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Trump Mobilizes 700 Marines and 4,000 National Guard Troops to L.A.; Trump Plans to Shift Disaster Relief and Response to States; Police May Have Spotted Dad Accused of Killing His Daughters; U.S. Army to Bring Back Names of 7 Bases That Once Honored Confederate Leaders. Aired 2:30-3 pm ET

Aired June 11, 2025 - 14:30   ET

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

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[14:31:48]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And we are rejoined now by Maxine Waters, Congresswoman from California. Her district includes parts of Los Angeles.

Congresswoman, we know Mayor Bass announcing this curfew overnight. She said it will last several days. Did that help overnight?

REP. MAXINE WATERS (D-CA): I don't know. I'm in Washington, D.C., and I'm hearing about the curfew. I know that the mayor is doing everything that she possibly can to ensure that we don't have confrontation and violence. And so, it's worth trying.

KEILAR: Have you learned anything further about specific rules of engagement for the Marines and the Guard who have been mobilized?

WATERS: I've not heard anything. And of course, the President of the United States does not consult with anybody. He did not consult with the governor of the state of California, Governor Newsom. He did not consult with the mayor. He makes up the rules. He does not follow any rules. He does not follow protocol or anything. So, we don't know what he's capable of doing. He may continue to add to the numbers that he's already sent. He may have orders to ICE to be more forceful. We don't know what to expect from Donald Trump.

KEILAR: And on Sunday, you went to the federal building downtown to check on labor leader David Huerta, who was arrested during immigration protests, and officials slammed the door on you. There was also a moment where you were shouting at guardsmen who were posted outside. I want to play part of this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WATERS: What you going to do, you going to shoot some kids? He's afraid of doing what? You going to shoot on elected official? If you shoot me you better shoot straight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: You then also urged guardsmen not to shoot people. And I know that you were worried about what might happen with armed service members, armed service members who are armed there on the streets of L.A. Is yelling at them to shoot straight if they're going to shoot you the right way to show that concern?

WATERS: Well, you know, I don't know. But what I was really trying to do was to get, you know, the attention to the seriousness of what was going on. And so, I thought as an elected official, if I talk about so that it would be an earshot of all the media and everybody else was there and people who were listening, that we were raising concerns about armed guards being in Los Angeles and what they are ordered to do.

And so, it was one of those moments where, you know, I talked about, you know, I'm an elected official. In so many words, are we going to shoot me, too? And so, it's one of those things where you're trying to create the proper communication to let everybody know that this is an unusual and dangerous situation.

And we're hopeful that Trump is paying attention and that he'll change his mind about what he's doing. So, it's the kind of talk that you start hoping that it will be helpful and instructive in some way.

KEILAR: It is unusual. Certainly, I think many people share your concerns that this is a dangerous situation in Los Angeles. Would you want your constituents and other Angelenos to be yelling at guardsmen like that?

[14:35:09]

WATERS: Well, I don't think it's a matter of yelling. Absolutely projecting so that you're being heard when you're outside and there are cars and traffic is not a matter of yelling, it's projecting so that you will be heard.

KEILAR: And Congresswoman, I know that you've been listening to these warnings coming from administration officials. The attorney general, Pam Bondi, has said the Trump administration is not scared to go further in expanding its legal authorities to deploy troops in Los Angeles. You have Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth saying that if there are riots in other places where law enforcement is threatened, they could surge the guard there as well. How are you receiving those warnings?

WATERS: Well, first of all, you got to know who you're talking to. You're talking to someone that represents an administration that you can't believe one way or the other. They are liars. They are disruptive. They are divisive. And the media cannot take their word for anything. The media has to look, listen, talk to a lot of people. But I don't respond to what they say, because these are people who have shown and demonstrated and the press knows better than we do. They've been lied to so many times. So, I'm not even paying attention to whatever he's trying to say. KEILAR: The LAPD chief said late on Sunday night that LAPD was -- that they were overwhelmed as far as the number of people out there engaged in this type of activity. He was talking about the violent activity there. Clearly, there is a capacity for this police force, which numbers about 8,000, to be overwhelmed by his description, by what has played out at certain points in Los Angeles. Protests, acts of destruction, mass arrests still happened overnight. If they are overwhelmed at any point, what is the backup plan?

