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WH Deploys National Guard Troops Amid California Unrest; Abrego Garcia Returned to U.S., Faces Trafficking Charges; No Truce Yet Between U.S. President & World's Richest Man; TASS: Remains of 1,212 Ukrainian Troops are in Exchange Area; Colombian Presidential Hopeful Shot, Suspect Arrested; Kharkiv Reels From Massive Back-to-Back Strikes; College Sports Enters New "Big Money" Era. Aired 5-6 am ET

Aired June 08, 2025 - 05:00   ET

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

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[05:00:15]

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN Newsroom.

In a rare move, the White House orders the National Guard to be deployed to Los Angeles amid protests over the administration's immigration crackdown. We'll have a reaction from people in the community.

President Trump has new comments about his very public falling out with Elon Musk. What he's now saying about the feud.

And a Colombian presidential hopeful is fighting for his life after being shot at a campaign event, we have details on his condition.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN Newsroom with Kim Brunhuber.

BRUNHUBER: U.S. President Donald Trump is defying California officials and deploying National Guard troops after a second day of protests against immigration detentions across Los Angeles. U.S. military's Northern Command will be in control of some 2,000 troops if and when they're deployed. And now Trump says masks won't be allowed at protests. The defense secretary says active-duty Marines are ready for mobilization if violence continues.

So, that was the scene earlier. Law enforcement in riot gear deploying tear gas and flashbang grenades, just as they did during protests Friday. Authorities say multiple people were detained. The protests continued in L.A. The president himself was attending a UFC fight in New Jersey. One protester who was at the demonstrations spoke with CNN earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ESTRELIAZUL CORRAL, ATTENDED PROTESTS: Absolutely. And I think, you know, the more they try to spark fears, the more we're adamant that this is our community. This is where we live. These are our children, our mothers, our fathers, you know, our sisters, our brothers. And we are going to make sure they know that we are speaking out for them and we're having a voice for them. And we're not going to let them terrorize our community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Our Julia Vargas Jones has more from 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're saying release the 118 people that were arrested in ICE operations this week. They're saying there's 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 in 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 LA 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)

BRUNHUBER: All right, have a look at this. The story takes a strange turn with Donald Trump posting congratulations to the troops for the job they supposedly did before they even showed up. L.A. Mayor Karen Bass responded minutes later saying, just to be clear, the National Guard has not been deployed in the city of Los Angeles.

The U.S. Northern Command says it will provide more information when units are identified and deployed.

We spoke earlier with Juliette Kayyem, CNN Senior National Security Analyst and former Assistant Secretary with the Department of Homeland Security. She explained the law enforcement and legal perspective on events in Los Angeles this weekend. Here she is.

[05:05:14]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: 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 -- 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 a 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.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Earlier, I spoke with Anton Farmby. He's the vice president of the Service Employees International Union's United Service Workers West. And he described what he's seen at the demonstration so far. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANTON FARMBY, VICE PRESIDENT, SEIU UNITED SERVICE WORKERS WEST: I think for the most part, we've had pretty peaceful protests. As people can see, I mean, there are some folks who are pretty frustrated about what's happening and what is taking place with the raids in Los Angeles. But for the most part, we've seen pretty peaceful protests here in Los Angeles.

BRUNHUBER: Yeah, that's what the LAPD said, as we heard there in that report. So, the decision to deploy the National Guard, what do you make of that?

FARMBY: Well, I mean, I think that when you look at what's happening right now, I think that the goal should be to try to de-escalate, not to escalate. I think rolling in with tanks and, you know, armed guards with guns and vests is not, you know, what we're looking for here. I think that when you talk about the First Amendment rights of folks to peacefully assemble and protest, we have a right to do that. But I think when you present the National Guard in a situation like this, I think it presents for an opportunity for escalation.

BRUNHUBER: Yeah, is the danger here that the reaction to this might be used to justify further repression, that this is kind of just a way to bait protesters into going too far?

