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The Story Is with Elex Michaelson

Suspect Charged With Attempted Assassination Of Trump At Washington Dinner; King Charles Begins Diplomatic Visit To US; President Trump And First Lady Call For Jimmy Kimmel's Firing; Trump Unlikely To Accept Iran's Latest Peace Plan To End War; Gala Shooting Revives Debate over Political Rhetoric; Trump Welcomes King Charles to the White House; Legal Battle Between Altman and Musk Over Company's Mission; Growing Concerns over How A.I. Will Affect Our Careers. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired April 28, 2026 - 01:00   ET

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

[01:00:00]

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Suspected of shooting outside the White House Correspondent's Dinner.

The story is royal visit King Charles having tea with President Trump today ahead of a major speech before congress in the US.

And the story is Melania Trump versus Jimmy Kimmel, the ABC late night host back on the air after being called out by the first lady.

Thanks for watching. The Story Is I am not live from Los Angeles tonight. We're live from Washington, D.C. all week. And there are big stories breaking here in Washington tonight, including the first court appearance by the man accused of attempting to storm the White House Correspondents' Dinner.

Cole Thomas Allen went before a judge on Monday where he heard the three charges against him, which include attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump. The other two charges, discharging a firearm during a crime of violence and transportation of a firearm and ammunition in interstate commerce with intent to commit a felony. One official said additional charges are still likely.

Now, the incident has sparked security concerns, but the acting attorney general, who was among the guests at Saturday night's dinner defended the Secret Service.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD BLANCHE, ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL: Law enforcement did not fail. They did exactly what they are trained to do. This was not an accident. It was a result, as we know now, of preparation.

What is clear from the complaint and from what we have so far is he was targeting President Trump. He described that in his manifesto. He was targeting administration officials. He described that. But as far as us understanding additional motivation, that's for the FBI and law enforcement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: The attack has also raised questions over the line of succession with both the president and vice president and many Cabinet members attending the event. The person who would have theoretically taken over control of the United States government as president of the United States, if something would have happened to everybody in that room would have been Senator Chuck Grassley, who is in his 90s.

The White House press secretary addressed those concerns.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Those conversations ahead of the Walker Dinner did take place, but there were several members of the Cabinet in the line of succession who did not attend for various personal reasons. So designating one survivor was not necessary as we had several members who were not there already.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: So all of this playing out as Britain's King Charles and Queen Camilla kick off their state visit to the United States. King Charles is set to meet with President Trump and address a joint meeting of Congress on Tuesday. More on the king's visit in just a moment.

But first, we have more details on the court appearance by the suspect in that press dinner shooting. Here in Washington, CNN's Paula Reid has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNINE PIRRO, U.S. ATTORNEY FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Cole Allen's journey of accountability in the criminal justice system starts today.

PAULA RIED, CNN Chief Legal Affairs Correspondent (voice-over): The man accused of trying to assassinate President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents Dinner appeared in court for the first time today.

BLANCHE: Today, the Department of Justice filed three federal charges in United States District Court against Cole Thomas Allen.

REID (voice-over): The 31-year old alleged gunman was formally charged with one count of attempting to assassinate the president, one count of discharging a firearm during a violent crime, and one count of transportation of a firearm and ammunition in interstate commerce.

PIRRO: There will be additional charges as this investigation continues to unfold.

RIED (voice-over): Allen appeared in court in bright blue prison scrubs and was expressionless in as he answered a series of standard questions from a judge. He has requested a public defender be assigned to his case.

Investigators have learned Allen is from Torrance, California, works as a part time teacher and video game developer and graduated from Caltech with a degree in mechanical engineering. Today, he also told the judge he has a master's degree in computer science.

Officials say Allen made a reservation at the Washington Hilton on April 6. He reportedly left Los Angeles by train on April 21, arriving in Chicago, and then went on to D.C. on April 24, the day before the Correspondents' Dinner. Around the time authorities say Allen stormed the security checkpoint, he allegedly sent an email to his family detailing his plan.

BLANCHE: He was targeting President Trump. He described that in his manifesto. He was targeting administration officials. He described that. But as far as us understanding additional motivation, that's for the FBI and law enforcement.

REID (voice-over): The acting Attorney general, the highest ranking law enforcement official in the country, praised the swift response Saturday.

