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The Story Is with Elex Michaelson

Trump: USA Will Become "Guardian'" Of Strait of Hormuz After Iran Breaks Ceasefire; ICE Agent Shot, Killed Main In Maine, FBI Investigates; The Star-Studded World Cup Semifinals Kick Off With France Versus Spain; Man Recovering After Being Attacked By Bison; ICE Fatally Shoots Maine Man, Second Person in a Week; U.K. Combats Anti- Semitism; Netflix Hosts MLB Hom Run Derby for First Time. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired July 14, 2026 - 01:00   ET

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

[01:00:00]

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: The 800-year-old tradition is called swan upping involves tallying all the swans on stretches of the River Thames. The sovereign's swan marker and his team take a census of all the swans that King Charles owns. It was once about preparing for hunting season. Now it's focused on education and conservation.

Thanks for watching the first hour of The Story Is. The next hour starts right now.

I'm Elex Michaelson live in Los Angeles. Coming up, the story is guardian of the Strait. The president tells Congress he's back at war with Iran and this time he's vowing to take control of the Strait of Hormuz and run it himself.

The story is deadly force. Questions swirl after ICE agents shoot and kill a second man in less than a week, sparking protests and vigils.

And the story is a rise in antisemitism. CNN rides along with a new U.K. Police unit formed to protect vulnerable Jewish communities as antisemitic hate crimes surge.

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

MICHAELSON: The top story is the U.S. strikes on Iran for a third consecutive night as President Donald Trump says the U.S. will be the guardian of the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. Central Command says its forces have completed the latest wave of strikes and the mission targeted Iran's ability to attack commercial shipping.

Social media footage shows the aftermath of the strikes in southeastern Iran. President Trump says the U.S. may soon control the Strait of Hormuz.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We are just going forward. We're attacking them tonight. We're taking out all of their capability for anything having to do with the Strait, with the Hormuz Strait. And I think in the end we will end up just controlling the whole thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: President Trump also announced that the U.S. will resume its naval blockade of Iranian ships in the coming hours. CNN's Kaitlan Collins in the Oval Office asked President Trump when the conflict is expected to end.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: You've been bombing Iran for months now. Is this just the new normal for the American?

TRUMP: Well, you know, we're in Vietnam for 19 years. We're here for four months. So I think we've done a lot. We've knocked out their navy in a period of one month. We knocked out their air force. Their air force is nonexistent. We knocked out most of their missiles, most of their drones. We knocked out their drone manufacturing capability about 92 percent.

Their missile capability for manufacturing, we knocked out 89 percent. And they have a little capability, but they don't have any capability for us. This is almost a military skirmish.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Oil prices are reacting after President Trump said the U.S. is reinstating its blockade of Iranian shipping in the Gulf. Tehran had already announced it was closing the vital waterway. Look at the numbers. Oil prices jumped more than 9 percent on Monday after the announcements.

They're still well below their Iran war peaks of above $110 per barrel. Remember when we were at that point? But they have been rebounding higher in response to the surging tensions between the U.S. and Iran. And on this board, you want to see red, not green.

Joining me now to discuss all the developments is NPR reporter Arezou Rezvani and Hal Kempfer, retired U.S. Marine intelligence officer and founder of Global Risk Intelligence Planning. Hal, let's start with you.

President Trump notified Congress that military action restarted last week. What does that tell you about what President Trump intends to do in the next few days? And why was it necessary for him to notify Congress?

LT. COL. HAL KEMPFER (RET.), INTELLIGENCE OFFICER, U.S. MARINE CORPS: Well, Elex, that's a requirement under the War Powers Act. And it looks like he's trying to restart the clock. There's a 68 clock that goes to the War Powers Act. He said that at the end of, at the end of the last period, which was April 11, we went to ceasefire, that's when that clock stopped. And now he's trying to restart it. Of course, some will say, well, the clock really never really stopped

and there's been a lot of stuff going, but that's what his intent is. But certainly if he's doing this, it's because he certainly thinks that that's going to go on for a while. And all the indicators are it will go on for a while.

MICHAELSON: The War Powers Act allows a president to essentially do war for 60 days without Congress declaring war. And so he doesn't want to ask them to formally declare it because they may not do so, may not have the votes for that. So by doing it this way, in some ways, it is a workaround Congress, something that other presidents have done in the past as well.

