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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Trump Says Military Will Stay In Los Angeles "Until There's Peace"; L.A. Mayor Weighing Curfew After Five Days Of Unrest; Interview With Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA); Misinformation Spreads Online About L.A. Protests; Protests Underway In NYC Stretching Several Blocks; Source: L.A. Officials To Enact Curfew For Parts Of Downtown Los Angeles; One-On-One With Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ). Aired 8-9p ET
Aired June 10, 2025 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: If there's an insurrection I would certainly invoke it, we'll see.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The last time the Insurrection Act was invoked was in the 1992 L.A. riots. I was there and I will assure you they were much bigger, much broader spread and much more violent than probably all of the unrest we see right now. Bottom line is, when it was imposed then it was with the agreement of the president, the governor, and the mayor, all acting together -- Erin.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Yes, something we are not seeing at all right now.
Tom Foreman, thanks so very much to you. We'll be here through the night reporting, we'll see if that curfew is announced in just a few moments. In the meantime thanks for watching. AC360 begins now.
[20:00:50]
JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: Good evening, John Berman here in for Anderson. It is 5:00 P.M. in Los Angeles, about three hours from sunset. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass just moments ago said she is weighing a curfew, which would go into effect tonight for parts of the downtown area. A decision she says she will make before sundown.
The news caps day five of protesters on the streets and in just the last hour or so, out on the 101 Freeway, right in the middle of rush hour. It is day three of the National Guard troops on the scene. Day one of active duty Marines standing by and significant developments today surrounding it all, including the best we can tell, a first nationwide National Guard troops appearing to be present if not taking part in an ICE immigration arrest.
Three soldiers, one covering his face, armed, forming a perimeter around an ICE agent.
President Trump spoke out on Los Angeles several times today, including just before air time. But before we play you some of what he said, I just want to set the stage because of how sharply what is actually happening in L.A. differs from how he is describing things.
For part of the day, similar to when we left you last night, protesters have gathered around federal buildings downtown. Some clashed with police who were seeking to clear the area for vehicles to pass.
The protesters throwing bottles, mostly officers responding with non- lethal rounds, then dispersing the crowd. But again, like last night and unlike Sunday, the scenes, though tense, have not erupted into anything worse and as it has been from the beginning, all this is taking place in a very small part of a very large city. Now contrast that with the picture President Trump painted today at Fort Bragg.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Have you heard of the place where I've deployed thousands of National Guard troops and hundreds of Marines to protect federal law enforcement from the attacks of a vicious and violent mob and some of the radical left. They say, oh, that's not nice. Well, we didn't do it. There wouldn't be a Los Angeles would be burning today, just like their houses were burning a number of months ago.
We will not allow federal agents to be attacked, and we will not allow an American city to be invaded and conquered by a foreign enemy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Now, just to be clear, it's not.
Now, California's governor did not want the National Guard sent in. But today, a judge refused the state's request to immediately block the deployment, setting arguments on the matter for Thursday.
Meantime, 700 Marines bused in from nearby Twentynine Palms have not yet been deployed. Officials tell CNN many of them are undergoing additional training, which contradicts what Defense Secretary Hegseth told lawmakers in testimony today, namely that, "All of the units on the ground have been fully trained in their capabilities." He was also asked about the legal justification for federalizing the guard.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. PETE AGUILAR (D-CA): Ten USC of the U.S. Code 12-406 as a legal basis that the President used, cites three examples and circumstances for the guard, invasion by a foreign nation, rebellion or dangerous rebellion against the authority of the government of the United States, or the President is unable, for, with regular forces to execute the laws of the United States, which authority is triggered here to justify the use?
PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE SECRETARY: I don't know, you just read it yourself and people can listen themselves, but it sounds like all three to me. If you've got millions of illegals and you don't know where they're coming from, they're fleeing -- they're waving flags from foreign countries and assaulting police officers and law enforcement officers, that's a problem -- AGUILAR: -- Laws of United States.
HEGSETH: Now, the governor of California is unable to execute the laws of the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: So the proclamation covering this, by the way, does not mention Los Angeles specifically. It is open ended, raising concerns among some legal scholars that it leaves the door open to federalizing and mobilizing Guard troops anywhere and anytime the President sees fit, something the President himself alluded to talking about his military parade this weekend in Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: If there's any protester wants to come out, they will be met with very big force. By the way, for those people that want to protest, they're going to be met with very big force.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: And if there is any doubt about where the President now stands with respect to using troops on U.S. soil, listen to what he said about Los Angeles shortly before air time tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I just want to see peace. If there's peace, we get out. If there's even a chance of no peace, we stay there until there's peace and a lot of people are being arrested. The rioters or whatever you want to call them, they better know a lot of people are being arrested. They're going to be in jail for a long time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:05:30]
BERMAN: All right, let's get right to CNN's Nick Watt, who is outside the federal detention center in downtown L.A.
