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The Story Is with Elex Michaelson

Trump: Will Release Iran Agreement Text "In Couple Of Days"; Vance: Iranian Leaders Say They Want To Change Behavior; Soccer Star Power on Full Display in Group Stage Openers; New Storm System Likely to Become Tropical Storm Arthur; Makerfield Constituency Prepares for Key By-Election U.K.; Jordan Makes World Cup Debut Against Austria. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired June 17, 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]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump is scheduled to join a working session on economic growth, and then he'll meet with Egypt's president and India's prime minister. President Trump will later travel to the palace of Versailles for a dinner and then head back to the United States. On Tuesday, he spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. G7 leaders declared unwavering support for Ukraine and agreed to increase the delivery of air defense assistance. They also committed to strong strengthening sanctions on Russia.

The leaders say they support the memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran, despite the fact that many still have not seen the actual text. The secrecy around the Iran agreement is causing tensions abroad and here in the U.S. but President Trump says that he plans to release the text in a couple of days.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have our deal done with Iran and it should be successful. It goes to a second stage, which I think will be actually easier.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why not release it before Friday?

TRUMP: Well, because I'd like to get a formal setting first before we do that, but I have no problem with that. It's great document.

Actually, I'll not only release it, I'll probably have a press conference and read it to you word by word.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: And in the Strait of Hormuz, Iran has exported its first crude oil shipments in two months. That's according to data tracker from Tanker Trackers. That's a maritime intelligence company. President Trump says that vital waterway will reopen and the U.S. will lift its naval blockade on Iranian ports after the formal agreement signing ceremony on Friday.

All right, let's go back now to Vienna and bring in Elex Michaelson.

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, Victor, it is 7:00 in the morning on the dot here and the church bells are ringing to let people know of that fact. We've come here to Vienna for the largest climate conference in all of Europe. Arnold Schwarzenegger has been hosting it for the last decade. It's called the Austrian World Summit. We've got some video of him and Kamala Harris yesterday.

She was the guest of honor at this conference. And I was invited to moderate a discussion on stage with both of them. What was particularly interesting, also invited to speak was Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota. And it was the first time we had seen the two of them in the same place in a very long time. Remember, Walz was Harris's running mate during their failed 2024 election.

I talked to Harris about the war with Iran, something she has a very different view on than President Trump. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: But to be clear, if you were president, you never start this war.

KAMALA HARRIS, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Let's be clear about this. Whatever is being negotiated, this president is going to declare victory and, and we'll end up where we were after the JCPOA and call that a victory.

This is a war the American people did not want. This is a war of choice. This is a president who has proven himself to be entirely self-indulgent. And we will see what happens in the coming hours and days in terms of the negotiation. And really, it's a concept of an agreement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: It's a strong words there from Kamala Harris, comments that are making news around the world, including here in Austria. That was front page news here in Austria to hear her say that about the Iran war with us. Now we're going to hear a lot more from her and from Arnold Schwarzenegger coming up a little bit later, including them weighing in on some of the climate issues, including AI data centers and Kamala Harris' future. Is she running for president again? I talked to her about that still to come, but for now, Victor, back to you with more headlines.

BLACKWELL: All right, looking forward to it. Elex Michaelson in Vienna. Thank you.

With me now is Christopher Hill, a former U.S. assistant secretary of state and former U.S. ambassador to South Korea and Iraq.

Mr. Ambassador, thanks for being with me. The president and the vice president virtually signed this agreement on Sunday. It's now Wednesday and the American people have not seen it. I wonder, though, we learned today that the Israelis asked to see the text and the U.S. rejected that. I mean, what do you take away from that, considering that they'll have to likely abide by some of the points in that deal over the next 60 days?

CHRISTOPHER HILL, FORMER U.S. ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE: Yes, it's very unusual. Look, the whole thing is very unusual. The whole process has been kind of difficult to watch. I mean, kind of stomach turning with respect, though, to the issue of circulating an unsigned MOU. I can see why the administration wants to keep that under wraps until they actually sign it.

Now, this presupposes that once they sign it, we'll all see what it was. But if you -- if you put it out before it's been signed, you'll have every expert and frankly, some people who are not particularly expert, you know, changing that to which and otherwise, you know, changing the document without really knowing the -- or trying to change the document without really knowing the negotiating history.