Arezou, let's talk to you about this, the Strait of Hormuz and President Trump imposing fees or threatening to impose fees on the strait. Is that realistic? And how is Iran reacting to that?

AREZOU REZVANI, NPR REPORTER: You know, there's been a lot of incoherent messaging from this administration.

[01:05:02]

You have Secretary of State Marco Rubio for the last several weeks saying that there should be no toll from any party, especially Iran, charging anyone any kind of fee. And then you have President Trump all of a sudden upending that, saying that he wants to be the guardian of the strait, saying that they will impose a protection fee, guiding vessels through the strait. And I think this is going to ruffle a lot of feathers in Iran.

I think the Revolutionary Guard Corps is going to be pretty upset by this. I think that they know that on the battlefield, they do not have the upper hand in terms of military strength and hardware. And where they do have a little bit of an edge, they've discovered, is this Strait of Hormuz. And so they are going to look at this as a direct threat. And I think it will be interesting to see if that works out that way.

MICHAELSON: You say that the U.S. is underestimating Iran's capability. What do you mean by that?

REZVANI: Well, look, I mean, this war started at the end of February. We're now in July. It's nearly five months that this has been going on. And we are now in a situation where the blockade is back on. You have Iran striking vessels in the straits, striking and launching missiles and drone attacks on regional allies again.

And I think that -- I think we've very much underestimated not only their capabilities, but their decentralized command structure that allows for them, after thousands of targets to be hit, to continue to wreak this kind of havoc in the region.

MICHAELSON: Hal, we looked at the oil prices a moment ago. What does all of this mean for global oil prices? Because that affects everybody watching right now if they've got to fill up their car. KEMPFER: They're jumping up. You know, they were down to about $70 a gallon, which is really a drop from where the top was at 120. And they're headed towards 60. And now with just this, what, less than a week, they're up to 80, and they're headed north.

And unless we can get a lot of ships, a lot of tankers going through the Strait, it's going to increase. And we never got to the levels of transit that we had before, you know, before the 28th of February and on the 27th, we just never got that daily total. There were some pretty impressive totals if you look at where we were during the midst of the war, but it never got to that. And until we can get that oil coming out there in greater quantity, we're going to still deal with this stuff.

And certainly, of course, it's all -- it's all what they look at the future. It's where they think we're going to be able to open it up in the future. And certainly with what we just talked about, with the 20% fee, that's caused a lot of confusion in the marketplace.

MICHAELSON: Hal, is this a forever war? How does this end?

KEMPFER: Well, this won't be a forever war and kind of familiar with those forever wars. So yes, but this will not be. But this is probably going to go on for a while. You know, I can't tell you if, you know, usually if a regime collapses, it happens and everybody says, oh, it was inevitable. Yes, it was inevitable. Now, you say that now, but up until five minutes before, nobody saw it happening. That's kind of what I'd see here.

If they collapse, it'll be seen as inevitable. But the reality is they're in desperate straits, economically speaking. Imposing the blockade puts a tremendous pressure on the regime. So I think they're going to come back to the negotiating table. I don't know what we're going to get, all those negotiations, but I think there's going to be a lot of kinetic action between now and whatever's agreed to, you know, down the road.

MICHAELSON: And lastly, you -- you feel like the war itself was inevitable?

REZVANI: I do. I think after October 7th, and I think after watching so many of the proxies fall apart in the region that it was only a matter of time before Iran was going to be in the crosshairs.

MICHAELSON: Arezou, Hal Kempfer. Well, thank you both for sharing your perspectives. Really appreciate it.

Now to another big story. A second immigrant to the U.S. shot and killed by ICE agents in less than a week, this time in the state of Maine. A neighbor has identified him as 26-year-old Joan Sebastian Guerrero from Colombia. Immigrants' rights group says that he was authorized to work in the US. We want to warn you the video of the aftermath is very disturbing.

Department of Homeland Security has issued a statement saying that ICE law enforcement attempted to conduct a vehicle stop, the vehicle attempted to flee the scene and fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon. That has sparked protests, a vigil and lots of questions about why an officer would shoot at a fleeing vehicle.

