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The Story Is with Elex Michaelson
Trump - USS Lincoln Deployment Not Nearly Long Enough; Powerful 7.7 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Off Coast Of Indonesia; Trump - Strait Of Hormuz To Be Declared A U.S. Territory; Mangione Pleads Guilty In Murder Of UnitedHealthcare CEO; Aired 1-2a ET
Aired August 15, 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 AND CORRESPONDENT: And "The Story Is" Luigi Mangione pleads guilty. What he said in court about killing a top health care insurance executive and what comes next for his case.
We start with breaking news. People in South Central Indonesia are trying to clean up and assess the damage after a massive earthquake struck off the coast a few hours ago. A local police chief says at least five people have been killed. The 7.7 magnitude quake, huge quake, happened near the island of Flores, which is home to about 2 million people. A tsunami warning issued after the quake was lifted three hours later. No major problems when it comes to that.
CNN's Gage Goulding is in Hong Kong following this. What's the latest at this hour?
GAGE GOULDING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. The latest is that number that has already grown today. Five people killed according to local police officials there on the ground in Indonesia. And I want to note that that's according to information that's being relayed from other police sub stations. So they're still trying to reach all the areas that are impacted. This quake, striking just off the coast of Indonesia near Flores there around 6:00 A.M. local time. Now the clock is ticking. They were in this golden hour period, if you will, where they need to find those that are trapped under the rubble. You can see that happening, right here. That is the focus here.
In that number five killed is just the first part of it, but there are even more that are injured. Now I want to talk about the severity of this earthquake. A 7.7 magnitude is an incredibly strong earthquake. Anything over eight is, very, very severe. The good news of this situation that it was in a relatively remote area, about 500,000 people, and that's still a lot of people potentially, feeling very strong to severe shaking. That's according to the USGS. But that number compared to the earthquake that we just saw in Colombia was around 6 million people there. So two very dramatically different stories here.
But the work is on now for search and rescue crews that have been going at it for over six hours now. This is one crew that's working there, working to sift through the rubble and try to find these victims still there, many of them that were still sleeping. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FATHUR RAHMAN, MAUMERE SEARCH & RESCUE OFFICE, THAILAND (translated): The joint SAR team consisting of BASARNAS and other SAR personnel has so far reported three casualties, two people injured and one person deceased. Meanwhile, in other regions affected by the earthquake, we are still collecting data.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOULDING: One woman telling us that this was the longest and strongest earthquake that she's felt this area very prone to earthquakes known in what's the Ring of Fire they call this area of the world. It sees more than 90 percent of the earthquakes that earth sees overall, Elex, but still very strong earthquake there this morning.
MICHAELSON: Yeah. Of course, those of us here in Los Angeles know a thing or two about the Ring of Fire as we are a part of it as well. And as we know here and as you know there, earthquakes not just a onetime thing. When it's a 7.7, there's aftershocks. What are we hearing about that?
GOULDING: Yeah. 37 different aftershocks recorded immediately after this earthquake. Some of them, I mean, incredibly strong, 5.9, 5.6, 6.1 magnitude aftershocks, which if that was the initial earthquake alone, those numbers, those strength ratings would be enough to cause concern initially. But 37 aftershocks, Elex, this is something that really had people kind of running to high ground because of the tsunami warning, the threat. The good news there, other coastal nations did not issue warnings. The water only rising about 4 feet just under a meter there, Elex.
MICHAELSON: Cage Goulding keeping an eye on all this for us from Hong Kong. Thank you so much. Meanwhile, it's been four days since a 7.4 magnitude quake hit Colombia. Now that country's President is vowing to rebuild the nation's western region. This is pretty amazing. Rescue teams found a man alive in the rubble of a collapsed hotel on Friday giving hope that more survivors may be found, may be buried under the rubble. Remember the quake hit early Monday morning. The guy found Friday. Its epicenter was in the Choco Province as of Friday. Officials say 287 people have died. Nearly 400 more are missing and thousands are injured.
