Return to Transcripts main page

The Lead with Jake Tapper

Active Duty Marines Deployed in L.A. Riots as Trump Defends Deploying National Guard; Rep. Nanette Barragan (D-CA) is Interviewed About the Situation in Los Angeles; California Suing Trump Administration Over national Guard Deployment. Sources: 200 Marines Being Mobilized In Response To LA. Protests; Israel Intercepts Gaza- Bound Aid Ship, Detaining Activist; Russia Launches Massive Drone Attack Ahead Of Prisoner Exchange; Aired 5-6p ET

Aired June 09, 2025 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

JONAH GOLDBERG, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: -- you know, the George Floyd riots are one of the things that moved a lot of working class blacks and Latinos right work [ph]. This myth that somehow direct action helps the left is a lie.

KASIE HUNT, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT & HOST: Alright. I'm going to have to apologize, unfortunately, to you Matt and Jamal. Jake Tapper is standing by here for "The Lead." Jake, take it away.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Thanks so much, Kasie. We'll see you back in "The Arena" tomorrow.

President Trump says National Guard troops he sent to L.A. are doing fantastic. "The Lead" starts right now. First, the National Guard. Now U.S. Marines on the way to Los Angeles as President Trump defends his deployment, saying L.A. leaders were afraid to confront protesters. But despite the images we see, the city and state are insisting everything in L.A. is under control, and no troops were needed. So what was really going on when Trump took this historic step of commandeering California National Guard troops?

Plus, the stunning $400 million lawsuit brought by Director Justin Baldoni against actors Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds. A judge just dismissed the case, and we will talk to Blake Lively's attorney.

And a brand new study on children and screen time, why researchers say too much watching and scrolling can be both a cause and a symptom of bad behavior.

Welcome to "The Lead." I'm Jake Tapper and we're beginning with our "National Lead" and breaking in just the last hour. Sources tell CNN that more than 700 U.S. marines, more than 700 U.S. marines have been mobilized to respond to protests in Los Angeles, some of which turned violent over the weekend. One county official called last night, quote, "probably one of the most volatile nights in the city's recent history." Police declared all of Downtown Los Angeles, an area of about five

square miles, an unlawful assembly area after a night of protests turned violent. The Los Angeles police chief late last night saying, quote, "this violence that I've seen is disgusting," unquote.

Some of the protesters, or more accurately rioters, shot commercial grade fireworks at law enforcement officers. Others set self-driving cars on fire. CNN witnessed police using flashbangs and tear gas to disperse crowds. Police arrested 27 people just yesterday alone. All of this started on Friday. That's when Immigrations and Customs Enforcement or ICE conducted workplace raids in L.A.

The Department of Homeland Security said operations in L.A. last week resulted in the arrest of 118 undocumented immigrants, including five gang members and others with prior criminal histories of drug trafficking, assault, cruelty to children, domestic violence, robbery, and alien smuggling.

The roots of this aggressive ICE activity last week may have been seen last month, when top Trump aide, Stephen Miller, sources tell CNN, demanded that immigration agents ramp up deportation efforts and seek to arrest 3,000 undocumented immigrants a day, 3,000, that's triple, triple the number of daily arrests from the early days of Trump's term.

In response to the ICE action in L.A. on Friday, some protesters began gathering outside the Metropolitan Detention Center. But as day turned to night, things got out of hand, not only downtown, but about 10 miles east in Paramount, California. Now, law enforcement says that protesters moved in on them, and officers used flashbangs to disperse the crowd. The FBI's Los Angeles field officer announced a $50,000 reward for information on a man that the LAPD says assaulted an officer and damaged property.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said ICE gave city officials no warnings of these raids, which made it difficult, if not impossible, to plan for quelling any spontaneous protests. Then on Saturday, President Trump took the rare major step of deploying the California National Guard despite the objections of the Democratic governor of California, Gavin Newsom.

This was the time a president called in the National Guard without a state's request or consent since Lyndon Johnson did it in 1965. President Trump yesterday told reporters that any violence against any law enforcement officers is unacceptable.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I have a little statement. They say, they spit, we hit. And I told them, nobody's going to spit on our police officers. Nobody's going to spit on our military, which they do is a common thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[17:04:56] TAPPER: Trump offended there by the notion of spitting on police officers or military, while protesting immigration enforcement. He says that's not okay. We would be remiss if we did not point out that it was just four months ago that the very same president pardoned a different group for beating police officers while storming the U.S. Capitol to object to the 2020 election results.

