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White House Deploys National Guard Troops Amid California Unrest; Colombian Presidential Candidate Shot, Suspect Arrested; Kilmar Abrego Garcia Back in the U.S. to Face Federal Charges; No Truce Yet Between U.S. President and World's Richest Man; Ukraine, Russia Trade Blame Over Prisoner Swap; College Sports Enters New "Big Money" Era; Coco Gauff Wins Second Gram Slam Title in French Open. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired June 08, 2025 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:00]
BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR: Protest against immigration detentions.
(VIDEO CLIP)
This was the scene earlier. Law enforcement authorities in riot gear deploying tear gas and flash bang grenades, just as they did during protests Friday. California's governor has criticized Mr. Trump deploying some 2,000 National Guard troops to the area, calling the move inflammatory. Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth has even threatened to send in active duty Marines. One demonstrator, who was hit by a rubber bullet, described what he experienced.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ISAAC SLOVA, PROTESTER HIT BY RUBBER BULLET: I was on top of an electrical box on the corner across from the agents, and the crowd was moving in, so they employed the crowd control tactics like the tear gas, and it was too close to me. So I decided to get down and kick it away. And as soon as I kicked my second can, I got hit.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABEL: CNN correspondent Julia Vargas Jones has been on the scene all day, and reports from downtown Los Angeles.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I am in downtown Los Angeles, where protesters have been gathering outside the federal building that houses ICE and USCIS. It is also a detention center. They are saying release the 118 people that were arrested in ICE operations this week. They're saying there is no room for ICE in Los Angeles. And they, just moments ago, cheered saying that the National Guard will not make a difference. They will continue to resist.
And we have been seeing some scenes of defiance, both here in downtown Los Angeles as well as in Paramount, California, where earlier on Saturday ICE had a staging area and then clashed with protesters there. Deploying some tear gas in a scene that developed for hours and hours later across the highway in Compton, California. We saw a car set on fire by protesters holding a Mexican flag there as they set that vehicle on fire. That's again about an hour south of where we are now and where we saw action today.
But last night, this was also a scene of protests. It seems that Los Angeles is responding to this, and that is being echoed by the officials here as well. The mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, saying that she was angered by this, calling it a terror tactic. Governor Gavin Newsom saying that these were cruel operations that were taking place here in Los Angeles, and saying that bringing the National Guard would only fan the flames of these protests that are so far under control. The LAPD issuing a statement later on Saturday saying that the protests in L.A. City were peaceful.
Now President Donald Trump did speak about this on Truth Social. He posted saying that there were looters across town and that the National Guard was needed in order to bring back the order to this town. And these authorities here pushing back on that narrative saying, things are under control, peaceful protests are taking place, but people have the right to protest.
Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ABEL: Julia, thank you.
And joining us now is Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights.
Thank you so much for your time, Angelica. First, you just heard that report there from Julia on the ground today. It's my understanding that you were part of a peaceful protest on Friday. What are you seeing that's different today aside from obviously now National Guard troops coming?
ANGELICA SALAS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, COALITION FOR HUMANE IMMIGRANT RIGHTS: Well, first of all, in Los Angeles, we have a tradition of using our First Amendment rights to protest. I myself have organized marches of tens of thousands of people for immigrant rights. We have marched in front of the federal building in front of the detention center countless, countless of times, I would say hundreds of times, in demand of our rights.
Never have we seen the response that we received from immigration authorities. I have never in my 30 years of working on immigrant rights seen ICE come out of the building and then throw tear gas at individuals. And again, we have marched with tens of thousands of people outside. We know how to organize peaceful protest in Los Angeles.
What is different now is that we have a military force that is absolutely dedicated to making sure that they are going after our families. This military force is aggressive. It will not stand down. It does not care about safety. What it cares is about making sure that there is a chaotic situation, created by them because they are there.
[01:05:01]
Their whole purpose of being in our communities is to hunt our communities down to arrest them, to detain them. This morning, I was in downtown, there was a small peaceful protest. I was with lawyers and with members of Congress trying to have access to provide legal representation to the individuals who were detained on Friday. And what we received was rejections. This is the first time that I've ever experienced not having the doors of the detention center opened in order for lawyers to come in to represent people.
The denial of access to members of Congress, and then the very quickly of what I saw was vans being packed with individuals in them and then being taken out of the detention center. The very same workers that we were trying to provide representation. And how did they get out? How did they get these workers out? But then throwing tear gas at the individuals who were outside. So we -- what I see is an aggressive federal enforcement because now it's not just DHS, it's the FBI. It's the DEA, it's all of the military of -- all the federal forces in military style.
