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The Story Is with Elex Michaelson

CNN and Jubilee Town Hall with James Talarico Analysis; Anthony Scaramucci's Advice for Katie Zacharia; Senate Hopeful James Talarico Speaks With Texas Voters; China-North Korea Bridge Opens After Yearslong Delay; Donald Trump Administration Escalates Voter Roll Fight With California. Aired 1:30-2:30a ET

Aired October 15, 2026 - 01:30   ET

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

[01:29:44]

(CNN TOWN HALL)

[01:34:52]

(CNN TOWN HALL)

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: And thanks so much to all of you for being part of this. It matters so much to everybody to see this sort of thoughtful conversation and respectful debate.

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Elex Michaelson, live in Los Angeles, on later than normal because of the "CNN TOWN HALL" with Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico.

We just showed you, if you're watching us in North America, Texas voters getting the chance to ask questions about the issues that most -- are most important to them, including affordability, health care costs, border security.

Talarico says he does not support abolishing ICE, but he also doesn't want a secret police force terrorizing communities.

The Democrat, locked in a neck and neck race with state attorney general Ken Paxton, the Republican.

Joe Lovinger is the Texas reporter for Bloomberg News. He joins us live from Dallas. Joe, thanks so much for being with us. What was Talarico trying to accomplish with this tonight?

JOE LOVINGER, TEXAS REPORTER, BLOOMBERG NEWS: Well, Talarico has pretty much universal support right now among Texas Democrats. So his goal right now is working on that crossover appeal.

One of the most important groups for James Talarico, if he really wants to win this race in Texas, is Independent voters.

And so Talarico tonight came out here with a message specifically to prove to Independents that he will not be beholden to national Democrats, that he is not going to be a vote for California or New York, and that he is going to be independently-minded on issues like guns and immigration.

MICHAELSON: And he also talked about the border, which was one of the reasons that Joe Biden lost a lot of close congressional races in Texas in 2024.

Here's what Talarico had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TALARICO: Joe Biden failed us during his administration by not securing the border. I remember talking to my colleagues in the state legislature who represent border communities, and they were telling me about the utter chaos along our southern border during the Biden administration. That's unacceptable.

But now we've seen under this administration a different kind of extremism. I should be focused on going after the cartels, not our communities. They should be going after violent gang members, not moms and babies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Of course, Kamala Harris ultimately on the ballot in 2024. What did you make of the strategy there?

LOVINGER: I think Talarico understands that, especially in a state like Texas, there is a unique set of issues that voters here care about. And something like the border is actually not as partisan of an issue in Texas as it might seem in other states.

If you go down to the border and you talk to voters in the Rio Grande Valley, people who have been lifelong Democrats under Joe Biden said this is too much. We can't handle this.

And so I think Talarico is quite smartly picking up on an issue here where he can appeal across party lines to try to pick up support from voters who don't have strong identification with one party or the other.

MICHAELSON: Let's talk for a moment about the format. It was really interesting to see this partnership with Jubilee. It was the first time that this has been done on national TV, where voters sat down almost like a mini debate with him on stage together, and they got to raise their own issues.

Talk about that and how it is particularly potentially good for James Talarico, who himself has really been focused on the attention economy as a 37-year-old.

LOVINGER: That's right. James Talarico came up in a Texas political scene in which Democrats are normally kind of behind desks trying to get compromises in bills where they can.

And Talarico understood that the way that you get attention as a political candidate in this day and age is by courting controversy. You know, when he was being accused of being a vegan, he went to a Texas barbecue restaurant and ordered a big plate of smoked meats, and then started talking about his views on tariffs and trade and prices.

So he sees attention, you know, attention-grabbing moments like debates on Jubilee as a way to then pivot and talk about the issues that are important to him and the voters that he's trying to court. So we saw that tonight where he was really comfortable getting into issues that the typical politician would be afraid to talk about, you know, things like the war in the Middle East or healthcare, abortion. You know, issues that a Democrat in Texas historically might shy away from. But, you know, Talarico really courted it here.

[01:39:50]

MICHAELSON: It was interesting to watch. Joe Lovinger, who's been our guide on so many things Texas politics over the last few months.

