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The Story Is with Elex Michaelson

Hezbollah Leader Rejects Lebanon-Israel Ceasefire; Many Mail-In Ballots Still Being Counted In Key State Races; CNN Visits Town Where Ebola Outbreak Believed To Have Started; CNN Visits Town Where Ebola Outbreak Believed to Have Started; Quality of A.I. Videos Getting Better But Still Has Glitches; A Look Inside the $850M Obama Presidential Center; Local Vendors Brush Up on English Skills Ahead of Tournament. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired June 05, 2026 - 01:00   ET

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

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Continues to tell its riders this system is safe.

[01:00:02]

CHIEF SCOTT KREHER, MARTA POLICE DEPT.: This was a senseless crime, and violence would not be tolerated on MARTA.

YOUNG (voice-over): Atlanta police recently ran a mass casualty training exercise, showing the public just how prepared they are. And from the feds --

MARLO GRAHAM, SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, FBI ATLANTA: FBI Atlanta will lead drone ground intercept teams around stadiums and Fan Fest locations.

VINCE VELAZQUEZ, FMR. ATLANTA POLICE OFFICER (RET.), SECURITY CONSULTANT: The fans are going to come here and enjoy this World Cup experience, and not have an idea of all the security measures that are going on.

CHIEF JIM MCDONNELL, LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPT.: Let me be clear. Anyone who seeks to turn the celebration into chaos, who threatens the safety of our residents or visitors, or who comes here intending to commit crimes, you will find no refuge in this city.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

YOUNG: Yes, safety is going to be real concern. MARTA will be key, especially because traffic in the city normally is terrible. So you understand why MARTA is going to be needed to move all these international fans from the MARTA line to the FIFA World Cup here in Atlanta. This will be a big event. This won't be like the Super Bowl, where it's just one weekend. You're talking about a month-long worth of events that will test law enforcement, the transportation, and the city over a long period of time.

Ryan Young, CNN, Atlanta. ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: And similar tests in cities all across North America. Ryan, thank you. Thanks for watching the first hour of The Story Is. The second hour starts right now.

The Story Is, ceasefire rejected by Hezbollah.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A little bit of a different world, but it's interconnected with Iran.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Why peace in Lebanon is so important to getting a deal with Iran. My guest, live in Beirut.

The Story Is, vote-a-rama, a marathon voting session in the Senate on the GOP's immigration bill. And Republicans believe this could be Trump's last major legislative victory before the midterm.

The Story Is, at the heart of the outbreak.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The reason he's frightened of this hospital is because everybody who goes in there sick, they don't leave.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: CNN's Clarissa Ward travels to a remote gold mining location in the DRC, where this Ebola outbreak is believed to have originated.

And The Story Is, TikTok scams. Why people are betting on your pity using AI videos. CNN's John Sarlent here with new reporting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Los Angeles, The Story Is with Elex Michelson.

MICHAELSON: Thanks for watching The Story Is. I'm Elex Michelson, live for you in Los Angeles. The top story tonight is the war between Israel and Hezbollah. We have live pictures from the U.S. Capitol, where the U.S. House of Representatives has rejected a democratic resolution limiting President Trump's war powers in Lebanon.

Even the party's leadership opposed the measure, saying no U.S. service members are involved in combat operations or hostilities in that country. Meanwhile, Hezbollah has rejected a ceasefire agreement between Lebanon and Israel. The leader of the militant group calls the deal an imaginary ceasefire that requires Hezbollah to stop fighting while Israel continues its aggression.

President Trump with a different take.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: Yes, look, I think Hezbollah, I will tell you, they called us and they said, how about stopping? And I think you're going to see things happen over there. That's been like a little bit of a different world, but it's interconnected with Iran. And it would be really nice if Lebanon could have some peace. I spoke to Bibi Netanyahu about that, and I speak to them about it, and I actually spoke to Hezbollah about it. And I think progress is made.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: CNN's Mike Valerio, live in Beijing with the details. Mike, wouldn't it have been fascinating to be a fly on the wall when President Trump spoke to Hezbollah, what that conversation was like? Let's talk about though, what's going on in terms of this ceasefire and how all this plays into the potential deal with Iran.