Senator Angus King, independent from Maine, says DHS told him that Guerrero wasn't even the target of this immigration enforcement operation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ANGUS KING (I-ME): You've heard over and over and over that it's all about the worst of the worst. Well, they were in Maine in the winter, went through this big crackdown, if you will, arrested over 200 people, about 19, I think 19 or 20 of those people had some kind of criminal record. 90 percent had no criminal record.

[01:10:00]

So this is not about the worst of the worst. This is a broad sweep with people with a quota. They've been told they have to arrest 2,000 people a day by the White House. That's a terrible way, an instruction to give law enforcement, and that's this -- what happened today in Maine is a result of that kind of overarching, I think, bad faith.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Juliette Kayyem is a senior -- CNN senior national security analyst, former Assistant Secret at the Department of Homeland Security. Thanks so much for being with us. Thanks for staying up late for us. Why is there no body cam video from either this incident in Maine or in Houston? Because we know so much money is in the coffers of DHS right now.

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: That's exactly right. The first thing to remember is not having body cam is outside the norm. I mean, in other words, most federal law enforcement agencies, most police, major police departments have body cams now. They often protect the police officer more than anything else.

And so this decision by ICE is a conscious decision to not use the money, the billions of dollars they've gotten, which make them the largest law enforcement agency in the United States at this stage on one of the sort of easiest, cheapest ways to ensure both public safety and law enforcement safety.

So this is either negligence or purposeful. But in, you know, these two cases, these two killings are now not -- there's no -- there's no evidence coming at the moment of the interaction, and we're only getting it from outside feeds.

MICHAELSON: Do you think that ICE is being transparent about what happened here? And what do you make of the letter that they put out? What questions does it raise for you?

KAYYEM: You know, I come from the Department of Homeland Security, and so this is just very hard for me to say, but I don't believe a word that -- I don't believe they get the benefit of the doubt anymore. We are now dozens of cases later, not all of them fatal, but, you know, car crashes, shootings that don't result in death, and then now, you know, four or more deaths in which the first narrative out of ICE or DHS is it's his fault or her fault. And that never proves to be true.

So I don't believe ICE's assessment from this morning. And they couldn't have possibly known because they have done no independent review. They put out a narrative that blames the victim, in this case, another dead victim, because they have no policies that are being enforced. They have no -- discipline. I mean, people ask what to do with ICE. You Know, you can't really abolish a law enforcement agency. You need interior enforcement in the United States. There are the worst of the worst, as the Senator was saying, that need to be detained and deported.

But you can't do it like this, right, without the training, the rules of engagement, the prohibitions against shooting into cars, which most law enforcement agencies have.

MICHAELSON: So what would be, I mean, first off, it's quite stunning to hear you say, as a former member of DHS, that you don't trust the word of DHS right now. What would be the number one thing you would do if you were suddenly put in charge to fix that?

KAYYEM: I would tie all of these enforcement efforts focused on criminal conduct. In other words, as the Senator was saying, you have these roundups, 200, 300, 400 people, which two of them have a criminal record. Right. And so you're -- I would say bang for the buck is not very good in this case.

What Stephen Miller and Donald Trump are trying to do is show these large numbers, but these large numbers mean nothing to the American public because they have nothing to do with public safety. At the other extreme, so you make the rules smart where what the American people want, they want secure borders, but they don't want this ICE. This ICE is not who we are.

On the other extreme, of course, unmasked ICE, make them identify themselves, be a normal law enforcement agency. This is so abnormal, so anti-Democratic, so dangerous and so faulty as we're seeing, you know, so, you know, it's -- it's causing these killings --

MICHAELSON: Yes.

KAYYEM: -- that have no justifiable reason under any law enforcement standard. I hear people, you know, supporting the Trump Doctrine or Stephen Miller, you know, try to sort of pierce, well, he didn't stop or he didn't do this or whatever.

[01:15:07]

Look, you're not -- law enforcement does not come out killing people. That is not your first salvo.

MICHAELSON: Yes.

KAYYEM: So even if it's arguable that law enforcement didn't know what was going on, that these are resulting in innocent deaths of people, is needs to stop. And if it's not stopped by this administration, it will be stopped, I think by local and state efforts to curb this behavior.

