Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

National Guard On The Ground In L.A. After Trump's Deployment Order; Citizens Of 12 Countries Barred From Entering U.S.; 100M Plus Under Alert For Severe Storms; Russia Claims To Have Reached Central Ukrainian Region For First Time; Sinner And Alcaraz's Epic Battle On Clay At Roland Garros. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired June 08, 2025 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:39]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: Hello. A very good weekend to you. Thanks so much for joining me.

I'm Jim Sciutto, in today for Fredricka Whitfield.

We begin this hour with breaking news.

The National Guard is now on the ground in Los Angeles. This, after President Trump authorized the deployment of 2,000 National Guard soldiers following a second day of clashes between ICE, protesters and local police.

This video from Saturday shows officers, as you can see there in riot gear, using tear gas as well as flash bang grenades to break up a crowd.

This in Paramount, California just outside the city of Los Angeles. That's where those protests and clashes between police and protesters were the most active. In nearby Compton, a car was set on fire as protesters gathered at an intersection.

CNN is following the latest developments. CNN senior investigative correspondent Kyung Lah is in Los Angeles there, out in the field. And CNN senior White House reporter Betsy Klein, she's in Bridgewater, New Jersey. That is where the president is today, or close to his property there.

Kyung, first to you, tell us what's happening in the protests there. And one key question I have actually is, is local law enforcement having trouble policing this situation?

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Since you asked about local law enforcement, let's start with LAPD.

I'm standing outside the Metropolitan Detention Center. There was a protest out here. But I'm going to quote LAPD. In their news release, they said last night, yes, there was some spray painting, but what they did was this incident wrapped without incident. So what happened here was, again, without incident. The LAPD is

describing it that way. There was an unlawful assembly and in protests that does happen. But as far as what the LAPD said, that they are viewing this as something that was manageable and something that they could handle and that they are ready to respond to.

But I want to show you what the National Guard response is, again, outside the Metropolitan Detention Center. I was talking about the spray painting. You can see some of this. It's this entire block appears to be tagged.

But take a look at these officers. These are soldiers rather, you can see what they -- there's about maybe 25 of them standing here in quite a display of a show of force.

And each of these soldiers, if Mike, you can zoom in a little bit. They're each carrying a long stick and a rifle. Each one of them is carrying a rifle. It appears to be a lethal rifle. We don't know what the status of those weapons are. But they certainly are here with their uniforms on and an incredible show of force. Armored vehicles also positioned outside of the Metropolitan Detention Center.

So what is happening here today? I'm going to have you sweep across this way and just take a look over here. We have a very small handful of people. When I first got here, there was more press than members of the public.

There are a couple women who are shouting at the soldiers. There has not been any confrontation. You can still smell from last night, a little bit of the pepper spray that was used, some of the anti-riot measures that were deployed last night.

But this appears to be very, very peaceful as of right now.

But what I can tell you, just from what I'm seeing here, Jim, an incredible show of force here in the streets of Los Angeles.

I went by city hall. We zoomed through downtown, and so far, everything here is peaceful, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Kyung, thanks so much for that update. Good to have you there on the ground. Please keep yourself and the team safe.

I want to go to Betsy Klein now. Now, Betsy, of course, this administration typically has quite a deferential approach to law enforcement. As Kyung was just saying there, LAPD says they have the situation under control. Though now, you have those uniformed National Guardsmen there.

How is the administration responding to this and how are they justifying this deployment?

[14:04:51]

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well Jim, there has been so much pressure on the Trump administration to ramp up its deportation efforts. President Trump campaigned on that. And in the first months of his presidency of his second term, he has fallen far short of his stated goals.

So we have been seeing increased deportation efforts from ICE, a major crackdown in recent weeks. All of this leading up to the protests that we have been seeing in the Los Angeles area.

Now, President Trump making that decision Saturday night to deploy 2,000 members of the National Guard members because, in his view, and the White House and other top Republican officials, Californian officials including the Governor Gavin Newsom, were not doing enough to tamp down that violence.

But this, of course, is such an intrinsically political move. A president hasn't unilaterally called in the National Guard since the civil rights movement in the 1960s. And California Governor Gavin Newsom has said that the move would only exacerbate tensions on the ground.

