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ICE Arrest Mayoral Candidate and NYC Comptroller Brad Lander; Appeals Court Weights Case of National Guard in California; Trump Situation Room Meeting Ends After More than an Hour. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired June 17, 2025 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

REP. JIMMY GOMEZ (D-CA): Sharing that there are no nuclear weapons or their program has been stunted to an extent that they can't be used that in the future and the near future. This is serious business. And people assume it's just Iran. No, we also have -- we know that Russia, Iran and China have been developing a stronger relationship. So image all three, you know, adding Iran had nuclear weapons and adding to that -- that new access, extremely dangerous.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Congressman Jimmy Gomez, thank you so much for being with us. We really appreciate it.

GOMEZ: Thank you.

KEILAR: A New York City comptroller, who's also a mayoral candidate, has been arrested by ICE officers inside a Manhattan courthouse. We'll have details right after this.

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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: We have a new update on the arrest of New York City comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander. He was handcuffed by federal agents this afternoon at an immigration courthouse in Manhattan. It was all captured on video.

KEILAR: That's right. CNN's Gloria Pazmino is with us now with the details of this. Gloria, tell us about what led up to this.

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Boris, Brianna. In fact, that detail is very important because we should mention that the comptroller -- who by the way is also running for the Democratic nomination for mayor of New York City -- had been observing ICE officers inside of immigration court here in New York City for the past few days. And the reason he was doing that is because we've seen this uptick by immigration officers being inside of courtrooms and arresting migrants.

We're seeing that here in New York City, but also across other courts around the country. And he had been sort of observing their activities over the last few days. And today, he was trying to escort a man who had just had his case dismissed inside one of those immigration courts.

And while he was trying to escort him out of the building, you can see that there was a scuffle. You see that the officers approached the man who they are trying to arrest. Brad Lander tries to get in between them.

And that's kind of when all chaos erupts and is what we're seeing on the video there. You can see that the officers also put Brad Lander under custody. They handcuff him.

And during the video, you can hear Brad Lander ask them for a warrant, an arrest warrant for the other man that they were trying to initially take into custody. You can also hear Brad Lander sort of trying to scream at them that they do not have the authority to arrest a U.S. citizen, which Brad Lander, of course, is.

Now, it's important to mention that we are just a few days away from a primary election here in New York City. Brad Lander has not been doing that well in most public polls, but he is a citywide elected official with wide name recognition here in New York City. So one question I have right now is whether or not this is going to sort of inject any additional excitement and attention into his campaign in this in these last few days.

We've also just heard back from the Department of Homeland Security. I want to show you a social media post that they have published on X in the last few minutes saying no one is above the law. And if you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will face consequences.

You can also see that they are replying to Brad Lander's tweet there saying, no one is above the law.

Now, in their statement, the Department of Homeland Security accused Brad Lander of assaulting one of the officers and trying to prevent them from doing their job of arresting that other man. It's not yet clear to us whether or not Lander will face any sort of charges. We are waiting to hear back.

But you can say there that they expect him to face some sort of consequences. We also understand that at this hour he remains in custody downtown at the federal building -- Boria, Brianna.

KEILAR: Gloria Pazmino, thank you for that report.

And we'll have more on the hearing that is underway in San Francisco. A federal appeals court is deciding who should control thousands of National Guard members in California, President Trump or Governor Gavin Newsom. We'll have details just ahead.

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KEILAR: Happening now, three judges on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals are hearing the case that is pitting California Governor Gavin Newsom against President Trump. Last week, a district court judge sided with Newsom and determined that Trump sending the National Guard without the governor's approval was illegal.

The judge ordered control of the Guard to be returned to California. The administration immediately appealed.

SANCHEZ: And the appellate judges paused the order calling the hearing that is underway right now.

Meantime, we're learning the National Guard is assisting ICE in other states. The Pentagon says Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has mobilized as many as 700 troops, the Guard, active duty and reserve in Louisiana, Texas and Florida. The Pentagon spokesperson said the troops will, quote, not directly participate in law enforcement activities.

CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig is back with us. Elie, good to see you again.

What is the update from court? Has there been any more dialogue that's given you an indication of where these judges might land?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, Boria, so a couple of things. First of all, the precise issue you just raised, the separation that has to exist ordinarily between the military and law enforcement. The judges asked the Trump administration lawyer about that.

The Trump administration lawyer confirmed what you just said. He said these National Guard troops out there are not performing law enforcement functions. They're not making arrests. They're not doing search and seizure.

[15:45:00]

He said what they are doing is they're protecting federal buildings and they're creating a perimeter to protect law enforcement officers as they make arrests. That seemed to be an important distinction, understandably, for the judges.

The other notable thing that happened as the Trump administration lawyer wrapped up his argument just a few minutes ago, the judges asked for an update on conditions on the ground.

Now, the Trump administration lawyer said before the National Guard was called in back in the early days of this, June 6th, June 7th, the DOJ lawyer said there was, quote, mob violence and disorder that federal law enforcement officers found themselves pinned down and outnumbered by a violent crowd.

