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00:01Tonight, the UFC has landed at the Lincoln Memorial and the president's name is about to be removed from the
00:06Kennedy Center any minute and also the world has its first trillionaire. I'm Kaitlin Collins and this is The Source.
00:28And as we come on the air tonight, there are two remarkable scenes that are unfolding right now in the
00:33nation's Capitol. On the left, as you can see here, the Lincoln Memorial is the stage for a pre-fight
00:39press conference ahead of the White House UFC fight on Sunday evening.
00:43On the right side of your screen, crews at the Kennedy Center right now are in the process of removing
00:49President Trump's name from the building. We'll take you to both scenes this hour and explain what's happening. But first
00:56tonight, something else remarkable has also happened. No person has ever spent more money on an American election than Elon
01:03Musk has. And he's now worth more money than any American ever.
01:15That bell did more than ring in a new day of trading. It also rang in a new definition of
01:21wealth. With shares of Elon Musk's SpaceX now available for public trading, he just became the world's first trillionaire.
01:30Only a year ago, Elon Musk himself took credit for another historic American moment, which was President Trump's return to
01:37the White House. Then he said, quote, without me, Trump would have lost the election. Dems would have control of
01:43the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate.
01:48Now, Elon Musk spent more than $290 million on the 2024 election and all that money made him an integral
01:55part of the president's campaign.
01:58As you can see, I'm not just MAGA, I'm dark MAGA.
02:02President Trump must win to preserve the Constitution. He must win to preserve democracy in America.
02:10It was a bromance that continued into the president's second term when moments like these happened.
02:16Elon Musk inside the Oval Office as he was handed unprecedented access to the government through the creation of Doge.
02:24It was a job that saw him celebrate his spending-slash-effort on stage at that conservative conference with a
02:30chainsaw.
02:31And the more than a quarter billion that Elon Musk spent in 2024, it's actually only a fraction of what
02:37he's worth now.
02:39Even if it's so-called paper wealth, not a pile of cash in a bank, it's an amount of wealth
02:44that has never been seen before in the history of human commerce.
02:48The amount itself is pretty mind-boggling.
02:51A trillion is made up of 1,000 billions, or think, $1 million, million.
02:57And even if Musk spent $1 million every hour of every day, it would still take more than a century
03:04to spend a trillion of them.
03:07The fact that there is even a trillionaire, much less that his name is Elon Musk, means his impact on
03:13American politics is likely far from over.
03:16Especially at a time when Americans have been watching prices go up and climb at the grocery store and at
03:21gas stations.
03:22And as Democrats have been on a mission right now to take control of Washington come this November,
03:28so far, they've only been targeting billionaires.
03:33To the billionaire class, I say that your greed has got to end.
03:40The billionaire class.
03:41The billionaire class.
03:42The billionaire class is doing fine.
03:44He is there to serve himself and the billionaire class that put him there.
03:49The billionaire class is funding these campaigns.
03:53Do you think that billionaires have a right to exist?
03:57I don't think that we should have billionaires.
04:02On this moment, my CNN contributor and first source tonight is the tech journalist, Kara Swisher.
04:07I mean, Kara, when you look at this, just to kind of put this in perspective,
04:11if you put together the estimates of the next four richest people in the world,
04:16their actual combined net worth falls short of what Elon's now is.
04:22Yeah.
04:23How do you put this much money in perspective?
04:26It's really hard.
04:27I mean, it's really hard, especially since I knew him when he was poor and he didn't have money.
04:31So that's a very different thing.
04:32Yeah.
04:33You're closer to being as wealthy as Jeff Bezos, as Jeff Bezos is being close to Elon Musk.
04:39So that's the kind of thing you have to think about is he only has 200 and some billion dollars
04:44and Elon has four times that.
04:45So you're closer in salary to Jeff Bezos right now.
04:48I mean, maybe not you, Caitlin, Caitlin, but me for sure.
04:53I mean, safe to say.
04:56But I mean, just to think about that, as one who has covered Elon for as long as you have,
05:02and during the different chapters of his life and his businesses and his career,
05:07I mean, what does it mean that Elon Musk is the world's first trillionaire?
05:13Well, it depends on how you think about this company, because right now it has the revenue of Land O
05:17'Lakes Butter.
05:18So it's not this is like totally overvalued in a lot of ways, but it doesn't really matter because it's
05:24him.
05:24Right.
05:24He gets this premium, this Elon premium.