BLANCHE: We also should recognize what did not happen. Law enforcement did not fail. They did exactly what they are trained to do.

[01:05:03]

REID: On the night of the shooting. U.S. Attorney Pirro said that Allen would be charged with shooting a law enforcement officer. That was not among the charges revealed today. Justice Department officials say they are still investigating whether that officer was shot by Allen or crossfire.

Now, he will be back in federal court here on Thursday for a detention hearing. Paula Reid, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAELSON: On Tuesday, Britain's King Charles III will mark day two of his historic diplomatic visit to the United States. He's going to be speaking before Congress. Earlier, he and Queen Camilla joined President Trump for a tea and scone before attending a garden party at the British Embassy.

The trip had been scheduled to mark the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence from British rule, but has since bridged the divide between the U.S. and the U.K. after tensions arose over the Iran war.

In his address to Congress, King Charles is expected to tout the country's special relationship and highlight a strong NATO alliance. Joining now is CNN's royal historian Kate Williams, who is live from London. Kate, welcome to the STORY is good morning to you.

KATE WILLIAMS, CNN ROYAL HISTORIAN: Good morning.

MICHAELSON: What do we expect to hear from King Charles before Congress?

WILLIAMS: Yes, I think it's going to be a very significant address. We're hearing it's going to be around half an hour, which is longer than the last address made by a British sovereign to Parliament to the Congress. That would be the queen herself, Elizabeth II in 1991.

And I have heard from sources that Charles is going to, yes. Talk about the special relationship. Yes. Talk about 250 years of American independence, that great moment of independence coming up in July. We are celebrating.

But also talk about peace, about civilization, about understanding, because Charles has a line to walk here. On one hand, he's representing the British government. He's trying to repair the rather battered special relationship.

On the other hand, he does see himself as a world leader and he does want to make comments about creating a sort of world understanding, world peace.

So, I think it's going to be a very carefully worded address, very carefully worded. We're going to be poring over it. And Charles is at one hand talking about the U.S.-U.K. but also talking about what can be done in the future and I think encouraging President Trump to moderate his behavior towards Iran.

MICHAELSON: Yes, it's interesting because a lot of Americans sort of don't appreciate the way that the British government is set up. Here in America, the president of the United States is both the head of state and the head of government. But in the U.K. the king is the head of state and the prime minister is the head of government. And those are very different roles.

WILLIAMS: Yes, that's it. Officially speaking, the king is powerless. Officially speaking, everything is done by our Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer. So that's why President Trump and Keir Starmer really have fallen out over recent weeks. There's no love lost at the moment. There's a lot of tension, a lot of words flying back and forth.

The king is supposed to be politically neutral, has no political role. And his role really is exactly what we're seeing happening in the moment at the United States. His role is to be creating soft power. His role is to create unity and alliance, which transcends individual political decisions. So that's what he's here for. That's what his aim is, soft power across the world.

That's why his mother went 42 times around the world. She made eight visits to the United States over her reign. And indeed, he came with her. He was first here in the United States. He first came when he was 21, 56 years ago.

And what he is attempting to do here is really create a celebration of history, but most of all, secure repair that special relationship between the U.S. and the U.K. but he is not supposed to make political comment. That's why his discussion with what he says to Congress is going to be much looked at. MICHAELSON: Well. And that's why the royals are so revered, because they never have to say anything controversial. And so a lot of folks in the U.K. view their prime Minister as very human because they don't have all the reverence of the President of the United States, but the king or the queen certainly does.

I'm curious, while we have you to weigh in on the choices of today, because everything that the royal family does is very thought out, very symbolic, this idea of tea stopping by the British Embassy, meeting with bipartisan leadership, meeting with the media, other notable figures there.

What do you read into today's schedule that we just. Or I guess for you, yesterday's schedule.

WILLIAMS: Yes, today's -- well, today's yesterday's schedule. It is looking very British, as you say, with the tea, with the scones, with the silver teapot at the British Embassy.

[01:10:05]

Then the large engagement, the very large engagement with various people from the U.S. and the U.K. and we're seeing the footage here of Charles coming into the British Embassy to meet all the people there, assembled from about 650 people there. And really I think this is the soft start. This is Charles doing what he does best, meeting, greeting.

