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Hearing Tomorrow On California's Lawsuit To Block National Guard, Marine Deployments To L.A.; Trump To Attend "Les Miserables" Opening Night At Kennedy Center; Austria Mourns Victims Of Graz School Massacre. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired June 11, 2025 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:32:25]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Sara Sidner here in downtown Los Angeles. The streets pretty quiet after the curfew imposed overnight. That curfew still in effect this morning. And after that curfew -- the breaking of that curfew -- police saying they made the most arrests yet in the past five days of protests.

Now, President Trump is chiming in again this morning accusing Governor Gavin Newsom of failing to protect ICE officers from attacks by what he called an "out of control mob." This comes after, though, you heard from the governor of California Gavin Newsom addressing the state saying that Trump's actions are a direct attack on democracy.

We now know Marines are outside of the city prepared to deploy. A federal judge declined to grant California's request to block the Trump administration from being able to use Marines and members of the National Guard to enforce laws here on the streets, including immigration enforcement. The case though still pending. Things need to be filed by both sides and there will be hearing tomorrow.

Now, in the streets you're seeing images of the National Guard troops standing guard as ICE agents detained individuals in Los Angeles yesterday.

It is -- just to give you a sense of how big of an area this is that is under curfew and that has been dealing with these protests over the past five days, it's about one square mile in downtown Los Angeles. It includes Los Angeles' fashion district, arts district, Skid Row, and Chinatown. All of those areas shut down today and streets blocked off today. So it is extremely quiet here -- different than what you saw the last couple of days.

And the mayor's office says that this curfew will probably last the next few days.

Over to you, Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Sara, thank you so much.

Let's focus in on the legal battle between California's governor and President Trump over the protests and Trump's move to send in the troops.

Joining us right now is CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson for more on this. Sara was hitting on this a little bit. A judge yesterday said no to the emergency request from the governor to stop immediately yesterday the -- to block troops and Marines from taking part in any further action and expanding kind of what they were doing in California.

There's going to be a hearing tomorrow --

[07:35:00]

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Yes.

BOLDUAN: -- but initially, what do you think of the judge's move to deny that emergency request?

JACKSON: So Kate, good morning to you.

I think it's the right call and I'm going to tell you why. We're in an era of all these politics and politicalization of the judiciary. If a judge makes a decision -- my goodness, it's an incompetent judge. The judge got it wrong. And I think you've got to calm things down.

So what the judge has said is that I want to have a hearing because a hearing, Kate, is about facts. And, of course, this judge was appointed by Clinton and served for a long time. He's the brother of former Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, interestingly enough.

BOLDUAN: I was actually wondering that when I saw his name, yeah.

JACKSON: Yes. And so he's the brother.

And so I think what you want to do if you're a judge is have a hearing and get the merits of the situation, but I do think the merits favor California and what the governor -- that is, Newsom -- is saying with respect to what he calls a power grab.

BOLDUAN: The California -- the attorney general in court papers asserted this in part that Trump and the defense secretary Pete Hegseth intend to use unlawfully federalized National Guard troops and Marines to accompany federal immigration enforcement officials on raids throughout Los Angeles. That's something that sticks out that would be --

JACKSON: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: -- an expansion of what the role is of the president to send them in to do.

Question being, though, what is the central legal question that this judge will be considering come Thursday?

JACKSON: Ok. So here's the issue. The first is the federal law. Always starts with the law. Now, when can the National Guard, which is state- based and generally the governors or the commander or chief of the National Guard, but they can be federalized. So the issue becomes under what circumstances, and there are a few.

The first circumstance is when there is going to be a foreign invasion. The judge will consider is there a foreign invasion here. The second issue is whether there's a rebellion or the danger of rebellion as a result of activities that are occurring. And the third issue is whether or not the law enforcement as it exists are capable of handling it from a federal prospective, like ICE, like homeland security.

So those are the three issues. And even if those one -- any one of them can be present. And even if so, then it takes the governor's participation, meaning you participate with the governor. That didn't happen here.

BOLDUAN: Right.

JACKSON: The governor was completely overlooked.

And then the other perspective is, look, we have federal laws, we've got state laws, but there's a respect and there's -- between the two. In this situation Trump just sent them in. No concurrence with local officials -- none whatsoever -- and that became problematic because you want to deploy your assets appropriately to protect communities.

