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CNN This Morning

Trump Orders Deployment Of National Guard To Los Angeles Amid Immigration Protests; President Trump's Travel Ban Begins At Midnight; Planned Prisoner Of War Exchanged Failed To Happen Saturday; Abrego Garcia Returned To U.S., Faces Trafficking Charges; More Than 100 Million At Risk As Severe Storms Threaten Southeast, Southern Plains. American Coco Gauff Wins French Open Vs. #1 Ranked Aryana Sabalenka; LGBTQ+ Pioneers Call For A Return To The Movement's Roots In Protest; "My Happy Place" New Episode Airs Sunday At 10 PM ET. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired June 08, 2025 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:37]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to CNN THIS MORNING. It's Sunday, June 8th. I'm Victor Blackwell.

There's a lot going on. We're following several developing stories this morning, including another night of immigration protest in Los Angeles. Police detained several protesters who refused to leave after officers declared an unlawful assembly.

President Trump says that he's sending in thousands of National Guard troops. The secretary of defense says that marines are on high alert.

We're about 18 hours from the start of the president's latest travel ban. Foreign nationals from 12 countries, they'll be banned from entering the U.S. starting at midnight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED ATTENDEE: We're here. You know, we're not going away no matter what they do, no matter what they say. And we had to be here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: World Pride is wrapping up in Washington, D.C. today. Some attendees say this year was part celebration, part protest. We're joined live by one of the organizers ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: That's out. Coco has conquered the clay.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Go ahead, Coco. Coco Gauff mounts a thrilling comeback to win the French Open. She's the first American woman in a decade to take the trophy. We have some highlights for you coming up. President Donald Trump authorized the deployment of 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles after the second day of confrontation between ICE protesters and police. Trump also announced early this morning that he would ban protesters from wearing masks.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that active-duty marines are ready to be mobilized if violence continues. California Governor Gavin Newsom criticized the deployment of the National Guard. He called it -- the move purposefully inflammatory and said it would only escalate tensions.

So, video from yesterday shows that law enforcement in riot gear used tear gas and flash-bangs to disperse crowds. Protesters in the city of Paramount became increasingly agitated. Some protesters saw or were throwing objects at law enforcement and setting a car on fire.

Despite the Trump administration calling the protest lawless, Los Angeles police said Saturday that demonstrations remained peaceful. CNN's Julia Vargas Jones is on the streets of L.A. with more -- Julia.

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I am in downtown Los Angeles, where protesters have been gathering outside the federal building that houses ICE and USCIS. It is also a detention center. They are saying, release the 118 people that were arrested in ICE operations this week. They're saying there is no room for ICE in Los Angeles.

And they just moments ago cheered saying that the National Guard will not make a difference. They will continue to resist. And we have been seeing some scenes of defiance, both here in downtown Los Angeles as well as in Paramount, California, where earlier on Saturday, ICE had a staging area and then clashed with protesters there. Deploying some tear gas in a scene that developed for hours and hours later across the highway in Compton, California.

We saw a car set on fire by protesters holding a Mexican flag there as they set that vehicle on fire. That's again about an hour south of where we are now and where we saw action today. But last night, this was also a scene of protests. It seems that Los Angeles is responding to this, and that is being echoed by the officials here as well.

The mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, saying that she was angered by this, calling it a terror tactic. Governor Gavin Newsom saying that these were cruel operations that were taking place here in Los Angeles, and saying that bringing the National Guard would only fan the flames of these protests that are so far under control. The LAPD issuing a statement later on Saturday saying that the protests in L.A. City were peaceful.

Now, President Donald Trump did speak about this on Truth Social. He posted saying that there were looters across town and that the National Guard was needed in order to bring back the order to this town.

[06:05:04]

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.

