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U.S. and China in New Round of Trade Talks; Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) is Interviewed about the War in Ukraine; Severe Weather Threat in the South. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired June 09, 2025 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

HILDA SOLIS, CHAIR PRO TEM, L.A. COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS: Is really taking command over all of this. And if there's necessary more legal assistance that we need, law enforcement, he is able to call on our local police departments that surround our cities and -- our city of Los Angeles. So, those can also be made available. And I think he's already working on that. And that may not rule out the possibility that if appropriate if there are more disruptions, as we saw last evening, that they may have to make a formal request for National Guard. But that should come through our protocols that the sheriff understands, and -- and so does LAPD. And they have worked through. They use that method during the fires here in Palisade and in Altadena.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Right.

SOLIS: So, I -- that's what we're trying to do, kind of quell it, get people to understand, please do not be violent. We understand people need to express their -- their concern and their emotions. We know that. But -- but control them and don't be -- don't be disruptive. Don't feed into this narrative that we don't care that we are going to hurt each other and hurt our city. We don't want that to happen. Definitely, we want to have calm.

So, there will be several different press conferences today. One even at L.A. Unified School District, because we have a lot of families and children that are very much impacted and scared and frightened that somehow they're going to have ICE agents coming into the school. We know that that happened almost a month ago.

We want to allow for -- for our students and our parents to be able to speak, but we think they should demonstrate in a peaceful manner and do that in accordance with our laws. A rule of law, and, obviously, to take note that we still have a ways to go here.

BERMAN: I will note, you said that it may come to the need to call in the National Guard, although they're already there, the president put them there. I will say the Los Angeles police chief, and I understand that the city and the county are separate, but the police chief did say overnight there may be a need to reassess.

Let's listen to Jim McDonnell.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF JIM MCDONNELL, LOS ANGELES POLICE: We have tremendous capability here. To -- to say that we -- we would go to that right away, I'd say we're not -- we wouldn't have been there yet. Looking at the violence tonight, I think we got to make a reassessment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: We got to make a reassessment he says based on what he saw overnight. So maybe you think the National Guard should be there after all

SOLIS: I -- at this point I would defer to our sheriff and to Jim McDonnell, the chief of police for Los Angeles. They know how to -- how to carry this out. And I do think that if we can kind of make sure that there is more peaceful, if there are demonstration -- demonstrations, peaceful and that they can -- they can be secured and -- and knowing that people won't be hurt and there won't be more vandalism, I think -- I think we can move that route. But if we do need more people, I think -- more law enforcement, I think our sheriff has already let our local PDs in the surrounding cities come in to help to provide additional support. If that doesn't work, then, obviously, they're going to look to trying to get the National Guard to work under the purview of the state and the county. And I think that's really where we want to go because right now the National Guard is just protecting federal property.

BERMAN: Right.

SOLIS: That's what they're assigned to do. So, as you saw, they were not out in the streets. They were out on Friday and I think on Saturday for -- especially on Friday, going out to do their investigations and what I call (INAUDIBLE). And that really, I think, precipitated much of this.

I would hope that we could handle this in a better adult fashion where there's more communication between the federal government, the Trump administration, as well as our governor, Gavin Newsom, and our mayor, as well as the county of Los Angeles with our sheriff's department.

BERMAN: Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis, thank you for your time this morning. Appreciate it.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, ahead, happening now, a new round of U.S.-China trade talks are underway in London. Why one White House official is saying they won't last long.

And major developments in Russia's war on Ukraine. Russia now claiming its forces have pushed into a central Ukrainian region for the very first time.

Those stories ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [09:39:08]

SIDNER: Happening now, a new round of trade talks between the U.S. and China in London. The world's two biggest economies trying to preserve that fragile truce over tariffs that was broken just last month.

CNN's Anna Stewart is in London.

Brand new this morning we're hearing from someone familiar with all of this that's going on, saying that these talks are going to be short. Why is that?

ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, if President Trump is to be believed from last week, then the trade deal is practically done. And all that needs to be done is a bit of rubber stamping at this stage, and that all of the tricky bits have been ironed out.

Now, what's different about these talks to prior talks really is the focus has shifted from the trade deficit and tariffs and it's really focused on export controls between both sides.

Now, for the U.S., the most important element here is rare earth metals. Some 17 elements somewhere at the bottom of the periodic table that are absolutely critical for a number of industries and are largely not only mined but very much processed in China.

