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The Story Is with Elex Michaelson
Iran Warns of "Crushing Response" to U.S. Strikes; Trump to Deliver Address at NATO Summit in Coming Hours; Maine Democrats Working on Plan to Replace Graham Platner; Right-Wing Leader Nigel Farage Steps Down as MP Amid Financial Investigation; U.S. Strikes Iran after Ships Fired Upon in Strait of Hormuz; Ukraine War Intensifies as Trump Attends NATO Summit; Second Woman Who Dated Platner Alleges Violent Behavior; Switzerland Advance After Beating Colombia 4-3 on Penalties; Trump Wants New Air Force One in His Presidential Library. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired July 08, 2026 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[00:00:00]
LAURA COATES, CNN ANCHOR: Like, this is why I went to law school. I cannot -- I can't do this one, but I do love the show. Well, here are mine. "Abbott Elementary" because I love, love, love the show.
ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Love "Abbott."
COATES: I love, of course, "Widow's Bay," which I'm not normally into comedy-thrillers and gore, but I love it. And then of course, "The Bear" because I can't watch food (INAUDIBLE). I love them all so --
MICHAELSON: OK. But, but.
COATES: What?
MICHAELSON: The reason I didn't put "The Bear" is because I still don't think it's a comedy and the fact that it's in the comedy category I think is absurd.
COATES: Well, I think that's funny you think that. Have a great show, Elex.
(LAUGHTER)
MICHAELSON: Thanks, Laura.
COATES: Bye.
MICHAELSON: THE STORY IS starts right now.
I'm Elex Michaelson live in Los Angeles.
Coming up on THE STORY IS, Iran vowing a crushing response after U.S. strikes dozens of targets to, quote, "hold Iran accountable." What this means for their agreement. THE STORY IS Graham Platner's future. The Maine candidate is under
pressure to end his Senate run following allegations of violent behavior. Who the Democratic Party thinks could replace him.
And THE STORY IS the World Cup quarterfinals are set after two more nailbiters.
ANNOUNCER: Live from Los Angeles, THE STORY IS with Elex Michaelson.
MICHAELSON: And the top story is Iran warning of retaliation after the U.S. hit more than 80 targets near the Strait of Hormuz overnight, further testing the fragile ceasefire agreement between the two countries. U.S. Central Command released this video showing its latest round of strikes.
The U.S. also says it has reimposed sanctions on Iranian oil sales in retaliation for recent attacks on commercial ships near the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian state media reported that explosions were heard in a number of port cities. Tehran says it will deliver a, quote, "crushing response" to the U.S. strikes and called the sanctions a clear violation of the memorandum of understanding with Washington.
And that retaliation may already be underway. Bahrain has been sounding sirens in the last couple of hours, and warned citizens to take shelter. And Kuwait says it is currently responding to what it calls hostile missile and drone threats.
All eyes are now on President Trump and what he might say in his address at the NATO summit in just a few hours, where the Strait of Hormuz is expected to be a major topic of discussion.
Joining me now is Torrey Taussig. She is the director and senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's Transatlantic Security Initiative. Plus, CNN national security analyst Alex Plitsas with us as well.
Alex, let's start with you. You are so well-connected with the U.S. Military. What more do you know from the United States' side in terms of the strikes that have already happened and what may happen next?
ALEX PLITSAS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: So the U.S. response was basically the Iranians didn't hear us the last time so we're going to turn up the volume. That's the literal quote that we got from U.S. officials talking about this. And that's because for the -- it's got to be the fifth time, at least since the ceasefire went into effect, the Iranians decided they were going to violate it by attacking commercial shipping vessels in the strait.
And unfortunately, there were three in the last 24 hours. So the U.S. responded by now striking 80 targets along the coast. Those included radar, missile and drone sites. And now the Iranians have responded, as you correctly noted, by attempting to strike the U.S. Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain, as well as Ali Al Salem Air Force Base in Kuwait. They claim to have launched 85 projectiles between drones and missiles at the base, but so far no reports of any casualties or injuries. MICHAELSON: Torrey, you right now are at this NATO conference in
Turkey. In the past, you work for the National Security Council running European Affairs. You work for the Defense Department as a NATO policy adviser. You're clearly very well connected.
How is all of this playing into the conversation at NATO? What are people saying?
TORREY TAUSSIG, DIRECTOR, TRANSATLANTIC SECURITY INITIATIVE, ATLANTIC COUNCIL: Well, greetings from Ankara. And you're absolutely right. All eyes are on President Trump as he attends a meeting with allied leaders and then gives a press conference later in the day. You know, having worked on a number of NATO summits as a staffer, objective number one is to make sure that things go smoothly, that principals know the objectives. And these meetings tend to be fairly scripted.