So the judge is going to consider all of that, including whether it's likely that Governor Newsom will succeed on the merits in his lawsuit.

BOLDUAN: Real quick, I mean, the governor says the thing -- the tension and the protests are winding down. Come when this judge would hear this and decide this could the legal question be moot if -- I don't know, if he pulls the Marines out, if the National Guard then leaves, or this -- or if everything is just calmed down, or does the central legal question still remain?

JACKSON: So look, the central question will remain of whether or not this could have occurred --

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

JACKSON: -- meaning the president could have overstepped the authority.

And interesting to your question it's about the balance of equities. One of the things the governor is arguing very quickly is that listen, this is going to escalate tensions and that's problematic to the community. But I think unless Trump pulls them out --

BOLDUAN: Um-hum.

JACKSON: -- I think the central question is there. And let the hearing go forward on the merits to make a determination as to whether this move was lawful.

We're in interesting times concerning presidential authority -- BOLDUAN: Yeah.

JACKSON: -- and its expansion, and that will be on full display at the hearing tomorrow.

BOLDUAN: So interesting.

Thanks, Joey.

JACKSON: Of course.

BOLDUAN: John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. This morning a lot of text messages and phone calls between Democrats around the country saying hey, did you see that? What do you think? They're talking about the speech from Governor Gavin Newsom that he delivered last night -- kind of after hours around the country. It was to Californians nominally but really to people all around the country.

Listen to a little bit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOVERNOR GAVIN NEWSOM, (D) CALIFORNIA: This is about all of us. This is about you. California may be first, but it clearly will not end here. Other states are next. Democracy is next. Democracy is under assault before our eyes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: With us now, former press adviser to then-House Speaker John Boehner, Maura Gillespie. Also with us CNN political commentator Paul Begala.

All right, Paul, what did you think of the message? What did you think of the messenger there?

PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST (via Webex by Cisco): I think Gavin Newsom is doing a great job. Democrats -- well, everybody wants strength. He's showing strength.

And by the way, this whole myth that oh, this is a very difficult line for Governor Newsom to walk, that's baloney. All he's saying is -- everybody who has raised a kid has said this, right? Violence is wrong. Vandalism is wrong. But peaceful protest is always patriotic.

So it's pretty simple actually. When my son Johnny punched my son Billy I would say, "Johnny, use your words. We don't hit," right?

This is actually a very elemental -- he's not walking a high wire; he's walking right in the middle of the road.

[07:40:00]

And Republicans -- by the way, Republicans are not the party of law and order. They elected a felon president. Donald Trump's a criminal. He's a crook.

And it's not about violence in the streets. We know that. Because if that was the case Mr. Trump would have -- President Trump would have called out the National Guard when real rioters attack the United States Capitol. One hundred forty cops injured, including Michael Fanone who was tased until he had a heart attack. And Trump seemed to encourage them before the riot, ignored it during the riot, and then pardoned them after the riots.

So this is -- I think Newsom is exactly right where he needs to be.

BERMAN: Maura, Paul was saying it's not this conundrum that people say it is. One of the reasons people are saying it is because senators like John Fetterman, a Democrat --

MAURA GILLESPIE, FOUNDER AND PRINCIPAL, BLUESTACK STRATEGIES, FORMER PRESS ADVISOR TO THEN-HOUSE SPEAKER JOHN BOEHNER: Um-hum.

BERMAN: -- are suggesting this might not be a great look. Not Newsom in particular but the demonstrations in general.

He put out a tweet yesterday where he said, "My party loses the moral high ground when we refuse to condemn setting cars on fire, destroying buildings, and assault law enforcement."

Of course, as Paul knows, Governor Newsom and every Democrat I've heard is condemning those things. But Fetterman is saying, in a way, that Democrats need to be careful.

What do you think?

GILLESPIE: I think what he's referring to is the mistakes that were made in 2020. Democrats acknowledged that they dragged their feet on prioritizing public safety over the political ramifications surrounding the George Floyd protests. And so we saw that play out. They acknowledged it.

And so what he is referring to is the tight rope that they are walking and how they handle the protests that are happening not only in L.A. but are scheduled to happen across the country and leading up to this Saturday as well -- the King Day is what they're calling it -- protests.

