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The Lead with Jake Tapper
Trump Defends Military Involvement In Los Angeles Protest; RFK Jr. Removes Entire CDC Vaccine Advisory Committee; Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) Is Interviewed About Fifth Day Of Demonstrations In Los Angeles; Gunman Kills 10 In Austria High School Shooting. Aired 5-6p ET
Aired June 10, 2025 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everyone, be careful.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Those blue bullets that you see in the side carrier of that National Guard member, Kasie, those are the rubber bullets that they've been firing. Those ones with the blue tips, those are the ones they can usually put about three onto their weapon at a time. They fire those. So you can see they've got a lot of those. They are ready.
All right. We are just watching, hold one second, I know you want to get it back from us. They are putting on their gas masks right now, all of the CBP. And you can see right here some of these officers putting on their gas mask right here. Kasie, I'll pass it back to you while we're watching them do that.
KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: Yes. Really dramatic scenes right now. Erin Burnett, thank you for being there for us. We do have to turn it over to Mr. Jake Tapper. He's standing by for "The Lead." Jake.
[17:00:57]
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. In our national lead, we have breaking news. President Trump is speaking right now at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. He is digging in on his decision to send in thousands of members of the National Guard to Los Angeles to commandeer the California National Guard.
In fact, we're going to continue to monitor his remarks. The state of California today responding asking a federal judge to block President Trump from commandeering the California National Guard to keep order in the face of the anti-ICE protests. But President Trump twice today has said that his use of the military is what saved the city of Los Angeles from complete and utter annihilation, claiming so, including in remarks he just made moments ago at Fort Bragg.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: 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, if we didn't do it, there wouldn't be a Los Angeles. It would be burning today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: And while President Trump deployed 4,000 members of the National Guard and is mobilizing 700 Marines, neither of those troops nor the Marines can conduct law enforcement activity according to the law, including making arrests. Unless, of course, President Trump invokes the Insurrection Act. Today, earlier today, he was asked if he would do that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: If there's an insurrection, I would certainly invoke it. We'll see. But I can tell you, last night was terrible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Last night was the fourth night of protests there, demonstrators and police squared off in scattered areas throughout downtown Los Angeles. Officers using less lethal weapons, including rubber bullets to disperse protesters, some of them rioters after objects were thrown at law enforcement. There was some looting. A reporter for the Los Angeles Fox affiliate reported that people were hammering the sidewalks in order to collect rocks, projectiles that they would use to potentially create more damage. Most of the unrest appears to be contained to a portion of downtown Los Angeles.
Police say they arrested at least 113 people last night. To understand how we got to this flashpoint in Los Angeles, well, there are a lot of layers to look at in this political parfait, first, Trump's rare move of mobilizing the military in a U.S. city against the wishes of the mayor and the governor, that has been coming for a long time.
During the 2020 protests, the Black Live Matters -- Black Lives Matter protest after the murder of George Floyd, President Trump in his first term was frustrated with those in his administration who told him not to deploy the National Guard to states against the wishes of the governors. He was reined in specifically by his defense secretary, Mark Esper, and his Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley. Trump acknowledged as much earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: You have to remember I've been here before and I went right by every rule and I waited for governors to say, send in the National Guard. They wouldn't do it. They wouldn't do it, and they just wouldn't do it. It kept going on and on, got worse and worse. I said to myself, if that stuff happens again, we've got to make faster decisions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: So we're now in Trump's guardrail free second term. Esperless, Milleyless, Trump did not ask for permission of Governor Newsom deploying the military in Los Angeles without first talking to and despite loud objections from Democratic Governor Newsom, which brings us to the next political parfait layer. Newsom embracing his role as Trump antagonist in chief, perhaps as a precursor to a 2028 run for commander in chief. Because of this, Newsom is going seemingly beyond the typical political condemnations out there, seemingly egging Trump on in very strong fashion. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM, (D) CALIFORNIA: Go after me, arrest me. Let's just get it over with.
[17:05:00]
They're just weakness masquerading as strength. They're cosplaying.