We appreciate you helping to guide our conversation once again, Joe, with Bloomberg News. Thanks for joining us.

Let's bring in our panel right now and expand this conversation. Democrat Isaac Bryan is a member of the California state assembly and Joel Pollak is the conservative leaning opinion editor at "The California Post".

Gentlemen, welcome back to THE STORY IS both of you.

Joel, as somebody who understands the Republican base, probably most of anybody here, clearly Talarico is trying to send a message to that base. I'm not as scary as you think I am. You can trust me.

Do you think that that works? Did he gain any ground?

JOEL POLLAK, OPINION EDITOR, "THE CALIFORNIA POST": I don't think so. Because if you watch what he does in these town halls, and by the way, the format is excellent. I do agree that having the voters sit down and ask questions themselves and follow ups, it's great. But I don't think the answers were any better.

People have seen this in the recent past with Barack Obama. Obama was excellent at reciting conservative arguments back at voters to make them believe that he was on their side. But he would then choose the most radical left-wing position.

And you saw that with Talarico tonight, because he danced around some of the questions he was asked. I mean, I thought he got a very straightforward question on voter ID, for example.

We want voter ID, most of us want voter ID. Will you vote for voter ID if you go to the Senate? And he said, well, I'm going to be a senator for Texas, not for New York and California. But he didn't answer the question.

So he gave a generally-acceptable answer. I think people are smart enough to see through that. It just doesn't work for conservative voters anymore.

MICHAELSON: Didn't Barack Obama, though, win two national elections with a giant mandate in the first one?

So I mean.

POLLAK: But then you get Obama followed up by Trump and you get a conservative electorate that says, we're not going to get fooled by that again, keeping in mind that his opponent the second time around was Mitt Romney, who conservatives didn't really like either.

So I think if Talarico wins, it's because conservatives don't like Ken Paxton and not because he's necessarily winning over Republican voters with his rhetoric.

MICHAELSON: Your biggest takeaway from the town hall.

ISAAC BRYAN (D-CA), MEMBER, STATE ASSEMBLY: Talarico is fantastic. Jimmy took every question head on. He wasn't afraid of voters, and that's why he did this Jubilee mashup, so he could talk directly to people.

The questions he was answering were hard questions, and he spoke them honestly. And that's what people are looking for right now. They're looking for authenticity.

If conservatives are comparing Talarico to Barack Obama, I think he's in a good place.

MICHAELSON: Well, and one of the things coming into this, especially the conservatives were complaining about, was the fact that he wasn't on the campaign trail for nine days, wasn't a ton of information that came out of his campaign during that.

He says he has the flu, that he was at home. He addressed that. Watch.

TALARICO: That decision to stay home for a week sent my opponent and his conspiracy theorists spiraling. I opened up social media and learned that I apparently had dropped out of the race, had flown to a mental hospital in Ohio, that I had died.

This is crazy. I mean, these false claims got millions of views online.

BURNETT: It did. It did.

TALARICO: And this is an example of what I call the rage economy. Conspiracy theorists can post anything they want on the Internet. They get clicks.

The billionaires who own these platforms get rich. We all get angry, and nobody's life gets any better.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Is this case closed on this issue?

POLLAK: I don't think it matters. I think it's silly. I think that Democrats do it to Republicans. Republicans do it to Democrats. I don't think it moves the electorate one way or the other very much at all.

I think the big issue --

MICHAELSON: Do you think the people that basically lied and made-up stories should apologize for putting out fake information without actually doing real journalism?

POLLAK: You and I will grow old waiting for those apologies. I mean, that is -- that is, unfortunately, the ecosystem of social media and people make money doing it on the right and the left.

But I think his big problem, as you saw from some of those answers, is his party. And people have the sense that no matter how nice he may be, he is going to fall into line as soon as he gets into Washington and the Democrats are out to get rid of President Trump and destroy the things he succeeded in doing, like securing the border.

And so he can recite the conservative opinions with a great degree of astuteness. And he's very articulate about that. But people know the way Washington works. And I don't think he shook that suspicion tonight.