There's the Queen there just behind him, Queen Camilla. Meeting, greeting to talking to the great and the good of Washington. And also some U.S., some UK people have come over from different parts of the United States to be part of the celebrations here. And then we're going to start seeing the much more serious business. It's Congress.

And also when he goes to New York to meet 9/11 survivors and first responders and also when he lays a wreath to the fallen, it's about because he's also head of the British armed forces in a way that's also a different role, isn't it? Keir Starmer is not head of the British armed forces, the king is. And he's going to be celebrating, commemorating the fallen as well.

So, we are going to see much more serious business. But this is a big smiling beginning. They've just got off the plane. Queens all said she's already a little bit jet lagged. And it is a lot of business for two men who are very similar ages, late 70s, President Trump and the King, but very different personalities.

MICHAELSON: Very different indeed. And it was interesting to see. We just showed a picture of Scott Bessent, the US Treasury Secretary. A lot of President Trump's cabinet was there, but also a lot of the Democratic leaders. Nancy Pelosi was there.

Other top Democrats showing this was a bipartisan moment to celebrate the British royal family. Kate Williams, thank you so much. We appreciate it. It's going to be quite a day ahead for you and for all of us. And we're grateful for your insights. The simmering feud between President Trump and late night host Jimmy

Kimmel is starting to flare up again. Just two days before that incident at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, Jimmy Kimmel opened his show by pretending to be the comedic host of the upcoming event, which is known for taunting attendees in the crowd. Usually there's a comedian doing that.

There wasn't supposed to be one this year. So Jimmy Kimmel sort of made up what it would look like if there was.

But one joke in particular about the first lady. Melania Trump is sparking renewed controversy, especially after what happened on Saturday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE": Of course, our first lady Melania is here. Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: On Monday, the first lady posted on X that Kimmel's monologue deepens the political sickness within America. Over on Truth Social, President Trump called for Disney and ABC to fire Kimmel over the joke, describing it as a despicable call to violence.

Just a short while ago during the latest episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC, the late night host addressed the controversy head on right when the show started.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIMMEL: You know, sometimes you wake up in the morning and the first lady puts out a statement demanding you be fired from your job. We've all been there, right? It was a very light roast joke about the fact that he's almost 80 and she's younger than I am. It was not by any stretch of the definition a call to assassination and they know that.

I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject. I do. And I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Joining me now to discuss from Stanford, Connecticut is a senior TV editor at Variety, Brian Steinberg, welcome back to The Story Is thanks for staying up late for us.

BRIAN STEINBERG, SENIOR TV EDITOR, VARIETY : Thanks for having me.

MICHAELSON: So what do you make of Jimmy Kimmel's response? He did not apologize. He went right back at President Trump and the first lady.

STEINBERG: He did, but he also didn't -- I don't think he threw any fire or exacerbated the situation. He held his ground. He didn't open a new chapter or new insults. I think he tried to say, hey, we disagree and let's keep it at that.

MICHAELSON: Disney is standing by Kimmel for now, but Kimmel does not necessarily have a long term future at Disney. What do we know about his deal?

STEINBERG: Well, Kimmel announced late last year that he was into a one year deal. And my understanding is that Jimmy Kimmel is one of the longer serving late night hosts. He feels he's closer to the end than the beginning of this and I think he wants to keep his options open and give Disney something similar. They're going to do a year, I guess a year at a time, at least for now.

They'll do only a 12 month contract for Kimmel at this point.

MICHAELSON: And it's interesting because even before all of this, even before Stephen Colbert was canceled, Jimmy Kimmel has been publicly talking about the idea of retiring. He's got like the greatest deal in his contract where he basically gets to take the summer off. You know, it doesn't have to work. He's got a whole lot of vacation.

He's got all sorts of guest hosts, which don't usually happen unless you've got some leverage in this business.

[01:15:02]

So it wasn't like he was necessarily trying to do this forever. But do you think that all of this might speed up his decision to leave or maybe encourage him to stay even longer?

STEINBERG: You know, it really depends. I think he has a lot of -- a lot of leeway at Disney. He's a trusted, obviously staffer. He does a lot of other things for Disney, including Oscar telecasts, TV up front appearances at, you know, the big May advertising sales presentations.