If you want to be president, you might as well play the part as president, at least fake it. Do the right thing. Stand back and we'll clean up your mess.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Governor Newsom's press office this afternoon, even mocking Trump, reposting a TikTok that reads a Trump Truth Social post using the AI generated voice of Star Wars villain Emperor Palpatine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A once great American city, Los Angeles, has been invaded and occupied by illegal aliens and criminals.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: May the force be with us all, because this whole political battle boils down to this, Trump, right now using the federal government to crack down on undocumented immigrants, as he vowed to do as a candidate and as a Democratic governor in a sanctuary state is hell bent on standing up to him for doing that and protecting those undocumented immigrants.
Those are the polarized interpretations to a federal government that for years has failed in a bipartisan fashion to upgrade its immigration laws in a way that meets the moment as well as the century, as well as demands for labor and the Dreamers while also securing the border. Republicans and Democrats alike have long agreed these laws need updating, but there is a lack of political will to get the job done.
Specifically, House Republicans have constantly stood in the way of any sort of bipartisan agreement. And that leaves the average American, you, standing there without any real solutions and two diametrically opposed political views coming to their natural loggerheads in the streets of Los Angeles.
And thankfully, as of now, there has not been any serious bloodshed. But let us hope that continues. Let's go right to CNN's Kyung Lah on the ground in Los Angeles. Kyung, you're in the midst of another demonstration. Tell us what's going on. KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: So let me tell you exactly where I am, and that should help describe what I'm about to explain. This is a metropolitan detention center. This is where people would come in and out, any people taken into federal custody. These red lines, these white lines you see, this is, these are the guardrails. And this is what pops up to get vehicles from running into the detention center.
And what you see behind them, because this is an in and out area, are the lines of DHS, the Department of Homeland Security, the California National Guard, as well as members of ICE who are conducting immigration raids around Southern California. Because this is happening, because people know this is where it happens, this street, which was closed off yesterday, this is now open.
And so you have the protester -- the military and federal officers here and you have all these people over here. The conflict is that there is going to be a clash because we've seen it already, we saw it repeatedly on Sunday. And this is essentially setting the stage for further conflict because due to the cadence of the raids that have been happening across the Los Angeles area, we know that there will be vehicles coming in and out of this area.
And so, what these -- what the military, what these federal agents have to do is they have to clear the roadway. This is their duty. And the protesters simply don't like it. And so that is what is happening here.
Just a few minutes ago, in fact, the California National Guard and the DHS pushed the crowd off of the sidewalk, out of the area that I'm standing and had to fire some nonlethal tear gas as well as you can see what's been happening here on the streets to try to push the crowd back. Now, we have not seen anyone seriously injured, but certainly people are feeling the impact of the tear gas. I mean, you can still -- I mean, I can still feel it in my throat. So this is a cadence that we're going to see throughout the day.
And one other thing, Jake, this is where I was standing on Sunday when things really got out of hand. And so yesterday this was closed. It is reopened today. So there's a lot of concern. I mean, I'm concerned because it just -- it doesn't feel like it is a very well controlled situation right here where I'm standing. So --
TAPPER: All right.
LAH: -- we just have to see what happens minute by minute here.
TAPPER: Please stay safe, Kyung. Kyung Lah, thank you so much. This just in, a federal judge has denied the state of California's request to stop Trump from using the California National Guard to keep the peace and keep order during these protests. CNN's Alayna Treene is at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where President Trump is speaking.
And Alayna, that's a big development, the judge denying California's request. Tell us about that and tell us what the president has been saying in his Fort Bragg speech. [17:10:10]
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, I mean, it's a huge deal for the president here and his administration. And we heard just moments ago the president saying that he wants to liberate Los Angeles and really attacking Governor Gavin Newsom and Mayor Bass for the way that they've been responding to him, calling in the National Guard and the Marines to go and try and quell these protests where obviously sure, if he's not alerted about it on stage, we'll soon after be hearing from him directly.
I'm sure lauding that decision from the court. But to go back to some of the criticism we heard just now, I'm hearing him use that nickname for his derogatory nickname for Gavin Newsom. He's repeatedly now brought up Los Angeles, Jake.
He's referred to both the governor and the mayor as incompetent. He argues that Los Angeles would be burning if it weren't for him, that he believes that the governor does not have the right to try and push back and criticize the federal government here and his decision to bring troops to Los Angeles to deal with this. And so he is very much leaning in hard to this.