MIKE VALERIO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Sure, and I think that it's most important to say that there continues to be fire exchanged between Hezbollah and Israeli forces. So this is another instance where a ceasefire is declared, yet the fire and hostilities and exchanges of clashes and hostilities, they still continue. So Israel has reported strikes on its forces in Southern Lebanon.

But I think, I mean, the soundbite that we played in the introduction is quite revealing with the President continuing to show optimism, yet at the same time, you know, a couple of seconds after those comments, he said that if United States service members were killed, notable because of course, Elex, Iran targeted United States military installations in the Gulf during the week.

Those attacks were repelled. The attack against the Kuwaiti International Airport, that certainly is an example of what Iran still can do. But he said that if American service members were killed, that would be, "A good reason to restart the war." So we have optimism, war still on the table, but we want to play another soundbite from the President.

[01:05:15]

This was interesting when Peter Doocy from "Fox News" asked, would you meet with the Supreme Leader? He at first says no, but in terms of the President still holding out optimism, let's listen to the rest of his answer and we'll talk when he's done.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I don't want to meet, but if I did meet, I'd be honored to meet him. I'd like to see if we make a deal. But if we make a deal, it's possible that I would meet him. I'd be OK with it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALERIO: OK, so again, why this all matters, a ceasefire in Lebanon because that leads to continuing on with the negotiations in Iran. Right now, the Strait of Hormuz is still closed and the leader of Hezbollah is saying, Israel essentially needs to withdraw from Southern Lebanon. That is not on the table for Israel right now. So if the status quo remains over the past week, two weeks with Israel and Hezbollah clashing, one can easily imagine us being in this pattern of Iran negotiations not going anywhere.

One more note on the Strait of Hormuz, since we are broadcasting from here in China, you know, Iran has floated that it is going to start charging service fees. They're not calling it a toll, but service fees for navigation, security and environmental cleanup? Definitely a question mark at the end of that sentence. China, one of the biggest points that it agreed with the United States when Trump was here three weeks ago was that there can't be any kind of fee. There can't be any sort of toll.

So one of our reporting targets for the day ahead is to see, does Iran stick with this point? It says that it's going to charge a service fee with Oman managing the Strait of Hormuz. And of course, that tributary of conversation led to the President saying that Oman could be attacked. Oman is one of the oldest treaty allies, bilateral agreements with the United States from the 1830s, if memory serves me right. So the Strait of Hormuz, very much still shut and the ceasefire in Lebanon really going to determine whether or not negotiations on that front move forward, Elex.

MICHAELSON: Mike Valerio, who knows everything, including negotiations from the 1830s. Mike Valerio, thank you for your reporting from Beijing.

The U.S. Senate is in a marathon voting session ahead of the final passage of the GOP $70 billion immigration bill. Remember, it's after 1 o'clock in the morning there and they're still up and voting, including some older members who may not always be up at this time. The bill has been stalled for weeks because of President Trump's so- called Anti-Weaponization Fund. The $1.8 billion fund compensates people who claim that they were victimized by the government. Critics say it would be a slush fund for Trump allies.

What's happening right now is that you've got senators doing all sorts of amendments that they're getting on the record that they probably would use in political ads down the road and they got to stay up all night and it's sort of a battle of attrition. At some point, they're just going to give up because they're going to want to go to sleep. A small group of Republicans have refused to back the immigration bill unless that Anti-Weaponization Fund was explicitly killed. There have been multiple failed efforts to shut down the fund as part of this marathon vote-a-rama.

Meanwhile, somebody who wants to be in the Senate is Graham Platner in Maine and there are new allegations coming to light against him tonight, especially in "The New York Times." They interviewed six women who dated Platner in the past. Some described him as a fun and caring partner, said that they felt safe with him. But three others talked about relationships they called complicated, as well as words like volatile and toxic, unsettling and emotionally wrenching.