He's always there, a regular part of the proceedings. He really is a member of the hall Disney in some respects. I think he has a lot of -- lot of support there. I would think that what they'll probably do is how you're feeling.

You want to do this for a long period of time, you want to call quits. I think this gives them the way to say, hey, we need to, you know, find somebody else. I don't like doing this anymore. I also, I mean Disney would probably like some sense of if you're going to leave, let's figure it out. Well, how we can plan what we want to do next, if we want anything next at all. Late night is not what it once was.

MICHAELSON: Right. And that's a big part of this story 'cause it's not guaranteed that late night will continue. Over on CBS when Stephen Colbert goes away very soon, they're basically putting on a paid program from Byron Allen who's buying the airtime and CBS is not putting out their own program.

I mean this is such a different world from when Johnny Carson dominated TV with the Tonight Show where every TV set was watching. He made careers and Johnny Carson went out of his way not to be politically one side or the other, he tried to give to each side. Jay Leno sort of kept that going intentionally saying we're not going to piss off Republicans.

But the current late night host, that is not their strategy. Do you think that's been a good thing for them financially?

STEINBERG: You know, it has generated good ratings. I mean Colbert, it was top -- top of his game and has gotten great. You know, he's revived that well.

MICHAELSON: A lot worse, A lot worse ratings than Jay and Johnny used to have. A lot worse. The industry is so different.

STEINBERG: I agree with you on that. That's true. But he has -- he has made CBS number one late in -- late night in current era. Look, TV is much more fragmented these days. I think in order to get an audience you need to go for a certain subsection and really foster a connection to them. It can't be all things, all people. So it must be one thing that the people that are going to want you and make them watch you more and more. And that's what's happened these days.

The late night hosts now are political. They're catering to a certain coterie of people that want to see that. Fallon is the only one who I think has to go a little bit broader. But Colbert, Seth Meyers, Jon Stewart and now Kimmel really are, you know, I think in this era may are not all things, all people. Some people don't like watching them, which is what you would not hear about Johnny Carson or Jay Leno.

MICHAELSON: Well and often the highest rated late night show is actually Greg Gutfeld over on Fox News Channel, which is not exactly an apples to apples comparison because he's on at 10 o'clock, those other guys are on at 11:30. A lot of people go to bed. So it's not exactly a fair comparison.

But still it shows that even comedy on the right if you're going for that audience could be a good thing too as our we're so fragmented and kind of looking for our biases to be confirmed by people, which is a bigger issue that we could get do a whole hour on.

But we have to leave it there. Brian Steinberg, thank you so much for breaking down a big night in late night comedy.

The U.S. has received Iran's new proposal, a look at how President Trump views that latest plan. We go live to Will Ripley, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:22:58]

MICHAELSON: Turning now to the Middle East in the latest peace plan submitted by Iran. Sources tell CNN U.S. President Donald Trump appears unlikely to accept the proposal. Tehran's new plan would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but leave questions about its nuclear programs for later negotiations.

U.S. Secretary of State says the proposal is better than expected, but reiterated that the strait must be fully and freely open.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: If what they mean by opening the straits is yes, the straits are opened as long as you coordinate with Iran. Get our permission or we'll blow you up and you pay us. That's not opening the straits. Those are international waterways.

They cannot normalize. Nor can we tolerate them trying to normalize a system in which the Iranians decide who gets to use an international waterway and how much you have to pay them to use it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: This as Tehran's top diplomat met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday. The Iranian foreign minister says their meeting included discussions on the, quote, war and the aggression by the U.S. and Israel. CNN's Will Ripley is live in Taipei, Taiwan, with more on all of this.

Will, a lot of this comes down to leverage. And what does the US Sort of see as its leverage at this point?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So the U.S. obviously has a blockade in effect of the Strait of Hormuz. And so they're not allowing Iran to export the oil that it needs to generate income. And oil fields, they essentially experts say, have to run continuously. And if you have to shut them down because there's too much oil supply building up and you can't store it, that could actually cause serious long term damage to the oil fields themselves.

So there are some inside the Trump administration reportedly that believe that within the next couple of months or so, Iran is going to have to make a deal because they can't afford the damage to their, to their lifeline, their oil lifeline that will result if this thing drags on.

