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Third Day Of Protest Over ICE Raids In Los Angeles; President Trump Deploys National Guard To Los Angeles Riot; Sen. Peter Welch (D- VT) is Interviewed About President Trump's Bill In The Senate. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired June 08, 2025 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You're in the "CNN Newsroom." I'm Jessica Dean in New York, and we start tonight with breaking news out of Los Angeles where National Guard soldiers are on the ground as protesters take to the streets for a third day over the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration. President Trump has ordered 2,000 National Guard troops to be deployed to the area saying local officials have not dealt with the unrest.

California's governor Gavin Newsom calling Trump's move, quote, "purposefully inflammatory," saying it would only escalate tensions. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem defending the decision to send in troops and the ICE raids that triggered these protests.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTI NOEM, SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: They're there, at the direction of the president in order to keep peace and allow people to be able to protest, but also to keep law and order. The gang members we have picked up in L.A. because of their hard work, are horrible people. Assault, drug trafficking, human trafficking, they are now off of those streets, and they are safer because these ICE operations are ongoing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: FBI deputy director Dan Bongino were warning protesters today, quote, "it will not end well for you if you choose violence. Choose wisely." I want to go straight to CNN's Kyung Lah who is live in Los Angeles. Kyung, you've been there for hours now monitoring things. What's the very latest?

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the reason why I'm wearing this mask is pretty much why you're seeing the National Guard here and Department of Homeland Security wearing those gas masks because you can still smell the gas that was released into the air, the pepper spray that was into the air. It is at times hard to breathe, hard to see. My photojournalist, Mike Love, got hit in the eye, so we were off for a little bit.

That is what is happening here in Downtown Los Angeles. What you're looking at is the entire row, a show of force by the National Guard and the Department of Homeland Security. Behind them are ICE agents. They have giant canisters of tear gas as well. From what I've been able to glean, and it was confusing a little earlier, is that as cars are coming in and out of that far exit, they are pushing the crowd out of the way.

That's the sidewalk that people are standing on. It's not federal property, but they are trying to clear the way for vehicles to come in. Exactly what type of vehicles, it's a little hard to tell. We can't see inside many of these SUVs that are coming in. But here's where some of the tension could potentially grow throughout the evening, Jessica, is as you look at this crowd, this is only growing.

After that skirmish, we've seen more and more people show up. So who are they? I mean, we don't know who everybody is, but just visually, it's a very diverse slice of Los Angeles. I can see some young people. It certainly looks like people are coming prepared. Some of them are wearing helmets. Others are wearing masks. And then there are older people and younger people.

So, this is the situation that we are in. We have a militarized force on this side carrying guns, carrying shields, deploying pepper spray. And over here are people who are very impassioned and a crowd that continues to grow every time I look, carrying signs and a lot of rage as far as whether or not we've seen any sort of physical violence between these two.

I have seen a water bottle thrown, one of those soft plastic water bottles. But other than that, it has really been a pretty loud, but nonviolent crowd. So, that is what we have seen from our position here, Jess.

DEAN: Kyung Lah, with the very latest. Stay close. We will check back in with you very shortly. Thank you so much for that. CNN senior White House reporter Kevin Liptak is joining us as well. Kevin, we just heard from the president a few moments ago about this deployment of the National Guard. What's he saying this afternoon?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah. The president very much defending this as an effort to maintain law and order there in Los Angeles. That's a phrase that he used over and over when he was speaking on the tarmac. He's headed to Camp David, for the evening.

[17:04:59]

One of the questions, though, that I think these images that Kyung is bringing us is what exactly the rules of engagement will be for these National Guard troops that the president has called out. It has not been stated explicitly in public what exactly their limits are in engaging with some of these protesters. It's an important question because, obviously, that could determine whether or not this spirals out of control, which is exactly what the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, has warned could happen after the president made this decision.

President Trump was asked explicitly on the tarmac what the rules of engagement for these troops will be. Listen to his answer. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: What are the rules of engagement for federal troops?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We'll just see what happens. If we think there's a serious insurrection or less than that, we're going to have law and order. Very important.

UNKNOWN: How would you define an insurrection?

