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The Story Is with Elex Michaelson
Judge Dismisses Cases Against James Comey, Letitia James; Interview with Stephen Cloobeck and Representative Eric Swalwell (D- CA); U.S., Ukraine Speak Positively of Geneva Peace Talks; Cloobeck Endorses Swalwell for California Governor; Marjorie Taylor Greene's Constituents Respond to Her Resignation Announcement. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired November 25, 2025 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRANDE: Elphaba, they're coming for you. Just look at me.
ERIVO: Not with your eyes but theirs.
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COATES: That movie, it brought in a massive $150 million opening. But the reviews were not so great. But who cares? People love it, right?
ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: I mean, the Rotten Tomatoes score for the audience was like in the 90s even though the critics were not. So ultimately, it's all about the money, baby, right?
COATES: It's all about that and all about you and your show coming up next. Thanks.
MICHAELSON: All right, Laura, thank you. Have a good night.
THE STORY IS starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAELSON: THE STORY IS in Texas, where an apparent tornado damages more than 100 homes.
THE STORY IS in Ukraine. Overnight attacks in Kyiv caused fires and significant damage just as the U.S. is trying to hammer out a peace deal.
THE STORY IS in California. On our set, exclusive interview with two Democratic candidates for California governor that's bound to make news.
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ANNOUNCER: Live from Los Angeles, THE STORY IS with Elex Michaelson.
MICHAELSON: And welcome to THE STORY IS. At this hour, we have a weather alert in Texas.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My god, look, it's starting.
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MICHAELSON: Right now a tornado watch is still in effect for much of Eastern Texas, neighboring Louisiana. The severe weather system is expected to reach as far east as Mississippi, Alabama, and Arkansas, in the coming hours. Super cell thunderstorms devastated a Houston area on Monday. And reports of several tornadoes.
People in Harris County say tree trunks snapped like toothpicks. One twister ripped through residential neighborhoods. Rescue efforts are still underway there after more than 100 homes were damaged. Look at these images from overhead. Meteorologists warn that the ensuing cold front could also bring large hail and more heavy winds to that region.
Meanwhile, the big story in politics. A federal judge has dismissed the indictments against two of President Trump's political foes. Former FBI director James Comey was accused of lying to and obstructing Congress, and New York Attorney General Letitia James was charged with one count each of bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution.
The judge said that Trump's appointment of interim U.S. attorney Lindsey Halligan, who was leading the prosecution, was invalid. But judge left open the possibility that Comey and James could be charged again. Here's attorney general of the United States, Pam Bondi.
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PAM BONDI, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: We'll be taking all available legal action, including an immediate appeal to hold Letitia James and James Comey accountable.
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MICHAELSON: So President Trump did not comment directly on the ruling, but CNN's Kristen Holmes asked the White House for a response.
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KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Trump's reaction to those indictments against Comey and James being thrown out?
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: His reaction was, we've seen this before. We've seen partisan judges take unprecedented steps to try to intervene in an accountability before, but we're not going to give up. And I know that the Department of Justice intends to appeal these rulings very soon, if they haven't already.
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MICHAELSON: James Comey responded to the judge's decision in a video post on Instagram.
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JAMES COMEY, FORMER FBI DIRECTOR: I know that Donald Trump will probably come after me again, and my attitude is going to be the same. I'm innocent. I am not afraid. And I believe in an independent federal judiciary. The gift from our founders that protects us from a would be tyrant. It's time to stand up and show the fools who would frighten us, who would divide us, that we're made of stronger stuff.
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MICHAELSON: Letitia James issued a statement saying, quote, "I am heartened by today's victory and grateful for the prayers and support I've received from around the country. I remain fearless in the face of these baseless charges as I continue fighting for New Yorkers every single day.
Elie Honig is a CNN senior legal analyst. He's also a former state and federal prosecutor. He joins us now from New York.
Elie, welcome back to THE STORY IS.
ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Thanks, Elex. I think we got quite a bit to talk about here.
MICHAELSON: Yes. So, well, you sort of, you're the best at explaining this stuff. So sort of walk us through what happened here.
HONIG: So this ruling is purely technical, but the end result for now is that both the cases against Letitia James and James Comey have been dismissed. Now, the basis for the ruling is this. The way we're supposed to have our U.S. attorneys appointed, the president nominates, and then the Senate confirms. However, the law says if there is no Senate confirmed U.S. attorney at a given time, then the president can choose someone as a temporary U.S. attorney for 120 days. After that, 120 days, then the judges of that district get to pick.
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Now, what happened here is we had one of those temporary appointments made by Donald Trump. That person, Eric Siebert, served 120 days. Then the judges said, OK, we approve Eric Siebert. However, Siebert then resigned largely because he didn't want to bring the cases against Letitia James and James Comey. And then Donald Trump said, OK, I'm now making another 120 day appointment of Lindsey Halligan. And that the court said today is what is illegal.
