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L.A. Mayor Bass Holds News Conference Amid ICE Protests; Third Day Of L.A. Protests As Trump Deploys National Guard; Trump Posting About Having Troops Everywhere. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired June 08, 2025 - 20:00   ET

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

[20:00:15]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jessica Dean in New York. Let's listen in to Mayor Karen Bass in Los Angeles.

MAYOR KAREN BASS (D), LOS ANGELES: -- heart and when you run armored caravans through our streets, you cause fear and you cause panic. And deploying federalized troops is a dangerous escalation, but we need to be real about this. This is about another agenda. It's not about public safety. There's clearly no plan. And there is clearly no policy.

I want the people of Los Angeles to know that we stand with all Angelenos, no matter where you were born. The First Amendment Right gives you the ability, again, to protest peacefully, but it does not give you the right to be violent, to create chaos, or to vandalize property. And that will not be tolerated.

So I call on all Angelenos to continue expressing your right, your anger, your outrage, but to do it peacefully. And I just have to say that all of you were there Friday. Everybody knows what happened Friday. A workplace, several workplaces were targeted and raids took place. Now, in the beginning, the administration said they were just looking for dangerous felons, violent people.

It's hard to say that that's what they found at a workplace or in a Home Depot parking lot. When this happens, it terrifies people. It sends a sense of fear and chaos in our city. And you will remember a few years ago in the last administration, the kids were afraid to go to school. Parents were afraid to go to work. This impacts all of our city. You can't terrify the workplace, workforce, and then expect for people to get the jobs done.

So if you think about a father that went into a factory and now his family doesn't know where he is, the detainees have not been allowed to speak to legal counsel, that is a marked departure from what has happened in the past. When you think of a mother that might be working in a household, taking care of children on another side of town, that impacts that family, as well as her family.

And so this is something that I think should not be happening in our city. And I join with the governor in appealing to the administration to rescind the order to federalize the National Guard and allow the National Guard to come back under the control of the governor. So with that, we can open it up for questions. Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to start with Lolita, and then we'll go to Jason.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mayor, these protests that were -- demonstrations, I should say, did start out peacefully. We've been here since 6:00 in the morning.

BASS: Right. Right.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: But then they scattered and people were moving around.

BASS: Right.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Where is the LAPD in terms of being here to be able to deal with that and maybe stop them before they overrun along the freeway?

BASS: Sure. Well, I think that basically they were overrun. But what is happening now is that the freeway is cleared. The California Highway Patrol, as you know, is in charge of the freeways. So they have moved all of the protesters back. They still might be there, but they are beginning to be dispersed. But LAPD is on the perimeter, so LAPD is actively involved. You know, that there were hundreds of protesters on the freeway and thousands of protesters off the freeway.

So there is a joint collaboration going with the CHP, the LAPD, and then, frankly, the National Guard. But you also know that the National Guard is deployed to protect federal property. So there is a National Guard troops in Westwood at the federal building and also here downtown.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Next question. Jason.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mayor Bass, is this -- have you reached out directly to the federal government or is this you doing so right now with the media here? Have you tried --

BASS: No. My disappointment is I've been talking to the federal government for days. I was hoping to prevent this situation from happening. I was trying to encourage the administration that if they deployed the National Guard in Los Angeles, it would create a sense of chaos. It's the last thing our city needs. Our city is still trying to recover from the wildfires. And you just think about how so many people were impacted by that.

And that's an example of where the administration was helpful. And to go from that situation to where we are now is just really tragic. And I think it's so unfortunate. It's the last thing Los Angeles needs.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: When you say you've reached out to federal government, do you have reached to President Trump?

BASS: No, I did not reach out to President Trump directly. I spoke to his chief of staff. I talked to Tom Homan. I talked to the U.S. attorney. So I've talked to several members of the administration.

[20:05:01]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Next question, Matthew.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Yes, I know you've been watching these protests. First off, what do you see when you're watching this? And I know that you've mentioned being worried about the safety of the protesters, but are you also worried about members of law enforcement in the middle of this?