TRUMP: You have to really just have to look at the site. You have to see what's happening. Last night in Los Angeles, we watched it very closely. There was a lot of violence there. There was a lot of violence that it could've gotten much worse. You have an incompetent governor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIPTAK: So you hear the president repeatedly using the words insurrection. That's a reference to the Insurrection Act from 1807. That is a law that would allow the president to use or activate the military or National Guard on domestic soil. That is not actually the authority that he is using this time around. What he's using this time around is known as, Title X, but the president not ruling out using that sort of more extreme step of invoking the Insurrection Act if he thinks he sees an insurrection, although he didn't necessarily define what that term would mean.

The president was also asked about the prospect of sending active duty marines to Los Angeles. That's something that the Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says that he is ready for. He says that there are marines at Camp Pendleton about a hundred miles south of L.A. who are in a high alert to deploy. The president says we're going to see what we need. We'll send whatever we need to make sure there is law and order. You know, the president has mused for quite a long time, dating back to his first term in office, about using U.S. troops to crush protests or riots to, tamp down on crime.

Before this, his aides had sort of talked him out of it as something of an extreme step, but clearly the president now not encumbered with some of those guardrails that existed during his first term in office. I think the other important piece of context here is just the general acrimony that has been growing between the Trump administration and the state of California, really dating back years, but really escalating within the last several months.

You hear threats about withholding federal funding. You hear the president going after the state university system. This, in some ways, is an extension of that. Now the president did speak with the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, on Friday evening. They talked for about 40 minutes. The president saying today that he warned him that he would do what he is necessary to ensure that these, ICE raids are able to continue, that his hard line immigration agenda is carried out.

But we should note what's happening in California and Los Angeles is essentially without precedent, at least in recent memory, you have to go all the way back to the civil rights era to find another example of a president activating a state's National Guard without the explicit request of that state's governor.

DEAN: Alright, Kevin Liptak with the very latest at the White House. Thank you so much for that reporting. And joining us now, former acting Homeland Security Secretary during President Trump's first administration, Chad Wolf. Mr. Secretary, thanks so much for being here with us. We really appreciate your time this afternoon. I want to start first with this idea that state and local officials said we don't need the National Guard. We think we have this under control, and in fact, we think this will be inflammatory. Why do you think the federal government knows better than the state and local officials? Why make this move?

CHAD WOLF, FORMER ACTING HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY UNDER TRUMP: Right. Because we've seen this before. We saw this in 2020 when states and governors and mayors said exactly the same thing, which we don't need the federal government. We've got it under control. And the first Trump administration said, great. Get it under control. And day after day, week after week, even months at a time, it went out of control. We saw this in Portland. We saw this in Seattle. We're now seeing it in Los Angeles.

So, look, I think what the Trump administration is saying is, look, if you want to solve this locally, then solve it. Make sure that we don't have law enforcement officials in harm's way. But if we don't see any progress, then we're going to take matters in our own hands. We're actually going to defend law enforcement. And I think that's what's going on in the ground in Los Angeles right now.

DEAN: And look, we're getting images of all of this in. There are clearly some people who are breaking the law who need to be held accountable. But also part of the role of law enforcement is to help de-escalate things at the same time as arresting those who need to be held accountable.

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What role do you think de-escalation needs to be -- what role does it have in this situation, and what should law enforcement be doing to de-escalate things?

WOLF: Well, obviously, that's, again, maybe a better question for the governor and the mayor, which don't seem to be doing a whole lot in this case. Look, I think for law enforcement, you've got law enforcement agents in the community trying to carry out civil law enforcement or immigration orders, trying to remove dangerous individuals from those communities, and they are interfered with. They are being thrown rocks at, Molotov cocktails.

This cannot continue in California or anywhere else because what happens is day after day, if this doesn't -- isn't being addressed, then you get professional protesters. You get professional agitators coming into your community, and I don't think any -- anyone wants that. So I think making sure that law enforcement is apprehending the individuals that are violently, again, crossing that line and doing violent things that we've seen, I think is really important here.

