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The Story Is with Elex Michaelson
Trump Touts Sold-Out Event, But Some in GOP Staying Away; Report Claims Netanyahu was Warned of Hamas Attack Before October 7th; Interview with Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA) on Entertainment Industry Tax Incentives; Trump to Kick Off Republican Midterm Convention; NTSB: Pilots Applied Full Power Seconds Before Crash in Miami; Thieves Steal Paintings from Renoir Museum in France. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired September 09, 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: Quote, "baseless lies" about you and your family, Doctor. Why not use the debate stage to set the record straight then?
DR. AMY ACTON (D), NOMINEE FOR OHIO GOVERNOR: I want to be very clear, Laura. I will absolutely not normalize the behavior of a man who has said I am a victim of child abuse and neglect, in my childhood abuse, and he has said I'm just complaining about something done to me in my childhood. But I will not normalize or platform a serial liar and a con man who is using rhetoric to incite violence.
COATES: Dr. Amy Acton, thank you for joining.
ACTON: Thank you so much, Laura.
COATES: Thank you all for watching. "THE STORY IS WITH ELEX MICHAELSON" is next.
ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Elex Michaelson live in Los Angeles.
Coming up THE STORY IS the first ever Republican midterm convention. President Trump is promising big crowds. We're live in Dallas where preparations are underway right now.
THE STORY IS warning signs. A new report suggests that Israel's prime minister was warned about the October 7th Hamas attack. Benjamin Netanyahu says this is all an attempt to derail next month's elections. We're live in Israel.
And THE STORY IS a federal film tax credit? California Senator Adam Schiff and President Donald Trump actually agree on something. Schiff is here on set with me.
ANNOUNCER: Live from Los Angeles, THE STORY IS with Elex Michaelson.
MICHAELSON: The TOP STORY IS America's choice.
We're about 16 hours away from President Trump's Republican midterm convention, set for Wednesday and Thursday in Dallas, Texas. The president is pumping up the event on Truth Social, claiming it's really hot. Totally sold out. Everybody wants to be there. He plans to speak both nights. But a number of candidates in key races have said that they are skipping the convention.
They are privately questioning whether the extravaganza strikes the right tone amid tight budgets and the wisdom of spending time away from campaigning in their districts just weeks from election day.
Politics was clearly on the president's mind as he paid tribute to 9/11 first responders. He spoke today at a ceremony near the White House, praising the heroes who bravely ran towards danger during the 2001 terror attacks. And he managed to get in a now familiar dig against Democrats.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our law enforcement holds our country together in light of some threats. We have some very real threats right now. We have people that want to go a different way. They want to go a communistic way. Well, that's not going to work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Let's go live now to Dallas, Texas. Joe Lovinger is the Texas reporter at "Bloomberg News."
Thanks so much for joining us on THE STORY IS for the first time.
JOE LOVINGER, TEXAS REPORTER, BLOOMBERG NEWS: Thanks for having me.
MICHAELSON: So set the scene for us of what this convention is, why it's happening, what we can expect over the next two days.
LOVINGER: Absolutely. So this time of year, most Texans like to try to get out of Texas. It was 98 degrees today. It felt like about 198 degrees. But the RNC is in full force in downtown Dallas. So if you go downtown right now to the American Airlines Center, which is where this is being held, it's a 20,000 seat arena where the Dallas Mavericks and the Dallas Stars play, and there is security fencing all around the arena. Streets are shut down. Secret Service has set up security checkpoints. And, you know, it feels like a full-fledged presidential convention.
Now, the difference between this year and what we saw in 2024 or in normal presidential election years is that there's no presidential election. So that means that there's no official party business, and there's no president or vice president being nominated. So what that means is that this is really more of a pep rally. You saw it in the president's Truth Social tweet, but this is really about hyping up the base, trying to galvanize Republicans at a time when a lot of polling suggests that Democrats might be ascendant in the midterm elections.
It's typically a fact of political history that the party in power loses seats in the midterm elections. So President Trump is going to be trying to rev up the base and make sure that Republicans in dangerous seats, you know, have the support they need and the donor networks that they need to be able to defend those seats in these November elections.
MICHAELSON: Yes. So it's essentially like the -- you're getting the dessert, not the dinner. When it comes to this event you don't have to do the business. You just get to do the fun part, I guess, which is put on a TV show, which we know President Trump likes to do.
Now, Texas is not traditionally considered a swing state. Why is this being done in Texas?
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LOVINGER: Yes. You know, Texas is not traditionally considered a swing state, but it is a state with three massive and fast-growing metro areas in Dallas, Austin, and Houston with diverse populations and people moving from all over the country into them. And this has been the story of Texas' growth for years and years now, is that as the -- as the state grows and as young people and nonwhite people move into the state, will it trend more Democratic?
