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Mass Arrests in L.A. After City Sets Downtown Curfew Amid Protests; Elon Musk Expresses Regret Over Some Posts About Trump; Aaron Rodgers Attends First Pittsburgh Steelers Practice. Aired 7- 7:30a ET

Aired June 11, 2025 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: The breaking news this morning, a curfew still in effect in parts of Los Angeles after a fifth straight night of protest, the LAPD confirming large scale arrest. The governor says the tension on the street is winding down, but the fight with the president over sending in the troops is just heating up more.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, Elon Musk blinks at 3:04 A.M. He posts a message of regret, saying some of his tweets about President Trump went too far. So, what brought him back from the brink?

And do you hear the people sing, even if there are fewer of them singing than usual? President Trump Heads to the Kennedy Center tonight for Les Mis in the face of planned boycotts.

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

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news from here in downtown Los Angeles, the curfew still in effect for another couple of hours here as a small group of protesters got out of control yesterday. We saw more than a hundred arrests. LAPD announcing there have been mass arrests, about 400 arrests since Saturday.

So, over the past five days, what you were seeing in the streets are larger protests in the day that sort of pare down to smaller protests, which then get more violent, more destructive. But as you're seeing all of this happen, you also are having the backdrop of this huge political battle between President Trump and Governor Gavin Newsom.

Gavin Newsom slamming the president in an address to the state blasting the deployment of hundreds of members of the military, the Marines to be exact deployed and ready to come onto the streets of Los Angeles and thousands of National Guard members as well.

Here is what he had to say about what is happening in literally one square mile of Los Angeles.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): This brazen abuse of power by a sitting president inflamed a combustible situation, putting our people, our officers, and even our National Guard at risk. That's when the downward spiral began.

Democracy is under assault before our eyes. This moment we have feared has arrived. He's taking a wrecking ball, a wrecking ball to our founding fathers' historic project.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: You hear him talking about democracy, and he's calling this all an assault on democracy by President Trump. He and some other local leaders saying that actually what Trump is doing by sending in the troops is ratcheting up the tensions, not bringing them down.

Trump, though, for his part, is claiming that L.A., as he put it, would've burned to the ground if it hadn't been for him. That is not how local law enforcement sees this at all. They have been saying for the last couple of days, look, we have this under control.

And if you look at the numbers of people who are actually involved in some of the destructive behavior, which is mostly tagging things and using, you know, strong words on the buildings, it is a very small group of people that is doing the vast majority of the destruction here. We should also mention that the Marines are actually standing by outside and awaiting orders to enter Los Angeles.

Anti-ICE protest, as you know, this has all started over enforcement of ICE orders to deport people going into places like businesses, being outside of schools. We heard from the LAUSD superintendent saying that his duty is to the students and that this is really frightening parents who are just trying to go to graduations for their students. So, there are a lot of very strong emotions here in the city.

And these strong emotions have spread out across the United States. We are seeing clashes between protesters and police across the U.S., in places like New York and Chicago. Kate?

BERMAN: All right. Thank you very much, Sara.

Let's get to Stephanie Elam, who's on the ground there as well. Stephanie, what are you seeing where you are?

[07:05:00]

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Good morning, John. It's really worth noting that what happened yesterday started much earlier than what we've seen before starting in the afternoon, before that curfew went into effect at 8:00 P.M. local time, and there was definitely a change in tactic. It seemed like they were out there early, rounding up people. We know dozens of people at this point were arrested starting in the afternoon and going through to the evening.

Take a listen to what Mayor Karen Bass had to say about the fact that they were going into a curfew and starting it so early, and it's still in effect right now. Take a listen to her. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR KAREN BASS (D-LOS ANGELES, CA): My message to you is if you do not live or work in downtown L.A., avoid the area. Law enforcement will arrest individuals who break the curfew and you will be prosecuted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELAM: And they were shooting these rubber bullets, like this, yesterday. We just found this on the street out here where we are.

And it wasn't just happening here in Los Angeles. It was also spreading to other parts of the region, Orange County and Santa Ana, and, of course, spreading out into other cities around the country.

But the other thing that's worth noting here that there were some more ICE raids that happened, north of us in Ventura County and some of the farm communities there. We saw that they were arresting people, bringing them in and detaining them under these ICE actions outside of Los Angeles. To that point, we have a statement that from Representative Salud Carbajal, who is a Democrat from here in California. He said in part, these raids are not about public safety. They're about stoking fear. These are not criminals being targeted. They're hardworking people and families who are an essential part of Ventura County.

So, as we've looked at yet a fifth day of protests and these clashes, I can tell you getting out here overnight, John, that it is definitely a different tone. Things are shut down. You can see here that they have shut down access to and from the freeway, as well and they're probably going to keep it that through much of the morning. Back to you.

BERMAN: All right, Stephanie Elam in Los Angeles, our thanks to Sara Sidner as well.