[01:05:20]

So I certainly understand the point that they want to get it signed and then put it out. The real question, of course, is what does it say? I mean, it's been very unclear what the administration wants to do.

And at this point it seems that the nuclear issue, which was the causes Bella (ph). So the reason we went into this is all being put off for the next 60 days. And I don't understand why they think they're going to make progress in those 60 days as opposed to the previous 60 days.

So it looks like an MOU to open the Straits of Hormuz, but as many pundits have pointed out, the Straits of Hormuz were well open before this bombing started.

BLACKWELL: Yes, it just takes them to an antebellum position with more financial opportunities potentially for the Iranians. You ask what makes the administration think that they'll get these points solved in the next 60 days. I want you to listen to the characterization from Vice President JD Vance talking about new opportunities, new considerations from the Iranians. Here's his description.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JD VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What they're saying is that they want to make long term commitments to the United States and to the Gulf Arab countries to change their relationship.

Senior leadership, even IRGC officials say, you know what, we may have some animosity, we may have some mistrust, but we recognize the way that we've done business with the United States for 47 years is a mistake. Let's try something else.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: And so he says, that will have to be verified. But are they working with completely different people who have different sensibilities now?

HILL: It's great to see this kind of visionary concept of what our relationship with Iran could be in the future. I'm not sure we needed to drop $17 billion worth of bombs to get their attention and consider the fact that we might be able to have a relationship. That's usually why you have diplomats to sort of talked about the scope of the relationship, what can be done, how we can address past problems rather than do it in the context of this emergency situation with -- in a ceasefire. So it's kind of unclear what he's trying to do except possibly prepare people for the fact that this is not going to be a very pretty document.

I mean, we're looking at the possibility of giving, or in effect giving Iran a lot of money for reopening the Straits of Hormuz, money that they never got out of the Obama era deal. And so they're going to have some explaining to do that is why did attacking Iran now make things better for us and why in the world will we be talking about this visionary future.

BLACKWELL: Let me play one more clip here from the vice president's conversation with Megyn Kelly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VANCE: Now, if they comply with this deal, I think it's much better for the United States and it's going to be much better for Iran. But if they don't comply with the deal, the straits are still open. We've still done incredible damage to their nuclear program. And it's really, you know, we can get on with our lives as a country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: The vice President says if they don't comply with this agreement, we can just get on with our lives as a country. There have been critics who said that lifting the blockade has given up the leverage. There are critics who say of the Israel Hamas war that it was kind of phase one and done and then the U.S. kind of moved on. What do you hear from the vice president there who says if they don't abide by the points of this agreement, the U.S. will just move on?

HILL: Yes, it's that's very strange because the whole point was that we needed them to comply with this in order to move forward and that's why we went to war. I mean, war is a serious means to a serious end. And I don't think we should forget the fact that thousands of people were killed in this -- in this war. I mean, they weren't Americans, but they were thousands of Iranians were killed. So you can imagine the sense within Iran.

I mean, there's certainly a lot of people who would love to have that government gone, but they've also, you know, lost a lot of family members. So I'm not sure the administration -- it really speaks to the fact that I'm not sure it really ever had a kind of well worked out strategy, except for the concept that Iran was badly hurt last June and if we just hit them while they're down, we can get more out of them. And that's proven to be kind of an elusive concept. A big question, of course, will be -- will be Lebanon because the Iranians are apparently demanding that the Israelis let off on the -- on the Hezbollah in Lebanon.

[01:10:14]

I'm not sure there's really any understanding on that at this point. And so although Lebanon, to many Americans, sounds like some kind of inside baseball, it's a very serious element of the overall problem in the Middle East.

BLACKWELL: Yes. And the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that the IDF is not leaving Lebanon and will continue to strike Hezbollah in defense as they see fit.

Ambassador Christopher Hill, thank you so much for your time.

We're getting a better idea of what the ballots for November's midterms will look like after a night of primaries and runoff elections across the U.S. here in Georgia. CNN projects House Republican Mike Collins will challenge Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff for his seat. And in the governor's race, CNN projects billionaire Rick Jackson will win the Republican nomination to run against Democrat and former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. Dianne Gallagher has more on these key races.

