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The Story Is with Elex Michaelson
Survivors Still Being Pulled from Rubble Nearly a Week On; Special Envoy Steve Witkoff En Route to Doha for Iran Talks; Interview with Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA); U.S. TV Ratings Climb as World Cup Tournament Heats Up; Democratic Socialist Takeover of Dems?; Is Justice Roberts to Blame for Increasing Trump's Power?; Democrats Eye Jon Ossoff for 2028 Presidential Race; Anti-immigrant Protests and Threats Increase in South Africa. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired June 30, 2026 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Elex Michaelson live in Los Angeles. Welcome to THE STORY IS.
The top story is, pushing for peace. One of President Trump's envoys is now in route to Qatar for a new round of talks in Iran. We go live to Doha
THE STORY IS Venezuela's recovering. The death toll is soaring more than five days after the double quake hit as rescue desperately search for survivors in dangerous conditions.
And THE STORY IS expanding presidential power. The Supreme Court handing President Trump a mixed bag of rulings. U.S. Senator Adam Schiff of California standing by here to discuss.
ANNOUNCER: Live from Los Angeles, THE STORY IS with Elex Michaelson.
MICHAELSON: And the aftershocks in Venezuela are keeping residents on edge nearly a week after two deadly earthquakes rocked that country. Officials say more than 600 aftershocks have hit since last Wednesday. That number is climbing alongside the death toll which now tops 1700. The government has created a new commission to assess the nation's infrastructure and any homes damaged by the quake to determine whether it's safe for people to return.
All of this comes as rescuers are still finding survivors in the rubble including this 21-year-old man who is pulled to safety on Monday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AARON CANTILLO, EARTHQUAKE SURVIVOR (through translator): I'm a nobody. I'm just a young man who spent five days trapped beneath a building but I am here today and I'm alive thanks to my God. He is the only one who got me out of there and sent his angels. Who are his angels? The people who worked tirelessly on my rescue. The people who cared about how I was doing. The people who were there when I came out, who shouted my name when
they saw me emerged. As far as I know I was just informed that I was the only person in that building who was found alive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: CNN contributor Stefano Pozzebon has the latest on the search and rescue efforts in Venezuela.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR (voice-over): As the hours and days go by since the two devastating earthquakes hit Venezuela, the window for finding survivors is beginning to close.
There are still glimmers of hope. Like this moment when a woman was rescued from under the rubble of a building in La Guaira. Surrounded by family yelling they love her. Her 18-day-old baby also found alive, cradled by the hands that dug through the dust and debris. Or this man, Antonio, pulled from a collapsed building to the sound of cheers and applause.
Other continue to dig with the tools they have hoping for a sign of their loved ones, growing frustrated and angry as rescue efforts stall.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We want support. We want heavy machinery. We want to take our family members with us. I'm not the only one in this situation.
POZZEBON (voice-over): Dozens of international crews are on the ground in Venezuela, bringing highly trained sniffer dogs, supplies, expertise and compassion.
ADALBERTO PASTOR, MEXICAN RESCUE WORKER (through translator): At this moment, we're continuing with our search for possible victims. We have conducted canine searches, and we're now using electronic equipment, which allows us to be more accurate.
POZZEBON (voice-over): The so-called golden hour window, the 72 hours after an earthquake, when the chance of finding survivors is greater, has now ended. Many who survived are still shaken, and each aftershock brings stark reminders of everything they've lost.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAELSON: Our thanks to Stefano Pozzebon for that report from Caracas.
It is just after 9:00 p.m. Monday night here in Los Angeles. It is 7:00 a.m. Tuesday morning in Doha, where President Trump says talks between the U.S. and Iran are set to take place in the hours ahead. Iran, though, is denying that there are any negotiations scheduled. U.S. officials tell CNN that Special Envoy Steve Witkoff is now in route to Doha. It's not clear if he's traveling together with the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. All this taking place after an escalation of tensions over the weekend
near the Strait of Hormuz as the U.S. and Iran exchange strikes. On social media, President Trump wrote that Iran had requested a meeting in the Oval Office. He said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That meeting in Doha is going to be perhaps important, perhaps not. We're going to find out. But we're winning militarily. It's almost won militarily, I would say. And it's really very simple.
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It's the denuclearization of Iran. We don't want them to have a nuclear weapon, and they're not going to have a nuclear weapon. They've agreed to that in all fairness.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: CNN senior producer Bijan Hosseini joins me now from Doha.
What are you hearing from the Iranian side?