MICHAELSON: But yet, Joel -- and this to you, Isaac, the fact that President Trump, in a Fox News poll that's just out, his approval rating is at 36 percent, which is the lowest that it has been in either of the two terms; 64 percent disapprove of his job performance.

If that number isn't there, James Talarico doesn't even have a shot in Texas. But because of that, he probably does.

BRYAN: Not only does he have a shot, we see Trump campaigning in Alaska and Arizona. He's underwater everywhere. They are scared of Talarico. That's why Trump can't stop tweeting about him.

[01:44:48]

BRYAN: The man is talking with the authenticity that the Texas electorate deserves. He's speaking about issues like affordability. He's doing so well that they have to lie on him. And believe it or not, he's allowed to get sick.

And if I had to talk about Ken Paxton as much as he does, I might get sick, too.

MICHAELSON: Well, in terms of, you know, the big issue that has really driven a lot of the disapproval of President Trump is his decision to launch the war with Iran and what it has done to gas prices.

POLLAK: Absolutely.

MICHAELSON: President Trump on the campaign trail today talking about that in an interesting way and making an argument that those high gas prices are actually good for America. Here's that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our country is making more money than it's ever made, because of the fact that oil is so high.

Now they're going to say, isn't it terrible? He talked about the fact that he doesn't care about the little person, they call them. I care more about the little person than I care about the big person. I care about the little person like crazy.

But the fact is, because of the price of oil, Texas and Oklahoma and North Dakota and all these places, were making a fortune.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: How do you react to that?

BRYAN: I think he's telling the truth. And when he says we, he means the giant corporations that are polluting our planet are making higher profits than they ever have at the expense of everyday Americans who are just trying to survive.

I thought we raided Venezuela to bring down gas prices. I thought this unjust and illegal war in Iran was supposed to be good for the U.S. economy. It is hurting everyday people.

But he's right. Record profits are being made. We're just not seeing any of them.

MICHAELSON: I mean, for the average person who's watching that, who is paying higher gas prices or truckers in the middle of the country are paying way higher diesel prices, are they comforted by that message?

POLLAK: Well, we do have oil-producing states, and he's trying to win Senate races in those states. So when you go to Alaska, the price of oil really does determine a lot of what happens there.

And Alaskans like higher oil prices. It not only means more jobs and more oil fields opening up, but it means more revenue for the state government and more money --

MICHAELSON: Yes. And then they get a dividend too, right? They have a different -- a different system ==

POLLAK: Right, right.

MICHAELSON: -- where if the oil price goes up, they literally get a paycheck from it.

Pollak: Right, right. So I think, look, it is not a good position for any incumbent president to be in where you're at 36 percent and your party is facing strong challenges in all these places.

However, I do think he's doing a great job of leaving everything on the field. He is campaigning as hard as he's ever campaigned. He's going everywhere he can. It's good for the party to see that the president still has some fight. I think he took a calculated risk in the war with Iran. I think it was

the right thing to do. I think it is succeeding.

But I also think we're now paying the price. Diesel is really the issue. I mean, the gas prices --

MICHAELSON: How is it succeeding?

POLLAK: The Strait of Hormuz is no longer under Iranian control. You have Iranians attacking civilian shipping, which is, by the way, illegal under international law.

But the Iranian regime is collapsing economically. The region is rallying behind president Trump. And people see this regime for what it is.

And I think that the region as a whole is in a stronger position than it was two years ago. And he keeps coming back to the Iranian nuclear weapon and the Iranian nuclear program.

I think he's actually winning. I think we'll look back on this era, and I've said this before on your show. I think we are winning this war.

MICHAELSON: Yes.

POLLAK: We'll look back on this era as this was a tough decision that a president had to take. You're seeing the reason they never did before him, which is the political price.

But I think he has minimized the increase in gas prices by doing some of the things in Venezuela, by increasing domestic production. But its having a political cost.

MICHAELSON: We're out of time. But one sentence on response to that.

BRYAN: It's an absolute failure. Its counter to everything he campaigned on. It's hurting everyday Americans. And I don't know a country in the world that is looking up to Trump in this moment, and certainly not his own.

POLLAK: I can -- I can -- can I respond to that? He came down the escalator and one of his first promises in 2015 was stopping a nuclear Iran.