Meanwhile, Hawaii is preparing for a rare potential hurricane strike this weekend as tropical storm Lala moves closer to the Big Island. The system is picking up strength as it moves closer. Lala expected to hit hurricane status before reaching the Big Island on Saturday, bringing as much as 2-feet of rain and storm surge of nearly 3-feet. Hurricanes have made landfall on the Hawaiian Islands only a handful of times since record keeping began. Last hour, I spoke live with Molly Pierce who is a Public Information Officer for the Oahu Emergency Department about what has officials there most concerned.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MOLLY PIERCE, OAHU DEPARTMENT OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: Our big concern, though, really for this one is the wind, and we have a lot of vulnerable infrastructure. Our power lines are mostly above ground, and we have a lot of big beautiful tropical trees, that unfortunately with these strong winds to come down. So we're really asking folks to prepare for prolonged power outages after this storm, which we think could likely be our primary impact on Oahu.
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MICHAELSON: If you spend any time living in Chicago, this guy, Tom Skilling is a legendary retired meteorologist from WGN TV who happens to be on the Big Island right now. Thanks so much for being with us.
TOM SKILLING, RETIRED METEOROLOGIST: Well, Elex, it's a pleasure. Something, we weather people are cut from a different piece of cloth. We're fascinated at watching nature do things that nature tends not to do very often. And this hurricane, soon to be a hurricane from all indications, is a good example. It's been interesting. I'm here on the Big Island, which is the southernmost of the Hawaiian Islands. Reports you just can was from Oahu. That's up in Honolulu, about a 130 miles northwest of here. There's a tropical storm, launching effect there.
But down here, we're under a hurricane warning, and it appears the Big Island may be, ground zero for some of the major effects of this storm. I was just looking at satellite imagery, and toward the end of the day, you can see these what we call hot towers. They're convective clouds that bubble up inside the hurricane. They're assigned their tremendous vertical motions going, and it's often a proxy indicator the storm is strengthening. And I was looking at some infrared cloud top temperatures.
It looks like this system is trying to develop a closed eyewall, which should be the first time that's happened. Yet another indication that the storm may be starting to intensify as, and it's been looking more and more impressive on satellite imagery. So what we got is a system that may clip the far south end of the Big Island, the center of it, but officials and meteorologists here are warning that that don't look at the path of it. The effects will be island wide and, in fact, extend to other areas of the Hawaiian Islands as well.
We may be talking about eight to 12-inches of rain, on particularly on the east and south sides of the Big Island and up to 25 inches in favored area. Terrain has a lot to say about where the heaviest rains occur and that winds sweeping off the Pacific with all the waves that slam into the East Coast, up slopes on the mountains. We have two 15,000 foot plus volcanoes on this island, Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. And as that air upslopes, it cools and maximizes rainfall on the front slopes of those islands.
Now what's interesting is it downslopes, it tends to dry out some, but we still expect on the dry west side of the island where a lot of the resorts are, substantial wind and rain in that area as well. So it's one for the books around here. Holy true. Landfalling Hawaiian hurricanes, LA since 1950. And that's pretty interesting. You would think of this latitude. There'd be more.
MICHAELSON: You're such a pro. That was your answer to hello. So thanks so much. So, you're aware.
SKILLING: My colleagues out in Chicago. I'm a bad one for sound bites.
MICHAELSON: I love it. I love it. It's great. So you're there. Obviously, you see tourists there, residents there. How are people preparing? What's the vibe? What are people saying? And are people genuinely concerned?
SKILLING: Oh, there is a great concern. Friend of mine got me into a web meeting of all of the Hawaiian folks who are preparing for this storm. This would include government officials, law enforcement folks, resort, operators, and Hawaiian Electric, had an official there. They're very concerned about this, because we've had in this year, some experience with extreme rain events. Remember the billion dollars of damage that was done on a up in Oahu by the Kona Lows back at March.
And we had a big rain in April as well right on the backside of that. So here we are now in August, and we've got what looks to be a rare hurricane that may make landfall on the Big Island.
MICHAELSON: Well, we wish you and everybody there well, and what a treat to have you break down the meteorology for us. Tom Skilling, really appreciate it.
SKILLING: Thank you, Elex. What a pleasure to talk to you. Thanks a lot.
MICHAELSON: Let's talk politics now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Pretty soon, I'll be declaring the Hormoz Strait a territory of the United States. Essentially, that's what it. We have the blockade. No ships get through unless we want them to.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: President Trump drops a bombshell about the future of the Strait of Hormuz.