BIJAN HOSSEINI, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: Hi, Elex. Good morning. Yes. Well, a bit of mixed messaging happening here in Doha. As you mentioned, U.S. President Donald Trump taking to Truth Social yesterday saying that a meeting would take place here in Doha. But we've heard from -- sorry, a lot of honking going on as Morocco just beat the Netherlands in the World Cup. Sorry about that.
But we do know that Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said that there are no talks scheduled with the U.S. in the coming days. He said that Iran is just scheduled -- sorry, Iran is just focused on following through their deal of the memorandum of understanding, that deal that was signed between the two countries in mid -June, and that they're not ready for final talks yet. They just want to focus on their end of the bargain essentially.
What is interesting is that Iran is sending a delegation here to Qatar, but not to meet with the U.S. instead to lobby for the release of $6 billion of frozen assets. This was also part of the memorandum of understanding, although the U.S. says that that money hasn't been released yet to the Iranians and that it is contingent on them holding up their side of the bargain, essentially following through on the MOU, and that that money would be earmarked for Iran to spend on U.S. agricultural goods to help feed the Iranian people.
As you mentioned, this is all happening after some escalation in the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend. On Thursday, Iran attacked a Singapore flagged vessel, U.S. CENTCOM responded, hitting missile and drone sites along Iran's coastline. And then we saw Iran launch missiles and drones into Bahrain and Kuwait, which they say were targeting U.S. assets in the region. Then the two sides decided to stand down, and we have seen a steady, albeit a very slow but a steady return of traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. In the last 24 hours, we've seen about two dozen ships pass through. That's nowhere near the 110 ships that would normally pass through on any given day before the conflict started.
And just a bit of context about why Qatar and why these talks are being hosted here. We know that Qatar has mediated on behalf of both the U.S. and Iran for many, many years on different occasions. They're uniquely positioned to do so. Not only do they host the largest U.S. air base in the Middle East, Al Udeid, but they also share the largest natural gas field with Iran. So one of the few countries that has been in constant communication with both sides -- Elex.
MICHAELSON: Well, since you brought it up, let's talk about the World Cup. So we just had this incredible game between Morocco and the Netherlands, which went to penalty kicks. And in the final penalty kick, Morocco beat the Netherlands. It was the second match decided by penalty kicks in the same day.
Are you suggesting that people there on the ground are really, really focused on the World Cup of all the issues?
HOSSEINI: Listen, people here in Qatar love the World Cup. As you'll remember, they hosted it in 2022. And with the expansion to 48 teams, this is the largest showing of Middle Eastern and North African teams we've seen in the World Cup. And so most of the games are happening overnight. This game started at 6:00 a.m. local time, but if you walk around, people are obviously excited.
Some of the breakfast places are filled with people. Just over my left shoulder here, a big group of Moroccans, obviously very happy and excited to watch their team beat the Netherlands -- Elex.
MICHAELSON: Well, you're talking about, you know, potential peace deal and the World Cup. You do it all. Great to have you with us on an early morning for you in Doha.
Bijan, thank you so much. We'll see you next hour for more.
It has been a busy start to the week for the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington. On Monday, the justices struck down a nearly century-old precedent that required a president to provide cause before firing federal officials from certain independent agencies. Earlier, CNN spoke with the woman at the center of that case, former Federal Trade Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, who was fired by President Trump last year. Take a listen to her reaction.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REBECCA SLAUGHTER, FORMER FTC COMMISSIONER: It is the largest expansion of executive power in over 100 years. And that is exactly why we should be worried about it. And so for working people who depend on agencies like the FTC and the other independent agencies, the Supreme Court has said, no, we will not have that independent check. You will not be watchdogs anymore. You will be lapdogs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: That decision is seen as a big win for President Trump, who commented on the ruling from the Oval Office on Monday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The president has the right to do this, and that has to do with a lot of agencies all throughout the system.
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So it was -- it's considered, you know, the biggest of the group. And I can understand that. This has been going on for almost 100 years they've been waiting for this decision.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: So that was the good news for President Trump. In a separate ruling, the justices rejected President Trump's attempt to fire Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook. The court argued that Cook must be given a chance to respond to allegations of mortgage fraud so lower courts can scrutinize the charges with greater context.
The justices also upheld state laws that allow for mail-in ballots to arrive after election day to be counted as long as they're postmarked before election day. The move has angered President Trump. He's calling on Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, which would limit mail-in votes.
And the court denied Trump's appeal in the 2022 E. Jean Carroll defamation case. The president will now have to pay Carroll the $5 million awarded to her by a New York jury.