Of course, all of this comes as the Trump administration is weighing massive cuts that could happen in the coming days to federal grants for the state of California.

But Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says that all of this is a matter of security. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTI NOEM, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: These 2,000 National Guard soldiers that are being engaged today are ones that are specifically trained for this type of crowd situation.

National Guard soldiers are there to provide security for operations and to make sure that we have peaceful protests. So that's what their work is. And I won't get more specific on that just because we never do when it comes to law enforcement operations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KLEIN: Now, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says that active-duty marines stationed at Camp Pendleton are on quote, "high alert" to support as needed. And as for how long this might go on, the presidential memorandum signed last night by President Trump states that National Guard service will last at least 60 days and is up to the discretion of the Defense Secretary.

I also want to read you a post to social media from FBI deputy director Dan Bongino. He says, quote, "We are not stopping or slowing down. We are not intimidated or apprehensive. Illegal immigration operations will continue, and anyone using violence to obstruct or impede these operations will be investigated and prosecuted."

Of course, all of this as President Trump and top officials, including Hegseth and Vice President J.D. Vance, are set to huddle this evening at Camp David, Jim.

Our thanks to Betsy Klein, Kyung Lah.

CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller joins me now for his perspective. Of course, John served a long time in the NYPD.

So John, just first, if I could draw on your long experience here. Of course, that's just a snapshot, what we saw there with Kyung Lah the size of the protests and those soldiers there. Seems to be quite a calm situation.

But based on what you saw over the last 24 to 48 hours, was that a situation out of control -- out of the control of local law enforcement, which we should note, the LAPD has its own riot control units and units trained for riot control.

Did the instability there justify or require additional resources from where you're sitting?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: I wouldn't Say so. And I mean, I also served three years in the LAPD as the head of the Criminal Intelligence and Counterterrorism Bureau and, you know, worked with the LAPD through many large demonstrations at the beginning of the Iraqi war and other things.

LAPD, by most estimates, had this under control last night. But what we're seeing is a couple of things.

Let's break it down because it can get confusing. Number one, LAPD's response on Friday night when demonstrators converged on the federal building, when federal officers were firing pepper balls and gas agents at them, the federal government said it took them hours to get there.

LAPD says not true. We were there within 51 minutes, which is the amount of time it takes, according to the LAPD manual, which I'm pretty familiar with, unless its changed. 45 minutes to organize a mobile field force drawn from patrol units from across the city to get assembled, get to the location and take control from another agency. They were there within 51 minutes.

They said they were hampered by traffic and then getting through the crowds with their vehicles. And then when they got out, they were in a gas environment where they didn't have the proper equipment or gas masks and had to call Metro in to stabilize that.

But since that time, they have been operating and their normal disorder control, you know, operations procedures.

[14:09:52]

MILLER: So why is the National Guard there? So you've got three things. Number one, they are there, according to the people I've spoken to both in local and federal side, for force protection.

When ICE agents go out on massive operations or big operations, they are there to form that perimeter and make sure that those ice agents aren't interfered with by some crowd that gathers.

The LAPD will not participate in civil immigration matters. When they call for help, though, and say we need police assistance here, the LAPD will respond to that.

And third when it comes to any kind of protests or disorder, you know, the LAPD should be first in line there, not the National Guard.

SCIUTTO: One just very basic question. You heard Kristi Noem say that this National Guard unit is trained in crowd control. What degree of training would they have as compared to LAPDs own trained units? And would those weapons that Kyung Lah saw that they were -- would they have live ammunition in them?

MILLER: They appear to have live ammunition, the magazines are in place, and, you know, if you look at that third soldier from the left, you know, in his magazines, you can see the shell casings from what appear to be live rounds.

The training they would have, Jim, would be similar to law enforcement disorder control in terms of formation about how to push back a crowd and so on. But what they don't have where they do have the training, what they don't have is they don't have the experience.

You know, National Guard troops don't have regular experience the way American police does, especially in the last few years of dealing with mass protests. And you know, that's where you run into things that are making officials on the ground there uncomfortable, which is, you know, we're a country that lived through Kent State in 1970, where National Guard troops opened fire on a college campus.