That is not the case with this administration and with this president. There are a lot of questions over what this president is going to say in the press conference today, and whether we will leave Ankara with any sort of allied unity or cohesion. That is in large part because Iran and the conflict there looms large over this summit.
The president arrives in Ankara deeply frustrated and unhappy with the perceived lack of support the United States has received from European allies and I think he's going to make that clear today.
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MICHAELSON: Alex, talk about these reimposed oil sanctions. How does that change things? And this concept of a, quote-unquote, "ceasefire." Is that even a thing?
PLITSAS: So, again, because previous U.S. military strikes in response to Iranian violations were insufficient to stop additional strikes, as we saw today, because they happened once again, the U.S. decided it was going to up the ante by reimposing those sanctions on Iranian oil. And that's because there's been intelligence reporting that's come in, according to multiple U.S. sources that's been briefed the president, that Iran's economy is actually in trouble.
So it's a result of historic sanctions on Iran, in combination with the impact of the strikes of the war over the last several months, in combination with the blockade. So if you put all that together they're under a cash crunch. They need liquidity. It was the reason that they were looking to have the oil sanctions lifted, and they wanted access to all of their frozen cash. And so when the military strikes didn't work, the U.S. now upped the ante by reimposing those sanctions. So that's the reason behind that.
MICHAELSON: Torrey, in terms of what's happening at the conference, there's the public statements that you see in front of the cameras, and then there's the private statements that happen in the hallways. You're there. You can hear some of those private statements. What are people saying behind the scenes, especially about the United States right now? TAUSSIG: Well, I think Secretary General Rutte publicly is looking to
make this a summit of delivery, of allies delivering on pledges made at the Hague summit, delivering on the historic 5 percent of defense spending of GDP that allies signed up to last year. Publicly, this is meant to be a summit of allies stepping up, delivering on spending, delivering on production, delivering for Ukraine.
But in the hallways, there are a lot of questions, crises of confidence in American leadership, questions over how well this summit is going to go, questions over what the president is going to say in his press conference later today, and questions about whether the alliance can move forward with a unified front. And so, again, as the secretary general looks to project unity, there are a lot of questions in the hallway here about to what extent this president and the United States are fully engaged and committed to the alliance.
MICHAELSON: And finally, Torrey, will those countries deliver the 5 percent threshold that President Trump wants to see?
TAUSSIG: At the end of the day, it's a mixed picture. So a few weeks ago, Secretary General Rutte traveled to Washington, met with President Trump in the Oval Office, and he came armed with charts and figures, showing that allies are stepping up with billions of new dollars toward defense spending, and that this new defense spending was in large part due to the president pushing allies to do more.
But it really is a mixed picture. You have some allies leading on defense spending, I'm thinking Poland, the Baltic States, even Western European countries like Germany have revolutionized their defense spending. But there are still many that are not even close to meeting the 5 percent defense benchmark, even less than that. So the president will arrive with a scorecard, so to speak, of allies that are spending enough and allies that are not. And I think that he will make that clear, not only in closed door sessions, but publicly as well.
MICHAELSON: Well, we'll have live coverage of the president's remarks on CNN International in the next few hours.
Torrey, Alex, thank you so much for joining us off the top. Really appreciate it.
We want to take you live right now to Iraq, where thousands have gathered in the city of Najaf to pay their respects to Iran's late supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. The slain ayatollah's body will then be transferred to the Iraqi city of Karbala in the coming hours before returning back to Iran for his burial on Thursday.
As we're seeing here in Iraq, like we saw in Iran, huge crowds in the streets for this burial celebration. Also traveling to Iraq for the funeral services there, state media reports that he has now returned to Tehran following the latest U.S. strikes, so that ceremony continues as we watch live right now from Iraq.
Now to this, THE STORY IS growing pressure on U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner of Maine to step aside. A former girlfriend, Lindsey Fifield, alleges that Platner behaved violently when they dated more than a decade ago. That follows allegations of rape by Jenny Racicot, who dated Platner off and on between 2019 and 2021.
Platner says the claims of rape are categorically false, and he has previously denied the ex-girlfriend's allegations of physicality. He also says he is reflecting on the best path forward in the Senate race.
Here is part of Jake Tapper's exclusive conversation with Platner's former girlfriend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR, THE LEAD: When Jenny told her story, what, if anything, aligned with your experiences?
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LYNDSEY FIFIELD, PLATNER ACCUSER: The eyes.
TAPPER: The dead eyes where he couldn't hear your protests?
FIFIELD: I just know exactly what that looks like. I know exactly what it looks like. And it's -- that is something that I feel like people need to understand is it was almost like looking at like a pit bull where they just, it's nothing, but not just nothing, but like a capacity for violence. And you see it, and you know it's there and it's terrifying.