Nick, what are you seeing on the ground there tonight?
NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, lots of LAPD officers that you can see behind me keeping the peace and also making the point that they're capable of keeping the peace. As the politicians have said, from California and from the city, they do not want the National Guard here. They don't believe they are needed.
Now, as you mentioned, three hours till dark, the mayor might institute a limited curfew, probably around this area. This is where it kind of kicked off last night with some fronting up between the National Guard and the protesters. So a heavy, heavy police presence before any of that happens. Now, most of the day, John was pretty quiet. Then about 2:30 in the afternoon, suddenly it kicked off.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WATT (voice over): A flash of anger on a hot, tense afternoon. A bus pulling into the detention center was the spark. The National Guard holding the line, then a snatch squad out to make an arrest. Everyone ordered to leave the area. Another arrest.
(PROTESTERS singing.)
WATT (voice over): Plenty of peaceful protesters and local politicians also don't want the National Guard here or the 700 Marines deployed to L.A. but still awaiting orders.
ADM. JAMES STAVRIDIS (RET), CNN SENIOR MILITARY ANALYST: These are the most experienced highly blooded shock proofs in the world. But putting active duty U.S. Marines into this situation I think is dangerous and they're not well trained for the mission.
WATT (voice over): Mayor Karen Bass calls this a grand experiment.
MAYOR KAREN BASS (D) LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: If you can do this to the nation's second-largest city maybe the administration is hoping that this will be a signal to everybody, everywhere, to fear them that your federal government that historically has protected you can come in and take over.
TRUMP: Very simply, we will liberate Los Angeles and make it free, clean and safe again. It's happening very quickly. What you're witnessing in California is a full blown assault on peace, on public order.
WATT (voice over): In reality, there has been violence, but it's been contained to a small area of the city.
BASS: The unrest that has happened are a few blocks within the downtown area. Having said that, though, the violence and the damage is unacceptable, it is not going to be tolerated and individuals will be arrested and prosecuted.
WATT (voice over): Sparked and sustained, says the mayor by ICE immigration raids and the fear they're spreading. One state representative called those raids dark, disgusting events, adding Los Angeles was targeted because they hate our immigrants for the color of their skin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: And Nick Watt is back with us. Nick, what is expected to happen there tonight as the sun goes down?
WATT: Well, this time yesterday, John, it was already beginning to get tense. Stuff was already happening. That is not the case right now. As I say, huge, huge police presence. Listen, we were already detained this afternoon after that little fracas outside the detention center and that, my producer, was told that if he was caught in one of these kettles again, he would be arrested. So, the LAPD, everybody else here taking no chances, locking this down, they do not want to see what happened last night happening again. Plenty of police on the scene and plenty of others who locals would rather not be here -- John.
BERMAN: All right, Nick Watt, great to have you there. Stay safe.
Demonstrations against ICE are now happening in several large cities across the country. Footage from Chicago, where protesters are gathering at federal plaza, the same tonight around federal facilities in Lower Manhattan, with people also out today in San Francisco and Philadelphia.
With us now, CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller, who once served as the LAPD's counter-terror chief, former federal judge Shira Scheindlin and former ICE chief of staff Jason Houser.
John, I just want to start with you to talk about what we're seeing from the protesters themselves. What are you hearing from law enforcement in terms of what they're doing?
[20:10:02]
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: You know, it's interesting because every day that they are in contact with law enforcement, and some of these protesters aren't people who just came out in the migrant issue, these are experienced protesters involved in multiple issues. As they go, they learn.
So, let's talk about what police have been documenting in terms of what they've been facing from the protesters. They've talked about what weapons have the protesters armed themselves with. And over the course of the last four or five days, what they've seen is blunt force weapons, metal pipes, baseball bats, explosives. You saw a lot of that video, right?
Commercial grade fireworks being fired at police. And so far, one Molotov cocktail, a couple of nights ago -- that individual charged now with attempted murder. Bottles, rocks, bricks, concrete blocks, and using their own chemical agents, deploying their own pepper spray, smoke grenades. It's really interesting when the police are going after people in the crowd who may have thrown or sprayed something at them, they deploy smoke so that the police can't see as they retreat.
On the other hand, they also have defensive measures and aside from that, which is we've been seeing more gas masks being deployed, face shields, goggles, gloves. They've even been using leaf blowers, think about that. When police are deploying gas, leaf blowers to blow the gas back in the other direction, communicating not on cell phones. They're operating with an assumption that their phones may be being monitored, which I think is a long shot, but they're using handheld encrypted radios. So were seeing that level of sophistication increase by the day.