What happens in this situation when they're on the front lines? Somebody throws something from the back of the crowd, it hits somebody and they go down. So law enforcement is concerned that they have adequate resources in terms of law enforcement there, and that this is not necessarily necessary.

SCIUTTO: Yes. And listen, the history shows just how seldom this has happened, particularly how seldom it's happened over the objections or without the explicit request of state or city officials.

And you have to go all the way back, as Kyung Lah noted, to the civil rights protests in the mid-1960s.

John Miller, I know I'm able to bring you back later this hour and beyond. Thanks so much for joining. We're going to continue to keep our eyes on the situations there in L.A.

Just hours from now at midnight Eastern, President Trump's order banning citizens from 12 countries from traveling to U.S. takes effect. Seven additional countries now facing partial restrictions.

Our Rafael Romo has been covering.

And this was already a quite controversial and legally-challenged move in Trumps first administration. Ultimately, after modifying his initial Muslim travel ban, he was able to get it through court muster. He has now expanded the number of countries, though here.

Can you take us through these countries and what justification specifically the administration has given to justify, right, restricting travel to these countries?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jim. That's a very good point. And it appears the White House says that essentially the main problem is that people from these countries overstay their visas.

But the countries being targeted by the Trump administrations travel ban are mostly nations with frosty, adversarial or outwardly antagonistic relations with the United States, like Cuba and Venezuela in the western hemisphere, and Iran and Yemen on the other side of the world.

The Trump administration says that all but four of the countries hit with restrictions have high rates of their nationals overstaying their visas, like I told you, after entering the United States.

As we can see in the following map, Jim, the list includes seven African countries that have been targeted with full travel restrictions for their citizens, including Sudan, the Republic of Congo and Equatorial guinea. Somalia, identified by the White House as a terrorist safe haven, is also facing a full restriction.

Three Middle Eastern adversaries -- Afghanistan, Iran and Yemen, also face full travel bans. These are countries, Jim, that have limited or no diplomatic ties with the U.S.

In the Americas, entry has been suspended for citizens of Haiti; while Cuba and Venezuela, both governments seen as adversarial to the United States, face partial restrictions.

[14:14:47]

ROMO: This is what President Donald Trump said about the travel ban the day he signed the executive order placing travel restrictions on a total of 19 countries.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Very simply, we cannot have open migration from any country where we cannot safely and reliably vet and screen those who seek to enter the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: And Jim, you may remember that the president made the announcement only days after the Boulder, Colorado attack against a group campaigning in solidarity with the Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. While the suspect in the attack was originally from Egypt, the northeast African country is not facing restrictions.

Some Republican leaders say the travel ban has to do more with the instability of origin countries.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARKWAYNE MULLINS (R-OK): There are some real travel concerns because of some activities that go in place. I don't think the Boulder incident had anything to do with this moving forward because this conversation has been going on for weeks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: And finally Jim, in the last 12 months, around 126,000 visas have been issued to nationals from countries that are now on Trump's travel ban list, Jim.

SCIUTTO: It's notable, for instance, a country such as North Korea, which was originally on one of Trumps travel ban lists, is not on this one. The situation in North Korea has not become any arguably more adversarial with the U.S. during that time period.

And there also countries, for instance, if you look at Nigeria not on this list, that has far more visa overstayers in this country than some of the countries on the list. Has the administration answered for those discrepancies?

ROMO: Yes. To answer that question, the administration has said that this is not necessarily a definitive list, that things may change in the future and more countries can be added to the list. Some countries may be taken out of that list.

So this is all -- this can be a moving target. But again, you raise a very good point, Jim, which is Egypt, for example, the suspect in the attack in Colorado is from Egypt. It was not included on the list.

There are many countries that were included in the previous administration, and the first Trump administration that are not on the list. But again, this can change in the next few weeks and months, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Rafael Romo, thanks so much.

We are continuing to follow the news out of Los Angeles. The National Guard is now on the ground there following two days of protests, some clashes between ICE agents and protesters there.

Plus more than 100 million people are on alert now in this country for severe storms. The states that could see hurricane force winds and tornadoes coming up.

