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Tensions Flare in L.A. as Protests Grow Over ICE Raids; 700 Marines Headed to L.A. After Fourth Night of Protests; What to Watch in Today's Primaries for New Jersey Governor. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired June 10, 2025 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And we are standing by for another day of protests in Los Angeles after a fourth night of unrest that included more clashes and more arrests. President Trump is now taking it a step further, activating 700 Marines and thousands more National Guard troops.

And an unprecedented move as well by the Health and Human Services secretary firing all 17 members of a critical vaccine advisory committee. Many in public health say the move shows a, quote, complete lack of caring about the health of every American.

And overnight, Russia launches another massive drone attack on Kyiv hitting civilian targets, including a maternity ward.

I'm Kate Bolduan with John Berman, Sara Sidner on the ground in Los Angeles this morning. This is CNN News Central.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. We are live here in Los Angeles. Breaking this morning, the evidence of battles overnight and into this morning between police and protesters is about to see the light of day. Behind me, you are seeing the National Guard just over my right shoulder there, they were deployed by President Trump over the objections of California Governor Gavin Newsom. And you are seeing them there standing there because this is where the flashpoint has been, the federal buildings that have sent protestors into the streets, one of them, an ICE detention center, another of them, the federal courthouse, and then next to that, they have their vehicles sort of parked in front of the V.A. clinic there. This is all their purview to try and protect these buildings from damage and violence.

Now, overnight and into the morning, we heard the sounds of flash bangs. There was destruction. You could hear the sirens going up and down the street as police were trying to wrangle the few dozen protestors that were left. And now the city is bracing for something that we haven't seen in this country in decades, President Trump deploying Marines on U.S. soil due to a protest. Though local law enforcement has said that they have things under control, and when you see the numbers, there were only a couple of dozen people out last night that seemed to be doing the vast majority of the destruction that the president though has mobilized 700 Marines to Los Angeles and authorized another 2,000 National Guardsmen, bringing the total number to 4,700 troops here in the streets of Los Angeles eventually, all of it over the objection of the governor.

Now, I want to go now to CNN's Stephanie Elam. But before we do that, I just want to give you some sense of what journalists have been facing as well. Some of them have been injured. We saw live on T.V. one of them getting hit with a projectile by police. And overnight, our correspondent, Jason Carroll, and two of his security detail were escorted briefly out of the protest zone. You're seeing those pictures now. They were not cuffed, but they were had their hands put behind their backs and they were briefly detained. They have all been released without any charges.

These are all over anti-ICE. These are people who are very concerned about the way in which this is happening, that people like everyday workers are being swept up in this, including family members with children, not the violent criminals that the president had talked about detaining.

I want to go now to our Stephanie Elam, who is on the ground here in downtown Los Angeles, as am I, she's about a mile away. Give us some sense of what you're seeing as we are about to see dawn break here.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Sara. I can tell you when we first got on the scene here overnight, that we did see a little bit of a skirmish of LAPD clearing out some people who are left over, but, overall, it's been calm.

[08:05:01]

There are a lot of police officers out here, and you are seeing the leftover.

We're outside of an Apple store here, and you can see they've been boarding it up. We've been watching the crews out here boarding it up. You can see there's blood underneath here from some of this drama of getting in and out of this store here.

And I can tell you that, you know, in this area, there is another store that was looted, that was broken into. If you look in through the store here, you can see that they broke in and knocked things off, and were taking things off the shelves here. Overall, though, you were talking about the Trump administration mobilizing these troops.

It's a bit of a horn-locking between the Democratic governor and the Democratic mayor, Karen Bass here, who says that basically she thinks that this is all just a test case. Take a listen to what she said in her own words.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR KAREN BASS (D-LOS ANGELES, CA): And it makes me feel like our city is actually a test case for what happens when the federal government moves in and takes the authority away from the state or away from local government. I don't think that our city should be used for an experiment to see what happens in the nation's second largest city, well, maybe we can do this to other cities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELAM: And again, you see the tags out here all over downtown, no ICE, no DHS, all of that. But what is really important to point out here, Sara, is that 99 percent of the city, of the county are perfectly normal. Things are operating as normal. It's parts of downtown that you're still seeing some of the effects here. But overall, L.A. is operating as normal and I think that's something that's not being made as clearly out there to the rest of the country here. It is not the entire city. It is just this part of downtown.

SIDNER: Yes. And I think that's a really important point, that it is not just -- it is not all of downtown either, slivers of downtown, parts of downtown that have been seeing this parts that many people are used to seeing protesters, for example, like outside of city hall.

Stephanie Elam, thank you so much. We should mention this is also happening in cities across the country where you're seeing protest erupt in places like Dallas, Texas.

But I want to bring in Mayor Victor Gordo of Pasadena. Thank you so much, Mayor, for joining us this morning. I am curious from your perspective as an Angelino, when you see what is going on here, I mean, how would you describe the protest and do you think that the sort of violent protests that have happened, the destructive protests that have happened have been counterproductive to the message that is trying to be sent here, that people are extremely concerned about the way in which President Trump and ICE is conducting these raids?