BASS: Well, I'm worried about everybody. I'm worried about members of law enforcement. I'm worried about the safety of the people who are peacefully protesting. I'm worried about the businesses that might get vandalized. I'm worried about the vandalism that took place around the federal building. All of that. We do not need to see our city torn apart. And the idea that the federal government that should be assisting us is a contributing factor, I think is very tragic. When I see the protesters, I know that so many people are affected by this. Their families are affected by this. People are terrified.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How do you think that vandalism impacts the overall message of the protest?

BASS: Well, I mean, I, first of all, I think protests need to be peaceful, period. And anytime it deteriorates into violence, that is a problem. And it absolutely messes with the overall message.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Next question right here.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Yes. Hi, Mayor. My question is, can you share a little bit about the conversations you've had with the governor and how long you expect for the National Guard to actually be in?

BASS: You know what? Thanks for asking me that. Because we're hearing all sorts of information. We're hearing that raids could continue. We're hearing that the National Guard is going to be here. So it's uncertain. But that's exactly the problem because we don't need in this city to go to sleep tonight and wake up in the morning and find out about people running through Home Depot parking lots, being chased by ICE officers.

Are people going to work? Are children at school? So we don't need any of that in our city right now. Our city is trying to heal. Our city is trying to rebuild. Our city does not need to be torn apart with a provocative measure from the federal government.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Going to go right here and then look over here.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The reality is people seem to still be getting violent. Do you plan to deal with that as we move forward? BASS: If people get violent, if people break the law, they will be

subject to arrest and they will be held accountable. It's as simple as that. So peaceful protest is what is needed. Peaceful protests is a part of our American tradition.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right here.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mayor, last night, the U.S. attorney seemed resolute that these raids would continue regardless of what's happened over the last two or three days. In your conversations with him, has there been any kind of attempted compromise or somehow lowering the temperature, at least until things cool off locally if they want to continue? Or are they just doing it regardless of how everyone else feels?

BASS: Well, I mean, I think what we see now is they're doing it regardless of how anyone else feels. My conversation with the U.S. attorney, though, was not focused on that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to go to Frank or --

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Yes. I have a question.

BASS: Hi, Frank.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: It appears that the LAPD is cooperating with ICE in this operation outside the Metropolitan Detention Center. They moved in. They were -- there was a peaceful protest. The LAPD moved the people back using flashbang and less than lethal munitions. Comment on that.

BASS: Sure.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Because the LAPD is not supposed to be cooperating with ICE.

BASS: Sure. Well, first of all, I'm not sure that LAPD was involved with the flashbangs. But anyway, let me just say that what happened there is that when one branch of law enforcement says they need help, another branch of law enforcement is going to respond and is obligated to respond. And so the minute that protest left the federal building, then that's when LAPD were involved.

So the cooperation that you're referring to, I believe, is the cooperation around coordinating with ICE in terms of raiding workplaces or arresting people who are undocumented.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right here.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Hi. What's your exact understanding of the timeline for how long the National Guard is going to be here, how long the raids are going to continue? Are there going to be daily raids?

BASS: I have no exact timeline. I cannot tell you that. That's part of the problem. Right? We do not know. I have heard a variety of days and weeks. I certainly hope that this is over. The last thing this city needs is civil unrest. And the last thing this city needs is civil unrest that's provoked.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: I quick follow up. So I've seen LAPD fire point blank foam bullets, rubber bullets into the ground. But in some cases directly at protesters. Can you speak about what kind of orders they're under in terms of handling peaceful protests?

BASS: I can't in terms of the specific orders that are being given by the chief or the other commanding officers.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: So, Mayor, will you be speaking then to Chief McDonald?

BASS: I'm going to speak to him in the next few minutes.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: OK, great.

BASS: Yes, I'm leaving from here to meet with him.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Great. What is then the plan for tomorrow? Because let's say presumably this does not end.

BASS: Right, right, right. Well, you know, I think one thing is, is that because our city has always had a very robust immigrant rights movement and infrastructure and institutions that have been around for several decades, there is a history of having peaceful protests here.

[20:10:10]

Now, you know like any crowd, if we're talking about after an athletic event, everybody celebrates. There's always a handful of people that tend to be at end and tend to hang around and might get into mischief and violence. But that's not the people who are putting on the protest. I tell you that to say that when those protests have been organized, they've been organized in a proper way. The problem is what happens at the end. And that's one thing that is difficult with crowd control, whether it is a political protest or whether it is a football game.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Did you say you talked to Tom Homan?