TAPPER: This is a very painful process and has been for a long, long time.
FIFIELD: Yes.
TAPPER: Continues to be, but it's important because you want the voters to know about him. What do you want them to know?
FIFIELD: I think they know now. They needed to know the truth. They needed to know because these things translate. It's not like the things that he does in private, in his relationships with women, the things that he has done to women, coercive control, lying, deception, abuse, and really horrible things that we've -- that we know about him. Sorry. We know that, that you can't be that way in private and not have it translate into how you would govern or how you would -- you know, when you're put in a position of power, and I think it terrifies me to think of him having any type of power politically because what is he going to do with the women in his office? How is he going to manipulate? How is he going to deceive?
When I saw him lying about the Nazi tattoo, that was the first kind of chip in my armor where I was like, I can't let him continue to lie like this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Maine Democrats are now working on a plan to replace Platner if he steps aside. Several potential candidates have already signaled their willingness to run. Phil Hirschkorn is a reporter and host of "Political Brew" on CNN
affiliate WCSH in Portland, known as News Center Maine. He joins us live now from Maine.
Welcome to THE STORY IS for the first time.
PHIL HIRSCHKORN, REPORTER/HOST, "POLITICAL BREW" ON WCSH-PORTLAND: Yes. Hi, Elex. Nice to see you.
MICHAELSON: So tonight we heard from the head of the Maine Democratic Party talking about what Graham Platner is apparently doing behind the scenes. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEVON MURPHY-ANDERSON, MAINE DEMOCRATIC PARTY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Unfortunately, Graham Platner's team has repeatedly reached out to us in an attempt to put their thumb on the scale of what this process looks like. We have repeatedly reiterated to Graham Platner's team that they have no role in determining our next Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate nor in determining what this process looks like.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Talk to us about what's going on behind the scenes, and the sort of leverage or lack of leverage that Platner has at this moment.
HIRSCHKORN: Sure. Well, a couple of things happening on different tracks. On the one hand, Graham Platner is hunkered down in Sullivan, where he lives three hours north of Portland, where I'm talking to you from, meeting with advisers and trying to figure out if or when he's going to quit. Some people say it's not a question of if, it's a question of when.
On the other hand, Maine Democrats are meeting, brainstorming really, to deal with this relatively unprecedented situation where a candidate who's won a statewide primary may withdraw voluntarily from a race. And that's the key thing. It's only up to Graham Platner. No one has the power to kick him off the ticket at this point. It's his decision alone.
He pushed back on that statement by the party executive director, Devon Anderson-Murphy, a spokesman saying, look, he's just trying to make sure that voters and volunteers have a say in his replacement, not the establishment. The Maine Democrats have a 113-member committee that ultimately, we think would vote and choose his replacement. And just the fact that they're having this sort of negotiation kind of clues us in that Graham has, you know, almost crossed the line to know that he has to step down, that staying in this race is not palatable.
The party has asked him to step down, and so has pretty much everyone who endorsed him. So getting to your leverage question, on the one hand, he still has leverage because as I said, he and he alone can take himself out and he won a record 72 percent of primary votes. He's generated a lot of excitement both locally and nationally over the last 10 months. He's had 85 town halls. They've all been packed and a lot of buzz and bringing new voters to vote.
On the other hand, losing the endorsements of people like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, the senators from Vermont and Massachusetts, who are sort of progressive heroes who have endorsed Graham, you know, they've withdrawn and all the local candidates in Maine have done the same.
MICHAELSON: And losing the Maine Democratic Party support and the National Democratic Party support, which would be sources of funding for him, is also very, very difficult to go forward. So we now have this very interesting situation that even though Platner is still in it, the campaign to replace him is already underway, including on CNN prime time tonight.
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Three different candidates went on three different shows on CNN prime time to sort of make their argument for themselves while also not making the argument for themselves. We're talking about Troy Jackson, former state senator, Shenna Bellows, who is a secretary of state, Doctor Nirav Shah, who is, you know, in the public health world.
Let's listen to some of them making their pitches.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TROY JACKSON, FORMER MAINE STATE SENATOR: Short timeline, obviously, money and all that is going to be a challenge, but I definitely think it's doable because the message, the movement is right and that's what's important.
SHENNA BELLOWS, MAINE SECRETARY OF STATE: I think it's really important that as many Democratic voters have a voice in this process when Graham Platner withdraws.
DR. NIRAV SHAH, FORMER MAINE GOVERNOR CANDIDATE: The stakes are incredibly high. We have an obligation in service of not just Mainers, but in service of the entire country, to defeat Senator Collins this upcoming November.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: You're on the ground. You know all these folks. Size up the field for us.
