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Trump's Mega-Bill Clears Senate Procedural Vote 54-49; Tens Of Thousands Resume Protests In Tel Aviv; Israeli Airstrike Allegedly Hits Gaza Tent Encampment. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired June 29, 2025 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN HOST: Hello, and welcome everyone. You're watching CNN Newsroom. I'm John Vause in Atlanta.
Breaking news this hour with the U.S. Senate advancing the President's massive tax and spending bill. The big, beautiful bill, as it's called, cleared a procedural vote 51 in favor, 49 against. Now it goes into the consideration or debate phase, but many hurdles remain. Several Republicans are still demanding changes to the bill. Some believe it cuts too much. Others say it doesn't cut enough. President Trump stayed in Washington this weekend, lobbying Republicans to pass the bill by Independence Day, the Fourth of July.
CNN's Senior White House Reporter Betsy Klein has more now, reporting in from Washington.
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BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That Saturday night vote marked a make or break moment on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, and President Trump was keenly aware of the razor-thin margins in the Senate and all of the hurdles and uncertainties because he had been fielding calls and holding meetings and even playing golf with a key group of Republican senators over the better part of the last 24 hours.
Ultimately, if passed, this legislation, this sweeping tax and spending package, would really unlock President Trump's domestic agenda, and the White House is keenly aware that this is a critical moment to get this over the finish line, while Republicans control both the House and the Senate.
And for those reasons, President Trump, along with Vice President J.D. Vance, had been working those phones, holding meetings, inviting senators to the White House to get this to a yes. The President scrapped a planned weekend in New Jersey to spend a rare weekend here in Washington, where he held a round of golf with Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, along with Senator Eric Schmitt of Missouri, and Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, notably a key holdout who had concerns about spending in this package, as well as the provision that raises the debt limit. Paul, ultimately voted no on that bill, but Vance himself had headed to the Senate, where he was poised to take a tie-breaking vote. Ultimately, that was not needed.
The reality here is that there are deep policy divisions within the Republican Party on the scale and scope of this bill, but the President ultimately lashing out at Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, the other no vote. He said in a post to social media, just before the vote passed, that he would threaten to a primary Tillis, who is up for re-election in 2026. He said, "Numerous people have come forward, wanting to run in the primary against Senator Thom Tillis. I will be meeting with them over the coming weeks, looking for someone who can properly represent the great people of North Carolina."
The President had also held a major event pushing for the bill on Thursday, where he went after those who would vote no as grandstanders and not good people. The President had been pushing to get this done by the Fourth of July. He expressed a little bit of softening of that deadline earlier this week, saying, it was important, but not the end all.
So, we'll be closely watching how this proceeds in the days ahead, as they work through some of the key provisions in this bill, in this so- called vote-a-rama. This is still far from over. Once and if the Senate passes this bill, it still needs to go to the House of Representatives, where they need to approve those changes before it can go to President Trump's desk. So, the President clearly has a lot more lobbying to do, and it remains to be seen if he can close this deal.
Betsy Klein, CNN, Washington.
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VAUSE: Shortly after the vote, I spoke with Catie Edmondson, Congressional Correspondent for The New York Times, and I started by asking her about the uncertain future that this bill might actually have.
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CATIE EDMONDSON, CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: I'm speaking to you from the Senate press gallery. I was just watching this vote, and it really was an extraordinary vote, because, as you pointed out, this was really to clear a procedural hurdle. This was simply to open up debate on this legislation. And we saw that it was a really excruciating vote for a number of senators.
This was a vote that was held open for three hours, which is very unusual here. Normally, a vote should take about anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes, and it took three hours, because you saw Republican senators who are deeply uncomfortable with this legislation for different reasons, negotiating, really, either behind closed doors or even on the Senate floor with their party leaders trying to get this bill to a place that they feel comfortable lending their support to.
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VAUSE: And the Senate Minority Leader, Democrat Chuck Schumer, warned of political consequences for those Republicans who voted in favor. Here he is. Listen to this.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): If Republicans succeed, proceed and follow Trump -- Donald Trump over the cliff, with this bill tied to their ankles like an anvil, they will not only doom their own communities, they will doom their political fortunes, their own political fortunes, and have no one to blame but themselves. I yield the floor.