05:26And the question is, is it going to be a meme stock or is it going to be a real
05:29company?
05:30There's a lot of great businesses in here, especially Starlink.
05:33There's others that Scott Galloway has called money furnaces.
05:36And I think he's absolutely right.
05:38XAI, they might shove Tesla in here.
05:41A lot of his sort of companies that aren't quite gelling the way that that he had hoped are in
05:46here.
05:47And so it's going to be really hard.
05:48And the other thing is nobody controls it but Elon.
05:51And so, you know, it's interesting.
05:53It didn't go up that much today.
05:55It went up exactly as much as the bankers planned it, which is just under 20%.
06:00And I think the question is what's going to happen five months from now is when you start looking for
06:04it.
06:05Because there's a lot of support here for this stock with the bankers keeping it scarce, not letting people sell,
06:11things like that.
06:12And so we'll see what happens as it rolls out in the next 12 months.
06:16What's your prediction or what's kind of the one thing that you're eye on that, you know,
06:22maybe not everyone is paying attention to right now?
06:26Well, I like math, you know, and it doesn't add up in any way whatsoever.
06:31And, you know, some of these promises, data centers in space, I've been talking to a lot of people and
06:35it seems far-fetched.
06:37You're going to have a robot next year in your home.
06:39All these promises he's made.
06:41Now, he's had some amazing businesses.
06:43Tesla was one until he sort of stopped paying attention to it.
06:46And then it's gotten run past it by BYD and others.
06:50And so the question is, can he maintain Starlink in the lead the way it is?
06:55And it certainly is.
06:56And it's a terrific company.
06:57At the same time, it's a telco, really.
06:59And so should it be valued 100 times with Amazon or Google or Apple?
07:05You know, it's just so far and above all the other tech stocks, which are already very richly valued.
07:10The numbers don't add up compared to other tech companies.
07:13And so let's see if it can grow into its valuation or it's all based on one person, which it
07:17is.
07:18This company is priced because Elon Musk wants this price.
07:21And they've supported him because Elon Musk wants this.
07:23And so, you know, it's a very singular person that is keeping the stock aloft.
07:28And there's all kinds of things that could happen to it.
07:31It just depends on how the business does.
07:33And there's a lot of businesses in this business, which makes it more confusing.
07:37Yeah.
07:38And in terms of just watching that, but also his political involvement, I mean, we've seen him spend midterms coming
07:45up, not anywhere near what he did two years ago in 2024.
07:50I mean, what is your sense of how how do you think he'll choose to spend on politics going forward?
07:55A lot, a lot.
07:56He kind of likes it.
07:57It kind of works.
07:58It didn't work everywhere.
07:59It didn't work in Wisconsin.
08:00But, you know, he's what he's explicitly spending and what you don't know he's spending.
08:04That could be something else.
08:05Where is he?
08:06What is he doing?
08:07What is he involving himself in?
08:09Obviously, you know, one of the things that sort of made me sad that got lost in this is what's
08:12going on in Ireland, these riots, which he is egging on.
08:15And, you know, it's just like people don't put the things together.
08:19But I don't think bankers are moral.
08:21You know, they don't have any moral quandaries about things like this.
08:24But I think he's going to spend big.
08:26I think he wants to keep Republicans have been very good to Elon Musk.
08:3020 percent of its business is with the government right now.
08:33So of SpaceX.
08:35And so it really needs that government relationship.
08:38And if the Democrats get in charge, he's going to be out of luck, I think, in lots of ways,
08:42as you listen, what you listened to before.
08:45And so all this whole tech class really needs Trump to stay in place because they put in a little
08:50money on one end and they get a lot more on the outside, multibillion dollar contracts and everything else.
08:56So it's a it's a really good deal for Elon to be backing President Trump.
09:01Yeah.
09:01And he is now back in his good graces, at least.
09:04Karis Wisher, it's always great to have you.
09:06Thank you.
09:07For now, for now, the important asterisk to always include on that.
09:11And I should note, as we're watching this and seeing what does happen going forward, this is the world's largest
09:16IPO that is going to boost a lot more wallets than just Elon's.
09:20That includes for SpaceX employees in California, because the subsidiary that you heard Kara mention there, XAI, the headquarters are
09:27based in Palo Alto.
09:29They've got a San Francisco office and X, which a lot of us still call Twitter.
09:33It is part of the same company.