BLACKWELL: Julia Vargas Jones, thanks so much. With me now to discuss CNN military analyst Colonel Cedric Leighton. Colonel, good to have you. First question here, is this in your opinion an overreaction, the president's authorization to deploy National Guard troops?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes. Good morning, Victor. Yes, I think it is. You know, when you look at the report that Julia just gave us here, and you look at the basic situation in Los Angeles, it is nowhere near the last time federal troops and National Guard were deployed in Los Angeles. And that's the Rodney King situation back in the 1990s.

So, the situation is completely different. There you actually had looting. You actually had destruction of property. And, you know, and the loss of life.

In this particular case, you don't have anything like that at all. And it does look, at least from the vantage points that we have here, that the local authorities in Los Angeles do have this under control. So, it does seem like an overreaction, and it seems like an unnecessary use of federal power to federalize the National Guard and bring them in.

BLACKWELL: And from my understanding, when the National Guard troops were deployed in the early 90s to California, that was with the request or under the request of the then governor. And so, there was an organized cooperation between local law enforcement and the National Guard.

What is -- and it's been so long since this has come without the request of the governor. What is the cooperation between the military and local law enforcement who didn't ask for these National Guard troops to come?

LEIGHTON: Yes, that's going to be a bit of a challenge. So, the local commanders on the ground, when the National Guard troops actually get there, are going to have to work something out so that things actually work smoothly, because you're right, in the 1990s -- in the early 90s, it was the governor of California who requested of the president of the United States the deployment of, not only National Guard troops, which the governor controlled at that -- in that moment, but also federal troops.

And you look at the absolute differences. So, the local commanders, when the National Guard units arrive there, are going to have to work with the L.A. sheriffs and the LAPD in order to actually make sure that there is no conflict, that the rules of engagement, for example, are clarified, that the troops understand what their roles are. And if they're smart, they're going to stay back and let the local law enforcement handle things unless local law enforcement asks them to step in in specific situations.

That's going to be the key to all of this. And if that can't be done, then we're going to see not only coordination issues, but the potential for some serious mistakes being made as well from a law enforcement as well as military perspective.

BLACKWELL: And of course, no one wants to see that happen. Now, that's the National Guard. The defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, posted on social media that, if violence continues, active-duty marines at Camp Pendleton will also be mobilized. They are on high alert.

And that's a separate conversation here. What is the scope of authority considering the constraints and directions of posse comitatus? What can they do if the marines are deployed into -- to L.A. county?

LEIGHTON: So, this gets into some questionable areas when it comes to the laws. So, what can happen is that under posse comitatus rules, federal troops meaning soldiers, marines, and any other element of the department of defense actually have no law enforcement powers unless, unless there is an exception made. So, there are possible exceptions to the posse comitatus rules, but they have to be handled on a case- by-case basis.

And the other aspect of this would be if another law, namely the Insurrection Act, is invoked, and that would then allow for troops to be used in a law enforcement capacity. But it seems, you know, based on what we know so far, at least, it seems like insurrection is not exactly what's happening in Los Angeles. So, it would be a stretch to actually invoke the Insurrection Act and make it possible for the marines to be used in a law enforcement capacity.

They can be used in a support capacity like we see along the border with Mexico. But it is something that is really based on the laws that we currently have on the books.

[06:10:02]

Not a legal move unless certain exceptions are made.

BLACKWELL: And some of these assets would be used primarily to protect federal buildings, federal assets first, before engaging with civilians?

LEIGHTON: That would be the wisest way to do this. If you're going to do something like this, you protect the federal areas first, like, you know, the federal courthouses, things like that. And that would be one possibility that they kind of serve as a shield, if you will, for those installations. But if they go into a direct law enforcement role, that would then be a violation of the posse comitatus laws, and that would be a problem.

BLACKWELL: All right. Colonel Cedric Leighton, thanks so much. At midnight tonight, President Trump's travel ban begins. Twelve countries are on that list. Seven more will have some partial restrictions. There are some exceptions for lawful permanent residents, some visa holders in categories, and people whose entry serves U.S. national interests.