Now, the leverage that the Iranians have, of course, we showed you the video last week of those small speedboats where Revolutionary Guard commandos, heavily armed, can basically swarm and board civilian cargo ships and oil tankers at will.

[01:25:10]

Because those speedboats are very hard to detect until they're right upon these vessels. So they're basically freaking out anybody who would think about sending their crews through the strait anyway, because they don't want to run the risk of being detained, having shots fired, having their ships damaged.

So the two sides are at odds about who can survive the blockade longer. President Trump indicating that now is not the right time to accept Iran's offer to get the oil moving again, which, of course, would make much of the rest of the world very happy.

Certainly here in Asia, where some countries have a stockpile that's expected to last a matter of days. But even in the U.S., you've got gas prices that could shoot up well over $4 a gallon, $5 a gallon now six months out from the midterms, Elex.

So the leverage is the big question. And it's really unclear, you know, can the Iranians withstand the economic hardship? Can the United States and can President Trump withstand the political consequences of keeping this thing going? And that's really going to be the big question to see whether these -- whether these talks can actually result in anything, because so far, you haven't seen the vice president, JD Vance, get on a plane, which means no deal.

MICHAELSON: And so does any country at this point have leverage to help, whether it be Pakistan or Russia, who we just talked about, or China, who has so much economic power to try to get this thing moving and break the logjam?

RIPLEY: Yes. Certainly the United States would argue that Beijing could be putting more pressure on Iran to resolve this. Remember, Chinese President Xi Jinping said publicly that he thinks the Strait of Hormuz should continue to flow. Basically, he was talking to both sides, both Iran and the United States.

You have Vladimir Putin saying that after he had that meeting with Iran's foreign minister that he received a message from Iran's Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, the supreme Leader that has not actually been seen in public in the six weeks since he's ascended to power, even though the Iranians claim that he's participating in conference calls and is, you know, playing a key role in decision making.

I want to bring up for you a quote from a transcript of Marco Rubio's interview, the Secretary of State's interview with Fox News, the part that didn't make it on TV. He's talking about the difficulties of negotiating with Iran, saying one of the impediments here is that our negotiators aren't just negotiating with Iranians.

Those Iranians then have to negotiate with other Iranians in order to figure out what they can agree to what, what they can offer, what they're willing to do and even who they're willing to meet with. It was President Trump on Truth Social last week said Iran's having a hard time figuring out who their leader is.

And so that is the other question. Who's authorized to make concessions in this nuclear deal? Apparently not the negotiators on the ground, which has been a huge frustration for the United States because they come to the table trying to have a back and forth and there's just really no wiggle room from the Iranian side.

So, it doesn't seem like there's going to be a quick resolution here anytime soon. Pakistan says their doors are open, they're ready, ready to host peace talks, ready to bring the sides together, bring this to a quick resolution. And if you get pressure from Moscow, pressure from Beijing, maybe that'll cause the leadership in Iran to budge somewhat, whoever that leadership actually is. Because that's still somewhat of an open question right now.

MICHAELSON: Yes, sort of the old school thing is if only you could get all the leaders in a room and lock the doors and just figure it out. We have no idea who that leader would be for Iran, who even has the power to do that.

RIPLEY: Exactly.

MICHAELSON: And that's a problem when the United States leadership doesn't even know who they're dealing with. Will Ripley live for us in Taipei. Will, thank you very much.

That shooting in Washington has Democrats and Republicans now trading blame. Presidential historian Douglas Brinkley says political violence is nothing new in our history. He joins me next to explain why it's more prevalent now than it has been in some time and the lessons we can learn from when this happened in the past.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:33:07]

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to THE STORY IS. I'm Elex Michaelson.

Let's take a look at today's top stories.

President Trump does not appear to be open to Iran's latest proposal to end the war. That is according to sources who said that President Trump conveyed his views during a Monday meeting with top national security officials. Tehran's proposal included reopening the Strait of Hormuz without resolving questions on its nuclear program.

Britain's King Charles and Queen Camilla are here in Washington for a four-day state visit. They're marking the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence from British rule. The royal couple met with President Trump and the first lady for tea on Monday, then attended a garden party. On Tuesday, the king is scheduled to address a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress.