VAUSE: This bill is unique in the sense that it has very clear winners and very clear losers. So, has the President essentially been asking these Republican lawmakers, in some ways, to commit political suicide?
EDMONDSON: Well, I think a lot of them have been very vocal about the fact that this is a really tough vote for them, and again, that is for different reasons, depending on where ideologically you fall within the Republican Party. We certainly heard that from one Republican tonight, Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina.
He is up for re-election next year, and he said that he could not support the vote either tonight or the final passage vote, whenever that comes, because he feels that this legislation ultimately carries too deep of Medicaid cuts. He said that this is legislation that is going to force really tough decisions for his state leaders that he fears is going to harm not only his voters, but also the hospitals in his state.
And so, it's statements like that that really underscore sort of the treacherous territory that a lot of Republicans, and not just in the Senate, also in the House, feel that this vote is forcing them to make, essentially, particularly for those Republicans, again, in tough re-election races.
I want you to listen to the Senate Majority Leader John Thune on what he believes this bill will do for the country.
SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD): Mr. President, we have before us today a once- in-a-generation opportunity to deliver legislation to create a safer, stronger and more prosperous America. With one bill, we can deliver on a number of priorities, tax relief for hard-working Americans, economic growth, a stronger national defense, a more secure border, a more reliable energy supply.
VAUSE: Who wouldn't want all of that? The problem is, many Republicans don't share that opinion. In fact, the divide within the GOP seems to be between those who believe this bill does not cut enough and those who believe it cuts too much, and that has a unique consequence for the negotiations here, because trying to appease one side seems to leave the other side unhappy and creates more problems.
EDMONDSON: That's right. That's the dynamic that we saw playing out that Senate Majority Leader John Thune is going to have to try to thread the needle on. It's a similar dynamic, again, over in the House for Speaker Mike Johnson. You have the Rand Pauls, the Ron Johnsons of the world, who are saying, I don't want to lend my support for a legislation that is ultimately going to increase the deficit. At the same time, you have those politically vulnerable Republicans that we were just talking about, saying, in fact, these spending cuts already go too far for me, and I can't lend my support to this legislation.
And so, trying to figure out what the middle ground is, is an extraordinarily difficult task, and that is what we are going to see these Republican leaders try to attempt in the next few days, because, again, they're really racing to meet this deadline that President Trump has set for them of getting this done by July 4th.
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VAUSE: Tens of thousands of Israeli protesters gathered in Tel Aviv Saturday demanding an end to the war in Gaza, as well as the return of the last hostages still being held by Hamas. And according to the U.S. President, ceasefire talks are underway between Israel and Hamas. Despite that, there is been no let-up in deadly Israeli airstrikes in Gaza.
CNN's Nic Robertson has the very latest now, reporting in from Tel Aviv.
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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): On hold during the Iran conflict, energized by the possibilities of that perceived victory --
RUBY CHEN, FATHER OF HOSTAGE ITAY CHEN: -- Prime Minister Netanyahu, because he can and he must bring all the hostages back, the living and the deceased, because we want all of them, (inaudible).
ROBERTSON (voice-over): -- free the hostage protesters in full voice at their first regular Saturday rally in three weeks.
Viki Cohen, mother of hostage Nimrod, hopeful she'll get her 20-year- old son back soon.
VIKI COHEN, MOTHER OF NIMROD COHEN: We feel that a little different. Trump is very demanding, and we believe in him, we trust him, and we know he has the power to stop the war. He can pressure our Prime Minister to do it, to finish the war in Gaza, and in this way, all the hostages can come back home.
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ROBERTSON (on camera): The deal they want now is a comprehensive agreement, bring all the hostages home, 50 of them, about 20 believed to be alive, and get the army out of Gaza.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): In Gaza, peace can't come soon enough either. Tents pitched on this sand hit, rescuers say, by an Israeli airstrike early Saturday. The IDF say they are looking into the incident. By day break, this night's horror revealed a huge crater and no tents. The recovery not done alone with a shovel. Abu Mohammad (ph) searching for two children. Eight of their deceased brothers and sisters already found.