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: President Trump wins and losses in Georgia runoff races. Tuesday, a marquee matchup for a key Southern States Senate seat is set as CNN projects Republican Congressman Mike Collins will win that runoff race. He will now try to unseat the incumbent Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE COLLINS (R-GA): You know, we're Republicans now. Now we stand united around one mission. That's right. And you all know what the mission is to put a Republican in that seat and get rid of that Jon Ossoff in November, return this seat to the people of Georgia. And I look forward to helping and getting the help and working to do just that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Collins received an 11th hour endorsement from Trump on Sunday over his opponent, former University of Tennessee head football coach Derek Dooley, who was endorsed by Georgia's popular Governor Brian Kemp. Now, Collins owns a trucking company and he's the son of a former congressman. He has represented Georgia's 10th district since 2023 and has been a longtime staunch supporter of President Trump, including his false claims that he won the 2020 election.

After the GOP race was called, Ossoff released a blistering statement calling Collins, quote, "a notorious bigot, anti-Semite and extremists."

Now in the GOP governor's runoff race, Lt. Governor Burt Jones boasted a double endorsement from Trump and Kemp. But it was not enough, as CNN projects, that health care billionaire Rick Jackson will win the GOP nomination in that race. Jackson dumped more than $100 million of his own fortune into the race, casting himself as a conservative outsider. He will face the Democratic nominee in that race who locked her nomination up about a month ago in the original primary. And that is former Atlanta mayor and Biden administration official Keisha Lance Bottoms.

Dianne Gallagher, CNN. Back to you.

BLACKWELL: That gigantic structure built for the UFC event on the White House South Lawn is now coming down. Crews started dismantling the so called claw lighting rig in the Octagon soon after the fight ended. The teardown is expected to take more than a week. But Scotts Miracle-Gro, you know that brand name, one of the event sponsors has committed $1 million to the National Park Service to support restoration efforts for the grass that was destroyed in the event.

Tight security's plan for the New York Knicks championship parade on Thursday. Officials say all fans in attendance will be screened and so will every float, bus and vehicle involved in the event.

The ratings are now out for New York's win on Saturday. Nielsen says the game averaged 24 1/2 million viewers. That's the most for an NBA Finals Game 5 since 1998. By comparison, here, last year's Game 5 between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers averaged just nine and a half million viewers.

Coming up, we'll have more of Elex Michaelson's conversation at the Austrian World Summit, including what former Vice President Kamala Harris had to say about another possible press presidential run.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Does that make you more likely to run then?

HARRIS: Well, no. You started by asking me what I was going to do next.

MICHAELSON: Yes.

[01:14:43]

HARRIS: And what I'm going to do next is get a Sachertorte to take home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: We go back now to Vienna for more on Elex Michaelson's interview with former vice president Kamala Harris and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Elex, already we've heard some of the two of them making news. What else did Harris tell you?

MICHAELSON: Well, I just told you that this conversation is front page news here in Austria. And literally moments ago, the newspaper delivery guy just showed up and here it is making front page news. Our conversation with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Kamala Harris.

We are in Vienna, just a beautiful spot where we look right now. Look at this church and everything that is here is really spectacular.

Now, the premise of the conference is to talk about climate issues or what Arnold Schwarzenegger prefers to refer to as terminating pollution. One of those big issues is, of course, AI. We got into that. We also got into Kamala Harris' future. Take a look.

[01:20:04]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: AI is the next big issue. And the big question about AI data centers, which use an extraordinary amount of energy, is something that lawmakers are thinking about all over the world. How are you thinking about that issue and how to balance the concerns there?

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, FOUNDER, AUSTRAIN WORLD SUMMIT: Well, I think that the important thing is that we make everything more energy efficient, but at the same time, we have to always be prepared to create more electricity. And I think that we have to just also think about a combination of renewables and also nuclear. Even though amongst the environmental community that's always a no to talk about nuclear.

HARRIS: I believe that what we should be requiring from a policy perspective is that any organization, corporation that wants to build a data center in a community, that they be required to power it with renewable energy. And that they also be required to invest in what has been a decaying for decades energy grid in America.

SCHWARZENEGGER: I think that it is very important that politicians in the future think about reforming this permitting process rather than kissing up to the trial lawyers and having them just keep suing and suing.

MICHAELSON: Do you agree with him that permitting could be sped up a little bit?

HARRIS: Oh, absolutely.

MICHAELSON: How so?

HARRIS: Yes. Well, I mean --

MICHAELSON: How do we do it?