They said Platner could be charming and charismatic, but he was also demeaning to women and in one case, even physically threatening, adding that he drank heavily and was regularly unfaithful. Platner has responded to the allegations in the last few hours during an interview with Chris Hayes on "MS Now," listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRAHAM PLATNER, U.S. SENATE DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE: There are some allegations in this piece that I just want to be kind of unequivocal about are simply not true. Anything alleging physicality, anything alleging that I knew what my tattoo was, these are the statements of someone who's politically motivated. In this piece, there's a lot about my struggling, not being a good boyfriend, certainly self- medicating with alcohol and I've been very upfront since the beginning of this campaign that was a pretty dark period of my life after I came back from my combat service and that's what combat serve -- what that kind of life looks like.

[01:10:00]

And so there are things in this that I absolutely will take responsibility for and have been speaking about openly for months now, but those serious allegations are just not true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: In that same interview, Platner made clear he is not dropping out of this race.

Speaking of races, two days after California's primaries, votes still being counted could be for some time due to all the mail-in ballots that have still need to be sorted. Some of them haven't even arrived at vote centers yet. Republican former "Fox News" host Steve Hilton remains ahead in the governor's race, but he may not stay there. Former State Attorney General Xavier Becerra, Democrat, is nipping at his heels. Meanwhile, President Trump is repeating his longstanding and unfounded allegations of vote rigging. Several hours ago, he posted, watch California, everybody, and then compared the state's elections to those of a, "third world country."

POLITICO's California bureau chief, Melanie Mason, who does not live in a third world country, is here to talk about all of this. Melanie, great to see you. So every day, we get a dump of new data in the afternoon that tells us sort of where we're at. One of the things you guys do in POLITICO, often in your daily playbook, is say who won the day. So who won the day today when it comes to the data?

MELANIE MASON, CALIFORNIA BUREAU CHIEF, POLITICO: When it comes to the data today, I actually think that Tom Steyer and maybe Nithya Raman in the L.A. mayor's race won the day when it comes to data, and let me tell you why. The metric that I think is most interesting right now is not sort of the number of votes people are getting, but the number of total votes that are yet to be counted.

I think the biggest question right now is how many votes are still outstanding? What is the overall turnout of this race? And what Tom Steyer and what Nithya Raman both want are a lot more votes because they know that these late mail votes are trending blue. So if they're going to catch up to either Steve Hilton or Xavier Becerra or Spencer Pratt respectively, they need a lot more, you know, ballots to come in, and it seems like there is more ballots out there than was originally estimated.

MICHAELSON: Right, so let's explain why that is. So in California, the law says that you can vote by mail up until Election Day. As long as your ballot is postmarked by Election Day, it then has seven days to arrive at a vote center to be counted. So we're still in that window where there could still be more ballots that come as long as they're postmarked, perfectly legal.

This doesn't mean that people are just randomly dumping ballots that say Nithya Raman at this point, but this is part of the legal process. So we don't know how many ballots are to be counted at this point.

MASON: That's right. And the counties every day or semi-regularly are putting out their estimates of how many ballots they think that are yet to be counted. And what we've seen is that regularly, the counties are sort of increasing what they think that total is. And so I think it's also important to remember, we knew that this is sort of how it goes in advance.

MICHAELSON: Yes.

MASON: I mean, I feel like every election cycle, we say on the way up to California elections, brace yourself, it's probably going to be a couple of days, you know, all of these processes.

MICHAELSON: Or weeks.

MASON: Or weeks. I mean, this has been the law for some time. And yet, every election night, I think all of us are kind of sitting there waiting, like, come on, come on, let's get on with it. We all know, and yet I think our understandable impatience sometimes gets the better of us.

MICHAELSON: Well, because other states have chosen to do it differently. California said, we're going to do this, we hope it expands voting. Other states say, no, you can't vote by mail on the day of the election. You got to get it in earlier. That's a policy choice that California makes. It is remarkable. I spent the last two days at the site where they count in L.A. County, and the stacks and stacks and stacks and back room of stacks of ballots that they haven't even come close to opening yet is really, really remarkable.