Among the dead were children age one, two, three, four, five, seven, nine and 10 and 11-years-old. Mohammed says there were two boys, five girls, their mother and their grandmother. In Tel Aviv, the days of war counted by the second eyes of both sides on President Trump to stop the clock.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I think it's close. I just spoke with some of the people involved. It's a terrible situation that's going, Gaza, he is asking about, and we think within the next week, we're going to get a ceasefire.
ROBERTSON (on camera): President Trump is turning up the mood music for a possible deal in Gaza. Prime Minister Netanyahu's top confidant is expected in Washington soon. It hints at momentum, but Israelis have been here before, hopes dashed by differences.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Tel Aviv.
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VAUSE: An all-out warning to the United States from Iran's Supreme Leader, posting on X, "Iran will never surrender to the U.S." Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's tweet came as state funerals were held Saturday for several senior military commanders, at least six nuclear scientists, as well as civilians, all killed during recent Israeli airstrikes. The Supreme Leader did not attend the funerals.
Well, when we come back, national Democrat leaders attend a funeral in Minnesota for a state lawmaker killed what investigators are calling an act of political violence. More on that, after a short break. Also, a tropical storm is headed for Mexico. What forecasters are predicting for the southern states along the Gulf.
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VAUSE: 16 minutes past the hour. Welcome back, everyone. Now, more of our breaking news, the U.S. Senate has approved a procedural measure for President Trump's massive tax and spending agenda by a vote of 51 to 49. It was a major test of loyalty to the President by the GOP, and means the bill can now move on to the debate phase. Three Republican senators had voted no, though, concerned over increased government spending as well as cuts to Medicaid. Vice President J.D. Vance traveled to Capitol Hill. He was on standby to cast a tie-breaking vote, but that was not needed in the end.
Funeral services held Saturday for the Minnesota lawmaker and her husband murdered in an act of shocking political violence. Two weeks ago, Melissa Hortman, a state representative and former House Speaker, and her husband were gunned down at their home. Former President Joe Biden, former Vice President Kamala Harris, attended the service. Notably, the current President wasn't there, nor did he issue any statement.
Julia Vargas Jones has details.
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JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A funeral with the highest state honors in the country's first Basilica, Minnesota in mourning. Governor Tim Walz presenting the children of Mark and Melissa Hortman with the flags flown above the capital on the day their parents were killed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Remember your servants, Melissa and Mark.
JONES (voice-over): The political nature of their tragic deaths, the undeniable backdrop for the day's events.
TIM WALZ, MINNESOTA GOVERNOR: All of us are searching for some kind of meaning, some kind of lesson that we can learn to help ease our loss, and maybe it is this moment where each of us can examine the way we work together, the way we talk about each other, the way we fight for things we care about, a moment when each of us can recommit to engaging in politics and life the way Mark and Melissa did.
JONES (voice-over): In attendance for mass, former President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. On Friday, mourners paid their respects as the Hortmans laid in state at the Minnesota capital, Melissa, the first woman in state history to receive that distinction. Laid to rest beside them, their golden retriever, Gilbert.
Just a few miles away in federal court, the man accused of killing the Hortmans appear before a judge. His attorney told a court, Boelter has been sleep deprived due to jail conditions and communication has been difficult. The judge granted a delay and his next hearing is now set for July 3th. Boelter faces state and federal charges, including murder, firearm offenses, and stalking. Authorities say the June 14th shooting was a politically motivated assassination and that Boelter could face the death penalty if convicted. He allegedly went to the Hortmans' home, dressed as a police officer, and opened fire when police showed up, then fled, triggering the largest manhunt in the state's history.
Before the Hortmans, authorities say Boelter went to the homes of three other Minnesota state politicians. At one of them, police say, he shot State Senator John Hoffman and his wife multiple times. Both are making a recovery, but say they are, quote, "lucky to be alive". According to court documents, authorities later searched Boelter's vehicle and found at least three AK-47 assault rifles, a nine millimeter handgun, as well as the list of names and addresses of other public officials, most of them Democrats or figures with ties to the abortion rights movement.
There have been questions about what Boelter's wife Jenny knew, and when. Investigators say she was initially not forthcoming with information, but later became cooperative.