And now he's trying to employ the National Guard. First of all, what we see of Donald Trump is that he is absolutely obsessed with attacking our communities. We know how to peacefully protest. And what we also know is that this president wants to make sure that he sends a message to communities like Los Angeles, where we stand strongly with our immigrant community and where we wanted to create unity instead of division.
ABEL: Angelica, I do want to note that the Los Angeles County sheriff did say that in Paramount, at least, not necessarily downtown Los Angeles, where I know that you have protested. But on Saturday in Paramount that protesters did exhibit violent behavior towards federal agents, that the sheriff's department said that.
But, Angelica, I do want to ask you what you are telling your community right now.
SALAS: What I'm telling my community is to fight to stay in this country, to fight for their families, to seek representation when they are being detained without warrants and without any level of suspicion about their immigration status. What we have seen is racial profiling throughout the city of Los Angeles. So what I'm telling my community is to exercise your rights, exercise your ability to seek a lawyer and legal representation. You deserve due process.
What I tell the families that I talk to, I saw children and I saw the sons and daughters of the people who have been detained. I tell them, you know, you are not alone. You have community behind you. You have organizations that are willing to help fight for your families to stay together.
ABEL: Angelica, where do you believe this moment goes from here?
SALAS: Well, first and foremost, I think that I want the entire country and the entire world to see that this president, President Donald Trump, is chaotic. He is cruel. He is unwilling to see us as human beings. And we all need to stand up against this kind of absolutely authoritarian attitude, action. And for us, because we're immigrants, we feel the manner in which this president cannot see us as human beings. He does not see the families. He does not see the workers.
These are the workers that power this country to move forward. We work in every industry. And if we were so dangerous, why is it that you entrust to us your children, your homes? We build your buildings, your homes that you live in. We feed you. So to me, it just makes absolutely no sense what's happening. And I think that it's immigrants are standing up. We need everybody, everybody of goodwill and conscience to please stand up and stand with us against this incredible terror attack on our families.
ABEL: Angelica Salas, appreciate your time. Thank you very much for joining us.
SALAS: Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it.
ABEL: A Colombian presidential hopeful, Senator Miguel Uribe, was shot at a campaign event in Bogota on Saturday. He is reported to be in hospital in critical but stable condition. A suspected attacker has been arrested.
[01:10:01]
Uribe is 39 years old and a member of the opposition conservative Democratic Center Party. He was hosting the event in a public park in the capital when his party says armed individuals shot him in the back.
We are joined live now from Bogota by CNN contributor Stefano Pozzebon.
Stefano, fill us in on where the investigation currently stands, where Uribe's health currently stands, and the broader context of what this assassination attempt means for the country.
STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, Brian, what we are hearing, you are hearing directly from the highest authorities here in Colombia, the Colombian president. Gustavo Petro canceled a planned visit to France that he was due to travel today in the last few hours to attend the situation, and he gave a speech to the nation, expanding and updating the information that we have about these terrible and dramatic attack against the presidential hopeful, Miguel Uribe.
Petro told us that, first of all, Miguel Uribe is alive and he is going under treatment. We understand that he's receiving a surgery on his brain because some of the bullets reached him on his head. Petro also updated the situation concerning the first detainee, the first person charged with the attempted murder, as we know it is as of now. And we're talking about, Brian, unfortunately, of a 15-year-old, a minor that was apprehended at the scene of the crime with a Glock 9 millimeter pistol in his hand and that he's believed that was the person that materially shot the presidential candidate.
Of course, now the investigations, Petro told, are going to understand who gave him, gave these 15-year-old the Glock to attempt to kill a presidential candidate and why, who are the mandate and the mastermind behind this heinous crime. But at the same time, unfortunately, this is a chapter, frankly, that Colombia perhaps wanted to leave behind its back. It is a going back, a throwback to an era where the bullets and not the ballots used to rule Colombian politics.