The president signed it after the antisemitic attack in Boulder, Colorado. However, the suspect in that attack is an Egyptian national. Egypt is not on the list. President Trump said that is because he believes the country has things under control. The president said that he may add other countries to the ban in the future.

Right now, a planned prisoner of war exchange between Russia and Ukraine, that's quickly devolving into kind of a blame game. Russia renewed its attacks on Ukraine as it accused Kyiv of postponing Saturday's swap at the last minute. But Ukraine says that is just, quote, "dirty games from the Kremlin."

With us now for analysis, CNN political and national security analyst David Sanger. David, good morning to you. Now, of course, I want to talk about what's happening between Russia and Ukraine. But we just heard the military angle and perspective of this decision to authorize deployment of National Guard troops to Los Angeles county. National security and political angle, what's the political message being sent here by the president?

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, good morning, Victor. The -- as you heard from Cedric, I mean, there is this series of legal obstacles that the president is quickly trying to get around here, federalizing the National Guard and then the threat from Defense Secretary Hegseth that he would use active-duty marines but has not yet decided to go do that.

Obviously, the reason that these laws were created back in the 1800s was to avoid having the U.S. military play a role in suppressing any kind of domestic protest on the theory that this would be an overuse of federal power. And the real question here is just the political one that you are raising, which is, is this a case where the troops are actually needed? Or is the president simply seizing on the first incident in his time in office to establish the precedent that he's going to use the National Guard very actively?

Because we know that during the Black Lives Matter -- Black Lives Matter protests that occurred in his first term, he was told not to go do this and said later that he regretted not activating them. And that's, I think, the critical issue here is he just trying to set a precedent.

BLACKWELL: Yes. And the president said in 2023, I read in "The New York Times" later -- this morning, and I'll have the fuller quote later that he's not going to wait. If there is a moment that he sees that the National Guard could quell some unrest, he's not going to wait for a request from the governor.

So, let's turn now to Russia and Ukraine. A couple of weeks ago, when there was this, I don't want to call it a stalemate, but lack of progress on ceasefire talks between Russia and Ukraine, the swaps continued, the largest to that point. Does the drone attack from Ukraine deep into Russia kind of changed the table for any of these swaps moving forward? What's happening here?

SANGER: Well, we hope it doesn't, but it very well could. Look, this was a huge intelligence and defensive failure for the Russians and for Vladimir Putin. It revealed a huge vulnerability for the Russian military. Some of the aircraft that were destroyed were not only used in these conventional attacks against Ukraine, and that was the reason that they were targeted. They are what are called dual capable aircraft, which means that they can carry nuclear weapons.

[06:15:03]

So, what he lost was some of his nuclear delivery capability, not enough to make a difference, but enough to be a huge embarrassment. And, you know, I think what we've learned in the past couple of weeks is, first, Vladimir Putin is not interested in doing a ceasefire now. Second, that he has been embarrassed. And I think the result is the kind of retaliation you've seen in the past 48 hours.

And I think the third is that the Ukrainians feel at this point that they have to show that they can take the initiative and go on the offensive. And that's probably going to slow these prisoner swaps as well.

BLACKWELL: And so, where is the sense of urgency in the White House? Because the president, as of late, has compared Russia and Ukraine as children fighting on the playground. He said in the Oval Office on Thursday, sometimes you're better off just letting them fight for a while and then pulling them apart.

So, has the U.S. reached that phase that Secretary Rubio suggested it would a couple of months ago, that at some point, the U.S. will have to move on?

SANGER: Secretary Rubio has said that. And at various moments, the president said it in different terms. And that basically is the argument that, well, the U.S. came in and tried, couldn't do it here. Let's let them fight it all out.

