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Trump Orders Deployment Of National Guard To L.A. Amid Immigration Protests; Trump's Travel Ban Of 12 Countries To Take Effect After Midnight; Trump Claims Travel Ban Due To Students, Others Overstaying Visas; Russia Sends More Ukrainian Soldiers' Bodies To Border Amid Prisoner Swap Blame Game; Army Working To Fortify D.C. Streets Ahead Of Military Parade. Trump Orders Deployment of National Guard to L.A.; "Hamilton" Cast Reunite for Tony Awards. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired June 08, 2025 - 07:00   ET

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

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[07:00:37]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Good morning, welcome to a brand new week, and welcome to CNN This Morning. It's Sunday, June 8th. I'm Victor Blackwell. Thank you for joining us.

President Donald Trump authorized the deployment of 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles. This is after a second day of confrontations between ICE protesters and police. Trump also announced early this morning that he would ban protesters from wearing masks.

Video from Saturday shows law enforcement in riot gear using smoke bombs and flashbangs to disperse protesters. The L.A. County Sheriff's Office said two deputies were injured during a clash with protesters. They were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. They've since been released.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that active-duty Marines are ready to be mobilized if, in his words, violence continues. California Governor Gavin Newsom criticized the deployment or the authorization of deployment, calling the move purposefully inflammatory and said it would only escalate tensions.

A protest in the city of Paramount became increasingly agitated. Some protesters threw objects at law enforcement. In Compton, look at this, a car was set on fire. L.A. police said that several people were detained and one arrest was made with charges still pending. And despite the Trump administration's calling the protests lawless, Los Angeles police said Saturday's demonstrations remained peaceful.

The president's move to do to authorize the deployment of National Guard marks a significant escalation and the first time a U.S. president has used such power since the 92 Rodney King riots in L.A.

CNN Senior National Security Analyst Juliette Kayyem explains why this move is unprecedented. JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: In the United States, in a democracy, there are protests. Most are peaceful. Most are lawful. And we go on as a democracy. In this case, there were unlawful and in some instances, not peaceful protests. Unlawful in the sense that you cannot, no matter what your opinions are about ICE, disrupt a federal law enforcement action.

No one -- so that's what's on the ground. What's at debate or concern today is the response, because, you know, you want to respond to the threat level. The California has dealt with this unrest and has said so, because generally we allow local and state authorities to address civil protests and civil unrest.

But Donald Trump determined that -- what he was seeing would justify in his mind the federalization of these troops. This is unprecedented in the sense that you almost never. And in my memory, I've been in this field, I oversaw a National Guard. I understand military civilian operations.

Does a president federalize a National Guard in -- with a protest by a governor for a situation on the ground that, while unrestful, is not to the level where you would want to deploy federalized troops? Unprecedented.

To give a historical example, you know, Hurricane Katrina 20 years ago, the governor asked for the National Guard to be federalized so that the president, President Bush, could help hurt the state, which was in the city, which were essentially not functional, literally not functional. Courts weren't open. The police department barely existed.

We've seen it in the past when a governor has defied a court order, say the Little Rock desegregation case. But not in an instance like this. And this is where the debate comes in, is -- looking at what's happening on the ground, is this the floor that you actually want to -- or the situation that you actually think is justified a president, let alone a secretary of defense, to threaten active military.

I've been in this field a long time. My answer is no.

BLACKWELL: President Trump's travel ban takes effect right after midnight. The executive order prohibits foreign nationals from 12 countries from entering the U.S. There's also a partial ban against seven additional countries. The president claims that it's to protect national security, said new countries could be added to the list if threats around the world emerge.

[07:05:09]

Visa or green card holders are not targeted by the travel ban. And there are also exemptions for certain other categories. Trump instituted a travel ban in his first term, you'll remember, against majority Muslim countries.

Let's discuss now with Democratic Congresswoman from Florida, Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick. She serves on the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa ranking member there. She's also co- chair of the Haitis Caucus. Thank you for being with us this morning.