And it's really a step to the unknown for a country that is still more than a year away from a presidential election. But take a listen to what one analyst told me about this whole situation less than two hours ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SERGIO GUZMAN, POLITICAL RISK ANALYST, COLOMBIA RISK ANALYSIS: It had been a couple of decades since any Colombian presidential candidate had been assassinated on the campaign trail, and Miguel Uribe's assassination attempt today reveals that we are going back in time significantly. The question now is how the different political factions react, the effect that this assassination attempt will have on the presidential race, and the tone with which the president and the ruling party take this further.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
POZZEBON: And I think, Brian, that to give an idea of how this terrible attack has really gripped the nation's imagination, you not only need to watch the images, the dramatic images that we received earlier on Saturday afternoon out of Bogota, with the shots being fired in the air, and then at the presidential candidate, but also to see the images of Uribe's supporters, but also just general people who arrived at the hospital.
There is a vigil going on now with candles, and people, frankly, just praying and hoping for the best outside the hospital where the presidential candidate is being treated. As of now, it's really a moment where the nation is unifying together, perhaps wishing that this a terrible nightmare no longer occurs in these conflict ridden South American nation -- Brian.
ABEL: That's what we can hope.
Stefano Pozzebon in Bogota. Stefano, thank you.
And we will have more on the protests against immigration raids taking place in Los Angeles in just a moment. Also, what began as a mistaken deportation has turned into a political flashpoint in the U.S. Ahead, the latest on Kilmar Abrego Garcia's case as he faces federal criminal charges now that he's back in U.S. custody.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:17:36] ABEL: For the second day in a row, authorities in the Los Angeles area clashed with people protesting immigration detentions. Authorities in Paramount, a city in Los Angeles County, deployed tear gas and flash bang grenades against demonstrators. Similar scenes played out Friday in downtown Los Angeles and the city's Garment District. Late Saturday, President Donald Trump deployed some 2,000 National Guard troops to the area to disperse protesters, a move heavily criticized by California's governor.
CNN spoke earlier with California state assembly member Jose Luis Solache, Jr. He was there and was among those exposed to tear gas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSE LUIS SOLACHE JUNIOR, CALIFORNIA STATE ASSEMBLY MEMBER: And I've been here since 9:00 a.m. when we first saw the agents drive up to my community. I was actually on the freeway, in one of the vans from Border Patrol. And then I did a U-turn type of situation. I followed them and they were here in my community. There were seven agents waiting to open the fence. Throughout the morning, there were about 60 different vehicles that have driven in there. 25 of them, plus, are Border Patrol logo vehicles and then about 30 plus vehicles were unmarked vehicles, SUVs.
And right now I'm here in with my community. There's about 60 Border Patrol agents that are there with guns. They're there, you know, they're having a staging process. Of course, communities out here strong, opposing these raids in our community, in Los Angeles. I represent this district, and our community is strongly here opposing this.
There's definitely a variety of demonstrators. I have to be objective here. And there's some people that are, of course, are angry or passionate about why, you know, agents are here and you have a variety of folks that obviously are here peacefully, and there are people a little more aggressive. And that's just being objective. But of course, communities upset of why they're even here in our community.
JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: Right. And -- go ahead.
SOLACHE: And I represent a very high immigrant, high undocumented community in my district, which were proud of the work that we all contribute to this country. These are not criminals. These are hardworking people that are contributing. And of course, that's what people are angry about. You're going to come and take -- you're doing raids looking for people that are at their workplace, contributing to this country, and they're not criminals. So that's what people are upset about, including myself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABEL: CNN senior national security analyst Juliette Kayyem joins us now live.
And, Juliette, we know in some other deployments that what we are seeing in L.A. may remind us of Ferguson, for example. [01:20:01]
When the sun went down, the situation deteriorated. Given your background, can you just give us some behind the scenes of what conversations may be like with this new federalized force about how they are preparing for any potential escalation?
JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes. And just to be clear, this is an unprecedented use of what we call Title 10. That appears to be what Donald Trump did tonight, federalizing 2,000 California National Guard for -- its a complex web of sort of types of deployments and types of titles. But generally the National Guard does report to the governor, Governor Newsom in this case, and Donald Trump invoked or authorized under Title 10 what we call federalization.
So why does that matter? So in the United States and in democracy, there are protests. Most are peaceful, most are lawful, and we go on as a democracy. In this case, there were unlawful and in some instances not peaceful protests. Unlawful in the sense that you cannot, no matter what your opinions are about ICE, disrupt a federal law enforcement action. No one -- so that's what's on the ground.