He's also been, I think, very notably attacking his predecessor, former President Joe Biden. I would note that we are at Fort Bragg, the majority of people in this crowd are service members who are in uniform. We heard many people in the crowd booing former President Joe Biden when he talked about how the former president changed the name of Fort Bragg to Fort Libery (ph) -- Fort Liberty before he changed it back.
He also announced, made some news up on stage behind me saying that he would be changing the names of several other bases that were, you know, renamed because of them being in Confederate -- named after Confederate generals. He said he's going to be changing it back to that considering, you know, for one example, Robert E. Lee.
So lots of news up here, a lot of attacks. This has been a very critical speech, Jake.
TAPPER: Yes. Alayna Treene in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, thanks so much.
Just a point of fact, the names were changed of these bases named after Confederate generals by law. And what Secretary of Defense Hegseth has done to get around that is to name them by other people. So that's Fort Bragg, but it's not named after Braxton Bragg, the Confederate general. It's named after Army Private Roland Bragg, a World War II hero. It's kind of like a sneaky way to get back to the old name and not violate the law, for whatever it's worth.
But let's discuss what's going on in Los Angeles with CNN's Jamie Gangel and Alyssa Farah Griffin, former Trump White House Communications Director during the first term.
And Alyssa, this escalation between Trump and Newsom, it's likely only going to heat up. Obviously, a sensible immigration policy has eluded Washington, D.C. for decades now. But also what we're seeing here is a direct result of Donald Trump and his hardline immigration policies, which are let's deport every single one of the up to 20 million undocumented immigrants in this country. And Governor Newsom, who has been a fairly progressive let us provide a welfare state for anybody who needs it in California.
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, listen, this was about the most predictable fight that we could have seen Donald Trump choosing to fight. You know, Gavin Newsom, someone that we talked about is a future presidential candidate. Donald Trump has routinely criticized the way that California is run, the fact that there are sanctuary cities.
And I think what I was surprised by is just it did seem like the governor was a bit ill prepared because as you mentioned in your monologue, you know, in 2020, Donald Trump wanted to invoke the Insurrection Act. Previous advisers, I was in the meeting when it was discussed, convinced him he didn't need to because federal law enforcement would be able to get the job done of crowd control.
And I think what Newsom should have been communicating, and perhaps he was, we know there were two brief conversations is I can get the job done of bringing back the peace, controlling the streets without bringing in these National Guardsmen and these Marines. So right now, Donald Trump is feeling confident, if not cocky.
He thinks that he's playing kind of a winning card here and he's hoping to bait Democrats, especially Newsom, into stepping in the trap that they did in 2020 of calling for defunding ICE, calling for defunding the police, and even potentially having an altercation, God forbid, with some of these service members. So he thinks this is winning for him. But I would just cautiously warn, you know, this is something that could turn very negative for Donald Trump very quickly.
So, again, there's all sorts of 2028 implications here, but it's a fight Donald Trump wanted to pick and he thinks he's winning right now.
TAPPER: Yes. A few weeks ago, Governor Newsom proposed shutting down new enrollment for California health care for people who lack legal status, what's called Medi-Cal enrollment, I guess trying to back off a more progressive, longtime policy position.
Jamie, you've been talking to military sources about these protests from both a political perspective and a military perspective. How do members of the military feel about being thrust into a very divisive domestic policy and including, like, being asked to go into city streets? I mean, these people did not enroll to patrol their fellow Americans.
[17:15:18]
JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: No. Look, they are very concerned about it. First of all, they're concerned is this inappropriate, measured response? Are they being put in the middle of a situation where just by being there, it's provocative or could escalate the situation? You know, several people have used the same phrase, several senior former military officials.
This is not what we do.
TAPPER: Yes.
GANGEL: They want law enforcement, they -- to do their job. They don't want to be doing crowd control.
TAPPER: Yes. Alyssa, take a listen to what House Speaker Mike Johnson said today when asked if Governor Newsom should be, as has been proposed by Tom Holman, arrested.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), HOUSE SPEAKER: I'm not going to give you legal analysis on whether Gavin Newsom should be arrested, but. But he ought to be tarred and feathered, I'll say that. He is applauding the bad guys and standing in the way of the good guys.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Now, just for the record, Gavin Newsom has told people who are using violence, he has condemned them. What do you think Speaker Johnson would say if a House Democrat called for President Trump to be tarred and feathered?