And as of yet that has not been the case. The state's government is Republican dominated, and the legislature in the statehouse, as well as in its congressional delegation and the Senate. But this year we have an extremely tight Senate race that's drawing huge amounts of national attention.
Democrat James Talarico has run a really competitive campaign so far against Attorney General Ken Paxton. He has raised gobs of money. You know, just vastly outraised Ken Paxton. And, you know, he's really putting up poll numbers that suggest this could be a close race. So President Trump stuck his thumb out to make sure that Ken Paxton was the nominee for the Republicans in this race.
He defeated John Cornyn in a bruising primary battle that soured a lot of conservatives to Ken Paxton. So now Donald Trump is really going to want to unify the Republican base behind Paxton to make sure that he has support going into this November election. That's under two months away now.
MICHAELSON: Right.
LOVINGER: We still haven't seen huge amounts of spending for Paxton, even though Talarico has been blanketing the airwaves so far.
MICHAELSON: Yes. It's interesting that while this is happening in Texas, Talarico is actually going to be here in Southern California, raising a lot of money on Thursday night in an event with Jon Ossoff as well.
OK, so that's the Senate race. The Senate race has gotten a whole lot of national attention. But what you're especially focused on is some of these House races along the Rio Grande. Real concisely, why does that area matter? Why are you so focused on that? And are those candidates going to be speaking? LOVINGER: I would say the Rio Grande Valley is pound for pound the
most interesting political area in the state. It flipped to support President Trump after being a solidly Democratic region for years and years. And now we're seeing polling that suggests it might flip back to Democrats, but we don't know what's going to happen. And so we have tight races in a lot of House districts. We're going to have two Democratic incumbents trying to defend seats, as well as a Republican incumbent trying to defend her seat.
And these are all up for grabs. And so we're going to have all three of those Republicans speaking at this convention, and we're going to be keeping an eye on what they have to say as they try to win these seats and defend what should be, you know, a tough win for Republicans in this climate. But it's anyone's bet at this point.
MICHAELSON: Yes, we have seen some Latino voters in that area go back and forth, and it will be interesting if they go back and forth once again this time around.
Joe Lovinger, getting our coverage started. Texas reporter at "Bloomberg News." Thanks so much for being with us. Best of luck in the next couple of days. We'll follow your coverage over the next couple of days as well.
LOVINGER: Thanks for having me.
MICHAELSON: Now to my favorite words in the English language. It's election night in America. At least it was election night in New Hampshire. Voters going to the polls to cast their ballots in primaries for both the Senate and the state's governor's race.
CNN projects House Representative Chris Pappas will win the Democratic nomination. The four-term congressman defeats Karishma Manzur, a Democratic socialist. CNN projects that Pappas will face off against former Senator John Sununu, who will take the Republican nomination. Both vying to take the place of retiring Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen.
That seat could be vital to either party in gaining control of the Senate. The Republicans have a real shot of picking up a seat. Perhaps their best shot of anywhere in the country. Watch the New Hampshire race.
Meanwhile, overseas, Iran is threatening further retaliation after U.S. Central Command says its forces struck five Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps tankers, sinking one of them. CENTCOM says the strikes were in response to Iran's attempts to attack a U.S. Navy ship twice over the past two days. Iran has responded by launching a barrage of missiles targeting a key Jordanian air base used by U.S. forces.
Jordan says 18 of the 20 missiles were intercepted and no casualties have been reported. Tehran also has threatened to target oil tankers near Bahrain and Kuwait's ports as well.
To Israel now, where the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing political backlash over his response to the October 7th Hamas attack. A new report alleges that he was warned about a major Hamas operation just days before the attack took place.
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That report, published in the Haaretz newspaper, is based on findings from an upcoming book by two Israeli journalists. It says that the president of the UAE called Netanyahu about 10 days before October 7th, and warned the Israeli prime minister that Hamas' leader in Gaza was planning a major operation against Israel that could cause bloodshed and destabilize the region. The newspaper reports that Netanyahu reacted relatively calmly to the information and said that Israel was prepared for any scenario.
CNN's Oren Liebermann has more from Tel Aviv.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: Netanyahu's office put out a statement calling the report an absolute lie, while his spokespeople have said this is an attempt to alter the elections with less than two months to go before critical elections, except this bombshell report is already making major political waves here in Israel.
The main opposition parties have put out a rare joint statement calling for a, quote, "immediate and thorough investigation" into the report and what they describe as Netanyahu's, quote, "failures and malfunctioning."