BASS: Yes, I did talk to Tom Homan.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What did he tell you?

BASS: Well, he just listened. I mean, the main thing he said was he appreciated, he appreciated that there was a call for no violence. I'm not exactly sure what was expected, but, you know, I was encouraging him not to deploy the National Guard. I knew that the order had been given. The president had signed the order to the governor that he was federalizing the National Guard, that 2,000 troops were going to be deployed.

But that didn't mean that they would actually be deployed onto our streets. So my conversation with him, my conversation with him was trying to encourage to prevent the deployment. Obviously that did not work. (CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Are you meeting with the police chief and anybody else, or just the police chief?

BASS: The police chief, the sheriff, and the governor.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You talk about peaceful protest. We're hearing the noises outside as this crowd is getting closer and presumably more violent as they're coming up through the streets here. I know it's nice to talk about peaceful protest.

BASS: That's not peaceful what was happening. It's not peaceful for people to be on the highways. It's not peaceful for people to throw rocks or bottles. That's not peaceful.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: So then how do we reconcile the difference? Obviously, there's frustration with the Trump administration and the feds, but as LAPD and the sheriff's department try to distance themselves from the actions of these immigration, you know, actions and work being done, they're against authority in a lot of ways. They're standing outside city hall, which is your office. It's not necessarily against you. How do you distance yourself, but also kind of try to keep it peaceful at a time where it's anti-authority?

BASS: Well, and let me just tell you that I don't think there's any equivocating on nonviolence. And if you are going to entertain violence, if you are going to try to take over a freeway, then you are going to suffer the consequences of doing that. I don't think that LAPD, the sheriff, and certainly not myself are not shying away from statements like that.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you want to provide some National Guard (INAUDIBLE)?

BASS: I'm sorry?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Any details about what the National Guard's missions going to be within L.A., where they're going to be deployed?

BASS: Well, what I know right now is that the mission of the National Guard is to protect federal property and the federal building, which is why you have only see them there. You have not seen them out in the community or anything like that. And just in terms of, you know, to close, to wrap up, I just have to say that, again, our city has been through a lot since the beginning of the year.

And now thinking that there is a large percentage of our city that is terrified, that is not going to know if they go to sleep tonight and they go to work or they go to school, will that be the last day they do that? Will that be the last day they see their family? We can't have this in our city. Los Angeles is a city of immigrants where 50 percent of the population is Latino. A percentage of the populations are from Asian countries and from all over the world. And we embrace all Angelenos.

It doesn't matter where you came from or when you got here. But the most important thing right now is that our city be peaceful. And so protests and expressing your, you know, fears, your beliefs is appropriate to do, but it is just not appropriate for there to be violence. And I don't want people to fall into the chaos that I believe is being created by the administration completely unnecessarily.

Thank you very much.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you so much, everybody.

DEAN: Again, you were listening to Mayor Karen Bass there, reacting to what has been unfolding in Los Angeles over the last several days and acutely over the last several hours. She said she joins California's Governor Gavin Newsom in asking President Trump to rescind the National Guard order, to de-federalize the National Guard. She says that has created a sense of chaos there in Los Angeles.

She also said she's spoken with Tom Homan, the director, and also with Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. But she truly kept coming back to the fact that in her belief and in her words, that LAPD can handle this and that the local authorities there can handle this, that the National Guard is not needed, and that, in fact, it has created a sense of chaos. The big question for her, it seems, is that she does not know what comes next.

[20:15:03]

She said she was unclear if there will be further raids by ICE and what that might mean there in Los Angeles and for these protests.

I want to go now, I believe Kyung Lah is standing by on the ground there in Los Angeles.

Kyung, describe -- things have been evolving as we've been checking in with you every so often. What is happening right now where you are?

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Well, after they were told, the protesters at that intersection that I last joined you at, were told to disperse they did indeed because the Mounted Patrol came in. You can see, it's a little difficult to see from here, but there are Mounted Patrol officers in one corner of this intersection. I'm about a couple blocks away from where I last joined you. And I want you to take a look.

Mike, if you could push in. You're looking at a line of LAPD officers. The crowd has gotten noticeably thinner. This has been fairly effective in breaking up the crowd. So on this one corner, you see a group of protesters refusing to leave, and they have faced off with LAPD. That, and we haven't seen too many clashes as of this point. We've heard a lot of fireworks going off. Some of the protesters have been throwing some fireworks at law enforcement.