BERMAN: Judge Scheindlin, we mentioned that a federal judge has denied California's request to immediately block the federal government's move to send in the military. The judge will hear arguments on Thursday, but what do you read into this unwillingness to get involved right now?
SHIRA SCHEINDLIN, FORMER FEDERAL JUDGE: Yes, I think he's just being cautious and wanting to have a full hearing and a full briefing on the legal issues. If he were to have stopped it, it would have been immediately appealed to the Ninth Circuit, if not directly to the Supreme Court.
I think he didn't want that. He wanted to let things settle as long as it's safe to do that. And right now, despite that description you just gave John, we're talking about peaceful protests in general -- as a general matter. And this President doesn't seem to understand the right to protest. He's talking about words like rebellion and insurrection. He doesn't like protests, that's clear to me from the clips you showed.
BERMAN: Jason Houser, you know, we did show a photo the likes of which we really haven't seen before. National Guard troops appearing to be on the scene of ICE operations in Los Angeles. We don't know what's going on out of the frame of this photo, but we see what we see here. What do you make of this? Have you seen U.S. military before in proximity of an ICE operation like this?
JASON HOUSER, FORMER ICE CHIEF-OF-STAFF: No, I haven't, and I clearly, you know, being an Afghan veteran and served in the military, that has -- that picture looks to me under the DoD doctrine as a unified action. And now we have the blending of immigration enforcement here domestically with military support and logistics.
That is different than the items that Mr. Miller talked about there, perfectly, which kind of outlined that sort of dealing with the protests in having the National Guard and local law enforcement state and local deal with those individuals and those that are causing harm to be to be arrested.
That is separate than having military officers, service members integrated into domestic enforcement operations. ICE operations is not like playing "Call of Duty," and it is nothing like the sort of the capabilities that the Marine Corps, which would bring to the table and the sort of lethality and the sort of capability and in sort of the tactics and techniques sort of integrating military forces into domestic immigration operations against those that have illegal status here a few weeks ago that are non-criminals, is extremely dangerous, both for the communities and for the service members themselves.
BERMAN: You know, John, to that end, the Marines getting additional training today, despite what Secretary Hegseth said that they're fully trained in this additional training. What kind of training do you think that is?
MILLER: Well, what the Marine commandant testified today was that they had been trained in de-escalation and crowd control. These are incredibly, highly trained Marines, though this is the Second Marine Seventh Battalion. They come from Twentynine Palms. They are specialists in operating in desert environments in close quarters combat. They're a rifle company. So, this would be a fairly dramatic departure from the work that they did from Guadalcanal to Anbar Province. This is a fairly famous unit.
BERMAN: Yes, a little bit of a different operation there. Judge Scheindlin, talk to me about why a judge might be hesitant to tell the Pentagon what to do or get involved with Pentagon operations.
SCHEINDLIN: It's a fair point, and I think that's why he's being cautious. Usually you think of this as the executive branch, but here the executive branch should have meant the governor of the State of California and the point is, they federalized the National Guard, I shouldn't say they, he did, the President did in an executive order and that's not the way it's done. It should have been through the governor. And the LAPD seems to have had this under good control, as you as we've seen. They were doing it right now and they have experience in policing protests. And as we just discussed, these Marines are highly trained, but not in policing protests.
[20:15:56]
BERMAN: Jason, you had an op-ed in "The New York Times" back in April where you said federal law enforcement under President Trump is engaged in dangerous political theater. What do you mean by that?
HOUSER: Yes, what I mean by that is this White House has clearly taken the stance in the position that the rest of non-criminal migrants is about hitting quotas and when you take and you turn, you know, most of our federal law enforcement and now what we see with the National Guard and potentially the Marine Corps turning towards focusing on non-criminal migrants instead of National Security and public safety threats.
The work that ICE does is extremely important to keep us safe and manage the immigration enforcement process, and that needs to be on those that want to do our communities harm. But what we see here is nothing close to that. This is hitting quotas put in place arrest quotas by White House bureaucrats enforcing ICE, and now sort of go into these dangerous situations and just the contrast just a little bit, Marines are -- you know, they're trained in suppressing fire and in mortar exercises, you know, going in tactically into homes.
ICE immigration enforcement work is literally arresting in this administration targeting non-criminal migrant families that they may have just worked a 12-hour -- father worked a 12-hour shift and the children are at home. That's a very dangerous situation. If you don't have the skills and the background and the training, that can be very combustible, both for, in this instance, the military, other federal law enforcement agencies that are not trained in that. And then for the ERO and ICE officers that are executing those arrests.
BERMAN: Jason Houser, Judge Scheindlin, John Miller, thank you all for being with us.