GRIFFIN: Yes, there's a -- there's a bit of hypocrisy around all of this. There would certainly be outrage. And it's, you know, looming large over all of this is, of course, January six and just the reality that Donald Trump had the ability to call in the National Guard to respond to that riot when it was taking place. But now the swiftness at which the National Guard was called into L.A. And I want to be clear, the images we've seen, the reporting, CNN's excellent reporting has shown there has been real property damage, real violence by some of these rioters that absolutely needs to be addressed.
But just also to put in perspective, 4,000 National Guardsmen and 700 Marines, that's more troops than the U.S. had in Afghanistan for the final year stretch that were there. That's actually a huge force for something that really is a law enforcement, peacekeeping, crowd control sort of situation. So, again, I think I understand what's motivating the former president. He sees this as a winning fight. He sees it as him standing with law enforcement, standing against lawlessness.
But just the ability for this to escalate when you have that many people involved is very real.
TAPPER: All right, Jamie Gangel and Alyssa Fair Griffin, thanks to you.
A key Republican, is going to join us ahead. I'm going to ask about Trump's immigration crackdown and these protests that erupted from it as a result of it. Plus one of the panelists just fired by RFK Jr. from the CDC Vaccine Advisory Committee, his reaction to RFK Jr. breaking his promise and removing all 17 members of this key vaccine panel. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:21:53]
TAPPER: In our health lead, there is unease, if not panic, in the medical community after HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ousted the entire CDC Vaccine Advisory Committee yesterday. That includes 17 expert advisors who gave recommendations to the federal government when it comes to vaccines. This move comes just four months after RFK Jr. promised Republican Senator Bill Cassidy a key vote and physician that he would not do what he just did.
Here's Senator Cassidy speaking on the Senate floor in February of this year, explaining why he is voting for anti-science, anti-medicine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after having expressed reservations over the RFK Jr. nomination.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BILL CASSIDY (R-LA): Mr. Kennedy and the administration committed that he and I would have an unprecedentedly close collaborative working relationship. That he had worked within current vaccine approval and safety monitoring systems and not establish parallel systems. It confirmed he will maintain the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommendations without changes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Without changes. With us now is Dr. Noel Brewster -- Brewer, rather. He's one of the 17 members of the CDC Vaccine Advisory Committee that was just removed from his post. He's also a professor of public health at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Dr. Brewer, thanks for being here. So you received notice yesterday that you, along with every other member of this key CDC Vaccine Advisory Committee, were being, quote, "retired." Didn't the notice explain why and what was your reaction?
DR. NOEL BREWER, GILLINGS DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR IN PUBLIC HEALTH, UNC: That's exactly right. All of us were fired yesterday and were fired by an editorial in the Wall Street Journal. It's the first time that's happened to me. And we were all pretty shocked. I was kind of -- I was just agog by the whole -- of the whole thing, not the whole thing, but also not surprised. This is something that the secretary has talked about wanting to do, to have a very different approach to vaccines at the CDC.
TAPPER: You just heard Senator Cassidy, who is a doctor, explain why he cast the decisive vote to confirm Kennedy back in February. Yesterday, Senator Cassidy posted, quote, "now the fear is that the ACIP," that's the advisory committee in question, "will be filled up with people who know nothing about vaccines except suspicion. And I'll continue to talk with him," meaning RFK Jr., "to ensure this is not the case," unquote. What's your take on Senator Dr. Cassidy's response to this?
BREWER: It's basically a political question you're asking. I don't have any comment about the Senator or the political point, his actions especially they have their own political calculations that were made. The firing was done in a very public and dramatic and made for T.V. way. So I --
TAPPER: Do you --
BREWER: -- I don't really know how to respond now.
TAPPER: OK. That's fair enough. Fair enough. But do you share his fear? Do you share Cassidy's fear that the CDC Vaccine Advisory Committee will be packed with people who know nothing about vaccines except suspicion?
[17:25:12]
Do you share that fear?
BREWER: I have a concern that we need to have really outstanding people in that committee. The 17 people who were just removed are some of the best scientists in the world. Extraordinary amount of expertise, and replacing that on the drop of a hat is going to be hard to do.