Now to a conversation about this issue that we recorded earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAELSON: Joining me now, U.S. Senator Adam Schiff of California.
Welcome to THE STORY IS set for the very first time. Great to have here.
SEN. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): Yes. Good to be with you.
MICHAELSON: Thank you very much.
SCHIFF: I like what you've done with the place.
MICHAELSON: Thank you very much. In downtown Burbank, which is great to have you here. All right. A big day in the Supreme Court. A big week for the Supreme Court. We saw some of these rulings, including on the issue of mail-in ballots, where the court broke against President Trump. Is that an example of the system working?
SCHIFF: Well, it appears to have worked in this case. The Supreme Court, though, by and large, I think is a huge problem for the country. And some of the decisions have been incredibly destructive. Of course, the Dobbs decision, the immunity decision, but they made the right decision here today, at least with this particular case. I think it was a pretty clear cut one. But this court has shown a willingness to throw out decades or even centuries of precedent.
I'm glad they haven't thrown out the absentee ballot voting system because if they had ruled against Mississippi here and said that no ballots have to arrive by election day, those who argued the case made it clear that they were going to come back and also seem seek to strike out all absentee voting and only allow same day voting. So that was, I think, the logical consequence the Supreme Court feared if they went along with the Trump argument here.
MICHAELSON: So we also saw decisions when it comes to different commissioners that President Trump can fire. And it's been interesting to see how John Roberts, the chief justice, has sometimes ruled against Trump, sometimes ruled -- most of the time ruled with him.
How do you assess John Roberts' legacy as chief justice of the United States?
SCHIFF: Incredibly disappointing, I think. Even tragic. There was a lot of hope in the beginning that Roberts would be the moderating influence on the court, that he would be able to steer the court in a centrist way. But a number of his decisions, in particular, from my point of view, that immunity decision in U.S. v. Trump, he had to know, would have catastrophic consequences for the country essentially made the president above the law. But he made the decision. And I've seen this --
MICHAELSON: Which says that the president is granted immunity for all acts as president, which makes it almost impossible to prosecute the president of the United States.
SCHIFF: Correct. And in doing so basically allowed Trump to do all the kind of stuff we're seeing, the meme coin dinners, the World Liberty financial stuff, all of the mixing of his personal business with the running of the government, the profiteering, all that grift and graft, I think, is owing to that decision. It's why Trump two has been so much worse than Trump one, and I think Roberts knew exactly what he was doing.
But I think it was more important for Roberts to sit at the center of power on the court than be relegated to a minority on that court. And so he did what he thought, I think, was in his personal best interest, which was not in the country's interest or true to the Constitution. And his legacy will be that, enabling Donald Trump.
MICHAELSON: But why do you think then he votes against Trump on other things and may vote against him on the birthright citizenship case out tomorrow? Most people expect that he will go against President Trump there. Does he deserve credit for doing so even though he knows he's going to anger President Trump?
SCHIFF: I think Roberts has two priorities. One is to hold the pen. That is to be the center of power on that court even when it means putting his name on, on decisions that are destructive of the Constitution and the country. I think he's willing to make that sacrifice for his personal ambition. The other goal, frankly, goes back to all the money behind the Federalist Society and behind their being appointed to the court.
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So I fully expected that when it came to everything but the Federal Reserve, they would uphold Trump's power to fire anyone he wants. They would strike down decades old precedent like the precedent that said, you can't fire people without cause, when the statute provides for cause that there is an independence there that is protected. They would do away with that except for the Federal Reserve, because that's where the money is.
And so when it came to the money, Roberts was going to be with the money. Whenever it's going to really affect big money, Roberts is going to be with them.
MICHAELSON: So there's a question in terms of what we should do in terms of, should the court be reformed? A friend of the show, progressive podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen, has a new book coming out where he argues that the court should be expanded to 13, that the Democrats have to get more aggressive when it comes to power if they were able to take control of the presidency, take control of the United States Senate.
He made that argument to Governor Gavin Newsom on Gavin Newsom's podcast. Here's some of that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIAN TYLER COHEN, HOST, "NO LIE WITH BRIAN TYLER COHEN" PODCAST: I've been asked what is the first thing that the left needs to do when it takes power again, and I have said the first thing that needs to happen is court reform and court expansion.
GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM, CALIFORNIA: Yes. Look, you're getting me closer to your point of view.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Do you agree that the court should be expanded, that there needs to be more justices? And would you support that?
