt with.
WATT: "Words cannot even begin to describe the unimaginable pain we are experiencing every moment of the day," reads a statement today from Romy Reiner, who found her parents Sunday afternoon, and Jake, the eldest of the three siblings. "We now ask for respect and privacy, for speculation to be tempered with compassion and humanity."
Now, according to the LAPD, the Reiners were found in the master bedroom area of the house that is right behind me. Detectives, officers looked for anybody else in the house. Victims, suspects. They did not find anybody else. And we've also heard from the medical examiner's office, according to the records, both the Reiners died from, quote, "multiple sharp force injuries." Stabbed to death.
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Nick Watt, CNN, Brentwood, California.
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MICHAELSON: Damaging winds knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people in the Pacific Northwest. Gusts of more than 100 miles an hour were recorded in Oregon, Wyoming, and Washington. Well, the worst has passed the area. Another system is now rolling in.
CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar has the forecast.
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Roughly 10 million people are under flood alerts in anticipation of the next system that is expected to impact portions of the Pacific Northwest. Now many of these areas got a little bit of a lull on Wednesday, but that next system is already going to start to creep in the very early hours of Thursday. And it really begins to fill in, especially across Oregon and northern California as we push into Thursday evening and especially into Friday.
Now we are expecting pretty high amounts of snow across areas of the Rockies, Cascades, and the Olympics. You could be looking at additional two to four feet of snow on top of what they've already had. In terms of rain, the heaviest is certainly going to be along the coastline here, where an extra one to three inches is not out of the question. And while that may not sound like all that much, it's on top of all of the rain they've had.
And keep in mind, many of these areas have had record rainfall at some point over the last week. So any additional rainfall is just going to exacerbate a lot of the flooding concerns. Another thing to watch out for are the very strong winds. Look at some of these wind gusts that we've already picked up 60, 70, 80-mile-per-hour wind gusts. And we are still anticipating getting some high winds over the next 24 to 48 hours.
That's why you have all of these high wind alerts in effect, not just in the Pacific Northwest, but also spreading out to the east. But the biggest concern for the Pacific Northwest is since the ground is already saturated, it really doesn't take all that strong of a wind, 40, 50-mile-per-hour wind is plenty to be able to bring some trees down and causing some power outages.
MICHAELSON: Our thanks to Allison.
Coming up, a crime scene reopens. CNN visits the site of the Bondi Beach massacre as the Australian government takes new action to combat antisemitism. That's next here on THE STORY IS.
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ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Australia is stepping up in the fight against antisemitism in the wake of the Bondi Beach massacre.
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The prime minister says new laws will crack down on people who spread hate, division, and radicalization. And that includes preachers who promote violence.
Hate speech will also become a, quote, "aggravating factor" in sentencing.
Meanwhile, police have begun reopening the site of the shooting, and CNN's Will Ripley was there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Just moments ago, police reopened the bridge that was sort of the epicenter of the Bondi Beach massacre, because that's where the two gunmen, the father and son, were standing as they were firing rounds at the Hanukkah festival, killing 15 people.
The oldest victim, an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor; the youngest, a ten-year-old girl named Matilda, who leaves behind heartbroken parents and a younger sister named Summer. You know, they may have chosen this spot, because they actually have a
lot of cover from the trees here. So, it was really difficult for the police to fire back.
And they had these huge rifles that they kept reloading as they gunned down innocent people simply for being Jewish.
It's really haunting to be standing here, frankly, because this is the bridge that we have -- we've seen from almost every angle. Everybody had their phones out on the day of the massacre, filming.
And this is what the gunmen would have been seeing as they carried out their brutal act. And then one of them, the father, died here. The son was shot. He was hospitalized and in a coma for several days. He's now been awake. He's been charged.
And this iconic Australian beach may never feel the same. Certainly, for the people whose lives were changed forever on that awful day.
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MICHAELSON: Our thanks to Will Ripley for that haunting report.
Now to this. At least four people are dead after the latest U.S. strike on an alleged drug boat.
U.S. Southern Command released this video, saying the vessel was operated by a designated terrorist group and that it was hit on Wednesday in international waters in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.
