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Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) is Interviewed about Protests in L.A.; No Survivors in Air India Crash; Ananda Lewis Dies after Breast Cancer Battle. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired June 12, 2025 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's why we're bringing all these other different agencies -- ATF, FBI, U.S. Marshals. We got a hell of a job ahead of us," there talking about arresting undocumented immigrants in the United States.

And we have, Kate, seen that they have used other federal agencies, but it is a remarkable escalation to also be using National Guard in this instance.

Now, Homan stressed again that they are there to protect federal agents and that there have been assaults on federal agents, which is part of the reason that they're doing this. But this is something that we may see also fan out across the country.

Now, of course, National Guard has been used for border security before. Again, not arresting anyone, but serving in a supporting status. And we started to get public signals that the Department of Homeland Security had been wanting to use thousands more troops in the interior of the United States earlier this year, when DHS requested from the Pentagon 20,000 Guard troops from, again, from the Defense Department to help support operations, be it transportation support, detention support, as well as helping with night operations and rural interdiction.

So, the Pentagon is still deciding on how many they're going to provide. But clearly, we are moving in that direction. The administration is moving in that direction.

And on top of all of that, Kate, they are also looking at military bases for immigration detention. Novel, have used military bases for detention before, but clearly more leaning in on the military as they try to ramp up these nationwide immigration enforcement operations.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Priscilla, great reporting, as always, on this. I really appreciate it. Thank you so much for bringing it to us.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, President Trump has claimed that Los Angeles would be burning to the ground if he hadn't sent in troops. But the protest has only been taking place in about a square mile of downtown L.A. A small fraction of the city's nearly 4 million residents.

Here's how L.A. Mayor Karen Bass responded to Trump's allegations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR KAREN BASS (D), LOS ANGELES: The curfew that we put in place yesterday is about six square miles of a city that is 500 square miles. So, the portrayal is, is that all of our cities are in chaos, rioting is happening everywhere, and it is a lie.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Joining me now is Democratic Congressman Jimmy Gomez of California. He represents several neighborhoods in Los Angeles.

Let me start with this. There's so much political infighting. There's so much back and forth here. Are you concerned that this political battle will end up hurting your state far more than any small group of protesters who are doing physical damage to buildings?

REP. JIMMY GOMEZ (D-CA): Well, the Trump administration, as well as Republicans, have a -- a very common attack. They attack California when the economy is not doing well. They attack California when they are failing. They attack California when they're losing the narrative, when -- when something is not going right. So, their attacks are -- are common. And we also knew that this day, when it comes to the federal -- federalization of the National Guard, would come, that boots would be on the ground one day. And that's because he never cared about maintaining peace and order. It was always about getting more troops on the ground to support his I.C.E. raids, to enforce immigration law.

So, this is something that we knew was going to happen. But, you know what, California is here. We are -- we're -- we're 40 million people in the city of -- city and county of L.A. there's 10 million individuals, 34 percent are foreign born. So, he says he's going to save us from criminals. Who is he saving us from, ourselves?

So, we're going to really push back on this. And we know that this is not going to end anytime soon. But I want everybody to know, this will spread to their cities and their states eventually, just like it did yesterday in San Antonio, Texas.

SIDNER: Yes, it is spreading and it is in quite a few places now where people are furious about the way in which these immigration raids are happening and who is specifically being targeted.

We just heard Priscilla's reporting that behind the scenes the White House and Department of Homeland Security had been working for months to find ways to use the National Guard and the military more broadly to bolster the administration's aggressive immigration enforcement agenda.

What is your response to that, that they were actually looking for ways, instead of just sort of doing this as the president sort of intimated, that this was an urgent need for troops on the ground, that this is actually part of a plan according to sources to CNN?

GOMEZ: No, absolutely is true. He was planning on this for -- for months. This is something that they -- I believe they were thinking about the minute -- immediately after the election, he was already considering this.

I have a friend who was a DOD employee on the civilian side. They said that this was one of their fears, that they would federalize National Guard. Also look for ways to include active-duty Marines, which is extremely, extremely dangerous.

And what it tells you is that it's not about maintaining law and order, it's about really trying to bolster the people that are in these operations.

[08:35:00]

And here -- and here's the thing, my district includes almost all of downtown L.A. My son, who's three years old, and my wife, went to downtown for a prayer vigil against these deportation raids because they know that they're targeting families. And guess what? They're completely fine.

So, a lot of the stuff that's going on is isolated to a few blocks around the detention center. And anybody that does throw rocks or attacks law enforcement or creates vandalism should be held accountable. We can -- we -- we don't condone it. We condemn it. And also because it takes away from what people are trying to do is to protect our immigrant community.

