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1,700 National Guard Troops Now Operating in Los Angeles; Tensions Rise as Trump Orders More Troops to L.A. Protests; Military Mobilization in L.A. To Cost the Defense Department $134 Million; Head of Marine Corps Says Battalion Now in Los Angeles, Ready to Respond But Has Not Engaged. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired June 10, 2025 - 14:00   ET

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

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[14:01:03]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": More troops and new tensions with California as the president deploys Marines and additional guardsmen to Los Angeles. The state's governor says the president is abusing his power and suggests he's exploiting the Marines as political pawns.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Plus, a glimmer of optimism in peace talks over Gaza. A U.S. Envoy says he thinks a deal with Hamas is taking shape while Israeli officials say they are seeing progress. So, how far are we from an actual deal? And counting down to 250 years, the president headed to Fort Bragg today, ahead of Saturday's military parade honoring the Army's birthday. Some critics though argue this should not be happening at all. We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

KEILAR: Happening now, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is speaking as protests gripped the city and more than 700 Marines are standing at the ready. Here's what she said moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR KAREN BASS, (D) LOS ANGELES: We have the Sheriff's Department and so, we have received assistance from the California Highway Patrol. I mentioned the sheriff's from Orange County, San Bernardino, Riverside, Santa Barbara, Ventura County, and a number of law enforcement departments around the county. So with them being fully deployed now, we're establishing a unified command under LAPD and Chief McDonnell, which will accelerate our ability to respond to hotspots when people splinter off and create pockets of trouble.

So, I do want to thank all the officers who've been working tirelessly and putting themselves at risk to keep our city safe. But the real solution of all of this is for the administration to stop the raids. We heard that these raids might take place --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: As for the National Guard, the president said this a short time ago about how long they'll be staying in L.A.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will National Guard be in California indefinitely? How long will they be there until you think --

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Until there's no danger when the -- it's easy. Look, it's common sense. You ask me that question, when there's no danger, they'll leave.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Let's go live now to Los Angeles and Stephanie Elam, who is there for us. Stephanie, give us a sense of how things are on the ground today.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's been pretty calm since we've been out here. I got out here overnight. Brianna, I could tell you there were cleaning up a few little skirmishes that was very small. And then the work of boarding up some of the looting of stores, that was happening. But by eight o'clock, they pretty much had cleaned up -- in front of the stores, cleaned up the glass and also had already started to paint over and like high pressure away some of the graffiti because there has been a ton of graffiti throughout downtown Los Angeles.

Right now, we are outside the federal building and you can see behind me that that is where the National Guard is staged. And according to the mayor, you just heard part of that press conference. She's saying this is the only place that they are staged right now. It's outside of this federal building here, where you can see people have now starting to come together there. And she also was saying that people have been asking her what are the Marines going to do when they get here? And she's like, I don't know.

That's actually what she said to that, saying she's not clear on exactly what they're going to do. It's also very noteworthy to see some of the conversation being played out on social media between the Governor of California in response to some of the press conference that was coming from President Trump. And there was a question that was posed to President Trump that said, when's the last time you spoke to Governor Newsom? Trump said a day ago, called him up to tell him got to do a better job. He's doing a bad job. Caused a lot of death and potential death to which Newsom responded, "There was no call, not even a voicemail. Americans should be alarmed that a president deploying Marines onto our streets doesn't even know who he's talking to."

[14:05:00]

So, there's this war of words going on, on social media between them, but it's very clear, Karen Bass, the Mayor of Los Angeles, again today saying that it is being escalated because of the fact that they have too much of federal involvement here and these ICE raids, and that is what's leading to this. She also said that she only knows of one rally happening later on today. So we will see what this means. But obviously, there's this intense involvement of law enforcement coming from outside, military coming from outside, but L.A.'s mayor saying that there is plenty of resources within L.A. County and mutual aid from nearby counties that they did not need this federal implementation here in L.A. County and still calling it the overreach that we've been hearing them say so long.

But, you can see here though, the group of people that is outside there, a lot of that is press, but then there's also some protesters that are starting to show up here as well, Brianna.

KEILAR: All right. Stephanie Elam, thank you so much for that report about what's happening right now. And as we're hearing that from the mayor, this idea of, is there coordination between local officials and the military? Of course, that's a situation that could be ripe for confusion or worse, here is what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BASS: Sorry, people have asked me, what are the Marines going to do when they get here? That's a good question. I have no idea. The National Guard that are here now have one assignment, and that is to protect one building, which is the federal building downtown. The second building, which is the federal building on Westwood Boulevard. And as far as I know, nothing has happened in Westwood at all. So this was not needed.