The suspect in the White House Correspondents' Dinner shooting is now charged with attempting to assassinate the president. Cole Allen made his first court appearance on Monday. Documents show he invoked his right to remain silent after his arrest.

A CNN review of social media accounts linked to Allen shows posts calling Donald Trump a traitor and comparing him to Hitler.

In the wake of Saturday night's shooting, we saw the Trump administration from the press secretary to the acting attorney general call for an end to political violence and placing some of the blame on Democrats, the media and their rhetoric.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This political violence stems from a systemic demonization of him and his supporters by commentators -- yes, by elected members of the Democrat Party and even some in the media.

TODD BLANCHE, ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL: The political violence and the rhetoric has got to stop.

[01:34:42]

BLANCHE: When you have reporters, when you have media, just being overly critical and calling the president horrible names for no reason and without evidence, without proof, it shouldn't surprise us that this type of rhetoric takes place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: For more, I want to bring in Douglas Brinkley. He's a presidential historian and professor of history at Rice University.

Welcome back to THE STORY IS. And great to see you in person for the first time here in Washington.

So, they're making the argument that Democrats and the media are making things worse. No doubt there are Democrats and people in the media that have used heated rhetoric that have ramped things up. But that's not a one-party issue, is it?

DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Absolutely not. It's -- political violence has been part of American history. I mean, we just have to look at how our country was, you know, formulated. Look at things in the early days of breaking away from Great Britain -- the Boston Massacre, the hanging of Nathan Hale.

And we sometimes only remember what presidents have been assassinated. But virtually every president in modern times gets all of these threats and the anger. Barack Obama had numerous, numerous threats.

The question is, how do we all ratchet it down? And with social media, where it's kind of free -- free falling hate forms out there, and how do we start getting back to teaching tolerance of Democrats, Republicans with the media and Justice Department as intermediaries?

MICHAELSON: You're the historian. What are some of the key lessons from history in terms of dealing with that particular issue?

BRINKLEY: Well, it gave birth to the Secret Service, growing and growing and growing. I mean, you go back to looking at Abraham Lincoln, say, with the fall of Richmond, you'll find there's like one or two police guards that after Lincoln's assassination, it grows.

Today, the Secret Service is like a SWAT team on a SWAT team on a SWAT team, as we saw at the Hilton, I mean, and which stopped this crime.

But there's something in the air that people don't like. There's just something uneasy about across the land right now. And it's because of, I think, the hate rhetoric leads to crackpots, leads to, you know, sick people.

And we're creating a kind of surveillance culture in America, while at the same time, there are guns are widespread. People can make homemade bombs on the Internet and things.

MICHAELSON: Yes.

BRINKLEY: So it's a -- violence is here. It's just trying to stop, to truncate 50 percent.

MICHAELSON: When you think about it, it wasn't even that long ago, maybe 30 years ago, before the Internet, when most people were getting the same information, they were reading the same paper, they were watching the same news. So they were getting the same facts. Then they maybe had different opinions on it.

But now with this, everybody is getting their own facts in addition to their own opinion.

And so we have this ratcheting up the concept that you're not my opponent, you're my enemy, and you're evil and you're an existential threat to the country.

And so some people think that they have a moral obligation to then eliminate that existential threat to the country. They think they're being patriotic.

BRINKLEY: Absolutely. And, you know, I wrote a biography of Walter Cronkite, and we used to call him the most trusted man in America, because there was a sense of a referee, a mediator. And that's gone now. We're not going to get back to the age of the night -- you know, when Walter Cronkite left in '81, it's the end of an era.

However, there does need to be more media responsibility, in particular with podcasting, who can start doing cult conspiracy, hate and attract these kind of wacky people like we just saw, unfortunately, disrupt the correspondents' dinner.

MICHAELSON: Yes, somebody should make that Cronkite story into a movie or something. That would be -- that would be a good one.

(CROSSTALKING)

MICHAELSON: Looking forward -- we're looking forward to when that happens.

Meanwhile, speaking of history, the whole country started with political violence, really 250 years ago as we had the Declaration of Independence. And now leading the celebration of the United States leaving England, is the king who is here. I guess the statute of limitations is up on that one.

(CROSSTALKING)

MICHAELSON: I mean, it's interesting to see him and talk about this very special relationship, really, that we've seen between royalty in the U.K. and the United States -- Queen Elizabeth, her father, and now her son.