Of course, one of the definitive ways to know if there really was a phone call is from the UAE, and if the UAE Foreign Ministry put out a statement. Well, they did. And one thing they didn't do in that statement is deny the report itself or the existence of that 45-minute phone call about a week and a half before October 7th. The UAE Foreign Ministry says they, quote, "do not comment on media stories or speculation regarding conversations between government leaders," and that there have been and are ongoing talks between the intelligence agencies.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAELSON: Oren Liebermann there in Jerusalem, not in Tel Aviv. Also in Jerusalem is Amotz Asa-El. He is a fellow at the Hartman Institute. He is also a senior commentator and former executive editor at the "Jerusalem Post."
Welcome to THE STORY IS.
AMOTZ ASA-EL, FELLOW, HARTMAN INSTITUTE: Good morning, Elex.
MICHAELSON: Talk to me about what is the reaction to this new report? Is it surprise?
ASA-EL: Well, it is -- it is a surprise in the sense that until now, the big debate concerning Netanyahu's conduct before and during the October 7th massacre was about his responsibility. Now it's also about his reliability. In other words, he -- until now his attitude was a total refusal to establish any commission of inquiry. And he kept saying, he effectively has been saying that it was everybody else's responsibility except his own because he had not been woken up in time by the heads of the security services, and had they woken up him in time, he would have had the army responding in an entirely different way.
This was his argument until now. Now, this entire thesis of his seems to have lost its validity. And I believe my impression is that much of the swing vote will be impressed very negatively by this news, which the United Arab Emirates, which is the interlocutor in this revelation last night failed to deny.
MICHAELSON: Well, and talk to us about that election. So for people that aren't following this -- that closely. There is an election in the next few weeks in Israel. It is a parliamentary system, which means you are voting for a party. You got to get majorities to get control to be a prime minister. Where is Netanyahu at? What is the polling show?
ASA-EL: Well, the polling has been consistently showing that he -- his party, as opposed to his coalition, his party is losing about 30 percent of its following. However, the coalition that he currently has loses less. And how, according to polls, we end up with roughly a split parliament with a slight advantage in most polls most of the time for his rivals led by Gadi Eisenkot. Within that coalition of his, as I say, his own party Likud loses, according to polls, about 30 percent of its following.
But the coalition partners, namely the ultra-orthodox parties and the ultra-nationalist parties, they retain their powers, which add up collectively to about one-fifth of the electorate. This is where we currently stand. How this will sway the swing vote remains to be seen.
MICHAELSON: So before October 7th, there was talk about Netanyahu potentially going to jail for corruption. And then a lot of that went to the back burner as he's now been a wartime leader.
[00:15:05]
If he's no longer prime minister in a few months from now, what happens to him?
ASA-EL: The legal process continues unabated and completely regardless, it has continued in fact throughout the war. And it is maturing. And I think that everybody in Israel believes that of the three indictments he faces, he should be convicted in one of the three and probably not in the other two. But all that remains to be seen. And you suggest that the verdict would be jail, I'm not sure about that. All that will only become known next year.
MICHAELSON: Well, a fascinating time to follow American politics, and perhaps an even more fascinating time to follow Israeli politics. A lot is going to happen in the next few weeks.
Amotz Asa-El, thank you so much for being our guide, joining us live from Jerusalem. Really appreciate it. ASA-EL: Thank you.
MICHAELSON: Coming up, Friday will mark 25 years since the deadly 9/11 attacks in New York City. Still ahead, new details about New York's response to air quality concerns around the collapsed tower. Something Jon Stewart is speaking out about.
Plus, President Trump calls for new tax incentives for the entertainment industry. The idea already has the backing of some California Democrats, including Senator Adam Schiff. He joins me on set next with how he and Trump are now working together.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:21:08]
MICHAELSON: This is a live picture from New York City, where it is Wednesday morning. As the U.S. prepares for the 25th anniversary of 9/11 later this week, new details are emerging about the air quality surrounding Ground Zero after the tragic attacks back in 2001.
On Tuesday, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the release of more than 170,000 pages of previously undisclosed records. Those documents show that city officials at the time knew that air quality around the collapsed twin towers was unsafe to breathe, despite repeated assurances to the public that it was safe. That release resolves a lawsuit brought by 9/11 Health Watch Advocacy Group, shedding light on a range of health impacts to residents and first responders.
Mamdani says more people have now died from 9/11 related illnesses than the nearly 3,000 who were killed on September 11th itself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI, NEW YORK: It would be one thing if government had stood alongside survivors and provided them with everything they needed at every step of the way. And yet, we know that could not be further from what actually happened. People got sick because the leaders they trusted lied and told them they were safe to breathe in toxic air.