You will never hear Trump or a top deputy, Stephen Miller, call that attack on January 6, 2021 an insurrection, but Stephen Miller did use that term to describe the protests in Los Angeles, calling it, quote, "an insurrection against the laws and sovereignty of the United States." There are quite a few, shall we call them, evolving positions taken by Democrats and Republicans since a year ago, when some Democrats were urging President Biden to federalize the National Guard in Texas to stop that state's Republican governor's anti-immigration, illegal immigration efforts.

And the woman who is now our Homeland Security Secretary, then South Dakota governor, Kristi Noem, took to MAGA media and to Twitter to say, quote, "if Joe Biden federalizes the National Guard, that would be a direct attack on states' rights," unquote. But be that as it may, we are where we are here, and Republicans would argue that Democrats have played a role in all of this by not enforcing immigration laws for decades, setting the stage for President Trump to begin this aggressive pattern of deportations, which he ran and won on.

A new CBS news poll taken before the ICE action in Los Angeles finds that 55 percent of the Americans polled approve of the goals of Trump's deportation program, but 56 percent are not sold on the approach he is using to carry it out. CNN's Kyung Lah is on the ground in Los Angeles for us now with all the latest on how Governor Newsom today is firing back against Trump's actions.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

UNKNOWN: They come for one.

UNKNOWN: They come for us all.

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Calm following chaos in Downtown Los Angeles. A peaceful protest not far from L.A. City Hall.

UNKNOWN: Hey, hey, hey.

LAH (voice-over): And a strong police presence near the Federal Building. All of downtown has been declared an unlawful assembly area. After hundreds of protesters took to the streets in this part of the city, clashing with local law enforcement and the National Guard. The protest sparked by local immigration raids like this one unfolding across Los Angeles.

UNKNOWN: That's fucked up. Look.

LAH (voice-over): Witnesses too afraid to speak on camera, watch, and film as Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested street vendors at gunpoint. Outside the L.A. Coliseum, the site of the Olympic games that will be held here, some protesters violently pushing back against these raids on Sunday, burning cars, defacing buildings. National Guard troops fired back, blasting tear gas and pepper spray. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass blaming the unrest squarely on the Trump administration.

KAREN BASS, MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES: If immigration raids had not happened here, we would not have the disorder that went on last night.

LAH (voice-over): And saying the unrest escalated after hundreds of California National Guard troops arrived on scene Sunday, deployed by President Donald Trump, overriding city and state leaders.

California governor Gavin Newsom saying in a post, the president flamed the fires and illegally acted to federalize the National Guard. California's attorney general added, the state plans to file suit over the order to send in the troops.

ROB BONTA, CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: They did so without authorization from Governor Newsom and against the wishes of local law enforcement who are on the ground.

BASS: It felt like fuel for a fire that was unnecessary. It was a 100 people, 27 people were arrested. There wasn't a reason for this. That is the, concern.

LAH (voice-over): Trump posting that he made a great decision sending in the guard saying otherwise, Los Angeles would be completely obliterated.

TRUMP: The people that are causing the problem are professional agitators or insurrectionists.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAH (via telephone): And what you're looking at live is this crowd. This is a new protest that has sprung up in just the last hour or so, and it is on the move in Los Angeles. We are at Downtown Los Angeles. We're walking with this crowd, and something that I want to point out, Jake, is that this is a very different crowd than the one you just saw in my story.

The group that you saw in my story was a union led protest, a mix of people who are familiar faces in Los Angeles, union leaders, older people, families. This group that's on the walk, definitely not that. So the question will be is what is law enforcement going to do now as this group is starting to walk and move through Los Angeles, Downtown Los Angeles with a goal that I can't quite ascertain from the walk that we're looking at. But it's a sizable crowd, as you can see.

[17:09:58]

TAPPER: Alright. Kyung Lah, thank you so much. Appreciate it. Kyung Lah on the streets of Los Angeles. With us now, Democratic Congresswoman Nanette Barragan of California. Her district, her congressional district includes a community of Paramount, which is just South of Los Angeles. Some protests flared up in Paramount this weekend. Congresswoman, thanks for being here. Appreciate it.