HARRIS: -- I say this as a devout and lifelong public servant. The bureaucracy in government is overwhelming in its ability to slow down innovation and progress. And when we look at increasing distrust that the public has in government, I do believe that is one of the reasons. We seem -- we have taken on an ethos almost that prioritizes process over progress. MICHAELSON: There's a lot of people -- you've talked about that you're thinking about running for president, right? How is that thought process going? What's the process in that? And I know you're on a listening tour, and I'm curious what you're hearing from people as you've gone around the country. What people are telling you that maybe you've learned that you didn't know before the process of doing so?

HARRIS: What people are telling me includes that they want to believe in systems and they've lost trust in those systems. What I hear a lot is that people know that at the end of this administration there will be a lot of debris. I tell them often I can't guarantee that it won't get worse before it gets better. But the one thing I do know is at the end of it, there will be a lot of debris. And it would be irresponsible to then address that in a way that we only talk about what should we do?

What do we need to do to rebuild? If we do that with any sense of nostalgia, that would be irresponsible. Because the reality is, even before there were many things that were not working for a lot of people. The status quo is not working for a lot of people. And what the people are telling us is that they want things to be better.

MICHAELSON: So all that being said, does that make you more likely to -- does that make you more likely to run then?

HARRIS: Well, no. You started by asking me what I was going to do next.

MICHAELSON: Yes.

HARRIS: And what I'm going to do next is get a Sachertorte to take home.

SCHWARZENEGGER: You talked about her running for president again and all this stuff. I think that we should reveal that I was partially a big supporter of hers and voted for her because she promised me she would do immigration reform. Meaning that an Austrian born can also run for president of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Arnold Schwarzenegger with his trademark humor there at an event hosted by the Schwarzenegger Climate Initiative with an assist from the USC Schwarzenegger Institute as well. So in addition to that conversation making front page news.

The other big thing that Austrians are focused on right now is World Cup soccer. They're now tied with Jordan at an event happening in North America. There's a big watch party happening here in Austria. We'll take you there a little later in the show. For now, Victor, back to you.

[01:25:01]

BLACKWELL: Yes, that's also maybe why the streets are empty, because everyone is inside in front of a television watching that match. MICHAELSON: Exactly.

BLACKWELL: Elex Michaelson, fantastic conversation.

MICHAELSON: Yes.

BLACKWELL: We'll see you in a minute.

Military officials say it'll be months before investigators determine what caused a B52 bomber to crash during a test mission on Monday.

Satellite imagery shows the aircraft in a column of black smoke. You see that in the center of the screen? All eight people on board were killed. CNN's Reid Binion has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COL. JAMES HAYES, DEPUTY COMMANDER, 412TH TEST WING: Edwards Air Force Base experienced a horrible tragedy and we lost eight great Americans.

REID BINION, CNN'S CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Military officials laying out the tragic details of a horrific crash on Monday morning, an Air Force B-52 bomber went down shortly after taking off from Edwards Air Force Base in California, roughly 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles.

HAYES: It was a B-52 that was on initial takeoff supporting the radar modernization program. It took off and immediately after takeoff, crash and burst into flames.

BINION (voice-over): Emergency crews responded immediately to the crash, which sent a towering plume of black smoke up into the sky. The smoke trail visible across the horizon for miles the base's Runway left with a massive blackened scar.

HAYES: After reviewing the footage of the crash, it was deemed that this was an unrecoverable crash and unsurvivable.

BINION (voice-over): The impact and fire so extreme that in video of the aftermath, it's difficult to make out any distinct parts of the wreckage remaining.

HAYES: At that point, we went into the notification process.

BINION (voice-over): All eight crew members were killed.

HAYES: This was a mixed crew. This was a mixed crew of military, government, civilians and government contractors supporting this test mission.

BINION (voice-over): I'm Reid Binion reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: A quarantine dispute is happening in Nebraska. It involves a passenger from the cruise ship at the center of the Hantavirus outbreak. Angela Perryman says that she feels like a hostage. She was one of 18 U.S. cruise ship passengers sent to the National Quarantine Unit in early May. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. ordered Perryman to stay in federal isolation until June 21.

That decision overruled a CDC review that said that she could finish her quarantine at home in Florida.