JON STEWART, COMEDIAN AND 9/11 ADVOCATE: Everyone knew. And now it's very clear that the city knew as well. And rather than take the steps to ameliorate the damage that that would cause to its citizens and to the people that were down there, they instead covered it up to get back to business as usual.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Jon Stewart has been fighting this issue for more than 25 years.
This is a live picture from our studio window, where it is just after 9:00 p.m. Tuesday here in Burbank, California. You're looking at the Warner Brothers lot. For years, Hollywood studios have been asking for a federal tax credit
in America to compete with other countries. Recently, President Trump posted his support for a federal tax credit and his longtime political nemesis, Senator Adam Schiff of California, said he strongly agrees.
Schiff joined me here on set earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAELSON: I saw a phrase I don't think I've ever seen, or certainly almost never see, "I agree with President Trump"?
SEN. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): Yes. Not only that, strongly. Yes. I've never used those words before, but, look, when I took this office, I said, I'm going to try to do two things that are going to be in tension with each other. I'm going to try to get things done and I'm going to try to fight any corruption, any attack on our democracy.
Well, this is something we can get done. And just because it's this president, if it's a good idea, I'm not going to oppose it. In fact, I fully support this. As you know, I've been working for a federal tax credit for the film and television industry to bring these jobs back to California. And now I think we are very close to making that happen.
MICHAELSON: So there's no specific legislation yet put through. But what does the basic plan look like?
SCHIFF: Well, the basic plan would provide a 15 percent, 20 percent or 25 percent tax credit for production that's made in the United States for film or television. We've lost almost all the film industry. It's gone overseas, to Canada, to Britain, to New Zealand and elsewhere. This would help bring that back. We've lost a lot of television production as well.
It would be overlaid on top of the state tax credits and the cumulative amount would be equivalent to what other countries are offering. And we want to bring these jobs home. This has been the epicenter of that industry. It's not just people working in the industry, but people work adjacent to the industry who are also deeply impacted. The restaurants, the caterers, the dry cleaners, you name it. It affects the whole regional economy.
[00:25:02]
MICHAELSON: Yes. Because right now the U.K. is at about a 25 percent tax credit. And so you say cumulatively these all would maybe equal out to that. We've seen so much production heading there. So have you actually spoken to President Trump about this?
SCHIFF: I have not spoken to him. But we have been in touch at a staff level. And I think the discussions are going very well, very productive, very professional.
MICHAELSON: I mean, is there any danger that because the two of you have been at it for so long, because you've said so many negative things about him that he may not want to negotiate with you on this and that this is actually tough for you to bring this home for California because of that relationship.
SCHIFF: Well, what's interesting is he was talking about this on television the other day from the White House and mentioned that this has bipartisan support, mentioned my support for it. So he didn't seem deterred at all by that. He thought that was a positive. But, you know, we're determined to do everything we can to get this across the finish line. I made it clear it doesn't matter whose name is on it. I just want to get it done.
MICHAELSON: He's worked closely with Jon Voight. The actor has been sort of his point person on this. Have you been in touch with him?
SCHIFF: I've been in touch with Spencer Pratt, who's also been working on this. I don't know whether my staff has been in touch with Voight or not. We've been working with Republican partners in the House and Senate, trying to get everybody on board with the same draft. There are some minor differences that we're trying to resolve. Nothing that will hold it up in any way.
MICHAELSON: So Spencer Pratt, of course, ran for mayor of Los Angeles, a Republican. That's interesting. The two of you. What's that dynamic been like?
SCHIFF: You know, it's been positive. And this I think is what we have to do in these very difficult sometimes poisonous times. And that is you got to look for those areas where there's agreement. I've been able to get a number of bills passed this past couple of years by working with Republicans from Mississippi, Florida. Rick Scott, for example, from Florida, and I worked on relief for the victims of fire.
That was actually something that brought Spencer Pratt and I together, and that is tax relief for those who have been victimized by these natural disasters. And also, if you get a recovery from Edison that will no longer be taxable income.
MICHAELSON: And he publicly praised you for that effort. So you and Spencer Pratt, good negotiating partners?
SCHIFF: Well, it's been very positive. And we're going to do everything we can to keep it that way and keep the momentum.
MICHAELSON: It's an interesting odd couple. In terms of the Senate, though, you need to get bipartisan support. I know you've talked about this before President Trump put his support out publicly. Has that been a game changer? And have you had Republicans come to you after President Trump came out in favor of this, who said, now let's make a deal?