The president does not get to make more than one of those 120 days appointments. So it's very technical, but it's also constitutional. It goes to really the core of this case.
MICHAELSON: So what happens next to this case then?
HONIG: So a couple of things. DOJ has already said that they intend to appeal. They can do that. They will argue up to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals that this ruling was incorrect, that the president does have the authority to pick a second temporary 120-day U.S. attorney. Also important to know, this case has been dismissed without prejudice, which means that prosecutors, if they want, can try to re- indict these cases regardless of what happens on appeal.
So both of those things could be happening at once. We could see an appeal pending, and we could see DOJ going back to a grand jury, preferably with a properly appointed prosecutor, and ask them to re- indict them.
MICHAELSON: What about Halligan? What happens to the rest of her cases, too?
HONIG: That's a great question. It's exactly what I would be wondering right now if I was an AUSA back in the day at the Eastern District of Virginia. I mean, my question would be, well, boy, the U.S. attorney's name goes on every indictment, usually along with the actual prosecutors handling it. So does this ruling endanger all of those different cases?
Now, I think those cases, normal cases might be different from the Comey and James cases, because in a normal case, even if you knock out Lindsey Halligan and say she can't be the prosecutor, there's always going to be some other prosecutor's name on the indictment. But in the Comey and James cases, Halligan is the only prosecutor who signed on to them. Part of the problem was they couldn't get any other career prosecutors to sign on. And so if you eliminate Lindsey Halligan and say she wasn't there validly, then you have nobody left.
MICHAELSON: And meanwhile, in terms of this 120 day thing, this is something that the Trump administration has done in other jurisdictions around the country. For example, here in California, there's a guy named Bill Assaly. They didn't want to put him up to the Senate. So they named him interim U.S. attorney. And then they said that he's going to stay on now. What happens to him? What happens to the other people?
HONIG: Exactly. And by the way, same situation here in New Jersey, same exact thing.
MICHAELSON: Alina Habba.
HONIG: Yes, exactly. Alina Habba. So it's a good question. First of all, we are going to be in some flux. We have various rulings from various district courts. They're going to filter their way up through the Courts of Appeals. And I would imagine ultimately to the U.S. Supreme Court. The difference in the New Jersey and California cases, though, is those judges did not require that every case that those improperly appointed prosecutors had been involved in be dismissed because, again, in those other cases in Jersey and California, there were other sort of fallback prosecutors on the bottom line.
But here, again, with these two cases, Comey and James, it's Lindsey Halligan and no one else. And so if she's not valid, then the indictments have a big problem. MICHAELSON: Big risk, big potential problems you're seeing here.
Elie Honig, thank you so much. Really appreciate the perspective.
HONIG: Thanks, Elex. Appreciate it.
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STEPHEN CLOOBECK, FORMER CHAIRMAN AND CEO, DIAMOND RESORTS: Someone who keeps their word and delivers, that's the highest compliment I can give somebody. And you're always someone that has kept your word and when others shrink and walk away from the responsibility, you always step up.
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MICHAELSON: That is Congressman Eric Swalwell on the podcast "Hard Truths with Stephen J. Cloobeck" back in June. Cloobeck has been running for governor of California as a Democrat. Just last week, his longtime friend Eric Swalwell got into the race himself. Both Stephen Cloobeck and Eric Swalwell join us now on set for a STORY IS exclusive.
Gentlemen, welcome.
CLOOBECK: Thank you.
REP. ERIC SWALWELL (D-CA): Thank you. Nice to be back.
MICHAELSON: I understand you've got an announcement to make.
CLOOBECK: I do, I do, and if you remember from day one, I let everyone know that I didn't intend to get in this race. And I interviewed every single candidate, and I could not find one that was qualified. So I decided to jump in myself. And I worked with great, great leaders in the past, creating the Tourism Department of the United States, working with Barack Obama, and working with President Clinton, and educated by my adopted dad, Harry Reid. So I know great leaders.
I couldn't find one. But when Eric jumped in the race, we sat and talked. And Eric is a man of integrity, a man of character, values and a great leader, and he'll be a great leader of this wonderful country, the state of California.
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And I'm happy to say tonight that I'm going to merge my campaign into his and give him all the hard work that I've worked on and let him take it forward and cheer him on.
MICHAELSON: So you're dropping out of the race?
CLOOBECK: I am dropping out of the race and supporting Eric Swalwell as the next governor of California, and he will be the greatest leader of this great state, California. So, and with that, you know, I've been with you, and I brought props. (LAUGHTER)
MICHAELSON: You like a good prop.
CLOOBECK: I like a good prop. But I have this pen that I had made.
MICHAELSON: It's a golden bear.
CLOOBECK: It's the golden bear. And I give it to you as I wore it proudly. And I want you to wear it proudly.