We're going to talk about this travel ban in a moment. But first, any thoughts on the president's decision to authorize the deployment of National Guard troops against these ICE protests?

REP. SHEILA CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK (D), FLORIDA: I think it's the wrong move. What he needs to do is to stop the escalation of the force of ICE. If you see the presence they're coming in, they're coming in with heavy military uniforms, being aggressive. And that's just exacerbating the frustration that people are having, coming into school, coming into areas.

So now he's just going to escalate it. And more and more people are going to fight back because they're actually fighting for their families. It's definitely the wrong move. And I think it's intentional to promote fear and anger amongst the people so he can show his base that he's actually going against this war on immigrants who are evil and criminals, which is totally not true.

BLACKWELL: All right, let's talk about this travel ban. The White House says that the people from these countries have been banned because, quote, "the vetting and screening information is so deficient as to warrant a full or partial suspension, and it's also to protect national security, national interest of the United States". What do you say this is about?

CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK: I think this is really about him appeasing his base and the lies that he put out about this criminal nature of migrants. I think he's trying to show that he's there fighting this war, this imaginary war, because it's not true. There's no evidence to support that Haitians are a national security risk that would force them or even call for them to have a total ban.

When they talk about rates of Haitians who have been in the United States longer, that data, there's no data to show that except for the ones who have gotten extensions for TPS. So his rationale for imposing it, especially putting Haiti in that first block of people, that full ban is totally ridiculous. It's baseless.

So I think we're going to see a lot of challenges, legal challenges when it comes to that. The one thing they might try to stand on is a designation as a foreign terrorist organizations, which are only two gangs. And those two gangs, if you look at the entire population of Haiti, which is 12 million, is probably 0.000001 percentage. And it's easy to screen those people and make sure they can't come out.

So I think this is more propaganda coming from the White House, especially right now, to try to divert us and distract us from the failure of the big, ugly bill. In reality, what it's really doing is just causing what I look at and it looks like a civil war that's engaging.

When I turned on the TV and I saw what was going on in L.A., I asked myself, is this a third world country? Where is this going on? It can't be in America that this is actually happening. But unfortunately, we're at a place where we're actually sending ICE and police and now the National Guard to attack American people who are exercising their first American rights, which is the freedom of speech and to organize and to protest. So this is totally ridiculous and unacceptable.

BLACKWELL: Yes. You know, you point out that there's no history of Haitians executing attacks on U.S. citizens. The president invoked the Boulder, Colorado attack. That was an Egyptian national. Egypt is not on the list of countries that are facing this travel ban.

You say there'll be a fight, but there was a fight against the 2017 travel ban and the Supreme Court in 2018 upheld that one. So what suggests that this fight will be any more successful against the 2025 ban than it was against the one in the first term?

CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK: Well, if you're looking at the rationale and the reasons for the countries they actually put partial or full bans against, the rationale is not adding up. There is no data to support it. I'll give you an example.

If you look at Haiti, Haiti, they're saying there are two gangs in there that are foreign terrorist organizations, but who have never done any national security or any activity outside. Whereas Cuba is actually -- the entire state of Cuba, country of Cuba is actually declared a terrorist state or organized terrorist state

So why is it that Cuba has a partial and Haiti has a full? And if you keep going through and picking through all the positions they put on why the causation, it doesn't add up. So there's going to be a big fight behind this because it seems like they're just going with the narrative they put out last year by J.D. Vance that Haitians were in Ohio eating animals and being criminals, all which was false, that they're continuing this propaganda and these lies now. So you're going to see a huge fight.

[07:10:02]

And I think there's more success specifically in this situation because around June 4th, the administration was supposed to determine if Haiti was safe even to send back TPS holders, and they failed to do that. And they have to actually declare that 60 days before they send back TPS holders, which if they do that, that would be a huge conflict because either Haiti is safe or it is not safe.

And they have to make that determination and justify why Blackwater is even in there doing those activities if Haiti is safe. So I think there's going to be a lot of nuances and a lot of fighting going on, especially when it comes to Haiti.

BLACKWELL: Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, thanks so much for your time this morning.