There's also a lot of institutional knowledge that was lost when the leadership was also removed from the overall committee through the secretary, the chair, and then also the heads of all the work groups. So those -- all that sounds a bit technical, but it is really where all the memory is and the knowing how to do stuff.
So I'm concerned about this, but at the same time, this is a change that has been instituted, and I want to have some level of optimism that something good will come of it. So I'm looking forward to having outstanding people on the committee. I really hope that's the case.
TAPPER: Explaining his decision in the Wall Street Journal editorial that you referenced, Secretary Kennedy writes, quote, "The committee has been plagued with persistent conflicts of interest and has become little more than a rubber stamp for any vaccine. It has never recommended against the vaccine, even those later withdrawn for safety reasons.
It has failed to scrutinize vaccine products given to babies and pregnant women. To make matters worse, the groups that inform the committee meet behind closed doors, violating the legal and ethical principle of transparency crucial to maintaining public trust," unquote. Is that true?
What's your response?
BREWER: I mean, there's a lot there to unpack, and it's -- there's a lot of upset in the language. I will say that the committee has the strongest conflict of interest among the strongest conflict of interest policies of any federal committee. It is very rigorous. We're not allowed to accept any money of any sort from a drug company or anywhere in the industry. So, otherwise we certainly can't serve.
So I don't see that's the -- that was not my experience when I was on the committee. In terms of some of the other concerns that were raised there, we're doing outstanding science. We're doing the absolute best science that's there. We can't consider vaccines that were -- the vaccines that we consider have all been approved by FDA. So if a vaccine has been licensed by FDA, then ACIP can look at that.
But without that licensure, we can't. So there is -- yes, it's true that ACIP tends to approve vaccines because by the time it comes to us, they're pretty good. And when there have been problems, the taking -- the issue of taking them off the market is generally an FDA issue. It's not so much an ACIP issue. Although of course in our recommendations and the policy guidance that we provide, we can indicate concern.
And indeed that's what we did in April with Chikungunya vaccine for older adults.
TAPPER: All right, Dr. Noel Brewer, thanks so much. Appreciate your time today.
In California, right now, armored trucks and National Guard troops are on the streets of L.A. as we watch this standoff with protesters and Republican congressman's coming up next with his reaction to all this stemming from Trump's ICE crackdown. We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:32:12]
TAPPER: Back with breaking news in our National Lead. An update to the breaking news we told you earlier about the federal judge denying California's request for an immediate restraining order from the -- the Trump order to have National Guardsmen go to California. That was a rejection of the immediate request for action. But that same judge did set arguments for this Thursday. So a rejection of the immediate request, but not for the request in general.
This as protesters take to the streets again this evening, protesting the ongoing ICE raids coming to Los Angeles. There are ICE raids all over the country right now as President Trump tries to round up increasing numbers of undocumented immigrants. We're joined by Texas Republican Congressman Tony Gonzales, the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Conference.
That's a group of Hispanic Republican members of Congress. Congressman, good to see you as always. So the members of your conference met today to talk about the situation in California. Can you tell us about what you discussed and whether there were any conclusions?
REP. TONY GONZALES (R-TX): Yes. Thank you, Jake, for having me. It's pretty simple. We don't want to see, one, we don't want to see Los Angeles burned to the ground. It's a beautiful city. We also don't want to see that -- that fire spread to other parts of the country. We don't want to see Miami burned. We don't want to see San Antonio burned, Denver, Arizona. We don't want to see that happen.
And I think a big part of that is we all need to focus on convicted criminal illegal aliens. If we focus there and we're, you know, we're not going after the -- the -- the milker of cows who's, you know, in 103-degree weather going after that guy and we're going after the convicted criminal, I think we're on the right path. I think you can get a lot of consensus there.
If you're going down where, you know, you're just picking up everyone who's here illegally, one, that takes you away from -- from tackling the biggest problem in our country, which in my eyes is the convicted criminal that makes all of us unsafe.
TAPPER: But that's obviously not what President Trump is doing. I mean, they're going after criminals, but they're also going after domestic workers, people that work in agriculture. I saw something earlier today about a raid on a facility in Nebraska.