SWALWELL: Thank you, Stephen. Thank you.
CLOOBECK: Yes.
SWALWELL: Let me put that on.
MICHAELSON: Well, look at that. I mean, you two, you two are longtime friends and close friends.
CLOOBECK: We are. We are.
MICHAELSON: And you spend a lot of time at his house. I mean, this is a real bond. This isn't just some political BS thing.
CLOOBECK: No.
MICHAELSON: What does this mean to you, this moment?
SWALWELL: Well, thank you, Stephen. It does mean a lot. And I've admired the race that you've run. You ran to bring down costs for California, and you brought a unique business experience having worked with President Clinton, President Obama, but people know you for your business acumen.
Elex, you probably don't know how generous he is to others. He was just honored by the Dodgers as Amigo of the Year for his work with the Dream Foundation to take on homelessness. But also, I heard from a third party, I didn't tell you this, but I was told by the farm workers that he has funded a crisis center for the farm workers who are being chased through the fields by ICE so that they can, you know, address the legal costs and the worry around that.
And so I look forward to drawing on. You know, Stephen's, you know, Stephen's experience as I take on, bringing more housing to California, modernizing the state and adding small businesses in our state.
MICHAELSON: So you've traveled up and down the state.
CLOOBECK: I have.
MICHAELSON: You've talked to people for years now looking into this issue, right? And studying this issue. What's the most important lesson you learned from running for California governor? CLOOBECK: The most important lesson I've learned is really solidifying
a place where I've grown up and I made the right decision moving back home five years ago. California is a country, and it's the greatest state not in the United States, it's the greatest place to live in the world. It's the most diverse tip to tail state, with over 200 languages spoken and cultures, and when I grew up here, we were the bully pulpit of the United States.
And I know Eric will bring that back with his fight because he's a fighter. He's a protector, and he's got these great attributes. And he grew up in Northern California, me in Southern California, and he understands. I mean, the way I see it in my words, being in the hospitality business, we're all customers and we need to get equal or greater value. And we have problems. It's serious. You know, you talked about all of the things that weren't really accomplished that could have been accomplished.
And I know Eric will be a good steward of our tax dollars. He will execute. He will be accountable and he'll enforce.
MICHAELSON: So you were here last week for the first TV sit down of your campaign. We got into a lot of issues on that. I encourage everybody to check it out on YouTube. But one that got a lot of attention was your plan to vote by phone. Here's that clip.
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SWALWELL: I want us to be able to vote by phone. I think every California --
MICHAELSON: Vote by phone?
SWALWELL: Vote by phone. Yes. If we can do our taxes, do our, you know, make our health care appointments, you know, make essentially do your banking online, you should be able to vote by phone.
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MICHAELSON: So there was a lot of reaction to that. Let's put up some of the reaction on X. This was from the White House account. President Trump's team, "When President Trump talks about the importance of securing our elections because deranged Democrats like creepy Eric Swalwell think it's a good idea to vote by phone.
Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, "Voting by phone. No. How ridiculous." Chad Bianco, who is running for governor, sheriff of Riverside County, "Vote in person. Show your I.D. It's simple." Steve Hilton, also running for governor as a Republican, "I want us to be able to vote in a system that's honest, in-person, with I.D. Citizens only. How about that?"
So, their argument is basically the safest thing to do is to have paper ballots that can't be hacked, to have everybody show an I.D. and show up in person. So you know who's voting, and you watch the whole process through. How is that not the safest thing to do? What's wrong with that? SWALWELL: Well, Californians are smarter than those three because
Californians know that you do need to show who you are through a biometric to access your finances, to access your health care records, to access your taxes. And so, of course, it's going to be secure.
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And what I am suggesting is, if we are going to lead the way in technology, shouldn't we challenge ourselves to make democracy more accessible? I also want to virtualize -- and by the way, 74 percent is what that polls at as far as approval among Americans.
I want to virtualize the DMV, too. I don't want Californians to have to go to the DMV. I think we can do that virtually. There's 218 DMV offices. I'd rather take the proceeds of selling those offices and invest it in our kids.
MICHAELSON: So you're not worried about voter fraud because that's the -- that's the charge here. I think it will be open for fraud and other people could hack the system.
SWALWELL: It's the opposite. And it also provides -- and this is being done right now. I'm not the first person to suggest this. It's happened in West Virginia. It's happened in mayor's races across the country. And there is an auditable backup trail to show if there was any compromise. And if people want to vote in person, they can still do that.
Also, Elex, I'm going to find every county for every minute that a voter has to wait in line beyond 30 minutes because your pizza should not come faster than you casting your ballot.
MICHAELSON: Lastly, lastly, just to wrap things up with you too. It's Thanksgiving week.
CLOOBECK: It is.
MICHAELSON: What are you, in a sentence, maybe most grateful for?