The idea that the administration would usurp the authority of our state government, take it away from our Governor Gavin Newsom. The governor knows that if he -- that if we put a request in for the National Guard and it went to him, he would comply. There was never an issue there because we were never thinking about calling upon the National Guard. So, I do want you to know --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: CNN National Security Correspondent Natasha Bertrand is with us now. It's alarming when you hear that there isn't clear communication going on between local officials and the military in a situation like this.

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, look, I mean, it's worth noting as well. You know, she said that what are the Marines going to actually be doing once they hit the streets of Los Angeles? They're not actually there yet. They're kind of standing by outside the city. They haven't actually been deployed into the city itself. And so, a lot of this right now seems to be more about optics and a show of force rather than actually bolstering the forces that are on the ground there.

But at this point, what we know is from Secretary of Defense Hegseth, he testified this morning on the Hill and he said that those troops, they are expected to be there for a full 60 days. That is in line with the order that President Trump issued on Saturday night. We also got some more information about how much this is going to cost. The acting interim, the Comptroller of the Department of Defense said that it's expected to cost about $134 million, all told for all of these troops who are on the ground now. But here's a little bit of, of the exchange that occurred earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, (R) UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: The chairman in our department.

REP. PETE AGUILAR, (D-CA): How long will the deployment last?

HEGSETH: We stated very publicly that it's 60 days because we want to ensure that those rioters, looters, and thugs on the other side assaulting our police officers know that we're not going anywhere.

AGUILAR: What is the estimated cost of the deployment for the Guard and the Marines to L.A. and where's this funding coming from?

BRYN MACDONNELL, SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: The current estimated cost is $134 million, which is largely just TDY cost, travel, housing, food, et cetera.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERTRAND: So look, the costs obviously could continue to rise and Secretary Hegseth was very defiant during this hearing, reiterating that those troops are there to help law enforcement, to help ICE agents. But of course, the local and state officials say they don't need them.

KEILAR: Yeah. And Secretary Hegseth was also pressed about logistics to house all of these troops in L.A. We've seen certainly some photos out there on social media, no love lost obviously between state and local officials and the federal government here. But they're trying to make the point locally that they aren't really even equipped the federal government to house these soldiers. What are you learning?

BERTRAND: Yeah, I mean, the logistics chain of this is going to be pretty massive. There are now 4,000 National Guard troops that have been activated over 700 Marines. Where are they all going to be staying? Where will they be housed? That is unclear to us at this point. They haven't revealed that information. And all we're seeing, of course, is the photos that Secretary -- that Gavin Newsom, the Governor, has tweeted out, showing them sleeping on the floor, really portraying how his perspective that this was all very, very hastily done and not well organized.

Of course, DOD hitting back at that comment saying, look, we are able to house and feed our troops, and they are there to help you.

[14:10:00]

But of course, we don't have a lot of information about just where these troops are going to be housed for the next 60 plus days, Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, Natasha, thank you so much for that report. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Let's get some perspective from Marc Short. He served as Chief of Staff to former Vice President Mike Pence. He was also Director of Legislative Affairs during President Trump's first administration. Marc, thanks for joining us as always.

MARC SHORT, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS DIRECTOR: Boris, thanks for having me.

SANCHEZ: You heard Mayor Karen Bass, there are other local officials saying that this military mobilization wasn't necessary, that local officials, local law enforcement had things under control. Do you think that sending this military presence over the objection of local leaders was appropriate?

SHORT: I think it probably was, Boris. I think also the reality is that I think Donald Trump is very good at exploiting the weaknesses of Democrats. And I think that politically, he can look at the situation and know the last year, they gave him boys competing in girls sports. They gave him this year, you know, siding with elite Ivy League schools against Jewish students. And now, he sees this as a great chance to exploit Democrat weaknesses when it comes to managing cities that I think have shown sort of a distaste for law enforcement and reality is Immigration, Custom Enforcement are part of our law enforcement.

SANCHEZ: The view on the ground is that these folks, the vast majority of them, are protesting peacefully against the administration's handling of these ICE raids. I wonder what you make of the nature of this immigration crackdown if it could kind of go overboard and backfire for the administration, because right now, you see it as weakness, but there are now protests being planned for across the country in the coming weeks.

SHORT: Sure. It could, but at the same time, right now, I think that amongst the issue sets a lot of Americans still give President Trump credit for his positions on immigration and border control. And I think the reality is that, you know, it may be perceived by some that this is mostly peaceful protest, but people can still see the images of police cars on fire and recognize that things were not entirely under control.

SANCHEZ: We've had previous Democratic administrations, between President Biden and President Obama, who deported millions of people and yet, we didn't see the kind of response that we've seen from communities that have watched their loved ones get picked up during raids at Home Depot, for example, or have seen college students, people that don't have a criminal record get lined up and processed for deportation. Isn't there a smoother way to handle this?