What's at debate or concern today is the response, because, you know, you want to respond to the threat level. California has dealt with this unrest and has said so because generally we allow local and state authorities to address civil protests and civil unrest. But Donald Trump determined that what he was seeing would justify in his mind the federalization of these troops. This is unprecedented in the sense that you almost never and in my memory, I've been in this field, I oversaw a National Guard, I understand military civilian operations, does a president federalize a National Guard with a protest by governor for a situation on the ground that while unrestful is not to the level where you would want to deploy federalized troops.
They report to the president of the United States now. So what kind of conversations are going on, what kind of training has happened, what kind of rules of engagement, what's the mission, what kind of weaponry will or will not be allowed given rules around the use of the military and civilian society, something called the Posse Comitatus Act. We haven't seen any of that. And so we will wait overnight to see how real this is.
ABEL: Juliette, what is the difference here historically from -- going from state control? You know, the state troopers, the local troopers, county officials to now National Guard control, regardless if it's a National Guard controlled by the state or the president. What's the difference here? Are there more resources, more money?
KAYYEM: Yes. All of the above. Look, the National Guard is a strong asset, let's just put it that way, for even -- for a governor to have. And that's why they exist. Under our Constitution, a governor can deploy the National Guard. Generally, you know, examples would be after 9/11 to protect critical infrastructure, nuclear facilities, a major sporting event, an Olympics like the L.A. is hosting to allow in a few years, to allow for that, or just to have stronger support in times in which people are out on the streets protesting. That's normal. And I know that may be odd to people, but our
Constitution and our laws actually envision this, so we don't need to lose,. we don't need to go to what I'm calling DEFCON One, which is essentially now you've moved to a federalized military asset and as you reported, as Secretary Hegseth has said even active military that aren't even trained for this. And I worry, as someone who's been in this field about sort of, you know, operational rules, weaponry in a civilian society, but also you worry about our troops not knowing what their rules of engagement are, and that's why we take this very seriously tonight, because it's unprecedented.
To give a historical example, you know, Hurricane Katrina 20 years ago. The governor asked for the National Guard to be federalized so that the president, President Bush, could help the state, which was, and the city, which were essentially not functional, literally not functional. Courts weren't open. The police department barely existed. We've seen it in the past when a governor has defied a court order, say, the Little Rock desegregation case.
But not in an instance like this. And this is where the debate comes in, is looking at what's happening on the ground, is this the floor that you actually want to or the situation you actually think is justified, a president, let alone a secretary of defense, to threaten active military?
[01:25:14]
I've been in this field a long time. My answer is no, just based on the -- just even based on some of the violence or some of the looting that you've seen. We know how to deal with this without going to this level of assertion by the federal government.
ABEL: All right. Juliette Kayyem, appreciate your expertise. Thank you.
KAYYEM: Thank you.
ABEL: Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man mistakenly deported to El Salvador in March, is now back in the United States, but he's facing new criminal charges, including transporting thousands of undocumented people to the U.S.
Our Rafael Romo has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kilmar Abrego Garcia remains in federal custody after he appeared in court last night here at the federal courthouse in downtown Nashville. He will have his next court appearance next Friday for his arraignment and detention hearing.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Friday afternoon that Abrego Garcia has been indicted on two criminal counts in the Middle District of Tennessee. According to the indictment unsealed Friday, Abrego Garcia and others are accused of being part of a conspiracy going as far back as 2016, in which they, quote, "knowingly and unlawfully transported thousands of undocumented aliens who had no authorization to be present in the United States, and many of whom were MS-13 members and associates."
But Abrego Garcia and his family say he fled gang violence in El Salvador and have denied allegations he's associated with MS-13. This is part of what Attorney General Bondi said about the case when she announced Abrego Garcia had been returned to the United States.
PAM BONDI, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: Our government presented El Salvador with an arrest warrant and they agreed to return him to our country. Abrego Garcia has played a significant role in an alien smuggling ring. They found this was his full time job, not a contractor. He was a smuggler of humans and children and women.
ROMO: In March, when Abrego Garcia was mistakenly deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official told CNN he was sent there due to what the official called an administrative error. Multiple Trump administration officials had said it was not up to them but the government of El Salvador to return him to the United States. An attorney for Abrego Garcia told CNN how his legal team found out he was returned to the country.
SIMON SANDOVAL-MOSHENBERG, ATTORNEY FOR KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA: We learned about it on TV just like the rest of the country. What's clear, this just makes crystal clear what we've been saying, frankly, for the past two months is that they've been playing games with the court. It just goes to show that they've been more interested in dragging his name through the mud than in actually sort of going through with proper court proceedings, just like it's been since day one.