So yesterday, you spoke with CNN's Dana Bash on "State of the Union." You acknowledged that not all the demonstrators have been peaceful, and you said, quote, "those are not the people that are coming out to protest immigration." So who do you think the people who are not peaceful are? Are they outside agitators as President Trump says?

REP. NANETTE BARRAGAN (D-CA): They definitely could be. We've certainly heard some -- could be anarchists, people who are looking for trouble, people who are just, you know, in the evenings, looking for some trouble to make. So, I don't think those are the people that are out to protest the mass deportations. And that's what you're seeing.

You're seeing people angry that you're having mass deportations happening in Los Angeles after months of seeing this administration send ICE agents to hospitals to wait for women to have labor, sitting there in the labor department to separate their kid and try to deport the mother, to schools and take kids. And of course, now just rounding up people.

There is no target enforcement. We know they're going to, like, Home Depot lots to look for people who are looking for jobs. They're not criminals and that is the outrage that you're seeing. And I think that if ICE left, I think if the National Guard left, you would see this all die down. There is a way to do immigration enforcement. It's been done before.

This is just the president's way to escalate things, to cause tension. And I think really to distract what's happening in Washington on all the failures, whether it's the economy tanking, whether the price is going up, whether the millions he's going to take away from health care, this is the master in a show, and this is what he wanted.

TAPPER: I want to get to that in a second but just to -- and point of fact, you said they're not criminals. If somebody from the Trump administration were here, they'd say, they may not be violent criminals, but if they're in this country illegally, they're criminals. You say that deportations can be done or immigration enforcement can be done peacefully.

What's the way to do it peacefully if not raiding places where undocumented folks are? I mean, the position of the Trump administration would be, if you're not in this country legally, you shouldn't be in this country. I mean, that's what they would argue.

BARRAGAN: And so -- and this is a misconception that if you're in this country legally that you're a criminal because it's a civil matter. It's not a criminal matter, but there's a way to go after people. We've been doing this forever and that is they know where the serious criminal offenders are and they send folks out to get them. They don't just go massively round up people.

Think about this, Jake. U.S. Marshall was picked up. U.S. citizens are being picked up. I mean, this is not an effort to really get criminals. It's an effort to see, let's see who we can sweep up along the way. And why are they doing this? Because this president said he was going to deport millions of people and the numbers have not been adding up. You know why? Because there aren't that many serious criminal offenders that are the millions of people that he wants to round up.

So now he's getting our neighbor and our friend and the people that you all know, people that we've been here -- that have been here for decades. And that is, I think, the outrage that you're seeing happening across this country. And it's not just in Los Angeles. Clearly, we've seen protests in other parts of the country, you know, against what is happening.

What the president is doing though is a complete escalation. I think it's a violation of the law. I think it's an abuse of power.

TAPPER: How is it a violation of the law? I mean, ICE is allowed to deport people.

BARRAGAN: Well, no. I'm talking about overall what he's doing. He's now sending them the National Guard.

TAPPER: Oh, sending -- the seizing (ph) of the National Guard.

BARRAGAN: I mean, now he's sending the Marines in. They're threatening to arrest the governor. I mean, now they're arresting Congress members. I mean, this is a fear tactic to try to get people to not do their jobs and even members of Congress who -- it's written in law and you can go do the oversight into these detention centers.

TAPPER: Right.

BARRAGAN: They're not allowing it to happen.

TAPPER: Right now, I saw, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, not allowed to enter a detention center. Let's talk about this detention theory, because I've seen political analysts say this, as well, that President Trump would rather have us be talking about and have the -- rather have these images, not these ones in particular, these are peaceful images, but the images that we've seen of violent protests, of riots, of cars on fire, et cetera.

He would rather have that and be able to project of strength, law and order, whatever he perceives it to be, versus stories about he and Elon Musk, stories about him having the Big Beautiful Bill, troubles getting that through the Senate. Why do you -- I mean, obviously, I think it's on its face, prima facia. Of course, he would rather have that story. But you think that's why he's doing this?

BARRAGAN: Absolutely. I mean, take a look at the polls. His polling numbers were going down. And what do you do when you're Donald Trump and you don't know what else to talk about? You go to immigration. This is his go to topic. This is what he does.