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It's unclear how he would make an international waterway between Iran and Oman a U.S. territory, but Tehran was quick to react saying the strait cannot be seized by a tweet, an aircraft carrier, or a campaign speech.
President Trump also seems to be out of step with the new White House messaging on Iran. The White House said Friday that keeping gas prices low is just as important as ending Tehran's nuclear program. Then a couple hours later, the President said it's worth it to pay more for gas even if it prevents Iran from getting nuclear weapons. He also said this, which is getting even more attention.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Family members of U.S. service members are concerned about the conditions on for the USS Lincoln --
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Well, no. That ship is moving. No. They're not. That ship is moving right now or very shortly, and it's being replaced with another very similar ship.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Has the deployment gone on too long? Are you working?
TRUMP: No. No. No. Not nearly long enough.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: President Trump dismissing concerns about conditions on the USS Abraham Lincoln, which is deployed near Iran. There have been multiple reports of crew members trying to jump or going overboard amid horrid living conditions on the ship. The carrier has been deployed for more than 250 days. We're now learning that a crew member of another supporting vessel went overboard in April. He was later rescued. It's unclear if he intentionally jumped or not.
Let's get into that and more with our political panel. Melanie Mason is POLITICO's California Bureau Chief, our returning champion, a cohost coauthor of California POLITICO's Playbook Newsletter. And Marc Adelman here for the first time, a Media Consultant and the Founder of Adelmania Consulting. Melanie, welcome back. Mark, welcome to "The Story Is" for the first time. First time on a political panel on CNN.
MARC ADELMAN, MEDIA CONSULTANT, FOUNDER OF ADELMANIA CONSULTING: This is -- it's a history. I hope everybody is watching. It's at home and will tell their children about this. Thank you for having me.
MICHAELSON: It is a big moment. So with that, let's start with you. And how do you see the politics of the President's comments about the ship?
ADELMAN: Well, I -- where the hell is this guy's empathy? I just cannot I mean, this is so not a political Democratic Republican thing. This is servicemen and women that are living on a ship that hasn't seen land, I think, since December of 2025. And this sort of dereliction of sensitivity and kindness, and it doesn't play well politically to say the least. But it's just -- it -- where's the humanity?
MICHAELSON: And we know, Melanie, that that the military is so much of his base too.
MELANIE MASON, CALIFORNIA BUREAU CHIEF, POLITICO: Right. But this is -- the President cannot acknowledge that there might be adverse consequence to the war that he started, right? And so whether it is --
MICHAELSON: Well, he could. He chooses not to. MASON: Well. Yes. I think that he is person -- his personality makes it very difficult for him to do that. And so whether it is this story or the fact that he seems to be unconcerned about gas prices going up, which is going to be tailor made for advertisements for the fall. I just think that his inability to acknowledge that there may have been some consequences are why you're not seeing him talk with empathy, with concern for these service members.
MICHAELSON: And it puts Republicans running in the midterms in a box, right?
MASON: Well, I mean, like as you said, a lot of his bases in the military, this tend to be Republican voters. But that I mean, that is just a line that politicians do not cross, right? You are supposed to talk about how much we respect, how much we honor, how much we value the military. And the fact that he seems dismissive of it, of course, that's going to alienate voters, and Republicans are going to have to answer for that.
MICHAELSON: And it is challenging for a lot of Republicans running for senate right now. And it's really kind of shocking if you look at recent polls that a lot of Democrats running in red states are doing well. In fact, in the lead in some of these senate races. Here's what Harry Enten said earlier about what's happening in the South.
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HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Now look at this. John Ossoff up by 13 points. How about Roy Cooper, the former governor, up 9 points. And then James Talarico holding on to that lead in the great state of Texas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: So those are all states that president Trump won in 2024 that could soon have democratic members of the senate. Obviously, Ossoff already an incumbent in Georgia. Talarico in Texas is sort of the white whale for democrats. They've been going after this state over and over again. He's got a new ad about Ken Paxton who apparently went into a courthouse and stole a pen. And at the end, you hear the guy whose pen was stolen. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Paxton walked up to the trays next to the metal detectors, rummaged through them, and came across someone else's expensive Mont Blanc pen. He decided to take it for himself. Joe's a nice guy. He'd never take someone else's pen, but he also hasn't forgotten who took his.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi. I'm Joe Joplin, and I endorse James Talarico for the United States Senate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Vote for James Talarico. He won't steal your pen. (END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: So they have merch now with the pens. They've got a whole thing about this. I mean, and what do you make of the serious point of this, the strategy behind this?
