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The Story Is with Elex Michaelson

Trump Addresses the Nation on Iran War; Trump Urges Allies to Build "Courage" and "Take" Hormuz; Iran's President Releases Letter Addressed to American Public; Four Astronauts Begin 10-Day Mission Around the Moon; Asia Markets in the Red After Trump Speech on Iran War; Trump Attends Supreme Court Hearing on His Executive Order. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired April 02, 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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ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Elex Michaelson live in Los Angeles. THE STORY IS starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAELSON (voice-over): THE STORY IS presidential address. Did President Trump say anything new about the war? With us, Politico's Melanie Mason and military analyst Hal Kempfer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one, booster ignition and liftoff.

MICHAELSON: THE STORY IS to the moon. A historic takeoff for NASA's Artemis mission. Former head of JPL here to break down what's next.

And THE STORY IS unprecedented visitor. Donald Trump becomes the first president to ever sit for arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court. Historian Douglas Brinkley joins us live.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Live from Los Angeles, THE STORY IS with Elex Michaelson.

MICHAELSON: The top story is, could the war in Iran be almost over? Here are some of President Trump's primetime address to the nation just a short time ago. He says that Iran is no longer a threat to the U.S., its new leaders are less radical and more reasonable, and talks aimed at ending the war are now underway.

The president also claimed success on his main objective, preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Tonight, Iran's navy is gone. Their air force is in ruins. Their leaders, most of them, terrorist regime they led are now dead. The countries of the world that do receive oil through the Hormuz Strait must take care of that passage. They must cherish it. They must grab it and cherish it. They can do it easily.

When this conflict is over, the strait will open up naturally. It will just open up naturally. They're going to want to be able to sell oil because that's all they have to try and rebuild. It will resume the flowing and the gas prices will rapidly come back down. Stock prices will rapidly go back up.

Thanks to the progress we've made I can say tonight that we are on track to complete all of America's military objectives shortly, very shortly. We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks. We're going to bring them back to the Stone Ages where they belong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: A lot to unpack there. Joining me live here in Los Angeles, well, there's Hal Kempfer. We will get to Hal in a moment for the military response on all of this, but we start things off with Melanie Mason, who is California bureau chief for Politico and co- author of Politico's "California Playbook."

Melanie, welcome.

MELANIE MASON, POLITICO CALIFORNIA BUREAU CHIEF: Thank you.

MICHAELSON: Good to see you.

MASON: Good to see you, too.

MICHAELSON: So usually when there is a primetime address to the nation and the White House requests air time from all the major networks, there's usually big news associated with that. That's the opportunity to talk to the biggest audience in America. What was the news tonight?

MASON: I'm not entirely sure. And I think that that was kind of the impression that a lot of people had. And you're right. I mean, think about some of the major addresses we've seen from the White House. When President Obama said that Osama bin Laden had been captured and killed, when, you know, the Cuban missile crisis. And so I think when the audience tunes in to hear from the president at the White House, they are expecting some concrete information.

Instead, I think we heard a lot of what any press gaggle from the president would have been like in the last couple of weeks. And so I don't actually know what the news he was hoping to communicate was.

MICHAELSON: That is part of the thing that he talks so often that we hear him all the time, although a lot larger audience is probably watching tonight than maybe watching a press gaggle in the middle of the day on cable news. Interesting.

You know, tonight's the first night of Passover. So this is especially for the Jews out there. Barak Ravid, our colleague from Axios, is also a contributor to CNN. You know, Jews on the first night of Passover would sit around a table and ask, why is this night different than all other nights? That's part of the Passover service. So let's put up this post on X. "Why is this night different from all

other nights? It's not. Trump didn't say in his speech anything he didn't say over the last several days." So a Passover reference for everybody celebrating. But, you know, he talked about the oil. And that's really important, this concept of whether the Strait of Hormuz will be open. We want to bring up the live numbers right now when it comes to the economy.

We've got Asian future markets. We've got Brent crude numbers. Let's see if we can bring some of this up. This is what's happening in Asia right now. Look at that. Across the board red. Yesterday when there was some hope that there was progress in all this, we saw across the board green. That's a bad indication of what could happen for U.S. markets.

We also want to bring up the number when it comes to Brent crude, which is what's going to sort of drive the price of oil and see where that is at.

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And we have seen that going in the wrong direction for far too long as well. You know, the markets are listening to this speech.

