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Downtown Los Angeles Declared Unlawful Assembly; Trump Administration Deploys National Guard in L.A.; California to Sue Trump Over National Guard; Clashes Erupt In L.A. As Trump Deploys National Guard; L.A. Mayor: National Guard Deployment Sowing Unneeded Chaos; Self-Driving Cars Set On Fire Amid L.A. Protests. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired June 09, 2025 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN HOST: Hello everyone, I'm Rosemary Church here in Atlanta. Let's get straight to our breaking news. Police say an unlawful assembly has been declared throughout all of downtown Los Angeles, where we've seen continued unrest as tensions over immigration raids flared for a third straight day.

The L.A. police chief says at least 10 protesters have been arrested amid clashes with police after a day that saw thousands take to the streets causing major traffic disruptions. The police chief also said he would have to make a reassessment on the need for the National Guard, prompting this social media post from U.S. President Donald Trump, who urged him to bring in the troops, saying, quote, "don't let these thugs get away with this."

But the mayor of L.A. made clear authorities in the city can manage without any need for troops. She addressed the federal immigration enforcement that sparked the unrest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAREN BASS, MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES: 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 that 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 market 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. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH; CNN's Kyung Lah has been following development. She filed this report earlier from Los Angeles.

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: It's been a long day of protests and skirmishes between the people who are opposed to federal law enforcement and the National Guard showing up in strong numbers here in Los Angeles, federalized by President Donald Trump, as they've continued to have conflict with some of the law enforcement who's here.

What you're looking at is a long line of federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security. There are also some National Guard, the Customs and Border Patrol, and also LAPD. And this is where it all began. The area that we're standing in right here is right near where the initial protests began, where we saw the California National Guard lining up, and then there was a skirmish with some of the protesters who were standing on the sidewalk and on the street.

And throughout the day, there have been problems. The LAPD was brought in to try to clear the crowds, and then there was a conflict with the federal agents as well at that site. And now we've come to the part of the night where cars are being set on fire. You can see that this Waymo has been vandalized.

There are people still sitting on the streets. In various corners, the LAPD has called these assemblies unlawful assemblies. On this particular corner, I have not been here throughout the duration, so the unlawful assembly was a block away from here. The assumption is that that may be the case here as well, but this is all very fluid. At this point, this is still a city where there are many people on the streets, and law enforcement is still standing in force. Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.

CHURCH: Joining me now from Los Angeles is Steve Moore, a CNN law enforcement contributor and a retired supervisory special agent with the FBI. Thank you, Steve, for talking with us.

STEVE MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR: Thank you.

CHURCH: So, after three days of protests in L.A., we are now moving into the overnight hours with warnings from law enforcement that this could be a pretty rough night, and we are already seeing that. What are your greatest concerns right now, given vehicles have been set ablaze by protesters, and law enforcement is responding with flashbangs, tear gas, rubber bullets, and in other ways?

[02:05:05]

MOORE: Well, my biggest concern is the safety of the officers, as opposed to the people who are remaining there, who are really professional protesters, anarchists, things like this. The people who were in the city protesting and utilizing their First Amendment rights to speak, those people are long gone because they're smart enough not to be out when the anarchists take over the protest. And so I think what you're going to find right now is a different crowd out there taking advantage of a situation.

And my concern is that the police and the federal agents are safe, especially when Chief McDonnell says the LAPD at this point is overwhelmed.

CHURCH: And, Steve, President Trump went ahead Sunday and federalized California's National Guard without the go-ahead from the governor. What's your reaction to that very rare move to deploy the National Guard without Governor Newsom requesting it? The governor saying the move was, quote, "purposefully inflammatory and will only escalate the tensions."

MOORE: Well, as somebody who worked the '92 riots for the FBI, I can tell you that you want every bit of help you can get. I do understand that there are concerns about their deadly force policy versus our deadly force policy. That's very logical and very important. But at the same time, you have to have enough people out there. And, yes, it is absolutely unprecedented that a governor didn't first request the National Guard before a president sent it.

The presidential administration will say, well, it's because we had to protect federal buildings. And the Democratic governor, for political reasons, wouldn't ask for the National Guard. The governor will say, well, it wasn't bad enough. And so you've got a political situation while the officers on the street, they just want to get a home safe at night. And I suspect that they're grateful for any help they can get.