New this morning, Russia says it's sending trains carrying the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers toward the Ukrainian border. This is after yesterday's deadly strikes in Ukraine's second largest city and failed prisoner swap between the two countries. Both sides are pointing fingers. Russia accuses Ukraine of backing out at the last minute, something Ukrainian officials calling dirty games.

CNN's Sebastian Shukla joins us now from Berlin. What's the latest?

SEBASTIAN SHUKLA, CNN PRODUCER: Yes, good morning, Victor. The trading of barbs by each side doesn't appear to be changing. And the situation, frankly, hasn't really changed from yesterday. What the Russians are saying this morning, Victor, is that 1,212 frozen bodies of Ukrainian servicemen identified by their clothing have arrived at this prisoner exchange point in the region of Bryansk in Russia, which borders Ukraine, ready to be handed over.

I want you to take a listen to what the Lieutenant General Alexander Zorin had to say about the exchange this morning.

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LT. GEN. ALEXANDER ZORIN, RUSSIA (through translation): This is the first batch, the first part. It consists of 1,212 bodies of Ukrainian servicemen, many of whom have been identified, but all of whom have been identified as Ukrainian servicemen by their uniforms and the area where they were found.

I can tell you that in just an hour, repatriation trains carrying the bodies of military personnel will also begin to move. This is in order to fulfill the promise made by the Russian side to the Ukrainians during the negotiations in Istanbul.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

SHUKLA: So what we're hearing there is that the Russians say they are upholding their end of the bargain and blaming the Ukrainians for not keeping theirs. The Ukrainians, though, are saying that, yes, we did agree to this prisoner exchange, but we didn't yet agree on the day at those meetings in Istanbul, which took place last Monday.

It seems to be at the moment, Victor, that we're at a little bit of an impasse here as to whether this swap is going to take place at all. What we have seen in the past and the context of this is that prisoner exchanges are not regular, but have been happening drip by -- little by little drip steps every now and again. This would be the second biggest or the second largest exchange of prisoners in as many weeks.

Victor, we will wait to see what will happen when these other 4,500 frozen Ukrainian bodies arrive at this exchange point. And if the Ukrainians will arrive at the point to -- for this exchange with the same number of bodies, if they will come with different terms, we don't yet know. But what it seems to be is that we are now locked in a little bit of a standoff, a bit like these negotiations to end the war in general, Victor.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Sebastian Shukla for us in Berlin, thank you.

Security is tight this morning after last week's anti-Semitic attacks in Boulder, Colorado. Coming up, the security in place ahead of today's 30th annual Jewish festival. And the Army is preparing for the largest military parade on the Washington streets in decades. Coming up, the precautions in place to help prevent too much damage. And Coco Gauff claimed a second career Grand Slam singles title on Saturday, an account of the thrilling French Open women's final.

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[07:18:57]

BLACKWELL: In a few hours, the Boulder Jewish Festival will be held at the same park where an anti-Semitic attack happened last week. Organizers are increasing security around the event, including SWAT teams and drones.

An Egyptian national is facing more than 100 state charges, including attempted murder for the attack. Several people were injured, including a Holocaust survivor. The suspect is also facing federal hate crime charges.

Next weekend, millions of pounds of military vehicles, including tanks, will roll down the streets of Washington, D.C. This is a celebration of the U.S. Army's 250th birthday, which is coincidentally the same day as Donald Trump's birthday, June 14th. And there are real concerns that the largest military parade in decades could damage the streets.

CNN's Natasha Bertrand has more for us. Natasha?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: The city of Washington, D.C., and the Army is preparing for a massive military parade here in the nation's capital that is expected to bring roughly 7 million pounds of military equipment and hardware to D.C. streets. It's caused a lot of concern about how the streets are going to handle it, whether it's going to damage underground infrastructure, including gas pipelines.

[07:20:09]

But this is something that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been working on for several months now, after they got word from the White House that the White House wanted to add a parade to the Army's 250th birthday celebrations.