TAPPER: But we do know a month ago that Stephen Miller told immigration officials a thousand a day is not enough. We want 3,000 a day. So, I mean, that was a month ago. [17:14:58]

BARRAGAN: Yeah. I think it's -- the president has been angry for some time about not enough numbers, but this is a peak time to do it because we're seeing prices go up, we're seeing the economy tank, we're seeing the troubles of the Big Beautiful Bill. I mean, just think about what was happening last week. We were all talking about the Elon Musk Donald Trump fight and what does he do? He starts to spy threatening to take away federal funding from California and says, okay, let's go send in ICE agents.

And they don't have the capacity, they don't have the numbers. So now what are they doing? Let's go get the National Guard and let's go now call the Marines. And this is where I think -- this is a sign of a dictator. And the threats even that he's making against the governor to arrest him, I mean, come on, that is pretty outrageous. And this is where you should have governors from every state, Democrat or Republican, speaking up and saying, this is not America. This is not right. And we should not allow a president to do this.

It's, I think, a dangerous lane to go down. And I just want to say one thing, Jake. For people that are out to protest, we have to keep it peaceful because this is what the president would want. He would want the violence. He wants those images. You know, we are seeing some of the same images over and over again. The same car that's being burnt over and over again instead of the peaceful protests that are happening that, like, happened today.

TAPPER: No, we're showing peaceful protests right now. Look at, you know --

BARRAGAN: Yes. I see some.

TAPPER: I don't who your criticizing.

TAPPER: But we see more -- we see way more because the inflammatory -- it's more inflammatory. It gets more eyeballs. But if you go to Los Angeles, 99 percent of Los Angeles is people don't even know what's going on.

TAPPER: We tend to not cover the planes that land safely.

BARRAGAN: Exactly. Exactly. But I think there's a misconception that the city is out of control. I mean, you heard the president say that.

TAPPER: The city put --

BARAGAN: It would be obliterated.

TAPPER: They put -- they made Downtown Los Angeles a no go zone. I mean, the police because of all the unrest. But I hear what you're saying and as you can see, we are showing the peaceful images right now. So I understand your complaint, but you know.

BARRAGAN: It's a very small part of Los Angeles, I just want to remind people. And if you go to certain parts of the city, they don't even know what's happening.

TAPPER: I get that. But still, I mean, five cars set on fire is still a lot of cars set on fire even if most cars are not. But we appreciate you being here.

BARRAGAN: And we condemn that violence, and those people should not be out, and those people should be arrested. No doubt about that.

TAPPER: Okay. Democratic Congresswoman Nanette Barragan of California, thanks so much. Good to see you as always.

BARRAGAN: Thanks for having me.

TAPPER: A closer look at California's lawsuit against President Trump and his administration over his commandeering of the California National Guard.

Plus, what President Trump's former Homeland Security secretary thinks about all this, he'll be here. I'll ask him what he thinks about the federal response in L.A. and what the congresswoman just said.

And later, climate activist, Greta Thunberg, detained. Israel stopped a ship she was on. They call it a selfie yacht, and then they took her into custody. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:20:00]

TAPPER: Continuing with our "National Lead," California is suing the Trump administration over President Trump's decision to commandeer the California National Guard troops and send them to Los Angeles. Earlier today, the president wrote on Truth Social, quote, "If we had not done so, Los Angeles would have been completely obliterated," unquote. Let's go to CNN's Kristen Holmes at the White House. Kristen, what else are President Trump and his folks saying over there?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. I mean, Jake, we have to talk about the two things that are going on because they're very distinct. You have one, which is the actual pulling of the federal levers of government, which we're waiting to see just how far Donald Trump is willing to go. He has mobilized Marines. He has called in the National Guard. How -- what steps is he willing to take? Is he willing to invoke the Insurrection Act? And right now, we simply don't know.

But there's another part of this, that we're witnessing, which is really just personal blows between him and Gavin Newsom. And a lot of what we're hearing from the president is personal attacks on Gavin Newsom. I mean, at one point today, we heard his border czar, Tom Homan, walking back comments he had made about arresting the governor of California, then Donald Trump saying that he should. He would -- if he were Tom Homan, he would arrest Governor Newsom.