With us now, Jonathan Wackrow, CNN law enforcement analyst. So, the curfew in effect, I think I'm bad at math, for another two hours or so on the ground in Los Angeles. What's your assessment of how it has worked and why, if it has been effective, it has been?

JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, good morning, John. And, listen, you know, implementing a curfew anytime that you have, you know, any type of civil unrest is just another tactical tool that law enforcement can use. And in this instance, that tactical tool of the curfew is really rooted in the city's emergency power and all with the aim of restoring order.

So, the LAPD is using this right now to go from the passive position, the passive monitoring that they've been doing over the last, you know, four days really into proactive enforcement. Once you start and, you know, have this area that is under curfew, you know, again, that's a lawful order. You know that people who are actively engaged in. Activity within that area that are not -- you know, not, do not have a waiver to be in there, like, you know, working in the area or living in the area, they are actively ignoring lawful order.

So, it's easy for law enforcement to identify who is breaking the law and engage in this enforcement. It allows them to be more strategically deployed. Again, when you have the peaceful protestors now removed because they're abiding by the lawful order not to be there, law enforcement can now deploy strategically when movement is noted and the broader groups are limited.

So, again, this is a tactical tool really with the aim of preventing escalation of, you know, violence, looting, arson, et cetera. And I think that it is working.

BERMAN: One of the pictures we saw yesterday and we saw because ICE put it out, posted it on social media, was of National Guard troops in a perimeter around what appeared to be ICE agents conducting raids and arrests. That's not what you're looking at on the screen right now. But we did see photos of National Guards at ICE apprehensions.

If that continues, what will that look like or expands and is that what you expect the Marines will be doing too?

WACKROW: Well, John, let me just take a quick step back here, because these protests, you know, not just in L.A. but across the country are not in response to one single event. They're really triggered by this growing and broader opposition to what you're describing, these enhanced immigration actions and concerns of the militarization of immigration policy.

But the challenges for local law enforcement, whether it's in the L.A. or New York or anywhere else, is that they're charged with maintaining the actual order, that they're not part of this operation, they're not part of this immigration discussion. So, what you created now is this operational disconnect between law enforcement who's trying to deescalate but they're not part of the political action.

[07:10:06]

And these issues are far beyond their jurisdiction to actually resolve. So, I am worried that operational disconnect, as we see that action, John, is just going to widen.

BERMAN: And the Marines will be added into the mix as soon as today.

Jonathan Wackrow, always great to talk to you, thank you very much. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, they went too far. And by they, Elon Musk means his tweet. Musk doing a full about-face now, it appears, on his social media falling out with the president. So, what now?

And there are new clues this morning in the manhunt for a father accused of killing his three young daughters. Where investigators think he's headed now.

And President Trump is set to attend opening night of Les Mis at the Kennedy Center this evening, and at least ten cast members are planning to sit out and protest. High drama around Trump's takeover of this famous performing arts center.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:15:00]

BOLDUAN: Breaking overnight, Elon Musk having real second thoughts, it seems, about the explosive and public breakup he had with President Trump last week. Musk now talking about his regrets over what he posted about the president in the wee hours this morning, writing, I regret some of the posts about President Trump last week. They went too far.

The feud between the president and the world's richest man really exploded last week, and one could guess, at least one of the posts that Musk now might think went too far, is when Musk threatened to drop a big bomb about Donald Trump and being on an undisclosed -- suggesting he was on an undisclosed list linked to pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and offering no evidence of that. That was after Musk had called Trump's domestic agenda bill an abomination and said that Trump wouldn't have won the election without him.

In response in the mix with all of this, Donald Trump said that Elon Musk had lost his mind and threatened to cancel Musk's government contracts in retaliation. So, now what?

Joining me now from the White House, CNN's Kevin Liptak. That's the past, and here we are in the present of they went too far. Have you heard anything from the White House on this yet?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Not so far. President Trump's attitude throughout all of this has essentially been that he's not spending any time thinking about Elon Musk. And it's kind of an open question of how eager President Trump actually is to reconcile with the world's richest man.

You know, this expression of regret was not particularly effusive. It was fairly short, significant, nonetheless, just given how dramatic and public their feud had become. He doesn't actually say which of his posts he regrets. He just says, some of them, and there were plenty to choose from, whether it was this allegation that Trump would've lost the election without his support, whether it was this tacit call for impeachment, whether it was linking him to Jeffrey Epstein, the world's most notorious pedophile, you know, it was that last post that White House officials said at the time really put the nail in the coffin of this relationship.

And we should note that Musk actually deleted that post over the weekend, and you had seen other signs that this thaw was coming. Musk was supportive of the president's actions in Los Angeles. Musk's own father said that he thought his son went too far with this, saying that he made a mistake picking a fight with Trump and predicting that the president would prevail.

There's no sign that Musk has actually backed off his opposition to this major piece of legislation that is still making its way through the Senate, which he called disgusting, which he said would explode the deficit, which is a concern that many Republicans in the Senate still have about this bill.