SCHIFF: I do agree, and I've advocated this for some years now. The most consequential reform, in my view, would be to put term limits on the Supreme Court, which can be done constitutionally, as long as you provide that after a suitable period, say, 18 years. A justice would rotate back onto the court of appeals or the district court. They would still have life tenure as required by the Constitution on a court. But there is no constitutional right to be on a certain court for life.
Here's the rub, though. It would be this Supreme Court that would decide whether that's constitutional, and they would decide it in their self-interest. So, first, you would have to change the court by expanding it. And they stack the court when they deprived Barack Obama of an appointment, when they withheld even a confirmation hearing for Merrick Garland, they have stacked the court. The question is, will Democrats be willing to unstack it? I fully support that, as well as term limits and an enforceable code of ethics.
MICHAELSON: Do you think the politics of that have changed?
SCHIFF: I think --
MICHAELSON: Do you have the votes for that?
SCHIFF: I think that what Republicans have demonstrated is that if you have the courage of your convictions, you can move the country far and fast. The one difference I would have with Brian, though, I wouldn't make that the first priority. The first priority would be passing voting rights. It would be ending the gerrymander. Unless we have a firm foundation in terms of voting, then the whole edifice can come crumbling down. But I would definitely put Supreme Court reform at the high point of my list as well.
MICHAELSON: Well, this idea of voting rights is what President Trump says is his first priority. And you all in the Senate and in the House passed a bipartisan housing bill. Almost nothing gets passed bipartisan. He had an opportunity to sign that. He hasn't. And he talked about that in the Oval Office today. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I think it's so unimportant by compared to, by compared to the SAVE America. Here's what I would like to sign. Much more than a bill that big deal. It's a yawn.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: He says the housing bill to make housing more affordable is a yawn. Your response to that?
SCHIFF: Keep talking, Mr. President. Please keep talking. When he says that he likes inflation, when he says that the affordability problem that people can't afford their lives is a hoax, and when he says that trying to bring down the cost of housing is unimportant, he is telling us who he is and we should believe him. What's important to him is he's spending time because he wants to redo a golf course now in D.C..
He wants to build an ark in D.C. he wants, you know, to gold plate statues in D.C. He wants golden ballroom in D.C. He has time for all of that. All of that is really important to him. Housing, that's a yawn. The American people, I think, recognize just how detached he is from their problems. It's why I think they're going to get a real drubbing in the midterms. But he is telling us who he is and we should pay attention.
MICHAELSON: Do you have the votes to get the housing bill done anyways? I mean, do you think that even if he tried to veto it, that you would override it?
SCHIFF: I think if he vetoes this bill, he will be overridden. And I think he is going to be told that and he is going to either sign it or let it become law without signing it. My guess is he probably signs it because he's going to want to take credit for it. But the fact that he is so dismissive of one of the few accomplishments of this Republican majority, a bipartisan bill on housing, that tells you where his priorities are, and they're simply not where the American people are.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAELSON: Adam Schiff, earlier today. In the next hour here on THE STORY IS, more of that conversation.
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We'll talk to Senator Schiff about the war with Iran, the future of the Democratic Party, and growing antisemitism. But up next, we've already talked about this a bit, major excitement in the World Cup knockout phase. Not one, but two matches going down to penalty shootouts, and top two teams knocked out of contention. Those thrilling matches, plus a look at record World Cup ratings after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MICHAELSON: OK. It is do or die time at the World Cup and the latest knockout matches were incredible.
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Two games ending in high stakes penalty shootouts and two European powerhouses bounced from the tournament. Moments ago, right before we came on the air, Morocco overcame the Netherlands. Look at this, nail- biting series of penalty kicks, devastating result for the Dutch. They're now out of the tournament. Morocco will now face Canada in the round of 16 on Saturday.
Earlier, Paraguay versus Germany also down to penalty kicks. Paraguay eliminating the four-time champions winning 4-3. The heavily favored Germans thought that they had scored the winning goal in extra time, but that goal was overturned in review.
Fans in Rio going wild after Brazil survived a surprisingly close match against Japan. Brazil came from behind to narrowly win 2-1. The Samurai blue held the lead at the half, but the Brazilians answered with an equalizer before scoring again deep into stoppage time.
This was a good day. The action resumes in the coming day. Former champion France and co-host Mexico among the six teams battling for a spot in the round of 16.
Now, the World Cup is not just packing stadiums, it is also breaking TV viewership records within the U.S..
CNN's chief media analyst Brian Stelter with us now with a look at the numbers.
Hey, Brian.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Hey, Elex. Yes, I've been fascinated by these ratings. I think they show how the sport we call soccer is becoming more and more popular all across America. The Nielsen TV ratings are certainly showing that.