[14:17:29]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Millions of Americans are in the path of severe storms today. Some areas could get hit by wind gusts of up to 100 miles an hour.

CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar has been tracking the storms.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's right.

More than 100 million people are under the threat for severe storms today from two separate systems.

We've got the first one. This is the one that's moving offshore along the Atlantic coast here. And the secondary one, this is the one that's just now beginning to fire up some showers and thunderstorms across Texas and Oklahoma Panhandle. That will gradually move off to the east as we head through the later portion of the day today.

Here's a look at the overall threat. Again, the greatest threat exists across that Oklahoma and Texas area. This is where we're looking at those damaging wind gusts that could be hurricane force up around 80 to even 100 miles per hour.

We're also talking giant hail that could be up to five inches in diameter. For reference, that's the size of like a CD or a DVD. In addition, you also still have the potential for a few tornadoes in this region also.

Here's a look at the timeline. We've already seen some of those showers and thunderstorms firing up here this afternoon, but they will continue through the evening and especially into the overnight timeline, hitting Dallas likely around beginning 10:00 or 11:00 p.m. tonight and continuing through the early morning hours.

By tomorrow, it begins to form more of a straight line across the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys, down through the southeast. But the severe threat still exists for Monday. It's just slightly weaker and a little bit farther to the east.

So for tomorrow, we're looking mostly at a level two out of five threat, whereas Sunday it's a level four out of five threat.

But the potential still exists for some damaging winds and also an isolated tornado or two for places like Lexington, Nashville, Jackson, Mississippi, Atlanta and even over into Raleigh.

One of the other concerns is going to be the amount of moisture in the air. Some of these areas could end up getting 2 to 5 inches of rain. That may not sound like all that much on its own. However, keep in mind a lot of these areas got rained Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. So that ground is already saturated, so it won't take much to trigger some flash flooding in some of these areas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Our thanks to Allison Chinchar for the update.

Right now, as we've been reporting, National Guardsmen, you see them there on the ground in the city of Los Angeles after two days of protests and some clashes over immigration enforcement action. The extremely rarely used law that President Trump is claiming to bypass the state governors' law enforcement powers and deploy those troops.

We're going to take a deep -- deeper look coming up.

[14:24:43]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Back now to our top story, the news out of Los Angeles.

President Trump has deployed the National Guard there after two days of protests and some clashes between police and protesters who are opposed to immigration raids carried out in multiple locations around the city.

Trump issued that order in a rare move federalizing the National Guard without the state governor's approval. Hasn't happened since the mid- 60s.

CNN correspondent Julia Vargas Jones joins me now from Los Angeles at one of the sites. We were just here with Kyung Lah that showed quite a calm scene where she was. What are you seeing there?

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's much of the same, Jim.

This is a federal building on the west side of Los Angeles. There are some National Guard troops here staging but it's a quiet scene. This is not a site -- has not been a site of protest. We haven't seen any kind of activity like that here.

[14:30:03]

There's a small number of them here. We know that the National Guard is staging across three different locations in Los Angeles. This is just one of them. The other, of course, is where Kyung Lah was and was giving you that update. That did have protests yesterday. We were there last night, and I think we have some video of that as well.

There was a small group of protesters there. There were not happy with the news that the national guard was coming. Things did escalate at night, as they tend to do in these situations. You know, the message there was very much against ICE, against National Guard presence here. And they were saying that their presence is what is causing that violence.

SCIUTTO: Thanks so much, Julia. We know you'll keep an eye on it for us.

Joining us now to discuss the legal ramifications, precedent for this or lack of precedent, Elizabeth Goitein. She's a senior director of the Liberty and National Security Project at the Brennan Center for Justice.

Thank you so much for joining.

ELIZABETH GOITEIN, SENIOR DIRECTOR, LIBERTY & NATIONAL SECURITY PROJECT: Thanks, Jim.

SCIUTTO: So, first, from 30,000 feet, can you explain how rare a move such as this is and why it's rare?

GOITEIN: Well, the president has not federalized the National Guard and deployed them into a state without that state's consent since 1965, which is when President Lyndon B. Johnson federalized the guard in order to protect civil rights marchers who were marching from Selma to Montgomery in Alabama.