HIRSCHKORN: So those three finished second, third and fourth in the gubernatorial primary. Troy Jackson, who you played first, was the state Senate president for six years. Very ideologically aligned with Graham Platner, a Bernie bro, a Bernie Sanders endorsed candidate like Graham Platner, was Graham Platner's first choice in the governor's race. Probably the most liberal, I guess progressive is the word he would prefer, backed by labor unions and so forth.
Shenna Bellows is our secretary of state who's really made a name for herself, standing up to President Trump, which is a calling card for a lot of Democratic candidates, even though they're not, you know, running for D.C. office until now if they enter the Senate race. You know, she disqualified Trump from the ballot in 2024 due to the January 6th insurrection. So she's another competitor, says she's uniquely qualified. She ran against Collins in 2014 when she wasn't so well-known and got crushed.
And Dr. Shah actually led the CDC of Maine through the coronavirus pandemic and has, certainly on the Democratic side, a lot of goodwill. He was the runner up in the Democratic race. He says he's seriously considering it. Shenna Bellows and Troy Jackson seem like they're already putting their name in the ring. In fact, Troy Jackson today signed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to explore this race.
I'll just take a few more moments and say there are other candidates who are also looking at this, who ran for Congress. There's a candidate called Jordan Wood. There's the person who not many people know, he got 8 percent in the Senate primary. His name is David Costello, has a long career in public service, mostly out of Maine. He says if Graham is out, I'm in.
And let me just tell you, two people who are not considering it, Elex. Janet Mills, our governor, who is Graham's first competitor who suspended her campaign on April 30th. We've not heard a peep from her, but we understand she's not interested. And Congressman Jared Golden, who's somewhat well-known nationally from our Second Congressional District, a real battleground district. He retiring, not seeking a fifth term, but he's also not interested in running against Susan Collins. He used to work for her.
MICHAELSON: Well, it's going to be a fascinating few weeks in Maine politics. I hope we can call on your expertise again.
Phil Hirschkorn, joining us from Portland. Thank you so much for all that great information.
HIRSCHKORN: Happy to be here. Thank you.
MICHAELSON: Still to come, one of the U.K.'s most loved and most loathed politicians is leaving parliament for now. The next steps for Nigel Farage ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:23:12]
MICHAELSON: French far-right leader, Marine Le Pen, says she will run for president next year. Le Pen announced her campaign after an appeals court upheld her conviction for misusing more than $3 million in European Union funds. The court ordered her to serve three years in prison but suspended two years. She can serve the remaining year at home with electronic monitoring. The court also reduced the amount of time she is banned from holding public office to 15 months.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARINE LE PEN, FRENCH FAR-RIGHT LEADER (through translator): Jordan Bardella and I are going to begin this presidential campaign very quickly. You know that we have offered the French a duo, a duo that I believe is complementary, balanced, coherent, solid. And so it is together that we will go to convince the French that what they are experiencing today is not fate, that it is the consequence of toxic, harmful decisions that have been taken by others, and that good decisions can change their future.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Le Pen and her National Rally Party have been leading in opinion polls ahead of the first round of voting in April.
To the U.K. now, Nigel Farage, leader of the populist right-wing Reform U.K. Party and a chief architect of Brexit, has stepped down from parliament. But he plans to run for his same seat in a special election, a move which could grant him further political power. His resignation also pauses the parliamentary investigation into the source of his personal wealth and over controversial donations that he's received.
CNN's Clare Sebastian explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just weeks before the U.K. gets a new prime minister, the man who polls suggest poses the biggest threat to them in a future general election, making a clear bid to strengthen his own political power.
[00:25:03]
Nigel Farage resigning his parliament seat and saying that he will fight in a special election to win it back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NIGEL FARAGE, LEADER, REFORM U.K.: This will be a people versus the establishment by-election. It's a chance to stick two fingers up to the entire establishment, to frankly tell them where to go, and that is why I will be putting my name forward to stand in this by-election. I will fight to win. I will fight to continue the political revolution that Reform has started.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SEBASTIAN: Well, the backdrop here, Farage, whose party Reform U.K. is leading in national opinion polls, is facing several inquiries over whether he broke parliamentary rules by failing to disclose donations, including a five million pound or $6.7 million gift from a British billionaire. Well, if it's found that he did, that could in itself trigger a by-election.
Farage denies any wrongdoing, and he's even had the support of U.S. President Trump, who posted an article on Monday with the title, "They're running the 2024 anti-Trump playbook on Nigel Farage."
But it's clear the pressure on Farage has been mounting. This was an exchange on Monday with a reporter on the U.K.'s Sky News Channel.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Was it a mistake not to declare the gifts from George Cottrell, sir?
FARAGE: You tell your bosses, you harass my family anymore and I'll take you be serious consequences. That's what your organization has done this morning. Go away.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Was it a mistake not to declare the gift, sir?