[01:20:00] On Thursday, Jenny Boelter spoke out for the first time, saying she and her children are absolutely shocked, heartbroken, and completely blindsided. She called the attack a betrayal of everything we hold true as tenants of our Christian faith, adding that from the start, her family has fully cooperated with investigators, and they're grateful to law enforcement for apprehending her husband and preventing further harm.
JONES (on camera): This attack comes at a time of historic rise in threats against public officials and division in America. But, the overall message from Saturday's service was that there is still hope to mend that division that came both from Governor Walz as well as from the pastor who led the services, especially when he shared what the kids of the Hortmans had asked people to do in the memory of their parents. They said, plant a tree, pet a dog, or try a new hobby. The best way to honor our parents' memories is to do something to improve your community, however small.
Julia Vargas Jones, CNN, Los Angeles.
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VAUSE: Robert Pape is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago, as well as Director of the Chicago Project on Security and Threats. He is with us this hour from Chicago. Thank you for taking the time to be with us.
ROBERT PAPE, PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: Thanks for having me.
VAUSE: OK. So, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were among the hundreds who attended this funeral. The current President decided not to go, nor did he issue any kind of statement. Is that something which deepens divisions in the country, or is it more of a missed opportunity to try and bridge that divide?
PAPE: Well, it's certainly a missed opportunity, but it's more than that. We are living through a historic era of political violence in America. We have been living through this era for five years. We have had violent riots on both the right and the left, riots with the George Floyd protests. We've had riots against the U.S. Capitol. We've had riots on college campuses.
We've had political assassinations and political assassination attempts, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Donald Trump himself, just to name a few. This is happening against (TECHNICAL DIFFICULTY). This is historic. You have to go back 50 years to the 1960s to find anything like these violent protests and political assassinations. This is really quite disturbing.
So, it is really disturbing that President Trump did not do more to not just show sympathy, but to condemn political violence when it is clearly targeting Democrats. It's awfully easy to condemn political violence when it's targeting your own party. What's difficult for politicians is condemning political violence when it's targeting the other party. This is a big mistake. This is more than just a missed opportunity. It's really quite tragic that President Trump did not see the importance of, at this point in time, holding our country together.
VAUSE: And as bad as things are, an OpEd you wrote in New York Times predicts that we may be on the brink of an extremely violent era in politics. One of the reasons for that, you go on in this OpEd to write, about 40 percent of Democrats supported the use of force to remove Trump from the presidency. About 25 percent of Republicans supported the use of the military to stop protests against Mr. Trump's agenda. These numbers more than doubled since last fall when we asked a similar question. That was for a survey you did for the Chicago Project. So, what is driving the increase in those numbers?
PAPE: What we're seeing is major social change in the United States that's leading to political change and the fragility of political power, which is then leading to the use of force for power, and that social change we also saw in the 1960s, but the details are different. For the last 30 years, we have been going through a major demographic shift from a white majority democracy to a white minority democracy that is changing the nature of political power.
We're also seeing changes of shifting vast wealth to the top 10 percent of Americans, making the bottom 90 percent fight far more intensely than before. And when these social changes happen in countries, and they're now happening in the United States, this doesn't just lead to political polarization.
This leads to us becoming our own worst enemies, and that is what's playing out in Minnesota, is simply a microcosm of this.
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Over the last 15 years, there has been dramatic demographic change in this small state of just about 5.5 million people. You are now seeing the white population not just simply outpaced by the non-white population, but literally an absolute decline, and this is leading to major political change inside of Minnesota, which is leading to, again, the fragility of political power and the use of force to fight back and to grab power.
VAUSE: Robert, it is a very important and very interesting topic which we'll be talking about. We could go on for a very long time, but much longer, but we are out of time. But, thank you for being with us. Robert Pape there in Chicago. Thank you, sir.
We'll take a short break now. For our international viewers, stand by. Inside Africa is up next. For our viewers in the United States, please stay with us. I'll be right back.
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VAUSE: Welcome back, everyone. You're watching CNN Newsroom. I'm John Vause.