Some of soccer's most elite superstars, they are putting on a show at this year's World Cup. Still ahead, how Argentina's Lionel Messi put himself in the tournament record books.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:31:50]

BLACKWELL: Welcome back to THE STORY IS. I'm Victor Blackwell.

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

The secrecy around the Iran agreement is causing tensions in the U.S. and abroad. President Trump says that he'll publicly release the text of the agreement in a couple of days, even proposed reciting the document word-for-word in front of cameras.

Vice President J.D. Vance says the U.S. has not released the text because officials needed to sequence this in the right way.

Well, the nominees are set for one of the highest-profile U.S. Senate races of the midterms in Georgia.

CNN projects that House Republican Mike Collins will face Democratic incumbent Senator Jon Ossoff. Collins defeated former football coach Derek Dooley after a last-minute endorsement from President Trump.

SpaceX is now bigger than Amazon. Shares in the rocket company were more popular than every other stock on the market combined. Its market value is now worth $2.66 trillion.

SpaceX also just bought an artificial intelligence company called Cursor for $60 billion. That acquisition could help SpaceX catch up to the market leaders, OpenAI and Anthropic and Google.

Right now, Jordan is making its World Cup debut in a showdown against Austria in San Francisco. The latest matchup follows a star-studded day on the pitch.

Tuesday saw a barrage of highlights from Argentina's Lionel Messi, Norway's Erling Haaland, and France's Kylian Mbappe.

At the Kansas City Stadium, Argentina silenced Algeria with a three- nil shutout. Lionel Messi, he secured a three-goal hat trick, his first-ever at the World Cup, and he tied the tournament's all-time scoring record.

Norway cruised past Iraq in a 4 to 1 beat down at the Boston Stadium. Norway's star striker, Erling Haaland, scored two goals in the first half of his first World Cup game.

And at the New Jersey-New York Stadium, France beat Senegal. Two goals from the French superstar Kylian Mbappe boosted his team to a comfortable 3 to 1 victory.

For more on this, we're joined now by "U.S.A. Today" soccer editor Seth Vertelney, live from Seattle, Washington. Seth, good to talk to you again.

Let's start with Lionel Messi and this hat trick. 38 years old, no less, tying the World Cup scoring record. A fantastic performance from him.

[01:34:48]

SETH VERTELNEY, SOCCER EDITOR, U.S.A. TODAY: Yes. Just an unbelievable night for Lionel Messi. You know, going into this tournament, there were some questions about whether he could match the level that we saw four years ago in Qatar.

As you mentioned he's 38. He's about to turn 39. He plays in MLS now. But any questions that anybody had about him were answered emphatically tonight. Just an incredible performance.

He took the team basically on his back and tied the record, as you mentioned. Now he's tied with Miroslav Klose for the most goals ever at a World Cup for a man. And it appears only a matter of time until he breaks that record.

BLACKWELL: Yes, he's just the -- just the opener here, so he's got a little time to break that record.

Let's talk Mbappe. France over Senegal. Two goals from Mbappe. He set a record too for the French team.

VERTELNEY: Yes. He is now France's all-time leading scorer at the age of 27. And Messi is probably going to have that World Cup all-time scoring record soon.

But Mbappe is right there behind him. Messi has 16 and Mbappe has 14. And so at Mbappe's age you would have to imagine that it's only a matter of time before that record is his.

He's played in two World Cups so far. He's made the final twice. He won in 2018. He lost to Messi in Argentina in 2022, even though he scored a hat trick in the final.

So he's been one of global soccer's biggest stars for a long time now, despite still only being 27. And if today is anything to go by, he's set for another big tournament.

BLACKWELL: Let's talk about another story that has really caught the hearts and imagination of so many people around the world. And that's Cape Verde and their draw against Spain.

And the U.S. State Department now says that they are working to get a visa to the goalkeeper's mother, who couldn't afford the bond for the visa to come to the U.S. Now, she might be able to see her son play.

VERTELNEY: Yes, hopefully she can make it over. But an incredible performance by Cape Verde, you know, it was their first ever World Cup game. And what a way to open it against Spain, a team that most people think is one of the more likely teams to win the World Cup this summer.

But Cape Verde managed to just really frustrate Spain throughout the entire game. Spain had a number of chances, but Cape Verde's goalkeeper made save after save after save.

And in the end it was a zero-zero draw, but it felt like a victory for them in a game that most people expected them to lose by a lot.