CHURCH: Right. And, of course, Sunday afternoon around 3:00 p.m. L.A. time, 6:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, the LAPD entered the area trying to move the crowds back and declaring the gathering an unlawful assembly, warning protesters to clear the area or face arrest and the risk of injury. What will likely happen from here in terms of law enforcement as we're watching through the night hours? What's their likely next move here?

MOORE: I think happily, from what I heard from Chief McDonnell, there's going to be some cooperation between the federal agents who are protecting federal properties and the police. I believe that they're probably going to, if they haven't already declared the entire city an unlawful demonstration and therefore clear the streets, kind of the same thing as a curfew.

And in that way, anybody who's on the streets, you can only assume that they're there for nefarious purposes. And I think they'll work together to try and clear the streets. If they do that expeditiously, I think we could have somewhat of a quiet night. But I don't think this is over.

CHURCH: Thank you for that, Steve Moore, coming to us live there from L.A. Appreciate it.

MOORE: Thank you, Rosemary.

CHURCH: And CNN's chief law enforcement analyst, John Miller, says the president's move to mobilize 2,000 National Guard members was done in an unusual way. While the president holds authority to do so, it usually happens after a request for help from the state. Miller says in all of his experience, this type of deployment is something he has never seen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

This is the Trump administration in Washington federalizing the California National Guard out from under the governor and deploying them based on their assertion that they are not satisfied with the force protection that they got from the local law enforcement agencies.

[02:10:03]

Whether that was the LAPD deployed Friday and Saturday at the federal building or whether it was the L.A. sheriff's people who were deployed in Paramount, California, near the ICE facility there. So they're basically saying, we're federalizing the whole operation, not just the enforcement piece based on civil immigration law, but also the protection of the federal building, the protection of the federal agents. And I haven't seen that before. And I've been around a long time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And CNN's Kevin Liptak has more on the president's choice to deploy the National Guard without a request from California officials.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: President Trump's decision to call up National Guard troops in Los Angeles is really one that's without precedent, at least in recent memory. You have to go all the way back to the civil rights era to find another example of a president calling up a state's National Guard without the explicit request of that state's governor, which has not happened this time around. In fact, it's quite the opposite.

The Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, calling on Sunday for President Trump to reverse his decision, saying that there is currently no need for the National Guard to be deployed in Los Angeles and to do so in this unlawful manner and for such a lengthy period, is a serious breach of state sovereignty that seems intentionally designed to inflame the situation while simultaneously depriving the state from deploying these personnel and resources where they are truly required.

Now, as of Sunday evening, there was no sign that President Trump planned to back off this decision. He said at multiple points on Sunday that this was about instilling law and order and that he could potentially deploy these troops in other cities across the United States. Listen to more of what President Trump said as he was heading to Camp David.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

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

UNKNOWN: How would you define an insurrection?

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

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIPTAK: Now, later Sunday, the president reiterated that point of view on Truth Social, saying that violent insurrectionist mobs were swarming and attacking our federal agents to try and stop our deportation operations, but these lawless riots only strengthen our resolve. The president went on to say that he was instructing federal officials to, quote, "take all such action necessary to liberate Los Angeles from the migrant invasion and put an end to these migrant riots."

Now, President Trump has mused in the past, including during his first term in office, about using federal military personnel to tamp down on protests and on crime, but aides previously had talked him out of it, taking such an extreme action. This time, he seems unencumbered by these so-called guardrails around him, and the president clearly trying to follow through on things that he said he would do as a candidate.

Now, he's long seen California and its Democratic leaders as something of a foil. You've seen that really escalate over the last several months as the president threatens to withdraw federal aid from that state. Now, clearly, the president willing to take it a step further as he deploys these national guard troops against that state's wishes. Kevin Liptak, CNN, the White House.

CHURCH: We'll have more from Los Angeles just ahead as California's governor threatens to sue the Trump administration. Stay with us for that and more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:15:00]

CHURCH: We are following breaking news in Los Angeles where the city is closing out a third day of protests against sweeping immigration raids. Cars were left burning in the street after demonstrators clashed with law enforcement. Police say the entire downtown Los Angeles area has been declared as an unlawful assembly. President Donald Trump is urging the police chief to, quote, "bring in

the troops" after already deploying about 300 members of the National Guard.