ADELMAN: Well, look. I mean, first of all, hey, Joe. What a great -- what a great sport. Look. I don't understand. Ken Paxton, I mean, the pen is probably the smallest thing he has stolen from the residents of Texas over his tenure. But really, he's like Wile E. Coyote and Looney Tunes. I mean, it's like everything he's done is tailor made for these kinds of commercials.
And I think especially right now where the country is hurting, people don't feel good about their futures. And you look at this guy and you look at what he's done. He was impeached by the Republican house in Texas.
MICHAELSON: And his wife's not a huge fan.
ADELMAN: Biblical. Yeah. I don't want to get into the marriage, but it's not great. It's not ideal as we like to say.
MICHAELSON: That being said, Texas is a republican state. It has been a republican state for a long time. He's got the endorsement of President Trump. And it seems like there is this effort on the right to try to make James Talarico out as somebody who's not a real manly Texan and doesn't really understand Texas values.
MASON: Yeah. There's a lot of subtext in the ads that we're seeing. And I think that the real question is, like, what is the current sort of nature of Texas and Texans? And so I do think that there is this conversation about masculinity that sort of maybe taps into what the old school sort of cowboy mentality.
But we all know that Texas has been changing. It's been changing demographically. Democrats have been hoping for such a long time that it will change politically. And it might be, as you said, the white whale. It is a very expensive state to run-in, but I think that James Talarico is going to try to sort of redefine, what it looks like to be a Texan.
MICHAELSON: So democrats right now competitive in places that they don't typically competitive in. Texas, we just talked about North Carolina, Iowa, Ohio, and Alaska. And in Alaska, there's quite a headline in the New York Times. Let's put this up from Mary Peltola. Senate hopeful in Alaska says, no thanks to Kamala Harris's support. So there was a group backing her that Kamala Harris said, we back her, and they said, Mary isn't seeking endorsements from anyone from the lower 48. Her focus is and always will be Alaska. Ouch. Well, look. What's the backstory here?
MASON: In part, this is what happens when you are a national democratic figure. I mean, how many times have Democrats when they were -- when Nancy Pelosi was speaker, where they run against Nancy Pelosi, right? I mean, there is this idea of running against your party leadership, but this also seems like such an own goal by Kamala Harris and her team. I mean, sending out this fundraising missive to help Mary Peltola without maybe checking with them first if this is something that they would be interested in. That's how you get headlines like The New York Times. It was totally unnecessary. I think that the Vice President can handle the distance, and in fact, it makes sense for a red state like Alaska, but I do think that it's a little bit of a sloppy campaign or advance work.
MICHAELSON: And what does that say about Kamala Harris' appeal?
ADELMAN: Well, look, Alaska, the last final frontier, I think is talk about all politics is local. So I think, it is very unique for Democrats to do well in Alaska. We have seen it with Senator Begich, recently over the years, but and Mary Patola two years ago. Kamala Harris is thinking about running for President again. She's the former Vice President of the United States. I have no question that she had any real -- anything to do with this email or reaching out, but her staff needs to serve her better. This is not a varsity move from somebody who is going to be possibly running for President in 2028.
MICHAELSON: Well, somebody who is or certainly seems to be running for President right now is Gavin Newsom, the Governor of California who spent this week in Michigan, had a lot of appearances at black churches, and also spending time on his podcast with the Governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer, and asking her if she's running for President. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRETCHEN WHITMER, GOVERNOR OF MICHIGAN: Because I'm going to choose.
GAVIN NEWSOM, GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA: Wow. OK. All right. So you are running.
WHITMER: Shut up. You are a pain.
NEWSOM: It's kind of come on. It's fun to be on the other side of the mic.
WHITMER: So how early into next year did you -- do you declare your candidate super president?