[09:40:04]

They have about 90 percent market share of processing of these minerals. And they're critical for a number of industries. And actually, the White House economic adviser, Kevin Hassett, was speaking on CNBC just earlier today to talk about why this is such a big sticking point.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN HASSETT, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: China controls, as you know, something like 90 percent of the rare earths and the magnets. And if they're slow rolling sending those to the U.S. for -- because of some licensing deal that they set up, then it could potentially disrupt production for, you know, some U.S. companies that rely on those things. And there are enough of those, like, for example, auto companies, that -- Trump took it very seriously, called President Xi and said, we got to -- we got to get this stuff coming out faster. And President Xi agreed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEWART: So, clearly, the White House feeling a lot of pressure actually from some of those American companies. And on Friday, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in China actually said that a number of Chinese suppliers had been granted six month export licenses to American companies. So perhaps we're already actually seeing a bit of a softening in terms of those negotiations.

Now, of course, it's not just about the U.S. China has demands, too. They will want to see an easing of restrictions, particularly around things like semiconductors, some technology that the U.S. has restricted to China. So, there will be a bit of back and forth around that, I expect.

Of course, it's not just about getting the trade deal done or making an agreement, but keeping it, because talks in Geneva last month went very well, but it all unraveled quite quickly after that.

Sara.

SIDNER: Yes. And we watched that in real time. Anna Stewart, thank you so much, live for us in London. Appreciate your reporting.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, Ukraine is saying that Russia launched its largest overnight drone attack of the entire war, deploying almost 500 drones. Russia also claims that its forces have pushed into a central Ukrainian region for the first time since the war began. And in another move, CNN has learned Poland and allies scrambled aircraft as Russia's air campaign targeted western Ukraine near the border with Poland. And in the face of the stalled peace talks and an ever-expanding war effort, a bipartisan effort to slap more sanctions on Russia is gaining momentum in the U.S. Senate.

And here is how President Trump responded to questions about this sanctions bill this weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Use it if it's necessary.

I haven't decided to use it. It's a very -- it's a very strong bill.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Joining us right now is Democratic Congressman Seth Moulton of Massachusetts. He sits on the House Armed Services Committee. Congressman, thanks for coming in.

So, with all of these elements that I just laid out, you have this sanctions bill that really is gaining momentum in the Senate and getting support in the House, but being led by Senators Graham and Blumenthal. I asked Senator Blumenthal, when he was on, why he thinks that the president himself hasn't decided if he wants to move on this sanctions bill when it has so much support. Let me play for you what the senator said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): One of the mysteries to me, Kate, and your question goes to the heart of Putin, in effect, playing Donald Trump, he's making a fool of them, and I have no good answer for why Trump has failed so far to endorse explicitly this bill.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Congressman, where do you think this is headed?

REP. SETH MOULTON (D-MA): Well, first of all, let's be clear, Trump is a Putin puppet. He's completely in Putin's pocket, and that's the only conceivable reason why Trump would be opposed to this. I mean, even by his own, you know, art of the deal, you're supposed to have leverage going into a negotiation, and this clearly increases Ukraine's leverage against Russia. Reminder, Ukraine is our ally, not Russia. Sometimes the, president needs clarification on that.

So, where is this headed? Finally, some Republicans are getting the courage to do the right thing. That's encouraging. Of course, this was a bipartisan war effort, a bipartisan support for Ukraine, I should say, for a long time until Trump came back on the scene.

So, it's good to see Republicans in the Senate and some Republicans in the House as well doing what we've actually been doing all along, which is giving support to Ukraine. That ultimately is what we need to get a reasonable conclusion to this crisis.

BOLDUAN: And on that, this Wednesday, two days from now, marks two weeks since President Trump said that he was going to give a two-week deadline in announcing how he's going to proceed with peace talks. I took note of it because we've heard this two weeks deadline from the president before on many topics. He said, I'll let you know in about two weeks, when he was asked in the Oval Office, whether Putin wants to end the war. He's offered a deadline like this multiple times, just kind of pushing it out to make a declarative statement about his position on peace talks or what he actually thinks Putin's motivations are here. What do you think the administration, if not the president, but the administration is holding out for here?

[09:45:01]

MOULTON: I mean, Trump is still waking up to this simple idea that Putin's a bad guy who wants to continue this war, something that the entire rest of the world figured out a long time ago. So, I don't know why Trump continues to hold out for Putin. I don't know why he continues to do what the Kremlin wants, but that's clearly what's going on here. He's hoping, against hope, against reality, against all the facts on the ground, that Putin actually wants to make a deal with him, and that's just not the case.

What we need to do is increase pressure on Russia. The Ukrainians are doing that. We need to do it as well. And, ultimately, that's the kind of leverage we need to bring Russia and Putin to the negotiating table to have an end to this conflict that doesn't just give a gift to Putin. Because if Putin walks out of this war thinking that he can just conquer any country that he wants, he could well go to NATO next, and that means U.S. troops are involved. And perhaps even more risky, it sends a message to Xi Jinping in China that he can do the same thing, that the Western world will let Xi Jinping get away with taking over a country just like they let Putin get away with it. And that could start World War III in the Pacific over Taiwan. So, there's a lot riding on bringing this conflict to an end in a way that sends a message to Russia and the rest of the world that you can't do this. You can't be a war criminal. You can't just take over a country because you want to.

