Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

California Leaders Demand Trump Withdraw National Guard Troops; Israel Seizes Gaza Aid Ship, Detains Greta Thunberg, Others; About 500 Marines Being Mobilized in Response to LA Protests. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired June 09, 2025 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

SANCHEZ: We've been keeping an eye on the breaking news out of Los Angeles, and just moments ago at the White House, President Donald Trump was asked questions specifically about the situation there, as we understand that more protesters are gathering right now in response to ICE raids and the deployment of the National Guard. We should note, the state of California has announced it would file a lawsuit against President Trump for deploying the Guard to the state. Let's listen to the president's response to a question about that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Governor and the State Attorney General said that they're going to sue you for sending the National Guard in. They're saying there's no invasion, there's no rebellion. The president is trying to manufacture chaos and crisis on the ground for his own political ends. Federalizing the California National Guard is an abuse of the president's authority under law.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, you know, it's interesting. You watch the same clips as I did. Cars burning all over the place, people rioting.

And by the way, we stopped it. We were able to make it much better, but it still looked pretty bad. And in watching clips last night, people were saying, this is really a big problem. And until we went in, if we didn't do the job, that place would be burning down just like the houses burned down. They were in big trouble last night, Peter. You know it.

And the night before, and the night before that. And I feel we had no choice. I don't want to see ...

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Now the city's schools are also on edge. We are joined now by Alberto Carvalho. He is the superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Superintendent, thank you so much for being with us. Can you tell us a little bit about any immigration enforcement activity that you or school officials, school district officials, have been seeing around LA Unified Schools?

ALBERTO CARVALHO, SUPERINTENDENT, LOS ANGELES UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT: Thank you so much for the opportunity, Brianna. Look, we are a massive school system with over 1,000 schools. And right now, we are going through culmination and graduation weeks, which means in addition to the school activities, we have hundreds of activities in school or outside of school with parents coming into these sites to celebrate the success of their children.

Going back a number of weeks, we had Homeland Security officials attempting to have access to a number of our students from first all the way through sixth grade. We stopped them since they did not have a legal judicial warrant to provide them access to those students. There was dishonesty associated with that interaction.

They reported to our school officials that their parents, the parents of the children they wanted access to, had authorized them to have access to those kids. We confirmed that was wrong.

In addition to that, we have seen sporadic action around our schools, but not specifically targeting our schools. But obviously, we are concerned about the fact that dozens of graduations are happening today, tonight and tomorrow, bringing in the community to our venues to celebrate the success of our kids. And we certainly don't want federal interference with that type of activity.

SANCHEZ: I wonder what impact do you think that might have on students and teachers, given that a school, as I understand it, lets out tomorrow. What does this do to education in LA schools?

CARVALHO: Well, Boris, what I can tell you is considering the diverse demographic profile of our community, there's a great deal of uncertainty, a great deal of fear, based on the fact that this is a direct threat to a lot of our families. A lot of our kids belong to families where a father, a mother or both may have an undocumented immigration status, putting them in a position of deep fear.

Students themselves have spoken with me.

[15:35:00]

Families have reported to me that their conversations at the dinner table are about who's going to leave, who's going to take care of our children if either one of us is picked up and deported. So there is concern, there is fear, and we have a constitutional responsibility to protect our kids.

The Constitution is clear in conveying to us, and this is a legal issue that has been asserted in this country for a number of years. Regardless of immigration status, our kids have a legal right to an education in our public schools. That protection extends to graduations, to culminations, to field trips and the transportation of kids to our schools.

Nothing should interfere with that constitutionally protected right.

KEILAR: And how how, Superintendent, has this been affecting -- I know it's the very end of the school year here, but how have these ICE actions been affecting attendance?

CARVALHO: So very good question. District wide because of the protocols that we have enacted and are very aggressive communication approach, the community conveying our protective demeanor of our students and families because we have trained our workforce in asserting the rights of our children. I believe the community trusts our ability to protect them.

So district wide, the average daily attendance has not really suffered. What we have seen is this, schools in areas that have been targeted by federal agents for immigration action implementation because of the fear in the surrounding community. Those schools did see a significant dip, temporary dip in attendance, but then it rebounds back.