NEWSOM: I can edit this. This is the difference.
WHITMER: I'm going to start a podcast just so I can answer you.
NEWSOM: What are you one of few Bashir has a podcast?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Well, he didn't edit it out, but he didn't answer the question either.
ADELMAN: Look. This was great. I loved it.
[01:20:00] These two should have a morning show. I mean, honest to God, it was actually I really do -- I urge everybody watching tonight to go and listen or watch this on YouTube. You see it's interesting about Gavin Newsom and Gretchen Whitmer. People call them by their first names. And I think it shows sort of this kind of relationship they have and their comfort level with both voters and just sort of being who they are. And watching them sort of rib each other, talk about the last several years. It was like the way we were with Barbra Streisand and Robert Rebar. Now it was great. I could watch this forever.
MICHAELSON: Come on.
ADELMAN: It was really fun, though. I have to say, and I think it's really interesting to watch people who have had the same jobs in different circumstances but at the same time and talk about the use of power, how they've tried to make people's lives better. We can argue whether they have or haven't. But this was actually something that I think was really cool. And there was a there was a chemistry there.
MICHAELSON: So I mean, could that be a ticket?
MASON: I mean, we'll see. Mark, though, you didn't mention, I think, the most important point, which is that they were drinking out of something called the mop bucket. So they're at this college bar called Crunchies. I mean, I think that their -- the location matters, right? Because I think it says a lot about the type of voters that both of these voters I mean, of these politicians, but especially Gavin Newsom needs to appeal to. I mean, this is the wine track guy, right? I mean, he literally, plump track winery. So the idea that he is now drinking beer out of a mop bucket, hopefully, maybe taking a little bit of the sheen, maybe a little bit of the pretty boy image off of him and being a little bit more relatable. I think it was very purposeful.
ADELMAN: Listen. I agree, but I know the Governor likes a beer just as much as he loves having wineries as well so.
MICHAELSON: Yeah. I mean, it's interesting that of all the clips that they had from that hour conversation, that's the clip that they put out to highlight, as well the conversation about the presidential run.
ADELMAN: I mean, didn't you think it showed them so they were like normal human beings. Like, they're just like us, in Us Magazine, right?
MICHAELSON: Yeah. I don't know if everybody would describe it that way, but we appreciate that. I actually do think he's much more relaxed in that podcast format, and you do get a better sense of who he is. Melanie, Marc.
ADELMAN: I didn't get canceled, right?
MICHAELSON: Not yet. Well, we haven't checked X.
ADELMAN: Thank you for having me.
MICHAELSON: Good to have you. ADELMAN: It's great.
MICHAELSON: Good to have you, Melanie.
MASON: Thank you..
MICHAELSON: Coming up, prosecutors have secured a guilty plea in the murder of the UnitedHealthcare CEO in New York, but the legal saga for the confessed shooter and Luigi Mangione is far from over. That story is ahead.
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[01:25:00]
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MICHAELSON: The suspect in the murder of the UnitedHealthcare CEO is facing a potential life sentence following his guilty plea on Friday. Luigi Mangione was caught on video gunning down CEO Brian Thompson during an investor conference in New York December 2024. His sentencing is set for December. The location of that conference had not been made public. And as CNN's Shimon Prokupecz reports, Mangione explained in court how he managed to track down his victim.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMIE MCDONALD, U.S. ATTORNEY, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK: Just a few moments ago, Mangione plead guilty to this heinous act.
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Luigi Mangione admitting today in a New York federal courtroom to stalking and killing UnitedHealthcare's Chief Executive, Brian Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel, telling the judge, "I shot Mr. Thompson in Manhattan, and he died." I knew what I was doing was illegal. He went on to describe why he did it. After years of enduring severe pain from a broken back, navigating the obstacles of the health insurance system, and witnessing similar experiences of countless others, I learned that UnitedHealthcare would be holding its annual investor conference in New York City on December 4th, although the specific location was not publicly disclosed.