WATERS: The backup plan is the president of the United States should do what he didn't do when we were invaded in the Capitol. When they had the insurrection that he led, he should get on the phone and talk to the local police. He should talk to the people that he's had deployed there. And he has a responsibility in all of this. He started this. There should be no violence.

He should not continue to support violence. They should not be edged on and, you know, provoked in any way. And that's what the president of the United States is doing, to exert his power and to show that he's in charge, and to show that he's going to get the numbers that he promised to get, to get people deported.

And so you know him. Everybody knows him. And so it is not on just the police in L.A. It's not just on anybody. You know, leadership should be from the president of the United States who decided that he was going to send the armed guards in when there was no violence. There were no protesters at that time. Yes, I understand that there was some violence that on a Sunday night.

And the police must be concerned. But they must be in contact with the governor and with the mayor and with the president of the United States and have a plan collectively about how to handle this situation.

KEILAR: Congresswoman Maxine Waters, thank you so much for taking time with us this afternoon. We do appreciate it.

WATERS: Well, you're so welcome.

KEILAR: Thank you.

Boris?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: So, President Trump says he plans to phase out FEMA following this year's hurricane season, given his plans to dismantle the agency and shift responsibility onto the states. As per CNN's own reporting, FEMA has already entered hurricane season understaffed and underprepared because of job cuts. And the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is predicting that this season is going to be particularly dangerous, possibly deadly.

CNN's Gabe Cohen has been tracking this story from the beginning. Gabe, what are you hearing?

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Boris, these comments from the president offered really the clearest confirmation and timeline for the administration's long-term plans to dismantle FEMA, saying that it is going to happen, but now it's most likely going to happen after hurricane season.

The president saying that less federal disaster aid is going to be going out to states and soon it is going to be coming directly from the president's office, which would effectively cut FEMA out entirely.

One of the big questions there, Boris, is what information will the president actually be using to decide who gets that money? Because for years now, FEMA has offered nonpartisan recommendations that the president usually follows. But bottom line, the president wants states to handle disasters. Here's a little bit more of what he said in the Oval Office.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), U.S. PRESIDENT: We want to wean off of FEMA and we want to bring it down to the state level. The governor, you know, governor should be able to handle it. And frankly, if they can't handle it the aftermath, then maybe they shouldn't be governor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:40:14]

COHEN: The problem, Boris, is I have heard from many emergency management officials who say that states right now just are not prepared to handle disasters alone, even with the possibility of some sort of federal financial backstop in the most dire situations. They turn to FEMA when they are overwhelmed and telling them not to be overwhelmed anymore may not go so smoothly, Boris. It could take years to build out that emergency management infrastructure, to build up, beef up personnel and budgets on the state level.

So, we're going to have to see what this FEMA Review Council that Trump has put together comes up with in the coming months, because they're going to try to find solutions that help with this transition. But we don't know what it's going to look like, especially for this hurricane season, where a lot of turmoil is happening at this agency and they're trying to still operate like they did last year.

SANCHEZ: With so much potentially on the balance. Gabe Cohen, thanks so much for the reporting.

What's old is new again. President Trump says several recently renamed Army bases will go back to their old names. Sort of. We'll explain in just moments.

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[14:45:25]

SANCHEZ: Today, we learned some major news in the tense manhunt for the man accused of killing all three of his young daughters. The bodies of the girls were found at an abandoned campsite along with Travis Decker's truck about a week and a half ago. Now, police are saying they think they spotted Decker while searching by helicopter.

Decker has survival training. He also apparently made Google searches about moving to Canada and finding a job there some four days before his disappearance.

Former FBI Assistant Director for the Criminal Investigative Division, Chris Swecker, joins us now. Chris was the special agent in charge of North Carolina operations where he managed the capture of Eric Rudolph after the Centennial Olympic Park bombing back in 1996.

Chris, thank you so much for being with us. The man who police thought was Decker apparently ran out of view when he was spotted by that helicopter.