And so prioritizing public safety and maintaining order is just as important if not more important than scoring -- it's more important than scoring a political point. I think that's what John Fetterman is saying here is that you lose the moral high ground if that's your only focus is to make sure you're getting the politics right.

I think by and large Americans are really kind of sick of politicians going too far. They can't just be pragmatic. You can say that it was bad, what happened in 2020, and letting cities burn and just as bad on January 6 letting people attack law enforcement. You can't just cherry-pick when you decide that you supporters and when you don't. I think you have to across-the-board consistent and that's what's frustrating here. BERMAN: Paul, Gavin Newsom -- is he filling a political vacuum here

that has existed for Democrats since Inauguration Day?

BEGALA: Oh, absolutely. Democrats have no leader because they have no leader. We are in the wilderness. They have lost the House, they lost the Senate, they lost the White House. They don't really have power. But they do have the podium -- at least Gavin Newsom does. And you'll see others, I think. You know, we're a long, long way from the next election but you'll see others step up.

But I think Newsom is showing -- and Maura, by the way, is 100 percent right. She's right where most people are. Violence, bad but protests good.

And let's be honest. A lot of Democrats I've seen have said this and I think they're right. This is Trump using division for diversion.

Why is he doing this? Because he's trying to divert attention from the fact that he's got this big, ugly bill that is going to cut 14 million people off of their health care. It will be the largest reduction in health coverage in American history. He tried to fire 80,000 people at the VA who help our veterans, and he's going to add $3 trillion to the national debt.

That's why he's doing this is he wants to divert attention. And tragically, he's using those terrific National Guard troops and apparently now the Marines as a political prop.

BERMAN: Yeah. Look, there's all kinds of reporting this morning that he was glum last week during the fight with Elon Musk and now he's invigorated this week in his fight with Gavin Newsom and what's going on in the streets in Los Angeles.

On that subject of Elon Musk --

GILLESPIE: Hmm.

BERMAN: -- Maura, Elon Musk tweeted at 3:04 a.m. "I regret some of my posts about President Trump last week. They went too far."

When I woke up and saw the tweet, I'm like, oh, he's apologizing and this a full retreat. But as I think about it why say "some"? You know, why say "some" there? Is he still going to fight over this bill?

GILLESPIE: I think he is. And I also think it's just ego. You have two people who have such massive egos. And let's not forget Elon Musk was given unfettered access to that White House, and he stood behind more or less the Resolute desk and took questions from the media.

He -- in my view when I watched that -- several of the instances where he spoke with the press not just on his leaving day but other times too when he talked about DOGE -- he was more or less acting as if he was basically the president junior and really thought that he had the authority.

So he doesn't want to caveat too much. He knows that he was in the wrong in a lot of those cases, like the Jeffrey Epstein tweet. He didn't have much meat behind it. And so you see that that's where he's meaning "some."

BERMAN: Paul, a quick work on Elon Musk.

BEGALA: Yeah, I just can't quit ya, or maybe I just can't quit those billions of dollars in federal contracts.

I'm not interested in the reboot of brokeback billionaires. They can have their relationship, and I wish them well.

BERMAN: All right, Maura Gillespie, Paul Begala. I have enjoyed 'some' of this conversation. Thank you so much for being with us this morning -- Kate.

[07:45:00]

BOLDUAN: Moving on.

When President Trump arrives tonight at the sold-out opening night performance of Les Mis at the Kennedy Center he'll be facing protests. Sources tell CNN at least 10 performers, including some major cast members, are expected to boycott tonight's show.

They're protesting Trump's aggressive takeover of this famous performing arts center. His push to reshape the Kennedy Center. Replacing board members. Making himself chairman. Taking over programming. All of this -- that's what they are protesting.

Earlier this year, Vice President J.D. Vance and his wife were booed when they attended a concert at the Kennedy Center featuring the National Symphony Orchestra.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Vice President J.D. Vance and his wife being booed at Kennedy Center featuring the National Symphony Orchestra.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Joining us right now is CNN chief media analyst Brian Stelter tracking this one for us. Brian, one would guess that is not what he -- what the president is going to receive tonight when he shows up, but what is expected tonight?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Right. The boos remind me of the Les Mis song "Do You Hear the People Sing?" Now, I'm not going to sing it but now it'll be stuck in your head for the rest of the day. That's the beauty of this musical.