A statement says four male narco-terrorists were killed, and no U.S. troops were harmed.
At least 99 people have been killed since the U.S. launched Operation Southern Spear. Democratic lawmakers say at least one of the strikes may have violated international law, potentially amounting to a war crime.
The White House has installed new plaques along President Trump's Presidential Walk of Fame, offering some pointed descriptions of his predecessors.
The plaques that line the walkway outside the West Wing, many of them read like one of President Trump's social media posts, including insults and random capitalizations.
The plaque for former President Joe Biden, who is represented by a photo of an autopen, leans on familiar grievances. It refers to him as "Sleepy Joe Biden" and "Crooked," and repeats the false claim that Biden's 2020 election victory was the most corrupt in history.
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The plaque for President Barack Obama calls him, quote, "one of the most divisive political figures in American history." The White House stands by the descriptions, telling CNN, quote, "The
plaques are eloquently written descriptions of each president and the legacy they left behind. As a student of history, many were written directly by the president himself."
That seems pretty obvious when you read those.
Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino will step down next month after less than a year on the job. His future at the bureau has been in limbo for months, especially after he clashed with Attorney General Pam Bondi in July over the release of the Epstein files.
Bongino is a former conservative podcaster who spread some theories about Jeffrey Epstein, among others. In his announcement on X on Wednesday, Bongino thanked President Trump and Bondi for the opportunity to serve. He may return to his show.
This week, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli among those announcing that the Justice Department arrested four people suspected of planning a terror attack on Southern California on New Year's Eve.
Bill Essayli joins us now for the first time here on THE STORY IS and his first time on CNN. Welcome to CNN and welcome to THE STORY IS.
BILL ESSAYLI, ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY: Thank you for having me.
MICHAELSON: So, the -- the details here are crazy. I mean, talk about what they were planning on doing and how you found them.
ESSAYLI: Yes, it's very bizarre. The name sounds a little silly, but they're deadly serious. This was the Turtle Island Liberation Front. They're like a left extremist, left wing, antifa type group.
The name "Turtle Island" is a reference to what some native Americans call North America. So, they're mostly anti-capitalist. They're anti- American. And they were planning to target at least five locations in Los Angeles and Orange County on New Year's Eve with explosives.
And we didn't list the names of the companies, but they're primarily logistics type centers. So, think, like, Amazon type warehouses.
And then they had plans to also attack ICE agents and ICE vehicles.
MICHAELSON: And so, you -- you get them out in the desert, right? And there's video of all this happening.
ESSAYLI: Yes. So, they actually went out to the desert to practice making the explosives. They had very detailed plans on how to do that.
And so, they went out there. They went out with all the materials. We had an undercover FBI agent out there, as well. And as soon as they started assembling the explosives, that's when the FBI went in and did the arrests, because we thought that had gone far enough.
MICHAELSON: Are we concerned that they could be working with other people, that there could be other attacks coming?
ESSAYLI: Well, there are other people in this group. We believe we have arrested everyone who is involved in this particular plot.
But we did execute several search warrants throughout the country for other people that they were in communication with. So, we're going to keep looking aggressively and yes, we'll keep working on this.
MICHAELSON: And this was an example of the local authorities and the federal government working perfectly together. We know there's been some disagreements on issues like immigration and other things, but you guys were lockstep here.
ESSAYLI: Yes, I would say, absolutely, if you take out the immigration enforcement, which has been, you know, contested by the locals, we work very well with local law enforcement, and we do that in the interest of the public.
So, whether that's Figueroa Boulevard, where we worked with LAPD to go after those sex trafficking young girls, or whether we're going after street gangs or whatever, we work with local law enforcement. We have a good relationship.
MICHAELSON: Meanwhile, interestingly, one of the women that was arrested as part of this --
ESSAYLI: Yes.
MICHAELSON: -- was also at the Wilshire Boulevard Temple when there was this antisemitic moment there. We've got some video of surveillance video there of people leaving after there was an altercation that resulted in two people being arrested.
What do we know about her connection to all that?