So, President Trump, during the middle of our show last night, claimed that there was cheating going on and that the U.S. Attorney's Office was looking into it. So we had the head of the U.S. Attorney's Office for this region, Bill Essayli, on our show live last hour. Here's what he told me when I asked him about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL ESSAYLI, FIRST ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY, CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA: There's no question there is fraud in every election. The question is how much fraud. We know that California, there's been many people prosecuted for illegally registering to vote or not being qualified to vote.

And the response is always, it's not widespread. And the problem with California, to be frank, our system sucks. It really does. We have universal vote by mail. We have no voter I.D. And that is a recipe for fraud, and it makes it almost impossible to know how many people are eligible to vote in California.

We've tried hard to audit the voter rolls. We have sued the state of California. The federal government's entitled to review those voter rolls, and they have stonewalled us. That case is before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals as we speak. And so we'd like to audit it. We want people to have confidence in these elections.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: But I asked him three times, was there actual evidence of cheating and certainly widespread cheating to change the outcome, and he did not have an answer to that.

[01:15:05]

MASON: And look, what the President sort of intimated in his social media post was that there was an investigation that had been launched, and from what I saw in your interview with him, he certainly didn't want to confirm that or, you know, one way or the other. So I feel like that maybe was a late-night post that was sort of dashed off, and now we're all trying to figure out what exactly the implications of that are.

MICHAELSON: Or maybe he has to create an investigation. I mean, I don't know, but there is not, even Steve Hilton, who is the Republican running, who's sort of the top Republican in the state, was asked today, have you seen examples of widespread fraud? And he said, so far, we have not. So that's an important thing.

And in terms of the mayor's race, though, there's a lot of suspicions on that front, especially Spencer Pratt supporters who not only live in Los Angeles but live other parts of the country who have been rooting for him to get in there, and they see Nithya Raman creeping up and creeping up and creeping up, and there is a good chance that Nithya Raman overtakes him, and that's creating some real questions about the system.

MASON: Yes, I think that that is very galling for people who maybe haven't been following our elections, but we should point out that in 2022, Karen Bass, when she was running against Rick Caruso, started off a lot of election night five points behind, and she ended up, once all of these votes were counted, seven points ahead. There was a giant swing. So we do know that these later votes, as they later mailed votes, I should say, tend to skew more blue.

And I think that there's something important to note as there's these allegations of cheating going on. Karen Bass wants to run against Spencer Pratt in the fall. She thinks it is easier to run against him than a fellow Democrat. Xavier Becerra, if he is the Democrat that gets through, wants to run against Steve Hilton. MICHAELSON: Yes.

MASON: If there was cheating going on, you would think that the Democrats would actually be setting up a race that they think they can win instead of running against fellow Democrats, which would be a lot harder for them. So I do think that, I think sometimes the conspiracy theories get a lot of attention online, but when you pull them apart a little bit, they don't quite track.

MICHAELSON: And real quickly, speaking of voting, there's this vote-a- rama happening right now on the Senate floor. And there's this interesting dynamic where some of the senators that are left behind are senators that President Trump has politically targeted, but they're still in the Senate, serving out their term until January. And you say that's impacting things right now.

MASON: Absolutely. I think this is the first time that President Trump has to meaningfully work with the senators that he has endorsed against. Remember in 2018, when he was in office in those midterms, he didn't really go after sitting members of his own party. That really started up after he left the White House, after January 6th. And I think that there was the impeachment votes, there was some retribution. Now he's continued that trend, but the people that he has gone after, people like Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, they're still there. And I don't think that they feel any particular sense of loyalty now that they have lost their seat because he has targeted them. So I do think that that really throws a wrench in what the President wants to do.

MICHAELSON: Yes, and also Senator John Cornyn is in that. We know Tom Tillis is in that camp. And then you've got people like Susan Collins who need to show some independence in order to win in a place like Maine. So who knows if the Republicans will be able to stay together on these key votes. Melanie Mason with POLITICO. You do D.C., California, you do it all. What a few days it's been and a few more days to come on this race. Great to see you. California POLITICO playbook, read it every day for free.