Now, the DOJ lawyer said conditions now are essentially unchanged. It is necessary, he argued, to have the National Guard there.

The DOJ lawyer said, quote, There is an extraordinary need for the National Guard even today.

KEILAR: So how does this playout? What's the timeline? HONIG: So I think the timeline is very, very quick. Remember, this court of appeals that's hearing this case right now, they paused the district court's ruling.

They paused the district court sort of undoing the deployment of National Guard until today, knowing that this argument was today. So I think what we're going to see is either a ruling later today from this court of appeals, or at least another pause for a few days to give them time to rule.

But clearly, Brianna, this court does understand that time is of the essence, that this is something that's happening on the streets right now. They are very much responsive to that.

SANCHEZ: And Elie, could this case set a new precedent for using the military for immigration enforcement?

HONIG: For sure. Because as you just reported, Donald Trump and the administration are considering deploying National Guard troops to other states beyond California. And I should say, the lawyer for the California side of this just began his argument, and he was trying to make a along those same lines.

Whatever this court rules is going to be very persuasive. Now, important to understand, this is the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. So it has direct jurisdiction over California and a few other Western states.

Those other states, Texas, that's in the Fifth Circuit. So there's other circuits here. But this is the first federal court of appeals to hear this case.

So whatever this court rules will be binding in California and will be really influential in Illinois and Texas and other places where the National Guard may be deployed.

KEILAR: Really interesting. Elie Honig, thank you so much for that.

HONIG: Thanks, guys.

KEILAR: We do have breaking news.

President Trump's meeting with his national security team in the Situation Room has now concluded, according to a White House official. We're standing by for any updates as this conflict between Israel and Iran continues to escalate.

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SANCHEZ: Breaking news to CNN. President Donald Trump's meeting with his national security team in the Situation Room has concluded. It lasted for more than an hour at least.

And clearly, the White House is weighing a range of options when it comes to its involvement in the Middle East. Over the last few days, we've watched the administration go from saying that Israel's actions against Iran were unilateral and effectively something that was being led by Israel today. You had the U.S. president using the phrase we to describe supremacy in the air over Tehran and also the administration's knowledge of the location of the supreme leader of Iran, a tacit threat at the leadership.

We have retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton with us to discuss. Colonel, now that this meeting is wrapped up, I imagine there's a number of options for the U.S., a range of degrees of involvement. I wonder if you could break down what some of those might be.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, Boris. So there's several possibilities. And normally what happens once the National Security Council meeting is concluded is they'll go in and they'll have basically, sometimes a decision is actually made at that point in time, and they'll have already weighed those options.

But generally speaking, you'll have a series of options. And sometimes agencies are going to be directed to, you know, find out more about certain possibilities. What are the consequences of using option A, for example.

So in the case of Iran, I -- there's an option to do nothing. There's an option to give the Israelis some support, like we saw over the summer and in October, which would mean -- which is probably one of the things that they're going to do anyways, such as station naval assets in the eastern Mediterranean and help protect the entire basically contiguous area of Israel.

And then the other thing, though, with the Iranians is, you know, are they you know, do they really think that it would be effective to go after the Iranian installation?

So earlier when we spoke about going after Fordo, for example, that would be something where they very specifically have to look at the intelligence, whether it's possible to use based on their assessment of what the structure looks like, what you know, what the conditions, the weather conditions, ground conditions are. You know, is there another threat there? Are there going to be surface to air missiles that could potentially impact an operation?

All of those kinds of things are going to be looked at. So in many cases, they get to very minute detail and try to, in essence, help with mission planning, because when the Air Force, for example, goes in and conducts missions of that could potentially happen here, they look at exactly how the ingress route would look and what the egress possibilities are.

So in other words, when you go over a particular area, what does it look like when you hit it? What are the risks to hitting it? Is the route a safe route or do we need to go to another area?

So those are the kinds of things that they would assess and they would go all the way up to the National Security Council, because this is a sea change in policy when it comes to Iran. And because it's that, that's the kind of thing that we really have to look at.

[15:55:00]

You know, and if you're the president, you look at all those options and decide what risks you want to take.

KEILAR: We have a little less than a minute left, but what would the considerations be about the vulnerability of U.S. assets in the area?

LEIGHTON: So not only are we talking, Brianna, about assets that would potentially overfly a target like Fordo, but also what happens to the military that are already stationed in and around the Persian Gulf, especially, but really throughout the Middle East. So what are the vulnerabilities in Qatar, for example, at Al Udeid Air Base, in Kuwait, at Ali al-Salam, at the UAE bases? So all of those things, and of course, the fifth fleet in Bahrain.

So you look at, you know, force protection conditions would probably have to be increased. They would have to do all of those kinds of things to protect the troops who are to attempt to do that.

SANCHEZ: Colonel Leighton, thank you so much for the analysis. We're going to have much more coming your way in just moments.

"THE ARENA" with Kasie Hunt will start after a short break.

Thanks for joining us this afternoon.

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