With me now is Congressman Jimmy Gomez, a Democrat who represents California's 34th congressional district, which does include downtown Los Angeles. You're in Washington, Congressman, what are you hearing from your staff and constituents back home in Los Angeles tonight?
REP. JIMMY GOMEZ (D-CA): One of the things is that, it's pretty calm besides some of the scenes you saw earlier, pretty calm. Actually, my wife and my toddler, who's going to be three, are going downtown to attend a prayer vigil to kind of really show people that people in L.A. are mostly peaceful. We do condemn any violence towards law enforcement officers and the people you see on the screen don't represent 99 percent of the people who are concerned about this issue.
So, we want to make sure that people know that, that there are two sides to every story. But this story is mainly one of peaceful protesters that are coming out against Trump's crackdown on undocumented immigrants. And he's not keeping his pledge to go after criminals. What I say is that you never see them going after MS-13 gang members at a car wash, at a restaurant, or at a day labor site. They don't have day jobs, so they should go after them and leave the good people of California alone.
BERMAN: You know, we mentioned that ICE posted a photo on social media, some photos that appear to show National Guardsmen providing support around a perimeter during an ICE officer detention. Were you aware, if this photo is showing that it appears to that that you have National Guard troop at an arrest or detention? Were you aware the guard was being used in this way, and what's your view of it?
GOMEZ: No, they're not allowed. They're only there to provide force protection. They're not allowed to be part of the enforcement of immigration laws. So, we're going to look into it. And one of the things I want to be clear, sometimes what you see is not what really is occurring. So, I want to get more information before making a judgment. Yes, that is shocking. I want to get more intel before saying one way or the other, but they shouldn't be doing that. They should be really focused on protecting federal property and making sure that no harm comes to the people of Los Angeles.
BERMAN: So, the President, just before we came to air, said that he intended to keep the National Guard in Los Angeles until there was no more danger, until there was total peace. What do you think that means? How long do you think that means?
GOMEZ: Well, we knew that it was going to at least be 60 days or potentially longer. It's at the discretion of the Department of Defense or the Secretary of Defense. So we know that he wants to keep this there. He wants to keep this in the news. He wants to hit his, "numbers," his targets. So, I believe he's going to try to make this thing last as long as possible. And what's going to end up happening is I think you're going to see a dying down -- eventually, a dying down of the protests, and you're going to see more and more people come out against what this crackdown looks like.
[20:20:42]
This guy, you know, as you said earlier in the program, his executive order doesn't just apply to L.A. it applies to the other, you know, other states, the entire country. So, people need to understand what's happening in Los Angeles can happen in their own hometown and in their own state, Republican or Democrat.
BERMAN: Congressman Jaime Gomez from California, from Los Angeles, thanks so much for being with us tonight.
Next, former Trump National Security Advisor John Bolton's take on the President's decision to send in the Guard and Marines. And later, a conversation I had with about all of this with New Jersey Senator and former Big City Mayor Cory Booker.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:25:47]
BERMAN: President Trump continued to defend his decision to deploy the National Guard and Marines to the protests in Los Angeles today. Speaking to troops at Fort Bragg in North Carolina.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I want to applaud the courage and the strength of the incredible troops who are right now standing guard to protect federal property and personnel and uphold the supremacy of federal law.
That's what they're doing, they're protecting our ICE agents. They're protecting the police in Los Angeles.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Whether or not the President's order is within the bounds of his power is still in question. A federal judge in San Francisco will hear California's challenge to the Trump administration's order to send in the Guard on Thursday.
With us now is John Bolton, who served as National Security adviser during the first Trump administration, as ambassador to the U.N. under President George W. Bush. Ambassador, thanks so much for being with us. From where you sit, how serious do you believe the threat of the protesters on the ground in Los Angeles is, and does it justify 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines?
JOHN BOLTON, FORMER TRUMP NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Well, I think a lot of what's going on here is performance art both by President Trump and by Governor Newsom. I don't see from the evidence so far that this is anything other than protest with some violence in it. And, you know, conservatives are federalists in this country.
We believe that the President does not have general supervisory authority over state and local governments. The people there vote for their leaders, they may get bad ones, incompetent ones, but it's not for the President to come in to make a point, which is what I think he's trying to do.
I think he's clearly got the authority to do this. It's the wisdom of what he's doing and the extent of it and the political manipulation that's engaged here that I think is troubling.
BERMAN: Not a conservative action. You wouldn't characterize it as such?
BOLTON: Not at all. The federal involvement, and it can come, should be the last resort. It's fundamentally the responsibility of state and local governments, not the federal government and when federal troops, whether it's been federalizing National Guard or sending in regular military units, has come because the state and local officials believe they have lost control or they're actively thwarting what the federal government's responsibilities are. There's a lot of trump rhetoric to that effect, but very little evidence.