And then when he was asked even further what crimes has Governor Newsom committed, he said his biggest crime was running for governor. That obviously has nothing really to do with what we are seeing unfold in the streets of Los Angeles. So when it comes to pulling those federal levers, this is what the Trump administration, this is what Donald Trump is saying about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: It's lucky for the people in Los Angeles and in California that we did what we did. We got it just in time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: And we have heard an enormous amount of pushback from the administration on any kind of legal action, and Donald Trump himself is saying that he is going to do whatever it takes and doubling down on what he's done already.

TAPPER: Alright. CNN's Kristen Holmes at the White House for us. Thanks so much. With us now, Chad Wolf, who served as Acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security during the first Trump administration. Chad, so good to have you here. So let's just start with a couple things that we heard from Congresswoman Barragan and other Democratic officials from the state of California.

One of the things that the Congresswoman said, and as did L.A. Mayor Bass, Karen Bass, is that the unrest we see is the fault of President Trump because of these, in their view, unnecessary ICE raids. What's your response?

CHAD WOLF, FORMER ACTING DHS SECRETARY: Well, I think that's absolutely a crazy position to hold. I mean, what they're telling the American people is that none of this would have occurred if ICE just would have ignored their authority and the mandate given to them by members of Congress to go in there and remove dangerous individuals and other individuals from these communities.

It's what they are commissioned to do. It is their job. And so they're actually saying law enforcement and the ability to carry out lawful orders is what has caused this. I think that is a crazy position. I think that's an insane position. Instead of putting the fault where it lies, which is you've got violent opportunists and others that are taking advantage of the situation and going in there and causing a lot of violent activity.

[17:24:56]

TAPPER: Well, she did say that as well, that she thinks some of the people causing violence are anarchists and the like. Go ahead.

WOLF: Yeah. Again, what I would say is, look, ICE has been vilified for years now, right? We've had them -- we've had Nancy Pelosi talk about how they are stormtroopers. KKK, I believe, Kamala Harris called them or alluded to them. So ICE over the years has been vilified to the point to where Americans, and in this case, Californians, are saying, not here, not my community, when in fact, they are just law enforcement officers doing what Congress has told them to do, which is to remove individuals here in the country illegally. TAPPER: So California Attorney General Rob Bonta today accused

President Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth of unlawfully federalizing the state's National Guard and trampling on his state's sovereignty. He said it's an issue of the 10th Amendment, which basically says unless it's clearly delineated as something that's in the federal government's power, it belongs to the states and localities. What's your reaction?

WOLF: Well, I think the Trump administration and President Trump most likely are learning from the first term, right, in 2020 where we saw a lot of activity across the country and where they relied on local law enforcement and local elected officials, such as in Portland, in Seattle, in Minneapolis, to take -- to get their communities under control. But over time, and in many -- and in those three and many others, it took weeks, and in some cases months, to get that under control.

And I think what President Trump and his team were saying is not on my watch, not this time, that as soon as we see violent activity, we're going to make sure that there's an overwhelming law enforcement response there. And if that takes the National Guard to do that, then that's okay. And I've heard this response, like, well, they should have asked the governor. We know what their governor's response was going to be. I mean, he has said it time and time again. He does not want them in the state of California.

But yet, he was not pushing his own law enforcement, whether that was LAPD, which obviously is a sanctuary jurisdiction, or the state police to go in there and address the violent activity.

TAPPER: So President Trump was asked whether the trouble in Los Angeles is being caused by the folks ICE is trying to deport or just grassroots organic protesters or by professional agitators. Take a listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The people that are causing the problem are professional agitators. They're insurrectionists. They're bad people. They should be in jail.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: What is your experience with professional agitators? Who is the president talking about?

WOLF: Yeah. Most likely, I mean, what -- again, what I've seen is that initially, it is grassroots oriented, right? But over time, the longer this goes on, day after day after day, you do see professional agitators, or violent opportunists, is what we call. We saw them in Portland. We saw them in Seattle. We saw them in Detroit in 2020. We know that this occurs. We know that they come in and they try to take advantage of the situation that is going on.

They try to take advantage of those peaceful protests. Right? I've seen pictures that you're showing. A lot of it is peaceful, but we see that these professional agitators come in here and are the cause of a lot of this violence. That's why you have to shut them down very, very quickly. Otherwise, it's going to continue to grow.