Obviously, we're concerned about going to the summer. Considering we're going to stand up a very aggressive summer school program that will benefit over 120,000 kids are protective demeanor towards our students and families will continue. And look, I want to be very clear about one thing.

I know a lot of the images we're seeing on TV coming out of LA are disturbing. No one condones violent demonstrations, violent destruction of property, endangering the public or law enforcement entities. But it's a big stretch to take those images and say we now need to redouble our efforts in terms of disrupting families. People pay taxes are hard working people who are doing nothing but educating their kids. As an immigrant, former undocumented teenager to this country, I would be the biggest hypocrite if I did not fight for the rights of the kids who today are facing circumstances that I faced over 40 years ago.

KEILAR: Superintendent of LA Unified School District Alberto Carvalho. Thank you so much for being with us. We really appreciate it.

CARVALHO: Thank you.

KEILAR: And we do want to say we're getting some breaking news now about active duty military, not just the National Guard, but active duty military being mobilized in response to protests in Los Angeles. Stay with us for more news.

[15:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: We're learning more about an overnight incident off of the coast of Gaza that involves a humanitarian aid ship with at least one prominent activist on board. The Israeli military intercepted the vessel and detained several passengers, including well-known climate activist Greta Thunberg. Sources say the ship and its crew have just reached a port in Israel.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is in Tel Aviv with details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, efforts by a group of pro-Palestinian activists to break Israel's naval blockade of Gaza came to an abrupt halt early this morning. The Madlene, which was carrying about a dozen activists, including Greta Thunberg, as well as a member of the European Parliament, was intercepted by the Israeli Navy in the early hours of the morning, and naval commandos then boarded the ship. The Gaza Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which is the umbrella group that ran this mission, said that the Israeli military, quote, unlawfully boarded the Madlene in international waters.

Before commandos boarded the ship, activists on board reported that there were drones flying overhead and that they then dropped some kind of white paint-like substance before a warning was issued by the Israeli Navy, telling them that the Gaza coastline was off-limits. Their communications were then jammed, and then Israeli naval commandos came on board.

We saw images, actually, of these activists putting their hands in the air, awaiting the Israeli naval commandos coming on board.

The incident seems to have unfolded altogether peacefully, with no injuries or deaths reported in this incident. That's in stark contrast to what happened in, most notably, in 2010, when a ship known as the Mavi Marmara was boarded by Israeli naval commandos, who reported coming under attack with batons and metal rods. Those naval commandos killed nine people aboard that ship in that incident.

And then, of course, just last month, it was a ship called the Conscience that initially attempted to bring these same activists, including Greta Thunberg. It came under what those activists said was an Israeli drone attack in international waters, just off the coast of Malta, before they could even set sail for Gaza.

[15:45:03]

Now, what's going to happen to these activists? According to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, all of the passengers on board will be returned to their home countries.

As we understand it, they are in the custody of the Israeli military right now, and they will then face deportation back to their countries. Several of the European countries, like France, for example, which has citizens on board, have already been in touch with the Israeli government to ensure the safe return of their citizens.

What is clear is that these activists ultimately at least succeeded in part in drawing attention to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. We know, of course, that despite Israel slightly lifting that blockade by allowing limited quantities of humanitarian aid over the course of the last couple weeks, despite all of that, the hunger crisis is still very much gripping the Gaza Strip. We are continuing to see scenes of chaos and looting around some of the aid that is getting into Gaza, and signs of desperation among the population there, with calls from humanitarian aid groups to allow much more aid to flow into Gaza.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Our thanks to Jeremy for that.

And ahead, we will have some more details on our breaking news about now active-duty military being mobilized in addition to the Guards members that were already mobilized in response to protests there in Los Angeles. Stay with us for that.

[15:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: We have breaking news now from the Pentagon. CNN can now report that roughly 500 Marines are being mobilized in response to the protests in Los Angeles.

KEILAR: And this is a significant escalation from President Trump, who had activated National Guard troops over the weekend without Governor Gavin Newsom's consent. In this new move, active-duty military members are being deployed as a show of force against U.S. citizens.