MICHAELSON: Yes. And a reminder that the Democrats shut down the government to do many of the things that you just said, but they weren't able to get that done. And the Republicans not only did not do them, but fully funded ICE at record levels without any of those restrictions that you're talking about. Juliette Kayyem, thank you so much for joining us and sharing your expertise. Appreciate it.

After the break, a look at the World Cup semifinals. We have a preview of France versus Spain as the two heavyweights prepare to battle for a shot at soccer's biggest prize. And later, we will break down the politics of what Juliette was just talking about in terms of what's happening in Maine. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:20:30]

MICHAELSON: The World Cup semifinals kick off Tuesday in Dallas with a showdown between two heavyweights. Top ranked France will put its star-studded offense to the test against number three ranked Spanish team that's allowed just one goal in the whole tournament so far. The winner will earn a spot in Sunday's final. World Sports Don Riddell has more from Dallas, Texas.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: We're looking forward to an absolutely monumental World cup semifinal match here in Dallas between Spain and France. And whatever happens in that game, the Spanish team has already been celebrating, marking not just one but two birthdays within their squad on Monday. Victor Munoz won the other, the remarkable Lamine Yamal who would you believe is only just 19 and what he has already achieved in this game is quite remarkable. He's already played 13 matches in major tournaments. He's already a European champion with Spain. He's already won three La Liga titles with Barcelona and he's already a runner up in the Ballon d'Or.

Spain entered this competition as pre-tournament favorites. They've barely put a foot wrong. They've only conceded one goal. They're riding high on a remarkable 36 match unbeaten streak in competitive games. And whatever happens on Tuesday afternoon, they all know they're going to be a part of something pretty special.

ALEX BAENA, MIDFIELDER, SPANISH NATIONAL TEAM (through translator): We're really looking forward to the referee blowing the opening whistle. I don't think either they or we are afraid. It's a matter of respect for one of the best national teams in the tournament and in the world. And well, we hope it will be a very, very tight match that will be decided by small details.

RIDDELL: Well, maybe they should be a little bit afraid because what France are doing in this competition is absolutely remarkable. They've set the place on fire scoring 16 goals. They're just irresistible going forward with this kind of three headed monster of Kylian Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele and Michael Ouse. The three of them just present so many extraordinary attacking threats, whether it's goals or assists.

And you know, the French are pretty hard to beat as well. They've won every game in 90 minutes. They're the only team that can say that. And they've only conceded two goals and none in the knockout stage.

So, I mean, they are arriving at this stage of the tournament absolutely on fire, as if they needed any more motivation. They have it thanks to their coach, Didier Deschamps, who's going to be stepping down at the end of this tournament. He had to step away during the competition to attend the funeral of his mother back home. Just absolutely devastating for him.

It seems to have brought himself and the players even closer together. So it's just so hard to pick any faults in the French team. But the same is true of the Spanish team. And this has been described as the final. Before the final, we could easily see this being the title match. It's going to be the semi. Unfortunately, one has to go out, but it should be a magnificent occasion. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAELSON: We'll have the highlights tomorrow right here. I'm sure you saw this on social media over the weekend. A 65-year-old man attacked by a bison in Yellowstone national park is recovering in the hospital after surgery. The bison charged after the man Friday, sending him flying in the air.

The terrifying attack was captured in dramatic and graphic video that has gone viral. That victim was walking with his grandson and says he was at least 100 yards from where the bison became agitated. He says someone in a nearby car honked the horn, apparently trying to get the massive animal to move. That's when the bison charged. The man suffered multiple broken bones.

Earlier, CNN's Erin Burnett spoke to the photographer who captured that incredible footage about what he saw leading up to the attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When my wife said, hey, there's a bison, grab your camera, I first was taking pictures of the bison approaching a group of boys who really weren't instigating anything. They weren't too close. The bison charged the boys. They scattered. And then the bison ran into a campsite of a young couple, forced them away from their dinner and then just started rolling in the dust.

And just there you go, very agitated. And then he sat down and he was looking towards the road and that's where the two victims come into the scene behind the bison.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Wild. We are following protests in Maine where another immigrant has been fatally shot by an ICE officer and he wasn't even the target of the operation. Our panel is back with us live to discuss Melanie Mason, Steven Olikara right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:29:24]

MICHAELSON: We now know the identity of the man shot and killed by an ICE officer in Biddeford, Maine. Neighbor says he is 26-year-old Colombian national Joan Sebastian Guerrero. An immigrant rights group says he was authorized to work in the US. A warning some viewers may find video of the aftermath disturbing.