Your colleague, California Republican Congressman David Valadao, posted on social media, "I remain concerned about ongoing ICE operations throughout California and will continue my conversations with the administration, urging them to prioritize the removal of known criminals over the hardworking people who have lived peacefully in the valley for years." That's said -- that's basically what you said just now as well.
How are you conveying that to the Trump White House? Do you think that a majority of Republicans in the House agree with you? And what do you say to Stephen Miller, who obviously just completely disagrees with your view?
GONZALES: I've had regular conversations with the administration. We'll continue to have regular conversations with the administration. We have to get this right, you know, for a bunch of different reasons. One, you know, the -- the immigration conversation is very difficult. It's very complex. No one's been able to solve it for decades. Totally get that.
[17:35:12]
One of the reasons why President Trump was elected is because of the criminal element. And if we -- if we focus on that, it's going to take all hands on deck for us to even get that accomplished. That's one. You know, the other part is, you know, these members on the Hispanic conference, you know, we're the majority makers.
We're the reason why we -- we have the majority in the House. And so I think it's very important that that group remain focused on the criminal, illegal aliens. That's -- that's the message. A lot of us sit on appropriations. That's where the -- that's where the funding is coming. So I look forward to having continued conversations with the administration to make sure we get this right. TAPPER: Congressman, stand by for one second. I want to go back to the streets of Los Angeles where my colleague, Kyung Lah, has some news about what's going on. Kyung?
LAH: OK. What you're seeing here is the advancing LAPD. These are officers who've been called to clear this street. We're going to keep moving back, Mike. The -- the area that I was in just behind those officers is the entrance to the, watch out, Mike, Federal Detention Center. And there's been a dispersal order issue. They're trying to clear the street.
Just trying to listen here at the same time. And the people -- OK. So we're going to move over this way. Watch out for the car. OK. We're get the -- we're being asked to go behind the police.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go.
LAH: Press, press. He's press. He's with me. He's with me. He's with me. He's with me. He's with me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have my verification.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He doesn't come through. You do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir. I have to go with her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Go. Are you grabbing me?
LAH: No, I didn't touch you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get away from me.
LAH: So wait. OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need you guys to go over there.
LAH: OK. So as you can see, Jake, it's a little chaotic. So, what they're trying to do is --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need you to keep walking.
LAH: We're going to keep walking. We're going to keep walking. And then I want you to take a look over here. These are the officers in suburbans, and then we're trying to weave our way through the next wave of officers.
But you can see, I mean, there's press parked on the sidewalk because when today started, this area into the Metropolitan Detention Center was completely open. I hear you, I hear you. And so, this is how the street is cleared.
They try -- the LAPD is creating a line to try to make the people who are protesting and demonstrating. Watch out. Come this way. I think we're OK here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ma'am? LAH: Yes?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please, I need you to move, please.
LAH: Are you moving all this? These as well?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please, please.
LAH: OK. All right, we're going to keep moving. So, the issue has been --
TAPPER: All right, we're having problems with Kyung Lah's audio there. We're going to check in with her. It looks like she has made herself to some safety. Congressman Gonzales, it's disturbing to see images like this in the streets of the United States.
GONZALES: Jake, there's no room for lawlessness in the United States. It's scary, it's sad, it's tragic, and we all have to prevent against that. Peaceful protests, absolutely. That's -- that's part of being an American. It's why I fought in 20 years in the military, it's for that. But the lawlessness has to stop. And we also have to make sure that we -- let's calm the jets, right?
As leaders, as political, those of us in the political arena, we need to find solutions. Once again, let's tackle the biggest, hardest problems by taking the worst of the worst out, not creating more division amongst us. A lot of that -- once again, I don't want to see what happened in Los Angeles or is happening in Los Angeles to continue. The police officers, they're exhausted, too. It's not fair to them to be under this constant threat and constant kind of aggression, if you will.
TAPPER: You're an Army veteran. I wanted to ask you --
GONZALES: Navy. Navy veteran.
TAPPER: Oh, I apologize. Well, President Trump is throwing a major military parade Saturday in D.C. in honor of the 250th anniversary of the Army forming, which I'm sure, even though you're a Navy veteran, you still respect. I want you to take a listen to something that Republican senators Rand Paul of Kentucky and John Kennedy of Louisiana had to say about this parade. I'll get your response on the other side. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY): I wouldn't have done it. I'm not sure what the actual expense of it is, but I'm not really -- we were always different than, you know, the images you saw of the Soviet Union and North Korea, we were proud not to be that.