MAYOR VICTOR GORDO (D-PASADENA, CA): Absolutely. These are, you know, violence. This type of behavior that we're looking at on television is counterproductive. Not only counterproductive, but it has the effect of victimizing the very people that we're trying to speak for and assist. It infringes on their constitutional right of free speech. It infringes upon their association rights and their right to redress. Because when this type of activity occurs, then authorities have to step in and stop the, as we're seeing, stop the actions and the message is lost.

And so, you know, this is counterproductive and has the effect of re- victimizing on top of victimizing small business and police officers who are not responsible for this activity. The activity that we're talking about and objecting to is federal activity, not local police officers, not small businesses.

And so it's got to stop. It's got to stop. And we can't allow the policies of the federal government to goat us as a community and provoke us into something that we're not because that may be what they're looking for to meet their rhetoric. And then you --

SIDNER: Mayor, I am curious as just responding to what you said about meeting their rhetoric and how you see, why do you think that President Trump is not only deploying the 2000 national guards over the objections of the governor not getting the approval, as is normally done, and now adding another 2,000, plus 700 Marines as well to the streets of Los Angeles? Why do you think that is? Is it about law and order or is it about something else? [08:10:00]

We are just waiting to try -- we're having a bit of a technical issue waiting for the mayor to reply to that. Mayor, I'm going to go ahead. I think we now have you. So, just again, you know, why do you think the Trump administration is acting in the way that it is?

GORDO: Well, we have to take away his ability, the federal government's ability to say that this is for safety purposes by behaving lawfully demonstrating these --

SIDNER: All right, we have lost mayor Gorda, but we really appreciate you taking the time live there from Pasadena, which, of course, has experienced a huge issue with the fires, and there is concern about the Trump administration taking away, for example, grants from different areas of Los Angeles County and California as well.

I'm going to toss it back to you, John.

BERMAN: All right. Thank you so much there. We'll get back to you on the ground in Los Angeles shortly.

In the meantime, it is Election Day in New Jersey. Voters head to the polls in races that could tell us which direction the political winds are blowing.

Activist Greta Thunberg departs Israel after being detained on an aid ship headed for Gaza.

And dozens of demonstrators arrested inside Trump Tower here in New York. We've got the latest on what happened here.

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BOLDUAN: This morning, polls are open across New Jersey as the race for governor there is heating up. Voters today casting ballots to decide who will be the Democratic and Republican nominees in this -- it's becoming a pretty high-profile contest. And President Trump himself even getting in on the action, throwing his support behind the Republican frontrunner.

CNN's Danny Freeman is on the ground for this Election Day joining us right now. And, Danny, what are you seeing? What are you hearing?

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kate, welcome to a very rainy Election Day here in New Jersey. It's primary day. As you noted, the marquee race is really that governor's race, and it's because Governor Phil Murphy, the Democrat, he is term limited right now, so it's an open field and that has drawn a lot of attention, a lot of money and a lot of candidates as well.

Let's run through the Democratic side first, because at this point, that's really the more competitive side in a sense. Congresswoman Mikiey Sherrill, she's the frontrunner at this particular point. She has the support of a lot of Democratic leaders all throughout the state. Then you have Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, Jersey City Mayor Steve Phillip, Representative Josh Gottheimer as well. Those are some of the top people that are fighting for that Democratic spot.

And then on the Republican side, as you noted, President Donald Trump has gotten into this race by endorsing former State Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli. There's also a conservative radio host in this race as well on the Republican side, Bill Spadea. He's running to the right of Ciattarelli in this race.

And, Kate, it's going to be a very interesting day. On the Republican side, as you noted, Ciattarelli is the front runner. He's expected to come away with this primary. The Democratic side is a little bit more of a tossup. But what I'm thinking about when it comes to this race is really, it's a change election that we're looking forward to when it comes to the fall. Because if you're a Democrat you're potentially voting against the current Trump administration, against -- who rather you're voting for, who you want to go up against the Trump administration from the governor's office. If you're a Republican, though, you're really also hoping for change because you're voting against the Governor Murphy incumbency, the two-term Democratic governor. So, it's very, very interesting.

But I want you to hear how President Trump characterized the race. He just did a tele-town hall or a tele-rally, I should say, for the lead Republican candidate, Ciattarelli. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: It's a big deal. It's being watched actually all over the world because New Jersey's ready to pop out of that blue horror show and really get in there and vote for somebody that's going to make things happen. I'm asking you to get out and vote for a true champion for the people of your state, Jack Ciatarelli.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: Now, it's interesting, Kate. Jack Ciatarelli, again, the Republican who's fighting for the primary here right now, he was the nominee back in 2021. He came close to unseating Governor Phil Murphy then. But Phil Murphy still obviously won. But what's interesting and what has a lot of Republicans excited about this particular race, President Donald Trump closed that gap. So, that's why he's saying on that phone call, he is hoping, Republicans are hoping that whoever they choose today can flip this state blue in the fall. Kate? Excuse me, red in the fall, my mistake. Oh my goodness. Sorry about that.

BOLDUAN: We knew what you meant and you're doing a great job and you keep at it. It's good to see you, Danny. Thank you so much. John?