Senator Angus King of Maine says the Secretary of Homeland Security told him that Guerrero was not the target of today's immigration enforcement operation. The DHS says ICE law enforcement attempted to conduct a vehicle stop. The vehicle attempted to flee the scene and fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon.

[01:30:08]

Residents are holding protests and a vigil for Guerrero. Many want to know why the agent would fire at a fleeing car.

I spoke earlier with the mayor of Biddeford and I asked him if he agrees with Governor Janet Mills, who was calling for all ICE operations in Maine to stop.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR LIAM LAFOUNTAIN, BIDDEFORD MAINE: We can't have people killing people in our country like this. And what I'm calling for, as other Maine officials are, is a thorough, full, and transparent investigation so we can find out the facts of this case and provide accountability to our residents and families impacted.

MICHAELSON: The neighbor of the man who was shot has just identified him as Joan Sebastian Guerrero, a Colombian national, do you know him? Have you ever interacted with him before?

LAFOUNTAIN: No, I don't personally know him, but my heart goes out to him and his family.

MICHAELSON: And what is this like for your community? To a community of 20,000 people, to all of a sudden be in the center of this national debate on immigration, on ICE and all these, you know, very controversial issues.

How is that -- how is your community dealing with that?

LAFOUNTAIN: Well, I think -- I mean, speaking for myself, you know, we're a country that needs immigration reform, but just what we saw today, is not it.

And our community is steadfast. We're a community that's proud of our immigrant history in the 18th and 19th century. Immigrants in our city built this city. And even today, we welcome more and more immigrants from across the globe. And an incident like this, it's really hard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Our panel is back. Melanie Mason, California bureau chief for Politico, and Steven Olikara, a senior fellow at the USC Schwarzenegger Institute. Welcome, both of you.

Melanie, some of these really intense ICE operations started in California over a year ago now. And now we are seeing them around the country, a little different recently without Kristi Noem and Greg Bovino. Not as in your face, but still happening.

And we've seen ICE enforcement pick up really in the last few weeks. This immigration issue, so important in the politics of Donald Trump.

MELANIE MASON, CALIFORNIA BUREAU CHIEF, POLITICO: Well, right. I mean, partially because that is such a core issue to Donald Trump.

But I think what you noted is really important is that this does feel sort of substantially different from what we did see in Los Angeles and even in Minnesota, where there was almost a performative aspect to the ICE agents coming in, they really wanted to make it clear that their presence was known.

Meanwhile, I think what we've seen more recently is that there are these operations continuing, and in fact, escalating, but not necessarily sort of attracting the same crowds where they're having these face offs with protesters.

And so I think, though, that you have now these two shootings in quick succession that I think elevates this issue once again. And I think brings us back to those very volatile moments of last summer or in January in Minnesota, where people just felt this so viscerally.

MICHAELSON: And that other shooting you're talking about just happened in Texas as well.

MASON: Right.

MICHAELSON: And in both of those shootings, Steven, no body cameras, even though they're supposed to be body cameras.

STEVEN OLIKARA, SENIOR FELLOW, USC SCHWARZENEGGER INSTITUTE: Without body cameras now, the American public are trying to red team, blue team these shootings and allow the reality to fit into their own narratives.

The fact is, we don't know exactly what happened. And it's tough to trust exactly what the DHS is saying, because what they said in Minnesota didn't actually comport with the body cam footage we had there.

And so police and across the country in many cases, are required to have body cameras. I think that was one of the key reforms that Democrats were pushing for unsuccessfully with ICE. And now, as a result, what we're seeing is the American people are

just losing their confidence in ICE. Even though most Americans want to see a border enforcement, they don't want to see these types of killings on the street.

People -- ICE is targeting their gardeners or people in their community and that's not the character of the American public that we want to be projecting.

And also what Vice President J.D. Vance will say is that in order to do immigration enforcement, it's just messy to conduct it. I think that's a cynically low bar for the American public. And Americans deserve better than that.