But no doubt, if people want to protest and they want to do it nonviolently, they should be allowed to do that. And I think law enforcement is there to make sure that they have their rights to do that. But if it crosses the line, you interfere with law enforcement, and certainly, if you attack law enforcement and destroy property, you need to be held accountable.

DEAN: And so now we have these National Guard troops, which have been federalized, called in by the president, not the governor, and now are under the command of the Defense Department. And there are the questions of rules and engagement, specifically when they're trained to use lethal force. What do you know about that?

WOLF: Well, again, I think this is an interesting debate. We're very concerned in your reporting. Last segment was very concerned about rules of engagement and what President Trump is doing. What you're not reporting on are the -- is the violent and then the destruction that's occurring there in L.A. What you're not reporting on are the criminal aliens that are being removed off of the streets of Los Angeles.

DEAN: I mean, sir, we have talked about -- we have talked about -- we have talked about.

WOLF: I think that is really, really important.

DEAN: I hear you. I hear you.

WOLF: If that doesn't or that continues, then you're obviously going to have more and more law enforcement in there. Look, National Guard is trained to do this type of behavior. We saw it during the first Trump. We've seen it during the L.A. riots back in the early '90s, I believe. They know how to do this mission. They know how to go in there, obviously, protect law enforcement, making sure that individuals have that First Amendment right to protest. But look, if they're going to cross that line, then they'll obviously take action.

DEAN: Right. And I don't think anyone here in our conversation is arguing that if anyone breaks a law, that they shouldn't be held accountable. And certainly, we have shown that on our show as well. I think there are real questions though about now that the National Guard -- these National Guard troops have been federalized, what are their orders? And when are, you know, now they're under the federal government. So what are their orders? And when are they supposed to engage? And when do they use lethal force?

WOLF: Well, it -- you know, my experience tells me that when local law enforcement there becomes overwhelmed, you know, when you have 200 or several hundred other agitators and folks that are crossing the line from nonviolence to violent protests, that's when you're going to get the National Guard engaged because law enforcement capabilities are then outmatched.

And so that's what the Trump administration is saying. You don't send the federal or sorry, the National Guard in this case into every community because you have local law enforcement usually helping. But I think what we've seen and there's been reporting where, you know, LAPD takes two hours to respond to an incident involving ICE officers, that's a problem. That's two hours where law enforcement officials perhaps could be deadly or seriously, I should say, injured. And you want to have other assets there, in this case, the National Guard, to protect those officers so that they can go out and that they can do their job.

DEAN: And, again, just going back to, again, putting, National Guard troops on the ground there, that certainly is a statement and these visual images, you know, just the posture around this is very serious. It has been escalated by bringing in additional law enforcement. How do you think, or what is the thinking, if you can, about how they make sure that they can do exactly what you're describing, which is, bring order, give room for people to peacefully protest who are doing that and make sure that all of that is kept in balance and not instead turn up the temperature?

WOLF: I just disagree wholeheartedly by saying that bringing the National Guard, bringing law enforcement into a community is somehow escalating the situation. The only thing that's escalating it is the amount of violence against law enforcement. We heard the same thing in Portland and Seattle, about more law enforcement in those communities back in 2020 was somehow escalating it when local officials simply were not doing their job and making sure that law enforcement officers were safe.

[17:14:58]

So I disagree saying when you bring in National Guard, it somehow escalates it. If local officials, whether it's the governor, the mayor, or others had done their job, let LAPD do their job, we wouldn't see this. And I think President Trump and other members of the cabinet has said, look, you need to do your job. But if you're not willing to do your job, then we're going to come in here, we're going to protect those law enforcement officials.

Now I only -- you know, and I'm sure they'll only be there as much as they're needed to be there. But, again, they need to be there to protect ICE law enforcement and others trying to carry out those immigration orders.

president Trump Alright. Former Acting Secretary Chad Wolf, thanks again for your time. We appreciate it.

WOLF: Thank you.