FARMBY: Yeah, no, absolutely. And I think that as protesters and exercising a First Amendment, we have to maintain that we want to continue to have our voices heard, but do it in a peaceful way. And I think by bringing in the elements of military type of personnel doesn't help the situation at all.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man wrongly deported by the Trump administration to El Salvador in March, remains in a U.S. federal jail. He's facing criminal charges, including transporting thousands of undocumented people to the U.S. Our Rafael Romo has the latest.

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RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kilmar Abrego Garcia remains in federal custody after he appeared in court Friday 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 on sealed 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.

[05:10:10]

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, KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA'S ATTORNEY: 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 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 Ramos, CNN, Nashville.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Well, no signs of makeup 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 Thursday, including the one accusing the president of being in the Jeffrey Epstein files. On Saturday, Trump said Musk would, quote, "pay the consequences if he follows through on his threat to challenge Republicans who vote for the so-called big, beautiful bill." He added that he believes his relationship with Musk is essentially over.

The Vice President gave his take on the feud between Musk and the president. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE (R-OH), U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: 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)

BRUNHUBER: CNN's Betsy Klein is following the latest developments.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: 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 J.D. 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 business's 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, J.D. 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.

REPORTER: What's your view on Elon Musk as of today? I mean, have you heard from him at all? Has your team --

DONALD TRUMP (R), U.S. PRESIDENT: Honestly, I've been so busy working on China, working on Russia, working on Iran, working on so many. I'm not thinking about Elon.

REPORTER: Do you have any plans to speak with Mr. Musk? This was one of your closest advisors.

TRUMP: No, I don't have any plans.

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 advisors 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)

[05:15:00]

BRUNHUBER: We're getting word of potential movement in a planned prisoner swap that caused a blame game between Ukraine and Russia. So, for more on this, I want to bring in Sebastian Shukla, who joins us from Berlin. So, Sebastian, after all that finger pointing, it seems that there is some movement. Now, bring us up to speed.

SEBASTIAN SHUKLA, CNN PRODUCER: Yeah, there have been -- there has been some movement in this region of Russia, Bryansk, which borders Ukraine, where we saw yesterday this activity that was supposed to elicit the exchange of some 6000 Ukrainian dead -- dead Ukrainian servicemen whose bodies have been frozen and were moved to this border area in refrigerated truck.

The update today, though, seems Kim is that the Russians are saying that this prisoner exchange seems to be off for now, although they are saying that some 1012 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers have been moved to the exchange point area. I don't know if we're able to show the video that Russian state media have released. And all of these lines are being are coming from Russian state media at the moment.

Lieutenant General Alexander Zorin, who is one of the negotiators in this, has said recently that there are signs that the operation will allegedly be postponed until next week. We are waiting for official notification through the channel known to the Ukrainian side that the action to return these bodies will take place.

So, Kim, the situation we've not yet heard from the Ukrainians, but still seems to be a little unclear. Zorin, for his part, also said, though, that convoys of trains carrying the remaining some four thousand five hundred other bodies of Ukrainian soldiers will be moving towards this exchange point in this region of Russia. But we don't yet know when the Ukrainians will be prepared to accept these bodies and what they will be returning to the Russians in this instance.

Usually, as has happened previously in these prisoner and exchange swaps, is that it's a -- it's a one for one, essentially. So, if we're talking about six thousand bodies of Ukrainians being returned, it's likely we'll be looking at six thousand in return back to Russia, too. But Kim, it still seems a very fluid situation on the ground. And we will wait to hear whether Kyiv are postponing this trade or swap indefinitely for the time being, Kim.

BRUNHUBER: All right. I appreciate the update, Sebastian Shukla. Thanks so much.

A Colombian senator and presidential hopeful is fighting for his life after he was shot in Bogota. We'll have the full story when we come back. Stay with us.

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[05:21:27]

BRUNHUBER: Colombia's president is vowing to hunt down whoever was behind the shooting of a political rival. Presidential hopeful Senator Miguel Uribe was shot at a campaign event in Bogota on Saturday. He's reported to be in hospital in critical but stable condition. A suspected attacker has been arrested. CNN Contributor Stefano Pozzebon has more from Bogota, but we just want to warn you, it does have some graphic content. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEFANO POZZEBON, JOURNALIST (voice-over): Shot fired aimed at the heart of Colombian democracy. Presidential candidate and Senator Miguel Uribe shot while holding a rally in the capital, Bogota. Emergency services intervening, then a rush to the hospital. The presidential election is more than a year away, but the campaign is now tinted with blood. A return to the past, to an era when bullets rather than ballots were the rule in Colombian politics.