Further down there, I can see another group that's also engaging with a line of law enforcement. And then kind of over through this entire area and seeing people sort of sprawling around just kind of running through some of these buildings and nearby properties. So this has been slowly moving. And we are now just a couple of blocks away. But what the LAPD appears to be doing is to try to spread everybody out, block them off into different groups, and try to encourage them to go home -- Jess.

DEAN: Yes. And to your point, we were obviously seeing it where you are. And then when these aerial shots, it's definitely getting thinner in some places.

All right. Kyung, please stand by. We will come back to you.

I do want to go to Juliette Kayyem now, who can kind of help us put a lot of this into context and analyze some of this.

Juliette, one thing that that Kyung just mentioned and that I noticed as well is now we have seen the police officers on horseback coming in and the impact that that has had. What does that say to you?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: So horse or Mounted Police are very good with a crowd dispersion. It's not that the horses are attacking anyone, it just serves as a wall, as a deterrent. And people are sometimes willing to evade animals more than they are willing to evade police officers. And so we're seeing this work. We're seeing what -- the basics of de-escalation, which is what the goal is at this stage.

As the mayor said, you prosecute people who are assembling unlawfully or performing criminal acts, and you want to protect people and law enforcement should things get out of hand. So her press conference was addressing this issue.

DEAN: Yes. I also want to ask you about some breaking news that we're just getting in. This is brand new into our newsroom that the U.S. Northern Command is saying that approximately 500 active duty Marines are, quote, preparing to deploy, in their words, as unrest in Los Angeles continues. This is after, of course, the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth had mentioned this.

KAYYEM: Yes, yes.

DEAN: Is that necessary at this point?

KAYYEM: No. I'm going to be, I mean, not operationally, it's not necessary. There may be other reasons for it. I want to just put this in perspective. Los Angeles is a multi-million person city. We are looking at unrest and I'll give -- I'll use all the language of those who want this deployment, unrest, crime, vandalism, you know, attacks against law enforcement, even if all, as all of those are true, nothing rises to the level.

Nothing in any training in any way, we've thought about this before would justify the activation of active military in the homeland. Just, we were here 24 hours ago. Does it seem better or worse now? That's not a rhetorical question. It's obviously worse. And what has happened in that 24 hours is you have the escalation. I'll use the language of the mayor, which I thought was right, a provocative or provoking this kind of sort of, you know, everyone this sort of performative aspect by the deployment of the National Guard, which then, of course, increases people's fears or anger, gets people out who want to make noise, who know that the cameras are there.

It is -- the deployment has been a contributing factor to the unrest at this stage. And any rational White House that wanted to protect all citizens, would be focused on de-escalation at this stage, not escalation. So a statement like we're about to deploy 500 active military members is not only escalation.

[20:20:05]

What does it mean? Just one final quick point. That to me, there's lots of things that are worrisome. That to me was probably the most worrisome aspect of what Mayor Bass said, which is she doesn't know. How does the mayor of the city not know how a military force is going to be used, how long they're going to be there? What's their interaction with the police? What are the rules of engagement?

What about friendly fire? What about chaos? Everyone is talking about the L.A. riots. Well, for someone who knows this world really well, most people in my field think the deployment of the military at the L.A. riots was chaotic. And the Republican governor at the time, Pete Wilson, said he regretted it because there was no organization, no rules of engagement. And it ended up being actually more chaotic.

DEAN: Yes. Also, too, we're just watching these, what appear to be self-driving cars set on fire and people, what appear to be taking selfies in front of them.

KAYYEM: Yes.

DEAN: I'm not sure how that's protesting, but --

KAYYEM: Yes. It's not, it's not. But that's why we have police departments. I mean, in other words, there is unlawful protest, there's criminal protests. But --

DEAN: It appears this man is setting it on fire. Yes. Actively. Sorry to interrupt you, Juliette.

KAYYEM: Yes, no, he absolutely should be arrested. And that's the weird thing, the idea that people who oppose the deployment of the military are somehow pro-crime or violence, like, there's a middle, there's a middle lane where I think most people, most Americans are.

DEAN: Sure.