MASON: And I think what they're saying is when the president says that the Strait of Hormuz is going to open up naturally, I don't think that that's specific enough for people who are worried about, you know, how long is it going to take for the oil markets to sort of come back to normal. So you're right, when we see crude prices really going past $100 a gallon, I think that -- or a barrel, I should say, that I think that investors are waiting for a sign from the president that there's a game plan here.

And I think that these early indicators we're seeing from the Asian markets from Brent crude tells us that the investors so far aren't buying what the president is selling. And so I think that tomorrow when we look at the U.S. stock market, we might see that reflected as well.

MICHAELSON: And that's bad news for everybody's money. He did use this phrase of two to three weeks, which is something that he's used over and over again. What do you make of that?

MASON: Well, as you said, two to three weeks feels very familiar, right? I mean, a health care plan was going to come in two weeks. It seems like two weeks for the president is sort of his favorite way to sort of convey that something is coming soon, but sometimes that doesn't come at all. And again, I think that the lack of specificity is really the issue here because this is a war that the president did not necessarily say at the outset why we were doing it, what the goals were.

And so the fact that we have maybe these shifting justifications, and now the shifting time frame and this vague two to three weeks, which we've heard from the president a lot of different contexts. Again, if you're trying to assure the American people that we have a plan here, I'm not sure that this speech accomplished that.

MICHAELSON: Let's talk about where he is overall politically because we've seen poll numbers are not great recently.

MASON: No, we see that his approval ratings are hovering in the low 40s, maybe even down to the high 30s. I mean, this is -- these are reaching sort of historical lows. We saw that some similarly in his first term. And look, I mean, for a president that won with, you know, the popular vote this time around, the fact that we've seen such a steep turnaround. And I think the groups that we're seeing in this turnaround with, right?

First of all, independents. I think that that's really telling when you're seeing independents who I think are maybe our best barometer for sort of just where the electorate is as a whole. When you see that steep turn, I think that's a huge warning sign. And then other groups where I think that he really overperformed last time, right? So young men, for example, or Latino voters. We have been seeing all of these indications that those gains that Republicans made with these groups are starting to peel off because they were looking in 2024 for someone to address the economy. And right now I think people feel pretty pessimistic about their -- their economic outlook.

MICHAELSON: And of course, much of the MAGA base love this concept of America First, of not doing, you know, quote-unquote, "stupid foreign wars." And some of them are disillusioned by all this as well.

MASON: I think that -- oh, sorry. Go ahead.

MICHAELSON: Just to wrap things up, last thought.

MASON: I think that this is going to be a real do or die moment for his coalition. Right? Will they stick with him even in this, you know, kind of contra anti America First moment?

MICHAELSON: Melanie Mason, thank you. We can check out your reporting every day in the Politico "California Playbook," which is worth looking at every day.

In his address, President Trump urged U.S. allies to, quote, "build up some delayed courage" and lead an operation to retake control of the Strait of Hormuz. The president has repeatedly criticized the lack of support from allies. And on Tuesday even suggested he's considering withdrawing from NATO. Here's what some leaders are saying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY ALBANESE, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: The months ahead may not be easy. I want to be upfront about that. No government can promise to eliminate the pressures that this war is causing.

KEIR STARMER, U.K. PRIME MINISTER: Let me say once again. This is not our war. We will not be drawn into the conflict. That is not in our national interest.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MICHAELSON: CNN's Christiane Amanpour spoke earlier about the view from Europe.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: As for Europe, as you know, they do actually use their bases to allow the United States to use them right now in various different degrees, but they don't want to join the offensive part of a war that they were never consulted on. They believe it's a war of choice. They believe there wasn't an imminent threat from Iran, that the negotiations on the 27th of February were going in the right direction and could have produced perhaps something more important in terms of, you know, keeping the nuclear threat under wraps than this war has introduced yet.

In terms of the Iranians and the Americans right now, it doesn't sound like there are any -- any progress in negotiations which we were told might be happening. And certainly key allies are trying to, you know, be mediators, try to figure out how to get there to be some kind of agreement and negotiation to stop this.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAELSON: The president of Iran says the ongoing war is not serving American interests.

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In an open letter posted by the president on X, he addressed the American public and questioned whether America First is really a U.S. government priority. He urges Americans to look beyond political rhetoric and reconsider their view of his country. He says in its modern history, Iran has never, quote, "chosen the path of aggression" and "never initiated any war."