DEAN: We're going to have more ahead on the breaking news out of Los Angeles. Also, it is a big week ahead for some of President Trump's biggest international and domestic issues, including getting Senate Republicans all lined up behind his big policy bill, with some concerns still playing out. The legislation is facing some challenges. How might they get through it?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:20:00] DEAN: Tonight, the president's domestic agenda facing an uphill climb inside the Senate as they try to work amongst themselves for Senate Republicans to get this through the Senate. And there is some concern that Elon Musk may try to win that breakup with the president by trying to tank the bill. Let's bring in Democratic Senator Peter Welch from Vermont. Senator, thanks so much for being here with us. I do want to get to the Hill in just a moment, but first, I have to take us back to Los Angeles where we are seeing this breaking news.

The National Guard is on the ground there. The president says he's trying to fill in the gaps that he's responding to a situation, that in in his words and his belief, local officials were ignoring and is threatening to get out of control. I want to get your reaction to what we're seeing.

SEN. PETER WELCH (D-VT): Well, I think two things. Number one, the president's being incredibly provocative by bringing in the National Guard without the request of the of the governor of the state. That just has not been done. So this is in the Trump aggressive playbook. Second, protesters who were there cannot be violent, bottom line. There can be peaceful protests that got -- it has to be respected, but there can't be violent protests.

DEAN: Yeah. And so, are you confident that this can end peacefully?

WELCH: Not necessarily because you see, Trump has politicized the immigration issue, and it's very, very dangerous for the country and our well-being. There's two things that he did that were successful. Number one, he secured the border. That may have really made a difference to his presidency, and that is important to do.

Number two, deporting criminals. There's significant support for that. But now what he's doing is going into workplaces. He's disrupting agricultural workers and farms. He's going into construction sites and it's extraordinarily disruptive and quite damaging.

So there's an immense amount of overreach here that shows the fierceness of the Trump agenda to try to use immigration as a polarizing issue. And now calling out the National Guard does that as well. So I don't see the president changing even though what he's doing now, I think, is quite destructive.

DEAN: I do also want to get to the Republican's bill that's currently making its way through the Senate. As a Democrat, you all don't really have say in this bill. This is a Republican only bill due to parliamentary procedure. However, you've been quite outspoken as have your colleagues about why you think this is a bad bill. You've leveled a fair amount of criticism at it. If that is the case, how do Democrats then use that to their advantage in the upcoming midterms and message to voters in a way that they're going to -- that's going to strike a chord with them?

WELCH: Well, the polling shows that voters who are aware of the bill are overwhelmingly opposed, and that includes Republicans, by the way, because 16 million people would lose their health care. And that's, you know, Medicaid pays for two out of three nursing home, stays. It provides health care for disabled children, which makes a huge difference to the parents who are taking care of them. And it also will just be devastating for our community health centers and our local community hospitals.

Nutrition programs, meals on wheels, senior programs, will lose billions of dollars in that as well. So the harm is immense and that's really what's motivating it. And that's all you have to talk about. This is an issue where when people realize what's going to happen, they react negatively, including Republicans.

And people don't believe, by the way, they're going to get a tax cut. When I'm walking around Vermont, nobody asked me, Peter, where's my tax cut? They are nervous about losing health care. They're very nervous about the threats of the community hospital. So the vertical could be the vote of the -- in the off -- in the off year elections.

DEAN: Yeah. Your colleague, Cory Booker, has said he wants Elon Musk to spend money to tank the president's agenda. Is that something you want as well?

WELCH: Well, I want to tank that bill. I want to kill that bill. It's really bad for the country. By the way, in addition to cutting health care, alright, to -- in nutrition programs, in scientific research, in hurting farmers, you've got an economy now where these tariffs are hurting people. Everyday people are paying more. Farmers are getting hammered. That's number one.

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Number two, you've got the Trump tariffs, and that's a tax. So what is happening to everyday folks is that they're seeing prices go up, and it's a function of tariffs if they then lose the health care that they really depend on. This is really damaging, for everyday families, including a lot of folks who voted for President Trump.

So he's actually doing the opposite of what he promised, namely bring down inflation, make life more affordable for everyday people. And the pain that's being inflicted is going to hurt folks whether they are in a red state or a blue state. It really -- it'll be bipartisan suffering that occurs as a result of this.