TAPPER: "Axios" reported last month that the top -- Trump aide, Stephen Miller, as well as Homeland Security Secretary, Kristi Noem, demanded that immigration agents seek to arrest 3,000 people a day. Is that goal realistic, do you think?

WOLF: Well, I know that's the goal that they've talked about, and I think that's -- it's going to be a challenge for ICE to do that, given the resources that they have. Obviously, that's why they are very interested in the reconciliation bill that will provide them more resources. But I think the Trump administration's been very clear about this.

Not only are they going to try to prioritize those criminal illegal aliens, but that no one is exempt from the law. I think that's what we heard the congresswoman earlier say when she's saying, well, there's a right way to remove people from the country, which is to say, only target really bad people. And when you do that, you invite a bunch of others to remain here and for folks to come here to stay here. You're sending the signal that if you don't commit an additional crime, then you're off limits, which I think the Trump Administration has said they will not do.

So I think that's why you're continuing to see these high numbers because, again, and it's also important, I would say. The last thing is that you've got four years of the Biden administration. We had millions of people come in that shouldn't be in the country and you just can't ignore that. You've got to set metrics and you've got to set targets to remove individuals.

TAPPER: Yeah. I would just say, I mean, the congresswoman said that it's a civil offense being in the country illegally, not a criminal offense. And also, President Trump and his team were the ones saying that first, deported were going to be the violent criminals, and I think that's what a lot of people in the public expected.

[17:29:59]

Did you want to -- go ahead.

WOLF: I don't disagree with that. But, again, they've also said that no one is exempt from the law, meaning that if anyone's here in the country illegally and they are eligible to be removed, then they will be removed. Otherwise, the opposite approach is what you had during four years of the Biden administration, which caused an absolute crisis.

TAPPER: Chad Wolf, thanks so much for your time. Appreciate it. We've been watching these live images coming from L.A. We're going to continue to watch the situation unfolding there this evening. Also ahead, Trump's new travel effect travel ban is now in effect. Some of the global reaction next. Plus, Russia's new air assault on Ukraine. It's worst since the start of the invasion. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Let's whip around the globe in our World Lead. We're going to start in Israel this afternoon. Activists, including Greta Thunberg, the environmental activist, arrived at a port in Israel after they were detained by Israel's navy on board an aid ship bound for Gaza. The activists group called the Freedom Flotilla Coalition claims that the Israelis, "unlawfully boarded their ship, which was full of baby formula and medical supplies," confiscated the goods meant to be distributed in Gaza. Israel calls the ship and its passengers a, "selfie yacht," and they said the mission's sole purpose was publicity. A source tells CNN that Israel plans to quickly deport the detained activists back to their home countries.

[17:35:27]

The Israeli Defense Minister, Israel Katz, posted on X or Twitter, "I instructed the IDF to show the flotilla passengers the video of the horrors of the October 7th massacre when they arrive at the port of Ashdod. Israel also claims that the aid that wasn't, "consumed by the celebrities," will be sent to Gaza through humanitarian channels.

On to Ukraine now, where Russia launched nearly 480 drones overnight, the highest number since the war began. The assault happened right before a prisoner swap between Moscow and Kyiv. Ukraine says many of its soldiers in this exchange spent nearly the entire war three years in Russian captivity. While over the weekend, Russia launched strikes on the second largest city in Ukraine. Kharkiv continued its assault in the northeastern region of Sumy and claimed advances into a central region of Ukraine for the very first time.

Immigrant rights leaders rallied today as the Trump administration's travel ban took effect. Starting Today, nationals from 12 different countries, mostly located in Africa and the Middle east, will be denied entry into the U.S. The ban also imposes partial restrictions on folks from seven other countries who do not hold valid visas.

More than half of the countries affected by Trump's travel ban are on the continent of Africa, where we find CNN's Larry Madowo, who's tracking reaction there. Larry, how are people across the continent of Africa responding?