And revealing for the first time how he tracked down Mr. Thompson and discovered where he would be that early December morning. "In November 2024, I traveled from outside of New York State to Manhattan. I then emailed UnitedHealthcare leadership posing as an investor at a firm managing over $50 billion in assets and requesting information about the conference. Unlike my previous interactions with insurers, I received an immediate response within an hour." Thompson's family was in the courtroom for the first time today fighting back emotions as they heard prosecutors say Thompson turned to face Mangione just before the deadly close range shot.
Following the proceedings, the family said in a statement, "Today's guilty plea marks an important step towards justice for Bryan and for our family. While nothing will ease the pain of losing him, we are grateful that the federal justice system has held the person responsible for this heinous act accountable." Now we look to the court to ensure that sentencing reflects the severity of this crime. We remain mindful that additional proceedings in New York and Pennsylvania are still to come, and we will continue to seek the Justice Brian deserves.
KAREN FRIEDMAN AGNIFILO, LUIGI MANGIONE'S ATTORNEY: With today's guilty plea, Mr. Mangione has accepted full responsibility for the death of Brian Thompson.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Mangione received no deal for his plea, and his fate is up to the judge who could sentence him to life in-prison. His defense team explained its strategy after court.
FRIEDMAN: New York law does not permit a person to be prosecuted and punished twice for the exact same crime under a statute that governs successive prosecutions. It's also known as the double jeopardy law. Today's guilty plea triggers the statute, and we just filed our motion in state court explaining why the state charges must be dismissed under New York's double jeopardy protections.
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PROKUPECZ (voice-over): But it will be up to the state judge to make that final decision. Although the state case is scheduled to begin on September 8th, it will likely be delayed by the legal battle. Federal prosecutors saying justice was done today.
MCDONALD: This was not a spontaneous act of violence. It was deliberate, calculated, and premeditated. We have consistently pursued the maximum penalties under the law as necessary and just punishment for these crimes. The result achieved today now allows our office to seek the maximum penalty allowed, life imprisonment.
PROKUPECZ: And now the next phase in this case begins, the sentencing. And no doubt, we're going to start to see legal motions filed and arguments about why Luigi Mangione should not spend the rest of his life in prison. Shimon Prokupecz, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Thanks to Shamone. The relentless heat in Europe shows no sign of cooling off and sparking wildfires in parched landscapes thanks to record droughts. Just ahead, we'll update you on how countries are coping.
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MICHAELSON: The extreme heat and severe drought in Europe has the stretch of the Danube River in Serbia at its lowest level ever recorded. The low water level is uncovering the wreckage of German ships from World War II. It is also leaving boats stuck and raising concerns about aquatic life. Water temperatures at 28 degrees Celsius, which is 82.4 degrees Fahrenheit. Very hot. A new wave of extreme summer heat continues to torture much of Europe. The record high temperatures are sparking destructive wildfires. Firefighters in many countries are battling flames being fed by parched landscapes including the U.K., Croatia, Italy, and Greece. There's also record drought in many areas. CNN Stefano Pozzebon has details from Rome.
Apparently, that story isn't quite ready. Hopefully, we'll get back to it in a little bit. Meanwhile, Italian police say that they have recovered some famous artwork stolen in a museum heist. Renowned French artist Paul Cezanne, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Henri Matisse created the three recovered paintings. Mass burglars stole the art from a museum near the northern city of Parma in March. Art experts valued them at over $10 million. Authorities say the investigation is still ongoing.
A new wave of extreme summer heat continues to torture much of Europe. We now have this piece. Is it ready to go? I don't know. OK.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN ROME CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A tower of smoke looms over holiday makers in Northern Greece on Thursday. The fast moving forest fire sending tourists and locals fleeing. Hundreds on small boats emptying two popular resorts in peak holiday season.
From the sky and the land, fire crews battled to stop the blaze. One of many breaking havoc across the continent. As Europe swelters in record breaking heat, dry conditions are helping wildfires race across the region. Spanish crews worked through the night fighting a fire in the country's Northeast that burned through 20,000 acres and forced more than 900 people from their homes.
In Croatia, seven people were in hospital in life threatening condition early Friday after strong winds whipped up a fire around the popular tourist town of Omis on the Dalmatian Coast. Fires in France and Germany have also led hundreds of residents to evacuate. Usually, temperate Britain has not been spared as the country baked on its hottest day of the year on Thursday, fires spread across Central England, burning farmland and houses to the ground.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not our horses, but we saved them.