Now, full disclosure here, talking about the World Cup, there is no way to measure the entire global audience for something this big. These games are airing on different channels, on different platforms, in different countries. There is no standardized way to measure it all. But in the U.S., the games are airing on FOX in English and on Telemundo in Spanish, and both networks say they have been setting and then breaking, setting and then breaking viewership records all throughout the month of June.
Now the numbers are on a little bit of a lag, so we don't have ratings for last weekend yet, but through the first two legs of the group stage, we can see these numbers are easily surpassing the 2022 ratings. Telemundo says it's on pace to more than double the 2022 ratings, and the head of research at FOX tells me that that is true at FOX as well. According to FOX, more than 84 million Americans have watched at least a minute of one of the World Cup matches.
That's an astonishingly high figure. So you have many people sampling these games, and not just when the U.S. is playing, by the way. And then you have many more people coming back tuning in, sometimes 10 million, 15 million, even 20 million viewers. When you total up the audience between FOX and Telemundo.
Now, it's not entirely a surprise that the ratings are so high this year. For one thing, these games are being played in the U.S. as well as Mexico and Canada, so Americans are automatically more aware of the World Cup this year. And clearly that's translated to higher interest as well. It also is significant that the games are being played in North America, because it puts the matches in more favorable time slots, more advantageous time slots for U.S. viewers.
These games are airing in the afternoons, in the evenings, and prime time when more people are home and able to watch. More generally, soccer continues to grow in popularity in the U.S. I see that in my own kids, in their behavior, and sporting events in general continue to compel people to watch live, live TV, rather than stream something on demand.
There's also one more important factor here. Nielsen, the ratings company, is measuring out-of-home behavior in ways that it couldn't or didn't a few years ago. So now it is capturing out-of-home viewing at bars and restaurants and other World Cup viewing parties. So we're getting a more complete snapshot of viewing behavior when we see these ratings. Television executives say those viewers have always been watching out of home, but haven't been measured until now. So we're seeing a fuller picture, a more accurate reflection of real audience behavior.
Elex, back to you.
MICHAELSON: That's right, Brian. And as long as the U.S. keeps winning the numbers in the U.S. will get exponentially bigger every single match. So it'll be interesting to see what kind of number they have on Wednesday night. Just ahead, we'll bring in our political panel. Maybe they'll talk
World Cup. Who knows? We're also talking Tuesday's primaries in Colorado. Progressives look to secure more House deals. Roxanne Hogue, Erik Messerschmidt, standing by. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Well, at this time tomorrow, it will be election night in America, which means we get to play our favorite theme song for CNN's election coverage.
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And after Democratic socialists won big in New York last week, they're now looking to do the same in Colorado's 1st congressional district on Tuesday.
On the ballot is 29-year-old Melat Kiros, a lawyer and Democratic socialist. She tells CNN she thinks the Democratic Party and its leadership are failing to meet the moment, and it is time for leaders who will actually fight for the interests of working people.
She's challenging 15-term representative in that district for the solidly-blue seat in Denver. Democratic strategists say this may be her toughest race in years, after she narrowly qualified and was outperformed by Kiros in the spring.
CNN's Manu Raju asked House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries if he's worried about losing seats to the progressive movement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): No, we're going to win because, you know, Democrats are actually focused on trying to make life better for the American people. And it's the reason why we've been winning elections since January of 2025.
And now for the last 18 months, have won every meaningful election in this country.
And so, the voters have clearly concluded that Democrats aren't too extreme. Republicans are too extreme, because they are the ones who have consistently been losing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Well, Hakeem Jeffries himself has lost in a few of those.
Joining us now to discuss is the chair of the Los Angeles County Republican Party, Roxanne Beckford Hoge; and Eric Messersmith, a political commentator and host of the "Everybody Settle Down" YouTube channel.
Eric, welcome to the show for the first time. Great to have you here. Roxanne, welcome back.
ERIC MESSERSMITH, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Great to be here.
MICHAELSON: So, Kiros talked to my colleague Laura Coates in the last hour here on CNN. Here's some of what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MELAT KIROS (D), COLORADO CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: I think moderate Democrats would really be better served if they actually spoke with voters themselves, instead of being afraid of what they think is taking place in our party right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Eric, do you think moderates are missing the message, missing the communication?
MESSERSMITH: Well, they're missing the organization and the energy, for sure. And that's where it is on the Democratic side right now in certain districts.