FARAGE: Did you not hear me? You have broken all the rules, Leveson and everything else. Cut.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SEBASTIAN: Now that he's stepping down as an MP, the investigation will be suspended. But the risk for Farage is that if he's reelected, it would likely come back. But one thing is clear, he intends to fight on and may well remain a threat to mainstream British politics.
Clare Sebastian, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAELSON: Claire, thank you.
More on our top story after the break. CENTCOM says its forces remain positioned to, quote, "hold Iran accountable." Congressmember Sydney Qom Dove, member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, standing by live to talk about it next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back THE STORY IS. I'm Elex Michaelson. Let's take a look at today's top stories.
[00:31:59]
Iran says it has launched drones and missiles targeting 85 U.S. military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait. It comes after the U.S. said it struck more than 80 targets in Iran overnight in retaliation for recent attacks on commercial ships near the Strait of Hormuz.
Day two of the NATO summit will soon get underway in Turkey. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy is there and says he plans to discuss his country's air defenses with U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines.
The mayor of Ukraine's capital says the city faced yet another Russian missile attack in the last few hours.
And there are growing calls for Maine Democrat Graham Platner to give up his bid for the U.S. Senate. A former girlfriend tells CNN he was physically violent with her more than a decade ago. Another woman, who dated Platner between 2019 and 2021, claims he raped her.
Platner categorically denies the allegations and says he is reflecting on the best path forward.
A lot to get into with our next guest, Democratic Congressmember Sydney Kamlager-Dove, who represents Californias 37th District right here in the L.A. metro area and is a member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Congressmember, welcome back to the show. Good to see you.
REP. SYDNEY KAMLAGER-DOVE (D-CA): Good to see you.
MICHAELSON: So, the Iran strikes that we're seeing now in the last few hours, your reaction to that and sort of the status of where we're at in terms of this memorandum of understanding?
KAMLAGER-DOVE: Yes. Where we at? The American people are asking that same question, 100 and something billion dollars later.
The reason why you're seeing all this back and forth -- deal, no deal -- is because we really don't have a deal.
I was on the phone, actually, with Marco Rubio a week or so ago, and we were asking him these very questions. What is the end game? Why are Americans sacrificing at the pump and at the grocery store for this war of choice? What is going on?
And the secretary said something very interesting. He said, you know, there's a very distinct difference between the nuclear deal, Obama's deal, the JCPOA and this MOU.
He said that nuclear deal was law. It was legally binding. It had criteria, expectations, milestones, et cetera. This MOU is just a piece of paper that people signed, saying, we're going to continue to talk about talking. It is not a real deal. And that is why you are not seeing an end to this war.
MICHAELSON: So, what is the end? What would you like to see happen? I know you were frustrated with how we got to this point now, but we're here now. So, what do we do now?
KAMLAGER-DOVE: Well, we need to get some folks who know how to negotiate to come to the table, and sit down, and negotiate with Iran so that we can get our service members out, so that we can have the Strait of Hormuz open permanently. We can have a ceasefire. That's what we need to be talking about.
And we need to have all of the partners from around the Middle East at the table to ensure that.
You know, what people also forget is it took years for that nuclear deal, the JCPOA, to be written and agreed to.
MICHAELSON: Yes.
KAMLAGER-DOVE: I don't know why Trump thinks, in 60 days or 80 days or whatever, they're going to have something comparable.
[00:35:04]
MICHAELSON: Trump had suggested that he would get a deal on Russia- Ukraine war in one day when he came back. That has not happened yet.
He's now at the NATO conference. That is very much top of mind. We have seen Russian strikes in the last few hours. What's the end game there?
KAMLAGER-DOVE: OK, so I will say, before we left, Congress actually voted on a bipartisan bill that would support additional funding to Ukraine and impose greater sanctions on Russia.
NATO, this summit, is where allies come together to talk about national security and diplomacy, and to find agreement. I have to tell you, our NATO partners do not believe that we are a predictable, reliable partner.
MICHAELSON: You've heard that from them?
KAMLAGER-LOVE: I just came back from Brussels with a congressional delegation. We met with European counterparts, and that's what they told us.
We were there to talk about climate, to say, don't count us out. And they are saying, Well, you pulled out of the Paris climate agreement. You're threatening to withdraw from NATO. You're still saber rattling on conquering Greenland. You have these arbitrary tariffs, Anthropic. We don't know what you're doing with intelligence or with chips. You are not a reliable partner anymore.
And that's very sobering, Elex.
MICHAELSON: And what did you say to them?
KAMLAGER-DOVE: We said Congress is as important as the administration. This administration is not going to be here forever.
MICHAELSON: Do you think that's really true?
KAMLAGER-DOVE: Yes.
MICHAELSON: Based on the way things are going right now?