SCHIFF: So we've been in conversation with Republicans for the last two years about trying to move this forward. I think they've been in a wait and see. They wanted to know, does the president support this? Will he get behind it? And now that the president has been so clear and repeatedly that he supports this in a full throated way, yes, we're seeing a lot more Republican interest. And I think this is the best opportunity now we've had to get this done in really decades.
MICHAELSON: So when does this get done?
SCHIFF: We're hoping that we can get this done before the end of the year. Before the election would be ideal, but there will also be a lame duck session after the election, as long as we get it done. But my feeling is, let's strike while the iron is hot. Let's try to do it right now.
MICHAELSON: Even though all this midterm stuff is happening and all these political divisions are happening as well. So in terms of the pushback on this, you know, for years people have said, why are we going to help Hollywood? A lot of Republicans feel like Hollywood is against them culturally, and they don't like a lot of what the movie industry puts out. And then a lot of other folks might feel like, look, there's a lot of other industries that could use help.
A lot of these rich folks, actors, movie executives, they've already got a lot of money. Why would we help that industry? What say you?
SCHIFF: Well, it isn't about the top of the line actors. They're going to get paid well no matter what happens and no matter where the film is being produced. What matters is what about the set designers and the electricians? What about the grips? What about the dry cleaners? What about the whole economy, all these thousands and thousands of jobs? That's what we're fighting to preserve and to bring back.
So it's not just about what people think about when they think about the industry, which is the movie stars. They're a small part of this. It's the everyday, ordinary people who made their living this way. I had a gentleman just blocks from where we are right now, Elex, stop me in the street a week ago to say that he works in the industry. He hasn't had a union contract in three years. He's been in the industry for 25 years. He's never seen it so difficult.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAELSON: You can hear more of my conversation with Senator Adam Schiff in the next hour. We'll discuss the midterm elections, the war with Iran, and some very interesting thoughts on Israel. But up next, our political panel is here live. Brian Tyler Cohen on the left, Jennifer Horne on the right. We talk the Republican midterm convention and more. And will this tax credit thing that we just talked about, is that really possible?
Stay with us.
[00:30:04]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MICHAELSON: Welcome back to THE STORY IS. I'm Elex Michaelson. Let's take a look at today's top stories.
The legal battle over access to a commonly used abortion medication heads to a federal appeals court in Louisiana on Wednesday. [00:05:01]
The court will hear arguments brought by the state, looking to compel the Trump administration to crack down on access to mifepristone pills by mail.
The state argues current FDA rules allowing women to obtain the medication through telehealth undermine state abortion bans.
The trade war between the U.S. and Canada is escalating even further. President Trump is going beyond tariffs, threatening to enact outright bans on a range of Canadian goods.
This comes less than 24 hours after Canada imposed tariffs on $20 billion worth of U.S. products in response to President Trump's previous levies.
And that president, President Trump, is preparing to headline the Republican midterm convention in Dallas on Wednesday and Thursday. He says the arena is totally sold out. He's asking only candidates in tight races to speak, but a number of key Republicans are skipping the event, privately questioning whether it strikes the right tone.
Vice President J.D. Vance also plans to address the convention.
Our panel is here to discuss that and more. Jennifer Horn is the host of "Morning Answer" on 870-AM here in Los Angeles. She's joining us on the right.
And on the left, Brian Tyler Cohen is the host of "No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen" podcast and author of "The New York Times" best seller "The Day After: How to Wield Power in a Trump -- Post-Trump World."
Welcome back, both of you. You've both been on many times, first time on together.
BRIAN TYLER COHEN, HOST, "NO LIE WITH BRIAN COHEN": That's right.
JENNIFER HORN, HOST, "THE MORNING ANSWER": That's right
MICHAELSON: So, we'll see how this goes. Welcome, Jennifer, let's start with you as the Republican here. Do you -- what do you make of this Republican convention? Is this a good use of time, money? Is this where the candidates should be?
HORN: OK, so I'm just going to answer this nonpolitically. Well, I'm a political junkie. So, the more of this I actually like, because I like to watch this kind of stuff. So, for me personally, yes.
MICHAELSON: It's a TV show. It's kind of fun.
HORN: It's a TV show.
MICHAELSON: OK.
HORN: And it's summer, and there's not a lot on. So, you know, I'm going for it. I know it's going to be up against football.
But I actually do think what's going to be helpful is that Republicans have been struggling to get a message, and they have been struggling. Look, I believe that we have a lot of wins that we could celebrate from the Trump administration. I know you'll probably disagree with me, but I have a whole list of them that we could talk about. And I think the president probably messages better than most Republicans.