ESSAYLI: Yes, well, I will say the Wilshire incident is under federal investigation, under the FACE Act. So, that is an active investigation.
It appears that the ringleader of this group was present at that protest. We're still looking at all her activities.
But it's this weird intersection of, you know, you've got this, like, anti-American communist, but they're also pro-Palestine, and it's sort of a weird intersect of all these left-wing causes. And it doesn't -- it doesn't all necessarily jive with each other, but that's -- it's very interesting.
MICHAELSON: Meanwhile, today was the end of a short trial, three-day trial on Proposition 50, which, of course was the measure to redistrict California. In response to Texas changing their congressional maps to help Republicans, California Democrats wanted to change their maps to help Democrats, to get rid of the independent redistricting commission. They asked voters to do that. Voters overwhelmingly supported that. But the DOJ has intervened in this lawsuit. You had some of your
attorneys arguing in court today. What is your main argument of why the voters got it wrong?
ESSAYLI: It's a very complicated issue, but what it comes down to is the state of California has the absolute right to politically gerrymander its districts to have more Democrat seats. What they can't do is use race as a predominant factor.
[00:40:03]
And our case is that Paul Mitchell, the guy who drew the maps, said that he drew a Latino district as part of his map drawings. He said, that's the first thing I did, was to draw a Latino district.
And so, our position is you cannot do that. That is unconstitutional. And that's what this case is about. It's about whether that district is constitutional or not.
MICHAELSON: So, you've done the arguments.
ESSAYLI: Yes.
MICHAELSON: There's a three-judge panel, one of them appointed by Republican; two were appointed by Democrats. How do you think it went? How do you think it's going?
ESSAYLI: I think on the law, it is good. I mean, we have direct evidence, his own statements of the map maker.
And I think what's most telling is the state refused to produce Paul Mitchell. They asserted legislative privilege. They wouldn't produce him, and they didn't submit one single thing from the legislature explaining why they drew the maps the way they did.
So, I think if anything does the state in, it will be their arrogance in the way they've handled this litigation. And I don't think that went well over with the judges.
MICHAELSON: Of course, the big question could be, does the Supreme Court get involved in this at all? And would they weigh in on behalf of California or against this, when we know in Texas, they let their maps stand.
But we'll see what happens going forward with that. Thank you for coming in. We appreciate you sharing your perspective.
ESSAYLI: Thanks. Anytime.
MICHAELSON: Hopefully, the first of many times on CNN.
ESSAYLI: Absolutely.
MICHAELSON: All right. Thank you so much.
Coming up, the Academy Awards is taking its show on the road, from broadcast TV to streaming. The senior awards editor for "Variety" is here to explain why it's going to YouTube and saying goodbye to ABC. He joins me live next.
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MELANIA TRUMP, U.S. FIRST LADY: Here we go again.
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MICHAELSON: That's the new trailer for a documentary on the U.S. first lady. "Melania" chronicles the 20 days around her return to the White House for President Trump's second term. It's also expected to provide a rare glimpse into the famously private wife of the president and the couple's relationship.
The documentary is part of her multimillion-dollar deal with Amazon's MGM. She served as an executive producer, giving her editorial control over the project. It's due out on January 30.
The Academy Awards announced a seismic shift that has shaken the media industry. After decades of broadcasting the ceremony on ABC, the Oscars are moving fully to streaming on YouTube. It starts in four years, by the way.
The Academy posted this image on X with the caption, "Film's biggest night is headed to YouTube starting 2029."
Here's how some viewers are reacting.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I honestly think it's good, because I don't have cable TV in my house. That's another thing. I think most people don't have cable TV, so it gives chances for people like us to watch them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Make it free for everyone to watch. Our whole lives are screens. Screen, screen. Everything's a screen.
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MICHAELSON: Well, we don't like the people that don't have cable TV.
Joining me now is Clayton Davis, who is the chief awards editor for "Variety." He's the go-to guy for everything Oscars.
Here's his headline, which said, "The Oscars on YouTube could bring an unlimited runtime, unfiltered hosts, and the show we've always wanted."