09:35They also have offices there and in San Jose.
09:38And it's on a state whose current governor, Gavin Newsom, wrote this today.
09:42He said Americans are struggling to pay for groceries and gas, while Elon Musk becomes a trillionaire.
09:48When the federal government is for sale, the rich get richer and everyone else gets shafted.
09:54The Republican candidate to replace Gavin Newsom on the ballot is my next source tonight, Steve Hilton.
09:59And it's great to have you here, Mr. Hilton.
10:02As you're looking at this, SpaceX is about to make more than 4,000 new millionaires with this IPO today.
10:09A lot of them work in California.
10:11You're running on a flat tax that would actually significantly reduce what the richest Californians pay.
10:17Do you think most voters in your state want to see them pay less in taxes?
10:23Yes, most voters want lower taxes all around.
10:26They want more jobs.
10:27We have the highest unemployment rate of all 50 states.
10:30A big reason for that is because we have the highest tax rates, highest sales tax, highest gas tax.
10:35It's ridiculous for Gavin Newsom to be blaming Elon Musk for the high costs of California, the highest cost of
10:42living in the country.
10:43It's his policies that have caused that.
10:45The fact that gas is $2 higher in California than any other state, even at the time of the Iran
10:50war, entirely because of Gavin's policies.
10:52Same with groceries, the highest cost in the country because of the regulations, the electric bills that have doubled the
10:58national average.
10:59All of these things are driving businesses like Elon's businesses out of California.
11:06He's moving so much of the production, the jobs to Texas, for example.
11:11As governor, I want those jobs in our state.
11:14I don't want to be the state with the highest unemployment rate and the highest poverty rate.
11:18The way to turn that around is to lower taxes for entrepreneurs and for workers.
11:23Remember, the first part of my tax plan focuses on workers, your first hundred grand tax-free.
11:30You know, by your campaign's own math on this, that tax plan would cut the revenue by as much as
11:36$65 billion per year.
11:38How exactly do you determine, and have you done so so far, what services you would have to cut to
11:44cover that loss?
11:47Well, I think that we've tested to destruction in California the idea that if you spend more money, you get
11:52better services.
11:53We have the highest gas tax, highest vehicle registration in the country, and yet we are 50th out of 50
11:58on the quality of our roads.
12:00Same with education. We spend $28,000 per student, one of the highest rates in the country.
12:05We have some of the lowest test scores. So I don't think it's about spending money.
12:08That equation is broken in California.
12:10Now, in terms of where we can save money and reduce the budget, let's start by remembering that they've doubled
12:16the budget of the state of California in the last 10 years or so.
12:19Everything's worse, not better.
12:21We've done an analysis of spending, and our estimate is that in the last five years, there's been about $400
12:28or so billion of money that's been lost, wasted, spent on things that it shouldn't have gone to.
12:34That's based on an analysis of public data. For example, the state auditor's estimate of how much has been spent
12:41without result on homelessness or how much was lost in the Employment Development Department during the pandemic.
12:47That works out at roughly $80 billion a year. So that's the starting point to cut out the waste in
12:52our government so that we can reduce spending, get it back to a more reasonable level and cut taxes.
12:58You're going to be facing Javier Becerra in the governor's race. You've been endorsed by President Trump. He's been saying
13:04things like this about elections in California.
13:09Look at California. They send out millions of ballots, tens of millions. They have no idea what's going on. Those
13:15elections are so corrupt.
13:16One of my big things, because elections are corrupt. You see that in California. And then the other is the
13:22governor of California. Take a look at what's going on. It's a disgrace.
13:27You have said that you've seen no evidence of voter fraud in your race. Is President Trump wrong?
13:35Well, I think that there's certainly concerns that he's reflecting there, which many Californians share, the fact that it takes
13:40so long to count the votes.
13:42The fact that there are millions of wrong names on the voter rolls. That's not the president or me saying
13:48that. That's the Democrat Secretary of State Shirley Weber.
13:51That was an analysis that I think three years ago she said there were nine million wrong names on the
13:56voter roll. So there's many things we need to fix in terms of our elections in California.
14:00Top of the list, I would say, and this would help speed things up, is voter ID. It's actually going
14:05to be on the ballot in California, supported by around 70 percent of Californians.
14:10And I've invited Javier Becerra. I don't think we agree on many things, but perhaps we can agree on this,
14:15that we should campaign together for voter ID, because it's something that a large majority of Californians support.