[01:18:22]

A journey to the heart of an epidemic. CNN travels to the remote African town where experts believe a growing outbreak of Ebola got started. Clarissa Ward with what they saw ahead on The Story Is.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELSON: Back to our top story, the leader of the militant group Hezbollah has rejected a ceasefire agreement between Lebanon and Israel. Hicham Bou Nassif is an associate professor of government at Claremont McKenna College. He is back live in Beirut with his family. Good to see you. What's it like on the ground in Beirut? What are you hearing from people?

HICHAM BOU NASSIF, ASSOC. PROFESSOR OF GOVT., CLAREMONT MCKENNA COLLEGE: Thank you, Elex. Good to be back. Essentially, the situation in Beirut is normal to the extent that you can be living in a normal situation in a country that is at war, just not in Beirut in the South. So people go about their lives, their daily lives.

Nothing really has changed, but we all know that not too far there is a war going on. And of course, there are a lot of refugees. So you can see that their presence is felt in Beirut. The situation is very tense, just not as dramatic as it is in the Lebanese South.

MICHAELSON: In the past when you've been with us, you've talked about this real divide in the country between Hezbollah and maybe the third of the country that supports them and the two thirds of the country that doesn't. How is that playing out right now with this ceasefire deal?

NASSIF: Well, essentially, people who oppose Hezbollah, the majority of the Lebanese population, are hoping that the deal will be a way out of the crisis. Now, within the Shia community, there's also a divide line. The hard supporters of Hezbollah, I suppose, are saying that this is a treason, that this is a surrender to Israel, that essentially Lebanon or the Lebanese government has surrendered to a diktat from the United States and from Israel. But then other Shia are saying, look, we've been at war forever.

[01:24:52]

The Shia community is the community that is paying the highest price for the ongoing war, and perhaps there's finally a way out. Forgive me. So essentially, there's a divide line between Shia and non-Shia, but also there's a divide line within the Shia community between supporters of Hezbollah who believe that the idea of peace or the possibility of peace with Israel is treason, and others who are tired, who just want to go back to their homes, and they see potentially a way out of the current tragedy in the deal.

But at the end of the day, Elex, it's not about what the Shia or the non-Shia want. It's essentially about what Iran has in store for Lebanon. And Iran has been using Lebanon forever as a satellite state, and Iran automatically said yesterday that it reached a deal between Lebanon and Israel. So the current question now is, will the Lebanese government have the courage to say to Iran, essentially mind your own business, Lebanon has suffered enough, and it's the Lebanese national interest to sign a peace treaty or at least to cease the hostilities with Israel.

MICHAELSON: And we will see. I think your signal may have frozen there for a moment. But Hicham Bou Nassif, thank you so much for joining and sharing your perspective. Good morning to you.

CNN is getting a first look inside the remote mining town where it's believed that the first case occurred in a growing Ebola outbreak. There have been more than 300 cases of the disease, 60 deaths confirmed in the Democratic Republic of Congo since then. Clarissa Ward and her team report on the frustration, fear, and mistrust in that area. Clarissa has been reporting from there for several days now. We have seen just the extraordinary toll here. That story now ready. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: (voice-over): We are heading to Mongbwalu, a remote gold mining town deep in the lush forests of eastern Congo and the epicenter of this Ebola crisis.

WARD: From up here, you really get a sense of the challenges in fighting this outbreak, the vastness of the terrain and the total lack of good roads.

WARD (voice-over): The World Food Programme now operates a daily helicopter to deliver supplies to the beleaguered community. On this day, they're bringing a much-needed mobile testing lab. Days without results here have cost lives.

WARD: You can see they've sent security for us. That's because yesterday villagers were throwing rocks at a convoy of aid workers.

WARD (voice-over): We drive quickly through the town. Suspicion of aid organizations runs deep here, with conspiracy theories swirling as the death toll mounts. We jump out of the car to talk to local journalist Gar Mumbesa.

WARD: So he's saying that there's a feeling among the community as well that aid workers who are coming here are actually coming here to profit from this crisis, not to help.

WARD (voice-over): He spends his days trying to educate the community about the outbreak.

WARD: So he's saying that the reason he's frightened of this hospital is because everybody who goes in there sick, they don't leave. They come out dead.