So, I think to have him leading this convention, getting everybody on the same page, I actually like the idea. And it shows that President Trump is not afraid to put his skin in the game.
MICHAELSON: Democrats not choosing to do something like this.
COHEN: Look, this is going to be a Trump worship fest, which would be one thing if he was actually popular, but he's contending with a mid- 30s approval rating, and he has very little to show for his presidency, if anything.
I mean, this guy came into office promising to lower costs, to avoid foreign wars, and to release the Epstein files. We have higher costs, a foreign war in Iran, and the Epstein files are being suppressed by this very government.
And so, the last thing that these candidates want to do is tie themselves to the very person who is pushing all of these voters away.
But because Trump needs to be front and center, because he needs to be the center of attention, and this thing needs to revolve around him, like the planets revolve around the sun in our solar system, he's going to -- he's going to force these other Republican candidates to -- to appear on stage with him. And then that's baggage they have to carry in their own districts.
MICHAELSON: I mean, he's been pretty effective as a messenger over the years. One of the greatest political communicators of our time. The other conventions he's done, I mean, he's won the presidency twice.
COHEN: Sure. But we're in a position now where he has full control of government: House, Senate, White House. He's not delivering on any of his promises. Even his own voters can recognize that; they're pushing back against him.
You've got Republicans in special elections and mid- -- and off-year elections losing across the country. You've got Latino voters flipping 40, 50 points to the left. And so, that's all a direct result. It is a referendum of Trump.
MICHAELSON: We got a preview. You mentioned the Republican message of what that's going to sound like. Senator Ted Cruz is going to be there, speaking on stage. He, of course, is the senator from Texas where this is being held.
He was on set with my colleague Kaitlan Collins in Washington tonight on "THE SOURCE." Here's some of what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): I think we face a fundamental choice. This is a time for choosing.
And we have one path that is a path of common sense. That is a path of low taxes, low regulations, jobs, securing the border.
And we have another path. What's happened in the Democrat Party in this last year is really frightening. I think the Democrat Party has gotten extreme. We're seeing Marxists and Islamists rising within the party. And -- and I think that would be a very dangerous path for this country to go down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: -- you see as the message?
HORN: I think that's going to be a lot of the message. But I also think you have to really go through what the Trump administration has done.
And that is close the border, lower fentanyl deaths, lower crime rates in the country, bring in investment into this country that we haven't even started to feel yet with all of the companies that are now investing here.
The fact that the jobs reports have been incredible. The fact that inflation, while we may still complain about the cost of some things, inflation is way down, way lower than it was when Joe Biden was in office.
And so, we -- we have to talk about the Trump accounts and the cost of prescription medication.
So, I think, yes, it is always going to be helpful to have people like Hasan Piker being the new voice of the Democrat Party.
[00:40:01]
But I think it's also really important that we get --
MICHAELSON: According to who?
HORN: Well, according to at least what Republicans will say this week. I'm pretty sure you're going to hear a lot of that.
MICHAELSON: You may hear that.
HORN: But I'm going to tell you that the --
MICHAELSON: He's not on the ballot.
HORN: It's also really important, though, that we get out there with the accomplishments that this administration and this Congress and Senate have done, including the Big, Beautiful Bill, no tax on tips, no tax on Medicare [SIC]. It's -- or on Social Security. It's -- it's -- there is a lot to talk about.
COHEN: The jobs reports have been absolutely anemic. Inflation is higher than when --
MICHAELSON: Well, the last jobs report was pretty good.
HORN: It was pretty good. And by the way, those --
MICHAELSON: It was double. It was double expectations.
HORN: By the way, it shrunk government jobs.
COHEN: Double expectations. The expectations -- the expectations have been pretty -- pretty damn low, compared to even the previous president. Joe Biden was getting multiple times what the -- what the -- President Trump is getting.
But I think it's worth noting because, you know, you're trying to bring up this fact that -- that the economy is thriving under President Trump.
Can -- can you name a single time in the last 40 years where we've had higher GDP under a Republican president than Democratic president, higher growth under a Republican president than a Democratic president, lower unemployment --
HORN: I think --
COHEN: -- than -- under a Republican president than a Democratic president?
HORN: I think what you have to see is the investment that the -- that this administration.
COHEN: Can you answer -- can you answer that question?
HORN: The -- the investment into this country that President Trump has brought in is going to be significant. You're going to feel it over the next few years. You may not even be feeling it now.
COHEN: We've been -- we've been told we were going to feel it.
HORN: But you are going to be feeling it for the next five, ten, 15, and 20 years.
COHEN: Right. We have been told that we're going to feel it every single month since Republicans had full control of government. Nobody's feeling anything. In fact, they're feeling --
HORN: We're feeling a lot less inflation than under Joe Biden.