[17:40:01]
SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R-LA): Look, it's the President's call. I wouldn't spend the money if it were me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: I don't know how well you could hear those clips.
GONZALES: Yes.
TAPPER: Guys, bring -- bring down the -- the teleprompter so I can read what they said to them. It said -- Rand Paul said, I wouldn't have done it. I'm not sure what the actual expense of it is, but I'm not really -- we were always different than, you know, the images you saw in the Soviet Union and North Korea. We were proud not to be that. And then Senator Kennedy said, look, it's the President's call. I wouldn't spend the money if it were me. What's your response to this parade?
GONZALES: Yes, well, Rand Paul's a no on absolutely everything. So I'd put that one aside. As far as the cost of the -- of the -- the funds, that's a reasonable argument. But I think now more than ever, this country needs to come together. And oftentimes a parade will do that, and a President will do that. You know, I've seen it. Different Presidents from different parties, when they come and visit your town, there is something special and there's something electric about it. That's what we need to get back to.
How do we -- how do we all become, you know, get back to being Americans? We have divisions. We have difference of opinion. No problem. But I think a -- a parade where everyone's flat -- flying the American flag is a powerful thing that our country may need now more than ever.
TAPPER: Republican Congressman and Navy veteran.
GONZALES: There you go.
TAPPER: A mistake -- a mistake I won't ever make again. Tony Gonzales of Texas, thank you so much. Appreciate it, sir.
GONZALES: Thanks, Jake.
TAPPER: We'll continue to watch this situation unfolding in L.A. again tonight. We're going to go back to CNN's Kyung Lah on the ground when we get her coms back up. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:45:31]
TAPPER: Let's get back to the breaking news. We were covering out of California those protests in downtown Los Angeles where there was a standoff between protesters and law enforcement. CNN's Kyung Lah is on the ground. She's gotten to a safe position where law enforcement says it's OK for her to stand. Kyung, tell us what's happening now.
LAH: I'm actually just watching, Mike. Take a look. We're seeing DHS start to --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you can just open it up, we're going to have vehicles move. If you can just move it and come back, OK? Just move it out of the way, then you can come back. That's all I'm asking.
LAH: So that -- that -- that's an officer from the Department of Homeland Security saying that they're going to be moving some vehicles out of the Federal Detention Center, the Metropolitan Detention Facility. And you can see these officers are trying to create basically a hole so the vehicle can exit. Where I was last joining you, Jake, is the in and out of the Detention Center. And so if you look at what the job is of the DHS, ICE, the federal agents --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There will be a truck passing through all the way here. Move back. Get on the sidewalk.
LAH: OK So that -- he's -- he's LAPD. The Los Angeles Police Department is in charge of trying to keep this area clear. There was a public dispersal order put in telling people who were protesting outside the Detention Center that they are being ordered to get out. So there -- there was a little bit of conflict, nothing super violent, but there -- there was a -- a clash between some of the demonstrators and federal law enforcement where they had to try to clear out the entrance and exit.
So what you're seeing now is a thoroughfare, that the public has been cleared for a block. The city has declared this unsafe for the public, that they -- they cannot be protesting in front of the detention facility. And what you see here are -- you see ICE agents. I see ICE agents. I see Department of Homeland Security as well as U.S. Marshals as they're trying to basically protect the vehicle to clear to -- they're in charge of the federal facility, federal property, making sure that that vehicle can get in and out of the facility.
They are backed up by the LAPD who is trying to keep the public from interacting with the federal agents here. So that is essentially what we've seen completely play out. So it is -- it's a complex dance, indeed, of federal agents as well as local jurisdiction with all of the National Guard that has now come in, Jake.
TAPPER: All right. Kyung Lah, thank you so much. I appreciate it.
LAH: Here comes the bearcat.
TAPPER: Let's watch. Let's -- show us the bearcat. There it is. So that's what they were --
LAH: Here it comes.
TAPPER: -- that -- that's clearing the -- the road for to allow the bearcat to come through.
LAH: Exactly.