Hal Kempfer is a retired U.S. Marine intelligence officer and founder of Global Risk Intelligence and Planning. He joins us live from Los Angeles.

Hal, I mean, first off, let's fact check that, do we? The idea that Iran has been a pacifist nation?

LT. COL. HAL KEMPFER (RET.), INTELLIGENCE OFFICER, U.S. MARINE CORPS: Elex, that is just complete bunk. You know, they're throwing it out there. They have been pushing war everywhere and particularly through their proxies. If you look at the Houthis, the -- you know, the Hezbollah and elsewhere, but also, you know, don't forget the, you know, the Iran-Iraq war and what they did in the '80s to block ships going through the Persian Gulf.

Yes, they've always been pushing war and they've been pushing material out there to start wars. So, you know, when Pezeshkian says stuff like that, I just kind of put it aside and ignore it. And honestly, frankly, their information operations in that regard don't seem to work very well. They just don't resonate with the U.S. audience.

MICHAELSON: So President Trump spoke about the Strait of Hormuz opening naturally. What does that mean? KEMPFER: Yes. Well, that's a different term. I had to kind of wonder

what he meant. I think he was kind of alluding to if the U.S. pulls back that other countries that have a bigger stake holders in keeping the strait open and getting oil out of there would jump in. And I think naturally was that there might be some natural gravitation of Asian countries and European countries that are more reliant on not just the oil, but the natural gas, the liquefied natural gas, the fertilizer, which is really huge, and of course, helium, which is so important for semiconductor fabrication, that these countries will put their assets into open up the strait, particularly opening up with minesweepers to get the mines out that the Iranians have put in there, the sea mines, I should say.

And the fact is that the U.S. doesn't have enough minesweepers, so we actually need them to do that.

MICHAELSON: Are you surprised by that? Because of all the sort of politics of this, the thing that the average American probably cares about the most is gas prices going up. And if the Strait of Hormuz is not opened up, whether it's naturally or unnaturally, the gas prices are going to continue to rise right.

KEMPFER: That's a great point. And, you know, and he says, hey, you can buy gas from the -- from North America, from the U.S. You know, it's like, yes, we do have gas and we can't export it. But here's the thing. Gasoline prices, oil prices are on a global market. We don't have a separate U.S. market. And then there's a, you know, the Brent crude is on a separate thing. We all, you know, we all buy oil at the same rate.

So that means that even though we produce enough oil in the U.S., it doesn't mean it's going to bring the cost down because, frankly, producers are going to sell at the going global rate. So if there's a shortage of oil around the world, we end up paying more.

MICHAELSON: Yes, we were just looking at that Brent crude price and we see it is up 5.5 percent, which is, meaning that that market did not really like the message tonight. And that's a bad sign when it comes to all of us, when it comes to the gas prices that we're going to pay.

An interesting phrase, President Trump suggested that in two to three weeks, the U.S. could send Iran, quote, "back to the Stone Ages." What could that look like? What do you anticipate the next two to three weeks actually containing?

KEMPFER: He's kind of alluded to this, basically hitting power plants. And if he takes out the power plants, he shuts off, you know, obviously all the lights, but, you know, keep in mind, yes, it's April, but they're going into summer. Summer is brutal in that part of the world. And so if you turn off that, you turn off the air conditioning, you shut down everything. And so it literally would set them back decades and decades, if you will, in terms of what they have to live with.

And their inability to rebuild those power plants quickly because their lack of resources to do so. So I think that's what he's kind of alluding to, although I will point out one thing. When he talks about this crushing blow in the next two to three weeks, the forces are coming on hand are partially there, but also coming in that would allow us to do something directly militarily, boots on the ground in the Persian Gulf. Not an invasion of Iran, but in the Persian Gulf, taking some key places like islands. So that's -- that may be what he's alluding to as well.

MICHAELSON: Interesting, though, he did not say anything about ground troops tonight. And the other thing he didn't talk about was NATO. There was this big reporting beforehand, all these people saying he was going to talk about pulling the U.S. out of NATO.

[00:15:07]

Wasn't a word about NATO or ground troops. So we'll see what he has to say about those things in the days ahead.

Hal Kempfer, always grateful for your analysis. Thanks so much for joining us.

KEMPFER: Thanks, Elex.