WARD (voice-over): Inside the hospital, a small team is holding the line. Logistics coordinator, Naoufel Dridi, is preparing to disinfect another body.

NAOUFEL DRIDI, LOGISTICS COORDINATOR, DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS (through audio translation): It's like you're on the front lines where the bullets are flying. But with Ebola, you can't see it. You can't see it.

WARD (voice-over): That invisible enemy is everywhere here. Workers carry the first body to the morgue. A grim procession, disinfecting the path as they go. A second follows closely behind.

A woman can be heard wailing from inside. My child, my child, she cries. I remember my child.

WARD: So he's explaining to me that the two bodies that we just saw being brought in one of them was an 11-year-old child and the other one was an eight-month-old baby and you can hear we've been hearing the wails of the family it's just, it's unimaginable.

WARD (voice-over): The bodies keep coming six in total this day, each one a family destroyed.

[01:30:04]

The mayor of Mongbwalu is overwhelmed. His town has never seen anything like this.

Can we talk about when this all started? When did you first understand that there was something terribly wrong going on here?

ISRAEL SESERKL MANDRO, MONGBWALU MAYOR: The date was February 22nd when a body arrived from Bunla in a coffin.

WARD: The 22nd of February.

That's more than 11 weeks before the outbreak was declared.

MANDRO: Two or three weeks later people started to die here. The deaths in two weeks, there were 48 dead, here in Mongbwalu.

WARD: The virus continued to spread silently, invisibly through this town and beyond. Health care workers are now playing catch up to contain the outbreak and the people of Mongbwalu are still paying the price.

Clarissa Ward, CNN, Mongbwalu, Democratic Republic of Congo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Our thanks to Clarissa, her team, for their extraordinary and fearless reporting.

We'll be right back.

[01:31:22]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELSON: Have you seen this? There's a new scam using artificial intelligence, and it's spreading across TikTok and Instagram. It involves A.I. videos that create fake, highly-emotional backstories that guilt social media users into buying so-called handmade goods.

CNN digital producer Jon Sarlin has been investigating this bizarre trend and joins us live.

Welcome to THE STORY IS for the first time.

JON SARLIN, CNN DIGITAL PRODUCER: Thank you. Happy to be here.

MICHAELSON: Good to have you for your debut here. So this scam, I've seen this all over the place. How does this work?

Sarlin: So the scam takes this very simple narrative, which is there's a crafts maker who is working diligently at home making this good. They're putting all of their blood, sweat and tears into this item. and they go to a flea market where they are bullied mercilessly, just for the gall of having to sell their item. Now, you at home watching this with your big heart and empathy can go

click through on the site and buy their handmade goods. Now it is not handmade, it's an A.I. scam. And what's interesting is the scam makers take this one narrative and swap out different characters.

So in one video it will be a kid being bullied for being black. Another one, some redhead, another one, a goth or a hippie, and so on and so on trying to find different communities to exploit.

MICHAELSON: And they may be targeting you based off of your algorithm, right? In terms of sending you particular videos.

And they're very hard to tell. I mean, a lot of people are falling for this, right?

SARLIN: Yes, that's exactly right. You can look in the comments, there are a lot of people saying, I'm so sorry for you. And again, with this, there is this kind of sense of reality. You never know if those people who are commenting are real.

But we found a podcast from one real housewife, "Real Housewives of Potomac", who said she bought one and it never came. So yes, people are falling for this left and right.

MICHAELSON: So how did you figure it out?

SARLIN: You know, I was scrolling through and I saw a video and I could tell it was A.I. because the eye test, something looked off.

But the quality of the video was so much better than the scams that I'd seen before. And, you know, even six months, a year ago, the video quality of a -- of a scam like this wouldn't have fooled, you know, a viewer.

MICHAELSON: So we're looking there. The Lakers logo changes sides. If you're looking really closely. So that's sort of a tell, this guy isn't actually a real person and he's not wearing a Lakers shirt.

SARLIN: Maybe it's two Lakers sweatshirts. I mean you never know.

MICHAELSON: You got to look really closely. And so you reached out to TikTok and Instagram when you told them that this was happening. I think you may have alerted them that this was happening. What did they tell you?