But we're not going to be hearing boos tonight. Tonight is going to be a rousing celebration of Trump as well as the Kennedy Center. There's going to be a red carpet rollout for this season premiere. It's also a big fundraising opportunity as Trump does try to reshape the Kennedy Center in his image. So certainly for MAGA supporters, for Trump allies, this is a hot-

ticket event. It's a red carpet night. And I think we're going to very much see Trump and his allies showing up tonight in force trying to show that the Kennedy Center is changing to suit Trump's times.

He has been very critical of programming at the Kennedy Center in the past, saying that this place was rampant with political propaganda and DEI. He says he's erased all of that and he's bringing in friendlier content.

There's been so much criticism of his evolution at the Kennedy Center so I'm really curious to see how he is received tonight and whether this Kennedy Center operation is able to pay the bills and grow in the future. We know this is a big fundraising opportunity for the president because some shows have been canceled. Some performers have been loathe to perform there. Ticket sales are down according to reporting at The New York Times and The Washington Post.

So this reshaping of the Kennedy Center is a complicated endeavor, and, in some ways, this is a -- it's all highlighted tonight with the opening of Les Mis.

BOLDUAN: And it's also one of many ways that we have seen, and people may forget all of the changes and the moves that the president has made since taking office a second time.

How does this, when we look --

STELTER: Right.

BOLDUAN: -- at the Kennedy Center, fit in with his broader push to reshape and kind of bring to heal arts and culture across the country?

STELTER: Yeah, it's absolutely all related, right, from him appointing Hollywood ambassadors and floating a tax -- a tariff on overseas movies to his defunding of PBS and NPR, something that the House will vote on later this week.

And by the way, it's notable the play Les Mis -- if viewers at home want to watch the play, where is it streaming? It's streaming on PBS. It's streaming on the Public Broadcasting System, which Trump is trying to defund. We will see if Congress goes along with that effort.

But that's all related. It is all of a piece of Trump trying to have a hold on culture because he felt he did not have it in his first term. We remember there were moments in his first term where performers would boo or would turn their backs or would not show up at events. And so that is the specter for tonight's performance as well.

As you mentioned, CNN reported back in May that some performers in Les Mis are choosing not to show up tonight. We don't exactly know who. You'll have to wait to see the Playbill and see who is in what role at the performance.

But the head of the Kennedy Center floated a blacklist of those performers who choose not to perform in front of the president. That is a chilling moment to have the head of the Kennedy Center saying maybe they should be scorned and not booked -- not hired for other performances.

And that really tells you what's going on here. It's not about free speech; it's about favored speech. In this case, Trump loves Les Mis and they will be performing it for him tonight.

BOLDUAN: Yeah. It's great to see you, Brian. Let's see. Really appreciate it -- John.

BERMAN: A big night for you there.

All right. Law enforcement may have spotted a man accused of killing his own children. Police followed a tip about an ill-prepared hike in Washington State and spotted a man they think could be Travis Decker. Decker has not been seen since May 30. His three daughters, all under the age of 10, were found dead a couple of days after a custody exchange. Court documents show Decker made web searches about trying to escape to Canada.

The U.S. and China have agreed in principle on a trade framework following days of talks in London to ease the tensions between the two countries. The agreement comes after a phone call between presidents Trump and Xi and talks in Geneva last month. The specifics on the deal have yet to be disclosed but presidents of both countries will have to approve the plan before it can be implemented.

[07:50:10]

Twenty-seven states are suing to block 23andMe from selling its customers biological data without their consent. The California-based genetic testing company filed for bankruptcy in March. The sale would include more than 15 million DNA profiles the company collected from people researching their ancestry. The company argues selling that genetic information is allowed under its privacy policies and applicable laws.

This morning a major cyberattack is leaving some store shelves and freezers empty at Whole Foods stores across the country. One worker said every department in their store has been affected after their supplier was hit with the attack. The Amazon-owned company would not say how many of its locations have been affected but they said they are working to restock the shelves quickly.

All right, Hollywood getting into the cellphone business. Why? What are they promising different than what you're getting from the big carriers?