I think part of the problem is the governor of California wants this political fight just as much as Donald Trump does. It's the country that's suffering, not their political careers.
BERMAN: Let me ask you a few other things that have legal angles here. We saw a picture of what appeared to be National Guard troops protecting ICE officers arresting someone. We really haven't seen anything like this before. If it is what it appears to show here, what do you think of that in terms of the use of the National Guard?
BOLTON: Well, I think that's within the authority that that Trump has cited. And I think courts will give enormous deference to the President there. I think Trump is trying to make more of something than is actually going on, because it's to his political benefit to play up this as being, as he's now calling it, in some cases, an insurrection. Now, that may be to lay the groundwork to go and use another authority, the Insurrection Act, that would give federal troops a bigger role.
I think that would be a mistake, too. I don't see this as an insurrection, though. I think it's fair if federal law enforcement or other intelligence sources see outside money at play, if there's any hint of foreign involvement in this, that's a different story. There's no evidence of that yet.
BERMAN: I want to play something for you that the President said at Fort Bragg today. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: People that burn the American flag should go to jail for one year. That's what they should be doing one year. And we'll see if we can get that done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:30:03]
BERMAN: That's a new statement from the president, but it's an old argument, right, that flag burning should be against the law. What do you think of that?
BOLTON: I don't think it's unconstitutional to criminalize flag burning, so I don't particularly have any problem with that.
BERMAN: OK. I do want to ask you about something else he said today, which is he said, if people show up to protest this military parade that's happening in Washington, that the protesters will be met with force. He didn't say if the protesters break the law, he just said if they come out to protest, essentially they should watch out. How about that messaging?
BOLTON: Look, I think that's mouth. I mean, this is performance art, and he's trying to show how tough he is. It's a character defect, there's no doubt about it. I don't think it's a serious threat.
The military service members marching in that parade are not going to take action against protesters unless somebody comes up and physically attacks them. The whole thing is bluff.
BERMAN: How does this de-escalate, Ambassador?
BOLTON: Well, I think the protesters ought to see that they're not winning friends and influencing people. You know, you've shown on air tonight a lot of the protests in L.A. in particular are blocking traffic on some of the freeways. You want to make people really angry really fast.
At the end of a hot day in June when they're in rush hour traffic trying to go home to see their families and have dinner, go ahead and block the freeways. That'll really produce a positive effect, won't it?
BERMAN: Ambassador John Bolton, appreciate talking to you tonight. Thank you so much.
So the protests in Los Angeles are leading to an explosion of conspiracy theories, misinformation and AI-generated images rocketing across social media. It's all further ratcheting up tensions on the streets of L.A. and across the country.
Here to separate fact from fiction, CNN Senior Correspondent Donie O'Sullivan. Donie, tell us what you found on this.
DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So John, I mean, any major news event these days, of course, there's just a slew of misinformation, especially with something like this where as well as just people trying to figure out the facts, there are people on both sides trying to push particular narratives.
What we've seen really used here throughout the past few days is a lot of AI. So those sort of deepfake videos and audio, things like that. There was a video that purported to be, as you can see there on screen actually, of a -- purported to be a National Guardsman who was speaking. It generated a lot of discussion and likes online, but it turned out that it was a fake. It was an AI video.
A lot of times with videos like this, if you take a closer look in the background, the LAPD sign actually said LACD. But of course, like, when you're watching these things on your phone screens as well, also seeing when it comes to AI, you know, there's so many AI chatbots now, many of which are built into some of the major social media platforms. We've seen some anecdotal reporting that you can like, send the AI bot an image or a video and say, is this from today or X week? And the AI chat will always come back a lot of the time with an -- a authoritative sounding answer and say, yes or no, but it's been getting things wrong. So it's been claiming that videos that are actually from this week are not from this week and vice versa.
BERMAN: Obviously, people can be fooled really well without AI also.
O'SULLIVAN: Yes.
BERMAN: What else is out there?
O'SULLIVAN: Yes, well, look, I mean, just into the fear side of this, I mean, because misinformation -- not all misinformation necessarily comes from people who are deliberately trying to trick others, right? Sometimes it's just based off fear and misunderstanding. So a video did go viral on Friday of a man who said that ICE had showed up at a school graduation. That later turned out to be false.
So again, but that's the sort of thing where, you know, it's fear that can quickly catch on. On the sort of flip side of that, though, Ted Cruz, Senator Ted Cruz from Texas, on Sunday, he posted a picture on X, a video on X. He said, this is not peaceful. It turns out that that image, which, you know, he was reporting was from this week, was actually from protests back in 2020.
So you also see that a lot of images, videos being recirculated, recycled.