So, this is extremely rare. And in this case, it's actually unprecedented because at the time, President Johnson was invoking the Insurrection Act. That is the authority, the primary exception to the Posse Comitatus Act that allows federal armed forces and the federalized National Guard to quell civil unrest, which would otherwise be a violation of the Posse Comitatus Act.

SCIUTTO: So, the president in this instance, as I understand it, is relying on a separate piece of the law which by my reading requires a rebellion. That's the justification. What is the legal definition to meet that standard?

GOITEIN: Well, there is no legal definition of rebellion in that particular law. Now, the word "rebellion" also appears in the Insurrection Act. And courts have unfortunately basically said that a rebellion is more or less what the president says a rebellion is under the text of the law. However, and this is important to understand, the Department of Justice has historically interpreted this authority much more narrowly, in keeping with the constitution and tradition, and has basically said that the guard should not be federalized, federal troops should not be deployed except in situations where state and local law enforcement are completely overwhelmed. And there's been a request for help, or in situations where state and local law enforcement are sort of sitting back and doing nothing and letting all of this unfold, which, as we've seen, is very much not the case here.

SCIUTTO: Well, John Miller made the point earlier in this hour that the LAPD, which has quite well-trained riot control units, et cetera, they were there in less than an hour. There's another issue that you have raised, which is that it's not just about L.A. based on what the president is claiming here. He's effectively preemptively claiming the power to do the same elsewhere.

GOITEIN: That's right. In fact, his memorandum doesn't even mention Los Angeles. It authorizes the deployment of federalized national guard forces and active duty forces anywhere in the country where protests against ICE activity are occurring, regardless of whether those protests involve any violence, or in places where protests are likely to occur.

And that could really be anywhere in the country. That kind of preemptive nationwide deployment of the military to effectively police protests is unprecedented, incredibly dangerous, and an abuse of any law the president might be relying on.

SCIUTTO: And of course, this country has a long history of protest and rights enshrined in the Constitution to protest. So where is the most likely challenge to this? Not just the most likely, but the most substantive challenge to this? If, for instance, the state of California or another party challenges the presidents use of this law.

GOITEIN: Yeah. Well, we're going to have to wait and see what how this unfolds. As we've seen right now, they're just standing there and there are a bunch of peaceful protesters who have assembled and are just standing there and so far they are there simply to protect or at least that is that is the language of the memorandum to protect federal personnel and property.

However, in a situation where a protest gets more heated, and as we heard before, there are some indications that the deployment of the guard itself is to some degree provoking some degree of this. And in that scenario, it's going to be very difficult for these troops to avoid actual sort of laying hands on protesters, things like arrests, things like searches, the things that really trigger the concerns at the heart of the Posse Comitatus Act.

[14:35:00]

And at that point, I absolutely think that we will see legal challenges. They might be brought by the states themselves, or they might be brought by individuals who are directly affected by these actions.

SCIUTTO: Well, we'll be watching closely, Liza, and thank you so much for explaining the law.

GOITEIN: My pleasure.

SCIUTTO: Appreciate it.

Still ahead, Russia and Ukraine were supposed to exchange the bodies of thousands of prisoners of war this weekend. We're going to hear what each side is saying now about why, sadly, that did not happen.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:40:04]

SCIUTTO: New today, Russia is claiming that it made a push into a central region of Ukraine, which its forces have been trying to reach for some months. It's the first time Russian forces have reached the region of Dnipropetrovsk, and that could create a problem for Kyiv as its forces continue to be stretched on the front lines.

Russia says it will send more bodies of Ukrainian soldiers killed in action to the border as it escalates a spat over what was meant to be a prisoner of war exchange. Last week, the two sides agreed to transfer some 6,000 bodies of POWs, but Moscow claimed that Ukraine had postponed the transfer at the very last minute. Russia -- well, it showed itself, bringing bodies to Ukraine's border there. Kyiv denied Russia's version of events.

With me here is Simon Shuster. He's a senior correspondent for "Time". He's also author of the book "The Showman". This is about Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the war in Ukraine and the man leading the Ukrainian war effort. Simon, good to have you.