DEAN: This was kind of -- just an interesting idea. Obviously, Musk and Trump are in this very, very public breakup, and Bill Maher has encouraged Democrats to use this opportunity to win Musk's support to bring him to the Democratic side. What do you think of that?

WELCH: Well, Musk is his own agent. I mean, he wants -- he got $400 billion. It's not like he's looking around to get the approval of the Republicans or the Democrats. So I'm not all that confident that if we got Musk to, quote, "help us," it would necessarily be anything that you could absolutely count on. But on this question of the bill, I agree with Elon Musk. Let's kill it. And to the extent that he puts his energy, his efforts and resources into killing legislation that I think is very damaging for the economy and is going to explode the deficit, then I'm happy to have his help in that effort.

DEAN: Alright. Senator Welch, thanks for your time on this Sunday afternoon. We appreciate it.

WELCH: Thank you.

DEAN: Up next, more on our breaking story. We're going to take you back to the streets of Los Angeles where protesters are once again clashing with law enforcement for a third day in a row. You are looking there at live pictures. We're going to take a break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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DEAN: We are following this breaking news out of California. National Guard soldiers on the ground around Los Angeles after President Donald Trump ordered 2,000 troops to deploy there. You're looking at live pictures. Trump's order coming just two days or coming after two days of unrest as demonstrators protesting immigration enforcement clashed with authorities.

Local officials there in California have objected. that's including the mayor of Los Angeles and the governor of California, who both say Trump's decision to send in troops is inherently inflammatory, arguing the Los Angeles Police Department had the situation under control. We want to go now to CNN correspondent, Julia Vargas Jones, who is also on the ground there in Los Angeles. Julia, bring us up to date what you're seeing, what's going on around you.

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. We are here on -- in a Federal Building on the West Side Of Los Angeles. This has been a very calm scene, Jessica. We did see a protest here that just wrapped up that was very, very small and peaceful. And we just witnessed a protester thanking a National Guardsman for his service here in California, but saying politely, but, frankly, we don't need you here. That has been the mood here.

I know that there has been some unrest in downtown. There was pepper spray, that was deployed. And I do want to just say, Governor Gavin Newsom just took to X moments ago saying that don't take the bait. Never use violence or harm law enforcement. Stay calm. Stay peaceful. Protesters here seem to be adhering to that message, and it has been part of the big picture of this is, is to tell people to not buy into, to not allow the escalation to get to them.

We have been talking to folks over the last couple of days who are very upset. They're very upset with the raids that happened on Friday, with the raids that happened on Saturday, and they wanted to voice their concern. But we did also see some violence in some of the protests despite most of it being peaceful and it all being quite small. We did witness last night some protesters throwing projectiles at the Federal Building downtown, and we did see a response then from the federal law enforcement that was present at that building at that time.

Right here where we are there is no ICE or DHS agents here. This is only National Guardsmen, the part of those 300 that have already arrived in Los Angeles and of the 2,000 that we're expecting to get here over the next twenty four hours.

DEAN: Alright. Julia Vargas Jones with the latest from Los Angeles. Thank you for that reporting. CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller is joining us now. And, John, I know you've worked closely with the LAPD. You have extensive law enforcement experience. I just first want to get your assessment of what we've seen played out in the last couple of days. And if, you know, if this was warranted to call in the National Guard to Los Angeles?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT & INTELLIGENCE CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean, what you've seen is the conundrum of, you know, ICE operating, without informing L.A. City officials. They're worried about if we inform a political leadership in L.A. or even the LAPD there could be leaks on our sweep operations so they didn't. And then when protesters surrounded the Federal Building and they called for help from the LAPD and this goes back to Friday night, you know, they said the LAPD took too long to get there.

[17:34:54]

Well, they said it was three hours, LAPD said it was 55 minutes to mobilize a mobile field force to get them on the road to get them there. And then they walked into a situation where federal agents had used gas and, you know, they had to get through the crowds, get their vehicles in, and then weren't prepared for the gas environment.

So you're seeing a lack of coordination between the federal government that isn't communicating deliberately with local law enforcement, and local law enforcement that's trying to bridge this -- thread this needle, Jessica, between we're not going to help do civil immigration enforcement that's not criminal because we're a sanctuary state and the law forbids it.