Now, Donald Trump was recording a podcast on Monday afternoon, and he was asked about Elon Musk. He sounded a little less enthusiastic about reconciliation. Listen to what the president said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I have no hard feelings. You know, I was really surprised that that happened. He went after bill. That's phenomenal. It's the best thing we've ever signed in this country.

I was disappointed in him, but, you know, it is what it is. That happens. Things like that happen. I don't blame them for anything but I was a little disappointed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you reconcile?

TRUMP: Say again?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Could you reconcile with him, do you think? Could you forgive him?

TRUMP: I guess I could, but, you know, we have to straighten out the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIPTAK: So, the president stopping short there of expressing any regret for how sour things became with his one-time top adviser, but definitely taking something of a softer tone.

BOLDUAN: Yes. Let us see what the morning brings.

Kevin, it's good to see you. Thank you so much.

Still ahead for us, California's Governor Gavin Newsom says Democracy is under assault right before our eyes, and he is not backing down in his fight against Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWSOM: But Donald Trump wants most is your fealty, your silence to be complicit in this moment. Do not give into him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Also 27 states are now suing to block the sale of personal genetic data without customer consent after 23andMe filed for bankruptcy.

[07:20:07]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right. This morning, can Aaron Rodgers do for the Pittsburghh Steelers what he did for the New York Jets? He took the practice field for the first time with his new team.

CNN's Andy Scholes is with us this morning. Andy, I have to say, as a Patriots fan, I mean, we're just so sorry to see that marriage break up. The Aaron Rodgers-New York Jets thing, it was like manna from heaven. What are we supposed to do now?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes. I mean, there are a lot of high hopes there in New York for a couple years with Aaron Rodgers, John, but we'll see if Aaron Rodgers on the Steelers goes better than it did with the Jets.

Pittsburghh, they do have a team, you know, built to win now. Well, Rodgers, who's 41 years old now be that missing piece? They certainly hope so there. Rodgers is at Steelers mandatory minicamp yesterday. Noticeable difference compared to last season. Rodgers was rocking a wedding ring and he did confirm that he's now married, although we don't know the identity of his wife.

[07:25:04]

But here is Rodgers on the decision to come back and play for the Steelers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AARON RODGERS, PITTSBURGHH STEELERS QUARTERBACK: A lot of decisions that I've made over my career and life from strictly the ego, even if they turn out well, are always unfulfilling. But the decisions made from the soul are usually pretty fulfilling. So, this was a decision that was best for my soul.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: All right. Today marks one year until the start of the World Cup here in the U.S. and the men's national team certainly does not look ready. They were spanked by Switzerland last night. The Gold Cup tune-up, the U.S. was down 4-0 by the 36-minute. They never scored. This is the first time the team has lost four in a row since 2007.

Now, they were missing many of their best players, including Christian Pulisic. But new Head Coach Mauricio Pochettino said, no excuses. If you want to criticize me, go ahead. The U.S. opens Gold Cup play against Trinidad on Sunday.

The U.S. Open meanwhile is going to begin tomorrow in Pittsburghh, Oakmont Country Club, considered one of the toughest courses in the world. If you hit a ball in the rough, good luck. The groundskeepers, they were trying to make it less thick after some complaints from players, but it's still going to be an adventure. Look at that guy mowing there sideways.

Now, Scottie Scheffler, once again, your favorite on the heels of winning the PGA championship, and Scottie was asked yesterday how it feels to be the betting favorite once again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER, WORLD #1: I think everybody hears from fans whether they have financial benefit or anything in their outcome. That's why I had to get rid of my Venmo because I was either getting paid by people or people requesting me a bunch of money when I didn't win. It wasn't a good feeling. I don't remember the most that somebody would send me maybe a couple bucks here or there. That didn't happen nearly as much as they requested.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: I mean, Berman losing a bet and then going and requesting some of that money back on Venmo, I mean, that's pretty wild.

BERMAN: I mean, what about Aaron Rodgers, Andy, saying it was a decision he made from his soul? Do all decisions from his soul come with $10 to $15 million? That's all I can say.

SCHOLES: It doesn't hurt, right?

BERMAN: No. My soul likes millions of dollars also, I imagine. You know, it's soul healing.

Andy Scholes, thank you very much.

All right, quote, democracy is under assault, California Governor Gavin Newsom with an unusual late night address, really not just a Californian's but to the country. And it has senior Democrats across the country asking, is this the type of opposition we are looking for?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWSOM: Donald Trump's government isn't protecting our communities. They're traumatizing our communities. And that seems to be the entire point.

The rule of law has increasingly been given away to the rule of don.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So what is 24,601 minus 10 or so cast members? President Trump attends Les Mis, one of his favorite musicals besides Cats at the Kennedy Center, amid reports of cast boycotts.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:30:00]