14:21One thing you've also said is to remove the need for signature verification, right?
14:28That's exactly right. Voter ID would do that, because that would really speed up the process.
14:33But doesn't signature verification help protect against fraud?
14:39Right. But I think we all experience in our daily lives that signatures, often you're invited to sign things on
14:46an electronic pad and it's a squiggle and maybe your signature isn't exactly the same as when you first registered
14:53to vote maybe 15 years ago.
14:54And so you've got a lot of people in the vote centers trying to make those determinations, whereas if you
14:59have voter ID, the plan that's going to be on the ballot in California, for example, uses Social Security numbers
15:05and things that can't really, that don't require that kind of human verification.
15:09It could be done much more quickly. And I think that's something that, well, as I said, most most Californians
15:14support that.
15:14For voter ID, obviously people who go in person, we see how that works. What about the more than 80
15:20percent of Californians who vote by mail, though?
15:24You add the proposal that's on the ballot in California would involve you writing your the last four numbers of
15:31your Social Security number, for example.
15:33There are certain forms of ID that you can you can put in writing on the in the envelope when
15:39you send in your ballot by mail.
15:41And so it's a different proposal, just to be clear, than than what's being discussed in Congress with the Save
15:48America Act.
15:48The California proposal, I would characterize it as a more narrow proposal.
15:53But and that's probably why it's got broad support, including among many Democrats in California.
15:58But if someone if someone does that on their ballot, wouldn't an election worker or someone have to verify that?
16:05Well, the Social Security numbers and the ballot and the and the way that it's sent in makes the process
16:13much quicker.
16:13You don't have to in each case look at the signatures.
16:18And so, yes, you're right that where there are anomalies, you can go back and check.
16:22But the actual process with voter ID, because it's going to be much less subject to those qualitative measures, if
16:31you like,
16:32is just going to speed the whole thing up and add a level of security that most people support.
16:38Steve Hilton, we will see what happens on the ballot.
16:41Thank you so much for joining us tonight. Really appreciate having you on the show.
16:43Thank you, Caitlin.
16:45Up next, the United States and Iran have different takes on what is in the deal to end this war,
16:50or at least get to a starting point to try to end the war.
16:53Both sides are signaling that some kind of agreement is within reach.
16:57What we're learning tonight about how soon that could happen.
17:00And also for the first time ever, UFC fighters are facing off at the Lincoln Memorial.
17:05This is what's happening right now in Washington.
17:08We'll take you to the scene live.
17:10Also, on the other side of Washington, not far from the Lincoln Memorial,
17:14the Kennedy Center has crews scaffolding set up here, preparing to remove those words at the top there.
17:21Donald J. Trump.
17:29We have some breaking news that we're following this hour because right now this is a live look at what's
17:34happening at the Kennedy Center in Washington.
17:36This scene is because a federal appeals court has ordered President Trump's name to be removed from the Kennedy Center
17:43tonight,
17:44rejecting a last-minute effort by the center to keep it up, at least for now.
17:49My colleague, Selin Serfati, is on the scene outside the Kennedy Center.
17:52And obviously, Selin, I know there was some dodgy weather in Washington earlier,
17:56but what are we seeing and when do we expect them to actually start the removal?
18:02Yeah, Caten, there was some thunderstorms earlier in the night,
18:05but work here has restarted to ultimately take down Donald Trump's name off of the Kennedy Center.
18:11And I think this moment speaks volumes of the political reality that we're in here in Washington.
18:16I want to show you a little bit of what's happening behind me.
18:19This crew of 12 workers, you see them there behind me in hard hats, bar by bar,
18:25they are actually building the scaffolding foot by foot to go up to reach.
18:30And you see some of them climbing on the side there to reach those words at the top that President
18:36Trump had added,
18:37the Donald J. Trump and.
18:39They will be removing that.
18:41Now, with every foot that they climb up, with every level that they build,
18:45this crowd here erupts in applause and jubilation.
18:50Many of the people here are chanting,
18:52take it down as they're going up higher and closer to the words there.
18:58And this crowd here at the Kennedy Center is notable.
19:01It has swelled in size over the last few hours.
19:04Notable that this is all happening at 9.20 p.m. Eastern time on a Friday evening.
19:10This building, of course, represents so much symbolism for the stamp that President Trump wants to make on Washington.
19:18And they are now compelled, despite that last-ditch effort in court today,
19:22they are now compelled to bring this name down by 11.59 tonight.