And now we'll just have to see what they can do for an encore, because their next two games are going to be against easier opponents. And so you would have to imagine with the way they played the other day that they have a great chance of reaching the knockout round.

BLACKWELL: Yes. I think if you would have watched the video after the match of Cape Verde's team, you would have thought they won, and by a healthy margin. But the win was just holding Spain to a nil-all draw.

You have to write for "U.S.A. Today" about the possibility of President Trump presenting the World Cup trophy. Talk to me about that.

VERTELNEY: Yes. So Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA, said back in January that Trump would be there at the final in New Jersey on July 19th to present the trophy.

Now, that isn't really anything out of the ordinary. Heads of state of host countries have presented the trophy at previous -- but it will be interesting to see how Trump acts at this World Cup final because of the way that he acted last summer at the Club World Cup final, which was kind of a tune up tournament for this year's World Cup.

Trump was there on stage when Chelsea won the competition. And I think most leaders would present the trophy and then kind of shuffle off into the background.

But Trump just sort of stood there and he stayed on stage with the Chelsea players, and you could tell they were a little confused.

In fact, you could even see one of them ask him if he was going to leave. And he really didn't. And eventually he was kind of ushered to the back of the celebration.

But it could make for another awkward moment if he has an encore at the final next month.

[01:39:48]

BLACKWELL: And we should remind everyone that the U.S. is hosting this World Cup with Mexico and Canada, so there are obviously other heads of state involved. Seth Vertelney, in Seattle, always good to talk. Thanks.

A new storm system is forecast to become Tropical Storm Arthur over the next few hours once it moves into the northwest gulf.

A tropical storm warning has already been issued for parts of the Louisiana coast. Winds could reach 40 miles per hour, but the biggest threat is the heavy rainfall.

Flood watches have been issued for more than 27 million people from south Texas to parts of Mississippi. At least two people have been killed by floodwaters in Texas this week. The hurricane center says that some areas could get up to a foot of rain.

Up next, a consequential vote in the U.K.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is one of the most divisive by-elections I've ever seen, but visibly divisive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Why the by-election happening on Thursday in northwest England could play a key role in the future of British politics.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:44:44]

BLACKWELL: Russia says one of its warships fired warning shots in front of a U.K.-flagged yacht in the English Channel. Russia's defense ministry says the yacht was sailing on what appeared to be a collision course with the warship.

The yacht did not respond to radio calls and stayed its course. And then the Russian crew launched signal flares and warning shots.

The U.K. defense ministry says its investigating the incident, but says the shots were not aimed at the yacht. A royal navy vessel was monitoring the Russian warship at the time.

An electorate of about 76,000 in Northwest England is just a day away now from a special and perhaps highly consequential election. That's the Makerfield by-election, where Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham is one of a long list of candidates in the running to be a member of parliament.

And as CNN's Clare Sebastian reports, this election has unearthed divisions that could shape British politics for years to come.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We've got Andy Burnham voters there. We've got Reform voters over there, and we've even got Restore voters over there. What does this tell us about the mood here in this constituency?

CLARE HANNAH, JOURNALIST, "WHAT'S HAPPENING IN WIGAN: This is one of the most divisive by-elections I've ever seen, but visibly divisive. It's become quite aggressive, to be honest.

SEBASTIAN: Two days before one of the most consequential by-elections the U.K. has ever seen, this area that has voted Labor for generations is seeing neighbors at odds.

At lunchtime, customers at the Muffin Man Bakery split over who should get the biggest slice of the electoral pie.

Do you mind telling us who you voted for?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Andy Burnham.

SEBASTIAN: You have. Ok, why is that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It goes back to leader. I actually think he is doing a good job. But, I think Nigel Farage is the most untrustworthy -- untrustworthy politician since Boris Johnson.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Reform.

SEBASTIAN: You did. Why is that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I voted for him last time.

SEBASTIAN: You did? Why?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Immigration, biggest issue.

SEBASTIAN: Immigration for you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

SEBASTIAN: In this small collection of former coal mining towns in the northwest of England, around 75,000 registered voters may now decide the political future for almost 70 million British citizens.

And yet the sudden spotlight on this area has highlighted divisions that could shape national politics in the U.K. for years to come.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies, who are you voting for?

SEBASTIAN: An impromptu straw poll on the high street showing what's at stake.