LARRY MADOWO, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Jake, there's been some dismay and disappointment in Africa about this travel ban which came into effect Monday. Seven of the 12 countries are in Africa. Some of them have been at war or unstable for some time, such as Sudan, Somalia, Libya, Eritrea. There were some surprises, such as Equatorial Guinea and the Republic of Congo. But the last country has earned a lot of praise in Africa for how it responded, retaliating against the United States. That is the small country of Chad. It's at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. And it gave a statement from the president which said, "I have instructed the government to act in accordance with the principles of reciprocity and suspend the granting of visas to citizens of the United States of America. Chad has neither planes to offer nor billions of dollars to give, but Chad has its dignity and pride." Many Africans are praising that Chad is standing up to President

Trump, to the mighty United States. Another response came from the Republic of Congo, which was surprised to be included here. They thought that Trump intended to block citizens of its much larger neighbor, the Democratic Republic of Congo. The smaller Congo said that it is neither terrorist country nor does it harbor any terrorists. And they have asked officials in Washington to explain how they ended up here.

The African Union, on its part, gently criticized this travel ban, said it should have been more balanced and evidence-based based and asked for more consultations before such moves are made.

But overall, a surprise for many in Africa who were very supportive of President Trump before the election, even more than Kamala Harris. And now with these moves, they're starting to question if that support was maybe not the smartest move. Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Larry Madolo, thank you so much. An age old issue in Congress. More lawmakers are over 70 years old in Congress than ever before in this nation's history. Some think it's a problem. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:42:43]

TAPPER: Back with our politics lead. The age issue is becoming a growing concern, especially for Democrats in Congress. Six House Democrats have died in office just since last April 2024, five of the six who died and may they rest in peace. But five of the six were in their 70s and 80s. The aging Congress, what many refer to as a gerontocracy, is our new normal. Right now in Congress, 120 members of Congress are 70 years old or older. That's more than 20 percent more than any other previous Congress. As Congress gets older, will health and age continue to be a problem?

Let's bring in Katherine Swartz, a reporter at NOTUS, and Paul Kane, a senior congressional correspondent from the Washington Post. Welcome to the lead, both of you. Katherine. So your story you wrote about my former Philadelphia congressman, Dwight Evans, who's 71, caught my eye. He's been out. He was out for seven months after he had a stroke.

He missed more than 300 roll call votes. He's back. How is he doing? How much is his health a concern? How much does anybody back in Philadelphia? How aware are they that he's not really firing on all cylinders?

KATHERINE SWARTZ, REPORTER, NOTUS: Well, with him, it's really a question for these primary challengers that are running against him of what does it mean to be a representative in Congress because he has been voting, he's been voting since January. But these people that have entered the race now are saying that is not enough, particularly as a Democrat in the minority when so much of your work is based around communication, around messaging, around being aggressive in the agenda. Is Dwight Evans doing enough to send that message? And these primary challengers to him would argue that, no, he is not.

TAPPER: And we asked for comment from his office. His office, we actually, you know, we asked for an interview, but we also asked for comment. Evans office pointed to us to his recent fight against Medicaid cuts, saying, "a House Republican 31 years younger than missed the vote because he fell asleep."

But you know, Paul, you reported on U.S. delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton of Washington, D.C. She's going to turn 88 years old this Friday. Colleagues questioned if she's an effective leader. At 88. She stopped driving after a car accident, and Mother Jones broke. A few weeks ago, the mayor of D.C. Muriel Bowser, was asked about the reporting about whether or not Eleanor Holmes Norton, who is a legend, yes, and all that and a trailblazer and all that, but she is 88.

[17:45:08]

Mayor Bowser was asked about the reporting about whether she's an effective fighter for a city that needs a fighter. And here's what the mayor had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAYOR MURIEL BOWSER, WASHINGTON D.C.: I am really focused on making sure our city is strong politically and stable economically. And I think there is time for talking about elections. And I don't choose to do that right now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: That's not really a full-throated endorsement.

PAUL KANE, SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT, WASHINGTON POST: That was what you call a dodge. Look, we worked on this with our local desk and some of our national politics reporters. My colleague Megan Flynn who covers the D.C. Council did a really great job because she got those council members to go on the record. You know, Katherine's dealing with Philadelphia where it's the people who are challenging Dwight Evans or they're saying stuff but his real colleagues won't say anything.

Here in D.C. They actually did come forward. We had four council members, a former council member, and the chair of their Democratic Party all said look, it's time to pass the torch. You don't get that very often. And this is a city right now, the federal city that is God. They've got a business billion-dollar shortfall because of Congress in their budget.

They are trying to rebuild RFK Stadium and an entire development on the Anacostia River. They have major issues right now, the whole federal workforce. She is supposed to be there. She's the non-voting delegate but she can be this bridge for the district inside Congress, fighting for them, developing relationships with Republicans, and she's just not there.