I think we should pump the brakes a little bit on this takeover talk. We had a few races in New York City where the DSA candidate won. We're going to have one in Colorado, but the Democrats will maybe have ten candidates in the House to get through in the election that are DSA or DSA affiliated, that take a seat in Congress next year, maybe 15 at the max.
And in the big key races like Senate races in Alaska, in Texas, in Iowa, that are going to determine control of the Senate, they're not running as Democratic socialists.
So, this is a party civil war. But I think it's a jump to say the DSA has completely taken over at this point. I'd equate it to like 2008 with the Tea Party and the Republican movement, 2010.
MICHAELSON: 2010.
MESSERSMITH: They had some inroads. They won, but I don't think they took over the party.
MICHAELSON: Well, the Freedom Caucus took -- kind of did take over the party and forced the speaker into different things. I mean, if you get -- if the margins are so small, and you get ten, 12, 15 people, you can essentially run Congress, especially because some of the Republicans have changed the rules where one person could get rid of the speaker, as Kevin McCarthy of California learned. What's your take on all of this?
ROXANNE BECKFORD HOGE, CHAIR, LOS ANGELES COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY: Did you hear the sound while Hakeem was speaking? I believe there were chants of "You're next, you're next," which is what the DSA is saying to Democrat leadership.
And while it's interesting to game this out in terms of what's happening in Congress, you at your peril ignore what the DSA, the gains they have made in local races. They hold seats on the L.A. City Council. They are coming. They're
coming for you.
And I know that because, as chair of the Republican Party, I get calls from elected Democrats going, for the love of God, help us push back.
MICHAELSON: But yet, there are clearly a lot of voters that are going for this.
HOGE: Yes. And it's unfortunate. I honestly say, as the parent of young adults, that ceding ground in education and entertainment, as the Republican Party did for too long, has allowed this narrative to take hold where otherwise intelligent young people will tell you with a straight face that we have socialism, because we have Social Security, like.
MESSERSMITH: I mean, the Democratic Party, the more establishment elements were smart. What they would do is co-opt some of this, like the Republicans did with the Tea Party.
The Republican establishment didn't embrace everything that the Tea Party wanted, but they embraced some things, including immigration, which really helped them down the road.
MICHAELSON: Including Donald Trump.
MESSERSMITH: Yes, including Donald Trump.
MICHAELSON: Case in point. Right?
MESSERSMITH: And, so I think the socialists, obviously, some of the things they say are crazy. Abolishing the police, having open borders. These are -- these are pretty wild ideas.
But talking about the wealth inequality in America and how that has expanded to really a pretty astronomical degree, and how young people, in particular, are struggling so hard to afford the necessities of life.
And they're not in love with the system that we have right now. They feel like the system is working against them. I think the -- if you can capture that energy, that that's a winning message for Democrats or even for Republicans.
MICHAELSON: Some of the fringes of the DSA, not everybody in the DSA, are certainly pretty close to antisemitism, if not antisemitism.
MESSERSMITH: Yes, absolutely.
MICHAELSON: And that's a little --
HOGE: Playing footsie with it.
MICHAELSON: A little scary, as well.
HOGE: Yes. MICHAELSON: So, let's talk about our conversation we just had with Adam Schiff, which I thought was very interesting. What he said about John Roberts, the chief justice of the Supreme Court. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): But I think it was more important for Roberts to sit at the center of power on the court, than be relegated to a minority on that court. And so, he did what he -- he thought, I think, was in his personal best interest, which was not in the country's interest or true to the Constitution. And his legacy will be that: enabling Donald Trump.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[00:40:18]
MICHAELSON: His legacy, enabling Donald Trump. Probably not how Republicans see it, right?
HOGE: Completely disingenuous of -- of Schiff to say that, because the one thing you can say about Roberts is he makes everybody mad. So, if both sides think you haven't given you [SIC] --them what they want, then you're not enabling anyone.
MICHAELSON: Yes, it's kind of like being a good cable news host, right?
HOGE: Kind of. Kind of.
MICHAELSON: But I mean, do you -- do you agree with what Schiff had to say? Because his point is, look, that by doing the immunity deal, which was to give President Trump immunity from prosecution, it kind of made everything else irrelevant, that that was the big decision.
And everything else is fine. And to, you know, maybe we vote on birthright citizenship this way or on this, this way. But the really big, important stuff, he's been with the president.
MESSERSMITH: Look, I think two things can be true at the same time. It can be true that Roberts has been a very solidly conservative justice who has led a conservative court, especially when it comes to things like expanding executive power.
I mean, the decision today in the Slaughter case was a massive expansion of executive power. But there are big cases where Roberts has gone the other way.