19:27So right now, Caitlin, it is just a race for the clock.
19:29And I'm sure you can hear the crowds behind me as they make one more level up,
19:34one inch closer to that name coming down.
19:36The crowd here is celebrating. Caitlin?
19:38Oh, yeah, we can hear them.
19:41Sondland Serfati, we'll check back in with you throughout the hour as we are watching that.
19:45And Sondland's right, it is a remarkable moment to see the President's name removed from the Kennedy Center,
19:49given how much he wanted it on there.
19:52We're also following some other breaking news tonight that has to do with Washington.
19:55That's because sources are telling us right now that the United States and Iran
20:00are in the final stages of a prospective agreement.
20:03I should note, anything that's going to be signed is still pretty preliminary.
20:07It's not a complete and end game to this war.
20:10But what we've learned is that a signing ceremony of what is known as a memorandum of understanding
20:15could be held in Geneva, Switzerland.
20:17Right now, we're also hearing from the Iranians.
20:19It could happen remotely.
20:20So far, any details beyond that are basically pretty murky.
20:24That's because what's actually inside this agreement, based on what we know right now,
20:29ultimately depends on who you ask.
20:31A senior Trump administration official told CNN that Iran had agreed to these terms,
20:36which they describe as a performance-based deal.
20:39One, it would include the destruction and removal of their nuclear material.
20:44Two, the dismantling of their nuclear program.
20:47Three, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
20:50And four, an end to Iran's support for their terrorist groups.
20:54And we are told this all has an understanding that none of Iran's money would be released
20:58until they perform those other objectives.
21:01Now, compare that, what we're hearing from the White House,
21:04to what we're hearing from Iran's foreign minister on what they say is,
21:08and is not, in this agreement.
21:12The termination of the war will be announced on all fronts, including in Lebanon.
21:16Now, the topic of the nuclear issue has been postponed to a final agreement.
21:24The second phase or final agreement will be covering central removal and the nuclear program
21:30and one or two other issues.
21:31We are the victor of this battlefield.
21:34The Islamic cult, Iran, has emerged as a victor.
21:40Iran emerged stronger out of this war.
21:45Joining me tonight is CNN's Global Affairs Analyst
21:47and the former Middle East Coordinator on the National Security Council, Brett McGurk.
21:52Brett, I mean, every day it feels like we talk about this,
21:54and our question is, are we close?
21:57Where are we?
21:57We started out the week with strikes.
21:59When you look at what you're hearing tonight from the White House and from the Iranians,
22:03what is your sense on how close an agreement potentially is?
22:07You know, Caitlin, you laid it out in your piece.
22:09I mean, what those five points that the White House put out today in background briefings
22:12are just completely contradictory to what the Iranians and the foreign minister
22:15went on their state TV tonight said.
22:19And even on the gating, the gating issue,
22:21this is a phase one agreement to open the Strait of Hormuz,
22:24and what Abbas Arachi, the foreign minister you just saw there,
22:27he said in that interview, the Strait of Hormuz will never go back to how it was.
22:31It will never again be free of charge.
22:33Those are his words.
22:35And that it will be controlled by Iran and Oman,
22:38and they will charge, he said, not fees, but basically,
22:41or not tolls, but maintenance fees, so meaning they'll be collecting revenue.
22:45Also, on all those issues that are kicked to this phase two, the nuclear, Caitlin,
22:49I mean, let's assume we get to the gating issue, Strait of Hormuz opens.
22:53The understanding from the Iranian side, and I think this is a good assumption,
22:56they'll be trading their oil again.
22:58There will either be sanctioned waivers or an agreement not to enforce sanctions.
23:01And if you just add that up, even on conservative numbers,
23:05on just back-of-the-envelope math,
23:07if Iran is exporting 1.5 million barrels a day,
23:10which they could do pretty easily, say the price is $100 a barrel,
23:14they're making $150 million a day, about $1 billion a week,
23:19and over the course of this two-month phase one deal, that's $8 billion.
23:23It's highly unlikely, given that resource windfall they would get,
23:28that they're going to then make the hard commitments on the nuclear side
23:31in that phase two negotiation.
23:33So you said murky. That's right.
23:36It's very unclear. I think we have to see.
23:39But the way the deal is structured, I think I'll reserve judgment
23:41until we actually see it. We haven't seen it.
23:43But we're hearing two completely contradictory narratives from the two capitals.