TAPPER: So Mother Jones reported last month Stephanie Mansumera that she's too old to drive. She made an illegal U term and hit a police cruiser. She's been a non-voting delegate since 1991. She told us in a statement. "To anyone questioning my ability to serve effectively, I have one simple response. My record speaks for itself." But honestly, we only have about a minute left. So 30 seconds each.

We went through this on a presidential level last year. It seems to have created absolutely zero self-awareness. Why won't people give up power when they are clearly not able to represent their constituents the way that their constituents want them to? You then you quick.

KANE: Okay. It happens with both parties. The Republicans are going to hold a hearing next week, Senate Judiciary on Joe Biden and a lot of your book. And that's what they're going to focus on, you know, who's not going to be chairing the hearing? Their 91-year-old chairman, Chuck Grassley. He's just not going to be there because it would look kind of awkward to have somebody who has lost a step chairing that hearing.

TAPPER: What do you think?

SWARTZ: When it comes to congressional power, traditionally so much of it has been held in seniority. So you see these members that have been here for decades, they're there because that is how you rise up. That's how you get a chairmanship or a ranking membership. So there's not a lot of incentive to step back if you feel that you are capable of doing the job.

TAPPER: It's just, you know, the other thing, it's just it's uncomfortable to talk about. It's uncomfortable, and it's, you know, because it's all these issues that society doesn't really like talk that much about mortality, aging. But honestly, people deserve representation that aligns with their needs. Thanks so much. Really appreciate both you being here. Katherine and Paul.

It was also a big day in the Sean Diddy Combs trial, a big moment that prosecutors tried to underscore, his ex-girlfriend testified about Combs giving her an ecstasy pill and asking her if it was coercion. An odd moment in court today. And the CNN reporter who watched it all play out. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:53:02]

TAPPER: In our law and Justice League, the trial of Sean Diddy Combs and his ex-girlfriend. Back on the stand, she goes by the pseudonym Jane in court to protect her identity. CNN's Kara Scannell was in the courtroom today. The jury heard recordings of phone calls between Combs and Jane from two years ago. What was the significance of the recordings?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So the jury did hear these two phone calls that took place after Cassie Ventura filed her lawsuit against Combs airing these allegations about the freak offs. These hotel nights are at the center of the case. And in this recording, Jane testified that she did not know it was being recorded, that Combs was recording it on his end. And during the phone call, Combs made several statements that seemed to imply that he was trying to get the point across, that this was all a mutual agreement between them, that they both enjoyed these nights. He said that this was kinky stuff, that we both enjoyed everything we did mutually together. And he also said, I need your friendship right now. I need you.

And the inference of the prosecutor, prosecution would hope the jury would draw is that Combs was trying to get her on the same page, trying to get her to lock in what she was, what that this was mutual, that this was consensual. And so that was why the prosecution played this. Jane saying she had no idea at the time that it was being recorded and that she had just been testifying about all these text messages of her telling Combs that she didn't want to participate in the hotel nights anymore. So the prosecution juxtaposing the two for the jury to draw an inference.

TAPPER: Jane also testified about when she first learned of Cassie Ventura's lawsuit. What did Jane have to say?

SCANNELL: Yes, Jane testified that she thinks that she actually fainted when she learned of the lawsuit. And she sent Combs several text messages. And one of them she had said to him, I feel like I'm reading my own sexual trauma. She said three pages from the lawsuit was just bringing back all of these memories of hers, of what she was enduring with Combs, and that she said she didn't want to do. And she also testified that they took a break for several months, but they got back together. And she testified that there was an explosive fight that they had at her home In June of 2024, just a few months before he was arrested. And in that fight, she said, it became physical. They were throwing things at each other, that Combs had punched her several times and kicked her, put her in a chokehold.

[17:55:15]

And she said after that they did. He called one of these men over, and Combs had said to her, take this pill, which is ecstasy. You're not going to ruin my night. Jane said, I don't want to. I don't want to. And Comb said, is that coercion? Center of the case, Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Kara Scannell. Fascinating and disturbing. We're going to go back to Los Angeles live. Sources say the Trump administration has now mobilized the U.S. Marines to respond to the protests there. About 700 service members. What's happening on the ground next?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome to the Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. This hour, California.