COHEN: But that's not true, because inflation under Joe Biden --
HORN: Really? It was 9 percent.
COHEN: Joe Biden left office with inflation at 3 percent. It's about three 3.4 percent right now. So, if --
MICHAELSON: Inflation was very high at the beginning, because we were at the height of COVID.
HORN: It's true.
MICHAELSON: And a lot of people had been kicked out of their jobs, and then there was money that poured in. That's all. I mean, talking about inflation at the beginning of the Biden administration is almost unfair, because that was a weird historical anomaly. But get back to the main point.
COHEN: But if Republicans -- if Republicans have full control of government, no Democrats, no, no big-spending Democrats to gum up the works, then how do you explain away the fact that prices have gone up, not down, since Biden left office?
HORN: Look, I think that what we have to deal with as a party -- and this is -- this is, in all honesty, it's on my side of the aisle. People are debating whether or not to continue on in Iran.
I believe we have to. I think we have to do the hard thing. I think we have to pay a little bit more, because Iran is a huge threat.
The cost of gasoline does make the cost of goods and services go up. But I think one of the responsibilities of Republicans is going to be to actually talk to people about why we have engaged in this -- in this war with Iran: because of our safety, because of the lasting impact.
COHEN: But -- I have to ask this question --
HORN: -- and changing the geopolitical climate.
COHEN: I have to ask this question. If -- if that -- if this is such a dire need, why did Donald Trump campaign on no new wars in the Middle East? If -- if he was just going to --
HORN: This isn't a new war. This war has been going on for 47 years. And Trump is --
COHEN: But then why didn't Trump --
HORN: -- the only one with the backbone to actually take care of it.
COHEN: Then why did he campaign? Then why did he campaign? Then why did he campaign on no wars in the Middle East --
HORN: This is not --
COHEN: -- if he was just going to launch a war in the Middle East?
HORN: In fact, he's had eight peace agreements in the Middle East since he took office.
MICHAELSON: Yes. HORN: And -- and I would say --
COHEN: But we're not -- but we're not in a moment of peace. We're in a moment of war.
MICHAELSON: Let me see -- let me see if I can find something -- let me see if I can find something for you guys to agree with, because we just had senator Adam Schiff here. And this is something you've been talking about for years.
COHEN: Yes.
MICHAELSON: Your big issue is this Hollywood tax credit or federal tax credit. And we just learned that Adam Schiff is working with Spencer Pratt as a conveyor to Donald Trump. And can we actually get something done? What did you make of that whole thing?
COHEN: Look, I will take any bedfellow, strange though they may be, to get this done. I think coming from California, this is one of the most important issues.
I mean, the -- the issue of -- of bringing film and TV back into the United States. Let's put aside California for a moment, back into the United States is so important.
I mean, this is -- this is the crown jewel of the state that we live in. It's the economic driver of the state. But it's also a way for us to export culture to the rest of the world.
I moved to Los Angeles because I love this industry so much, and we've watched this industry go to Canada. We've watched it go to the U.K.
MICHAELSON: Yes.
COHEN: We've watched to go all over the world. And -- and we need to do something right now before we get to a point where we can't get it back.
MICHAELSON: Can you get behind this Schiff-Pratt alliance?
HORN: I love when Trump cleans up California Democrats' mess. And I love -- look, hey, I love a good agreement. I think we can bring these tax credits in. I think it's good for all of us. And yes, I agree. I think we should all get together.
COHEN: If I can add, though --
MICHAELSON: Real quickly.
COHEN: Bringing it back to California, I do think that our Democratic officials, Xavier Becerra needs to be talking about this every day, not just bringing these -- these films and TV, film and TV back into the United States.
MICHAELSON: Yes. COHEN: But also into California. As I said before, this is the economic driver of this state, and it has to be priority No. 1 for the next governor of this state.
MICHAELSON: And likely something that they will talk about. The first debate is going to be on CNN on September 30th.
HORN: Yes. I'm excited.
MICHAELSON: Xavier Becerra versus Steve Hilton. We'll see if that's one of the issues that they talk about.
Brian, Jennifer, you both are going to be with us in the next hour. Look forward to talking to you --
COHEN: That's right.
MICHAELSON: -- about voting and where things are at. And a provocative thing Brian is doing to try to get you to vote. That's coming up in our next hour.
But coming up next, right here, investigators share some new details about the deadly Amazon cargo plane crash in Miami. We got a late update. We'll have that next.
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[00:49:54]
MICHAELSON: THE STORY IS in Florida, where federal investigators say the pilots of an Amazon cargo plane applied full power just seconds before Sunday's crash in Miami.