BERMAN: Donie O'Sullivan, you're going to be a busy man as long as these protests go on. Thank you --
O'SULLIVAN: Thanks.
BERMAN: -- very much for being here.
Waiting here from Los Angeles, Mayor Karen Bass, possibly about the curfew. She said earlier she has been contemplating and will bring you what she has to say when her press conference begins.
Meantime, as we said, protests are happening beyond Los Angeles, including right here in New York. In lower Manhattan, marchers have brought traffic in some areas to a standstill. Not that traffic needs help to go to a standstill in New York. We're going to take you there live next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:39:09]
BERMAN: All right, some breaking news. As we wait to hear from the Los Angeles mayor, a source familiar with the matter tells CNN that a curfew for certain parts of downtown Los Angeles will be enacted this evening. Officials are expected to announce the specific details and timing very shortly. So stand by for that. Separately, California's governor is expected to speak at 9:30 Eastern Time for what is being billed by his office as a major address. Meantime, as most of the attention tonight is on Los Angeles, including on the possibility of this curfew, protesters are out elsewhere.
CNN's Shimon Prokupecz is here in New York where anti-ICE demonstrators are on the street. Shimon, what are you seeing?
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So we -- when this first started at around 5:00, John, you know, significant numbers, a significant number of people came out, probably in the thousands. And one of the largest demonstrations that I've seen in New York City in quite some time.
[20:40:03]
And we all gathered in lower Manhattan in Foley Square right outside the ICE offices. We have now, the marchers have left that area and have been walking through pretty much lower Manhattan, now in the West Village. And as you can see, there are still several hundred protesters here holding signs.
There are more behind me as Avelio (ph) here is showing you. They stopped at one point at Washington Square Park and we thought the night would be over. But they have now decided that they want to keep going and they are now going back downtown to Federal Plaza where the ICE offices are, where the FBI is and where all the courthouses are. And we'll see what happens next.
Significant in this, John, is that the NYPD to this point has allowed them to sort of do their own thing. They have not impeded them in any way. They have not stopped them. They have not detoured them in any way.
We have not even seen any police officers around these protesters. So for now, the NYPD is not stopping them from marching, is not getting in their way. And so this will continue.
This is the way they do it here in New York City. As you know, they really wait for them to tire out. And as long as things remain peaceful and there isn't any significant blockage of traffic or pedestrian, they'll let them go all night.
So for now, this continues. We head downtown and we see here what's next, John.
BERMAN: All right. Shimon Prokupecz with the marchers here in Manhattan. Keep us posted, Shimon, as to what you see.
Let's go to CNN's Whitney Wild now who's in Chicago. Whitney, give us a sense of what you are seeing there.
WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, you can see behind me, we're right in the middle of the crowd. This is actually only half the size of the crowd because when they were coming up one of these streets across the river -- so, you know, Chicago has this big iconic bridges -- the police actually split the crowd.
So they allowed some parts of the crowd to go over the bridge and then they formed a police line. People did not like what they saw, John. It got a little tense. There was a scuffle at the police line. But for the most part, they were able to redirect those crowds.
Right now we are walking on Clark. We're at Clark and Randolph. This is right in the heart of downtown Chicago. I mean, this is right where all the, you know, major federal buildings are, the city buildings. This protest has been going on now for more than two hours.
We covered protests last year. This is much bigger, much louder. And there is a mix of issues here that people want to bring attention to. There, you know, chanting against ICE. There are people here who are wearing that kaseya (ph) in support of Palestine. So a lot of issues here that are being discussed.
John, there was just one incident that we know of, one major incident. The video that we see here, I think you guys have it on your screen, shows a car driving through a crowd. That was at Wabash in Monroe, again, right downtown Chicago.
And we are still gathering details from the Chicago Police Department about whether or not anybody was injured, what happened with that driver if that driver was arrested. But that was the major incident. What you see is that car kind of drive through and then clip protesters.
But otherwise, John, what you see around me is exactly what's been happening here for two hours plus right in the heart of downtown Chicago. Thank you.
BERMAN: With no signs of dying out just yet, our reporters getting their steps in.
Whitney Wild, thank you very much.
Coming up, I spoke with New Jersey Democratic Senator Cory Booker about the protests in Los Angeles and President Trump's handling of the situation.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
SEN. CORY BOOKER (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I condemn people who attack police officers. I condemn those things. This president doesn't. Remember, he pardoned people right here in this Capitol who savagely beat police officers, some of them who would later die. He pardoned them.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:48:10]
BERMAN: We are continuing to monitor the breaking news out of Los Angeles where you can see there are marchers, there are people on the streets. It has been mostly peaceful tonight, as we mentioned earlier. The president tonight said that the military will remain in the city until there's peace. Local and state leaders have been pushing back on that notion.