23:48I mean, the vice president, who was the person who's rumored to go to a signing ceremony,
23:54should there be one, right now it's not really clear there'll be one,
23:57at least in person, he put out a statement today saying he's seeing all this reporting
24:01from anonymous sourcing on what's in the deal, what the president has signed off on.
24:07I mean, there are real questions, though, about, you know,
24:10even what this memorandum of understanding, where that would put us in the war.
24:14I mean, if it does open the Strait of Hormuz but doesn't solve those other issues,
24:18I mean, most people would not see that as a deal to bring this war to an end.
24:22Yeah, unfortunately, Caitlin, past this prologue, you might, some might hope that the Iranians
24:27would invest those economic resources in their people and recovering their economy.
24:31They will not.
24:32They will invest those resources in their missile program and their proxy networks
24:35and everything we've seen them do.
24:37And basically recharging for, unfortunately, for a future phase of a conflict
24:42as their networks expand across the Middle East.
24:45We saw this.
24:46They proliferate their missile and drone technology to the Russians, to the Houthis,
24:50all over the place.
24:50I mean, I had to deal with this day-to-day when I was working on this most difficult file.
24:54I think that's what we can anticipate.
24:55So, no, this does not end this problem.
24:58This might put a stopgap measure on this immediate problem in the Strait of Hormuz.
25:03But as Iran gets that economic, you know, wind at its back again, trading its oil,
25:08particularly at a market price,
25:10then the incentive for them to make the really hard moves on the nuclear side,
25:15dismantling its nuclear infrastructure,
25:17getting rid of those stockpiles, which we all want,
25:20I think will be very difficult.
25:22So, again, I'm very curious to see what is in this document.
25:25Senior officials today told the press it's more comprehensive than the JCPOA in some ways.
25:31Abbas Arachi tonight on State TV said it's only a two-page MOU.
25:36So, first, let's see if there is a deal and let's see what it says.
25:40But as of right now, very murky.
25:42I hope there's a breakthrough.
25:43That's a good deal.
25:44But right now, again, I'm not really seeing it.
25:48Yeah, I mean, and all of this is going to be at the top of the agenda
25:51when the president is in France next week for the G7 meeting with other world leaders.
25:56So we'll see where that takes us.
25:58Brett McGurk, great to have you here tonight.
25:59Thank you for breaking it down with us.
26:01Thanks, Caitlin.
26:02Also right now in Washington, this story that I mentioned,
26:05there are UFC fighters at the Lincoln Memorial going down the steps, as you see here.
26:10That is a live look ahead of Sunday's UFC White House fight.
26:15What more we know about what's going to be happening in Washington next.
26:25This is a live look at the Lincoln Memorial right now in Washington,
26:29where the UFC is hosting a press conference to hype up Sunday's UFC fight at the White House.
26:34For about the last hour, the event had faced delays because there are passing storms.
26:39Summer in Washington.
26:41Officials there are broadcasting a large seek shelter sign earlier this evening,
26:46warning people to cover up.
26:47Obviously, there's not a ton of places to go on the National Mall.
26:50This could be a preview and an issue and a challenge of what's to come for Sunday.
26:55Right now, forecasters are warning that severe storms and lightning could threaten the White House event.
26:59So we'll be tracking that closely as officials there will as well.
27:03Joining me tonight is Sean McCreish, who is the White House correspondent for the New York Times.
27:06And Sean, obviously, just watching all of this play out in the Lincoln Memorial,
27:11you also were on the South Lawn yesterday.
27:12That's where the octagon is, the UFC stage.
27:16What do you make of the massive production and just what it looks like in the context of not just
27:21it existing,
27:22but where it is right now on the White House South Lawn?
27:25I think tonight is a really interesting split screen with the name coming down off the Kennedy Center
27:30at the same time that the weigh-ins are happening at the Lincoln Memorial.
27:34And then you've got this massive superstructure blinking behind the White House.
27:38I mean, he really is using the entire town like his own sandbox.
27:43And I got to be honest, I was at the at the, you know, the claw, as they call it,
27:48at the White House yesterday.
27:49And it the thing is huge.
27:52It's it's it's it's really something.
27:55Yeah, I don't I don't know.
27:57I mean, you can see it from the we have a picture.
27:59We've shown it every night because it's lit up.
28:01But when you're walking into the White House, I mean, as a reporter, you truly can't ignore it from any
28:06angle.