California's governor says the state will sue the Trump administration over the National Guard's deployment to Los Angeles. Governor Gavin Newsom called the deployment, quote, "illegal, immoral and unconstitutional." And he accused the president of, quote, "putting fuel on the fire."

President Trump's decision to deploy the National Guard without coordinating with the state governor is virtually unprecedented in modern times.

Let's get more now from CNN's senior political analyst Ron Brownstein. He joins me live from Los Angeles. Thanks, Ron, for talking with us.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi, Rosemary.

CHURCH: So, first, I do want to get your response to what's unfolding in downtown L.A. since President Trump federalized California's National Guard, deploying them on the third day of protests. What are your thoughts?

BROWNSTEIN: Yeah, look, preserving public order and public safety is the first responsibility for any level of government. There's no question. I mean, the question is whether President Trump's actions to this point have been advancing or undermining that goal from the way that the original ICE raids were conducted that triggered all of this to the choice to federalize the National Guard over the objections of the governor.

I mean, as Kevin pointed out, we have not seen this since the civil rights era when there were a very different set of circumstances on the ground. At that point, you had southern segregationist governors actively impeding the enforcement of federal law. And only then did JFK and LBJ federalize the National Guard. Here, you have something very different.

[02:19:52]

And just think about, as this situation is evolving on the ground in L.A. and you have a, you know, somewhat chaotic situation that is, by the indications of the L.A. police commissioner, becoming more dangerous, how extraordinary it is that the president and the governor and the mayor are not working together to ensure order, and instead the president is attacking them and the governor, you know, feeling that he has been bypassed, is going potentially to court tomorrow to try to, I mean, this is not normal in the U.S.

It is not really consistent with our history, but it is consistent with the way President Trump has viewed blue states less as a partner in governing than almost as a hostile territory to be subdued.

CHURCH: Yeah, very important to emphasize this is not normal. So, Ron, how likely is it, do you think, that President Trump would go further and decide to invoke the Insurrection Act? And what would be the consequences of such a move?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, first, you know, he has tweeted tonight that he sent in the troops, I think, were the four words of his Truth Social post. The order he signed on Saturday, Rosemary, it's important to understand, the authority that he's claiming has usually been applied, experts tell me, in conjunction with the Insurrection Act. He is now trying to decouple them in a way that does not take the inflammatory step of formally declaring an insurrection, but basically claiming much of the same authority without it.

What's more, that order really -- people really need to understand that order does not mention L.A. specifically at any point. It basically authorizes the use of the National Guard and potentially the active duty military anywhere in the U.S. where he believes that there are either protests against ICE or the potential for protests against ICE.

So this is a very broad-reaching vision. You know, as we've talked about before, Donald Trump doesn't often admit regrets in public, but one of the things he says he's regretted is that he did not send in the National Guard to Minnesota during the George Floyd protests because of resistance from the governor and the mayors.

Whatever the merits of sending in the Guard here, or certainly as they are evolving, this is something he has wanted to do for a while, to basically send the signal that he will use every means necessary to impose his agenda on blue states and cities, and it would not be shocking, based on his own language, if the administration views this as a test case for whether they can do this again.

Again, the situation may be evolving. It may be appropriate to use the National Guard in L.A., depending what happens in the next few hours, but wouldn't it be better for everyone if the governor and the president were making that decision jointly instead of in such an adversarial posture?

CHURCH: So, Ron, how likely is it that President Trump would have deployed troops to a Republican state under similar circumstances, and what will be the real political and legal consequences of all of this, do you think?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, first of all, you know, he was asked today, what are the grounds on which, you know, what is the standard by which you will decide whether to send the active-duty military, which, again, he has said tonight that he intends to do, into American cities. And he said basically, you know, the standard is me, me deciding.

And, look, the president has, as I said, made clear that he views blue states and blue cities more as kind of hostile territory than as part of, you know, the same constitutional republic. They've already arrested a judge in Wisconsin, a mayor in New Jersey, a U.S. representative in New Jersey.