So, we'll separate out the fact that we've -- you know, in a war here that's had over a million casualties. It's hardly a playground kind of issue. But separate and apart from that, I think that President Trump was looking initially for a quick diplomatic win. It would have been great if he could have actually brought about a ceasefire. He discovered it was a lot harder than he had thought during the campaign that not only wasn't he going to do it in 24 hours, he wasn't going to do it in his first 100 days.

And I think the big question now, as he heads to first the G7 meeting next week or next weekend in Canada, and then the NATO meeting is, is he abandoning the process or is he abandoning Ukraine? And I think the fear among Europeans is that he's actually abandoning Ukraine.

BLACKWELL: David Sanger, thank you so much. Still to come, President Trump says it was not his decision to bring Kilmar Abrego Garcia back to the U.S. The latest on the controversial immigration case, that's next.

Plus, Coco Gauff claimed her second career grand slam singles title on Saturday. We'll have a play-by-play account of the thrilling French Open women's final.

And three people injured in a stabbing and shooting incidents in Washington during World Pride celebrations. We have more on the violence that cast a bit of a shadow over the event, that's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:22:45]

BLACKWELL: Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man mistakenly deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador back in March, he's back in the U.S. and at the center of a federal investigation. He's facing charges tied to an alleged human smuggling operation. CNN's Rafael Romo has the latest on the case, and President Trump's response. Rafael, good morning.

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Victor, good morning. Kilmar Abrego Garcia remains in federal custody after he appeared 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 unsealed Friday, Abrego Garcia and others are accused of being part of a conspiracy going as far back as 2016, in which they, quote, "knowingly and unlawfully transported thousands of undocumented aliens who had no authorization to be present in the United States, and many of whom were MS-13 members and associates."

But Abrego Garcia and his family say he fled gang violence in El Salvador and have denied allegations he is 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.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SIMON SANDOVAL-MOSHENBERG, ABREGO GARCIA'S ATTORNEY: We learned about it on T.V. just like the rest of the country.

[06:25:02]

What's clear -- this just makes crystal clear what we've been saying, frankly, for the past two months is that they've been playing games with the court. It just goes to show that they've been more interested in dragging his name through the mud than in actually sort of going through with proper court proceedings, just like it has been since day one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: And then 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. Victor, now back to you.

BLACKWELL: Rafael, thank you very much. This morning, more than 100 million people are under the threat of severe storms. The danger is focused in two main areas, one across the Southeast, the other stretches through the Southern Plains, including northern Texas and Oklahoma. CNN's Allison Chinchar is with me now. The threat has grown significantly overnight.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, both in size and impact too. When we spoke yesterday, we talked about the day ahead saying, Sunday was going to be a level three. It's now a level four out of five. So, not only has the threat level gone up, so is the population.

You know it had been about 60 million. Now we're talking 100 million. So, let's get right into it so we can see where those storms are.

As Victor mentioned, we've got several different areas. You've got a portion that's kind of headed in towards the mid-Atlantic region. And right there along the North Carolina coast.

But you also have a secondary area that's located across the Southeast. This is where the bulk of our warnings are located right now. You've got several severe thunderstorm warnings right there along the Alabama-Georgia state line. We've even had a few off and on a little bit behind that main line. But even a few isolated severe thunderstorm warnings across Virginia and North Carolina this morning.

So again, you've got two separate areas here that we are going to be keeping a close eye on as we go through the rest of the day. Here's an overall scope of what can be expected. The area you see off to the east, this is that first system that's really going to be wrapping up and then eventually headed out over the Atlantic. Then we have a secondary system that's expected to develop this afternoon and into this evening.

This is the really strong one. This is the one we are looking at. Sustained wind gusts up around 50-60 miles per hour. With some of those gusts 80 to 100 miles per hour. The weather service also calling for giant hail up to five inches in diameter. To put that in perspective, that's the size of a CD or a DVD or bigger than a grapefruit, if you were born past 2000 and don't know what a DVD is.