ROMO: In a new development Saturday afternoon, President Trump said it was not his decision to bring Abrego Garcia back to the United States. The Department of Justice decided to do it that way, and that's fine, Trump said in a phone interview with NBC, adding that he expects it will be a very easy case for federal prosecutors.
Rafael Romo, CNN, Nashville.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ABEL: We'll have a recap of our top stories straight ahead, and later, the aftermath of deadly strikes on Ukraine's second largest city, which took fire twice in a single day.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:32:14]
ABEL: Police have issued a dispersal order in downtown Los Angeles and authorized the use of less lethal munitions after a second day of protests against the ongoing immigration crackdown. Late Saturday, President Donald Trump took the unusual step of deploying some 2,000 National Guard troops to the area, a move criticized by California's governor and rights groups. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has threatened to send in active duty Marines, a move that Governor Gavin Newsom calls deranged behavior.
Demonstrators Saturday faced off with law enforcement in riot gear and endured tear gas and flash bang grenades.
Raul Reyes, attorney and immigration analyst, is now joining us from New York.
Raul, thank you for being with us again here. I want to get your take. We have an idea that, you know, protests, peaceful, protected under the First Amendment, but you cannot interfere with immigration enforcement. What qualifies for interfering with immigration enforcement? What's the definition there?
RAUL REYES, ATTORNEY AND IMMIGRATION ANALYST: Well, generally, for the layperson's definition of interfering with federal immigration actions is pretty simple. If you, if a bystander, for example, tries to get in between an immigration officer and a potential person who is being arrested, if they try to hold officers back, it is all right, it is legal to film operations, but you cannot be too close, although that judgment is often left up to, you know, immigration officers.
So we see like, it's a balancing of the right, First Amendment rights with also the protections that federal officials have. What is very concerning to me in this situation, we have the president basically usurping the governor of California's authority, which is, in a sense, an expansion of executive power because Governor Newsom has said he does not want the president to activate the National Guard for these incidents.
So I'm concerned that the chain of command is being muddied, also in the sense we've seen back and forth between Los Angeles sheriffs and police and the feds about the timing of their responses, who should be responsible for certain actions. And so when you don't have clear cut leadership in line of command at the top, for me that creates a -- I see it as creating a tremendous possibility for chaos, confusion, or once we bring in more armed officers, potentially even worse and more tragic outcomes on the ground.
ABEL: Yes. Julia actually hinted on that a little bit when we were talking at the 10:00 hour that when you introduce more troops, more police, law enforcement, you introduce more instances and opportunities for clashes to happen.
[01:35:14]
Given what we've seen in previous national deployments here like this, what are some of the situations that have unfolded from a legal standpoint that remind you of what you're seeing now?
REYES: Some of the situations, you know, I think back to, in Los Angeles, back in the early 2000 when we saw in L.A. downtown tremendous immigrant rights protests and rally at that time in support of immigration reform, which was then on the table in Congress. And the LAPD responded with such force. And there were so many collateral events that it really became a citywide scandal. And I'm also thinking of more recently, we've seen, for example,
during Black Lives Matter and the aftermath of George Floyd's killing, President Trump reportedly had toyed with the idea of doing what seems to be happening in California, of federalizing the National Guard. But he was talked out of it.
I also remember the situation where the president had troops clear, had the National Guard clear peaceful protesters from Lafayette Square and that there was much outcry over that. What to me is particularly volatile in this situation in Los Angeles, you know, my hometown, L.A. is about 50 percent Latino, right? The city of Paramount is 80 percent plus Latino. One in 10 people in L.A. County are undocumented.
So you have a community already on edge, already experienced tremendous anxiety over this administration and the ramp up in immigration enforcement. And just for context, I think it's important to remember that these large scale protests downtown and in Paramount did not happen until ICE agents began conducting arrests in courthouses when people were doing their immigration hearing check-ins and in other workplace raids.
And these are the types of actions that are not going after serious, dangerous criminals or drug traffickers. They're targeting just everyday folks who have been here, most of them a long time, who are undocumented. So it doesn't surprise me that there's this pushback from the communities when they feel that their schools, even their hospitals, the courthouses are not safe and they're concerned about friends, family, loved ones who may be undocumented.