28:07I mean, anywhere you are in Washington, any of the buildings nearby, it just looms over it in such a
28:11way that,
28:13I mean, I've covered the White House for 10 years now.
28:16It's like almost nothing you've ever seen before.
28:18Yeah, it's massive.
28:19I think the White House campus has this sort of understated glamour.
28:24And it's these massive, you know, willow oak trees and magnolias that were planted by presidents from decades and centuries
28:32ago.
28:32And, you know, now you've got this thing that's got sponsor bud light crypto dot com wrapped all over it.
28:40It's taller than the house itself.
28:41It's way taller than the trees.
28:43There are Klieg lights on every inch of the thing.
28:46It's it looks really out of place there.
28:50I think you make a good point of where we're seeing the Lincoln Memorial.
28:53I mean, it's not far right behind the Lincoln Memorial where the Kennedy Center is, where there is this.
28:58I mean, it's just it is such a split screen in terms of there's these cheering crowds at the UFC
29:04press conference right now,
29:05you know, listening to these fighters as they hype up the fight card on Sunday.
29:08And then just a few hundred feet away, there are people at the Kennedy Center cheering as each row of
29:15scaffolding is going up,
29:16getting closer to the words Donald J.
29:19Trump is this court has intervened here and said, you know, his name has to come off of the Kennedy
29:23Center in the next three hours.
29:26Yeah, I covered the his takeover of the Kennedy Center a lot for the newspaper.
29:30And this feels like sort of the inevitable end point of it.
29:34But it's almost like an Aesop's fable or something.
29:37You know, the man who has to put his name on every single thing gets control of this magical building.
29:43And the surest way to destroy it is for him to put his name on it.
29:47But he couldn't help himself.
29:48He slapped his name on it.
29:49And that was sort of the end of it.
29:51Right.
29:52I mean, they also had his name, you know, the lettering ready to go when they voted on it.
29:58I mean, it was it went up, I think, like 30 minutes after they had voted on it, the board
30:02that he had appointed.
30:03Yes.
30:03And, you know, now just a few months later, it's coming down.
30:06The board meeting happened at, you know, the house of Steve Wynn in Palm Beach with all sort of his
30:12friends there.
30:12And Lee Greenwood was performing in the house.
30:15And it was like this sort of social get together where they all just decided to do this.
30:21And I guess it didn't last very long.
30:24The UFC fight on Sunday at the White House, you know, obviously UFC has a massive fan base.
30:30They'll all be watching.
30:32But given the fact that it's on the White House lawn and as a White House reporter, what are you
30:36going to be watching for in terms of just this moment coming at this point in the administration as they're
30:43dealing with the Iranians?
30:44They're dealing with gas prices that are skyrocketing here at home.
30:47Inflation is outpacing the highest rate in three years.
30:51I mean, how do you see this in the moment of the Trump presidency?
30:55I think it's interesting.
30:56I think Donald Trump has for decades been intimately connected to Americans' sort of tabloid tastes and sensibilities.
31:05This is the guy who, you know, owned casinos in Atlantic City and appeared as himself on WrestleMania and in
31:11Pizza Hut commercials.
31:13And The Apprentice was such a massive hit on television.
31:16It's what allowed him to become president, many people say.
31:20And, you know, he knows what people like.
31:22But I think, you know, it's one thing to do this at a campaign rally.
31:26I think doing it in the White House is something else entirely.
31:32And, you know, there was a poll by Reuters that came out that said only 16 percent of people find
31:38this to be appropriate.
31:39And when you juxtapose it against, you know, his sinking poll numbers, the rising gas prices, it seems like it's
31:47more provocative than maybe they realized it would be.
31:51Yeah.
31:52It's going to be fascinating to see it on Sunday night.
31:55That's regardless.
31:56Sean McCreish, great to have you in your reporting as always.
31:59Thanks, Caitlin.
32:00Coming up here on The Source, California's first partner, as she's known, Jennifer Siebel of Newsom, is my next source.
32:06We sat down to talk about her new documentary and also her future as Gavin Newsom is weighing a potential
32:122028 White House bid.
32:19With the rise of AI and deep fakes so easily made at the press of a button, what is it
32:24like to grow up as a young girl online right now?
32:27That question is explored in the new documentary, Misrepresentation, Rise Up.
32:34I definitely feel like I'm more self-conscious after getting on social media.