Now, what we're expecting to see, in terms of the equipment rolling down the streets of Washington, D.C., in just under two weeks' time, are heavy Abrams tanks, Bradley and Stryker fighting vehicles, howitzers, other military equipment from across the years of the Army's participation in global conflicts. It's going to essentially trace the Army's history through its 250 years.

Now, in terms of what the Army has been doing to mitigate the potential damage from all of this equipment that will be heading down the streets here, they have been investing roughly $3 million in trying to protect D.C. infrastructure, and that includes putting metal plates down on the streets of Washington, D.C., at various points where these tanks are going to be making sharp turns, and that could potentially damage the streets.

They have been installing new track pads on these vehicles to create more of a separation between the metal of the tanks and the asphalt of the streets. And they told us that they are ensuring that these tanks and these vehicles are going to be moving at a very slow pace. They will essentially be moving at a walking pace.

And so, they are very confident that this is not going to cause any damage to D.C. streets. But, of course, there are still concerns from city officials that something could happen here. And that is precisely why when Trump wanted this kind of military parade in his first term. D.C. officials, as well as defense officials, warned him against it, because putting these heavy tanks down on the streets of D.C. could cause potentially catastrophic damage.

This time around, the parade is expected to be slightly smaller than what Trump wanted in his first term. It's going to focus, as I said, only on the Army. And the Army Corps of Engineers is very confident that they have done enough here to protect D.C. streets and infrastructure.

So, expect to see a very large parade, the largest that the city has seen in decades. But, again, the Army, really confident, they tell us, that there is not going to be any significant damage as a result of all of this hardware rolling down the streets of Washington, D.C.

BLACKWELL: Natasha, thank you.

Still ahead, during his very public feud with President Trump, Elon Musk has floated the idea of starting a new political party. What's that about? We'll get into it and more in the morning roundup.

And be sure to tune in a new episode of "Eva Longoria Searching for Spain" airs tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific right here on CNN.

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[07:27:16]

BLACKWELL: All right, the city of Los Angeles now worried about even more escalations there. President Donald Trump says that he's deployed the National Guard to quash the ongoing confrontations between ICE protesters and police.

Let's get into it. Washington Bureau Chief for the Atlanta Journal- Constitution Tia Mitchell, Retired Judge Ashley Willcott and podcast host Rachel LaForce are with me for the roundup this morning.

All right, so let's start here with these protests. And Tia, I'll come to you first. Is this more about the enforcement of the law or reinforcement of a message for the president?

TIA MITCHELL, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION: Well, I think the protests are about how ICE is carrying out its immigration enforcement. But I do think that President Trump is, number one, trying to -- he's always been kind of critical of public protests. But I also think he's also been very critical of California and governing officials in California.

So I think his reaction is a combination of that. And we also know that Trump kind of likes to bring critics and opponents to their knees. So now it's like us versus them. And now I think that's part of the reason why the National Guard is being brought in. That's part of the concern about the National Guard is that Trump has said, you know -- I think Trump indicates that he wants to be perceived as winning over now these protests in California.

JUDGE ASHLEY WILLCOTT, RETIRED JUDGE & COURT TV ANCHOR: But the National Guard could escalate everything. I mean, yes, there's a reason for it, a purpose for it, but you've got to be real careful because it may just escalate it to a point that's really going to become even worse.

RACHEL LAFORCE, HOST, "HEALING IS HILARIOUS" PODCAST: I would agree, because I spent a long time in Los Angeles, and I would say, very proud people. And we're like, oh, no, no, no, send whoever you want. Like, we're here, and this is what we're saying. And so I think it's going to be an interesting situation.

MITCHELL: And I'm concerned, yes, that bringing in the National Guard could escalate the protests, but that also brings its own risk that there could be, you know, use of lethal or nonlethal force against the protesters, that it could become more violent on both sides. There is real risk of injury and harm.

We saw that there were some police officers that said they were injured last night. Things could just get more serious and a lot more risk. And I think that's kind of what's being -- to me, I read that between the lines when I see the elected officials in California saying they're worried about the escalation.