MICHAELSON: Right. And that issue of body cameras, part of the reason that those Minnesota shootings caught so many people's attention, and really changed the narrative on this whole thing, just like what we had with George Floyd, why that was, it was all caught on camera and people were able to see it and feel it.

And, and it went beyond, as your point, about the red and blue teams. And there's something about video and when it doesn't exist, it's really hard.

[01:34:51]

MASON: Well, right. And then you're just relying on sort of eyewitnesses or you're relying on video that we see that's right after the aftermath, but we don't actually know when ICE is trying to claim that this person was trying to use their vehicle in a way that was threatening public safety.

There's just absolutely no way to verify that one way or the other.

And I think what will be interesting to see is, you know, body cameras are one key aspect. The other thing that was so key in some of these other incidents were cell phone cameras more broadly.

And will more footage perhaps come up in the next couple of days, more things that people can sort of pick apart the scene and understand a little bit more what happened?

MICHAELSON: And meanwhile, in the last hour, we were talking about Lindsey Graham. He was part of this gang in the Senate that was trying to do immigration reform. That never happened.

They've been trying to do immigration reform for some 40 years. That hasn't happened. And we're farther away now than it seems like almost ever.

OLIKARA: Yes. Well, I appreciate what the mayor said, that we need immigration reform. And this is not what it looks like.

The reason why we're seeing this violence on the street is a direct -- it's directly resulting from politicians, especially in Washington, who have found it more profitable to keep immigration reform essentially on the ballot.

There needs to be an orderly process for people who are here without documentation. Unfortunately, in this case, this was someone, a 26- year-old who was here actually legally. And so we need some real reforms and we need --

MICHAELSON: With a work permit.

OLIKARA: -- work permit in order to be here, but still following the law.

MICHAELSON: Yes.

OLIKARA: This is not what even people who voted for Donald Trump in the 2024 election signed up for. What Trump had said was that he was going to go after violent criminals. And instead, we're seeing the violence from ICE.

MICHAELSON: And you, Steven, talked so much about storytelling and how we can use storytelling principles of Hollywood to change the political narrative.

And you pointed out something really interesting that for folks from around the world who have come to America, on the one hand, they're seeing this ICE shooting; on the other hand, they're seeing the World Cup and sort of the change there.

I mean, talk about that contrast and the World Cup diplomacy that's going on right now.

OLIKARA: Yes, I think this dynamic explains for some of the shock that foreigners have had coming to the United States and realizing that the narratives about America being this incredibly dangerous place defined by ICE shootings, it's not all that America is.

Because when they're going to these World Cup games, they're finding that they're being welcomed and that they're being included in this American life that we have going on.

And on top of that, they're discovering some amazing things about America. They love our Texas barbecue. They love ranch dressing, which I love particularly as a Wisconsinite. They love Costco.

And so this is citizen diplomacy at its best. And so that's why I think as we look at this entire World Cup experience, the United States might have lost in the tournament, but we've won in terms of soft power.

MICHAELSON: And last point to you, Melanie, as a huge sports fan, your thoughts on the World Cup and how it sort of intersects with politics?

MASON: Well, I just think Steven's point is so smart because it did feel like there was so much goodwill that was being accumulated. And I think there was a lot of questions in the lead up to this of how welcomed foreigners would be, given the sort of kind of nationalistic tone that we're hearing from the government now. And so I do think that now this ICE shooting and the fact that these

narratives are resurfacing, in some ways, I think maybe sets us back what I think was some really important accumulated goodwill over the last couple of weeks.

MICHAELSON: And hopefully we'll have more goodwill in these final days of the World Cup.

Melanie, Steven -- thank you so much. Appreciate it.

And we're still rooting for America, but who knows? Do we have a pick for tomorrow?

MASON: Well, I have to go with Spain because I used to live there. So Vamos Espana.

OLIKARA: I'll go with Spain.

MICHAELSON: Ok. There you go. All right. I'm now rooting for France. So there you go. Just to be contrarian.

OLIKARA: The contrarian.

MICHAELSON: The U.K. has announced a major investment into increasing policing in Jewish communities.

Coming up on CNN, we join a specialized unit patrolling the streets of London.

[01:38:55]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELSON: A troubling rise in anti-Semitism is prompting the British government to boost policing in Jewish communities in the U.K. More than 250 million pounds will now be invested into increasing patrols and security.