SIMON SHUSTER, AUTHOR, THE SHOWMAN: Thank you. Great to be here.

SCIUTTO: So I wonder, this -- this prisoner swap or aborted prisoner swap taking place in the midst of, if not aborted, peace talks. Certainly, peace talks that don't appear to be making much progress. What does that show you about the prospects for the two sides to at least get to a ceasefire?

SHUSTER: I mean, prisoner exchanges were supposed to be the easiest dimension of the peace talks.

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

SHUSTER: They're the ones that both sides need. They're generally easy to agree, and honestly, we've seen over the course of the full-scale war the Russians and Ukrainians have been able to agree on prisoner exchanges --

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

SHUSTER: -- even at the worst stages of fighting.

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

SHUSTER: Even as Russian atrocities were uncovered in Bucha and elsewhere, they were still continuing these exchanges. But now, in these peace talks, even this dimension of it is failing. It's being politicized by the Russians, certainly, you know, using literally the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers to fling accusations at Ukraine and so on.

So that does not bode well for these negotiations.

SCIUTTO: Is there anything that might move these negotiations, particularly as president, President Trump, at least quite publicly, raises the possibility of walking away? I mean, his words, you know, comparing it to a fight on the playground, saying maybe you just need to let the two children fight it out, which was a remarkable description of quite a bloody conflict.

SHUSTER: Yeah. I mean, the Ukrainians knew going into the new administration with President Trump, that it was going to be hard. I mean, the things he had he has said consistently over his tenure as president the first time around, showed that he's not going to be an easy ally or any kind of ally to the Ukrainians. But they hoped that over time, they would be able to show Trump that Putin cannot be trusted, that any negotiations with him need to be based on a policy of force, sanctions and increased support for Ukraine, military support for the Ukrainians can apply that pressure on the battlefield.

Now, Trump has not shown any willingness to provide that additional support. Indeed, he's scaling it back. There were moments when he completely cut it off for a brief period, but still, that was quite a slap in the face to Ukrainian servicemen fighting on the front lines. And it's shown that Ukraine's strategy of trying to win Trump back into their corner by showing him, look, Putin cannot be trusted, it's not working. More likely, we're seeing Trump turn his back and kind of get bored and say, well, it didn't work out. Let them fight it out.

SCIUTTO: Yeah. Listen, I mean, in these past, his own deadline, right, to make a decision about sanctions multiple times. Most recently, he said about a week and a half or two weeks. And I think we're coming up to that point, but no signs yet that he's going to impose new sanctions.

So, what happens then, if at a minimum, he doesn't impose any new pressure, does the war continue on as the slow but bloody grind that we're witnessing right now?

SHUSTER: I'm afraid so. I mean, the Europeans certainly have a role to play here. You know, they have military capacity. But when I talk to President Zelenskyy the last time in March, a few months ago now. He said, without the United States, we really cannot sustain this war without continued American support.

But still, over the last couple of years, the Ukrainians have been developing their own military capacity. I mean. The attack that we saw on June 1st going as far as Siberia, eastern Siberia, with these drones, those were homemade. Those were Ukrainian made.

So Ukraine does have the capacity now militarily to sustain this fight and at least fend the Russians off for some time. But how long? It really depends on the U.S. position.

SCIUTTO: And apparently without U.S. intelligence support, either that particular and quite amazing attack.

Simon Shuster, thanks so much for joining.

SHUSTER: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: And we will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:49:20]

SCIUTTO: Well, it's becoming quite a battle in Paris where world number one Jannik Sinner and defending champion Carlos Alcaraz have been locked in just an incredible match, now over five hours long at Roland Garros. This is just one day after Coco Gauff stunning victory over Aryna Sabalenka in the women's final. Gauff's second career grand slam win. But man, this one underway.

Sports anchor Don Riddell joins me now.

I got to admit, I was watching it before I came on the air, and I've been keeping trying to keep up to date. It's going to a tiebreak. Fifth set.

DON RIDDELL, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Jimmy, might still be going on when you are finished on air today.

I mean, just put what's happening here into some context.