BRINKLEY: Absolutely. You know, when you go back to the founding of our country, I do believe Ben Franklin, Jefferson Adams, all of them would have been stunned that here we are in the 21st century with this special relationship at 250. And we're the -- that's our closest ally.

But the royals are loved in America, we're a celebrity culture. Everybody follows them. They're the global celebrities. They've owned the marketplace in many ways for a long time.

[01:39:45]

BRINKLEY: But they somehow seem to -- the king calms Donald Trump. He still seems to want to impress Buckingham Palace when he goes over there, less so the British parliament, less so, you know, any other aspect of the U.K.

And so I think we're fortunate of this visit to remind people of our shared values that really developed in the 20th century, but particularly in World War I, World War II and beyond.

I can't imagine a United States without the United Kingdom as a partner. And I can't imagine a Great Britain without the Royals. So it's all of a part and parcel.

MICHAELSON: Doesn't President Trump seem happier with the king than with any other world leader? Right. Or any other American leader? I mean, it seems like he has the most respect for the king of anybody.

BRINKLEY: I think he's commented to President Trump that his mother had, you know, leaned into that some. And it's always the top of a social, you know, elan (ph) or elite that I'm with the Royals, they're having to share time with me.

And it's become strategic for the two countries to have these. But I'm very impressed that here's America, 250. And, you know, you'll be seeing the king in Virginia --

MICHAELSON: Yes.

BRINKLEY: -- and talking about the environment and conservation in addition to the heavier geopolitical and symbolic --

MICHAELSON: A stop in New York as well. And it'll be interesting to see all that. And today to see leaders of both parties at that British embassy standing shoulder to shoulder with him was also something.

Douglas Brinkley, always great to talk with you. Especially great to see you in person.

BRINKLEY: Back at you, Elex. Appreciate it.

MICHAELSON: Ahead, is A.I. coming for your job? I'll talk with the CEO and venture capitalist about how concerned you should be and how to play to your strengths.

[01:41:38]

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MICHAELSON: Two of the biggest names in tech are going to head to the courtroom. Elon Musk is suing Sam Altman, the head of OpenAI, for allegedly betraying the company's original nonprofit mission.

Musk says he helped to found OpenAI to create safe artificial intelligence. He says OpenAI started chasing profits in 2019, a year after he parted ways with the company.

Elon Musk is seeking more than $130 billion in damages from both OpenAI and Microsoft. They're accused of aiding OpenAI's alleged breach of trust. Musk and OpenAI president Greg Brockman are both expected to take the stand this week.

Joining us now is Arun Gupta, CEO of the NobleReach Foundation and coauthor of the new book, "The Mission Generation: Reclaim Your Purpose, Rewrite Success, Rebuild Our Future".

Welcome to THE STORY IS. Congratulations on the book. It's exciting and important to talk about it. And one of the things you talk about in this book is A.I.

ARUN GUPTA, CEO, NOBLEREACH FOUNDATION: Yes.

MICHAELSON: And how it's going to impact all of our careers. A lot of people are freaked out about that. What is your advice when it comes to A.I.?

GUPOTA: There's a few things I would say. One is a scaffolding change is how we think about our careers. I look at my father in that generation. They had one job for 40 years. My dad worked in the Navy.

I look at my cohort. We had one career, multiple employees, but we stayed in our lane of what we did.

I look, going forward, to this new next generation, they're going to have four to six careers over their -- over their lifetime in their professional journey.

MICHAELSON: Wow.

GUPTA: And so I think the scaffolding that's required is very different.

So when you start thinking about like, how do you build your career, you're also thinking about what are you trying -- what problems are you trying to solve?

Today, when we think about our jobs, people are picking their jobs based on what institutions they're working for or what job they have. Those are getting disrupted real time.

We need to start thinking about our careers based on what problem are we solving. The first two are really markers of prestige. The latter is a marker for purpose.

And I think as things get disrupted, we're living now in a time that will always be changing and our systems are set up for a more stable time.

MICHAELSON: Yes.

GUPTA: And so what we write about in the book is that seeking stability is actually the new risk. Stability is the new risk. And what we need to get comfortable with is an ever-changing environment.

MICHAELSON: So it's risky to think that things are going to stay the same. So what is the smart problem to be solving right now?