CLOOBECK: I am most grateful for the unbelievable children I have.
MICHAELSON: Well said.
SWALWELL: And I'm grateful for a family who's supporting me to take on this fight for all Californians.
CLOOBECK: I'm going to tell you one last thing, because I'm going to get one little swipe in. I guess blockchain and crypto is a fraud too, huh? No, it's coming in. It's not. OK. It's not. But the whole point is voter I.D. can be solidified with authentication of blockchain, which is the essence of crypto.
SWALWELL: Blockchain actually secures vote by phone. And president seems to be a believer in that.
MICHAELSON: OK, there we go. Thank you, guys. Happy Thanksgiving. Congratulations.
CLOOBECK: Thank you.
MICHAELSON: All right. Thanks.
CLOOBECK: Governor.
SWALWELL: Thank you, sir.
MICHAELSON: Eric Swalwell, Stephen Cloobeck, thanks for coming in.
CLOOBECK: Thank you.
MICHAELSON: From that we go live right now to pictures from Charlottesville Airport in Virginia, where it's just after midnight and they are surely preparing for a busy day. Kind of looks Blair Witch Project-esque with that black and white. But so be it. You can imagine a busy day tomorrow. Thanksgiving travel this week expected to be the busiest actually in 15 years. That's according to the FAA, with more than 52,000 flights scheduled for Tuesday alone.
The TSA expects to screen nearly 18 million people over the coming week. Of course, the roads will be busy, too. AAA predicts more than 81 million people will travel at least 50 miles from home to celebrate the holiday.
CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam has the latest forecast as you may be traveling this week.
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, there's certainly the potential for some Thanksgiving holiday travel chaos, not only on the roads, but also in the skies. We've got quite a bit of wet weather moving through much of the eastern half of the country. In fact, we've been tracking stronger storms that have impacted the state of Texas over the past 12 hours or so. But really, this line of thunderstorms is going to advance eastward through the course of the day today, impacting portions of Mississippi into Alabama, as well as Georgia.
So Storm Prediction Center has really highlighted this area where we need to be weather aware. Keep an eye to the sky as you hit the road. Maybe Interstate 20, for instance. Strong winds, large hail, and an isolated tornado. Chattanooga to Atlanta, Birmingham, Montgomery, Jackson, even further to the south and west near Baton Rouge. This is an area that will look for the potential of some stronger storms as this cold front advances eastward.
So this is part of a bigger storm system. So potentially you're traveling to the major East Coast airports. And this could impact your flights, right? So you've got a lot of wet weather. On the backside of this, it's cold enough to draw down some snowfall downwind of the lakes, right? So the lake effect snow machine is going to kick in. Meanwhile we still have that warm surge in the front part of this system. So that means it will be all rain and quite a bit of wind, especially as we head into the day on Wednesday.
What happens after that? Thursday being the holiday, Thanksgiving Day, the cold front will be offshore. We will bring in the cooler temperatures, but there will be still a lot of wind associated with this. So the favored lake effect snow band areas, they will get several inches of snow. But the big question here for the Macy's Day Thanksgiving Parade is whether or not they can fly the balloons.
And we take a closer look at the wind forecast. And it could gust to 30 miles per hour at times in and around New York City on Thursday morning. So that could certainly impact some of the parade plans that they have in place for that city.
So let's talk about the temperatures, right? So we've had temperatures well above average. We've been enjoying this for the eastern half of the country. But look what's coming. A significant shot of cooler air will settle in more seasonable for this time of year. Places like Atlanta, Saint Louis, even as far south as Orlando and Houston. These areas will cool down and it will feel like it should this time of year.
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Happy Thanksgiving. Back to you.
MICHAELSON: Yes, you got to be careful with those balloons. You do not want Snoopy taking off. That could not be good.
Coming up, as Russia launches a new deadly attack on Kyiv, one Republican lawmaker is pressing President Trump for a peace plan that prioritizes Ukraine's safety. Plus, CNN's Jeff Zeleny travels to Rome, Georgia, where Republicans and Marjorie Taylor Greene's Georgia district are still reeling from her surprise announcement that she's resigning from Congress.
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MICHAELSON: Russia is launching deadly strikes on Ukraine's capital city of Kyiv. Ukrainian officials say that Russian ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and attack drones are now targeting residential buildings across the city.
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The State Emergency Service says at least one person has been killed. Seven more wounded after a nine-story building was hit. That attack comes as the president of the United States expressing optimism on a peace deal between Kyiv and Moscow.
Ukraine's president says U.S. and Ukrainian diplomats reached a new draft framework during weekend talks in Geneva, which keeping Ukraine's top concerns on the table for discussion. Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to speak with European allies on Tuesday and says he will soon speak with President Trump as well.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Today, our team reported on the new draft of steps and this is indeed the right approach. I will discuss sensitive issues with President Trump. We must also be aware that Russia will not ease the pressure on us, on Ukraine, on our people. These days, these weeks, we must be very attentive to air raid alerts and all similar threats of attack. We understand exactly who we are dealing with.