And now this is now my sense, I'll tell you, this is just based on speaking with my relatives in Los Angeles. My sense is that many of the people we see in the streets protesting, they are not actually undocumented because I'll tell you, undocumented people live a very precarious life. They are -- they do their best to stay away from law enforcement. So my sense is this is really a community movement stepping forth just in anger and frustration at the pace and the intensity of these attempts at mass deportations and the ICE raids.
ABEL: All right, Raul Reyes, we'll have to leave it there. Raul, thank you.
REYES: Thank you.
ABEL: No signs of detente between the U.S. president and the world's richest man. Billionaire Elon Musk appears to have deleted several posts from his online quarrel with Donald Trump on Thursday, including the one accusing the president of being in the Jeffrey Epstein files. On Saturday, Mr. Trump said Musk would, quote, "pay the consequences," unquote, if he follows through on his threat to challenge Republicans who vote for the so-called big beautiful bill.
The vice president gave his take on the feud between Musk and the president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JD VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: OK. Wow. I haven't even seen this one. I'm always going to be loyal to the president, and I hope that eventually Elon kind of comes back into the fold. Man, I think it's a huge mistake for him to go after the president like that. And I think that if he and the president are in some blood feud, most importantly, it's going to be bad for the country. But I think it's going to be, I don't think it's going to be good for Elon either.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABEL: CNN's Betsy Klein is following the latest developments.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BETSY KLEIN, CNN WHITE HOUSE SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: White House officials spent the end of the week trying to diffuse and downplay that explosive breakup between President Trump and billionaire Elon Musk.
Now, this all started because of disagreements over the president's sweeping domestic agenda that is working its way through Congress. Musk believes that that bill will add too much to the federal deficit. Of course, it quickly devolved as the two began trading personal insults on dueling social media platforms owned by each of the men.
But this could have very real world consequences. Musk, at one point, indicated openness to the possibility of impeaching the president, removing him from office and installing Vice President JD Vance, but of course he has vowed to spend millions of dollars in the 2026 midterm elections on Trump-aligned candidates. All of that is now in question amid this feud.
The president said that there could be serious consequences in an interview with NBC News if Musk chooses to donate and back Democratic candidates who run against Republicans who vote in favor of this bill. Separately, the president is also threatening to review some of Musk's businesses' federal contracts. That, of course, could have billions of dollars in impact.
Now, the president has told his staff to stay focused on this so- called big, beautiful bill, working its way through the Senate right now. He also told his Vice President JD Vance to speak diplomatically when asked about the situation. And for his part, the president has been quite muted when asked about it himself. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What's your view on Elon Musk as of today? Have you heard from him at all? Has your team --
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Honestly, I've been so busy working with China, working on Russia, working on Iran, working on so many -- I'm not thinking about Elon.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you have any plans to speak with Mr. Musk? This was one of your closest advisers. TRUMP: No, I don't have any plans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KLEIN: And yet this feud has spawned gossip across Washington and the West Wing with one former Trump aide saying that everyone is talking about it. And even though the president says he doesn't care, we have reported that the president is privately polling allies and advisers on whether they believe that some of Musk's behavior over the past few days has been impacted by his reported drug use.
Of course, all of this comes at such a critical moment for the president's signature legislation that faces key deadlines coming up and very tight margins in Congress.
Betsy Klein, CNN, traveling with the president in New Jersey.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ABEL: Ukraine's second largest city is trying to get back on its feet following two waves of back to back strikes by Russia. Officials say Kharkiv was pounded by Russian glide bombs Saturday night, just hours after the city saw its worst attack since Moscow launched its full scale invasion. Five people were killed on Saturday and more than a dozen were wounded. Witnesses described the chaos that broke out as residential buildings were hit and people scrambled to get to safety.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the strikes pure terrorism and said they show the Kremlin's real face.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): No matter what anyone says, these Russian attacks are not retaliatory. They are intended for destruction, complete destruction of life. That is their goal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABEL: Meanwhile, Russia says it's put out a fire at a chemical plant struck by Ukrainian drones. The local governor said on Sunday that two people were injured in the attack on the plant. It's less than 200 kilometer south of Moscow. Officials say there is no threat to air quality, but environmental teams will monitor the area.
And a Ukraine and Russia -- they're trading blame over a prisoner swap that failed to materialize. Moscow said it would have been the largest such exchange since the war began, and would have included both living POWs and the remains of dead soldiers.