You had Tom Homan today and the president talking about potentially arresting the mayor of Los Angeles, the governor of California. What was in the news on Friday before all of this really took off, which was the reports of the administration is considering a widespread canceling of federal assistance to California, including all research grants to the University of California.

In many ways, he has, as I've said, he has governed as a wartime president with blue America rather than any foreign adversary as the enemy. None of that changes the dynamic that the president has an obligation and a responsibility to ensure public safety as does the governor.

They should be working together toward that end, but I think we are now in this extraordinary situation where rather than, you know, trying to figure out the best way out of this, you have a president who in many ways is looking to inflame the situation and a governor that, you know, is in a confrontational posture toward him. It's just utterly dysfunctional and dangerous for the country if we allow this to proceed along the road that we're going down.

[02:25:03]

CHURCH: When we come back, more coverage of what local law enforcement is calling an unlawful assembly in Los Angeles amid fears of rising clashes and destruction. This is CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: More now on the breaking news in Los Angeles as we monitor the ongoing clashes between demonstrators and police. An unlawful assembly has been declared throughout the downtown area. It's the third day of protests against immigration raids carried out over the weekend. The L.A. police chief says he will have to make a reassessment on the need for the National Guard given the level of Sunday's violence.

President Trump is urging him to bring in the troops, but Governor Gavin Newsom says the state will sue the Trump administration for deploying the guard, calling the move illegal, immoral, and unconstitutional. Here's more of what L.A.'s police chief had to say when he spoke to reporters earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM MCDONNELL, LOS ANGELES POLICE CHIEF: I want to just take an opportunity to speak directly to the people of Los Angeles, clarify LAPD's roles and the events that have been playing out over these past couple of days. This includes our response to protests, our public safety responsibilities, and recent claims that you've seen made by some federal officials.

Today I met with Governor Newsom, Mayor Bass, U.S. Attorney General of the Central District of California, Bilal Essayli, and ICE Acting Director, Todd Lyons.

[02:29:52]

Let me begin by reaffirming a core principle. The LAPD supports and protects the First Amendment right to free speech. In recent days, many protests across the city have been peaceful, and we thank the community for expressing their views and their frustration in a responsible manner.

However, when peaceful demonstrations devolve into acts of vandalism or violence, especially violence directed at innocent people, law enforcement officers and others, we must respond firmly and act of violence, whether toward officers, demonstrators or the public, will be met with swift and lawful action. Our goal is to maintain order without escalating conflict and to protect everybody's right to safety.

Recent public statements have misrepresented LAPD's action from an incident the other night. Specifically, there was a claim that LAPD delayed responding to a federal officers request for assistance by more than two hours. When we heard that, I think anybody whos' a police officer can't -- couldn't believe it. And certainly, anyone with LAPD couldn't imagine how that would happen. Well, it didn't happen. And I just want to go into that just a little bit.

LAPD was not given advance notice that the federal operation, federal operations would occur in that area. As a result, we were not pre- positioned to respond immediately to unrest related to those actions. Once the call for assistance came in, LAPD responded within 38 minutes. And that sounds like a long time. But I'll tell you why that is.

The response was impacted by traffic, crowd density. In the in the area with unrest occurring, hazardous conditions caused by tear gas that was previously deployed by federal agents at the at that location. Many of our officers, because it was put together in a mobile field force configuration without advance notice were not equipped with gas masks. But despite these challenges, we moved in quickly and as safely as possible.

At no point did LAPD ignore or intentionally delay any request for help. I also want to be unequivocally clear. The Los Angeles Police Department does not participate in or coordinate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement on civil immigration enforcement.

We've said this over and over again, and I can't stress it enough for the people in our community who have high levels of anxiety about this issue, that we want everybody to believe and be able to call the LAPD in time of need if they've been a victim of a crime or a witness to a crime. We need that. Otherwise, the system does not work.

That has been our policy and remains our policy. And it went into effect in 1979, so 46 years ago. Thats been the way we do business.