KAYYEM: And I think that's what's important is that we have police departments. We have state police departments. We have National Guards that are not federalized for this, for unlawful behavior. So if we have a White House that thinks any time there's a crime that -- or crimes even that that justifies the federalization of the National Guard, we've entered a brand new era in this country. No former president has ever viewed the deployment against the wishes

of the mayor and governor as a tool for law enforcement. In L.A. riots, in Hurricane Katrina, both the governors and the mayors asked for support because they knew they were overwhelmed.

DEAN: That's it. Yes.

KAYYEM: This is now a hostile reaction.

DEAN: Yes. Asking for it. Yes. All right, Juliette, stand by. Thank you so much.

KAYYEM: Thank you.

DEAN: We're going to keep talking with you. I do want to squeeze in a break. We are continuing to be on the ground here in Los Angeles. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:27:12]

DEAN: Welcome back to our breaking news coverage. There you see what appears to be a self-driving car, there's a lot of them in Los Angeles, set on fire. We've been seeing various people jumping on the cars, taking selfies in front of the cars. Lighting the cars on fire. Again, this is just the latest in today's events in Los Angeles in which we have seen protesters all throughout downtown Los Angeles in a response to the ICE raids that have been happening in that city.

I do want to bring in now California's Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis.

Lieutenant Governor, thank you so much for being here with us. We really appreciate it. We did hear from Mayor Karen Bass not that long ago. She says she's not sure what comes next if there's going to be more raids or not. But in her belief that the National Guard being there is incendiary. She also condemned the violence that we have been seeing. I want to see where things stand right now as you know them and what the latest information you can give us is.

LT. GOV. ELENI KOUNALAKIS (D-CA): Well, you know, I'm looking at your photographs and clearly when you show a car burning, it looks like, you know, very dramatic. But what started yesterday was about 400 protesters in two separate locations, 400 altogether. And local law enforcement was absolutely capable of managing those kinds of protests. So bringing in the National Guard, threatening now to bring in the Marines.

This is a crisis that is being ginned up and generated by Donald Trump for more of his political theater. So it's deeply concerning that he is attempting to rile people up in this way. And the governor, I think you reported already has asked him to return control of the National Guard back to him. And I believe that we are likely going to see a lawsuit tomorrow, recognizing that he did not have the authority to call in the National Guard for 400 people protesting in a way that local law enforcement could clearly handle it.

DEAN: I did want to ask you about that. In fact, that was my next question is if we could potentially see this go to court. And it sounds like you all are planning to file a lawsuit tomorrow.

KOUNALAKIS: Yes, that's what's anticipated. But, again, I just think it's very important because I know that these images are now being showed all around the world, what's happening in Los Angeles. The biggest concern that people have, and the reason why so many are, you know, following this and peacefully protesting, and again, we're calling on people, if they protest to do so peacefully.

[20:30:05]

But it is about these attacks on, and these raids on restaurants and places of work where immigrants, people who are being profiled as being undocumented are experiencing these raids, whether they are documented or not, they're being swept up in them. It is not what I think most people thought when the president said that he was going to go after violent criminals going into kitchens and rounding people up and asking for their papers, detaining them.

That's really the precursor to it all. But even as people are voicing their disagreement with that, calling in the National Guard in the way that he did, was not necessary. Absolutely overkill and seems to now being escalating the problem because of Donald Trump's actions.

DEAN: Yes, it sounds like what you're saying, if I'm understanding, is in your belief, what we're seeing, the car on fire, et cetera, is a direct -- that escalation is directly correlated with the National Guard being brought in?

KOUNALAKIS: Well, I think that it's the -- it's an escalation. It's playing on people's emotions during what is absolutely very unsettling for most Californians. You know, over 80 percent of Californians believe that undocumented people should have a pathway to citizenship. We estimate that there are about two million people in the state of California who are undocumented. You multiply that by the number of families who have one undocumented or one or, you know, what we call mixed status families.

This really impacts all of us here. It is very impractical to believe that we should be ripping families apart and sending more than two million people potentially out of the country. So, so where he is going with all of this is very worrisome and will have I think an intentional effect of harming California, harming our families, harming our communities, and frankly, also harming our economy, which is not something that he should take lightly when he also has these tariffs that are already driving up costs.