We return now to the breaking news which we've been following out of Washington, the U.S. Senate voting to advance President Donald Trump's so-called, big, beautiful bill. 51 senators voted in favor. 49 against it. It's a key procedural hurdle, but not the final Senate vote on the bill. Republican leaders must now satisfy a number of holdouts who are still demanding changes. Donald Trump declared this a great victory in a late night social media post. He wants to sign the bill by the Fourth of July. Now, anything passed by the Senate must still be approved by the lower House of Representatives.
Trump's budget bill comes with big cuts to social programs like Medicaid, which provides healthcare to families with limited income.
CNN's Jeff Zeleny spoke to families in Missouri about the possible impact of those cuts.
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COURTNEY LEADER, DAUGHTER RELIES ON MEDICAID: I know that they're saying that they're not planning to cut Medicaid, right? I reached out concerned that if any changes are made, there will be this trickle- down effect that will impact families like mine.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The front lines of the Medicaid debate are right here in Courtney Leader's kitchen.
ZELENY (on camera): What is the face of Medicaid, do you think? And it is -- is it different than you think some people may assume?
LEADER: I mean, we are the face of Medicaid.
ZELENY (voice-over): The Missouri mother of five wrote her Republican senator, Josh Hawley, to explain how slashing benefits would be devastating to her 9-year-old daughter, Serena, who lives with brain damage and cerebral palsy.
LEADER: Our private insurance won't cover the formula. It doesn't cover the feeding tube pump. The hit on our budget, it would be over $1,500 a month just for the formula, just for the pump rental, and those are things that we have to have to keep my daughter alive. Oh, there is my beautiful smile.
ZELENY (voice-over): We came along for the ride, sitting behind Serena's nurse, who is funded by Medicaid, as they drove to weekly therapy sessions, also paid by Medicaid, which more than one in five Missourians rely on for health coverage.
LEADER: We cannot let people like my daughter lose her benefits. And if anybody tells you that, oh, she is covered, she is protected, I would really encourage you to say how. What provisions have you made to make sure that those who meet eligibility requirements are covered?
ZELENY (voice-over): We visited Ozarks Food Harvest, which distributes food across one third of Missouri. ZELENY (on camera): What is the demand like for food?
BART BROWN, CEO, OZARKS FOOD HARVEST: Unfortunately, Jeff, right now the demand for food is quite a bit higher than it was even at the height of the COVID crisis.
ZELENY (voice-over): Congress is weighing billions in cuts to food assistance programs like SNAP, once known as Food Stamps. That will increase demand at already crowded food pantries like this.
ZELENY (on camera): How important is this food to you?
JUNE OWENS, MARSHFIELD, MISSOURI, RESIDENT: Well, it really helps us get through the month, and they have a good variety of things.
ZELENY (on camera): Your husband got hurt in an accident?
OWENS: Yeah. He fell between 10 and 11 feet, landing on top of his head, but it kind of changed everything. We were in the process of getting all our ducks in a row, so to speak, for retirement, and then he got hurt really bad, and it just upside-downed everything. And so, food pantries do that -- have helped us through the situation.
ZELENY (voice-over): Another hotly contested piece of the spending bill is deep cuts to rural hospitals. Inside a maternity ward in Clinton, Missouri, Dr. Jennifer Blair worries for her patients.
DR. JENNIFER BLAIR, GOLDEN VALLEY MEMORIAL HEALTHCARE: Missouri has the fourth largest number of maternity care deserts. We actually are surrounded by several maternity care deserts. That's defined as a county that has no or very limited access to obstetric services for their patients. If we were to lose that access, the birthing center here at Golden Valley, our patients would have to travel more than 60 miles.
CRAIG THOMPSON, CEO, GOLDEN VALLEY MEMORIAL HEALTHCARE: Four out of five babies that are delivered in our hospital are covered by Medicaid, and that's not unique to us.
ZELENY (voice-over): Craig Thompson is CEO of Golden Valley Memorial. He said many rural hospitals in Missouri and across the country are at high risk for closure.
ZELENY (on camera): Is your hope for what happens over the next couple of weeks in Washington in this debate?
THOMPSON: Well, I think the thing that, again, would be beneficial is for better understanding of who Medicaid serves and what the real Medicaid face looks like, because, again, I think that's been lost somewhere along the way.