I mean, he is the deciding vote that upheld Obamacare. That was John Roberts. He upheld DACA. That was John Roberts.
Today, upholding Lisa Cook, letting her stay on the Fed board. I think tomorrow he'll probably write the majority opinion that strikes down the birthright citizenship executive order of Trump.
So, it's not fair to say that -- that Roberts has been a lapdog for the right on every issue. Maybe you can say that about Thomas or Alito, but not Roberts.
HOGE: And in that particular case, he upheld immunity for presidents, not just for Donald Trump.
MICHAELSON: Mm-hmm. Let's talk about 2028, because there's already talk about 2028, including on CNN.
We want to put up a headline from CNN.com that was just posted over the weekend: "Behind the scenes with Jon Ossoff, the 2026 -- and maybe 2028 -- Democratic viral hit."
He is the senator from Georgia, 39 years old, running in one of, if not the most important Senate races in the entire country. Often on the weekends, he'll go viral, because he will do videos that his campaign posts of him talking about corruption, especially involving the Trump family.
Manu Raju of CNN talked to him about that theme.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JON OSSOFF (D-GA): The president and his family are enriching themselves to the tune of billions of dollars, and the president is trying to build a monument to himself. I think it's obscene. I think he's a failed president, and he's deeply unpopular in Georgia.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: The CNN reporting said that he was considering not running for reelection, because he's got two young kids, 4-year-old and a 1- year-old. He said it's very painful for him to leave them and that he's not really eyeing running for president in 2028. But there has been this "draft Ossoff" movement.
MESSERSMITH: Yes, people always say that in the off-year. It's not really fair to ask him anyway, because he's not going to say four months before a potentially tough Senate race, you know what? I really want to run for president in two years.
So, I'm not saying I don't believe him. I'm just saying I think if he wins reelection, which I think he will by a fairly comfortable margin in a race that Republicans really targeted aggressively in Georgia, that gives you a pretty strong case heading into 2028.
And there's a reason he's now second in the betting odds behind Governor Gavin Newsom to be the Democratic nominee.
Now, it's early. A lot can change, but people see the potential. They see the talent. He's a former documentary filmmaker, which is one of the reasons his videos look so good.
MICHAELSON: And made films about corruption.
MESSERSMITH: Yes. And --
MICHAELSON: Which is why that's the theme. He's going on -- MESSERSMITH: Right.
MICHAELSON: -- that theme of all themes to say, folks, you may be Republicans, you may be independents, but you don't like corruption.
MESSERSMITH: And lots of Democrats hit the obvious, I think, corruption of Donald Trump, but he does it in a way that I think is the most effective.
Giving specific examples of how the Trump family has benefited so handsomely from the presidency.
MICHAELSON: Yes.
MESSERSMITH: And then -- but here's the thing he does that's, I think, really effective, is he ties it back to a larger theme about corruption and politics and money in politics and the influence of that. And he doesn't just leave it with attacking Trump. He builds it. And I think he -- look, I think he's got the skills.
MICHAELSON: And how that potentially hurts you, the taxpayer --
MESSERSMITH: Yes.
MICHAELSON: -- in the process. Your thoughts on him as a Republican, do you think he would be one of the tougher people to go up against or one of the weaker?
HOGE: Well, I think it's -- it's just great that he was able to be such a good documentary filmmaker with his family's millions. That's -- there's nothing wrong with that. But let's just say, if you -- if you want to talk about nepotism.
MICHAELSON: Not exactly like the president came from nothing.
HOGE: Yes, yes. No, no, no one was born in a log cabin here.
MICHAELSON: Not exactly a self-made man. But OK.
HOGE: Right. So, neither -- neither party is -- is free from that.
And I think every elected official who was born in America looks in the mirror while they're running and hears "Hail to the Chief." However, I just don't think he's going to make it.
[00:45:05]
Yes, he is second to Gavin Newsom in the betting odds, but Polymarket and Kalshi are not polls. And the polling is completely upside-down.
Now, it's a big, wide-open field on the Democrat side. I don't think it's so great. And I think, given what we were talking about earlier with the far left and their little playing footsie with antisemites, I don't think Jon Ossoff is going to make it.
MICHAELSON: Well, he's =-- he's very good on being on message. He's very disciplined. He doesn't speak that much. And when he does, he stays on message.
The question is, in a long presidential cycle, what's he like off- script? Right. And does he have the fire in his belly to be able to do all of the rest of that on a debate stage? We don't know, because we've never seen him do something like that.