GUPTA: That is a personal one, I think. Right? Whatever -- wherever you get energy from and whatever problems you care about is what you should be trying to solve, but not focusing it on what institution you go to or what specific job you have.

Because the problems that we have today, whether it be health care, whether it be national security, whether it be climate, whether it be energy -- these all cross institutions. And so having fluency across these institutions will become increasingly more important.

MICHAELSON: You're the CEO of NobleReach. We've got some video of some of the young people associated with that. What is NobleReach? How does that work?

GUPTA: So NobleReach, at the end of the day, were a not for profit. We have a half $1 billion endowment, and we're really focused on teach for America but pointing to public service.

How do we get our top tech talent specifically to go into public service for their -- to start their career for two or three years, and then they can come out and become changemakers around the problems that they see, and they want to get involved in.

We're really thinking about ourselves as inspiring the next generation for national service, but also, more importantly, creating a community of dual citizens -- public, private sector citizens.

People that understand the language of both, the culture of both, and then more importantly, have networks in both. And that's how we rebuild trust, Elex.

MICHAELSON: And one of the things you said, certainly that generation is to think about institutions in a different way. What do you mean by that?

GUPTA: What I mean by that is that you can't think about the institutions as where you draw your meaning from. The meaning has got to be coming from you and what mission do you care about? And understanding that like over time, fluency across those problems and being able to move across institutions, I actually think will become your superpower.

A.I. is going to go after IQ over EQ, so it'll go deep very quick. But what it won't be able to replicate in the near term is the unique human perspective that you can bring to the table.

So the more experiences you do have, the more vantage points you have of looking at a problem, the more of a differentiator that will be going over time.

MICHAELSON: You say in the near term.

GUPTA: In the near term, in the very near term.

[01:49:49]

MICHAELSON: What about the long term?

GUPTA: It'll only compound over time as a strategic advantage because that's the world we're walking into. And we talk about this right now, that our systems are really designed because we use a language when we think about net worth, about financial capital being defining what our net worth is.

Going forward, though, you've got to be thinking about experience, capital, like where -- what experiences you have that are unique, your curiosity is going to become important, learning capital.

The relationships you build. What will become immensely important, I think in a world of A.I. is trust. Like who do you trust? And that becomes even more important in the world we're in.

And then importantly is going to be the impact you have because all of those things will become important in how you sustain yourself.

And then finally, health capital, because I think going forward, young folks today aren't just going to have 30, 40-year careers. They're living longer. They're going to probably be going 60 to 70 years.

MICHAELSON: Wow.

GUPTA: And so think about that is that -- it's hard to think about a career that lasts that time without having off ramps and on ramps.

MICHAELSON: Really interesting, really important conversation. The book is called "The Mission Generation". The co-author is Arun Gupta.

Congratulations. Thank you so much.

GUPTA: Thanks for having me.

MICHAELSON: Thanks for coming in here in Washington.

We'll have more of THE STORY IS when we come back.

[01:51:02]

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MICHAELSON: We now know which candidates for California governor have qualified for the next primary debate, airing right here on CNN. They are Republicans Chad Bianco and Steve Hilton; as well as Democrats Xavier Becerra, Matt Mahan, Katie Porter, Tom Steyer and Antonio Villaraigosa. To qualify for the debate, candidates had to meet specific polling

standards and raise contributed or loan at least $1 million for this specific gubernatorial campaign.

You can watch that debate on CNN live next Tuesday, May 5th. Kaitlan Collins and myself will be moderating live from southern California.

Our live coverage begins at 9:00 p.m. Eastern, 6:00 p.m. Pacific, right here on CNN and streaming on the CNN app.

By the way, the reason I'm here this week in Washington is to work alongside Kaitlan and CNN's political team, preparing for that debate. We're working on that every day this week.

Tomorrow, in addition to that, my exclusive guest here on THE STORY IS will be the U.S. Senator from California, Alex Padilla.

In the day ahead, I'll also be joining "INSIDE POLITICS WITH DANA BASH" at noon eastern, 9:00 a.m. Pacific and "THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER" at 6:00 p.m. Eastern, 3:00 p.m. Pacific.

I guess I got to go to bed. I'll see you then. Have a good night.

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