SERGIO GUZMAN, POLITICAL 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 to 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.

POZZEBON: The grandson of a former president, Uribe's family was already touched by Colombia's history of violence. His mother, noted journalist Diana Turbay was kidnapped and killed by Narco traffickers in 1991. Colombian president Gustavo Petro cancelled a visit to France to attend the situation, calling for his countrymen to reject political violence.

GUSTAVO PETRO, PRESIDENT OF COLOMBIA (through translator): Dr. Miguel Uribe is alive and because of that, everything today is focused to fundamentally keeping him alive.

POZZEBON: And as the latest development, we understand that Colombian authorities have apprehended one person, a minor, just 15 years old, in relation to the crime. He is being seen as the perpetrator of the attack and he was using a nine-millimeter handgun. Authorities are also offering a further $700,000 to anyone who is able to provide further information about the master minders and the motives of this attack. As the presidential candidate and Senator Miguel Uribe is still fighting for his life here in Bogota.

For CNN, this is Stefano Pozzebon, Bogota.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: A controversial U.S.-backed aid group in Gaza says it closed its distribution sites on Saturday, allegedly because of direct threats from Hamas. The group didn't give details about those threats. A Hamas official told Reuters that he had 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. Meanwhile, the Israeli military claims it killed the leader of a Palestinian militant group that took part in the October 7th terror attacks. The Mujahideen brigades confirmed Asaad Abu Sharia's death along with his brother. An Israeli airstrike hit their family home in the Sabra area of Gaza City, according to the enclave's civil defense.

All right, much more to come here on CNN, including the latest on President Trump's decision to deploy the National Guard to immigration protests in California.

[05:25:07]

Plus, Ukraine's second-largest city takes a pounding twice in a single day. A Ukrainian parliament member will join us live to talk about the aftermath.

And later, U.S. college sports are about to experience the biggest change in their history. Those stories and more coming up after the break. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to CNN Newsroom. I'm Kim Brunhuber. Let's check some of today's top stories.

More clashes and arrests in Los Angeles this weekend over the ongoing immigration crackdown in the U.S. Late Saturday, the president authorized the deployment of some 2,000 National Guard troops, which will be under the control of Northern Command when and if deployed. The defense secretary says active-duty Marines are on alert.

Colombia's president is vowing to hunt down whoever was behind the shooting of a political rival. Presidential hopeful Senator Miguel Uribe was shot at a campaign event in Bogota on Saturday. He's reported to be in hospital in critical but stable condition. Police say they've arrested the suspected gunman.

Kimar 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. President Trump told NBC News that bringing back Abrego Garcia back to the U.S. wasn't his decision. He says the Justice Department made that decision.

All right, more now on the breaking news we've been covering, protests against Donald Trump's immigration crackdown in Los Angeles. After deploying National Guard troops Saturday, the president said they've done a great job, despite there being no evidence that they're actually on the ground in L.A. The U.S. military's Northern Command will be in control of the troops, and the defense secretary says active-duty Marines are ready for mobilization if violence continues. Law enforcement authorities in riot gear used tear gas and flashbang grenades.

[05:30:19]

BRUNHUBER: Earlier, CNN got perspective from Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights. Here she is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ANGELICA SALAS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, COALITION FOR HUMANE IMMIGRANT RIGHTS: 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Protests quieted down late in the evening. Authorities say multiple people were detained.

Many questions still remain open about the planned prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine. Russia's state news agency says the remains of more than 1,200 Ukrainian troops are already in the exchange area and that trains with more remains are heading to the border. The exchange was also supposed to include living POWs. Earlier, the two countries blamed each other for the exchange not happening.