The timing for a lot of this is going to continue through the afternoon and evening hours, especially that cluster, Victor, over portions of Oklahoma and Texas.

BLACKWELL: All right. Dangerous day. Allison, thank you. Coco Gauff, she picked up her first French Open title on Saturday. How she stormed back to defeat world number one in the thrilling women's final. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:32:07]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Headlines now, and we've just learned that two Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies were hurt during a clash with crowds protesting ICE sweeps.

The Sheriff's Department tells CNN the deputies were treated and released from the hospital. The National Guard is federalized in Los Angeles for the first time since the deadly 1992 riots over the Rodney King verdict. And President Trump ordered the deployment of 2,000 California National Guard troops.

The video shows officers emerging from the L.A. Federal Building near downtown L.A. last night. You can see them throwing smoke bombs to try to break up crowds.

Earlier in the day, in Compton, a car, look at this, was set afire. It sent thick black smoke into the sky. Protesters were seen blocking streets in Paramount, that's south of L.A.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a beautiful day of resistance. And for every single minute that we were here resisting against the Border Patrol, that was time that they were not out deporting people in our community. They could not kidnap people in our community today because the people came out to resist.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's very disturbing. You know, you're separating people from their kids, families and whatnot. Younger kids don't understand what's going on, seeing what's going on. So it's just, it's very disturbing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: LAPD says several protesters have been detained.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says Marines stationed at Camp Pendleton are on high alert for deployment in Los Angeles if necessary.

The House and Senate will be back in session tomorrow. Big item on the senator's agenda, of course, negotiating key red lines around President Trump's so-called big, Beautiful Bill. The President is facing some resistance within his party.

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul has threatened to vote against the bill. The Congressional Budget Office says that it'll add more than $2 trillion to federal deficits over 10 years. The Senate is facing a self-imposed deadline of July 4th to get the bill to President Trump's desk.

The salmonella outbreak linked to eggs has sickened more than 70 people across seven states. The CDC says that 21 of the people have been hospitalized.

On Friday, the August Egg Company recalled 1.7 million dozen eggs sold under multiple brand names. The eggs were sold at several stores, including Walmart, Safeway and Ralph's.

American Coco Gauff defeated the number one ranked player in the world, Aryna Sabalenka, to win the French Open at the age of 21.

CNN sports anchor Coy Wire has the highlights.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: What a moment. Coco Gauff has just become the first American to win the French Open since Serena Williams a decade ago.

Coco just turned 21 a few months ago. Now facing the world number one, Aryna Sabalenka, who raced out to a big early lead. All of her shots on point.

[06:35:03]

But the match quickly showed promise of being all that we thought it could be. Coco fighting back, forcing a tiebreaker with an incredible passing shot off a Sabalenka overhead. But that's when Sabalenka really upped her game at five all in the tiebreaker.

Eventually she secures the point that clinched it brilliant tennis from Sabalenka taking the opener 7-6, but the second set totally different story. Coco fired up making a statement with a dominant comeback, powering her way through wild and whirling wind conditions on court. Sabalenka saying afterwards they were some of the worst you've seen. Gauff wins the second set six games to two and in the decider Sabalenka looking flustered, her body languages off, Coco continued to shine and eventually falls to the court realizing she just won her second Grand Slam title first ever French Open.

6-7 6-2 6-4 Coco had been 0-4 against world number ones in majors coming in after picking herself off the course she sent heart hands to mom and dad proudly cheering in the stands. Coco talked with TNT analyst Sloane Stephens after winning one of the all-time great women's major finals we've seen.

SLOANE STEPHENS, TNT ANALYST: Coco amazing match today, 2025 Roland Garros champion how does it feel. COCO GAUFF, 2025 FRENCH OPEN WINNER: Yes, it feels great, it was tough I don't think either of us are playing great, but I knew as soon as I stepped in the court when I felt that it was windy it was going to be one of those matches so I was just trying to give myself the best chance and fight every point.