So whenever I hear from the left or right people saying, this is not what he campaigned --

MICHAELSON: But they can nuke Los Angeles and San Diego if they --

POLLAK: Yes, yes. Well, that's a whole other thing.

MICHAELSON: You guys will be back, though, to talk more at the top of the hour.

And still ahead on THE STORY IS, Anthony Scaramucci, who served a famously brief stint in the Trump administration but has found there is life after the White House.

You see him standing by there. He's got some advice for the new press secretary. That's ahead.

[01:49:10]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELSON: There are questions about the resume of the new White House press secretary, Katie Zacharia, one day after she delivered her first briefing to the media. Zacharia has often referred to herself as a lawyer, including during multiple appearances on this show.

Pepperdine Law School says she graduated from their program, but CNN has not found evidence that she ever passed the bar exam here in California to practice law. Zacharia says she practiced international transactional law while working in China.

Zacharia's briefing on just her second day on the job, was widely mocked by Democrats and even criticized by several White House officials, with some questioning whether she'd be fired faster than our next guest.

Anthony Scaramucci, famously lasted 11 days as White House communications director and gave a very memorable briefing of his own during that time.

He's written a new book called "All the Wrong Moves: How Three Catastrophic Decisions Led to the Rise of Trump".

Let's start with the news of this day. Katie Zacharia, now in there as the press secretary. What's your advice to her?

[01:54:49]

ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Don't go back to the podium is my advice to her. She's not qualified or skilled to be at the podium. And so they'll have to make a decision whether they can media train her and try to get her up to speed.

But the way she was handling herself there, she just didn't have confidence in the information or the data that she had in front of her.

And in fairness to her, it was probably too early for her, first or second day on the job. But that's not the right job for her.

And she seems like a nice person. You've had her on your show. I don't know her personally. I've been obviously critical of the Trump administration, but I have nothing against her.

And of course I want her to succeed. I don't wish any individual, Elex, unwell in any -- any way, shape or form, but she's not qualified for the job.

And so if she was a friend of mine or I was her life coach, or I was her brother, I would say, look, this is just not the right job for you. Moreover, you've got to lie like a machine gunner at a turret in the job, you're like the mendacity machine gunner.

And Karoline Leavitt was really good at that. She lied with great impunity and great enthusiasm. And she said all of these fulsome and wonderful things about Donald Trump.

But this woman is not ready for the prime time of that job. I mean, it's just obvious. So again, they won't fire her, by the way. My record is going to stand, Elex Michaelson ok.

MICHAELSON: Yes.

SCARAMUCCI: I'll make a bet on this air right now that my record stands because she didn't do anything wrong. It's not like she said anything bad about the president or anything like that. She's just not -- she's not ready for that job.

MICHAELSON: You know, it's been interesting to see what people have said publicly and privately.

I know when you started off, President Trump wanted you in that job, but it was clear that there were people behind the scenes who didn't and then made life difficult for you when you were actually in the job.

Let's put up a couple of different statements. The first one was the on the record public statement from Steven Cheung, who is the director of communications for the White House --

SCARAMUCCI: Right.

MICHAELSON: -- who's her boss.

"Tremendous start for the new White House press secretary. She commanded the room, effectively reminded the American people of all the great work President Trump and his administration has done thus far."

Now let's go to this. Brian Stelter quoting our colleague Kaitlan Collins, who said, "Several White House officials are questioning how long Katie Zacharia will keep the press secretary job after her first briefing, noting her performance was unlikely to satisfy President Donald Trump."

Talk about that dynamic, which happens in White Houses.

SCARAMUCCI: Elex, one of the things I said from that job is I didn't realize how many backstabbers there were. You know, I'm from New York. I said that I was a front stabber.

MICHAELSON: A front stabber.

SCARAMUCCI: These people inside, those snobs (ph) are backstabbers, right? And just remember something about these people. The ones that are

stabbing her are probably jealous that she got picked by the president. And probably there were certain staffers that probably weren't even informed about her getting the job.

And so they're shoving (ph) her right now. And that that happens in Washington. And so you can't really complain about that as much as you have to just work around it or even try to build bridges to those people.