BLACKWELL: There's also the concern of the cooperation between local law enforcement and the National Guard because while it's been decades since the president has federalized the National Guard, the last time it happened was during the Rodney King protest.

Governor Wilson asked for those National Guard troops to come in. It's been even longer since they were sent in without the request of the governor. So, how will they cooperate? We had a conversation our last hour with Colonel Leighton.

Let's talk more about protests here and a lawsuit filed by the Proud Boys. $100 million lawsuit filed against the federal government. And let's put up what they said. These five members said that they were victims of an egregious and systemic abuse of the legal system and the United States Constitution to punish and oppress political allies of President Trump. They say their conviction was akin to placing one's enemy's heads on a spike outside the town wall as a warning to any who would think to challenge the status quo? Judge, the credibility of the case?

JUDGE ASHLEY WILLCOTT, RETIRED JUDGE AND COURT TV ANCHOR: Well, here's the issue. They were convicted of conspiracy, seditious conspiracy, meaning that they've already gone through the legal system. So, to now say, we're going to sue for this much money because of a violation of constitutional rights, you have that right to sue, but you've already been convicted, sentenced to 22 years. The only reason you're out was because of clemency issued by the president. So, I just don't know how much merit their claims really have.

TIA MITCHELL, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION: Yes, I feel like these lawsuits are less about winning in court and more about winning in the sphere of public opinion, especially in conservative corners of the internet, conservative podcasters, conservative news sites. And that's where this is kind of continuing to reinforce the message that during the Biden administration, the government was weaponized against not just these far-right leaders, but Trump supporters more broadly.

BLACKWELL: Yes. And it puts the administration in this interesting space, right? You've got this a hundred-million-dollar lawsuit. Does the administration settle with them because they agree with their position, right? Because now the DOJ is in the space of having to defend the Biden administration in their cases, or do they pay out, you know, 5, 6, 7 figures to -- or not -- 7, 8, 9 figures to these people of the taxpayer's dollars?

RACHEL LAFORCE, HOST, "HEALING IS HILARIOUS" PODCAST: Well, I think it's about do they want to be right, do they want to hold people accountable or do they want it to continue to be a point of culture? Right. That's the whole thing. I mean, not to, you know, be a complete joke, but it's like, Proud Boys, it's in the title, you know what I mean? They weren't going anywhere. You know, that's like their whole thing.

So, I think it's going to be interesting if they just want it to go away and they will settle, or if it's going to continue to be ongoing and they're going to see what happens.

WILLCOTT: But, Victor, I would argue it's a dangerous precedent to pay them, to settle it and say, here we have this conviction, but we're going to pay you because you filed a lawsuit against us, and then we'll just let it all go. That's a dangerous thing.

BLACKWELL: I should point out, they just did it with the family of Ashli Babbitt. That was the Rioter who was killed on Capitol Hill. They settled $5 million, the wrongful death lawsuit with her family. Tia, you think this third-party poll that Elon Musk put out on X is going anywhere or he's just saying, you know, the equivalent of, I'm going to run away from home?

MITCHELL: Yes. I mean, at the end -- first of all, it shows that Twitter's not -- or X is not real-life. It's. Elon Musk's conservative platform right now. So, X is even less of real-life than it was, you know, a few years ago. In actual politics in America, for decades, over a century, we have been a two-party system. Yes, there are third parties that have had a little bit of success, but not really at the national level. It's just really difficult the way our politics are currently set up. However, the risk is Elon's money and how he uses his money. And anytime he uses his money for anything other than the Republican Party, that is a shift from where he was just as of November. And that could have an impact.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

LAFORCE: Yes. because it, it feels like, when my toddler decides that he wants new rules, you know what I mean? Like, he's like, we're playing a games, he's like, no, I want a do over. I want a do over. And it's like, that's what Elon's doing. He just has more money to carry something very dangerous and disrupting through. So --

BLACKWELL: I also think that's kind of what we saw all Thursday, right? It was the back and forth of people who were just --

WILLCOTT: It's the musings.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Yes.