SARLIN: So it's interesting. These videos were spreading on Instagram, on TikTok -- two of the biggest social media platforms. Now, Instagram said, yes, these videos do violate our policies against scams. And they took the videos down.

Now TikTok, they just put a label on it that said they were A.I.- generated. And in a statement, TikTok told CNN that they continue to iterate and evolve our approach as A.I.-generated content itself evolves in our industry.

MICHAELSON: Yes. And let's put that Instagram statement up as well, which we just put up on the screen briefly, which says that they are continuously working to improve their ability to detect A.I.

And there are sometimes when you go on Instagram, it'll say A.I. there, but it doesn't always say A.I.

SARLIN: It doesn't. And so this is a kind of a big problem when it comes to A.I. Right now it's really easy to pump out this A.I. slop. What's not so easy is to use A.I. to actually identify what is A.I.

So there's no magic app. You can just upload a video with 100 percent reliability and say that it's A.I.

Now TikTok and, you know, Meta millions of videos get uploaded every day. So for them to slap a label on something, they need to have certainty. And with that amount of videos going into the system, there's no perfect solution to figuring out exactly what is A.I.

MICHAELSON: So if you're a regular person and you see something like this and you don't work for CNN, what are you supposed to do?

SARLIN: You know, you have to be careful. These videos are getting better every day.

[01:39:46]

SARLIN: I talked to one deepfake expert and he said, look, these videos aren't perfect, but these are the worst they're ever going to be.

So right now there are a few tells, you know, we have to zoom in on that Laker logo, but maybe in six months that Laker logo will be fixed.

And what's really tragic about this is because these videos are so good, people's guards are going to be up. So people who are real creators or people who have real problems on the Internet --

MICHAELSON: Right.

SARLIN: -- people are now going to be so cynical about that because they see these scams after scams that are so realistic and hard to tell whether they're real or fake.

MICHAELSON: I mean, it really is extraordinary, the speed in which A.I. is getting better, because it is -- literally the computers are teaching themselves how to get better every single day. And they are moving -- it's not like at the same pace. I mean, the speed of this is increasing.

SARLIN: Yes. Our defenses are not working at the offense of A.I., and our systems don't really know how to process this. You know, the tech companies themselves are working out exactly how to solve this problem. But right now there's no solution.

MICHAELSON: Jon Sarlin, you can check out his work at CNN.com. Did a great vertical video on this as well, where you can hear from some of those experts. Thank you for bringing it to us, to our attention. I think a lot of

people might have fallen for this if you didn't bring us to our attention.

And great to have you here with us on THE STORY IS. You got to come -- come hang out with us more often.

SARLIN: Thanks for having me.

MICHAELSON: We appreciate it.

Thank you so much for watching THE STORY IS. For our international viewers, "WORLDSPORT" is next. For our viewers here in North America, I'll be right back with a special story that you're not going to want to miss.

Stay with us. Thanks so much for watching THE STORY IS.

[01:41:31]

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MICHAELSON: President Trump says he'll replace the "America 250 Concert" with a rally to end all rallies at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on June 24th. It would feature speeches, one from Trump himself, and patriotic music from Lee Greenwood and military bands. It's part of the nation's 250th anniversary on July 4th.

Artists such as The Commodores and Martina McBride withdrew from the original concerts, some fearing it would be too partisan. Trump mocked them, quote, "We don't want singers with no talent and big fees," he posted.

For more than ten years and $850 million, The Obama Presidential Center is ready to open. Our Jeff Zeleny takes us inside the cultural institution in Chicago, nicknamed The Obama.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: So when you walk inside The Obama Presidential Center, the first thing you see is "Toward a more perfect union" with a message from the president saying, "America has always been a work in progress."

But you stop and listen and hear the president's remarks, "Yes, we can". We all remember that anthem of his candidacy that led him to the White House.

And here is the replica Oval Office. When you walk inside here, its reminiscent of most every presidential library and museum, everyone has them right down to the replica Resolute Desk.

Of course, Donald Trump is not mentioned at all in this presidential center. But when you look around this room, perhaps this is the most striking example of how very different things are.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We handle it with great love and 24 karat gold.