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MICHAELSON: The Trump administration's original peace plan included several key issues that Ukraine and its European allies found too favorable to Moscow.
President Trump had also recently claimed that Ukraine had not expressed gratitude for the U.S.'s efforts to help the country. Republican Representative Don Bacon says he does not have faith the Trump administration wants to protect Ukraine.
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REP. DON BACON (R-NE): In the end the European plan that was sent out yesterday was 10 times better than our plan, which is embarrassing, but I'm hoping common sense prevails. America is supposed to be the leader of the free world. We're not acting like it right now in this case. And we need to be a defender of Ukraine. That's a free country, a democracy, that's being invaded. We should be clear that we're on their side.
So the president's comments on Ukraine have been reprehensible. I know for a fact Zelenskyy has said many times that he's been grateful, that the people of Ukraine are grateful for our help. But he tends to blame Ukraine for Russia's invasion. I don't get it.
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MICHAELSON: Don Bacon speaking to Jim Sciutto there.
It should be pointed out that Don Bacon is retiring from Congress, so he seems to be a little bit more free to express his opinion, not having to face a primary electorate.
CNN's Matthew Chance has an update on the negotiations in Geneva.
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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: In terms of the latest from Geneva, where I'm speaking to you now, those negotiations have come to an end. All the various delegations have left, but from everything we've heard from the Americans, from the Europeans, and from the Ukrainians themselves, they're very positive about the idea that these negotiations have taken place.
They're saying they're very constructive. They're saying that, you know, progress was made. But what they're not telling us are any details about what kind of progress, about what specifically Ukraine has agreed to, or what specifically has been put into this deal to make it more acceptable to Ukrainians. But obviously, there are big issues that have to be addressed, issues about, for instance, territory, should Ukraine surrender as Russia demands more of its territory, even territory that hasn't been captured yet by the Russians?
The caps on the Ukrainian military, which under the current proposals would be limited, is that acceptable or would it allow further invasion in the future because Ukraine wasn't adequately defended? And just the general kind of state of the country in the future once the war is over. These are all huge issues which are being talked about, but it's not clear to what extent they've been addressed.
If they have been addressed in this latest new version of the peace plan, then the question becomes, would Russia accept that new plan? And so it's not just a question of making Ukraine happy and making the Europeans happy, it's a question of, would the Russians accept any new proposals that stop short of its full objectives and full demands in this conflict? So far, they've refused to compromise at all, and, you know, there's really no suggestion that we've had from Moscow that it would be any different this time.
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MICHAELSON: Our thanks to Matthew Chance.
Up next, our political panel is here. Standing by live, journalist Seema Mehta and Jon Regardie on the breaking news that just happened here on THE STORY IS. Plus more. Stay with us.
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STEPHEN J. CLOOBECK, PODCASTER: And I'm happy to say tonight that I'm going to merge my campaign into his and give him all the hard work that I've worked on, and let him take it forward, and cheer him on.
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ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: So, you're dropping out of the race?
CLOOBECK: I am dropping out of the race and supporting Eric Swalwell as the next governor of California.
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MICHAELSON: So, that endorsement just happened right here on THE STORY IS, Eric Swalwell getting the support from Stephen Cloobeck.
Here to talk about that and more is Seema Mehta, who is a political reporter for "The L.A. Times"; and longtime L.A.-based political writer Jon Regardie. Both of them sort of go-to people in this space, in this town. Great to have both of you here.
SEEMA MEHTA, POLITICAL REPORTER, "THE L.A. TIMES": Thank you.
JON REGARDIE, POLITICAL WRITER: Thank you.
MICHAELSON: Welcome to the show for the first time. Two of my friends. Great to have you here.
REGARDIE: Awesome to be here.
MICHAELSON: All right. Seema, you've spent so much time covering the governor's race. The Cloobeck endorsement. Does this matter? Why does it matter? It's the first candidate to drop out and endorse somebody else.
MEHTA: Correct. I think in terms of Cloobeck, even though he's been running for quite some time, and he's put some, you know, millions of his own dollars into the race. I mean, in our last poll, which was among registered voters in late October, he had less than half of 1 percent of the vote. So, I don't know that it helps in terms of those voters.
But he does have money, and he has connected with people that have money, so he can certainly help with raising money, which Swalwell will need to do, because it's such a large field.
MICHAELSON: It is a large field and breaking out. And Swalwell right now is getting a lot of attention as he starts out.
REGARDIE: He absolutely is getting a lot of attention. But as just referenced, there are so many people in this race, and it's so hard to break through.
I mean, it reminds me of a wrestling battle royale. There's a dozen people in the ring, and we've just seen the first person go out of the ring.