WILLCOTT: All the public musings of the richest man in the world.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Yes.

MITCHELL: And just the weird watching two men. because it was Trump -- and President Trump and Elon Musk kind of going back and forth with their proxies, but it was like -- it was this argument between two very powerful men laid out for the whole world to kind of watch unfold in real-time. And again, it shows you the power of social media, the power of X, especially as weaponized by Elon Musk. But it also shows you kind of how serious yet unserious our politics can be.

[07:35:00]

BLACKWELL: Because in part the unseriousness is the back and forth on, on social media, but they're leveraging multi-billion-dollar contracts and space programs in their feud back and forth. Let's take a break here. We've got more to talk about, including. How important is height when you're choosing a partner? We'll get into that.

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[07:40:00]

BLACKWELL: All right. Welcome back to the Morning Roundup with Tia Mitchell, Judge Ashley Willcott, and Rachel LaForce. Rachel, tonight, the Tonys -- Tony Awards are coming. And the original cast of "Hamilton", they will reunite for performance. This is an opportunity for them to make it political, but it's good to see them back together.

LAFORCE: Yes.

BLACKWELL: I think.

LAFORCE: Yes. Oh, 100 percent. I'm like, after the breakup heard around X for the last three days, this is what America needs, you know, because I'm like, everyone from like AOC to Martha Stewart to Mike Pence, they're like, I'm in, I'm here for it, you know. I think it's going to be beautiful.

BLACKWELL: You know, I've resisted seeing it for a while. Hearing all the runs.

LAFORCE: There we go. Cheers. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: You're welcome. I resisted seeing Hamilton for years. I just saw last year for the first time. I was -- I thought I would be annoyed by like rapping history to me.

LAFORCE: Really?

BLACKWELL: But once I got there, I was in love from the minute. It started.

LAFORCE: Well, for me, it took a while to see it because it's like anything where it's so hyped up, I'm like, well, now I'm going to go and go. It didn't measure up. And you don't want to be the person who sees "Hamilton," you're like, yes, I could've done that. You know, nobody wants to be that person at a dinner party. So, that was my resistance.

MITCHELL: I think it took me a while as well, because it just didn't sound appealing to like, you have to pay like really close attention to everything they're saying. There's no dialogue. It's all wrapped in lyrics. But I think once it became such a viral thing and everyone was talking about how amazing it was and the soundtrack was so amazing, then it was like, OK, now I have to see it. But of course, I missed the original cast. So, I'm looking forward to the Tony --

BLACKWELL: Yes. I'll be watching that.

MITCHELL: -- for that, among other things.

WILLCOTT: For that original cast.

MITCHELL: Yes.

WILLCOTT: I mean, of all things, right? It's a great production, but with them in it, come on.

BLACKWELL: Yes, it's going to be great. OK. So, let's talk about what we've been talking about during the commercial breaks all morning. Tinder is now testing a feature that allows paying users to set height preferences for potential partners. Thoughts. How important is height when choosing a partner?

WILLCOTT: It's a personal preference. I think if somebody -- if it's an important to a person, why not be able to pick it, to select it, to say, I won't date someone shorter than me, or whatever it is.

MITCHELL: I mean, among all the preferences, right, but, and I see it in the crayon, the short kings get overlooked, and I think that a confident short king could be a great boyfriend. I'm a short woman. So, most men are fine, you know, taller than me.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

MITCHELL: But like women who -- and I think a lot of women aren't as worried about height once they get to know a guy, but you've got to allow yourself to get to know him before you rule out that short king.

BLACKWELL: You think so? You think that even once you learn about him, you kind of take the height off the table?

LAFORCE: I don't know. I want to give us more. I want to believe in us more than that, but I just -- I don't know. As somebody who's proudly married to a medium king --

BLACKWELL: A medium king.

LAFORCE: -- you know, when I told him we were going to -- we were talking about this morning, he is like, let's dive in, right? And I will say -- not to brag, as somebody who spent a lot of time on Tinder, I just wish that there was a feature where like I could rule out anybody holding a fish. You know what I mean? That's what I think we really need. Six-two or not, if you're there with your sea bass --

MITCHELL: Or anyone with a picture with like children in Africa, you know?