And this comes as Ukraine's second largest city is reeling from back- to-back strikes by Russia. Officials say Kharkiv was pounded by Russian glide bombs Saturday night. A short time before that, the city saw its worst attack since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion. Five people were killed and more than a dozen were wounded.

Now, for more on this, I want to bring in Oleksiy Goncharenko, who's a Ukrainian parliament member. He is in Ukraine, but we're not disclosing his exact location for security reasons.

Good to speak with you again. Before we get to the attacks in Kharkiv, I want to start there with that agreement to swap prisoners and repatriate the remains of thousands of soldiers that was agreed last week. So, both sides accusing each other of spoiling the deal. There seems to be some movement on this issue. What more can you tell us?

OLEKSIY GONCHARENKO, UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT MEMBER: Unfortunately, Russia, you know, it's so cynical. First, they invaded brutally Ukraine violently in international law. They killed thousands of our citizens, including our soldiers.

And now they're making this dirty show with their bodies. The thing is that not yesterday, not today, it was not a scheduled day for exchange. So, they're just making this show on the border, somewhere close to border.

I don't really know why, what for trying to show some goodwill to President Trump or what they try to show. I don't know, but it's really disgusting. These are bodies of our heroes and they just shouldn't act in this way. It's too cynical and too barbarian, even for Russians.

BRUNHUBER: But in terms of the actual structure of a deal, do you understand that? Is it going to go through? Is there going to be some exchange? Maybe not right now, but there will be one that will be taking place and you will see prisoners exchange. What is the latest on the status of the deal itself?

GONCHARENKO: I hope very much because thousands of families in Ukraine are waiting for their relatives, for their husbands, fathers and so on. So, that is very, very important. And there is a deal that there will be exchange of all severe wounded and seriously ill prisoners of war to all.

And all young prisoners of war, young means who were born after 2000. So, that is the deal. I hope Russians will respect the deal which was reached in Istanbul. And also part of this deal is exchange of bodies of died, killed soldiers.

[05:35:03]

BRUNHUBER: Now, I want to go to those attacks on several cities that we saw this weekend from Russia, the latest being Kharkiv. Your thoughts on the scale and the targets of those attacks?

GONCHARENKO: Scale was very serious against one city. I mean, Russia attacked for several days, the whole Ukraine, Kyiv, Odessa, Sumy, other cities. But then they concentrated on one city, Kharkiv. And that was an awful night and an awful attack.

And unfortunately, it looks like Russians are very emboldened with the words of President Trump that Russia has some, I don't know, that they will retaliate and that they will have some right to retaliate, how they try to translate it. In Putin's understanding, this translates as, you can do whatever you want.

So, he is, again, destroying civilian infrastructure, killing civilians. It's absolutely crazy because even if they call it retaliation, but retaliation for what? They started this war and we are ready to finish this war any moment.

It's just because Russia refuses, the war still continues. But even if they call it retaliation, Ukraine attacked military objects, military air bases, and destroyed military aircrafts on these air bases. Ukraine did not attack the cities, killing civilians and so on. But they are doing exactly this, attacking civilian areas, killing civilians. This is Russian, absolutely barbaric warfare.

BRUNHUBER: I want to follow up on -- on Donald Trump's comments, which you are saying have emboldened Putin. Trump made more comments yesterday. Here he is. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Well, they gave -- they gave Putin a reason to go in and bomb the hell out of him last night. That's something I didn't like about it. When I saw it, I said, here we go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: So, I mean, that Ukraine gave Russia a reason to bomb them. I mean, your thoughts?

GONCHARENKO: That's cool. You know, it's the same how to say the girl was raped because she was dressed, I don't know, in a short skirt or something like this. It's crazy. Russia attacked Ukraine unjustified, first in 2014, then in 2022, killing our people every day. The only thing Ukraine did and is doing is destroying Russian military capacity, which is absolutely, juridically and morally, something we should do.

And by the way, these aircrafts that Ukraine destroyed, they were aimed not at Ukraine, because these aircrafts, they carry nuclear weapons. They were aiming at Minneapolis, Florida, Texas, and other parts of the United States of America. So, instead of saying, thank you to Ukraine, that we decrease military capacity of the country, which hates United States of America, and which tries -- and which will be happy to destroy United States of America. And exactly these aircrafts were produced and designed to attack United States. That's something I want you to know. Instead of this, we hear that, oh, Ukraine gave some reason. I think President Trump chose not right way to interact with Putin.