Sebastian Shukla has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEBASTIAN SHUKLA, CNN PRODUCER: A prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine has descended into a blame game and left the whole process in utter disarray. On Saturday, Russia accused Ukraine of failing to keep their word following agreements made in Istanbul on Monday over an arranged prisoner swap, the second between the two warring nations.
The Russian Ministry of Defense posting graphic videos and statements on Telegram said they had arrived at the location with 1200 frozen bodies of dead Ukrainian soldiers in refrigerated trucks. Videos from the exchange site, which are graphic, show the Ministry of Defense workers opening the doors of those trucks where white body bags are clearly visible, where the ministry claim that those are just the first bodies of Ukrainian servicemen with thousands of others following behind.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEXANDER ZORIN, FIRST DEPUTY CHIEF OF INFORMATION, RUSSIAN ARMED FORCES (through translator): There are 1,212 bodies in the convoy, three more echelons, each with 1,200 bodies and one motorized echelon, which will also carry 1,200 bodies are being prepared for the departure in the near future. The total number will exceed 6,000 people. Unfortunately, the Ukrainian side has not confirmed the exchange today. It has been postponed indefinitely.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SHUKLA: The Ukrainians, for their part, have responded to that accusation by saying the two had agreed to a swap, but that the date had yet to be agreed. Ukraine's coordination headquarters for the treatment of prisoners of war warned the Russians to stop playing dirty games and return to constructive work.
[01:45:06]
But the fact it didn't happen and the trading of accusations may be the most telling of all. Efforts to bring a stop to the fighting showed no signs of being heeded. And over the last two nights, Ukraine has been pummeled by Russian attacks, the latest on the second largest city of Kharkiv, just 20 miles from the Russian border.
And overnight, the mayor, Igor Terekhov, said that 40 explosions had dropped his city and left three people dead, and that was followed by fresh attacks on Saturday afternoon that appeared to have taken place with at least one person dying after an attack on the children's playground. And those attacks come after a huge barrage, one of the largest of the war, was launched across Ukraine, with 400 drones and 40 missiles launched to all parts of the country.
These consecutive attacks seem to be the retaliation for the audacious and meticulously planned Ukrainian intelligence attack launched from deep inside Russia that President Putin vowed to retaliate against. He even told President Trump inasmuch in a phone call between the two men earlier this week.
What remains unclear, though, at the moment is whether this prisoner swap will get back on track and whether President Putin has finished sending his response, or if more attacks may or should be expected, forcing innocent Ukrainians to run for shelter once again. Sebastian Shukla, CNN, Berlin.
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ABEL: Israel says the body of the last Thai hostage was recovered from Gaza on Friday. Nattapong Pinta was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, where he had been working in agriculture to support his family in Thailand. Israel's defense minister said, quote, "We will not rest until all the hostages, living and deceased, are returned home."
Protesters calling for the release of the remaining hostages gathered in several locations across Israel Saturday. They spoke out against the government for prolonging the war and held up photos of some of the 55 hostages that are still being held in Gaza. 20 are believed to still be alive.
A controversial U.S. backed aid group in Gaza says it's closed its distribution sites on Saturday allegedly because of direct threats from Hamas. The group did not give details about those threats however. A Hamas official told Reuters news agency that he has no knowledge of such alleged threats. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation was contracted to deliver aid and food after an 11-week Israeli blockade of Gaza, but the group has been fiercely criticized by humanitarian organizations for an alleged lack of neutrality.
We'll be right back.
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[01:50:36]
ABEL: The horse Sovereignty has now won two parts of the Triple Crown. He won the 157th running of the Belmont Stakes on Saturday. Sovereignty also won last month's Kentucky Derby. The colt bested second place Journalism by thundering past him in the stretch. You see it there. Though this win gives Sovereignty victory in two legs of the Triple Crown, his team pulled out of the Preakness Stakes last month. Journalism won that race and was the only horse to run all three legs of the Triple Crown.
U.S. colleges can now pay athletes directly. The change it comes after a landmark settlement in a lawsuit, and former players will get retroactive pay.
CNN Sports' Andy Scholes has the details.
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ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS: Well, college athletics is entering a whole new world. Starting July 1st, schools are now allowed to start cutting checks directly to their athletes. A federal judge formally approved a deal on Friday between the NCAA big conferences and lawyers representing all Division One athletes.
As a part of the deal, the NCAA is going to pay $2.8 billion in back damages over the next 10 years to athletes who competed in college at any time from 2016 to the present day. But moving forward, the power conference schools can now directly pay athletes with a cap expected to start at $20.5 million per school, and it's expected to increase each year.