So, what comes next? What other ways can officials have to track him now?

CHRIS SWECKER, FORMER FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR FOR THE CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIVE DIVISION: Yes, he was also spotted by some hikers, a group of hikers who call -- who actually called it in and that's when the helicopter went up and spotted him and he took off and ran.

The next -- you know, the next step after that is to establish a perimeter, you know, beyond the distance that he could walk in that time frame and then some. So, you know, probably a mile or a mile and a half in either direction and slowly but very deliberately close down that perimeter.

They -- you know, they -- we know all the hiking trails, that place is full of hiking trails, very popular area for that. And they're also trying to leverage the public in the area. There are cabins in that area. If you research it, it is -- it is a place where people go to rent cabins. There are some people who have cabins there. They're not always occupied and like Eric Rudolph, he could very easily break into a cabin and hole up in there somewhere.

There's some caves as well. It's an old mining area, so there are also some caves. But the important consideration here is the safety of the searchers because like Eric Rudolph, and Rudolph even said this, I could see them from -- you know, I could be five feet away from the searchers and they didn't even see me. He did that several times. And because of the rugged terrain, because of the foliage and the bush in the area, so they have to be very, very deliberate about it. This is a very desperate guy and they have to assume he's armed.

SANCHEZ: You sort of alluded to the danger that they might be in. I mentioned a moment ago that he's a veteran with survival training. How do you sort of game plan and anticipate his moves given his experience?

SWECKER: Yeah, I mean, I think it's less about anticipating his moves and more about forming that perimeter that covers all possibilities whatsoever. Because, you know, at this point, I think he's fairly random. He's going -- he doesn't have -- you know, he doesn't have knowledge -- he doesn't have the situational awareness of where the searchers are, so there's no -- no telling which -- which direction, which path he's going to take.

It's likely that he -- as I said, he -- and Rudolph wrote about this in his book, I could see and hear the searchers before they got to me and I had plenty of time to get in a hiding position, many -- some of which he had already pre-positioned. But I think they are very methodical. This has to be a very methodical perimeter that slowly, slowly constricts itself to where he feels the pressure and he'll come out, or he'll either come out or they'll just have to keep constricting that perimeter until they find him.

SANCHEZ: Chris Swecker, appreciate you sharing the expertise. Thanks.

SWECKER: Thank you.

Brianna?

KEILAR: Seven army bases are getting new names. Well, really back to their old names. After an announcement by President Trump yesterday at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, that's a fort that was briefly known as Fort Liberty after it was renamed in 2023, but it was changed back in February after Trump took office. The president talking about why he's changing the names.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: For a little breaking news, we are also going to be restoring the names to Fort Pickett, Fort Hood, Fort Gordon, Fort Rucker, Fort Polk, Fort A.P. Hill, and Fort Robert E. Lee.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: We won a lot of battles out of those forts. It's no time to change.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:50:05]

KEILAR: So, this is a little bit confusing, but listen to this. The bases -- they don't actually go back exactly to their previous names, which were after confederate leaders or soldiers. They will be renamed after people who have the same last names as those figures.

So, back to the old names, but with new namesakes. Take Fort Hood, for example, formerly named after the confederate general John Bell Hood. In 2023, it was renamed for General Richard Cavazos, who -- a Texan who served in both the Korean and Vietnam wars. He was the first Hispanic four-star general in American history. That base will now be called once again Fort Hood, but this time in honor of distinguished service cross recipient Colonel Robert B. Hood, who fought in World War I.

Let's discuss with retired Army Brigadier General Ty Seidule. He is a Professor Emeritus of History at West Point. He also served as the Vice Chair of the Congressional Naming Commission, which renamed bases that honored confederates. He has a new book coming out on Veterans Day, by the way. It's called, "A Promise Delivered: Ten American Heroes and the Battle to Rename Our Nation's Military Bases."

All right, sir, what do you think of the bases being switched back for the old names with new namesakes?

BRIG. TY SEIDULE, (RET.) FORMER HEAD OF U.S. MILITARY ACADEMY HISTORY DEPARTMENT: Thank you. I think there are a couple of things to think about. The first is, it's overturning the will of the American people through their elected representatives.