PAUL NASH, RESIDENT: I heard a scream, and all the trees along the railway track were exploding. They weren't just setting fire. They were exploding. So we just grabbed everything and left.
POZZEBON (voice-over): With no sign of rain, authorities here and across Europe remain on high alert. Stefano Pozzebon, CNN, Rome.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: U.S. midterm elections are just around the corner, and Democrats hoping to flip enough seats to take control of the U.S. senate. Democrat, Hallie Shoffner, is here live. She's hoping to oust a Republican stalwart from the ruby red state of Arkansas. Her story, next.
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[01:40:00]
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MICHAELSON: Hallie Shoffner joins me live now for her national TV debut. Welcome to the show.
HALLIE SHOFFNER, DEMOCRATIC SENATE CANDIDATE FOR ARKANSAS: Thank you, Elex.
MICHAELSON: This is an introduction for a lot of people to you.
SHOFFNER: Yes.
MICHAELSON: So to tell us a little bit about your story and why you decided I want to be a senator.
SHOFFNER: Well, let me tell you being here with you was not on my life's bingo card. Last year I was a farmer, a soybean and rice farmer. I'm sixth generation farmer from Arkansas. I ran my family's farm for about 10 years. And then last year we closed because of the farm crisis along with 15,000 farmers across the country. And my story, the story of working hard and doing everything right and falling behind that's not just a farmer story. That's a ton of folks in Arkansas.
And I decided it's time for someone to fight back, to fight back against folks like Tom Cotton who are rigging the economy in favor of their biggest donors instead of real people.
MICHAELSON: And the Farm Bill has not passed. What from a policy perspective are you going to do differently, when it comes to farming?
SHOFFNER: I mean, we desperately needed a Farm Bill in 2023, and it's 2026. We still don't have one. We sort of got one in the One Big Beautiful Bill, but not really. Unfortunately, what it's done is it's pushed the farm crisis essentially to the precipice. We've now lost a quarter of all the farms in Arkansas.
[01:45:00]
And the truth is we simply do not have a safety net under which farmers feel comfortable operating and so a lot of us like me decided that it was just better to exit than to experience more losses. I would actually like to have a Farm Bill that incentivizes farmers to produce real food in Arkansas. And that would actually work really well for Arkansans because we're also the most food insecure state in the country.
I mean, a farm economy in which farmers grew real fresh food and sold it back into the community in which it has grown.
MICHAELSON: You know the challenges, though, in terms of being a Democrat in Arkansas. There has been no democrat elected to Congress since 2010. There Donald Trump won the state three times. He won the last election by 30 points, which means you got to get Republicans to vote for you. Why should a Republican vote for a Democrat, especially if they are Republican and like a Republican Congress?
SHOFFNER: Well, it's like what I hear from folks when I'm traveling around the state. And I'm hearing this whether I'm in a farm shop or I'm in a Democratic County party meeting, and folks are really tired of politics. They're tired of the left and the right and the liberal and conservative because we're real people with real problems. And let me tell you, we've got problems.
We're the hungriest state in the country. We're the second sickest. We're the fourth poorest. We lead the nation in farm bankruptcies and farmer suicides. I'm not asking anybody to become a Democrat. I'm just asking, don't we believe we can do better than Tom Cotton?
MICHAELSON: What is your number one policy priority, if you get in there, and how do you actually get that passed?
SHOFFNER: Oh, I don't know that I could pick just one from a hungry and sick and poor state. I mean, think it's lowering the cost of health care. It's rebuilding the farm economy. And I'll put these two together. Fighting corruption and mass corporate consolidation because that is really squeezing families and farmers and small businesses all over -- all across our state.
MICHAELSON: And how do you get that passed?
SHOFFNER: Oh, yeah. That's a very long list of things. I think pretty much immediately, the first thing I want to do is I want to set up the best constituent services program in the country. And I will say this because Tom Cotton has no constituent services program. And I don't believe that you can start to solve any problem at all without the feedback from the people in your state. I want to make sure that folks have somewhere to go and someone to talk to tell their stories so that we can start coming up with solutions to the problems we have that are actually solved by the people experiencing those problems.