MICHAELSON: Let's talk about space, something that actually brings people together. The Artemis II begins its historic journey to the moon after a successful liftoff.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one, booster ignition and liftoff.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: How cool is that? When we return an update on where the spacecraft is right now, what the crew has been dealing with since leaving Earth. And later, questions surrounding the future of the U.S. attorney general. Could President Trump be considering a replacement for Pam Bondi?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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MICHAELSON: Four astronauts are now heading to the far side of the moon in a historic undertaking that we haven't seen in more than 50 years. The Artemis II crew is now settling in for a 10-day mission after blasting off from Florida's Kennedy Space Center.

NASA says it is monitoring a few minor issues on board, including one with the toilet. Hmm. Communications were also briefly interrupted, but that issue was resolved.

CNN's Ed Lavandera looks at a spectacular day and what's ahead for these brave astronauts.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Booster ignition, and liftoff.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After a successful launch, the four astronauts on Artemis II are now on a risky journey to the far side of the moon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Traveling more than 1200 miles per hour.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): They're expected to travel farther into deep space than any humans have ever gone before. The crew will travel inside the Orion capsule and orbit the Earth twice before traveling about 250,000 miles from Earth, circling the moon before returning.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It will take about four days once they leave Earth's gravity to get to the moon.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): The test flight to circumnavigate the moon is part of the Artemis Lunar Exploration Program. It's a test mission designed to prepare future Artemis missions to land on the moon by 2028.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover and mission specialist Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): The diverse crew on the Orion spacecraft includes the first woman and the first black person to set off on a lunar mission. NASA's mission commander, 50-year-old Reid Wiseman, is a Navy test pilot and a single father of two girls. His wife died of cancer in 2020.

REID WISEMAN, ARTEMIS II COMMANDER: The moon to me, it's the thing that connects me together with all the other humans in my life.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Victor Glover, also a naval test pilot, is the first black person to venture into deep space. He's the father of four kids. Engineer Christina Koch is the first woman to make the voyage to the moon.

CHRISTINA KOCH, ARTEMIS II MISSION SPECIALIST: I'm drawn to exploring. I'm drawn to challenges.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): She holds the record for the longest spaceflight by a female astronaut at 328 days on board the International Space Station. and Jeremy Hansen, a fighter pilot, is the first Canadian and non-NASA astronaut to head on a lunar mission. It's his first space flight.

The crew spent the morning prepping for their mission. The NASA tradition, a lighthearted moment playing cards with their chief. The 10-day, roughly 685,000 mile journey around the moon and back carries dangerous risks. The Orion spacecraft, roughly the size of a cargo van, will face extreme temperatures, high levels of radiation, and incredible feats of physics.

When the four astronauts fly by the far side of the moon, they will lose all communication with Earth for about 30 to 45 minutes. They will see the Earth rise over the moon. Like the image first captured by Apollo astronauts, and that Christina Koch had in her room as a child.

JEREMY HANSEN, ARTEMIS II MISSION SPECIALIST: We spent a lot of time figuring out, what are we going to do if we're having trouble with the spacecraft? What are the bare basics to give us a fighting chance? Obviously, I've had that conversation with my wife and my children.

LAVANDERA: Why is this so important?

(Voice-over): I spoke with all four members of this crew three years ago, when they were first assigned to the mission. It was clear then they fully understood the magnitude of this moment.

VICTOR GLOVER, ARTEMIS II PILOT: You know, one aspect of human space exploration is that it unites, it lifts people up, and it pushes you to do things that that seem impossible.

LAVANDERA: Now that the Artemis II crew is in outer space, the focus shifts here to Houston and mission control at Johnson Space Center, which will continue maintaining communications with this crew. And this is all the first step toward eventually building a base on the moon that will then transport crews in the future to explore Mars. That is the ultimate goal here.

Ed Lavandera, CNN. Houston, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAELSON: Ed, thank you.

Joining me now live from Tempe, Arizona, is Laurie Leshin. She's a professor of Space Futures at Arizona State University and the former director of NASA's jet propulsion laboratory here in Southern California.

Laurie, welcome back to THE STORY IS. Great to see you.

LAURIE LESHIN, PROFESSOR OF SPACE FUTURES, ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY: Thanks, Elex. Great to be here. Great launch day.

MICHAELSON: It is a great launch day and launch night. Let's take a live picture right now from outer space. This is what NASA TV is putting out on the big box. We're looking at the live picture from Orion.

LESHIN: Right.