ZELENY (voice-over): Courtney Leader shares that hope too.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good girl. Oh, my goodness.
LEADER: I do not have my daughter enrolled on Medicaid so that we can have fancy things.
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I have my daughter enrolled in Medicaid so that we can keep her alive.
ZELENY (on camera): What do you worry about the most?
LEADER: I'm worried that the red tape is going to affect our Medicaid because of just the oversight burdens, and that as a result, I'm going to lose my daughter.
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VAUSE: Jeff Zeleny reporting there.
Now, protesters denounced the site of a new migrant detention site on Friday with dozens of cars lining the highway in Florida. The facility, nicknamed Alligator Alcatraz, is being built in an abandoned airport in the Everglades. It's set to open on Tuesday. According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, it could house up to 5,000 people in tents as well as temporary shelters. Native Americans say the detention center violates their land rights and is dangerous to the environment. But mostly, protesters say the U.S. government's treatment of migrants is inhumane.
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ROBIN HANSEN, TAMPA, FLORIDA RESIDENT: The Everglades in itself is just a very sacred area, and the habitat here needs to be preserved and taken care of, and then, obviously what they're trying to do here with Alligator Alcatraz is horrendous and just really not acceptable. I'm hoping that today we can follow the natives' lead and try and bless the land and protect the land, and do what we can and then thereby protect the people, because, first of all, no human is illegal.
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VAUSE: Ever since Donald Trump's immigration crackdown began, there has been a near-constant stream of images of masked men grabbing apparently random people, forcing them into cars or vans and then detaining them without warning. It happened again this past Friday in Los Angeles, a woman seen running from a masked, armed man, and CNN's Rafael Romo has the story.
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RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): It's a video that gives the public a glimpse into the tactics being used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, as they face enormous pressure to arrest as many undocumented immigrants as possible on a daily basis. The cell phone video was shot by a woman in west Los Angeles on Monday.
Aleca Le Blanc says that she was running errands around 10:30 in the morning when she saw a young woman being chased down the street by an older man wearing street clothes, a tactical belt, and a neck gaiter covering his face. At one point, the young woman being chased clings to a tree in what appears to be a last effort to avoid detention. She is being identified as Selena Vanessa Hernandez Ramirez. This is the moment when she is pried off the tree by the agent, as captured by Le Blanc's cell phone camera.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you have an I.D. and a warrant, of course you to take her?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Are you kidding me, old man? What you're doing is (BEEP). What you're doing is kidnaping.
ROMO (on camera): Shortly before the woman was taken away, an SUV had pulled up with more agents wearing face coverings and hats. They were all armed with guns. Le Blanc says the agents appeared to be confused as to how to handle the situation.
ALECA LE BLANC, RECORDED INCIDENT: I've seen basically an old man chasing a young lady down the street, which is horrifying, and she is running out of fear. By the time I get to the bottom of the hill, I see that she is like clinging to this tree right outside of this like little like strip mall that everyone goes to.
ROMO (on camera): We reached out to officials about the incident. In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security told CNN that during operations on June 23rd, CBP encountered Selena Vanessa Hernandez Ramirez, an illegal alien from El Salvador, for being unlawfully present in the United States. Despite verbal harassment by members of the public, the officers ultimately detained this illegal alien and placed her under arrest.
According to the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, Selena Vanessa Hernandez Ramirez came to the U.S. two years ago with her partner, Carlos, and their now four-year-old son, (inaudible) Javier, hoping to build a better life. She worked hard selling tacos on the streets of Ladera Heights in Los Angeles, doing what she could to support her family. And according to Le Blanc, Hernandez Ramirez does not have an attorney yet, but she is on the wait list to get one from two legal organizations.
Rafael Romo, CNN, Atlanta.
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VAUSE: We'll pause right here. We'll take a short break. Back in a moment. You're watching CNN.
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VAUSE: As Donald Trump continues to expand the power of the presidency, some in China see similarities with the late Chairman Mao Zedong, from upending federal bureaucracy, attacking elite universities, and attempting to dismantle alliances. Some see parallels with the devastating Cultural Revolution in the 1960s.
CNN's Kristie Lu Stout explains.