Clayton, welcome --
CLAYTON DAVIS, CHIEF AWARDS EDITOR, "VARIETY": Thanks for having me. MICHAELSON: -- to THE STORY IS for the first time. All right, so make your pitch. Why do you think this is good?
DAVIS: Listen, we are going through an evolution right now in the entertainment media industry. I think a lot of people feel that. We felt that from silent movies to talkies, from black and white to color. You know, TV killed radio. We're going through that evolution. The Oscars need to evolve, as well, meet viewers where they are.
Ratings have been going down for years, but it's not because people have fell out of love with movies. It's that we're not meeting them where they're consuming content. It's all over the -- it's all over different devices.
So, I think this is a moment now where you take the guardrails off. You're going to let the Oscars put on the show that is unfiltered, uncensored. You get an "F" bomb or two, maybe. This can really be a big moment that the Oscars can really have -- have a time in this generation.
MICHAELSON: But you also -- So, here are the ratings that we've seen over the years. So, back in 1998, the year "Titanic" won, that was the highest ever rating at 55 million. Last year, 19.7 million. So big, big drop-off. Now, TV ratings across the board have dropped off a lot, but that's a huge drop-off.
Part of that reason is "Titanic," a movie everybody saw. A lot of the movies that win Oscars now are not.
Another reason is, I know you say you get to do more of the show. I would argue you should do less of the show, that -- that the show is boring and snooty and pretentious and keeps going and going and going and is not designed to actually be entertaining to the viewer at home, which is part of the reason we've seen that.
DAVIS: You're talking about two things that are not mutually exclusive.
So, yes, it does feel boring in a lot of ways for a lot of people. And enthusiasts like myself have said, we don't -- we don't care about having a long show. We want a great show.
MICHAELSON: Yes.
DAVIS: So, if the Oscars can now put that together, you get a host that now is not beholden to a network. You know, you get someone, like, a little edgier with more personality. You get to really celebrate movies, because that's what the Academy is about.
It's about celebrating movies, celebrating cinema. You get to do that now. I think this really could bring them into the next century. It's really 100 years old. If they want to be around for the next 100 years, this is the "hail Mary" they have to throw. You have to make this play now.
Because, you know, based on our reporting, it was between YouTube and NBC. NBC would have been a great partner for them, but not the ideal partner for where they are right now and what they need to really sustain and live on.
[00:50:12]
MICHAELSON: Is -- is money, what put YouTube over the top?
DAVIS: You know, I would imagine that there was. There's no hard-core evidence for that yet.
But I imagine that it gave them a lot of -- a lot of freedom to do some things that they'd wanted to do. Because I will say -- and I say this in the article -- they adopted the family. They didn't just take the really good-looking daughter.
MICHAELSON: Yes, well, let's talk about that. So, there's a lot of things that are associated with the Oscars that traditionally have not always been televised.
DAVIS: Yes.
MICHAELSON: So, there's this big Oscars luncheon --
DAVIS: Yes.
MICHAELSON: -- where all the nominees come together. And they pose for a group picture, and they meet each other, and they talk to people. Here's some of that in the past.
There's something called the Governor's Award, where they give out, basically, honorary Oscars --
DAVIS: Yes.
MICHAELSON: -- to people. There's, you know, awards and celebrations of stuff that happens behind the scenes. And they're going to be doing all this. Right?
DAVIS: Yes. The lifetime achievement awards used to be part of the live telecast, and then they took them off, because they wanted to cut down the runtime.
So now, from wherever you are in the world, globally -- India, doesn't matter -- you can watch Tom Cruise, who got an honorary Oscar this year. You get to watch him get the honorary Oscar in real time.
The nominees' luncheon, their first time they get to hear their name called out. You get to hear the round of applause. You get to be there with their celebration. Now you get to watch that.
And then on top of that, which is my favorite part, and I think you'll appreciate this, too. Oscar nominees are announced at 5 a.m. We don't have to do that anymore. If we want to, we --
MICHAELSON: It was doing that way so that it would be part of "Good Morning America," because -- DAVIS: All the morning shows.
MICHAELSON: -- ABC was broadcasting the Oscars.