But there's still a lot more to go. And it's impossible to tell where this is going to be 6, 7 months from now.
MICHAELSON: Yes, it is one of the most open races that we have seen so far. We've seen others like Toni Atkins drop out, Eleni Kounalakis drop out, as well, but they have not endorsed anybody yet.
Meanwhile, this proposal that Swalwell put forward on our show on Friday to vote by phone, getting the attention of the White House, and lots of FOX News folks, and Ron DeSantis, and the Republicans that are running, and all the rest of it, millions of views on this. Really irritating Republicans.
MEHTA: Right. I mean, it's -- I think that there could have been a different way to message it, because it seems just like offering something your rivals, whether they're Democrats or Republicans, just such an easy attack.
And I question the -- you know, rolling it out, like, right when he announced he was running. But it has certainly gotten a lot of attention.
MICHAELSON: Yes. And Jon, it also, though -- you know, he says that about 74 percent of people support this idea.
We do so much on our phones every day. We do give our banking information on our phone. We give so much personal information. We let it literally see everything in our lives. Maybe, you know, it kind of makes sense to some people, right?
REGARDIE: Sure. If, you know, we do spend so much time on there. We are glued to it all the time.
But as -- as Seema referenced, is that really the issue that you want to begin to define yourself on at first? I am the vote-by-phone governor of California. OK. Good idea.
But is that really groundbreaking in this state with a $320 billion budget --
MICHAELSON: Yes.
REGARDIE: -- and an $18 billion deficit? There might be some other issues.
MICHAELSON: But he also talked about a tax break --
REGARDIE: Yes.
MICHAELSON: -- for business owners. He talked about DMV reform, which I think most people could get behind that idea. But the vote by phone is the thing that got the most attention in the midst of a lot of other issues, as well.
Jon, let's talk for a moment about the city of Los Angeles. In our next hour. We have Mayor Karen Bass, who you cover as -- as much as anybody.
Just today, she was part of these hearings held here in Los Angeles to talk to the entire country about the issue of immigration and the lessons from L.A. on immigration. How big has that issue been for her?
REGARDIE: It's been huge. We have to remember: at the beginning of the year. Karen Bass really stumbled with her response to the coverage of the fires. A lot of criticism.
But she became the face of the resistance. Once the ICE raids started, she was out. She was forceful, she was outspoken. She got on TV with you and many others said, what we're seeing in Los Angeles is a petri dish, is an experiment. We will see it in other places, and indeed we saw it in other places.
It's an area where she has been very strong. But again, it's going to be a long time until this election. There will be a lot of other criticism for her. There's people going against her, but it's a good issue for her.
MICHAELSON: Yes. Six months, as you said, to election day. It's really kind of revived her politically --
MEHTA: It absolutely has.
MICHAELSON: -- this issue of immigration, another reason why she's leaning into it once again tonight.
MEHTA: I mean, I think, you know, she honestly believes in it with her. If you look at her record, I do think she believes in it.
MICHAELSON: Yes.
MEHTA: But it's also true that, in terms of the timing, you know, she -- she was definitely struggling after the wildfires happened, and her presence on the issue of the ICE raids has -- has definitely helped revive her.
But, you know, as you said, six months, seven months, who knows what's going to happen.
MICHAELSON: Yes. And one of the things with -- with Karen Bass is during the fires, she barely gave any interviews and was not accessible. And once the raids happened, she was everywhere on that issue, an issue she thought would do well for her. And so far, it has.
Let's talk now about what's happening in Congress, where Karen Bass used to be. Marjorie Taylor Greene is out. And now this Punchbowl report that other Republicans are considering retiring before their terms are over, which could give Democrats the House.
MEHTA: I mean, I think it's the -- Congress is always a very interesting, sort of rowdy place. The House is, particularly -- in particular. Not -- not as much, the Senate.
[00:40:08]
But currently, I think there are a number of members, Republican members of Congress who are not particularly satisfied with -- with the House speaker, Mike Johnson's leadership and whether he cares about their needs, their constituents' needs, or just trying to stay in power.
President Trump is always interesting, but you don't know where he's going to go. You don't know where he's going to zig, and you don't know where he's going to zag.
And so, it's-- I think it's a very challenging role. It's always -- I mean, it's always a really challenging role. But I think right now in particular, it's a very challenging role.
And especially if you're coming from -- from a place like California. If you don't live, like, sort of on the East Coast, you're commuting back and forth, you know, to D.C., like every week. I mean, it's --
MICHAELSON: And you've got to raise a lot of money, and there's all the reasons why it's a bad job.
MEHTA: Yes. Yes. You have to run for office.
MICHAELSON: Although there's plenty of people that love the job, which is why they keep running for it until they're, like, 100 years old and they won't give it up. But -- but Jon, it is amazing to think that right now, after Marjorie
Taylor Greene leaves, the vote margin for Republicans will be one. One. And that includes Thomas Massie, who seems to vote against them on almost everything.