That disrupting the California economy this way by people not wanting to show up for work will have impacts not just here in California, but nationwide as California sends more tax dollars to Washington than we get back. So all of this is connected, and it's very disturbing that Trump is taking this tactic. DEAN: And, Lieutenant Governor, I think there are a lot of people who

have been protesting who do feel exactly as you do, that are concerned about all of those concerns you just laid out. But we are looking at these fires and these more destructive elements. A man walking around in a skull mask that doesn't seem like it's furthering the protest. And are you concerned about the violent elements that have kind of merged in with what are legitimate protesters who are there as well?

KOUNALAKIS: Yes, I am. And again, yesterday there were 400 people in L.A. Today you're starting to see the kinds of images that you're showing. We are asking people, every elected official, from the governor to the mayor of Los Angeles, to myself and others, please, if you intend to protest, do it respectfully and peacefully. That is a tenant of what it means to be an American. The right to be able to peacefully protest.

But this kind of thing, setting cars on fire only gives Donald Trump the images and the response that he wants in order to be able to try to escalate even further.

DEAN: Yes. All right, Lieutenant Governor, we really appreciate your time. Thank you so much.

KOUNALAKIS: Thank you very much for having me.

DEAN: Just hours from now, President Trump's new travel ban is going to take effect. Keeping people from almost two dozen countries from coming into the United States. We will talk about that as well as follow this breaking news. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:39:07]

DEAN: And breaking tonight, we are seeing now these displays in Los Angeles what appear to be self-driving cars being set on fire by people who have gathered there. Now, this comes hours after protesters had gathered after days of ICE raids in Los Angeles and the federalization of National Guard troops there in Los Angeles, a decision by President Trump that California Governor Gavin Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass both said was unnecessary. Karen Bass telling me that she really believes it has led to a feeling of chaos there and has escalated things when Los Angeles local authorities had them under control.

I do want to bring in CNN chief media analyst Brian Stelter, who's joining us now.

Brian, thanks for getting on with us here as we continue to follow this breaking news. And this is -- obviously these are images. This is information that is now disseminating out across the country, across the world.

[20:40:02]

And as we well know, in this day and age, different groups having totally different spins on what we're seeing the information we're getting.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Yes. The same pictures, but totally different interpretations. For example, MAGA media today taking offense at Mexican flags in the crowds while protesters, while progressives in the protests say, hey, that's an act of free speech to be holding up a flag for Mexico. So that's one of the many examples of the back and forth that we're seeing.

And in an increasingly siloed media world, Jessica, you have totally different conversations happening on different platforms and in different spaces. You know, the conversation on X very different from the conversation on Blue Sky. And I think that is also mirrored in people's real life interactions in their group chats. For example, in the stories they share.

We should also note there are also misleading images out there, people sharing pictures of riots from years ago claiming they're from today. So there's those sorts of dynamics as well that make the environment even more confusing.

I think one lesson stands out to me from the coverage of the 2020 uprisings that were around this time last year, and that is that the good faith attempts to distinguish between peaceful protesters and violent rioters, they go out the window. A lot of people don't want to hear it or cannot hear it. They cannot hear the distinguished, the attempts to distinguish between that. Even though there's a good faith attempt to say that a lot of people are out peacefully, a lot of people, I think a lot of Americans see pictures of lawlessness, and that is what they react to.

They do not focus on the peaceful protests. So I think we're probably going to see some of that happening again today, as there's so much going on at one time in and around the streets of L.A. And of course, as we know, this is only happening a couple of neighborhoods in L.A., the vast majority of a huge metropolis is unaffected by this protest activity. But when you see it all reduced to one image, or as you're scrolling through it on your phone, it ends up looking a lot bigger than it is.

And I think that plays into President Trump's narrative about this right now. It's a familiar story that he's telling. I call it his city in ruins story. Earlier today on Truth Social, he said that a once great American city, L.A., has been invaded and occupied. He used very inciteful language, saying that L.A. is going to be liberated by federal troops, saying order will be restored and L.A. will be set free.

Jessica, it sounds like something out of an action movie, but Trump knows exactly what he's doing with that kind of language.

DEAN: All right, Brian Stelter, as always great to have you.