ZELENY: And on the eighth floor is the sky room, the final stop in The Obama Presidential Center. It has sweeping views of the South and West Sides of Chicago, as well as Lake Michigan.

But even more than that, these giant letters that are etched in stone are from a particular speech, the one he delivered on the 50th anniversary of the march on Selma.

And the architect said, seeing these letters is like looking into his mind as he's writing the speech.

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What a glorious task we are given to continually try to improve this great nation of ours.

ZELENY: Now, there is no doubt there are some missing pieces here, but he does actually confront some of his challenges in ways more than I thought he would.

This is one part of his legacy. But finally this Obama Presidential Center is opening nearly ten years after he left office.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAELSON: Our thanks to Jeff Zeleny for that from Chicago.

The office of the French presidency says the country has lost a major cultural figure after the death of author, activist and film director Marjane Satrapi. The French Iranian artist died on Thursday at the age of just 56. She was best known for her bestselling memoir, which describes Iran's Islamic Revolution through the eyes of a child.

She later co-directed an animated film based on that graphic novel, earning an Oscar nomination and the jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

She also directed the film "Radioactive", about scientist Marie Curie. An Iranian human rights group, calls her a fearless advocate for feminism and women's rights.

Well, with the opening match just days away, thousands of World Cup fans are expected in cities all across North America.

After the break, how local vendors in Mexico City are preparing for the influx of tourists. That's next.

[01:48:54]

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MICHAELSON: As Mexico City prepares to welcome thousands of visitors for the upcoming World Cup, local vendors are brushing up on their English language skills in hopes of boosting sales.

CNN's Valeria Leon explains how small businesses are preparing for the flood of international visitors.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VALERIA LEON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm just a few blocks away from the stadium in Mexico City, and this market called Mercado Huipulco, is one of the changes transforming the area ahead of the tournament.

As we walk through it, we find more than 15 food stands serving some of Mexico's most traditional dishes. She's preparing pancita, which is this Mexican traditional dish. I'm going to try this dish. Ok.

Some of the vendors here have been taking English classes to welcome the thousands of visitors ahead of the tournament. Tere (ph) is one of them.

TERESA, RESTAURANT STAND OWNER: Como. Hello. Welcome to home.

LEON: Hola, Luis. How are you?

LUIS, MEXICAN FOOD STAND OWNER: Fine, fine. Good afternoon.

LEON: You've been taking English lessons as well?

LUIS: Yes.

LEON: How's that going?

LUIS: We have vegetables. We have potatoes, onions, peppers, cucumbers, peppers.

LEON: Ok. So we're heading to the classroom right now where they're going to have their English lesson this afternoon.

[01:54:49]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good afternoon, Teacher. May we come in?

BENITO, ENGLISH TEACHER: Everybody, please. Repetition is the mother of learning.

LEON: How important is teaching all these students?

BENITO: It is very important to deliver a great service and to improve the quality of the attention to the public.

GUADALUPE, FOOD VENDOR: We provide -- we got everything for all the people coming.

LEON: So this is how vendors say they are ready to welcome the world, serving up Mexican flavors to football fans.

Valeria Leon, CNN -- Mexico City.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAELSON: Singer Dua Lipa and actor Callum Turner are celebrating their recent marriage. The couple was spotted in Sicily, where they are expected to hold a three-day celebration.

They were seen on the terrace of a hotel. There, guests were already gathering for the festivities. Dua Lipa and Turner wed at a civil ceremony at a town hall in London last Sunday. They've been linked since 2024 and got engaged last year.

Good for him.

Thanks for watching THE STORY IS. I'm Elex Michaelson.

We'll be back tomorrow. The L.A. County registrar, Dean Logan, is going to be here to talk about all the controversy, about how long it is taking to count ballots in Los Angeles. We'll talk to him about that.

Brian Tyler Cohen will be with us.

Plus another NBA finals game. And we've got a big-name guest talking about that.

We'll see you tomorrow. Have a great night or morning or afternoon, depending on where you are.

The news continues right after this on CNN.

[01:56:30]

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