[14:50:01]

Tennis fans were spoiled for years and years and years by Federer, Nadal and Djokovic, and the rivalries between them and when they reached the end of their careers, tennis fans wondered, could it ever be that good again?

Well, Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz seem to be saying, don't worry, we've got this. As you say, they are playing this epic match. It's in the fifth set. It has gone to a tiebreaker, so it will be determined in the next few minutes.

But this has just been an absolutely extraordinary occasion. This is the eighth grand slam final that they have played between them. They've never met in a final before. Neither of them has ever lost a major final.

As you say, Alcaraz is the defending champion. He was two sets down in this match. He had to save three championship points in the fourth set. He could yet go on to win the match. And if so, nobody will have ever won the French Open. Coming back from a situation like that.

Jannik Sinner remember, he's had a very difficult year. He had to serve a three-match doping suspension for a banned substance that he said was ingested accidentally. He could now be about to win his third consecutive major title. And if he pulls this one off, then he gets to go to Wimbledon in the summer and become only the third player to hold all four major titles at the same time. They would call that the slam.

One more thing for you. If Alcaraz pulls this off, he will have matched Nadal by winning his fifth major title at exactly the same age 22 years, one month and three days.

We're going to know what's happened in the next few minutes.

SCIUTTO: Do you want to know some little trivia? Remember the longest match ever between John Isner and I think Mahut in Wimbledon? I was at that match.

RIDDELL: Were you?

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

RIDDELL: Okay. Well, this is -- they changed the rules afterwards, right? Because that went on for days and days.

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

RIDDELL: Were you there for all three days or just the last one?

SCIUTTO: I was there for like the second two days of it, but --

RIDDELL: Hey, look, this is already the longest ever French Open match, and it's probably going to be the second longest major final ever. Everything about it just amazing.

SCIUTTO: All right, we'll go back to watching it. Keep us updated.

Don Riddell, thanks so much.

Back to our top story. The breaking news, hundreds of National Guard troops have arrived in Los Angeles amid protests there against immigration enforcement actions by ICE. The mayor of Paramount, California, where some of those protests have been taking place, joins me live just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:57:12]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to one of my very favorite happy places. I got a bunch of them on mountains and swamps and coral reefs all over the world, but this place is special. This is Buckskin Gulch, Utah, one of the longest slot canyons anywhere in the world.

(voice-over): On a satellite map, it looks like a snake, 16 miles long. But down in it is another world made of rock and light, time and silence.

It is so quiet that the only sounds are the buzz of a fly and maybe a commercial airliner 35,000 feet above.

Through alleys as wide as your shoulders and high as skyscrapers, each bend in the rock reveals a new surprise.

This is all created by eddies of water spinning and boring over eons to create these incredible sculptures. Look at this.

But to enjoy the wonders of Buckskin Gulch, one must also enjoy crotch-deep ice-cold puddles.

And then if you're lucky, right around the time your toes are frozen numb, you find a little pocket of sunshine, like a little oasis of warmth.

I first backpacked here right before the pandemic, thrown in with an eclectic group that included Mr. All right, all right, all right, Matthew McConaughey, and that's Dan Buettner of the Blue Zones getting a lesson in quicksand.

Well, thanks for setting up this trip, Dan.

But on that amazing trip, we were all most impressed with the man who led the way, Glen Van Peski. This guy is a legend in the world of ultralight backpacking and so-called true hikers.

GLEN VAN PESKI, FOUNDER OF GOSSAMER GEAR: You're on the trail for, you know, a week or a month or a year, depending on the trail. WEIR: I don't know about you, Glen, but my happy places usually involve some threat of danger. What are they here?

VAN PESKI: You could twist an ankle, you could run out of water, hypothermia.

WEIR: Snakes, scorpions, any of those?

VAN PESKI: Some rattlesnakes down here, scorpion once.

WEIR: A former engineer, Glen spent decades shaving every spare gram of weight from his pack until his garage became a company called Gossamer Gear, and his philosophy became take less, do more.

VAN PESKI: Yes, that's my sleeping pad.

WEIR: You find that's enough, Glen?

VAN PESKI: I do with the right skill. And this is, you know, true in a lot of life. If you have the knowledge and skills, sometimes that can take the place of stuff.