You know, something that President Trump said to me, and Elex, he told me this in the Oval Office. It was on a Wednesday. The reason I know it was a Wednesday, I was only there for one Wednesday. So I know it was Wednesday.

He turned to me and he said to me, this is a rough town. He goes, I thought I was a billionaire real estate developer. And these billionaires that I work with were killers.

But you know what? Down here in Washington, they would be a bunch of babies.

And so his exact quote was that they could take your eyeball out with an ice pick, drop it in your martini glass, you're bleeding at the table and they're talking to you like nothing happened.

And so they're going to do that to her. Now, I know -- I know Steven a long time and I appreciate him supporting her. And I appreciate him going on the record to support her because that's what a good teammate would do.

Now again, you could agree or disagree with the Trump administration. I'm just talking about one woman's career and some missteps that she's making and whether or not she's going to get the support of White House staff.

And frankly, I hope -- I hope she does, because, you know, it would be it would be terrible for her.

Not a lot of people could handle an 11-day firing, Elex. You know, I hope it doesn't happen to her.

MICHAELSON: We're going to pause there and pick up more of our conversation with Anthony Scaramucci in our next hour.

Plus next, Texas voters getting a chance to question U.S. Senate hopeful, James Talarico, hear his thoughts on faith, abortion and the billionaire class.

Plus, a new bridge between China and North Korea has finally opened. What the crossing could mean for future ties between the two countries.

We're live in that region with a special extra hour of THE STORY IS, next.

[01:59:46]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:04:32]

ANNOUNCER: Live from Los Angeles. THE STORY IS with Elex Michaelson.

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Elex Michaelson. It is after 11 p.m. here in Los Angeles, and yes, we're still on the air.

Coming up, THE STORY IS a town hall, unlike anything we've seen before. How Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico pitched himself to undecided voters in an unprecedented format.

THE STORY IS a threat to voter security. Why the Department of Justice is escalating the fight over voter rolls in California.

[02:05:04]

But the top story this hour is that Texas-sized town hall with U.S. Senate hopeful James Talarico. The reason we're on now is because we showed most of you that town hall last hour. The Democratic state lawmaker answering questions and debating with voters for more than 90 minutes. This happened in Fort Worth. Talarico called his opponent, Republican Ken Paxton, the most corrupt politician in Texas. Talarico pledged to take action to bring down the rising cost of health care. He addressed concerns about the national debt, calling it a moral emergency, and he promised to fight big money in politics. Here's some of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JAMES TALARICO (D), SENATORIAL CANDIDATE FOR TEXAS: Let me tell you where, where I think we agree. Powerful people are using small minorities in our community to distract from their corruption, the only -- the only minority destroying America is the billionaires. They are constantly trying to divide us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Joining me live here in Los Angeles is Michael Genovese, president of the Global Policy Institute at Loyola Marymount University, welcome back to THE STORY IS.

First off, a shout out to our CNN technical crew, which I think did an amazing job. It looked spectacular, and this debate was unlike anything we've seen before. It was the first ever partnership between CNN and Jubilee, and for people that may not have heard of Jubilee before, basically it's this format in videos where people will sit down and kind of look eye to eye and debate each other. So, they did that with voters who had a chance to really have a back and forth with them. That work?

MICHAEL GENOVESE, POLITICAL ANALYST: It was really refreshing. We're used to the stale old model, and that stale old model got drab and boring. This allowed the candidate to sit face to face with an average citizen, and I was so impressed with the quality of questions. Tough questions, but not confrontational in a negative way.

And so, it gave citizens the opportunity to actually face to face meet a candidate, and I thought it was refreshing, not only refreshing, but I think it was instructive, much more so than the traditional debate format.

MICHAELSON: Yes, I feel like that's going to change town halls now for a while going forward, and it's kind of an equalizer, right? Because if somebody's in the audience asking you a question, they get maybe one question in, and you can filibuster and go about your way. This puts you in the same place, which is an acknowledgment to the power of voters. That ultimately, this is a job interview, and the voters have some power here.