32:43Social media makes you feel like you always need to perform a certain way and to be perfect.
32:52It makes me feel like what is wrong with me?
32:59The 2023 CDC study on youth health and well-being reported that the rate of girls who are feeling persistently
33:09sad and hopeless is 53%.
33:12The CDC also reported that one in three girls had seriously considered suicide.
33:20We used to think about depression as happening as girls were turning 16 or 17.
33:26Now we're seeing it at 11, 12, 13.
33:30This is unprecedented.
33:33Around 2011, we began to see this rising spike in mental health concerns among young girls.
33:42That's when girls began to have much more access to smartphones.
33:46And that's when a lot of social media platforms added the like and the share buttons.
33:53Earlier this week, I sat down with Jennifer Siebel Newsom, who wrote, produced, and directed the film.
33:59And we also talked about her husband, California Governor Gavin Newsom, in his political future.
34:06Thank you for being here.
34:08This film is a second chapter to the documentary that you made in 2011, which was about misrepresentation, about sexism
34:15in the media.
34:16And I know that you had your own experience with that from your time in Hollywood.
34:21What was it that led you to social media for this?
34:25So, misrepresentation was made 15 years ago.
34:31And with the advent in around 2011 of the like and share button, we started to see a dip in
34:38girls and women's mental health.
34:4057% of girls experiencing persistent sadness and hopelessness.
34:45One in three seriously considering suicide.
34:4899% of deep fakes targeting women and girls.
34:5196% of them non-consensual pornography.
34:55And then we started to see a downturn in women aspiring towards political leadership.
35:00And so, this all together helped us understand that tech facilitated gender-based violence, was harming girls and women's mental
35:07health, safety, and power.
35:10This movie starts out focusing on young girls and what, you know, people focusing on their looks and what that's
35:16like for them to experience that for the first time.
35:19But you also talk about women who are in politics and seeking public office and, you know, what that story
35:26is like.
35:26And I was taken by one woman you spoke with, Sabrina Javiana, who is seeking public office, one of the
35:33youngest elected officials in Florida, and has her images used for deep fake porn.
35:40And just to see that, I wonder, you know, what that was like for you as you made this, and
35:48also whether or not you feel that it discourages women from seeking public office.
35:53We are seeing young women, you know, hold themselves back from wanting to pursue careers like your own, not just
36:05political leadership.
36:07And it's extremely disturbing.
36:11It is a backlash, a backslide, and it is happening at an unprecedented scale, where ultimately we are silencing women's
36:19voices.
36:20And we need women to have a voice in a democracy.
36:25A democracy thrives when women thrive.
36:28What do you think is the fix to this?
36:30I mean, some people may say that's the price of admission for being in public life.
36:35After doing this, what would you say to that?
36:38I disagree that it's the price of admission.
36:41I think girls and women deserve to be protected.
36:44We deserve to be safe.
36:45Anyone aspiring towards a public service career deserves to be safe.
36:52It should be fundamental.
36:54I wonder how you personally feel and experience this.
36:59I mean, Politico reported recently, I'm sure you saw this, about saying,
37:04as 2028 looms, Jennifer Siebel Newsom faces increased conservative attacks from everything to the title of first partner,
37:12to speaking out about the manosphere and, you know, directly talking about the influence that has on young boys and
37:19young men.
37:20What has this been like for you?
37:23So, all of my documentaries, five that I've written and directed and others that I've executive produced,
37:30have awakened consciousness and shifted attitudes and behaviors around limiting gender stereotypes and norms
37:36and how we all suffer.
37:38It's not just women and girls that are suffering.
37:40Boys and young men are suffering as well.
37:42And so, I'm not going to be stopped by folks that don't know me,
37:48folks that want to put me in a box and silence me.
37:53Clearly, I'm doing something right because they're paying attention.
37:57And as we're talking about the spotlight, I mean, it is widely rumored and speculated that he's going to run
38:02for president in 2028.
38:04Are you ready for that spotlight?
38:08I will continue to do the work that I'm doing now for as long as I can imagine.
38:15I love Champion and focusing on uplifting and supporting women and girls and children
38:21and giving, you know, families the opportunity to experience the California dream.
38:28And so, I've loved our time in office and we have a lot of work left to do.
38:36I'm really proud of the work that we've done.
38:39And I don't know what the future looks like.
38:43Jennifer Siebel Newsom, thank you for joining us.
38:45Thank you so much for having me.
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