On the other hand, however, when a law enforcement agency or any agency requests emergency assistance to protect lives, we are obligated to respond and we do. Public safety is our duty, and we will answer every legitimate call for help from anyone. We recognize that immigration enforcement operations can cause a deep fear and anxiety, particularly in immigrant communities. That's why we're committed to transparency, accountability, and treating every Angeleno with respect, regardless of their immigration status. Our job is not to divide communities or to politicize law enforcement.

Our job is simply to keep everyone safe. I want to express my sincere appreciation to all of our officers and partner agencies for their dedication and professionalism during these very challenging times. Their commitment to upholding the law, even in the face of hostility, is a reflection of the values that we stand for.

We're working together to keep everyone safe. Our officers and the public alike, and this remains our top priority.

We'll continue to support peaceful protests and enforce the law when criminal acts occur. The LAPD remains focused on its core mission to protect lives, safeguard constitutional rights, and serve every neighborhood in Los Angeles with integrity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: It is 11:33 p.m. in Los Angeles right now, and through the night. There are concerns the situation could get worse.

Earlier, my colleague Brian Abel spoke with the former chief of homeland security and intelligence for the District of Columbia, Donell Harvin. And here's what he thinks could happen overnight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONELL HARVIN, FORMER CHIEF OF HOMELAND SECURITY AND INTELLIGENCE, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: What you're going to find in these type of protests. And I've done a lot of these, is there's three different types of protesters, really four. One is a law-abiding citizen that's just out there to kind of, you know, participate in First Amendment protected activity. Law enforcement gives them orders. They usually start disbanding.

Then there's those individuals who are a little bit more hardened. They need a little bit more nudging. So, some of the smoke grenades and the pepper spray and the horses mounted units. And then you have the criminal element. And those individuals who usually hang out in the crowd, they stir things up.

And those are the individuals that will usually stay there a little bit more recalcitrant, and they're not going to leave when ordered to do so. And those are the elements that we worry about when night falls, because that's when really the violence you can expect to see.

[02:35:02]

BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR: We heard earlier on CNN talk about the changes, the different crowds than there were earlier in the day, talking about the introduction of agitators there. Is that organic? Is that something that traditionally happens with protests like this?

HARVIN: Well, the other, the other type that I didn't mention before, the opportunist. Right. And every protest we see, we see kind of a spectrum of individuals from nonviolent all the way to violent and those opportunists, right? So, they will use all those other individuals as shields, as human shields to kind of throw Molotov cocktails or rocks or whatever, and instigate they may not even be from the community. Often, they're not and they're not -- they don't have a vested interest. Sometimes they don't even care about the cause.

What we saw a little bit earlier, if you had seen some of the other footage where there are individuals out there with Palestine flags saying Free Palestine. So, they're clearly not out there in regards to the immigration crackdown that you're seeing. They're opportunists.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And we'll be right back with our breaking news coverage here on CNN.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone.

The protests in Los Angeles were triggered by a series of immigration raids. One rights activist walked us through what's happening to those people detained in the raids.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANGELICA SALAS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, COALITION FOR HUMANE IMMIGRANT RIGHTS: Raids continue. There were two worksite raids today at car washes on the west side of Los Angeles and in Inglewood. Men who work in those car washes were actually picked up.

This morning, I began my day going to the Adelanto detention processing center in Adelanto, California. After unsuccessfully being able to, provide legal representation to individuals who were detained here in Los Angeles, yesterday with three members of Congress, four members of Congress yesterday we then, found out that many of the detainees were actually taken to the Adelanto processing center in Adelanto, California.

[02:40:15]

So 9:00 in the morning, I was there with, Congresswoman Judy Chu, Congress member Derek Tran, and also Congress member Gil Cisneros. They were asking for oversight of the detention center to check in on the detainees and on the conditions in which they were being held.

Instead of receiving us, you know, and receiving lawyers who are there to represent individuals as well as family members who have been looking for their loved ones for now, several days, we were actually received with locked doors. They, immediately upon seeing us, ran to the gates and then locked them up for us with a padlock.

And so, they did not allow us to come in. We were there waiting outside the gates for two hours. At this point now, there have been three days without our ability to actually provide legal representation to those individuals.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Thanks for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church.

For our international viewers, WORLD SPORT is coming up next. And for those of you here in the United States and Canada, I'll be back with more news in just a moment.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:45:22]

CHURCH: Welcome back to our viewers here in North America. I'm Rosemary Church.