LAFORCE: Yes.

MITCHELL: Anything that's just saying, look at me. Absolutely. Absolutely.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Well, it -- so short king is five-nine and below.

WILLCOTT: That's short?

BLACKWELL: Yes. Five-nine and below.

WILLCOTT: I don't think that's short.

MITCHELL: That's five-nine, to me is not short.

WILLCOTT: Yes. I don't think that's short.

BLACKWELL: The average height of a man in America is five-nine. For a woman it's five-three and a half.

MITCHELL: OK.

BLACKWELL: So, once you get below five nine, and I have -- I've dated short kings. I went on a date once with a man who was five-two. See.

WILLCOTT: You gave yourself away.

BLACKWELL: See?

LAFORCE: Well, that's why I was very -- MITCHELL: In the top.

LAFORCE: No secrets here. No secrets.

BLACKWELL: It was one date. I mean, it didn't continue because he just had a nasty attitude. But I didn't have an issue. I'm six-two, he was five-two.

MITCHELL: But see, you got to be a confident. And when I say confident, not a-hole short king, right?

BLACKWELL: Yes. Yes.

MITCHELL: You don't want Napoleon complex short king. You want a nice, well adapted short king that is like comfortable with his height, comfortable dating a taller woman.

LAFORCE: Is that sexy?

MITCHELL: Yes.

LAFORCE: There's something very magnetic and attractive about somebody, especially a man, that's like --

WILLCOTT: Confident.

LAFORCE: Yes.

WILLCOTT: You want the confidence no matter what.

LAFORCE: 100 percent.

BLACKWELL: OK. Well, you got to be confident to get on board with this next trend. On TikTok people are freezing jalapenos and then slicing them and dropping them into Sauvignon Blanc. Is this tasty, something worth trying, or just wasting a good bottle of wine? Or do you do it with good bottles of wine?

MITCHELL: I don't know what you do with -- I think it's -- maybe you don't, Victor, to your point. I think you've just solved it right there.

MITCHELL: The whole spicy trend, I don't get it. Like, I don't want my margarita spicy. I want my margarita regular or fruity. No, I just -- I'm not with the spicy.

WILLCOTT: But some people like spice and put it on everything. Do you know some people put hot sauce on ice cream? So --

MITCHELL: Oh, wow. That's a new one.

BLACKWELL: That's awful.

MITCHELL: That's a new one.

[07:45:00] WILLCOTT: I don't know. I say don't knock until you try it.

BLACKWELL: Yes. I mean, I like a nice tajin rim around a margarita.

WILLCOTT: Talk to me.

BLACKWELL: See, mango margarita, tajin rim. Happy Sunday. Tia Mitchell, Judge Ashley Willcott, and Rachel LaForce, thank you all for coming in.

MITCHELL: Thank you.

WILLCOTT: Thank you, Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right. showdown in the French Open men's final just hours away. We will get into Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz. Preview just ahead.

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[07:50:00]

BLACKWELL: This morning, more than 100 million people are in the path of severe storms. We're talking about two main areas of concern here, one across the southeast, the other one stretching through the Southern Plains. That's including Northern Texas and Oklahoma. CNN's Allison Chinchar is joining us with the latest forecast. What do you see?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. So, we've got two separate areas. The first one, that's the one that moving through the Southeast and the Coastal Carolinas through the first half of the day. Then the secondary system is what's going to develop out into portions of the Southern Plains. Right now, the strongest storms we have are across the Southeast, where we've had several severe thunderstorm warnings off and on throughout the day, and that's likely to continue as we head through the portion.

So, there's that first system we talked about. That's the one that's going to push offshore late this afternoon and into the evening hours. It's the secondary system. This is the really big one to be concerned about. Here we are talking about not only the potential for tornadoes, but very strong damaging winds, 80 to a hundred miles per hour. That's hurricane force wind gusts in some of these areas. But also, incredibly large hail. You're talking up to five inches in diameter. To put that in perspective, you're looking at the size of a DVD or a CD. Again, huge giant hail across portions of Oklahoma and Texas.