CNN's Natasha Bertrand is live for us at the Pentagon. Natasha, what are you learning?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, this is something that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth had previewed over the weekend. He said that if necessary, he would deploy the Marines to Los Angeles to help federal agents with handling the protests there. And it appears now that these Marines, according to our sources, they have been mobilized.

These 500 Marines, a full Marine battalion based out of 29 Palms, California, which is just outside San Bernardino, about an hour away from Los Angeles, they have been mobilized, and they are gearing up to go and help ICE agents, as well as other federal officials, deal with these protests in Los Angeles.

Importantly, they're going to be bolstering as well the National Guard guardsmen and women who have been activated in Los Angeles by President Trump. But as you said, it is a significant escalation of the President's use of the military as a show of force against these protesters.

It's really not clear, you know, the last time Marines were deployed to help essentially with riot control, though it's unclear at this point just what their actual tasking will be. Typically, if they are deployed to these situations, it is expected that they will operate in much the same way that the National Guard does, doing things like perimeter security, maybe some crowd control.

But the rules of engagement here, we are told, are still being finalized, and Defense Department lawyers are also looking at the kinds of rules of engagement these Marines will have as they encounter protesters possibly on the streets of Los Angeles.

But again, this coming at a very, very tense moment with the Governor of California suing the Trump administration over, of course, the deployment of the National Guard by President Trump against his will there in California.

SANCHEZ: And, Natasha, during his first term, U.S. generals stopped President Trump, famously, from deploying troops against protesters. Are you hearing about any pushback to this plan from within the Pentagon?

BERTRAND: Well, look, a big question is whether President Trump is going to invoke the Insurrection Act, which would allow the Marines and the National Guard troops that are on the streets in California to conduct law enforcement activity, including things like making arrests. That is the thing that in Trump's first administration, defense officials were extremely concerned about, just because it obviously creates the possibility of setting up a very violent confrontation between the military and civilians, and creating a lot of, you know, potentially catastrophic consequences.

And so whether or not he decides to invoke the Insurrection Act is something that people here at the Pentagon are going to be watching very closely, because without doing so, for now, the Marines and the National Guard troops, they can really -- they're really limited in what they can actually do and the kinds of interactions that they can actually have with these protesters.

SANCHEZ: Natasha Bertrand live at the Pentagon. Thank you so much.

Stay with CNN. We'll be right back.

[15:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: We've been monitoring as President Donald Trump has been taking questions at the White House during an event there, and he was just asked about the fallout that he's had with Elon Musk since he deported the administration. Let's listen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... Tesla and the Starlink service that you have here at the White House?

TRUMP: No, I haven't heard that. I mean, I may move the Tesla around a little bit, but I don't think we'll be doing that with Starlink. It's a good service.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where are you going to move it to? Move it around? What do you mean?

TRUMP: I have a lot of locations.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Actually, about the Tesla --

TRUMP: I had so many locations that I don't know what to do with them all.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: About that Tesla, did you ever see Elon Musk get physical with the Treasury Secretary?

TRUMP: No, I didn't.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I tried to --

TRUMP: I did have an argument, but I didn't see a lot of physicality there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And there was this New York Times report that he did not want to talk about, Elon Musk, that alleged that he, towards the end of his time in the White House, was blurring the lines between recreational use of drugs and medicinal. Do you think he ever had drugs here at the White House?

TRUMP: I really don't know. I don't think so. I hope not.

Look, I wish him well. You understand. We had a good relationship and I just wish him well. Very well, actually.

Yes.

SANCHEZ: If you recall at the end of last week, things got pretty intense between the President and the former head of DOGE.

[16:00:00]

A lot of posts on social media back and forth. The President making accusations, Musk making accusations back, involving -- evoking the Epstein files at one point. Though we should note that over the weekend, Musk deleted a lot of those remarks, especially the more salacious ones.

KEILAR: Yes, things got downright mean. But as you can tell just by the demeanor there, the President not taking any whacks at Musk when he certainly could. But he did have an argument, Musk did, with the Treasury Secretary.

The President there just saying he did not see it get physical. Interesting.

"THE ARENA" with Kasie Hunt starts right now.

END