So, one or two people leave retire, die, which has happened in the last, you know, Congress. All of a sudden, it's Speaker Hakeem Jeffries.
REGARDIE: Which would be -- and I hate to use a cliche -- but it would be a game changer. We know how the Democrats have suffered, have struggled to gain purchase. Everything would change immediately.
You know, with Speaker Jeffries, different assignments, different committees, different chairs. There would be a lot that would happen, and it would shake things up.
MEHTA: And also, with redistricting. There are so many -- so much uncertainty, both with Prop 50, which was the, you know, successful measure to redraw California's congressional districts. That just passed in November. And what some other states are doing.
And plus, the Supreme Court taking up Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. So, we have no idea what's going to happen.
MICHAELSON: Yes. And -- and the case in Texas, too.
MEHTA: Yes, absolutely.
MICHAELSON: Which also could be thrown out, the maps there. Could you have a situation where the maps in Texas are thrown out, but the maps in California stay?
MEHTA: Right.
MICHAELSON: Could you have a situation where all the maps are thrown out, in which case the elections look very different?
MEHTA: Right.
MICHAELSON: Yes, there are so many questions. But there's so much power at stake here.
MEHTA: Absolutely.
MICHAELSON: And a lot of issues that really matter.
MEHTA: Absolutely.
MICHAELSON: Great to have both of you here to help us understand it, Seema, Jon. Check out both of their work. Seema, "The L.A. Times." Jon's work all over, including "The West Side Current," which does such great work, as well. Shout out to that paper. Thank you both.
MEHTA: Thank you.
REGARDIE: Thank you.
MICHAELSON: We'll be right back. More of THE STORY IS. We'll head to Georgia's and talk to Marjorie Taylor Greene's constituents when we come back.
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[00:47:14]
MICHAELSON: Shock and disbelief still reverberating across Georgia's 14th Congressional District after Republican lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene announced that she would be resigning from office in January.
CNN's Jeff Zeleny traveled to Greene's hometown and joins us now from Atlanta.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now, Elex, there was still a sense of disbelief in Marjorie Taylor Greene's district after that bombshell resignation announcement Friday evening. And among her supporters and some detractors, as well, they had questions and plenty of opinions.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID GULDENSCHUH, VICE CHAIRMAN, FLOYD COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY: We wanted Marjorie to -- to be Marjorie. We appreciate her. She doesn't blend into the curtains like other people do up in Washington.
ZELENY (voice-over): Like so many others here in Georgia, David Guldenschuh was talking about Marjorie Taylor Greene and the bombshell announcement she will resign from Congress in January.
But unlike most, who only talk about her, he knows her well. And after finishing his weekly radio show today, he said three things. Above all, explain why she's leaving.
GULDENSCHUH: She may be very, very, very conservative. At the same time, she wants to see things get done.
The second factor, I think, was the Charlie Kirk assassination. That had a profound impact on her.
And then the third thing, I think, was just the falling out with President Trump.
ZELENY (voice-over): Among friends and foes alike -- and there are many of both in her hometown of Rome, Georgia -- a sense of disbelief at her decision reverberated from one conversation to another.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was pretty surprised.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very surprised.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't expect that.
ZELENY (voice-over): Sonny Knauss runs the Sunflower Community Bakery and had started to reconsider her view of Greene after she stood her ground against President Trump over the release of the Epstein files.
SUNNY KNAUSS, OWNER, SUNFLOWER COMMUNITY BAKERY: I disagreed with a lot of the stuff she did early on in Congress. I applaud her for breaking away from the pack, because that's a really hard thing to do in politics. There's just a handful of people that are brave enough to do that. So, I've got to hand her that.
ZELENY: Like breaking away from Trump, you mean.
KNAUSS: Right, right. Breaking away from Trump and just standing up.
ZELENY (voice-over): The 14th Congressional District, stretching from Atlanta's suburbs to the Appalachian foothills and Tennessee state line, has long been Trump country, and the Congresswoman has long led the loyalty parade.
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Come on up, Marjorie. Come on.
REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): Thank you, Mr. President.
ZELENY (voice-over): All that, a distant memory after she criticized the president, and he turned on her.
TRUMP: Marjorie "Traitor" Greene.
ZELENY (voice-over): The remarkable feud that ultimately led to her resignation video on Friday night --
GREENE: I refuse to be a battered wife, hoping it all goes away and gets better.
ZELENY (voice-over): -- was still fresh on the minds of many people here today, including these two Greene supporters, out for a morning walk.
How was she as a Congresswoman from the district?
GREG GARRETT, GEORGIA RESIDENT: Well, I think she represented the people, what they felt. Not everybody felt that way, obviously. I wouldn't have called her a traitor. That's Trump, you know. But he hits back if you hit him.