SHORT: Probably, yeah, I'm not -- I'm not going to disagree with that. I think there's also a reality that, I mean, America is -- part of what has propelled our economy is making sure we're bringing in people who are adding to our labor force. And so, I think there could be economic consequences to the policy too. But right now, I think for the vast majority of Americans, one of the reasons they elected Donald Trump for second term is they felt that our border had been overwhelmed and they wanted a change in policy. And I think so far, they're supportive of what he's doing. SANCHEZ: Could the administration though, by mobilizing these federal forces, be setting a precedent that Republicans may someday come to regret under a Democratic president who chooses to do something similar?

SHORT: Sure, it's possible. I mean, but I think there's also been precedent here where George H.W. Bush mobilized the National Guard after the Rodney King riots. And so, I think --

SANCHEZ: As part of a request from the governor.

SHORT: Fair enough. And I think that's the way it should work, is that it should be, you know, as the president himself even acknowledged in 2020 that it should be something the governor requests. But again, I think the president views this as a position of weakness among Democrats, is going to show force. And I think part of this also is still a residue of 2020 and feeling that he should have acted, you know, more forcefully in light of the George Floyd riots.

And in fact, people forget there were also riots in Portland that year that were pretty significant too. And I think some of -- some of this is a hangover from those impacts too.

SANCHEZ: Do you see a hangover from January 6th as well? I mean, he's been criticized by Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi for not deploying National Guard on that day. You obviously experienced some of that.

SHORT: Well, rightly so. I mean, I think that the administration says that anyone who touches law enforcement will be prosecuted to the full extent of law and jailed, I think runs pretty counter and hypocritical to the notion that all of those who assaulted police officers were pardoned in the very first week of this administration. And so, yeah, I think that's a big vulnerability. But in some ways, this show of force and standing with law enforcement can sort of help move that chapter into the past. So yes, I agree with you. It is a fairly hypocritical position. But at the same time, I think optically, it's beneficial for the Trump administration.

SANCHEZ: Now, I'm curious because you've been in the room for conversations about major policy decisions. You know, we have seen this reporting that a lot of this has to do with demands from the administration and specifically Stephen Miller and others that ICE get their quotas up, that they meet these numbers, sort of abstract numbers of deportations that they want to see. Is that a healthy way to go about this? How do you think Trump processes hearing different voices on this issue? Or is this something you think that comes from him?

SHORT: I think there are different voices on this issue. I think there are different perspectives probably in the administration, and I frankly have heard the president on many occasions, want to articulate we want to have border enforcement now because he thinks it would pave the way to actually passing some sort of immigration reform that would be more lenient to allowing workers into the nation.

[14:15:00] SANCHEZ: Really?

SHORT: But there's a division, obviously, within the administration. That's certainly a vision that others inside the administration strongly oppose. I do think the president often views that these sort of optics though, help achieve the first goal. In other words, seeing these visuals on TV will help deter those who want to get here illegally because they feel it's not worth the cost. And so, there is sort of, as you look at the actual number of border crossings being significantly down, in many cases, this, the images that people see help contribute to that.

SANCHEZ: Marc Short, appreciate you sharing your point of view.

SHORT: Boris, thanks.

SANCHEZ: Thanks. Still to come, much more on the breaking news out of Los Angeles. Plus, President Trump's warning to anyone planning to demonstrate at this weekend's massive military parade in the nation's Capitol. And the legal drama around it ends with us not ending, we have new details straight ahead.

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[14:20:20]

SANCHEZ: As the Trump administration considers its next moves regarding the protests in Los Angeles, the president says that invoking the Insurrection Act may not be off the table. Here's what he shared with the reporters this afternoon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: If there's an insurrection, I would certainly invoke it. Well, let's see. But, I can tell you last night was terrible.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How will you determine whether or not there is an insurrection? And then also --

TRUMP: Well, we take a look at what's happening. I mean, I could tell you there were certain areas of that, of Los Angeles that you could have called it an insurrection. It was terrible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Sources tell CNN that behind the scenes, administration lawyers have been trying to craft a less confrontational solution to the unrest in L.A. But after California filed a lawsuit challenging the deployment of the National Guard, officials say what happens on the ground in the coming days may alter those plans. Back in 2020, Trump refused to invoke the law despite widespread protests in the wake of George Floyd's killing by police. Here's how the president explained it back then.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: Look, we have laws, we have to go by the laws. We can't move in the National Guard. I can call insurrection, but there's no reason to ever do that. Even in Portland case, we can't call in the National Guard unless we're requested by a governor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: But now, it appears to be a very different story. The president and his allies have increasingly used the word insurrection or insurrectionists to describe what is happening in L.A., leaving the door open to that law being invoked. The Insurrection Act was created in 1807, and it permits the president to deploy American soldiers to police U.S. streets, but only in extreme circumstances such as an insurrection or a rebellion.

It has been used several times throughout U.S. history, including by President Lincoln during the start of the Civil War. And then in more recent history, it was used to protect protestors during the civil rights marches from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, and to quell violence after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968. The last use of the Insurrection Act was during the L.A. riots in 1992.

California filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration, asking the judge to declare the mobilization of Guard troops unconstitutional. So let's talk more about what all of this could mean for L.A. With us now is former U.S. Attorney, Harry Litman. Harry, as we say there, Trump has not invoked the Insurrection Act so far. He is leaving the door open there. California's case against the administration is citing the 10th Amendment, the so-called Posse Comitatus Act. Tell us about these laws and if California has a case here.

HARRY LITMAN, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY: Sure. So, the Posse Comitatus Act and in a way, the 10th Amendment, state the general principle. Federal, especially military personnel, don't do domestic law enforcement. It's a sort of bulwark distinction between democracies and authoritarian societies, except in narrow exceptions. You're right that Trump has yet to invoke the Insurrection Act, rather he's done another source of authority under Section 10 of the federal code.

And what it says is, if there's a form of rebellion, very important, then you can federalize National Guard. You can say, you guys work for me now, but they can't still be doing regular law enforcement. What they can do is protect federal property, protect federal troops. Of course, that's a hard distinction to make in the field when things are going crazy as they are here. What California is saying is two things. One, this never happens. It's totally unprecedented to just storm in without the consent indeed over the opposition of the governor. That's a little bit loosey goosey. It'll come down to, is this a rebellion or not? And do the courts defer to Trump?

And then, they are also saying there's a provision in this Section 10, again, we're not yet in the Insurrection Act that would say, he had to have checked first with the governor and he didn't -- a procedural requirement that he didn't do. The next step of the Insurrection Act, Brianna, would permit military troops to be regular law enforcement personnel, make arrests, searches and seizures and the like. Section 10, if it's upheld, says only that these 4,000 California National Guards work for the Feds and can protect federal property and personnel.

SANCHEZ: So in the last hour, Harry Brianna spoke with California's Attorney General. Here's how he explained it.

[14:25:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROB BONTA, CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: The president has been engaged in an unlawful power grab. He has tried to seize authority he does not have. He cannot lawfully deploy the National Guard to Los Angeles. The statute he cites to does not give him that authority. You need to have an invasion or a rebellion or the inability to execute the laws of the United States. None of that is present. He also needs to have consulted Governor Newsom and issued the order through Governor Newsom, who has objected to calling in the National Guard. So, we believe, clearly and unambiguously, under the law, we have a winning case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: What do you make of that argument? Is this a power grab or is this in the view of certain ICE officials, a response to their efforts to round up and detain folks being blocked by protesters?

LITMAN: Well, look, I think it's both, but there's no doubt that Trump's administration has been characterized by these outsize assertions of emergency authority. And ICE might feel under siege, but this is a very, very far cry from the kind of situations like the Rodney King riots in 1992 that have provoked the use of this kind of authority and this kind of statute. So in a sense, they are both right. That procedural provision, that's the second thing the Attorney General said. They didn't check that box.

We'll see how much the courts care about that. But what he is basically saying is, come on, guys. This isn't really a rebellion. This is a pretext for a show of military force in Los Angeles. The problem with that argument is, there's very little law and courts might well say, you know, in this situation, we've got to defer to the president's judgment on what is and isn't a rebellion. And that would be the way he would get carte blanche to use both this and potentially the Insurrection Act.

KEILAR: And so the, idea of the latitude that he would have in that, one of his former top immigration officials, Ken Cuccinelli, was on our program yesterday and he said that it's really a matter of resources. You know, if the Guard, and I'm paraphrasing here, but if the Guard isn't enough, you can just call in the Marines, just to meet whatever the need may be. What do you make of that argument in a legal sense?

LITMAN: In a legal sense, it's dead wrong. So it's not just a matter of would the resources be useful? Can you call in the Marines? You can't call in the Marines. That's the bedrock provision of the Posse Comitatus Act. You can do it if, but only if there's a rebellion for this one provision and a little bit more for the other. So, the president will have to make that case in court.

However, what's hovering here is who gets to decide what counts as a rebellion. This clearly is not what has been rebellions in the past. But that doesn't mean that courts won't say, you know, Congress wants the president to have discretion here. There has to be times, Rodney King, Little Rock, when the state wouldn't do its job and let people go to school where the president can sort of push through with federal authority.

Is this one of those times? We just have amorphous words, Brianna. Is it a rebellion? Are Constitutional rights being denied? And that that could be a matter of just argument and courts could either say, you know, who's right here? This doesn't seem like a rebellion. Or they could say, very possibly, we're not going to decide what a rebellion is. The president said it. That's good enough. End of story. California loses.

SANCHEZ: Harry Litman, appreciate the expertise.

LITMAN: Thank you, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Still to come. A source says, cautious progress is being made in ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas. We have the latest from Jerusalem.

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