DAVIS: Exactly. And now you don't have to do that. You can have a nominee primetime special where you get to introduce these films.
So, listen, not a lot of people know these movies yet. They're not out wide. No one really knows what "The Secret Agent" is, even though you should. But now, you get to really introduce, get to really celebrate these nominees and why they're nominees. And people love that.
MICHAELSON: OK, let's talk about getting to know the movies this year --
DAVIS: Yes.
MICHAELSON: -- which is still going to be airing on on ABC. You are the guy that sort of predicts who wins. This is something you sort of think about almost full time.
DAVIS: Yes.
MICHAELSON: So, this year, you say there is one movie that is the Oscar frontrunner on a whole lot of categories. What's that?
DAVIS: It's the one movie that keeps winning award, an award, and it's "One Battle after Another." It's Paul Thomas Anderson's three-hour action epic.
He hasn't won an Oscar yet. He's been nominated for 11 Oscars, eight, nine Oscars. A lot of Oscars. He hasn't won yet. People love the movie. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio. It really stands a good chance of possibly tying the all-time record. That is with "Titanic." Could get up to 14 nominations.
It's doing very well right now, sweeping the critics' awards.
But I would not count out "Sinners," Ryan Coogler's vampire horror sensation.
MICHAELSON: Yes. Yes.
DAVIS: And I would not count out Chloe Zhao's "Hamnet." It is a period drama; tells the story of Shakespeare's son dying and -- and the inspiration to write "Hamlet." It is a tear-jerker, but it is a very moving film.
MICHAELSON: See, "Sinners." I have not seen "Hamnet," and I don't think many people have. But "Sinners" is a movie that, like, people watched. I mean, it was like actually a popular. What a concept.
DAVIS: It was a great box office --
MICHAELSON: You know. DAVIS: Great box hit. Ryan Coogler directed "Black Panther," first superhero movie to be nominated for Best Picture. He also produced "Judas and the Black Messiah."
This is truly a moment not only for him, because we have yet to have a black director win Best Director. He would be only the seventh ever nominated.
But now we have the horror genre getting representation. We had "The Substance" last year. We have Michael B. Jordan playing two roles here. He can get his first nomination.
I think this is a remarkable achievement, and it's really been laying down the groundwork. It's been lasting the buzz since April when it opened, and that is a hard thing to do.
MICHAELSON: Yes. Yes, it's a great movie.
DAVIS: We have recency bias. So -- and listen, we also get some -- some history. Autumn Durald, who did the cinematography, could be the first woman to win cinematography.
There is, across the board, some history being made with this movie. I think it's going to do very well.
MICHAELSON: All right, Clayton. We'll have to talk to you lots between now and then.
DAVIS: Yes. I'll be here.
MICHAELSON: Oscar night, but great to talk to you today. A big day in Oscar history that we experienced together.
Coming up, Tesla may be forced to stop selling its cars in California, at least for a while. The state says Tesla has been misleading consumers about its autopilot feature. We'll do a deep dive into this next hour. Stay with us.
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[00:59:01]
MICHAELSON: The queen of Christmas has been dethroned.
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MARIAH CAREY, SINGER (singing): All I want for Christmas is you.
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MICHAELSON: Mariah Carey's holiday hit, "All I Want for Christmas is You" has now dropped from the top of billboards global 200 for the first time during the holiday season since 2020. The new No. 1?
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GEORGE MICHAEL, SINGER (singing): Last Christmas, I gave you my heart, but the very next day you gave it away.
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MICHAEL: "Last Christmas," the 1984 classic by Wham! is the new Billboard chart topper.
The estate of late Wham! member George Michael said in a statement, "It's a testament to a brilliant song and timeless record that embodies the very sound of Christmas."
"All I Want for Christmas is You" still, by the way, top of the U.S. charts, just not the global charts. But I think Mariah is going to be OK.
Thanks for watching this hour of THE STORY IS. The next hour of THE STORY IS starts right now.
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MICHAELSON (voice-over): THE STORY IS primetime address.
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Good evening, America. Eleven months ago --
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