SIDNER: I do want to lastly ask you about the so-called big, beautiful bill that Democrats are calling the big, ugly bill, or many other different names, and how you see this playing out. How do you plan to sort of fight against this, being that Democrats do not have the power in either of the houses?

GOMEZ: One of the things we have to do is continue showing up and fighting. And we also have to do whatever we can to slow this bill down. That's why you saw Democrats going for over -- almost 30 hours straight from the Rules Committee at 1:00 a.m. to 9:00 the next day, 9:30 the next morning. And it's because we know that we want to keep fighting. And when we do that, people start paying attention. The public starts paying attention. And they start finding out, oh, you're cut -- you're kicking almost 14 million people off of Medicaid. Oh, you're defunding anything that has to do with x, y, and z. Oh, now, if your deficit blows up as $3.9 trillion to the national debt, then there's going to be cuts to Medicare. And the more and more we can get that message out, the better we do.

But we also have to do this on the outside, because the people that we need to convince, the ones that are in red held areas, they don't watch CNN, they don't watch or read "The New York Times," they don't listen to "Pod Save America." So, we have to go in there and have these conversations so that they know that their Republican member of Congress is selling them out for a billionaire tax cut that benefits mostly all the people in Trump's cabinet and Trump himself. We know that that's what we have to do, and we're going to keep doing it.

SIDNER: Congressman Jimmy Gomez, thank you so much for coming on this morning. I know it's been a very busy time for you. Appreciate it.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, and the breaking news this morning, the crash of an Air India flight from India to London. A local police commissioner tells us that all 242 people on board are believed to have died. This happened just after takeoff. A mayday call was issued. And now, as you can see, pictures of the wreckage on the ground. There are concerns about the possibility of death and injuries in all of those buildings. We are waiting for official word. Stand by. Much more ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:42:06]

BERMAN: All right, the breaking news. A police commissioner is telling the "Associated Press" that there are apparently no survivors from the Air India crash. This happened in western India. Two hundred and forty-two passengers and crew on board the flight, headed from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick Airport.

We just learned from our colleague in New Delhi, the plane crashed into the lunch building of a medical school at a time when it's believed that students were having lunch there. You can see by all the wreckage why there are huge concerns this morning about the possibility of casualties on the ground, on people who were in that area, among people who were in that area, but just no official word yet.

This crash happened just after takeoff. Just after takeoff. And there is video of the plane going down.

Let's get right to CNN's Salma Abdelaziz, who's been monitoring all the developments.

Salma, what's the very latest.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I want to start with what the police commissioner said, because I think this is absolutely going to sink the hearts of the 242 -- these 240 souls on board, their families. So, I want to start with reading that statement from the police commissioner of Ahmedabad. And he told the "Associated Press," "it appears there are no survivors in the plane crash."

He also went on to say that because the plane crashed in a residential area, some locals would have also died. Exact figures on casualties are being ascertained. So, this is a greater tragedy. It was already a great tragedy. We were already talking about 242 souls on board with no survivors. But we're now hearing from the police commissioner, there are more casualties than that. There are people on the ground, potentially, who were harmed or lost their life. We also heard, and we've seen that video of a portion of the plane

embedded in a building. That building, we are hearing from our local affiliate, is where many medical students take their lunch break. And this happened around lunchtime, midafternoon. So, you can imagine that there were people inside that building when that horrifying crash happened.

We're seeing right now a multi-layered response to this tragedy that goes all the way up, of course, to India's prime minister. You had 242 souls from four different countries, a majority of them from India, 169 nationals, but more than 50 from here in the U.K., and several others from Portugal and Canada. So, you're seeing an inter-government response, open communication channels now particularly between London and India as they try to find out what has happened, what took place.

You also have a response on the ground, of course, for those family members who are seeking answers.

Air India has set up an emergency services center, essentially a help desk. Here in Gatwick Airport there is also a help desk.

[08:45:00]

But for those many families just begging and pleading, it is that news from the police commissioner that will absolutely spell tragedy, along with those images that you're seeing of what happened to their loved ones.

BERMAN: All right, Salma Abdelaziz in London.

Let's go to Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you so much, John.

All right, this is new -- that we've now learned coming up days after removing all members of the CDC's vaccine advisory panel, HHS Secretary RFK Jr. appointing several critics of the government's Covid 19 response to that committee.