Again as we go to break, you see people who are apparently protesters have gathered around cars that they're damaging. Some of them have been lit on fire to take photos and other things. We're going to continue to follow this. We'll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:47:24]

DEAN: Joining us now as we come back to our breaking news, again, we're watching live video from Los Angeles, where Los Angeles police and the California Highway Patrol have been trying to disperse crowds away from the area where National Guard troops were federalized by the president. Mayor Karen Bass telling me that they are there to protect the federal buildings and, in her words, not to be in the streets.

We did see LAPD make some progress in dispersing the crowds. But now, as you're very clearly seeing on your screen, we are seeing things like these self-driving cars set on fire and the large plumes of black smoke coming out. All of this continuing, as Mayor Bass said in a press conference not too long ago, she's not sure what comes next in terms of if these ICE raids will continue, and that she continues to find the National Guard presence kind of incendiary, much like governor, the California Governor Gavin Newsom.

We were also told by the lieutenant governor to expect a lawsuit to be filed in court challenging the president's decision to federalize the National Guard troops. So that sets the scene for you right now in Los Angeles. I do want to bring in military analyst, retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton, who is joining us.

And I think the big news to start with you, Cedric, on is this idea that potentially 400 Marines could be deployed, that they are being, quote, "prepared." What do you make of that piece of news?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes. Jessica. Good evening. The basic language that they use is prepared to deploy. So this unit of Marines is prepared to deploy to Los Angeles if needed is the way NORTHCOM, which is the command that's responsible for domestic situations like this, which was set up back in the days of, you know, post-911, the post-911 period.

So the basic thing that we're looking at here, Jessica, is that these Marines could come in. They are not set to deploy. They've not been ordered to deploy yet, but they could be there if needed. And of course, pictures like this might be the excuse that the administration will use to deploy them, even though they may not be active on the streets or do anything like that.

DEAN: Yes. I also want to ask you about the fact that once the National Guard was there and federalized, there were a lot of questions around the rules of engagement, what their rules of engagement were, because, again, they were under the orders of DOD at that point, not Governor Newsom. It took Karen Bass telling us that what she saw them, what she had been told, which was federal buildings and not being in the streets. What do you think about that?

[20:50:08]

LEIGHTON: So, yes, it's very unclear exactly what the rules of engagement are for the National Guard troops that President Trump has federalized. But, you know, if they're there to just protect the federal buildings, that does make some sense that they would be there for that purpose. This is the, you know, but the way the law reads, it's a very, you know, kind of a murky area because it specifically says that these kinds of deployments would be only authorized with the concurrence of the governor of the state.

And obviously, that concurrence was not forthcoming from Governor Newsom. So the rules of engagement and the parameters of the deployment are basically somewhat unclear to those of us on the outside at least.

DEAN: All right, Cedric Leighton, thank you so much. We are going to do a quick break. We will be right back with more from the ground there in Los Angeles.

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[20:55:45]

DEAN: Welcome back to our breaking news coverage of what's going on in Los Angeles. I do want to go to the White House and CNN's Kevin Liptak, who's standing by.

Kevin, what is the president saying of course after his decision to federalize those National Guard troops?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there's no sign that the president is backing down despite the Governor Gavin Newsom putting in this formal letter, this request that the president pull back this order. Trump is up at Camp David watching as all this unfolds. And he wrote on Truth Social tonight that he was directing administration officials to take all action necessary to put down what he calls violent insurrectionist mobs.

That word insurrectionist I think is critical because the question here is whether the president will eventually invoke the Insurrection Act, which is the most expansive power that he could take to federalize the National Guard and deploy U.S. troops on domestic soil. He hasn't done that so far. He has mused in the past, including during his first term, about using U.S. troops to tamp down on protests and crime. At that point, his aides had talked him out of it, but clearly now he is unencumbered by those so-called guardrails within his administration.

And so I think the question now is, as the president watches this unfold and watches these scenes in Los Angeles, whether he decides to deploy more National Guard troops to Los Angeles, whether potentially he deploys active duty Marines, which NORTHCOM now says are on alert to activate to that area. And so the president clearly not backing down. He said this evening that we're going to have troops everywhere -- Jessica.

DEAN: Kevin, thank you so much.

And a bit ironic that these cars are being set on fire in a city that was absolutely traumatized by fires earlier this year, where hundreds and hundreds of people lost their home.

Again, you are watching the latest from Los Angeles. More when we come back.

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