However, if law enforcement officers call for assistance because they're under attack or they're surrounded, we will respond to that. So you have all of these different delineations which are causing confusion and a lack of coordination. And what you're seeing now go on in Downtown L.A. is a manifestation of that. It appears so far federal authorities have sent in the National Guard and the Federal Protective Service of DHS that they've clashed with demonstrators at least once, as they brought in new prisoners. And it's a question of, are they going to reach out for the LAPD and will the LAPD be able to respond?

DEAN: Yeah. It's really helpful to have you lay that all out because then you get to kind of -- there is the situation itself. There's also to -- like, the politics under this as well. As you mentioned, the federal government with one agenda that that they're following coming from the Trump administration, and then California, Los Angeles being a sanctuary city, law enforcement there, of course, trying to follow their law, their jurisdiction that they're under.

And as we've seen in the past in any situation, when there's not clear communication between the different federal, local law enforcement, things can get really tricky. MILLER: And, I mean, what you're looking at here is this is the Civic

Center in Downtown L.A. on a Sunday afternoon. You have the Federal Building there, which is the Federal Courthouse. You have the Federal Jail there, and what we're looking here at the left of the screen, this is LAPD moving into the area. And then you have City Hall and police headquarters literally two blocks away.

So, you know, you have a confluence of different buildings, different agencies, different authorities where there isn't what we'd have on any normal day. If this was another kind of operation and it wasn't affected by those legal complications you would have a unified command. In the command center there'd be LAPD, the feds, the L.A. Sheriff, the California Highway Patrol, the Fire Department that controls the ambulances and other needed responses, and they would all be in the same room.

Here you have people in multiple rooms with multiple bosses trying to figure out how to bring order to their own operation, let alone the threat of disorder that they're facing around the Civic Center.

DEAN: Yeah. And then there's this question when it comes to the National Guard. They're now -- they've now been federalized. They're under the order -- they've been ordered there by, the president under -- they're under the DOD. What their rules of engagement are? When are they supposed to use lethal force or escalate any sort of force? And those do seem to be outstanding questions at this point.

MILLER: Well and they are. And we have to begin with the question of what are they doing there. Typically, the request will come from an overwhelmed law enforcement community that will go to the governor and say, we need help from outside, and that's going to be the National Guard. That did not happen, nor did the governor ask for assistance from the National Guard.

This is the Trump administration in Washington, federalizing the California National Guard out from under the governor and deploying them based on their assertion that they are not satisfied with the force protection that they got from the local law enforcement agencies, whether that was the LAPD deployed Friday and Saturday at the Federal Building or whether it was the LA Sheriff's people who were deployed in Paramount, California near the ICE facility there.

So they're basically saying we're federalizing the whole operation, not just the enforcement piece based on civil immigration law, but also the also the protection of the Federal Building, the protection of the federal agents, and I haven't seen that before. And I've been around a long time.

DEAN: That is --yeah. And that is telling. You've seen a lot. So, for you to not have seen this before is something. John Miller, as always, really great to have you here. Thank you so much.

MILLER: Thanks, Jessica.

DEAN: We are going to continue following our breaking news out of Los Angeles. We're going to squeeze in a break, and we will be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:40:00]

DEAN: Breaking news out of Los Angeles where crowds are swelling near the city's federal jail as demonstrators protest immigration actions in the city. And some have been clashing with law enforcement now for three days in a row. Let's go out to CNN's Kyung Lah, who is live there in Los Angeles. Kyung, what are -- what's happening around where you are?

[17:44:58]

LAH: So, I can tell you that in just the last 15 minutes or so, it's gotten very confusing on the ground. We've seen the LAPD. If you walk with me, Mike, the LAPD has now shown up. You can see that there is a line, a defensive line being created here. Seen we've seen officers deploy rubber bullets with flash bangs. You can see that there are more LAPD officers behind at this front flank. There have been at least one person we saw being detained.

But this is not where we were earlier today. When I last spoke with you, Jess, we were all the way over there. What I can't figure out is what the LAPD is doing in coordination, if any, with what's happening down at the detention center. So we're a block away from the detention center. It does look like some of the roadway is cleared, but it almost feels like they're not really talking to one another because traffic is still moving.