STEPHENS: Before the match I said, she's a fighter but you're an even better fighter. How did -- how deep did you have to dig in order to pull that out?

GAUFF: Really deep I think especially that last game, you know, I was obviously very nervous, but I think that was you know something I'm really proud of just managing to get another ball back and trying to play with the condition. So yes.

STEPHENS: OK, we conquered this. What's next?

GAUFF: Hopefully another one. Yes, definitely another one, but for now just enjoying this one and yes, I'm just glad to get another title to my resume.

STEPHENS: Congratulations.

GAUFF: Thank you.

WIRE: Coco Gauff is so kind and humble, such a megastar at just 21 years old. Remember earlier this tournament she forgot her rackets for one of the matches her team had to get him for, clearly things turned out all right for Coco Gauff the 2025 French Open champ.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: All right Coy, thank you.

The World Pride Parade marched through Washington D.C. on Saturday. Coming up a look at how violence and the Trump administration's rollback of LGBTQ+ rights is cast a shadow over the events.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:42:20]

BLACKWELL: World Pride 2025 set to wrap up later today in Washington, D.C. With a rally and march for international human rights at the Lincoln Memorial.

It's been a busy weekend celebrating the 50th anniversary of Pride in the nation's capital. Thousands participated in the big parade through the streets of D.C. yesterday. But violence cast a shadow over the event. Two people were stabbed. Another was shot in separate incidents. They're all expected to be OK.

The violence comes as many in the community feel like the progress of the last 50 years is under assault.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ELLA, ANNAPOLIS MARYLAND: I felt like I really had to come this year. I've always gone for the past few years. But this year I was like, I feel like I really have to go because of everything going on. So, we came.

JOE VESCIO, REHOBOTH BEACH, DELAWARE: I hope that people from around the world will see that we're all gathering here. And that the United States is still a welcome place for the world to come to if you're LGBTQ+.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Joining me now to discuss June Crenshaw, Deputy Director of the Capital Pride Alliance.

June, thank you for being with me. I want to just jump off. This is actually not where I planned on starting. But after hearing that soundbite from the last gentleman saying that this is still a welcome place to come if you're LGBTQ around the world.

Is that shared by some of the people who were planning to come from around the world? But have seen some of the rollbacks and even some of the rhetoric from the administration. Did they come and are they feeling welcome?

JUNE CRENSHAW, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, CAPITAL PRIDE ALLIANCE: Good morning. I'm so excited to be here. Those sentiments were felt by many of the attendees that have been participating since May 17th.

Obviously there has been fear and concern. And, you know, lots of concern with coming and attending. We've had to pivot and change. And really create collaborations with folks to make sure that all of our programming was safe. That folks that wanted to travel to the country had access to doing that. But it has been a challenge with the turmoil with the Trump administration. And just really not being sure whether our sponsors and supporters were going to be there for us.

BLACKWELL: And so, let's break this into two parts here. Because you talked about the turmoil with the administration. And there are thematically a couple of ways you can do that.

You can square up and confront the administration head on with your messaging. Or there can be kind of a rebellious disregard to just dance on the front porch, essentially.

[06:45:11]

What's the approach of world pride?

CRENSHAW: That's a great question. And I think we did a combination of both of those things. Pride has always been a protest. Its origins were around protesting hate, violence, discrimination toward our community. And so that's what it has been this year with world pride.

So, it's been important and very important for us to have visibility to make sure our voices are heard and to build community and show up. And we've done that in spades this time. And so that has been our approach.

We've also been working to build community, to build coalition, to have strategies around fighting all the hate -- hatred and the language and rhetoric directed our community. The laws and bills that have been directed at our trans members of our community and non- binary folks.

And so, it's been a multi-pronged approach to making sure that we don't lose all of the things that we've accomplished over the years and that we are standing together in unity and making sure that all members of our community are safe.