MICHAELSON: The small box is mission control. What's happening there now? Guide us through what we're looking at.

I think we're looking back at the Earth actually. It's really been an incredible day for this crew. Action packed up until now.

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It's a little bit quieter now. I think this is probably the first moment that they're just getting a second to breathe and take it all in. But they're in a very elliptical orbit around the Earth. And so they're actually quite far away, maybe 20,000 miles away from the Earth. So the Earth looks kind of small and it's backlit. So it almost looks like the moon. But I think that's the Earth. They've been checking out their systems and they did some proximity operations testing where they're simulating what it might be like to dock with a future lunar lander.

All these things are so important in this test flight to make sure we achieve the objectives of Artemis II.

MICHAELSON: So what do we expect for the day ahead?

LESHIN: Well, if the launch day was exciting, actually, the first 25 or so hours of this mission are the most action packed. So we had the launch, we had the proximity operations testing, we're testing life support systems, all sorts of other things, making sure that spacecraft is operating as it should. Tomorrow, so just about 24 or 25 hours after launch, so tomorrow at about the same time we launched today will be the translunar injection burn. If all is going according to plan, that's the moment where we hit the gas and head towards the moon.

MICHAELSON: That'll be something to see. And then if they get there, they get to see the backside of the moon in the way that no other humans in history ever have. What do they expect to see?

LESHIN: Can you believe it? Isn't that amazing? First of all, they're the first people in 50 years to leave the vicinity of Earth and go into deep space. So that in itself is amazing. Then the specifics of their trajectory are such that they'll swing around the backside of the moon, farther away from the moon than prior missions have gone, than the Apollo missions went, which were actually orbiting quite close to the moon.

So they'll kind of get a broad view of the entire far side of the moon, and they're going to see it farther than any human eyes have ever been, and in a different way than any humans have ever seen. So it's a whole new view of the moon.

MICHAELSON: And, you know, this whole thing is being sped up a bit by the space race. You know, we think about the '60s and '70s, the space race with Russia. Right now it's a space race with China. You know a thing or two about this. You saw some of this with JPL.

LESHIN: Yes.

MICHAELSON: What is the timetable that President Trump is pushing for with all this?

LESHIN: Well, one of the really exciting things that's happening right now is that NASA is pushing to accelerate our return to the surface of the moon. Artemis II is a key first step to that. Shake down that rocket. Make sure we understand how that spacecraft works. Next, we need the lander that's going to take the crew of a future mission down to the surface. Before, you know, the last time we launched an Artemis mission was

three years ago. We want to get on a one year cadence or even faster, and we hope to land crew on the moon by 2028. And that's during the current president's term. So that's an exciting political goal, but it's a great goal that aligns with our ambitions, our global ambitions of leadership as well.

MICHAELSON: So it is very possible in 2028, the last year of the Trump presidency, we would have the Olympic Games here in America and have this incredible moment of landing on the moon, which would be quite a way for him to potentially go out. So obviously, President Trump and politics is so divisive for so many people. But this concept of space really brings people together.

And you know who else bring people together? This kid that CNN interviewed today who was there at the launch site. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Why do you want to be here? Why do you love space? Why do you love being a part of history?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going back to the freaking moon. That's why.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: See, he's getting a lot of attention. There is something about the way that space unites. And you've seen this firsthand for so long.

LESHIN: It brings us together. It helps our aspirations come to the forefront, come to the surface, our imaginations. And, you know, that's something that binds us all together as human beings, whether, you know, we're from any country anywhere, we all dream of a better future, of exploring new things, of what it might be like to wake up one day on the moon. That would be incredible.

So it's great to see young people inspired by this that I can't think of a better goal. That's really why we do it.

MICHAELSON: It is really something. And man, we need some good news and we need some moments for unity right now.

Laurie Leshin, thanks for joining us. By the way, what a great Zoom background you have. Props on your setup there. Very nice.

LESHIN: Space nerd, space nerd central here.

MICHAELSON: I love all the props.

LESHIN: Yes.

MICHAELSON: It's great.

LESHIN: Yes, thank you. MICHAELSON: Still ahead, new threats from President Trump and another

spike in oil prices. Got to go back to the tough news of the day. No clear exit ramp for the war with Iran. We're live in Hong Kong with how all this is affecting the markets. What does it mean for your money?

Kristie Lu Stout next.