TAPPER: Is this -- is this leaving the Detention Center or arriving at the Detention Center?
LAH: Leaving the Detention Center. And this has really been an alarming sight for members of the public, and that's really what's been driving the protests here to this federal block to -- to protest what you're exactly looking at, that they don't want this in Los Angeles.
The federal government has always been here. The military has always been here. But it is the ICE sweeps that have been popping up across Southern California and -- and this very visible force and this sign of militarization in Los Angeles that's inspiring people to come out night after night, and it's going to keep going because if you talk to the people who are out here demonstrating and protesting, they don't want this in Los Angeles.
The -- the people who they're seeing getting detained are the people who they buy food from or who may be cleaning their homes or working in the city, some legally and some illegally, and -- and they don't want -- and at least the people who are showing up here, Jake, they don't want to see this.
TAPPER: Yes, and we just talked to a Republican congressman from Texas, Tony Gonzales, a Navy veteran, who was saying something that we heard from a different Republican from California, Valadao, the idea that they want the Trump administration to focus on the undocumented immigrants who are criminals, who are violent criminals, and -- and not to necessarily target people who are undocumented but playing a role in society. That's something that we've now heard from two different House Republicans expressed.
[17:50:07]
All right, Kyung Lah, thank you so much.
We're also monitoring some major headlines around the world, including a series of explosions in Colombia and a rare mass shooting in Austria. We'll be back with those world headlines next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TAPPER: Let's whip around the world in our World Lead, starting with Colombia. At least seven people were killed, more than 20 injured, after a wave of explosions rocked the South American country of Colombia this morning. The Colombian army believed the explosions were linked to a guerrilla or terrorist group, and that the targets were police around the country, though the group has not claimed responsibility for the attack.
In Austria today, where gun violence is rare, sheer panic and horror after a deadly shooting at a high school. A former student at the school opened fire, killing nine students and a teacher before then taking his own life. CNN's Fred Pleitgen just arrived at the scene where Austria is in shock.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Children screaming as the shooter opened fire inside this high school in Graz, shattering the quiet of this South Austrian town. Police say they intervened only minutes later, hundreds of officers deployed to the scene. But the damage had been done. Many killed and wounded, some critically, evacuated to nearby hospitals. [17:55:06]
Even as things calmed down, a heavy security deployment in surrounding streets. Panicked parents soon converged on a nearby sports center where authorities had moved students, trying to find out if their children were among the dead and injured. This mother said she was lucky to hear from her son, who has a cell phone.
I still cannot comprehend it, she says. It's unbelievable when you're sitting at home and don't know whether you're safe or not.
The mass shooting, one of the worst rampages in this country's history. Austrians own more guns than most of their European Union neighbors, but gun violence here is relatively low, a fraction of the U.S.'s rates, according to the Small Arms Survey Research Institute.
And many are left wondering about the motive. Authorities said they believe the shooter, a former student of the same school who didn't graduate, acted alone and died by suicide in a school bathroom.
Two firearms were used in the shooting, this police official says, which were recovered at the scene. These weapons are now being forensically examined. The suspected perpetrator is believed to have possessed the weapons legally.
Austria has declared three days of mourning, with messages of condolences pouring in from all over the world after a rampage many in this country cannot comprehend.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PLEITGEN (on camera): And Jake, tonight that pain and suffering continues here in the city of Graz. As you can tell behind me, there's been a candlelight vigil that's been set up here in the city center. I actually spoke to the mayor of the city earlier today, and she said if there's anything positive at all to glean from all of this, it's that the authorities reacted very quickly and brought a lot of officers there to the scene in a very short period of time.
At the same time, the folks here are acknowledging it is a very painful day for them, for their community. It's going to take a long time for this place to recover, Jake.
TAPPER: All right, Fred Pleitgen in Austria, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
We're going to go back to the demonstrations in Los Angeles. Moments ago, we heard from CNN's Kyung Lah. CNN anchor Erin Burnett is also on the streets in Los Angeles. She's going to give us a different van -- vantage point coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:59:52]
TAPPER: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. This hour, a legal victory for President Trump. A judge has just denied California's request for an immediate block of Trump's use of troops, National Guard troops on the streets of Los Angeles. There will be more hearing on that issue in a couple days.