[00:50:06]
ZELENY (voice-over): With 42 days now left in her abbreviated term, there is no shortage of opinions about Greene. Radford Bunker was among those expressing regret to be losing their firebrand in Congress.
RADFORD BUNKER, ATTORNEY: I'm sorry that she resigned. I think that she's a thoughtful person. I -- I -- like I said, I'm just sorry that politics has come to the sort of tribalism where you have to agree with everything on everybody.
ZELENY (voice-over): Others, like Virginia McChesney, were far closer to saying, "Good riddance." VIRGINIA MCCHESNEY, RETIRED TEACHER: We -- this district really just
wants someone who represents us instead of thinks of themselves and tries to promote a political point of view.
ZELENY: Are you sorry to see her go?
MCCHESNEY: Not really. I think we've probably seen more of her as a real person in the past three days than we have ever.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZELENY: So many unknown questions that Marjorie Taylor Greene has not answered, but one she has. She said she has no interest in running for president.
You might ask why that has even come up. Well, "TIME" magazine had a report saying that she was considering it. She pushed back on that aggressively over the weekend, saying she absolutely is not. She said she laughs anytime someone raises that.
But a better question is what exactly are her political objectives here? Of course, Georgia's has an open governor's race, a Senate race. People close to her do not believe she will run for either of those. They say she wants to spend some time out of the public view.
So, she's in Congress until January 5th. A special election will come next year -- Elex.
MICHAELSON: Jeff Zeleny reporting from Atlanta. Thank you, Jeff.
The woman institutionalized for the 2014 Slender Man stabbing, now back in police custody.
Morgan Geyser, who stabbed her then-sixth-grade classmate 19 times to appease the fictional Internet boogeyman, now awaits extradition back to Wisconsin after she fled from a group home on Saturday.
Police say Geyser cut off her bracelet monitor and then took a bus to Illinois with an unidentified adult. She was found 150 miles away at a truck stop South of Chicago.
At first, she refused to give police her name, saying she had, quote, "done something really bad." Geyser is scheduled for a court hearing in Illinois on Tuesday.
The head coach of the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers, Chauncey Billups, has pled not guilty to charges stemming from an alleged gambling scheme.
He's accused of helping to lure unsuspecting gamblers to a mob-run poker game they didn't know was fixed. Thirty other people charged in the case also entered pleas in a federal court in Brooklyn Monday.
Billups is on leave from the Trail Blazers and posted a $5 million bond to stay out of jail.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY CLIFF, SINGER (singing): You can get it if you really want. You can get it if you really want, but you must try. Try and try.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Jimmy Cliff, who helped to popularize reggae music, has died at the age of 81.
Born during a hurricane, Cliff had his first hit at age 14 and later starred in the 1972 movie "The Harder They Come." He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame back in 2010.
In a statement on X, Jamaica's prime minister called Cliff a, quote, "true cultural giant whose music career carried the heart of our nation to the world."
We are live around the world right now. As we go to break, a live look at the Hong Kong Victoria Harbor. It's Tuesday afternoon there, almost 2 p.m. in the afternoon. Looks like a beautiful, clear day. Temperature, 74 degrees
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[00:58:13]
MICHAELSON: One of Berlin's most picturesque Christmas markets has reopened for the holiday season after a two-year hiatus. The historic square where it's traditionally held was undergoing restorations during that time.
On opening day, crowds returned in full force to embrace the Christmas spirit. Over a million people expected to visit. The market's closing day: on New Year's Eve. Look at that.
Holiday festivities also kicking off in D.C., where the first lady of the United States, Melania Trump, welcomed the official White House Christmas tree.
The tree traveled over 650 miles from Michigan and arrived on a horse- drawn carriage, a long-standing White House tradition. It will take center stage in the Blue Room for the holiday season.
White House tours will resume once holiday decorations are done.
A new Christmas ball will be dropped in New York's Times Square this year to ring in 2025. The ball, unveiled -- crystal ball, unveiled Monday, has almost 5,300 Waterford crystals, nearly twice as many as the last one. It also has circular crystals for the first time.
This is only the ninth time the ball has been updated since that tradition began back in 1907.
Thanks for watching us for this hour of THE STORY IS. The next hour of THE STORY IS starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON (voice-over): THE STORY IS Ukraine. Russia striking Kyiv as peace talks move forward.
THE STORY IS immigration. Congress holds a field hearing in Los Angeles to talk about a nationwide immigration approach. With us, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass.
THE STORY IS gambling ring. Former Portland Trail Blazer Head Coach Chauncey Billups in court. CNN's John Miller with us to explain the connection to the mob.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Live from Los Angeles, THE STORY IS with Elex Michaelson.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God. Look, it's starting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: We begin with breaking news.