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[07:55:27]

BERMAN: All right. This morning new video shows chaos in the halls of an Austrian high school after a shooting in the city of Graz. Police confirm a 10th person has died. Last night hundreds of people gathered for a candlelight vigil for the teenage victims. Police say the 21- year-old suspect is a former student who took his own life after the attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FELIX PLATZER, ATTENDED VIGIL (through translator): When you hear about it you have so much sympathy for the people. Maybe you could have known someone -- you know, people in your circle who knew people. And this is an example of solidarity, and you grieve together. And together, it is easier to cope.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: CNN Fred Pleitgen is on the scene in the city of Graz. What are you seeing there this morning, Fred?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, John.

Obviously, a lot of people here still absolutely devastated in the city of Graz. And I think what that one person just said in the leadup to our live shot here is absolutely correct that almost everybody here knows someone who is affected by all of this. You can see behind me that there are still a lot of people who are coming here or really just taking a moment to think. And there's a lot of people that we've seen were still in tears just thinking about what happened.

So certainly, the community here in Graz, which is Austria's second- largest city but only has about 300,000 inhabitants -- it is completely devastated by what happened but certainly is also moving closer together.

We've also, John, been keeping an eye on the investigation into all of this. In fact, just a couple of minutes ago the police came out with a little more information, saying that they still don't have information as to what exactly the motive of the shooter was. They are continuing to say, however, that he used a handgun and a shotgun as he went on that rampage in that school.

And as far as the victims are concerned, we have a little bit more of an update as well. There were nine children who were killed in this between the ages of 14 and 17, and then also one adult teacher -- a female teacher who succumbed to her wounds in the hospital late last night. So 10 victims, unfortunately, from inside that school and, of course the shooter himself, bringing the number of dead in all of this to 10.

And again, right now the authorities very much looking into what could have driven this man. What could have happened. They've obviously searched the house where he lived with his mother in a single-parent household. But whatever the motive is you can really feel the sorrow here on the ground in Graz.

But one of the other things that I think the authorities here are saying is if there is anything positive -- could be positive for them is that the response went extremely quickly and extremely efficiently by the authorities. They say they believed they prevented even worse from happening. And at the same time, also the fact that so many people here in this city are coming together is definitely something they say shows that this community will persevere, John.

BERMAN: What a tragedy though.

Frederik Pleitgen for us on the ground in Graz in Austria. Thank you, Fred -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

The host -- now let's turn to this. The hosts of the wildly popular "SmartLess" podcast are teaming up with a telecom executive to offer an alternative to pricey, unlimited data wireless plans.

The idea came when actor Will Arnett went to buy a phone for his teenage son and paid $70.00 a month for the wireless plan and then found out that well, the reality is that people are using lot less cellular data than they -- than they are paying for and what they used to be using.

And so SmartLess Mobile is born with his fellow podcast hosts Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes.

CNN's Clare Duffy joining us now. They're not the first that we know from Hollywood that's getting in on the -- on the cellular wireless -- kind of in that space. But tell us more about what this is.

CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Yeah. This is a really interesting new trend that we're seeing of celebrities back these startup cellular wireless plans.

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

DUFFY: What this SmartLess mobile group wanted to do is really challenge the fact that most people buy unlimited data plans from the big carries -- Verizon, ATT, T-Mobile -- because that's just sort of what everybody does.

But what the CEO of this company, Paul McAleese -- he is a longtime telecom industry veteran -- told me is that most Americans spend 90 percent of their time under Wi-Fi. Their mobile device seldom actually uses the wireless network. So they're paying for all of this data but really they're at home, they're at work, they're at Starbucks, they're on the subway. All of those places have Wi-Fi, and they don't actually need to be paying for all of that data.

So this new company, SmartLess Mobile, is taking on those big carriers. They're going to be offering plans that start at about $15.00 a month for five gigabytes of data. That's compared to $35.00 to $65.00 a month that you might pay for an unlimited plan with one of the big carriers.

And as I talk to experts about this trend of celebrities getting into this --

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

DUFFY: -- into this business, the real challenge when you're a startup carrier is awareness -- is getting the marketing out there to people. But this is a group that has one of the most popular podcasts on the planet. This is -- SmartLess regularly ranks among the top 20 most popular shows on Apple podcasts. And so they're planning to talk about this issue.

[08:00:00]