Maybe by this, he tries to be negotiator. I mean, trying to show some kindness to Putin, but it's not right way. Putin is aggressor, Putin is predator. He understands only one language, language of strength. And either President Trump will show strength, or Putin will humiliate us and the United States of America too.

BRUNHUBER: We'll have to leave it there. Oleksiy Goncharenko, thank you so much for speaking with us.

GONCHARENKO: Thank you.

BRUNHUBER: And we'll be right back with more here on CNN Newsroom. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:42:30]

BRUNHUBER: An American champion in Paris. On Saturday, Coco Gauff claimed her second career Grand Slam singles title. She came from behind to defeat world number one, Aryna Sabalenka, in a thrilling French Open women's final. TNT Sports' Sloane Stephens caught up with the newly crowned Roland-Garros champion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) COCO GAUFF, WOMEN'S CHAMPION, FRENCH OPEN 2025: Hopefully another one. Yeah, definitely another one. But for now, just enjoying this one. And yeah, I'm just glad to get another title to my resume.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: And there is one more clash on the clay. World number one, Jannik Sinner will face the defending champion, Carlos Alcaraz, in the men's final. And that's happening just a few hours from now.

U.S. colleges can now pay athletes directly. The change comes after a landmark settlement in a lawsuit. And former players will get retroactive pay. CNN Sports' Andy Scholes has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

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.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[05:45:03]

BRUNHUBER: All right, for more on this, I want to bring in Christine Brennan, who's a CNN Sports Analyst and Columnist for USA Today, and she's also the author of the upcoming book, "On Her Game: Caitlin Clark and the Revolution in Women's Sports." She joins us now from Washington.

Great to see you again. So, as we heard there from Andy, lots of questions still swirling around this. Before we get to some of the asterisks here, big picture. What will this mean for so many athletes who've been money-making machines for their universities that they'll be able to capitalize from their hard work?

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS CONTRIBUTOR: Kim, that's exactly it. We've seen coaches make millions and go off and run from one school to the next and leave the athletes behind. That is now changing. And that has been a process really over the last, what, 10, 12 years, as athletes have spoken out, as lawsuits have been filed, and victories have been won in court about name, image, and likeness.

As Andy was saying, obviously, money now being paid directly to athletes. The notion that, yes, you're making all of this money for your university and even, I would say even bigger, the TV deals for football and men's basketball in particular.

All this money and the athletes were seeing so little and there's so many rules, arcane rules, for the athletes not able to take $100 for a bus trip home for their grandmother's funeral. All that has changed. And obviously, that has been a long time coming for those athletes as now we'll see where everything falls from here.

BRUNHUBER: Yeah, absolutely. The floodgates will open. Andy raised many questions. One of them that he didn't talk about was what it might mean for female college athletes.

BRENNAN: That's right. So Title IX is the law that's almost 53 years old that opened the floodgates for girls and women to play sports just like boys and men. And if federal funding is university, which is basically every university, then you must abide by Title IX.

So, now here comes this, where we know most of the money, the vast majority is going to go to college football and men's basketball. What happens with women's sports? I'm guessing, and experts have told me, that there will be lawsuits, certainly.

If you're paying the men 85%, 90% of the money, and you're paying women, say, 10%, 15% of the money, maybe even less, is that legal? Is that fair within our university system? We will see this very quickly, I think, be tested.

And it is an issue, certainly. And of course, as our nation has fallen in love with what we've created with Title IX, then are people going to be OK with that, even though we know the vast amount of revenue comes in, of course, from football and men's basketball.

BRUNHUBER: Yeah, all right. So you've singled out those two. If most of the money goes to football and basketball, I mean, what does that mean for other sports, especially Olympic sports?