KAMLAGER-DOVE: Well, he wants to change the game. But when you do have bipartisan support on things like housing, on things like supporting Ukraine, you do find a little Republican muscle.
And we did say we're in a bump. We had a bump in the road right now, but don't count us out. States are stepping in where the federal government is not, and we will be back. And many of them said, Please come back after November.
MICHAELSON: So, well, there seems to be some bipartisan agreement right now that Graham Platner should drop out of the Senate race in Maine, but he's not dropping out.
He's lost all of his key endorsers. He's lost the support of the party in Maine. He's lost the support of the national party. But so far, he's not going anywhere.
What do you make of -- of his decision to do that? Why do you think that is?
KAMLAGER-DOVE: I don't know why, but he should listen to his heart and his supporters, and he should get out of the race.
It is true. The message is very important. We need fighters who are going to fight back against corporate monopolies, who are going to tackle wealth, the wealth gap and economic inequality.
But the messenger is deeply flawed. And these allegations are credible, and they are serious.
I do not think we should be asking Maine voters to put their moral compass on the shelf because you have folks that put vibes over vetting. They should have vetted this candidate, and they should have really had a serious conversation about if he was viable to go the distance. And he should drop out.
MICHAELSON: Do you think your colleagues, some of those, including Sanders and Warren and others, do you think they made a mistake in not vetting him well?
KAMLAGER-DOVE: I -- yes. I do not think -- there was information that was out there. We kept hearing more is going to come. You know, many of us said we have some concerns about this candidate.
And are you telling me that this is the only person who can carry the message, when there are so many of us who are fighting for the same things: access to health care, affordable health care, challenging these corporations with the monopolies and the antitrust violations, and making sure that working people are being heard. That is the message. That's the wrong messenger.
MICHAELSON: Do you think people should have spoken up sooner?
KAMLAGER-DOVE: Well, I don't know what there was to say.
MICHAELSON: Yes.
KAMLAGER-DOVE: But now that we've got a second woman who's coming out, these allegations are credible. I mean, he certainly deserves due process, but he really should be doing right by Maine voters.
MICHAELSON: And lastly, just something on the fun side. To wrap things up, you have been talking for years about the idea of sports diplomacy, with the Olympics coming to Los Angeles and now the World Cup here in Southern California and around North America, as well.
Talk about that as a concept and something I know you were at some -- one of the matches, and how important that is. KAMLAGER-DOVE: Well, I certainly have been railing against FIFA,
because these ticket prices are obscene and how -- the treatment of some of the players and teams has not been very sportsman.
But the thrill of watching these matches and hoping that young American boys and girls will get into the game of soccer and seeing the diversity on the field and the sportsmanship after some of these teams lose, it's amazing.
And that's what sports diplomacy is all about. These are peaceful gatherings where countries are coming together and celebrating the greatness of sport. It, like food, is the thing that you can talk about at a table, and you can find commonality out of difference.
MICHAELSON: It's all about food. And you get to do both at the World Cup.
KAMLAGER-DOVE: And you can do both. Yes.
MICHAELSON: Plenty. Plenty of eating and plenty of drinking --
KAMLAGER-DOVE: And drink, too. And some (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Plenty of drinking, yes.
[00:40:02]
MICHAELSON: -- it seems like, as well.
All right. Well, it's great to see you, Congressmember.
KAMLAGER-DOVE: You, too.
MICHAELSON: Thank you so much for coming in.
KAMLAGER-DOVE: Thank you.
MICHAELSON: Appreciate it. And we can't say, "Go Team USA" anymore, but are you rooting for anybody in particular now?
KAMLAGER-DOVE: I'm rooting for. Yes. Mbappe, Morocco.
MICHAELSON: OK.
KAMLAGER-DOVE: Norway. All the teams. Great matches.
MICHAELSON: All right. Yes, exactly. All right. Thank you so much.
Let's talk more about the World Cup, coming up next. There was a -- great matches today, but it was not without controversy. Lots to discuss with my next guest, Mark Rogondino. Right after this.
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[00:45:23]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) (CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: THE STORY IS the FIFA Men's World Cup. The quarterfinals are now set.
Switzerland fans celebrating as their team pushes through to the Group of Eight for the first time since 1954.
After a scoreless two hours of play and plenty of squandered opportunities, the Swiss needed a penalty shootout to eliminate Colombia in the last match of the round of 16. Switzerland coming up out on top, four goals to three.
Meanwhile, Argentina fans are in disbelief after a stunning comeback against Egypt.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARLOS MONZON, ARGENTINA FAN (through translator): The truth is that I almost died, I thought I was dying. I was about to start crying, and then I suddenly came back from the ashes.
It was total and immense happiness. I can't believe it. Incredible. The truth is that I almost called an ambulance.