That announcement follows an increase in anti-Semitic hate crimes over the past year.

CNN's Jomana Karadsheh spent the last few days with one of London's specialized MET police units, observing their response tactics.

But first, a warning that viewers may find some of the footage in this report disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They're responding to a call about a male with a knife outside a school. We were really close by.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ok, where's the guy?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were down the road. All I know is there was one with a knife and one was indecent. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And how long ago did they go?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Less than a minute.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ok.

KARADSHEH: This isn't an ordinary police patrol. We're out with the MET Police's proactive patrols, additional forces dedicated to securing these predominantly Jewish areas of London. They spot men matching the description.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And no shirt. They'll do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What did I do?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got any idea why they'd give a description that matches you, mate?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No idea, sir.

KARADSHEH: After a quick stop and search, they find no knife, so they let them go.

So what we just saw now, that was an incident that wasn't -- it didn't seem to be targeting the Jewish community. But you responded.

SGT. SIMON VANDEPEER, LONDON'S METROPOLITAN POLICE: Our overriding aim as a police service is to protect life. So when a call comes out where a knife is present and that could be a direct threat to someone's life, no matter who it is, then it's our job to respond to that.

KARADSHEH: Following a string of attacks earlier this year, mostly targeting the Jewish community, the terrorism threat level in the U.K. was raised to severe. And the MET Police is on high alert, especially in this part of north London.

VANDEPEER: The demand has been astronomical. It's definitely the highest demand I've ever seen.

[01:44:48]

VANDEPEER: I think that's because of the incidents that have happened in the area and quite naturally, the communities that live within this area of London feeling unsafe.

We've also seen sort of physical assaults. So we had one not that long ago where someone was making Nazi salutes and sort of shouting "Heil Hitler" and "baby killers" and things like that.

And then walked into a cafe and, and punched a random member of the public in the face simply because they were visibly Jewish.

KARADSHEH: These officers have also had to deal with what they say has been a steep increase in all kinds of anti-Semitic abuse.

Incidents like this one. Authorities say two young men traveled to a Jewish area to film themselves for social media, going, quote, "fishing for jews" with a banknote on the end of a fishing rod. They both pleaded guilty and were convicted of religiously aggravated harassment.

For many in this community, the visible police presence is welcome.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's been a lot of patrol cars driving up and down. Yes.

But also I feel it's needed.

KARADSHEH: Since the October 7th attacks and the war in Gaza, anti- Semitic offenses in London have hit record levels according to official figures, and have spiked again since the U.S. and Israel's conflict in Iran.

The MET works closely with local Jewish security groups. 24-year-old Nathaniel Fahidi (ph) says the police presence helps, but he still feels nervous about revealing his faith in public.

If you were to explain what it's like being Jewish in the U.K. right now to people outside the country, what would you say?

NATHANIEL FAHIDI, JEWISH LONDON RESIDENT: Worrying. I mean, I'm not particularly religious, but I now refrain from being openly Jewish and I know lots of other families who are in my community who have now decided to move to different countries, because being here just doesn't feel safe anymore.

KARADSHEH: With British Jews feeling the repercussions of what's happening thousands of miles away, and anti-Semitic hate on the rise, what started as temporary patrols is now here to stay.

Jomana Karadsheh, CNN -- London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[01:46:59]

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MICHAELSON: THE STORY IS baseball.

It was bombs away at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia as Netflix hosted the MLB Home Run Derby for the first time. Eight sluggers competing for the title. And the winner is Jordan Walker from the Saint Louis Cardinals. He homered on his last four swings to beat out fan favorite Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies in Philadelphia.

Walker is the first-ever Saint Louis Cardinal to win that competition. The 24-year-old will take the field again on Tuesday in the coming hours in the all-star game.

Joining me here in studio, ESPN MLB reporter Alden Gonzalez. Welcome to THE STORY IS. It's great to have you back. This Barry Bonds as part of the Netflix competition -- sorry, broadcast afterwards said that this was the best home run competition he'd ever seen before.

ALDEN GONZALEZ, ESPN MLB REPORTER: Yes. Elex. I was part of the broadcast for ESPN, the Home Run Derby the last three years. I grew up watching the Home Run Derby.

In terms of the finish, this was one of the best finishes that I could ever remember.