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KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Cultural Revolution unleashed by Chairman Mao Zedong ripped China apart. It was a decade of torture, abuse, and chaos. The memory from half a century ago still haunts many. Today, in articles and social media posts, scholars and commentators are drawing comparisons between Mao and U.S. President Donald Trump.
SAUL YEUNG, FORMER RED GUARD: Trump has got to be careful too. He has some tendency to enjoy the absolute power.
STOUT (voice-over): Saul Yeung was once one of Chairman Mao's Red Guard. He later fled to the U.S. and embraced American democracy. Now, a successful businessman in Silicon Valley, he refuses to believe that Maoism could take root in America.
YEUNG: I don't think America would be that foolish to accept another Mao. No way. No.
STOUT (on camera): To be clear, there is a fundamental difference between Mao, a dictator of a one-party state, and Trump, an elected President flexing his executive power. But, to many observers, the parallels are strong.
STOUT (voice-over): Mao started his revolution by organizing farmers and blue collar workers. Trump rallied the votes of America's working class. Mao had a deep contempt for intellectual elites and bureaucratic institutions, and mobilized Red Guards to purge intellectuals, senior officials, and scientists. Trump has attacked universities, law firms, and the press, and upended the federal bureaucracy, dismantling agencies and slashing civil service jobs.
As the Republic's founding father, Mao was regarded the Red Son of China. A Chinese netizen writes on a U.S. Embassy WeChat post, the American people also have their own son. Others point out signs of a Mao-like personality cult in Washington, like when Brendan Carr, Chair of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, wore on his chest a gold pin in the shape of Trump's profile, a pin that to many brings to mind the Mao badges worn as a public display of loyalty. But, some China scholars believe the comparison is fundamentally misleading.
JANE HAYWARD, THE LAU CHINA INST., KING'S COLLEGE LONDON: Mao had a genuine goal to try to transform and restructure society to make it egalitarian.
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Trump's objective is to make capitalism more exclusive, which benefits a far more smaller group of people, and that is absolutely the opposite of what Mao is trying to do.
STOUT (voice-over): Back in his home in Silicon Valley, Saul Yeung is confident Americans will avoid another cultural revolution.
YEUNG: I have confidence in American political culture. We are different. America is different.
STOUT (voice-over): For this American survivor of China's tumultuous past, the nightmare is over.
Kristie Lu Stout, CNN, Hong Kong.
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VAUSE: Tropical storm warning in effect for parts of the Gulf of Mexico. The storm is currently called Tropical Depression Two. The U.S. National Hurricane Center says if the storm stays on track, it could make landfall along the Mexican coast Sunday night. Current forecasts say it's most likely to come on shore as a tropical storm. Flooding remains a concern, as the storm could dump 10 inches of rain to several southern states in Mexico.
In China, heavy rain has caused flooding in the south western province of Guizhou, with thousands forced from their homes. Heavy rain earlier this week claimed six lives in an area where three rivers converge. 72 hours saw double the average rainfall for the entire month of June, and officials have raised the emergency threat to its highest level.
Well, as the wedding of billionaire Jeff Bezos comes to a close, protesters continue to denounce the Amazon founder. What some are saying about the groom and his lavish nuptials? In a moment.
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[01:50:00]
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VAUSE: Welcome back. The 30th annual Pride march in Hungary has been both celebration and act of defiance. Demonstrators carried signs reading "Solidarity with Budapest Pride", waved placards with the image of Prime Minister Viktor Orban crossed out.
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ORSI DOMDAN, MARCHER: Everyone wants their freedom and everyone wants to express and their need for freedom. You know what I mean? No one wants to live in oppression, actually, and their love is more important than power.
BELA MOLNAR, MARCHER: At some point, you have to stand up and show you what you want to do in this country, and I want to feel good in this country.
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VAUSE: And the reason why this was also an act of defiance, the march took place despite recently passed laws banning LGBTQ events nationwide. More protests in Venice over the lavish wedding events for Amazon
founder Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez. Some demonstrators, who also work for Amazon, say they can barely make rent on the wages they're paid. Many carried Amazon boxes with slogans like "No Space for Bezos", and other messages which we cannot actually repeat on air. Days of festivities reportedly brought in more than a billion dollars to the city, but protesters say the extravagance is not welcome.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (Interpreted): Taking a city, emptying it of its inhabitants, basically privatizing it for a wedding, for a festive event, which brings nothing positive to the city, but rather robs its resources and identity, is unacceptable to us.