SEBASTIAN LOPEZ, ARGENTINA FAN (through translator): My blood pressure plummeted. I don't think I've suffered this much since France. Basically, it was hard, but the World Cup trophy belongs to Argentina, and we won't give up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Apparently, the phoenix was there.
After trailing Egypt for most of the match in Atlanta, defending champion Argentina scored three unanswered goals late in the game, including the winning goal in stoppage time.
But the game had its controversial moments that devastated Egyptian fans, starting with the video assistant referee overturning a goal from Egypt and later, the referee sticking the Pharaohs with a series of yellow cards.
Joining me now is MLS and NBA play-by-play announcer Mark Rogondino, who's been calling the games for FOX, as well. Great to see you, Mark. Welcome to the show.
MARK ROGONDINO, PLAY-BY-PLAY ANNOUNCER: Elex, congrats on the new digs here. I like what I'm seeing.
MICHAELSON: Thank you.
ROGONDINO: You certainly have some good stories going right there.
MICHAELSON: Yes. We used to work together over on FOX. And so, it's so cool to have you here tonight with us.
So, let's talk about this Argentina match. On the one hand, this unbelievable comeback. Tom Brady referenced this on social media, referencing his own comeback when the Patriots came back from 28 to 3. Yes. So, that might top 28 to 3 in terms of the comeback.
There's that story. And then there's the story of Egypt being disappointed and feeling robbed.
ROGONDINO: Oh, by the way, that 28-to-3 comeback came against the Atlanta Falcons for Tom Brady. That game today, Argentina was played in Atlanta.
MICHAELSON: Yes.
ROGONDINO: It's a little bit of symmetry right there. you know really tough for -- obviously, for the Egyptian fans to swallow. And I say that from the sense that they were kind of robbed. They had a perfect game plan for 75-plus minutes. They're up two-nothing in the game.
And then all of a sudden, Messi magic starts to appear. He finds a way to start to get it going. And then, you really could feel like Egypt was just hanging onto the rope to try and make it to the end. And Messi and his guys found a way to get the victory.
MICHAELSON: Did Egypt sort of get robbed?
ROGONDINO: You know, there's been a lot of talk in this -- in this about some Messi favoritism.
MICHAELSON: Yes.
ROGONDINO: I wouldn't say that. It's not a real thing. It feels like it is.
And -- but, hey, you have to find a way to come back from two-nothing down and score the three goals to get the win in this one. That's No. 1.
But to answer your question about Egypt, I just thought that -- How far are we going to go back in VAR review? They went back all the way to the tackle where the ball was turned over, and then all of a sudden, Egypt starts off on the run. They get what would have been the second goal of the game.
So, how far are we going to go about -- you're opening Pandora's box here to say how far we're going to go back to change results in a game.
MICHAELSON: Is Messi the greatest of all time?
ROGONDINO: I'm still a -- I'm still a Pele guy. I met Pele when the then-Home Depot Center that was Dignity Health Sports Park, home of the Galaxy, then opened. And he still -- he's still my guy in terms of the top of the Mount Rushmore.
MICHAELSON: OK. But he's -- Messi's doing pretty well.
ROGONDINO: He's on it. Messi's on it.
MICHAELSON: Yes.
ROGONDINO: Maradona, Franz Beckenbauer.
MICHAELSON: Yes. Let's talk about Switzerland-Colombia, down to penalty kicks. Your take on that match?
ROGONDINO: I always feel like, Elex, the team that doesn't get it done and had the good chances in the match. In this case Colombia had the better of the chances, I thought, in the run of 90 minutes, and then the two 15-minute extra times.
I always feel like that's the team that's going to be hard and undone when it gets to penalty kicks, because then maybe not necessarily the best team comes out victorious in that case.
And I would say I thought Colombia was the better team. They had some great chances to win. It didn't take advantage of those opportunities and that's why they're out of the competition.
MICHAELSON: Also out of the competition, the United States of America. We're about 24 hours removed from that. A lot of time to sort of unpack what happened and where we go from here.
How do you assess where we're at? And did the sort of whimper that they left with, does that impact the U.S. going forward? The game in the U.S., the MLS, all the rest of it. The fact that they went out in such a frustrating way.
[00:50:13]
ROGONDINO: I think, Elex, if we start with the macro view, right? And that's what the effect of the World Cup is going to have on the game here in the States.
In '94, we saw the World Cup bump. I think it's certainly still a real thing for, in this case in 2026. MLS, NWSL, USL, lower divisions. They're all going to get that bump in terms of what the World Cup has brought in fans in money, in culture, that's all going to grow.
But when you look and you narrow the microscope, and you talk about that moment last night, it's just unfortunate that the U.S. Men's National Team had their worst ever performance in possibly the biggest stage they could have ever had.