And you know, James Talarico has talked a lot about his faith, you know, a seminary student, and he was asked about his faith by some of the voters in this situation, watch what they said here about abortion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TALARICO: But what I think we can do is actually come together on reducing the number of unplanned pregnancies and the number of abortions, because if we treat this issue as a public health problem, and not a culture war problem, then we can actually make progress together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: That reminds me so much of the Clinton administration when the comment was that we want to have abortions safe, legal, and rare, and then when Hillary Clinton was running, they took out the word rare and just became safe and legal. This is almost a throwback to the old Democratic playbook.

GENOVESE: Yes, I thought this was probably the only time he stumbled a little bit. Talarico was confronted with someone who had great certainty, and there are a lot of people on the abortion issue who have absolute certainty.

His position was a little more nuanced, more complex, and he found himself in the same moral dilemma that I find myself in. It's the most difficult, complex issue to deal with as both a citizen, as a scholar. It's not simple and defies simple answers.

And so, someone with great certainty can be assertive. And the questioner was very assertive, but very fair-minded. And I thought Talarico stumbled just a little bit on that.

MICHAELSON: He talked more about his faith in this question. I know you have to talk about your Loyola Marymount. You know, there's a faith element to that university. Here's some of this exchange.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TALARICO: The first comment about God not being defined by gender. When I said that, I was being provocative, and I want to admit that and come clean about that. But I think what I was saying is actually not controversial theologically. The idea that we can't define God using human categories. Oh yes, I was doing it maybe in an annoying way. I can admit that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think we have to be careful using modern cultural terms when talking about God.

TALARICO: Sure, I think that is very fair criticism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[02:10:03]

MICHAELSON: Your thoughts on this and the fact that he sat there for this, and also on the fact that Ken Paxton didn't, that there was an opportunity for him to be a part of the town hall. He never got back to CNN about that. There was an invitation for him to do a debate against James Talarico on CNN or on Fox News Channel, and he has not accepted either of those invitations.

GENOVESE: Well, Talarico is very comfortable talking about his faith. He does it often. He's done it from the very beginning, and his model of public service is the sort of servant leadership model. It's very Jesuitical, and he's done something the Democrats have rarely done, which is bring faith into the conversation.

The Democrats have ceded God to the Republican far right and the White nationalists, and it's time that God becomes more bipartisan. And he tried to do that. And in reference to Paxton, he didn't show up. Would you debate this guy? Talarico is a tough debater, and I don't know that if I were Paxton, if I would take that risk. Plus, Paxton is probably the worst candidate in my lifetime.

MICHAELSON: The worst candidate in my lifetime anywhere?

GENOVESE: Well, for a major party, I can't find anyone else who is more -- Talarico said it at the end, which I thought he didn't need to, or how corrupt he was. He is widely seen as the most corrupt politician in America, and I think he's kind of a James Bond villain in that sense. Even Donald Trump, when he goes to speak in praise of him, ends up criticizing Paxton. So, Paxton's hoping --

MICHAELSON: Criticizes the way he looks, the way he speaks, the way he dresses. But he says that he's been a good attorney general.

GENOVESE: Yes, Paxton is relying on a couple of things to get this over the finish line. One is hopefully the Trump magic will work. So far, it hasn't.

Second, he's relying on excessive amounts of money. This is going to be the most expensive campaign for the U.S. Senate in history. Republicans are outspending the Democrats about 3.5 to one. There'll be half a billion dollars spent on just one state.

Third, they're going on the attack. I mean, we heard the vice president trying to make the case that Talarico might be gay. That's just beneath the vice president.

But I think the most powerful argument that in defense of Paxton probably winning, possibly winning, is that people will go back to tribal loyalties. They did it to Donald Trump in 2016. A lot of Republicans, I don't like them, I don't want them, but when voting came, they went back to the tribal loyalties, and Paxton is relying on that.

MICHAELSON: But they had some help from James Comey. They put that letter out right at the end, which reminded people of all that. Will there be something like that when it comes to James Talarico to try to skewer that? And by the way, worse than Christine O'Donnell, the woman who called herself a witch?

GENOVESE: Let me -- let me stand corrected on that one.

MICHAELSON: OK. Former Senate candidate. Great to see you, Michael Genovese. Thanks for being in here late with us tonight.