BOLDUAN: Something else that we're watching play out in real time right now is these violent protests and clashes between protesters in Los Angeles and law enforcement over immigration raid that have been happening in L.A., the president's decision to send in the National Guard, despite the objection of the governor there, and now you have the governor saying that he's going to sue. Do you think that is the right move?

MOULTON: Do I think it's the right move for Governor Newsom to sue, or do I think it's the right move to send the National Guard?

BOLDUAN: For Governor Newsom to sue at this point in response to what the president has done.

MOULTON: Well, I mean, I'm not a lawyer, and I'm not a big fan of lawsuits, but I think the bottom line is that the LAPD has said they have this protest under control. And when the LAPD has a protest under control, it doesn't help the situation to bring in troops. You bring in troops in America only in the most extreme circumstances because we're a democracy, and you don't politicize the military and ask them to act against American citizens.

It's amazing that President Trump is so quick to call in the National Guard when he held off calling in the National Guard as armed people were assaulting the Capitol to try to overthrow a democratic election. Just bring it back to January 6th and think about how Trump was unwilling to bring in the troops then. He never called in active duty troops.

I had a friend of mine from the Marines with the FBI literally sitting on a Black Hawk waiting to come up, and the president wouldn't let him go to save the lives of cops, to save the lives of his own vice president and other elected officials who these protesters, who these insurrectionists were trying to hang.

So, it's kind of amazing that Trump wants to do this in L.A., and it's pretty obvious because he's always dreamed of politicizing the military and using it against what he sees as the left in America. So, Trump wants to politicize the troops. Gavin Newsom is right to tell him to stop. I'm not sure a lawsuit's going to change it. But let's keep this in perspective with what the president is really trying to do here and what he was unwilling to do to protect the country back on January 6th.

BOLDUAN: Yes, it's going to be really interesting what happens today, as this continues to unfold.

Congressman, thank you so much for coming in this morning.

John. BERMAN: All right, damaging winds, large hail, even the chance of

tornadoes stretched from New Orleans all the way up to western New York. Look at that map. A lot of people affected by this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:53:26]

SIDNER: All right, the first black woman to be named the principal dancer for American ballet theater is retiring. In an interview with "The Times," Misty Copeland shares that she is ending her historic run with the theater company after 25 years. "The New York Times" reporting she stepped away from -- for the past five years to raise her son and work with her foundation. Copeland's climb to the top of the ballet world was heralded, particularly since she broke color barriers and came from a modest background. The paper says she'll give a farewell performance this fall. That will be very cool. She's amazing.

BERMAN: Yes, an incredible career.

All right, this morning, the severe weather threat is shifting east after a weekend of tornadoes, damaging wind and very large hail across the southern plains.

CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam is in the Weather Center with the latest.

What do things look like, Derek?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, John, this -- over the past weekend, this is incredible, 750 reports of strong wind damage, multiple tornadoes and even hailstones the size of softballs. We're talking four to five inches in diameter. That will put a dent in your car. That's certainly dangerous.

Here's some damage coming out of the Van Buren, Arkansas, region. And this is from straight line winds, likely just causing some of this debris to be scattered across the roads. Even blowing out some windows, taking out the roof of this particular home.

So, all in all, a very active stretch of weather. We're going to continue into the severe weather threat for the day today. So, 23 tornado reports. If you were in Virginia yesterday, there was a confirmed tornado on the ground in Virginia just 24 hours ago. Incredible.

[09:55:01]

But the majority of these tornadoes across the deep south, particularly into the southern plains.

Here's our current radar. Lots of lightning to discuss across Mississippi and into central Alabama. Look at the severe weather threat today. It's almost like the atmosphere here giving us a thumbs up but there's nothing positive about this, right, because we've got 80 million Americans under the risk of severe storms. Pittsburgh, Nashville, Atlanta, all the way to Jackson, Mississippi, that's' where we could see some of that large -- or strong, damaging winds and even some hail. Isolated tornado can't be ruled out, especially across Alabama and Mississippi.

Time frame, 2:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. tonight. That's when we get the maximum daytime heating from the sun. And then we get a break overnight. And then we have just a marginal risk for the deep south towards the Gulf Coast for the day tomorrow.

But along with these severe threats, we have the potential for some localized flooding. Heads up across the southeastern U.S., one to three inches of rain. And then later today across central Texas could see some localized flooding as well. Something we're also monitoring closely.

John.

BERMAN: All right, a busy, potentially dangerous afternoon into evening tonight. Everyone, stay alert.

Thank you, Derek.

BOLDUAN: And thank you all so much for joining us today. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

"THE SITUATION ROOM" is up next.

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