And so, for that reason, it is disappointing. And so many fans that you could have pulled in just to go one step further and be in the final eight teams of the 2026 FIFA World Cup --
MICHAELSON: Yes.
ROGONDINO: -- to get that opportunity and squander it in the fashion they did. Think about Mexico. They bowed out to England. But was that a magnificent performance by both teams?
MICHAELSON: Yes.
ROGONDINO: Very different narrative. Very different narrative.
MICHAELSON: That was one of those where everybody felt like, we did our best. Although the ratings were crazy for FOX: 30 million viewers, the highest rated telecast ever for soccer in the United States.
ROGONDINO: Just short of what we've got right now.
MICHAELSON: Well, we don't know. We haven't gotten the numbers in yet. We might be at 31.
ROGONDINO: OK.
MICHAELSON: And then -- but it's interesting now to see the ratings could go down for FOX. And we also are seeing ticket prices starting to plummet in the United States for some of these matches going forward, as well.
How do you see the next round? Who's the -- who's the favorite? Ticket prices collapsed nearly 60 percent for World Cup quarterfinal match after USA, Portugal eliminated. That's "Forbes."
That quarterfinal match here in Southern California. So, it would have been a chance to see the United States and potentially see Ronaldo, as well. Neither of those things happening.
ROGONDINO: So -- so it could have been U.S. versus Portugal. But instead, we're going to get Belgium versus Spain, which actually is not all that bad, coming up on Friday.
I think that you know, it's -- we had a lot of fans from a lot of different countries. I've been in Seattle, where you had fans from other countries that were invading the streets.
MICHAELSON: Yes.
ROGONDINO: I was in Kansas City, and the Ecuadorian colors were all over the city on their way into one of their matches.
So, it's unfortunate to see the ticket prices dropping, but they did start really high, if you think about it, at the beginning of the tournament, right?
MICHAELSON: Yes.
ROGONDINO: I mean, this is the people's game, the beautiful game. We'd love to see an opportunity for all walks, shapes, sizes to be able to get in and watch their team in a World Cup venue.
MICHAELSON: And one word: who's the best team in the World Cup? ROGONDINO: Yes, I think you've got to go with France right now. They have just so much firepower offensively. Les Bleus looks very good. C'est bon, c'est bon.
MICHAELSON: There is Mbappe.
Mark Rogondino, so fun. Glad to have you here.
ROGONDINO: Pleasure. Pleasure to be here with you, Elex.
MICHAELSON: Thank you so much.
I mean, check out his coverage on MLS on FOX -- MLS on Apple TV as that's about to get underway very soon.
Coming up, we'll have the top stories here on THE STORY IS. Stay with us.
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[00:57:41]
MICHAELSON: President Trump arrived in Turkey aboard the new Air Force One jet gifted by Qatar. Now the president says he wants to keep the e plane after leaving office. How is that going to work?
CNN's Randi Kaye looks into it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When President Donald Trump's Presidential Library opens in Miami, inside the lobby, if Trump gets his way, will be Air Force One.
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: The concept could be office, but it's most likely going to be a hotel with a beautiful building underneath and a 747 Air Force One in the lobby, which is going to be a trick.
KAYE (voice-over): A trick indeed. But its size isn't the only obstacle. Members of Congress may also be standing in its way.
REP. JOE COURTNEY (D-CT): It's just barely begun its service life, and the notion that its now already being prepared to be a museum piece defies any logic or common sense.
KAYE (voice-over): Just last year, the Qatari government gifted the U.S. Government a Boeing 747 800 for Trump's use as Air Force One. Two new 747s Trump ordered in 2017 from Boeing still aren't ready.
TRUMP: I asked the emir if we could use the brand-new 747 that he got.
KAYE (voice-over): That move raised all kinds of questions about ethics and the possibility of political influence.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): Donald Trump isn't just blurring the lines between public service and personal profit, he's erasing it. He is jeopardizing America's national security to line his own pockets.
KAYE (voice-over): The Qatari plane has since received $400 million or so in taxpayer-funded upgrades to help keep the president safe.
COURTNEY: Having invested all this money in a plane that the president himself has described as practically brand-new, it has less than 1,000 flight hours.
The notion that, in two years' time, it's going to be decommissioned and retired makes absolutely no sense.
KAYE (voice-over): Representative Joe Courtney, a Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, filed this amendment to the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act last month.
It would block the Qatari plane from being transferred or donated to any individual or entity outside the Department of the Air Force, the goal being to stop Trump from taking the plane for his Presidential Library.
COURTNEY: If we pass my amendment, there's just no question that it clearly states that such a transfer would be against the law.
KAYE (voice-over): Air Force One planes are known to stay in service for years, even after new ones come online. The Air Force One pavilion wasn't added to President Ronald Reagan's.