I spoke just before air with New Jersey Senator Cory Booker.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
BERMAN: Senator Booker, your Democratic colleague, Senator John Fetterman from over the border in Pennsylvania, wrote on social media, quote, "I unapologetically stand for free speech, peaceful demonstrations, and immigration, but this is not that. This is anarchy and true chaos. My party loses the moral high ground when we refuse to condemn setting cars on fire, destroying buildings, and assaulting law enforcement."
What do you think of what Senator Fetterman says there?
BOOKER: Well, let's be clear. Everyone believes in the strength of law and order and stands against, unequivocally, violence against police officers. So we have to make sure that we are enforcing the law. This is not about enforcing the law.
The California -- excuse me -- the Los Angeles chief of police said what Donald Trump has done is undermining his ability to create a safe and secure environment in Los Angeles because of the logistics and the coordination that is just not there.
What Donald Trump has done is violated the law. It says in Article 10 of the Federal Code, Section 12406, that the president is to go through, shall go through, not may, go through the governor's office just so that we can have that kind of coordination and alignment of work when it comes to keeping peace in our streets.
So no one is arguing against stopping violent protesters. What we have right now is a president who time and time again, in this short time he has been in office, is violating laws. This is why judge after judge, ones that he's even appointed, have been stopping him from doing many of the things that he's been doing.
[20:50:07]
And in this case, I reread the statute today, Article 10, Section 12406 explicitly says he should be working with the governor of a state, not going around them in this provocative action.
BERMAN: I will say, at least today, a federal judge refused to step in to stop it, at least for now. No emergency injunction. But on the subject of emergencies, it's interesting. There was a New York Times analysis piece which quoted a lot of scholars saying that the president is creating emergencies or the notion of emergencies to take certain actions.
To what extent do you think that's what's happening? Not just with this, but with tariffs and other things. BOOKER: Well, he's been doing it consistently. We saw him declare emergency powers to do something --
(END VIDEOCLIP)
BERMAN: All right, that was a conversation with Cory Booker earlier. Let's listen to the Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.
MAYOR KAREN BASS, LOS ANGELES: -- stop the looting. Many businesses have now been affected by or vandalized. Last night, there were 23 businesses that were looted. And I think that if you drive through downtown L.A., the graffiti is everywhere and has caused significant damages to businesses and a number of properties.
So my message to you is, if you do not live or work in downtown L.A., avoid the area. Law enforcement will arrest individuals who break the curfew and you will be prosecuted. Hundreds of officers from police and sheriff departments from across the region and state are working alongside LAPD through a unified command structure.
The curfew will be in place tonight from 8:00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m. I want to thank the governor for his partnership and especially thank our state and local leaders and deputies, officers and deputies who are working tirelessly.
So curfew guidance, again, it will begin at 8:00 p.m. tonight and go until 6:00 a.m. tomorrow. I will consult with elected leaders and law enforcement officials tomorrow on the continuation of the curfew, but we certainly expect for it to last for several days.
The curfew will be -- the curfew area will be between the 5 freeway and to the 110 and the 10 freeway to where the 110 freeway and 5 freeway merge. You look and look at the map and you can see that the city of Los Angeles is a massive area, 502 square miles. The area of downtown where the curfew will take place is 1 square mile.
I think it is important to point this out, not to minimize the vandalism and violence that has taken place there, it has been significant, but it is extremely important to know that what is happening in this 1 square mile is not affecting the city. Some of the imagery of the protests and the violence gives the appearance as though this is a citywide crisis and it is not.
So who, everyone must abide by this curfew. Limited exceptions will apply for residents, people traveling to and from work and credentialed media representatives. With that I would like to turn it over to Chief Jim McDonnell.
CHIEF JIM MCDONNELL, LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPT.: Thank you, Mayor Bass. And good afternoon, everyone. As the Mayor stated, a curfew for the impacted areas shown here will go into effect tonight. And I want to be absolutely clear that if you are within that designated curfew zone between the hours of 8:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. and are not exempt under the order, you are going to be subject to arrest.
The curfew boundaries are as follows. From the 5 freeway to the 110 freeway and from the 10 freeway to the point where the 110 and the 5 merge. Easier to look at it on that map for description. The curfew is necessary -- a necessary measure to protect lives and safeguard property following several consecutive days of growing unrest throughout the city.
Since Saturday we've seen a concerning escalation in unlawful and dangerous behavior. On Saturday, LAPD officers made 27 arrests. On Sunday that number rose to 40. By Monday arrests totaled 114 and today alone we've made 197 arrests.
The recent days it's been as a part of a unified command with our partner agencies who have responded through mutual aid compact and been very, very helpful to us and we're very thankful for that participation.