Authorities identified the five people killed when that plane overshot the runway and struck their van. They were between 47 and 75 years old and worked for a contract cleaning crew.
Five other people were injured, including the plane's two pilots.
CNN's Pete Muntean has the latest on the investigation in Miami.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The biggest new details here are coming from the plane's black boxes. The cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder that were pulled from the plane on Monday.
Analyzed at the NTSB lab in Washington on Tuesday, the NTSB says the flight data recorder shows that 15 seconds before impact, the pilots of this plane applied full throttle as if they were going to take off again, and then pulled the throttles back to idle only four seconds later.
The NTSB says it also has good audio from the cockpit voice recorder but still is stopping short of releasing what was on the voice recorder until they get more context from interviews with the pilots. Those are scheduled for Wednesday. Listen.
JENNIFER HOMENDY, CHAIR, U.S. NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD: The cockpit voice recorder contained more than two hours of good- quality audio. Now, we're interviewing the pilots tomorrow, and we want to hear their account of the accident before we release a readout of the cockpit voice recorder.
CHIHOON SHIN, NTSB INVESTIGATOR IN CHARGE: Crew accounts and crew interviews will help fill in some of the blanks for us that the crew remembers in terms of actions that they might have done, but not verbalized.
And so, that's something that we need a complete understanding of before we're to analyze what happened with the throttles in this case.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): The NTSB also plans to interview the chief pilots of 21 Air. That is the contractor that was operating this Boeing 767 cargo plane for Amazon.
Of course, there is the sad human toll here. All five killed in that van on the airport perimeter road were Latino men were working for an airport -- aircraft cleaning contractor. The oldest, 75 years old.
MUNTEAN: NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy says it's an unthinkable tragedy.
Pete Muntean, CNN, Miami International Airport.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAELSON: So sad. Pete Muntean, thank you for that.
Next on THE STORY IS, another art heist in France, this time at a museum in the French Riviera. We'll look at what was stolen and how the thieves managed to get it done in under five minutes. That, plus top stories, next.
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[00:57:11]
MICHAELSON: THE STORY IS another art heist in France. It took less than five minutes for thieves to steal four paintings from the Renoir Museum on the French Riviera.
But as they fled, authorities say they were forced to abandon two of those paintings.
Melissa Bell has more on the missing artwork and how the thieves pulled some of it off.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Thieves have stolen four paintings, abandoning two as they fled from France's Renoir Museum in the latest heist to hit the art world.
A large hole can be seen in this wired fence surrounding the museum.
The impressionist painter's "Madame Colonna Romano," worth $2.3 million, and "Jeune Femme au Puits," worth $230,000, were stolen on Tuesday, according to local officials in the French Riviera town of Cagnes-sur-Mer, where the museum is located.
The thieves were forced to abandon "Portrait de Madame Stephen Pichon" and "Coco Lisant" as they fled, according to the town's mayor.
He also said the museum's alarm system went off at 5:48 local time, and the police had arrived at the scene five minutes later.
MAYOR BRYAN MASSON, CAGNES-SUR-MER, FRANCE (through translator): They were equipped with, if I may say so, an electric knife or a metal saw, whatever you want to call it. They cut through the bolts holding the frames of Renoirs paintings in place.
The arrival of the municipal police, along with the sirens from the museum and the police, caused the burglars to rush off. They stole only four of the 12 works in the Renoir Museum. They fled by running through the gardens, and, it seems, dropped two works along the way.
BELL (voice-over): In a statement, the mayor's office said that the museum had been targeted, quote, "by several individuals who were clearly organized, equipped and well-informed," adding that the museum's security system had been triggered as soon as they entered the museum's gardens.
The latest heist comes nearly a year after the Louvre was targeted in an audacious raid. Video footage captured thieves in yellow vests on the second floor of the Louvre after they'd forced open a window.
They managed to grab nine priceless items and fled back down a truck- mounted ladder, all in just four minutes. Police recovered the angle grinder and a torch that were used to force open the window.
One piece, the crown of the Empress Eugenie, the wife of Napoleon II, was dropped and found very quickly. But the eight other pieces remain missing.
French Senator Nathalie Goulet doesn't think the French people understand the magnitude of the problem facing museums.
NATHALIE GOULET, FRENCH SENATOR: Well, I think we opened the Pandora box, I mean, with the Louvre, which was so easy with a kind of impunity. And nobody was catched of -- almost. I think it's -- it's like an open door to a new try for other museum.
BELL (voice-over): Now, calls are growing --
(END VIDEOTAPE)