And we are following breaking news out of Los Angeles, where all of downtown L.A. has been declared an unlawful assembly by police. Protests over federal immigration sweeps turned violent on Sunday, with clashes between some protesters and police. Thousands of demonstrators filled L.A. streets, some even forcing the closure of the 101 Freeway.

LAPD officers have warned demonstrators that violence will be met with, quote, appropriate force. They've also approved the use of less lethal munitions for crowd control. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass tells CNN the federal government has created what she calls intentional chaos with the deployment of National Guard forces. She says the city was okay to handle protesters and keep the peace by themselves.

Here's part of her conversation earlier with my colleague Jessica Dean.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAREN BASS, LOS ANGELES MAYOR: A sense of fear has been created in the city, beginning on Friday, when numerous workplaces were raided. Initially, we were told only violent criminals. I don't know how that relates to a workplace. We have people that are detained right now and they've not been in contact with their families. They've not been allowed to have legal counsel.

And to me, it just seems like this is intentional chaos. You know, I had talked to representatives of the Trump administration earlier on to tell them that the Los Angeles Police Department could control things that were happening here and that there was no need to federalize troops. And so, to have this here is really just a provocation and something that was not needed in our city.

We're still recovering after five months from the city's worst natural disaster in decades. And now, to go through a trauma like this that is really traumatizing the whole city because everybody know somebody in a city where more than 50 percent are Latino, this just sows chaos that is not warranted nor needed in the city of Los Angeles at this point in time.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: And I know LAPD, as you just noted, declared some of these gatherings unlawful assembly. Is that something you were made aware of before they did that? Did you okay that?

BASS: Yes, I didn't okay, I don't run the police department. The chief does. But I was aware of it. And what I was told is, is that the protesters had begun throwing things.

So, to me, it is most important that everybody be allowed to exercise their First Amendment right, but it absolutely has to be done peacefully. Now with federal troops on the ground, we do not need to have our city under siege. I remember the last time federal troops were on the ground here, and it was in 1992 when there was massive civil unrest. Nothing like that is happening here. So, there is no need for there to be federal troops on our ground right now.

CHURCH: And, Mayor, we've seen since the federal troops arrived, there were those clashes earlier today. And then we saw LAPD essentially trying to build some space between where the protesters were located, where the national guard troops were located, try to spread them out a bit. Now, obviously, they're trying to disperse them.

I'm curious if now that the national guard troops are there on the ground, if there is any urgency on the police department's part to really put out an even stronger force and a stronger posture to get this under control. So, you can and I know your governor has said that they don't want that he's formally requested that the National Guard troops go back, that they're not needed. Were those things correlated?

BASS: Yeah. Well, I absolutely agree with the governor in asking that the troops be withdrawn. I don't think that is a way to bring peace in Los Angeles. I think that our law enforcement officers can handle this situation.

But I just have to repeat again, its a feeling here of intentional chaos in a situation that had not broken out to violence short of a few people, and there's nothing unusual about that. And our police departments can manage that. But it is as though troops were rolled out in a provocative manner, and I do not see how that is helpful to Los Angeles right now. It's not the type of resources that we need in the city.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Earlier, CNN's Brian Abel spoke to Elizabeth Goitein from the Brennan Center for Justice.

[02:50:01]

She is the senior director of the center's Liberty and National Security Program, and she explained the law that generally prevents the president from using the military as a domestic police force. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELIZABETH GOITEIN, CO-DIRECTOR, LIBERTY AND NATIONAL SECURITY, BRENNAN CENTER FOR JUSTICE: The Posse Comitatus Act is the law that generally prohibits federal armed forces, and that includes the federalized national guard from directly participating in core law enforcement functions. And those are things like arrests or searches or seizures. And this is an absolutely vital protection for our democracy and for our individual liberties.

But there are exceptions. Congress has legislated exceptions. And the one that is probably most common that people have heard of the most is the Insurrection Act. And that's what allows the president to deploy federal troops to quell civil unrest or to enforce the law in a crisis.