And we remember the life and legacy of my dear friend, Ananda Lewis. The former MTV VJ and host of "Teen Summit." You all met her when she revealed here on this show that she had stage four breast cancer.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: So, this morning, more than 450 employees at the CDC who were fired in April are now being asked to come back to work. That is according to the Department of Health and Human Services. The people now being given or offered or however you want to describe it, given their jobs back, represent nearly 20 percent of all the CDC employees who were fired in that wave of cuts just a couple months ago.

We're going to have much more on this reporting. We have some technical difficulties in getting to our reporter, so we will have more on this later in the show.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you. Kate.

This is a story I didn't want to have to tell you, but Ananda Lewis, the former MTV VJ and host of "Teen Summit" turned content creator, and my beautiful friend, mother, sister and daughter has died after years of living with breast cancer.

[08:50:15]

Last year we brought you the story of three friends, CNN's Stephanie Elam brought myself and Ananda Lewis together to discuss how we were both dealing with stage three breast cancer differently. I took the traditional route of a double mastectomy, chemo and radiation. Ananda decided against the double mastectomy and decided to take a different treatment route.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANANDA LEWIS: My plan at first was to get out excessive toxins in my body. I felt like my -- my body is intelligent. I know that to be true. Our bodies are brilliantly made. I decided to keep my tumor and try to work it out of my body a different way.

Looking back on that, I go, you know what, maybe I should have --

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ananda completely overhauled her diet, improved her sleep, pursued aggressive homeopathic therapies, along with traditional medicine and radiation. She improved for a long time. She says removing the toxins, physical and emotional, from her body has been beneficial.

But last year she found out her cancer had metastasized into stage four, which means the cancer spread to other areas.

LEWIS: My -- my lymph system really flared up. And so, all through my abdomen, all those lymphs were very flared up, my collarbone. And it was the first time I ever had a conversation with death, because I felt like, this is -- this is how it ends. You know, I was like, OK.

So, I don't get afraid of things. I was just like, fudge, man, I really thought I had this, you know? I was frustrated. I was a little angry at myself. I was -- and I said, man, listen, I know you're coming for me at some point, but I don't want it to be now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: That was October 2024. She got to live eight more months.

Joining us now is CNN's Stephanie Elam and medical oncologist Dr. Elizabeth Comen from NYU Langone.

First to you, Stephanie.

You visited with Ananda, I know, the day before she died. We were able to hug and talk about what was about to happen. What did you say to her?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I -- you know, I've been covering the protests, so I was working the overnight shift. So, I was about to go to bed when I got the call. Like, I know you we're coming this week. You can hear it in my voice, I've been sick. So, I hadn't gone up to see her because I didn't want to get her sick.

And I got the call. And I realized, even though I had to get up in a few hours, I needed to get there. So, I drove to be with her and held her hand, and I told her how much I love her. Two-thirds of my life she has been my ride or die. We have been there going through things. We would text and we'd message each other all the time. And I was planning on getting off the air yesterday and going back to see her. And my last time on the air with Boris and Brianna was at noon my time. And after I got off the air, I looked down and I had a message from her beautiful big sister, who has been such a strong champion for her, and has kept me abreast of everything, and messaged me and told me that she passed away right before I finished that last hit. And so, it was too late. But I'm so glad I was able to go the night before.

And one thing that I want everyone to know is that she was at peace with this decision. She had come to grips with it. When she had texted me, we thought we had weeks, and it turned out that it turned into days. And then it actually was just a matter of hours. It happened very quickly, how things changed. And so, she texted me and she said that things had taken a turn, that -- a different turn than she would have liked. This is part of the text that she sent me. And she's like, "you know my feelings on this. We all go. These bodies are on loan and must be returned. We come in love and choose to leave it with love as well." And then she'd go on to say in another part of it, "I love you, my wonderful lifelong bestie of besties."

She was at peace with this decision. She was calm about it. She wanted to go after breast cancer the way she did it. And I love my girl, but she was hard-headed. She wanted to do it her own way, despite the fact that so many of us close to her wanted her to try the way that you did it, right? But this is what she wanted to do. And she was totally at peace with it.

And now we're just, you know, respecting her wishes. I've known for days, but I've just been working and getting past it and respecting that she wanted her privacy until she was gone. And now we are rallying around her son. He's just a few months younger than my daughter. They've pretty much grown up together. And making sure that he feels the love from his extended aunties, uncles and all the cousins. And that's a huge priority here.

And just paying attention to the legacy that Ananda has left because she agreed to be a part of that conversation with us in October, and because we see what has happened, I truly believe that both of you have helped save lives.

[08:55:09]

And I'm so proud of her for being open and honest and courageous to have this conversation, because if she has encouraged anyone to go out there and to get their mammograms, to test, get all the testing done, I know it's scary and uncomfortable, but please do it. Save a life. Be here.