A long-delayed bridge linking China to North Korea has officially opened, according to Chinese state media. The two countries held a joint opening ceremony on Thursday for the new Lalu -- Yalu River Bridge. China completed its side of the bridge in 2014, but North Korea left its side unfinished and sat mid souring relations following Pyongyang's nuclear testing and UN sanctions.

Joining now from Seoul is CNN's Gage Goulding with more on the significance of all this. Gage, good to see you.

GAGE GOULDING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, good to see you too, Elex. It's much, much more than just transportation or even trade at that. The new Yalu River Bridge, $33 million price tag paid for by China, is a monumental piece here. We're going to talk about it because it means more than just trade, this is a piece of, I guess, commitment, if you will, and it comes after warming relationships between China and North Korea. This is yet another sign that the two parties are wanting to work together and be better friends, and I'm going to use a quote here from both China and North Korean leaders that say their two nations are, "As close as teeth and lips," which is an interesting way to put it.

But look, this bridge specifically, it's a major upgrade compared to the bridge that is in that area built in the 1930s. It can only carry traffic one way at a time.

So, this bridge is a four-lane massive bridge, welcomed with a traditional ceremony today, with many spectators on at least the Chinese side watching from afar. Again, this bridge has been done since 2014, so they've been waiting for more than a decade for North Korea to finish the infrastructure on their side.

So, the big thing here is this bridge is anticipated to cover and carry about 70 percent of the bilateral trade, of which for North Korea, China deals with 95 percent. So, a very monumental part for trade, but also a sign of the warming relationship there with North Korea and China. Elex. [02:15:01]

MICHAELSON: Very significant. Gage Goulding live for us from Seoul. Thank you so much.

Up next, our political panel is here with a new major fight between the Trump administration and California. Stay with us.

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MICHAELSON: The Trump administration is escalating its fight with California election officials over alleged voter fraud, in letters obtained by CNN, the Justice Department threatened legal action if the state did not review a list of alleged non-citizens on L.A.'s voter rolls within 48 hours. The DOJ wants election officials to refuse to send ballots to alleged non-citizen voters and segregate ballots from voters on the list until their citizenship is confirmed. The courts have repeatedly pushed back at attempts by the administration to insert itself in state election functions.

[02:20:34]

Our panel is back with us, California state lawmaker Isaac Bryan and California Post opinion editor Joel Pollak. As the lawmaker here from California, what do you think about what's going on here?

ISAAC BRYAN, CALIFORNIA STATE LAWMAKER: On former chair of the Assembly Elections Committee, I think it is unbecoming of the federal government to step in this way, I think they're going after a problem that doesn't exist. Every audit of every state that has looked into voter fraud shows that it is minimal at best. Every state where they've tried this approach, the courts have stood and affirmed states' rights. California has one of the safest, most secure elections in the country, and even better than that, we make sure every eligible voter can be heard and counted.

MICHAELSON: But what's wrong with stopping non-citizens from voting? Non-citizens aren't supposed to vote.

BRYAN: California is already doing that. This isn't about making sure that our elections are safe and have high integrity. That already exists. This is a scare tactic to try to suppress and intimidate voters from turning out because they know the policies of the Trump administration are going to result in an immediate backlash this November.

MICHAELSON: Is this voter suppression?

JOEL POLLAK, CALIFORNIA POST OPINION EDITOR: I don't think so. But let me just say this: I think that California should cooperate. I think California has an interest in making sure that non-citizens aren't voting. We had a problem at the DMV when Alex Padilla was Secretary of State, where they found about 1,500 non-citizens on the rolls. Now it's not a huge number, so it's not going to change an election.

MICHAELSON: Out of 22 million? POLLAK: Yes, 1,500 out of, it's not a lot, right?

MICHAELSON: Yes.

POLLAK: So, but it's there, and I don't think it costs California anything to comply. At the same time, you're right. Courts don't want to get involved, and they especially don't want to get involved when the ballots have already been mailed.

I can understand the DOJ saying in August, in June, July, we've got this flash drive. We want you to investigate. But once the ballots are out there, now you're telling a judge to tell California to chase the ballots down and make sure that it's impractical, and the courts are going to get caught up in it.