Keep in mind, MLB changed the format for this year's Home Run Derby. It's no longer timed rounds. It's number of swings. But once you get down to your last swing, you keep going until you hit a home run.

So for this --

MICHAELSON: Until you stop hitting home runs.

GONZALEZ: -- until you stop hitting home runs.

MICHAELSON: So you stop hitting a home run.

GONZALEZ: This kid, Jordan Walker, one of the best stories in baseball, finally put it together this year. In front of a Phillies crowd that was incessantly booing every non-Philly in the competition, going up against the hometown hero in Kyle Schwarber.

He's down three home runs and he hits four in a row at the end. The drama because they changed it to number of swings, it was maybe unlike anything that I've seen at that event.

MICHAELSON: And also unlike anything we've seen before, it was on Netflix.

GONZALEZ: Yes.

MICHAELSON: Which has never happened before for so many years. We think of Chris Berman saying back, back, back, back, back, back. It was too bad that Netflix couldn't have hired him, at least for the night.

What do we make of that? Because that is a real changing of the guard for baseball, America's pastime for so many years was on so many free channels that now have so many streaming options.

GONZALEZ: Yes. And Elex, it's unfortunate that like for as great an ending as we had, there was probably a segment of baseball fans who found out that it was on Netflix and probably couldn't find it or were probably out on the event.

And look, a lot of this is just the way it's going. Streaming companies are not going anywhere. The game is going to be -- sports are going to be streaming companies more and more.

But what's happening right now, Major League Baseball is very interesting because if you are a fan of the game, you need so many different subscription services these days if you want to follow for a full year. Whether that is Peacock or Apple TV or Netflix or MLB.tv or your local RSN deal.

And Major League Baseball right now has a very interesting choice on their hands. On one hand, they could maximize profits for owners by signing all these different national media rights deals, which they've clearly chosen.

Or on the other hand, they could try to grow the game, make the game more accessible, broaden the reach of baseball.

They've clearly chosen the former for now. But in about two and a half years, all the media rights are going to get completely reconfigured. I hope for the sake of baseball fans that they choose the latter so they can keep growing the game, make it more accessible, make it more affordable for fans to be able to watch baseball than it is right now.

MICHAELSON: There's so much money in baseball right now.

And let's talk because it is the all-star break, and it's a good time to sort of look at the state of baseball right now, which is also often, you know, one of the most important sports in the history of America.

How would you describe the state of baseball?

[01:54:45]

GONZALEZ: I think baseball is in a great place right now. I think it's in a great place in terms of viewership. It's in a great place in terms of international appeal.

The pitch clock has been one of the greatest innovations this sport has ever seen. It has quickened the pace of play. It has brought in more fans.

There's so much great young talent. We brought up Jordan Walker earlier. There's so many guys like Jordan Walker in the game.

MICHAELSON: And Shohei Ohtani, the biggest star --

GONZALEZ: Shohei --

MICHAELSON: -- one of the biggest stars in the world.

GONZALEZ: Absolutely. Baseball in terms of popularity hasn't been at this high a place in a really long time. And what's fascinating about this is that within the backdrop of that is a looming bitter labor fight.

Major League Baseball is pushing for a salary cap, something they haven't pushed for since 1994 when the players had a strike and we canceled the World Series.

And there's going to be a lockout at the start of December, freezing all transactions. And they're going to be haggling over a new collective bargaining agreement. It's going to get ugly. It's going to be long. Some people expect the 2027 season to be compromised. And this is the

existential question for the game now. How badly do you really want this salary cap to increase your franchise values? And do you want it bad enough that you are going to risk losing all the momentum that Major League Baseball has built?

It took Major League Baseball a long time to get there. Are they going to completely just kill that because they want a salary cap that bad? We won't know that answer until early next year.

MICHAELSON: Yes, they needed a home run championship and a lot of steroids to get over the last strike. And let's hope we don't need to go through that again.

Alden, thank you very much. The all-star game is tomorrow. It's going to be fun to check that out.

Thanks for being with us. And thank you all for watching THE STORY IS.

I'm Elex Michaelson. We'll be back tomorrow to talk about the all-star game, FIFA World Cup. And oh yes, the news.

The news continues on CNN after this.

[01:56:27]

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