BERMAN: We are colorblind at this time of the morning here.

All right, the sun rising shortly in Los Angeles, we're getting our first look as storefronts vandalize after a night of clashes between protesters and police, but a notable reduction in the temperature there. And breaking overnight, Russia launches one of its largest drone attacks on Kyiv.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:20:00]

BERMAN: All right. This morning, President Trump has activated more than 700 active duty Marines and nearly doubled the number of National Guard troops destined for Los Angeles. There were fewer clashes between protesters and police overnight. The LAPD, they had declared a tactical alert, effectively putting all of the department's officers on notice. They could be called up for service.

With us now is CNN Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst John Miller, who was on the phone till about 14 seconds ago, put the phone down and say, hey, I have to go on the air. I'll call you back. What are you hearing? What are your sources telling you about the situation?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, I'm just checking in to figure out what do they have on any violence and looting from last night, but also what is the outlook for today. And it appears as of now that the LAPD is going to stay in this tactical alert mode where they're only answering high priority calls because they've shifted a large number of people, hundreds of officers in mobile field forces, to stand by for whatever is to come.

BERMAN: How do they feel that last night when you and I were on the air at about 8:30 when there were some physical altercations between police and protesters, but that seemed to largely peter out over the night?

MILLER: Well, it did, and their tactic was to keep pushing the group back, but also keep splitting the group off. And when things happen, and things did happen, glass bottles were thrown, debris was thrown, fireworks were fired at lines of officers.

[08:25:04]

When those things happened, they would move up, make arrests, they would fire some of these rubber bullets to disperse the crowd. But over time, and I think I was on the air until just before 1:00 in the morning, you saw those groups dissipate and deplete until finally they gave the fine order, which is you've been ordered to disperse numerous times over the last march of however many miles or blocks that was, and now you're all under arrest.

It was -- remember the scene from a Bronx Tale when they said, you know, get out and they wouldn't leave. And they said, well, now you can't leave? And that was that. So, you know, what they're doing is the protesters and the police are essentially training each other in terms of what the limits are going to be and where they're set.

BERMAN: Okay. Most of the interaction between protesters and law enforcement was between protesters and L.A. or L.A. County or California State forces last night. Does California, do those state and local authorities think they have the situation under control? What's the current feeling of that versus the National Guard who were literally standing behind them and separate from them last night?

MILLER: So, they are quite certain that they have it under control, from a law enforcement standpoint. And the National Guard has been ordered to surround that federal building and that is their perimeter. Their law enforcement powers, their ability to act in a law enforcement capacity beyond standing there as a security cordon is limited to non-existent at this point.

And the idea of the discussion now about sending in 700 Marines from 29 Palms, this is interesting. I've been to 29 Palms. I've trained those marines in counterterrorism theory, attacks on secure government locations, things like that. But their mission, according to their website is to locate, close with and destroy the enemy by fire maneuver, and to repel the enemy's assault by fire and close combat. They're very good at what they do.

BERMAN: Their mission as Marines is that, yes.

MILLER: That's their mission as Marines. That's what they're trained in.

BERMAN: Right.

MILLER: That's what they train in a desert environment in 29 Palms. Injecting them into the middle of an urban environment in a civil matter doesn't seem to be just from training and mission, a particularly good fit or at this point, particularly necessary. And that's what so much of the controversy in L.A. and the LAPD, and let me tell you, having worked in the LAPD for three years, that is an organization that has many former Marines in it, Marine reservists in it. The Marine Corps culture is there. But this is not what they're looking for.

BERMAN: Right. John Miller, we'll let you get back to that phone call. Let us know what you find out. Thank you very much. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Thank you so much, John. We are live outside of the federal buildings that have been the flashpoint of these protests.

I want to go now to California Congressman John Garamendi. Thank you so much for being here. Mr. Garamendi.

Look, Trump has intimated that Governor Newsom should be arrested. He's galvanized the Marines to deploy to the streets of Los Angeles, and taking control of the National Guard, federalizing it and saying he's going to double the number of Guards members who are here on the ground. In your mind, do you think this is just about immigration enforcement and creating law and order or is there something else going on here?

REP. JOHN GARAMENDI (D-CA): Well, clearly there's something else going here. As was just reported, the L.A. police and the Sheriff's Department have the situation under control. The federalization of the National Guard and then bringing in the Marines is something different. This is about Trump pretending that he is the king of this nation, that he has the ultimate power and authority to do anything he wants to do regardless of law, regardless of tradition, and regardless of the tradition of the state governor in California and every other state, really controlling their own National Guard.

Very, very rarely has the president, only once in the last what, 60, 70 years overridden a local governor and taken control of the National Guard, and that was LBJ back in the 60s.

SIDNER: Yes I do want to mention this. California was the first state to become a sanctuary state under then Governor Jerry Brown. But do you agree that the federal government, part of its job is to enforce immigration laws?

GARAMENDI: Well, of course it is. The question is how do they go about doing it. If you take a look over the last two weeks, it's been very, very clear that Trump and Stephen Miller, his immigration czar, have been very disappointed in the number of detentions that they were able to achieve.

[08:30:08]