So if the purpose was to completely clear out the street that -- or to shut off the street, that didn't happen. People have certainly spread out, but as we walk up towards where the National Guard is standing, this is quite some distance away. So what the LAPD is doing, what the National Guard here is doing, it appears to be almost separate actions. So, things over here appear to be far less tense. There are fewer people.

We are hearing that there is another protest elsewhere in Downtown L.A. But this is, as far as we can tell, two separate police actions where the roadway is now open to traffic, and there is a lot of tear -- tear gas in the air.

DEAN: Okay. Kyung, thank you. Stay with us for just a second because I I'm going to let you, yeah, get your mask on because she was putting it on because of the tear gas and the -- it was getting in her throat. So what you're looking at here is, again, Downtown Los Angeles. You see what appears to be LAPD, an LAPD car, and police officers in front of that car, protesters there on the other side.

We have seen that vehicle moving backward, unclear exactly what the context is of what exactly we're looking at, only that we know, as Kyung was just describing to us, that LAPD are playing some role as the National Guard is also deployed there in Downtown Los Angeles. But it's unclear, and it looks like there's a bit of a skirmish under the banner there. Guys, if we could maybe drop that. We're going to keep an eye on all of this. And there we go. Now you can see the full picture. You can see some of these protesters trying to engage with authorities. We're going to keep an eye on this. Certainly, there are more developments ahead. We're going to take a break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:50:00]

DEAN: And we are back with our breaking news out of Los Angeles. It is the third day of protests there. President Trump has deployed the National Guard. We are seeing some protesters engaging with law enforcement, but we want to go now to John Miller who's back with us. John, since we last spoke to you, we've seen a couple additional scenes. We saw some movement from LAPD. As you noted, they were -- it seemed to be getting in place. And we do know, of course, the National Guard is there in position.

Kyung Lah, our correspondent, was saying it was unclear if they were working together, and we don't really know. But what I do know, John, is that we're looking at these live pictures, and you can see it is -- this was just moments ago, that it is tense. And, obviously, police have quite a situation on their hands.

MILLER: Well, it is that, and it has been that since the first real clash between demonstrators, the National Guard. As we watch the footage, you can see, you know, a bottle being thrown, and you can see LAPD moving in with less than lethal munitions. These are the TAC, you know, SA pepper ball launchers and the MK-7 pepper spray dispensers, but mostly, just batons. And what's going on is it appears that they are trying to set a perimeter around the federal jail where the protesters have been at the backdoor where ICE arrests of people in custody would be coming in.

And the idea behind that is if the LAPD can deploy a mobile field force gathered from all over the city and set an outer perimeter that allows the protesters to have a place to protest, but puts a distance between them and National Guardsmen who are at the back of that jail armed with M4 assault rifles and other weapons, it's what they are, apparently, trying to do is create a safety zone where local law enforcement will be the first people that they face, and it'll put some distance between them and these federal officials where there seems to be a higher level of confrontation.

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DEAN: And it -- we don't know at this moment whether they're coordinating with the feds on this.

MILLER: It's hard to say. I mean, they don't work with the feds on executing immigration matters, but this is civil disorder where they may coordinate and they may have a plan. But this would have to go through Jim McDonald, the chief of police, probably up to the mayor, Karen Bass. And what you're seeing here is they are trying to organize this crowd into a space, and you can see that things are being thrown at them and that they are moving back.

So they're trying to get their vehicles into the inner perimeter and placed, trying to form their outer perimeter and deal with a crowd that is the opposite of shrinking. This crowd get is getting larger and larger and larger. And what you're looking at right here is that's the backdoor of that federal jail. And that's where the bulk of that crowd, is behind the building. But what you're seeing here is you can see throngs, hundreds, if not thousands, marching towards that location.

And you can see the LAPD trying to figure out how do we put a ring around this building to keep that crowd and those federal officials from clashing again. And this is going to be something that is probably going to go on into the night.

DEAN: Yeah. Alright. John Miller, stay with us. We're going to take a break. We'll be right back.

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