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VAUSE: And days of protests seem to have very little impact on the happy couple, lots of PDAs, Public Displays of Affections, as they headed to the final wedding gala.
CNN's Melissa Bell has been following everything from the parties to the protests all weekend in Venice. Here she is.
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MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Day three, the end of the Lauren Sanchez, Bezos now, and Jeff Bezos wedding that has so dominated attention here in Venice for the last few days, as each day of the last three, this outside the Amman hotel is the scene police boats, boats filled with paparazzi, as they wait to see not just the couple emerge day after day, but also many of their celebrity guests. This last evening, they're waiting for them to get into their vaporettos and head off to the last party. This could be held at the Arsenale. It had to be moved because of protests.
Still, undeterred protesters took to the streets again this final third day of the wedding this Saturday to make their anger known. There were workers from Amazon. There were anti-capitalists. There were climate change protesters. There were those opposed to Venice being used as a backdrop, as a postcard for this wedding, and opposed to the extravagance of it. We've seen them carry out a number of actions over the course of the last few days against the holding of this wedding and everything that went with it.
Still, it's gone on really without a hiccup, largely apart from the moving of that final venue, with all of the guests really abiding by what seems to have been their non-disclosure agreements. You'll have seen very little of what went on within the party, simply at the paparazzi shots of many celebrities that were invited, making their way around the streets of Venice over the course of the weekend.
Melissa Bell, CNN, Venice.
(END VIDEOTAPE) VAUSE: For more than 70 years, Nepalese Sherpas have been setting the
trail for climbers on Mount Everest. They've carried food, equipment, sometimes the climbers themselves up the treacherous mountain. Dozens of Sherpas have lost their lives in the process. Now, a local startup is hoping to use drones to improve safety on the roof of the world, as CNN's Allison Chinchar reports.
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ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): For decades, climbers seeking to conquer Mount Everest and the Sherpas who guide them have faced grueling terrain, furious winds, and sub-freezing temperatures. Now, the feat, once thought to be impossible, is getting an upgrade. Descending from the sky above, a drone delivering oxygen, medicine and even ladders. Nepal-based Airlift Technology has launched a new way to get supplies up Mount Everest's campsites.
MILAN PANDEY, CO-FOUNDER, AIRLIFT TECHNOLOGY: The interesting thing is, so, from base camp to camp one, it takes seven to nine hours for climbers to reach, and our drone can reach over there within three minutes.
CHINCHAR (voice-over): It's a game-changer for Sherpa guides who have long risked their lives crossing the deadly Khumbu Icefall to carry heavy loads.
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TENZING DAVID SHERPA, MOUNTAINEER, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF TERRACES RESORTS (Interpreted): Every Sherpa on the mountain is super happy that the drones are now delivering equipment that they themselves don't have to carry 20, 30 kgs on their backs through this super dangerous part of the mountain.
CHINCHAR (voice-over): But, better yet, the drone doesn't fly back emptyhanded. With it goes garbage from past climbers.
NIMA RINJI SHERPA, NEPALESE MOUNTAINEER (Interpreted): We cannot blame anyone of throwing the garbage. But, yes, as the years has passed, the trash has accumulated on the mountain, and I think right now is the perfect time that we all come together and do something about it.
CHINCHAR (voice-over): Airlift Technology estimates it has removed over a ton of trash from March to May, following its successful drone trials.
T. D. SHERPA: At each camp, Camp one, Camp two, there is always trash either left behind or what I saw at Camp four, for example, is also it is inadvertent. It is not somebody who intentionally litters or leaves trash behind, but it is something like the tents being blown and ripped to shreds by the strong, strong winds that are up there.
CHINCHAR (voice-over): Equipment deliveries and trash pickup killing two birds with one drone.
Allison Chinchar, CNN. (END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Thank you for your company over the past three hours. It's been grand. I'm John Vause in Atlanta. Please stay with us. CNN Newsroom continues with Brian Abel after a very short break.
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