MICHAELSON: Is there a senator that would you call your role model, the person you most want to emulate?
SHOFFNER: No. And this is not going to be something your viewers understand. But when people ask me what kind of Democrat I am, I say I'm a Mike Beebe Democrat.
MICHAELSON: And what does that mean to the national audience?
SHOFFNER: So 15 years ago, we elected our last Democrat to our governor, and he won all 75 counties, 15 years ago. And he is held up as a sort of a bastion of excellence for someone who wants to get the work done and reach across the aisle to do it.
MICHAELSON: And, of course, there was quite the Democratic Governor years ago who became the President from Arkansas. Bill Clinton as well. SHOFFNER: That's absolutely right.
MICHAELSON: Hallie, thank you so much for making her debut with us.
SHOFFNER: Thank you.
MICHAELSON: Best of luck out on the campaign trail.
SHOFFNER: Thank you so much.
MICHAELSON: Christopher Nolan made the blockbuster epic of the summer with his movie The Odyssey. But can the Hollywood hero find a home with Chinese audiences? Mike Valerio on the scene in Beijing talking to moviegoers next.
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MICHAELSON: Jeff Bezos has purchased a stake in a professional soccer team. The Amazon founder joined a consortium of investors to pay $2.2 billion for a 30 percent stake in the Premier League's Liverpool Football Club. The deal requires regulatory approval before its final. Boston-based owners Fenway Sports Group will remain Liverpool's majority owner. If approved, this would be Bezos' first stake in a professional sports club.
It is one of the summer's biggest blockbusters in the U.S. But will Christopher Nolan's version of The Odyssey translate into big ticket sales in China? The splashy new film debuted across China on Friday on hundreds of IMAX screens. Mike Valerio took his very own Odyssey to the multiplex. Find now.
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MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Is China the biggest test yet for The Odyssey?
BEX LIU, BEIJING MOVIEGOER (translated): It's already trendy, and the reviews are positive. The prerelease promotion was done very well, so I'm very interested in it.
VALERIO (voice-over): The blockbuster just opened in China, sailing into a market where Hollywood has been struggling to get Chinese audiences into theaters. Domestic movies now dominate China's box office, a growing trend. Only one or two Hollywood movies will crack the annual top 10 highest grossing list, but Christopher Nolan may be different.
MR. HE, BEIJING MOVIEGOER (translated): I really look forward to seeing how the Director, Nolan, is going to tell this story.
BRENT LANG, EDITOR IN CHIEF, INDIEWIRE: Christopher Nolan is now a brand unto himself. People really go out just because Christopher Nolan's name is above the title.
VALERIO (voice-over): And Nolan's films have already made similar box office journeys in China before. Oppenheimer made about $60 million here. Interstellar and Inception were hits too. On Chinese social media, influencers are summarizing Homer's epic poem and key characters to tell those scrolling what they need to know before watching The Odyssey. It's playing on hundreds of IMAX screens across China, and people on their socials are talking about which IMAX theaters in their cities offer the best experiences.
Nolan, Matt Damon, and Charlize Theron all came to Beijing for a splashy premiere. And no one's interview with Chinese podcaster, Zhong Shu, went viral, racking up tens of millions of views.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you a bard for a civilization at dusk?
VALERIO (voice-over): But does all that buzz actually translate into Chinese moviegoers buying tickets?
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LANG: The local product has gotten so much better in China and so much more popular that they've gotten a little out of the habit of going to Hollywood films.
VALERIO: The Odyssey could help show if Chinese audiences are ready for another Nolan epic and if that could help lead them back to Hollywood. Mike Valerio, CNN, Beijing.
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MICHAELSON: Huge market. Mike Valerio, thank you. Mystery surrounds a newly discovered treasure chest in Belgium. Construction workers found the wooden chest while renovating a brewery in East Flanders. Dozens of gold bars and hundreds of coins were inside. Value estimated 9.9 million euros or nearly $10.5 million. The owner of property called police. Investigators trying to figure out who owns the gold and who buried it. That is quite a thing to follow-up on.
Thank you so much for watching "The Story Is" all week here on CNN. I'm Elex Michaelson. The news continues right after this. Have a great weekend. I'll see you on Monday.