BRENNAN: This is another very big issue, and it's a great concern to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and basically anyone who loves Olympic sports. The feeder system for several sports, certainly sports like swimming, sports like wrestling, others over the years, has been the U.S. college system. And all of a sudden, if that goes away, and why would it go away? If all these schools are paying money for football, men's basketball, women's basketball, certainly, maybe volleyball, other sports.

But if they basically then don't have the money in the budget to fund or pay or, you know, whatever it might be, pay athletes or just fund, pay coaches, will those sports then become, say, club sports? Or will they kind of go to D3, Division III status? Lots of questions. We don't know the answers, Kim. But what we do know is there's going to be a big change, and it may well be taken out.

The issue then might hit hard to those what we'd call minor or Olympic sports that are so not minor during Olympics, and also so important for the fabric of a university to have a variety of sports, to have golfers and soccer players. What is that going to look like when all of a sudden, the money has gone elsewhere, and there's no money to travel or pay coaches or do the other things that are part of a budget? And that's what we'll see potentially taking a huge hit, which then wouldn't be the 2028 L.A. Olympics, necessarily.

In fact, it wouldn't. Those athletes are already in the pipeline. But what about the pipeline moving into the 2030s for U.S. Olympic athletes and athletes from around the world who come to U.S. universities to train? If the swimming program goes away or is minimized, what happens to those athletes, not only from the U.S., but around the world?

BRUNHUBER: Yeah, so many repercussions to this, so many, you know, things to sort out still, clearly. Christine Brennan, thank you so much.

BRENNAN: Thank you, Kim.

BRUNHUBER: All right. 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.

[05:50:02]

And on Saturday, the Colt bested second-place Journalism by thundering past him in the stretch. Though this win gives Sovereignty victory in two legs of the Triple Crown. His team pulled out of the Preakness Stakes race last month. Journalism won that race and was the only horse to run all three legs of the Triple Crown.

World Pride 2025 drew hundreds of thousands to Washington for a parade in the U.S. Capitol. Just ahead, what the month honoring the LGBTQ plus community means to the huge crowds. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: There were brutal attacks during World Pride celebrations in Washington, D.C. on Saturday. Two people were stabbed and another shot in separate incidents. They're all expected to be OK. The violence overshadowed events meant to support the LGBTQ plus community. But earlier in the day, a parade to mark the anniversary of World Pride drew thousands of people to the Capitol.

Julia Benbrook has details.

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JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the 50th anniversary of Pride celebrations here in Washington, D.C. And according to the Capitol Pride Alliance, when these festivities started taking place in 1975, they had a couple thousand people. And now this event has grown into hundreds of thousands of people.

[05:55:04]

On top of that this year, this is World Pride. So, organizers are hoping to reach even more people from more areas. And as I spoke with attendees, there were a couple of themes that regularly came up. Community, acceptance, respect. But many of the people I spoke with put an emphasis on wanting people who are visiting Washington specifically right now to feel those things.

TYLER WONG, PRIDE ATTENDEE: Obviously, D.C. is going through a very fraught time right now. There's a lot of conversation and discussion about pulling back DEI and talking about, you know, LGBTQ issues and other social issues. But seeing having World Pride in D.C. and having people from all over the world come and celebrate and join in this celebration is truly heartwarming and inspiring. And it makes me feel confident that, you know, even though some things might be going on, the direction and the trends are still going to be steady.

BENBROOK: And this parade route ends near the White House. Earlier, I spoke with a couple who traveled in from Dallas, Texas. They said that they made plans to come to World Pride here over a year ago before they knew who was going to win the election.

THOMAS DOAN, PRIDE ATTENDEE: We actually, after Trump won, we thought we were going to cancel. We weren't going to come. But then we thought, why let them win? You know, when we were here, you know, we're not going away, no matter what they do, no matter what they say. And we had to be here.

BENBROOK: Now, this parade is just one of the events taking place today. There was a block party. There are concerts. And this all continues for Sunday as well.

Julia Benbrook, CNN, Washington.

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BRUNHUBER: Well, that wraps this hour of CNN Newsroom. I'm Kim Brunhuber. For our viewers in North America, CNN This Morning is next. For the rest of the world, it's Connecting Africa.

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