Now, athletes will still be able to sign name, image, and likeness deals, but they now have to be approved by a new clearinghouse that is being set up to make sure that deals are fair and not strictly pay for play.
The NCAA is not going to be in charge of this new world. The power conferences have set up a settlement enforcement committee called the College Sports Commission to enforce these new rules and guidelines.
Now, over the past few years, college sports has really become the Wild West when it came to athletes going to and changing schools due to NIL money. This new framework will help put some guidelines in place finally for all that, but lots of questions remain, like, are college athletes now employees of the school? Can you put a salary cap on athletes that aren't unionized?
Well, the NCAA and its schools are hoping that federal lawmakers will step in to help solve the remaining problems with these issues.
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ABEL: One more clash on the clay remains at Roland Garros. World number one Jannik Sinner will face off against the defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in the men's final, taking place in just a few hours. Sinner's path to the French Open Final, it wasn't without drama and spectacle. On Friday, the Italian ousted 24-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic in straight sets. It's been 15 years since Djokovic, a three-time Roland Garros champion in his own right, lost in straight sets in a major semifinal.
Sinner is looking to capture his fourth Grand Slam title, while Alcaraz, who recently turned 22, will be vying for his fifth title on Saturday.
On Saturday, American Coco Gauff claimed her second career Grand Slam singles title coming from behind to defeat world number one Aryna Sabalenka in a thrilling French Open Women's Final.
CNN's Patrick Snell recaps all the action.
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PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Well, what an absolute classic of a final it was. Breathtaking entertainment at Roland-Garros on Saturday as top ranked Aryna Sabalenka and the USA's Coco Gauff went head to head and it is the American player who's celebrating her second career Grand Slam singles title.
Strong winds would be a factor throughout this contest in the French capital, but it would be Sabalenka seeking a fourth Grand Slam singles crown who began superbly to race into a 4-1 lead. But the American player knows a thing or two about winning on the Paris clay. Remember, she won the women's doubles title last year in Paris, and it was no surprise when she fights back to level a match shot for a piece.
Coco then crucially breaking her rival's serve to send this epic 80- minute first set to a tiebreaker with incredible passing shot there, really terrific stuff from Gauff. And then, but that is when the Belarusian star really upped her game at 5 all in that tiebreaker. And then came the point that clinched it, just brilliant composure and skill from Sabalenka as she takes the opener. But Coco Gauff all fired up and what a comeback in the second as she powers her way through it to level the match. Gauff winning it six games to two and we're headed to the decider.
[01:55:03]
Sabalenka looked flustered in terms of her body language, despite winning that opening set, was in trouble again in the third as all the momentum swings Coco's way. A vital moment here as the U.S. star gets the break of serve to go 4-3 up in the all-important deciding set, and from there, she would not look back.
Coco Gauff wrapping up a famous victory, her second major singles title in one of the most incredible, sensational major finals we have seen in a long, long time. She can hardly believe it, overcome with emotion there. Oh, what a moment for Coco Gauff. Our congratulations to her, just sensational, a lot of comeback.
And with that I'm going to send it right back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ABEL: And TNT Sports' Sloane Stephens caught up with Coco on winning her second Grand Slam title.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SLOANE STEPHENS, TNT SPORTS: Coco, amazing match today, 2025 Roland- Garros champion. How does it feel?
COCO GAUFF, WOMEN'S CHAMPION, FRENCH OPEN 2025: Yes, it feels great. It was tough. I don't think either of us were playing great, but I knew as soon as I stepped in the court, when I felt that it was windy, it was going to be one of those matches. So I was just trying to give myself the best chance and fight every point.
STEPHENS: Before the match, I said, she's a fighter, but you're an even better fighter. How deep did you have to dig in order to pull that out?
GAUFF: Really deep. I think especially that last game, you know, I was obviously very nervous, but I think that was, you know, something I'm really proud of just managing to get another ball back and trying to play with the condition. So yes.
STEPHENS: OK. We conquered this. What's next?
GAUFF: Hopefully, another one. Yes, definitely another one. But for now, I'm just enjoying this one and, yes, I'm just glad to get another title to my resume.
STEPHENS: Congratulations.
GAUFF: Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABEL: Big congratulations indeed.
That does it for us. Thank you for joining us. I'm Brian Abel in Atlanta. CNN NEWSROOM continues with Lynda Kinkade after a short break.
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