BLACKWELL: There's also been over the last year this purge or attempted purge of DEI from public life. Big companies divesting from the HRC and pride events. Have you seen a decrease or any substantial shift in sponsors and supporters?

CRENSHAW: Absolutely. We were impacted just as most prides around the nation and even the world were impacted. Some of our typical sponsors took a wait and see approach and did not commit early. Other sponsors and brands that have typically partnered with us, decided to not support us.

And again, we had to continue with our momentum, continue with our celebration without their support. I would say generally we saw about a 20 percent decrease in corporate sponsors.

BLACKWELL: June Crenshaw, thank you so much for your time this morning.

We'll take a quick break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:52:09]

BLACKWELL: To celebrate "CNN'S ORIGINAL SERIES, MY HAPPY PLACE", a few of my colleagues have taken us to their happy place.

And this morning, we're going with CNN chief climate correspondent Bill Weir through the slot canyons of Buckskin Gulch, Utah.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to one of my very favorite happy places. I got a bunch of them on mountains and swamps and coral reefs all over the world.

But this place is special. This is Buckskin Gulch, Utah, one of the longest slot canyons anywhere in the world.

WEIR (voice-over): On a satellite map, it looks like a snake 16 miles long. But down in it is another world made of rock and light, time and silence.

WEIR: It is so quiet that the only sounds of the buzz of a fly and maybe a commercial airliner 35,000 feet above.

WEIR (voice-over): Through alleys as wide as your shoulders and highest skyscrapers, each bend in the rock reveals a new surprise.

WEIR: This is all created by eddies of water spinning, boring over eons to create these incredible sculptures. Look at this.

WEIR (voice-over): But to enjoy the wonders of Buckskin Gulch, one must also enjoy crotch deep ice cold puddles.

WEIR: And then if you're lucky, right around the time your toes are frozen numb, you find a little pocket of sunshine. Like a little oasis of warmth.

WEIR (voice-over): I first backpacked here right before the pandemic, thrown in with an eclectic group that included Mr. All right. All right. All right. Matthew McConaughey. And that's Dan Buechner of the Blue Zones getting a lesson in quicksand.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, thanks for setting up this trip, Dan.

(CROSSTALK)

WEIR (voice-over): But on that amazing trip, we were all most impressed with the man who led the way. Glen Van Peski. This guy is a legend in the world of ultralight backpacking and so-called through hikers.

GLEN VAN PESKI, AUTHOR, TAKE LESS, DO MORE: Well, you're on the trail for, you know, a week or a month or a year, depending on the trail.

WEIR: I don't know about you, Glen, but my happy places usually involve some threat of danger. What are they here?

VAN PESKI: You could twist an ankle. You could run out of water. Hypothermia.

WEIR: Snakes, scorpions, any of those?

VAN PESKI: Two rattlesnakes down here. Scorpion ones.

WEIR (voice-over): Former engineer, Glen spent decades shaving every spare gram of weight from his pack until his garage became a company called Gossamer Gear. And his philosophy became take less, do more.

[06:55:04]

VAN PESKI: Yes, that's my sleeping pad.

WEIR: You find that's enough, Glen?

VAN PESKI: I do with the right skills. And this is, you know, true in a lot of life. If you have the knowledge and skills, sometimes that can take the place of stuff. And your brain doesn't weigh anymore no matter how much you pack in it. I think especially our culture, there's so much focus on, well, to be happy, to be fulfilled, we need to get more stuff. You know, another car, another vacation house, more stuff for the kitchen, whatever this stuff is. But ultralight backpacking reminds me like how little I actually need.

WEIR: Right.

VAN PESKI: And that the things that make me happy isn't the stuff. It's the places.

WEIR: It's the experience.

VAN PESKI: It's the experiences.

WEIR: Yes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Be sure to watch a new episode of "MY HAPPY PLACE" with award-winning actor Simu Liu, airs tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern, only on CNN.

We'll be back after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)