And to me, I think the message is not voter suppression. I think the message is telling Republicans, hey, we're doing something about this, when actually they're not really doing very much about it.

MICHAELSON: So, you're saying they're not really doing much, and should they be doing something about it? Because isn't it up to the states to handle the lessons?

POLLAK: I will say something that will get me some pushback among conservatives. I do not agree with federalizing this issue. I don't think that you handle it at the federal level. I do think it's a state issue, which is why I am very supportive of Proposition 39 for voter I.D. in California. I prefer that as opposed to the Save America Act because once you have the federal government making laws about elections that Republicans want to see happen, when there's a Democratic majority in Congress, and there will be, if not this year, then at some point in the future, they're going to do the same thing. They're going to do things Republicans don't like. I think this belongs at the state level, and thankfully in California, if you care about this issue, you can do something about it this year.

MICHAELSON: You think voter I.D. is a good idea?

BRYAN: I think having elections where every eligible voter can be heard is important. I think voter I.D. laws have been shown to be discriminatory. John Lewis fought against these all across the South after pre-clearance. Thrown out of the Supreme Court here in California, it sounds like Joe would like to see folks' personal identification on the outside of their mail-in ballots. That's what Prop 39 is calling for.

MICHAELSON: That's four digits, not your entire personal identity.

BRYAN: It's more than I want going through the mail, and I've seen a lot of scam and fraud on less. It's interesting to go after fraud by encouraging new ways for folks to have sensitive information. It's a no on 39. We shouldn't be taking tactics from the Trump administration.

MICHAELSON: Interesting day in the state of California for Democrats and Republicans. That the former Republican governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the and the current Democratic governor of California is about to be the former governor of California, Gavin Newsom, came together for an environmental discussion about AB 32, which was landmark legislation that Arnold Schwarzenegger signed 20 years ago. And here is what Newsom said about the way Trump administration is taking on California on the issue of pollution.

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GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): California recognizes its role and responsibility in the absence of federal responsibility. The headwinds are well established as it relates to the Trump administration, and the vandalism in terms of our efforts are second to none. This is jaw- dropping, what they have been doing as it relates to trying to gut our leadership in this space.

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MICHAELSON: You folks at the California Post mock this, basically saying that they are patting each other on the back for policies that people loathe.

POLLAK: That's correct.

[02:25:00]

MICHAELSON: What do you -- what do you mean by that?

POLLAK: AB 32 adds something like 21 cents a gallon to every gallon of gas that people put in their cars. I mean, it's the cap and trade law, and it makes gas more expensive than it needs to be. It has no effect on the global climate whatsoever.

And Schwarzenegger likes this because it gets him an opportunity to preen with Gavin Newsom. But you know, when it comes to climate policy, the beard doesn't match the hair. You pass these things, and all they do is raise prices for everybody. But there's a negligible effect on global climate. Whereas, if you want to help the climate, the way to do it is have an all of the above approach to energy. You want more nuclear energy, and you want to start clearing the brush in these forests. You know, we create more emissions through the giant wildfires we've been having than we prevent by cap and trade.

MICHAELSON: Your response?

BRYAN: No, it's the Cap and Invest program, and it's the most cost- effective way to lower carbon emissions. You get the most bang for your dollars in curbing carbon emissions, and it has been shown to be effective. That's why other states like Washington and other countries around the world have emulated California's global leading motto. It's about making sure polluters pay for the harm that they're causing, and that those billions of dollars, by the way, nearly six billion a year, are reinvested into California, disadvantaged communities that have the worst air and water quality anywhere in the country.

That's what the Cap and Invest program does. It caps carbon emissions. It invests in disadvantaged communities. We absolutely have something to be proud of, and I'm incredibly proud of.

MICHAELSON: Yes, and that has been the rebranding of this, going from cap and trade to cap and invest, is now the way it's described by the Democrats and Schwarzenegger.

Great to have both of you here. I wish I could talk even longer, but hopefully we'll have to have you back to do more discussion. Joel Pollak, Isaac Bryan, thank you so much.

Stay with us here on THE STORY IS, we'll have more news right after this break.

Plus, we've got Anthony Scaramucci still ahead as well.

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