MESSERSMITH: Right. He doesn't do a lot of adversarial media, doesn't go on a lot of podcasts. He will have to do that. But on -- on the Jewish thing, because he is --
MICHAELSON: Yes. Wrap it up real quick.
MESSERSMITH: Because he is -- I was going to say, he is Jewish. He might be the Democrat that can thread the needle.
Because even though he's Jewish, he's very critical of the Israeli government, very critical of Benjamin Netanyahu. He has credibility on that issue.
So, it's possible that, I think, he could be -- fill that lane in between the two extremes of the Democratic Party.
HOGE: Ask Scott Wiener how that's working out for him.
MICHAELSON: Yes. As a Jew, some people read a little more Jewish than other people. And Jon Ossoff may not read as Jewish as Josh Shapiro does, for whatever that's worth.
Both of you, thank you so much for coming in. We appreciate it. This was a great panel. I'll have to have you back.
There is a young white House staffer who credits President Trump with curing her cancer. Ahead, in our next hour, we meet Natalie Harp and explain why she is known as the human printer.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:51:22]
MICHAELSON: Welcome back to THE STORY IS. I'm Elex Michaelson. Let's take a look at today's top stories.
U.S. officials say special envoy Steve Witkoff is now heading to Doha. That word coming just hours after President Trump said the U.S. would be meeting with Iran in Qatar on Tuesday.
Iran is offering a conflicting statement saying no negotiations are scheduled with the U.S. in the coming days.
The death toll from last week's earthquake in Venezuela has risen to more than 1,700. Officials say more than 600 aftershocks have struck in the days since.
Millions of dollars in aid is pouring in from around the world, as well as thousands of rescue workers to help in the recovery. Six people are dead after a gunman opened fire at a youth facility in
Northern Germany. Police have arrested a 45-year-old man and believe that there was a dispute over custody of his daughter, who was present at the time of the shooting.
She was with her mother. So was her mother, I should say.
The suspect and the driver of getaway vehicle were both arrested. All six shooting victims were staff members.
Now to South Africa, where thousands of migrants are on edge, many of them fleeing as the country braces for a possible surge of violence.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Refugee!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Anger towards migrants has been increasing for months from protest groups and self-styled vigilantes, who are now threatening more attacks on the undocumented.
Tuesday is the date they've set for migrants to leave.
CNN's Larry Madowo takes a closer look at what is causing all this animosity.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LARRY MADOWO, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT/ANCHOR: Marches like these have driven some migrants from their homes in South Africa. Thousands of them have been seeking refuge at their embassies.
Places like Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Ghana, and now repatriating the citizens from South Africa, because they fear for their lives.
We're in Soweto, in South Africa, where a few hundred people have been marching, asking undocumented illegal migrants to leave the country by Tuesday, June 30.
That is the deadline that's been set by anti-migrant groups like these.
You can hear that they've been singing some songs celebrating Zulu pride. One of them says, who can touch a lion when a Zulu man is there?
A lot of them tell us they're just asking people to come to South Africa legally. They don't want them to come here and abuse the system.
And they feel that many of these undocumented migrants, many Africans, are taking advantage of South Africa's generosity and its training resources here, leading to high unemployment. The South African government says that they have a right to protest,
but not to violence and intimidation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are not against any foreigner, but we are saying you must come here legally.
MADOWO: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, that's what we're saying.
MADOWO: So, you don't think that South Africa's xenophobic?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not xenophobic. It's not xenophobic. If I come to your house, I need to be -- abide by your rules. I need to make sure that I follow each and every rule that is regulating the country.
MADOWO: These protesters say they are not xenophobic or afro-phobic, as some African nations have claimed. They just want South African law, immigration law to be respected.
But the big day is June 30th, when many migrants fear it will not be safe for them to continue living here.
Larry Madowo CNN, Soweto, Johannesburg.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAELSON: Our thanks to Larry.
A Supreme Court ruling could spell trouble for many Haitian immigrants living in the U.S. In our next hour, we'll take you to Springfield, Ohio, home to a large Haitian community, where residents are now worried about their future.
Omar Jimenez reports.
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[00:59:36]
MICHAELSON: Former NFL running back Chris Johnson has revealed that he is living with ALS after being diagnosed with the disease last year.
Johnson is one of nine players in the league history to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a season. He last played for the Arizona Cardinals in 2017.
The former running back revealed his diagnosis in an interview with ABC's Michael Strahan. Johnson appeared with his wife and communicated through a computerized speech device on "Good Morning America."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS JOHNSON, FORMER RUNNING BACK: I first noticed weakness in my right hand. At first it was little things like my grip didn't --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