But as you said, that is not what president Trump used here. He used a very obscure provision, Ten USC 12406, that has not previously been used in this way. In fact, it's pretty much always been coupled with the Insurrection Act. It's been treated and used as sort of a technical call up authority that the president can use when he wants to deploy troops under the Insurrection Act. So, this is unprecedented to sort of uncouple those things and rely on that authority to deploy the national guard to, you know, conduct these federal protective activities.

ABEL: Okay. So now that you've given us what this mechanism is that he's currently using, could there be any legal challenges to it?

GOITEIN: Absolutely. There could be legal challenges. I mean, again, this is really an unprecedented use of these laws. And so, we are wading into uncharted legal waters. Obviously, there has been a lot of consternation around the deployment of these troops. Governor Newsom said that this was going to be inflammatory, that this was going to escalate tensions rather than de-escalate them. And we have seen that.

And so, some of the resulting really chaos we've seen with reports of national guard forces now throwing tear gas canisters and using flash bang grenades these are the kinds of situations that have a tendency to prompt lawsuits because, needless to say, they're negatively impacting things in Los Angeles. And there are legal challenges that can be brought.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: One police officer appeared to target a reporter with a rubber bullet during Sunday's protests.

Lauren Tomasi with Nine News Australia is covering the protests, and the apparent attack on her was caught on camera. Luckily, she suffered only bruises. In the video we're about to show you, a police officer on the left of your screen will turn toward Tomasi, aim and fire. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) LAUREN TOMASI, REPORTER, NINE NEWS: The LAPD moving on horseback, firing rubber bullets at protesters, moving them on through the heart of L.A.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You just shot the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you okay?

TOMASI: I'm good, I'm good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you okay?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: As the protests escalated in Los Angeles on Sunday, multiple self-driving vehicles were set on fire and vandalized with graffiti. The video you're seeing appears to depict Waymo cars suffering heavy damage.

And CNN's chief media analyst Brian Stelter has more on how Waymo and other companies are responding to the violence, and how misinformation about the protests has been spread online.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: This was like something out of a dystopian sci-fi novel on Sunday. Watching these Waymo self- driving cars go up in flames, Waymo has been rolling out these robotaxis in California, first in San Francisco, now in Los Angeles, and by all accounts, they've been a huge hit. People love the truly self-driving experience. Being able to call a robotaxi and have it pull up a minute or two later.

In this case, there were a number of these Waymos all lined up on the same street. Vandals were defacing the cars and then ultimately were able to set them ablaze. These fires were raging for quite some time, as seen on local television news helicopters. Firefighters eventually arrived once the scene was a little bit safer, in order to put those fires out.

I spoke with a spokesperson for Waymo who said the company was in touch with law enforcement about the matter, and that's significant for the following reason. Waymo was able to turn off its app, turn off the ability to request rides around the area where protests were happening, turning off that functionality meant that other cars could not be ordered by riders for the intent of possibly defacing or lighting them on fire.

So, a very 21st century problem for a 21st century technology on the streets in downtown L.A. and it's not the only example of digital city infrastructure being used and weaponized on Sunday, we also saw lime scooters, which are seen on street corners and lots of major cities used in order to try to damage police vehicles. Vandals took some of those scooters and threw them onto police cars that were parked on Interstate 101. Lime didn't immediately have any comment on the matter, but frankly,

there wasn't much the company could say. It wasn't as if its scooters were being used illegally by those vandals. We've seen lots of accurate information spread on social media about this unrest. Lots of people posting their own videos and photos after going out and protesting.

But there's also been a lot of misinformation that I've been seeing online about these protests and in some cases, about the unrest that has resulted. Senator Ted Cruz, for example, posted a video seemingly criticizing the 2025 protesters. But the video was actually from 2020 showing police cars on fire during the George Floyd uprisings, a number of conservative influencers posted the same video clip on Sunday, acting as if it was happening live on television. The intent, it seems, is to lump in violent rioters and peaceful protesters acting as if they are all the same, when in fact, of course they are not.

That misinformation led California Governor Gavin Newsom's office to warn people to double check before they were sharing content on social media. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And I want to thank you for your company this hour. I'm Rosemary Church. I will be back with more CNN NEWSROOM after a short break.

Please stay with us.

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