SIDNER: Yes.

ELAM: Thrive. That's what she -- that's what she wanted people to know. And that's what I want people to know too.

And it's difficult in these days without her, but I do think that that is her lasting legacy, besides all of the other wonderful things she did as an awesome mom, auntie and friend. She was an awesome auntie to my daughter, too.

SIDNER: Yes, she was always trying to -- to help people through things herself, whether it would be something funny like, you know, your skin care, your skin routine, or, you know, fixing up your house.

ELAM: Yes.

SIDNER: And I'm just -- I'm so sorry --

ELAM: She was my handywoman. I mean, she fixed everything for me.

SIDNER: I know, she was amazing.

ELAM: I don't know, like, I look around, I'm like, what -- how am I going to do these things? There's so many things I don't even understand. Do you unpin someone from your phone? There's so many parts of this that no one talks to you about when you lose someone this close to you. And I think that's part of this journey as well.

But I want people to know that she was at peace. She really, really was. And I want to thank our Howard University community, because that's where we met just before the beginning of freshman year. And so many people have reached out to me. I feel your love, Bison. Thank you.

SIDNER: And thank you. And -- and, Steph, you know I love you and -- and thank you for bringing the story to us so that we could talk though it.

ELAM: I love you too. I'm so glad I could see you yesterday.

SIDNER: Yes. It was -- it was a really important moment.

Now let's -- I'm going to switch this over to Dr. Comen.

Ananda had stage four breast cancer. She revealed that after going about the way that she felt was necessary for her own body in trying to treat stage three breast cancer.

Are there any new treatments that can help people live longer? Because when you have stage four, I had to learn this, it's metastatic. It means you have to live with cancer.

DR. ELIZABETH COMEN, ONCOLOGIST, NYU LANGONE: Yes. And -- And, Sara, first let me say to you and Stephanie, I'm so sorry for your loss of this incredible, brave, courageous woman. And truly one of the most sacred parts of my job, and rewarding parts of my job, is caring for patients with metastatic disease and seeing over the course of my career how the landscape of how we treat metastatic breast cancer has dramatically improved. There are newer, targeted therapies that are allowing patients to not only live longer, but with far better quality of life with metastatic disease. That could mean five, 10, even longer with metastatic breast cancer. And I feel so privileged to care for patients with this disease.

SIDNER: You have been treating patients. And -- and you've seen patients go. You've had -- you've been with patients in their last moments. Your -- your book talks extensively about what that is like.

I do want to ask you about Ananda's decision to go against a medical -- medical advice. She decided not to get her double mastectomy. And as you heard Stephanie saying, and as I learned from her as well, she was completely at peace with that decision.

COMEN: Yes.

SIDNER: She wanted to try other things, to see if there was any other way to treat it. She eventually started to get targeted chemo. She got some radiation.

COMEN: Yes.

SIDNER: But she kept with that core idea that she just didn't want her body going through what is a very traumatic and, frankly, barbaric surgery that you have to go through. But for me, it was -- it helped me survive. And I just -- I wanted to cut it out, burn it out, do whatever -- whatever it is, poison it out to get it out of my system. She didn't feel the same way.

Is there any research on how most people respond to -- to non- traditional treatments --

COMEN: Yes.

SIDNER: Even if they're combining the two?

COMEN: Sure. Let me say first and foremost, you know, my job as a physician is to give patients my best medical advice. But at the end of the day, it's their body, their choice to do what they want for their own medical decisions. And it's heartwarming to know that she was at peace with her decisions.

And also, as an oncologist, I have to hold space for empathy and also the science. And if you look at large studies, we know that patients with early stage cancer who do not follow conventional therapies are five times more likely to pass away.

We also know that some of the other therapies, like diet and exercise, can really help people decrease their risk of recurrence with different types of cancer, including breast cancer. That being said, we -- you know, it is very difficult, as a physician,

to know that sometimes we miss windows to -- to really treat people with optimal therapy and lose a window to cure them with cancer.

SIDNER: When someone has metastatic cancer, and we've talked a little bit about this, what do you make of doing the traditional and the non- traditional? Can -- can you combine those things?

COMEN: Absolutely. I mean one of the things that I think we have to move away from are -- are these divides of traditional versus non- traditional, eastern versus western. Good doctors, I think, will say that we want what works and what doesn't work. So, we want to use what works.

SIDNER: Right.

[09:00:01]

COMEN: That's -- that's the divide there. And so, things like diet can be really important, exercise, mind-body techniques.