[00:30:08]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELSON: Welcome back to THE STORY IS. I'm Elex Michaelson. Let's take a look at today's top stories.

President Trump gave no specific timeline but says the U.S. is nearing completion of its objectives in the war with Iran. In a primetime address to the nation, Trump threatened to bomb Iran back to the stone ages if it didn't make a deal in the next 2 to 3 weeks.

[00:35:12]

He assured Americans Tehran is no longer a threat, and gas prices would come down quickly once the war ends.

The historic Artemis II mission has successfully launched from Florida. The four astronauts on board will now orbit the Earth twice before attempting a risky journey to fly around the Moon.

They're expected to travel farther into space than any person has ever gone before. It is a test mission designed to prepare future Artemis missions to land on the Moon by 2028.

A second GLP-1 medication taken in pill form has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The Foundayo pill is made by Eli Lilly, which also sells other GLP-1 drugs taken as weekly injections to treat obesity and diabetes.

And it comes to market just months after the FDA approved the pill form of Wegovy, the injectable anti-obesity drug sold by Novo Nordisk.

President Trump claims the war with Iran is nearing completion. That had little impact on global energy markets. In fact, it's been a negative impact.

During his primetime address, he said the siege was systematically dismantling the Iranian regime's ability to threaten the U.S. or project power outside their borders.

Now, despite the ongoing bombardment, Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps says the Strait of Hormuz is still fully under their control and will not be reopened to Iran's enemies, despite the theatrics of President Trump.

Allies in Asia have been hard-hit by the fuel crisis. CNN's Kristie Lu Stout is in Hong Kong. Kristie, let's talk about the reaction in Asia to the speech. And I'm

sure there was not great reaction to this concept that the Strait of Hormuz will be, quote, unquote, "naturally reopened."

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR/CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Elex. You know, the hope that we talked about yesterday that was here in the Asia Pacific region, that hope has evaporated, with markets here in Asia under pressure.

Investors across the Asia Pacific clearly rattled by what U.S. President Donald Trump had to say in that address to the nation, in which he said that the U.S. will hit Iran, quote, "extremely hard in the next two to three weeks.

We are in the middle of the Asian trading day. Let's take a look at what it looks like.

Earlier, it was in positive territory before President Trump's address. But now if you bring up the markets, you'll see it is all downward red arrows, with losses in Japan. The Nikkei down 2.4 percent. The Seoul KOSPI losing 3.8 percent.

Here in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng down a touch over 1 percent. The Taiwan main index there, losing about 1.6 percent.

We're also tracking the price of Brent crude. That is, of course, the global oil benchmark. And it continues to be on the rise. Oil and gas remain at elevated levels, super elevated levels, if you compare to the price that it was at before the war began.

And in fact, overnight, U.S. gas prices rose to $4.06 a gallon, the largest one-day move in gas prices in more than two weeks.

Look, we're now more than a month into this war, and Iran still maintains that iron grip on the Strait of Hormuz. And economists keep pointing out it is Asia, this region here, that is bearing the brunt of it, that is facing the most significant blow because of the ongoing selective blockade of this critical waterway.

In fact, about 80 percent of the oil, of the liquefied natural gas, of the oil products that transit through the strait all head here to the Asia Pacific region.

So, economists have been sounding the alarm, saying that there will be profound effects here in Asia and knock-on effects elsewhere in Europe and in the United States.

I want to share you these comments. These are from Cornelia Meyer, CEO of Meyer Associates. And she said this to CNN, quote, "You would see very brutal competition between Europe, U.S., and Asia to get a hold of cargoes, which leaves Pakistan and poorer nations of this world in a lurch."

And already here in Asia, jet fuel costs are on the rise. And we're seeing the local domestic carriers, the major carriers across the region, cutting routes, as well as hiking the prices of airfare tickets.

For example, Cathay Pacific before the war, a ticket, an economy class ticket from Sydney to London would cost you about $1,370. Now it will set you back 2,000 to 3,500 U.S. dollars.

MICHAELSON: Wow.

STOUT: That is significant in a rise, and it means a lot for our high- flying consumers out there.

MICHAELSON: Yes, I mean, for the exact same flight. And interesting. We checked on Brent crude about 15 minutes ago. And even in that last 15 minutes, it's gone up 1 percent, just while we were talking. So, not good news there.

Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. Thank you for that report. We'll see you next hour.

Still ahead, the U.S. Supreme Court takes up the high-stakes birthright citizenship debate.