Congress passed a law overwhelmingly overturning President Trump's veto. And it was one of two things that Trump really lost in his first term. The first was the Affordable Care Act. This was the second. So, I think it's a little bit of retribution that he's doing.

The second thing to remember is that the confederate names are gone. And that's a law that was passed in 2021 to ensure that no confederates were named. And I think that's a good thing for all of us to remember.

In the end, what he's doing is he's choosing surname over service. So, rather than going with the names we chose over a 20-month period that reflect the communities and the mission of each individual Army base, he's choosing ones that just have the last names. I don't think that's -- it is not what the communities wanted. And it's certainly not what the 20-month process that our bipartisan commission came up with.

KEILAR: So, you served on this commission that decided how to rename these bases. Tell us a little bit about how you came to the different names that were picked.

SEIDULE: We went and visited each post. We went in -- we did a website where we had 33,000 names. Some of them -- some were funny. One was Fort Spears, named after Britney Spears. We chose not to do that one. But other ones reflected the enormity of great heroes that we found in the American people.

We then necked that down to 10 names. Then from those 10 names, we went back to the communities and selected the ones that we -- that we -- we came up with. But some of those names, like you said with Fort Cavazos, this is a seventh-generation Texas, born on the King Ranch, commanded that post, was a Medal of Honor and -- Medal of Honor recipient in the Korean War, and then Distinguished Service Cross.

We, for the first time with the Moore family, recognized the Army family. We were able to talk about, as you know so well, the importance that it takes a family to serve the nation. That's what we were able to do with Fort Moore.

We also recognized logisticians for the first time, black soldiers, women. And so these were some -- we didn't go after diversity. We just chose the people that best reflected those areas and the mission that they did. They were great Americans, great heroes who served their nation. And we wanted to recognize them.

KEILAR: Yeah, Fort Gregg-Adams, the highest-ranking black woman in World War II, which reminds people of the service of women, certainly during World War II. Arthur Gregg, who entered the segregated Army as a private and achieved three stars. I mean, these people were arguably so deserving of recognition here.

What do you think the message is to service members? Obviously, people who go into the armed forces, they're not monolithic. They're quite diverse. They come from all corners of America.

SEIDULE: The Army is the most diverse -- as you know this, the Army is the most diverse workforce in the country, maybe even in the world. And that is a strength that we have. And Fort -- what was Fort -- and it's still Fort Gregg-Adams until it changes, for sure. I mean, at Charity Adams, there's a new movie out on her about the 6888. It's a Tyler Perry movie. What an amazing story of inspiration. Who we commemorate reflects our values. And the values -- I went to these renaming ceremonies.

Oh my gosh, they were so amazing to bring that. Arthur Gregg was there, 94 years old, at the renaming ceremony. He's since passed. But it started out as a church service and ended as a block party when we celebrated who these people were and what they meant to the local communities.

[14:55:08]

They were logisticians at Fort Gregg-Adams. That's what that post does. Seventy thousand are trained there a year. And now, we're losing that capability of inspiring those who serve. The same at what was Fort Moore with Julie Moore in the Army family.

At Fort Novosel, who is named after an Army helicopter pilot, Medal of Honor recipient. That's the mission that they had at that fort, to train helicopter pilots. So we represented the American people in this commission, I think, really, really well. And what I fear is that this will now be a political tennis match.

And what happens if the next go round, but let's say that the new -- the next administration chooses Fort Biden, named after Beau Biden. It will be a tennis match then for years and years to come.

KEILAR: Yeah, not too hard to see happening. There are being repeated name changes. We'll have to keep an eye on that.

General Seidule, you have such deep knowledge on this. Thank you so much for giving us the context here. We appreciate it.

SEIDULE: Oh my pleasure to be with you. Thank you. And thank you for your service.

KEILAR: Oh, thank you. Thank you for your service.

And when we come back, how Democrats are seeing a potential blueprint in Governor Gavin Newsom as he publicly battles President Trump over federalizing the National Guard.

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