Of those I mentioned for today, 130 were arrested near Commercial and Alameda. An additional 67 were taken into custody after unlawfully occupying the 101 freeway near Commercial Street. Our CHP partners were instrumental in that.
So again, let me be clear that this behavior blocking freeways, city streets and on ramps, refusing to comply with lawful dispersal orders and interfering with public safety operations is dangerous, unlawful and won't be tolerated.
[20:55:06]
If you are in the curfew zone during the restricted hours without that legal exemption, you will be arrested. If you assault an officer in any fashion, you will be arrested.
We're operating under a unified command with our partners at the Los Angeles City Fire Department, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, the California Highway Patrol. We're fully coordinated and our shared mission is clear -- to restore peace and ensure the safety of everyone in our city.
We previously mobilized part of our department at LAPD while keeping our ability to be able to provide the services that our community deserves going. We're going to be adding to that deployment with additional internal LAPD resources in the days ahead.
The curfew does not apply to residents within the designated area, individuals experiencing homelessness, credentialed media or public safety and emergency personnel. To be clear again, that's not about silencing voices or suppressing lawful protest.
When that expression crosses into unlawful conduct, when lives are put at risk and when our city safety is compromised, we must act and we will act. We urge all Angelenos to cooperate with these public safety measures. Our shared goal is to protect our communities and return to a state of calm and safety for everyone.
Thank you.
BASS: Let me introduce now the councilwoman who represents the majority of the District, Councilwoman Ysabel Jurado.
COUNCILWOMAN YSABEL JURADO, LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCIL: Thank you -- thank you, Mayor. I'm here today not just as a councilmember who represents downtown LA, but as an advocate who deeply loves and believes in this community. The history of Los Angeles began right here in downtown where 200 years later, the grouping of historic neighborhoods remains the beating heart of our city, a place with rich culture and deep community.
Downtown L.A. is a place where workers clock in before sunrise and small business owners know their customers by name. Where neighbors greet each other on the sidewalk and where generations of families have built lives, shared stories, made memories together side by side.
It's one of the most vibrant and resilient and hopeful parts of our city, but too often downtown L.A. is treated like a backdrop for major events, not the living, breathing community it is. And right now, it's hurting.
I am deeply proud that downtown has always been the place where Angelenos from all over the city gather to peacefully protest. I support the right to demonstrate, and the Mayor and I know that right is sacred, and at times it's necessary, but we must also face that -- what's happening right now.
When these peaceful rallies end, and the protesters head home, another element moves in. Opportunists who come in under the cover of a peaceful protest to ravage and destroy. They are ruining local small businesses, smashing storefronts, and threatening the safety of the very community that --
BERMAN: All right, we were listening to the Los Angeles Mayor and the Los Angeles Police Commissioner announcing a curfew for parts of downtown Los Angeles, about 1 square mile, effective at 8:00 p.m. local time. That's 8:00 p.m. Pacific time until 6:00 a.m.
Back with me, CNN's John Miller. 8:00 p.m. is a pretty early time for a curfew to begin. What do you think they're doing here, and why?
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: I think when you look at what Chief Jim McDonnell just told us, with basically between LAPD and California Highway Patrol just this afternoon and going into this evening, that's a total of 264 arrests. They're looking at the pace they're going at in terms of disorder and arrests.
And number one, they're sending a message, which is different from yesterday's message, which is, we'll walk you around, we'll wear you down, too. If you're violating the orders, you're getting arrested if you're taking some illegal action, that's number one.
And two, by putting the early curfew in, that means they've already seen a pace where you've got a lot of violations that they can put a cap on by 8:00, and then after that -- and this is key, you don't need to see somebody breaking a window, doing looting. All you need to see them is out and about, and you already have probable cause to make that arrest. So I think they're just trying to get a hold on that 1 square mile of downtown away from disorder.
BERMAN: They want a quiet night, and they want a quiet early night as well. As you said, it's just 1 square mile, though. The city's about 500 square miles, the mayor just said right there.
So we've got about a minute left here, John. What's to keep people from moving somewhere else?
MILLER: Well, I think that the center of activity has been around the federal courthouse, around the Civic Center, and around the activities of the National Guard and the ICE people there. And I think what they're saying is, let's remove the hot spot from the darkness, and then everybody is either going to go home or come up with some other plan.
But it will relieve -- I mean, right now they're operating with 725 officers deployed in this square mile --
BERMAN: Right.
MILLER: -- which they can then spread out to other places and respond to other jobs (ph).
BERMAN: All right, the news, we're about a couple hours away from a curfew beginning in downtown Los Angeles. We will wait and see the impact that has. We are also waiting to hear from California Governor Gavin Newsom, said to be delivering a major address shortly.
The news continues. "The Source with Kaitlan Collins" starts right now.