[00:40:03]

Presidential historian Douglas Brinkley is with us next, talking about why President Trump being there in person is unprecedented and what it means for presidential history.

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MICHAELSON: Republican leaders in Congress say that they have come up with a plan to reopen the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and end the partial government shutdown.

[00:45:06]

It involves a complicated process called reconciliation. If it works, Republicans would be able to bypass the Senate filibuster, which means that they need to get Democratic support and pass a bill without any Democrats, just with Republicans.

That new mega bill, a sort of second Big, Beautiful Bill, would presumably include funding for immigration that Republicans want, but they are still major hurdles. Republicans could try to add wish list items to the bill, potentially slowing it down, risking more infighting.

And the speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, can only afford to lose one Republican vote. Just one.

President Trump has demanded this new bill be in place by June 1.

Multiple sources tell CNN that President Trump has privately discussed firing the attorney general of the United States, Pam Bondi.

We're told the president is frustrated by the backlash and anger in his base over the administration's handling of the Epstein files. He's also complained that Bondi has not investigated enough of his perceived political opponents.

In a statement to CNN, the president called Bondi a wonderful person and said she's doing a good job.

President Trump has reportedly been asking people about replacing Bondi with EPA administrator Lee Zeldin, among others. It's not clear whether the president has made up his mind on that one.

Meanwhile, this we do know. President Trump has become the first sitting president to attend oral arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court.

He was there Wednesday while the justices voiced skepticism about his executive order to end birthright citizenship. He sat in court for about 90 minutes -- this is a sketch of that -- leaving shortly after the government concluded its arguments.

Birthright citizenship, which is codified in the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, established that nearly every person born in the U.S. is a U.S. citizen.

The Trump administration argument centers around this one line, "subject to the jurisdiction thereof." According to the administration, citizenship should not apply to children of non- citizens or unlawful residents.

Several justices questioned the president's effort to reimagine the law.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

D. JOHN SAUER, U.S. SOLICITOR GENERAL: And of course, were in a new world now, as Justice Alito pointed out to, where 8 billion people are one plane-ride away from having a -- a child who's a U.S. citizen.

JOHN ROBERTS, U.S. SUPREME COURT CHIEF JUSTICE: Well, it's a new world. It's the same Constitution.

NEIL GORSUCH, U.S. SUPREME COURT JUSTICE: Do you think native Americans today are birthright citizens under your test and under your friend's test?

SAUER: I think so. I mean, obviously, they've been granted citizenship by statute.

AMY CONEY BARRETT, U.S. SUPREME COURT JUSTICE: I can imagine it being messy on some applications. What if you don't know who the parents are?

SAUER: I think there are marginal cases. That one, I think, has the benefit of being addressed in 1401-F, where it talks about --

BARRETT: Yes, yes, yes, yes. But what about the Constitution?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: After leaving court, President Trump once again criticized birthright citizenship. He posted on Truth Social, quote, "We are the only Country in the World STUPID enough to allow 'Birthright' Citizenship!"

We should note: about 30 countries allow birthright citizenship.

The court's decision is not expected until June. Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union, challenging Trump's order, believe that they will win.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY ROMEO, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION: I was especially gratified that President Trump was sitting a mere six feet away from me, and I hope that he was schooled in the importance of birthright citizenship.

I am confident that we will win this case, and that the future of this country will be determined by our Constitution, by our civil rights statutes, and not by the whim of a president.

CECILLIA WANG, NATIONAL LEGAL DIRECTOR, AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION: I am confident that the court is going to turn back this president's effort to radically rewrite our 14th Amendment rule of birthright citizenship.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Presidential historian Douglas Brinkley joins me live right now from Austin, Texas. He's also a professor of history at Rice University.

Welcome to THE STORY IS. Good to see you.

DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Good to see you, my friend.

MICHAELSON: So, we know, throughout American history, there have been plenty of presidents who had important cases about their decisions or their rulings before the Supreme Court, but no president has ever gone there. Why is it that no president ever went?

BRINKLEY: Well, it was very weird today, the 75 minutes President Trump went to the Supreme Court, because -- to hear the oral arguments, because traditionally, presidents don't want to seem like they're intimidating, they're trying to act like they own the Supreme Court.

But Donald Trump, alas, believed, I think, his presence there might make Justice Roberts and the others behave in a different fashion.