PAUL SPARKS, SCHOOL TEACHER: So far, this is what seems to be happening. We seem to be finding that Andy Burnham's winning narrowly. And Reform and Restore splitting the vote, the right-wing vote.

SEBASTIAN: Robert Kenyon representing Nigel Farage's far-right Reform U.K. has been a close second in polls here. Restore Britain's candidate Rebecca Sheppard, even further to the right, is also gathering steam.

No sign on the high street poll of the Conservative Party, the official opposition in parliament.

Why are people not even voting conservative? Why are they edging towards these far-right parties? What has happened to suddenly create this splintering in terms of the public opinion here?

HANNAH: A massive issue on this is immigration. That's a massive issue that people believe, you know, what the -- what they're told by, you know, people look at what's happening in the world and immigration has become the biggest issue, I would say.

I think some parties campaign on, on issues that make people angry. You know, they will campaign on things that make people angry. And, you know, this is what happens, you know, we get all this division.

SEBASTIAN: But what is it about reform that makes sense to you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, they're going to get rid of stopping the boats coming in because that's ridiculous.

SEBASTIAN: Well, net migration has actually been coming down over the last couple of years under this government.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a load of rubbish.

SEBASTIAN: What makes you say that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because it's proven that they're everywhere.

SEBASTIAN: Why do you think Burnham will be the one to --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's leading.

SEBASTIAN: Almost everyone here agrees on one thing. After a month in the political spotlight, they've had enough. Almost everyone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've enjoyed it, really being the focus of attention.

SEBASTIAN: Clare Sebastian, CNN in Greater Manchester, England.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: All right.

We'll step away from politics for just a moment and then turn to the soccer showdown between Austria and Jordan.

After the break, we're going to go live to Elex Michaelson at a World Cup watch party in Vienna.

[01:49:01]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLACKWELL: More now on the World Cup.

Austria is facing off against Jordan, and our Elex Michaelson happens to be in Vienna, has found his way to a watch party and apparently has found some Austrian drift. I don't know who gave this to you, but it's a good look.

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. I'm all in, Victor. Here we go.

Austria's trying to be number one right now as this World Cup watch party is happening. You see all these folks very focused, very tense right now. They were very joyous a few moments ago.

Let's show you some video we just shot as Austria scored a goal to go up 2 to 1 over Jordan. Everybody here erupting, some singing chants and Austrian national anthem. Lots of -- lots of excitement here as this World Cup continues to bring people together around the world.

Phillip is the organizer here at the Austro-American Club. You got the ball ready. Talk to us about how this event uniquely brings people together.

PHILLIP, ORGANIZER, AUSTRO-AMERICAN CLUB: For us, it's fantastic to build bridges between the U.S. and Austria, but nothing connects more than football or soccer. And therefore we have to have football games live in our premises.

Because you see, the emotions are outstanding.

MICHAELSON: Talk about the tension in here right now.

PHILLIP: It's thrilling -- goosebumps everyone. Yes. So we just want to get this over the finishing line. So also gets a first victory like the us. So that would be extra passion for the next ones.

[01:54:53]

MICHAELSON: Yes. Well, just a little bit left. Almost there, as we watch the end of this.

And we see all the folks here, they had the choice between beer and coffee. A few more people have started to choose the beer option as it gets a little bit later on in the day.

And then we, you know, as we sort of walk around and see, we even have a World Cup dog, that has -- that has come here as well for this experience and people having a great time.

So just want to give a shout out to everybody here, in Austria that have been such great -- such great hosts for us now showing the energy as they get ready and show off their pride as well.

It's really been an incredible, incredible few days here. And a big thank you to everybody as well from the Austrian World Summit, who have been great hosts for us over the last few days, Victor. So, I guess I'm now an Austrian fan. Still -- still rooting for

America, number one, number one. But Austria maybe now number two after this experience.

BLACKWELL: And listen, you've got four minutes until you get to the respectable beer hour of 8:00 a.m. In Austria. So, so count them down.

MICHAELSON: Exactly.

BLACKWELL: Elex Michaelson, looking good there in Vienna.

MICHAELSON: Cheers.

BLACKWELL: Cheers. Thanks so much.

And thank you for watching THE STORY IS. I'm Victor Blackwell.

The news continues right here on CNN after the break.

[01:56:11]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)