It boomeranged on them. It didn't work. And the reason it didn't work is President Trump's relying on executive orders. You can sign them, like he's been doing, but eventually, you'll get your comeuppance in the court.

[00:50:08] And this is a hard hit for President Trump, this birthright citizenship. And then we saw the tariffs in February, you know, being shot down and just coinciding. NPR now is back. PBS has to come back. Voice of America has to come back.

So, President Trump's getting the comeuppance of the boomerang effect of executive orders and not understanding that the Supreme Court is -- is a co-equal in government, as is Congress.

MICHAELSON: I know you were especially struck by Chief Justice John Roberts' comments, which we just played, where he said it may be a new world, but it's the same Constitution. If you were writing a biography of the chief justice of the United States, talk about this particular chapter.

BRINKLEY: I think this is a big moment today because, you know, with the tariffs at 6-3, people thought, well, Justice Roberts isn't going to just rubber-stamp everything of Donald Trump.

But today, the ACLU, with Donald Trump sitting there, it just -- it was embarrassing to have a president -- and this is the thing, a wartime -- he's running the Iran war while he's sitting there looking at some John Eastman fantasy about undoing the 14th Amendment, which has been -- you know, people have looked at that before.

But for a president to actualize it and think his executive order would matter tells you he's underestimated who John Roberts is. You don't go to law school. You don't become Supreme Court justice without a deep respect of the law and the U.S. Constitution.

The Constitution is built to last. Its built to be amended, but it's not meant to be dealt with as -- as it was argued by the solicitor general today in a very sloppy, haphazard way that tells -- tells me, at least, it's either going to be 6-3 against a birthright citizenship or-- you know, what Trump's promoting, or maybe even 7-2. It did not go well for the White House.

MICHAELSON: And the justices likely to side with Trump are Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.

By the way, John Eastman is a lawyer, law professor from out here in Southern California who was very connected to the January 6th incident and was part of the reason that Trump went about things the way that he did that -- during that time period.

So, let's talk about the other big story when it comes to President Trump today, a primetime address to the nation about Iran.

Now, usually these primetime addresses have big news associated with that. We didn't see a lot of news today.

And it's interesting. We've also not seen great poll numbers when it comes to this conflict.

We want to put up on the screen right now, sort of the way the American people has felt in the initial days of international conflicts.

You see, during World War Two, we were at 97 percent, Afghanistan 92. Of course, that was after September 11, after Pearl Harbor. Those galvanized the country.

The Iran war at 41 percent, not even majority support; the lowest of any conflict in modern history. Why do you think that is?

BRINKLEY: There's zero public appetite for a war with Iran. Not just because of gasoline prices, but because of the 21st Century experiences of Iraq, Afghanistan with George W. Bush.

One could argue, or -- and -- or praise anything you want with George W. Bush. But Trump had denounced those wars. He was supposed to be "America first," noninterventionist. Not get us in -- mired in the Middle East.

And lo and behold, he's going down as a -- a, you know, wartime commander in chief, with -- with the attacking of Iran. And the public's not there. People don't want to go there and have to serve.

And I think President Trump got dazzled by our technology in our armed forces, as was I, and everybody should be in Venezuela. But he kept thinking he could run this -- this gambit.

And you've got to have the public behind you. Ronald Reagan used to say, get 50 percent box office. You've got to keep your numbers up.

And when you're starting to run a war in the -- in the 30 percent or 20s, that's why Harry Truman during Korea couldn't run for, you know, reelection in 1952. That's why Lyndon Johnson bailed out in 1968. The public said, enough's enough.

MICHAELSON: Yes. And as we just put up on the screen, the CNN polling shows right now, about two- thirds of Americans either strongly disapprove or somewhat disapprove of this war with Iran, which is a pretty high number, if you think about it.

And that cuts across not just Democrats and independents, but plenty in President Trump's base, as well.

Douglas Brinkley, presidential historian, thank you for the wisdom, as always. Great talking with you.

[00:55:05]

BRINKLEY: Thank you.

MICHAELSON: More news when THE STORY IS comes right back.

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MICHAELSON: Take a look at this. The popular Greek tourist island of Crete was engulfed in red and orange haze after a strong Mediterranean storm blew dust from Africa onto the island on Wednesday. Weather experts say gusty winds at Crete's airports stirred up the dust caused extremely low visibility. Looks like something out of Mars.

It led to very unhealthy air quality.