Now, the concern there is going to be the timeline of it. Again, we mentioned the first round of storms really starts to push off late afternoon and into the evening hours, but that the same time, this is when we start to see the redevelopment of the next system. This is the one that's going to slide in across Oklahoma and Texas, but it stays there. So, even through the evening and the overnight timeline, you're still going to have a lot of those strong to severe thunderstorms. So, please make sure you have some way to get those emergency alerts on your phone through the overnight timeline. It's going to continue to slide east. So, even into Monday, you have a lot of those strong thunderstorms that will continue just in a different area. Now, you're focused more over the Ohio River Valley and much of the southeast.

That's why tomorrow not quite as severe as expected today, we're looking at only a level two rather than a level four. four that we have today, but still the potential is there for the damaging winds, the large hail, as well as the tornado threat for places like Atlanta, Columbia, Charlotte, even up through Knoxville, Tennessee.

BLACKWELL: All right. A lot to watch Allison Chinchar, thank you. Coco Gauff pulled off a comeback to claim the second Grand Slam of her career. She beat the world's number one player in the French Open. Coy Wire is here now. So, happy for Coco.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Awesome moment for her, for American tennis. She's the first American to win the French Open in a decade since Serena Williams did it. Incredible stuff. And remember, she just turned 21 a few months ago.

Here she was facing world number one, Aryna Sabalenka, who raced out to a big early lead. All of her shots on point, like decimals. But the match quickly showed the promise of being all that we thought it could be. Coco fought back, as Victor mentioned. She forced a tie breaker and with that incredible passing shot off Sabalenka overhead.

But that's when Sabalenka really upped her game. At five-all Hall and the tiebreaker. Eventually, she secures the point that clinched it. Brilliant tennis from her. She took the opener, seven-six. But the second set, totally different story. Coco fired up making a statement. This emphatic comeback, powering her way through those wild and whirling wind conditions on the court. Sabalenka said afterwards they were some of the worst she'd seen.

Gauff wins the second set and the in the decider, Sabalenka, she looked flustered, body languages off and watched Coco after she realized she just won her second Grand Slam title, first ever French Open. 6-7, 6-2, 6-4. She had been 0 and 4 against world number ones in the majors coming in.

I love this moment here. Heart hands going up to who? Mom. And dad right there beside her, proud 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. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SLOANE STEPHENS, TNT SPORTS: Coco, amazing match today, 2025 Roland- Garros champion. How does it feel?

COCO GAUFF, WINS SECOND CAREER MAJOR, FIRST AT ROLAND-GARROS: Yes, it feels great. It was tough. I don't think either of us were playing great, but I knew as soon as I stepped in the court, when I felt that it was windy, it was going to be one of those matches. So, I was just trying to give myself the best chance and fight every point.

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

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

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Victor. Allison, check out this fun moment. She's making a cell phone video for social. Watch the lid fall off the trophy. Oh, she was leaning in saying us, the lighting's bad. Remember, earlier this tournament as well Coco showed up to a match. She forgot her rackets. No big deal. All turned out just fine. The likable, fun and funny Coco Gauff, your 2025 French Open champ.

Now, Sunday's Men's Final, just over an hour away. Defending Champion Carlos Alcaraz taking on world number one Jannik Sinner.

[07:55:00]

Alcaraz leads their all-time head-to-head seven to four, has the advantage when it comes to Grand Slams and matches on clay. This is their second meeting at Roland-Garros. Alcaraz beat Sinner in the semis there just last year. A 23-year-old Sinner though, is going for his third straight Grand Slam title. He's on a 20-match win streak at Grand Slams. It is going to be how the youngsters say straight fire.

BLACKWELL: Oh, is that what the youngster say?

WIRE: It's going to be good. I think so.

BLACKWELL: Speaking of youngsters you referenced hail the size of a CD or DVD?

CHINCHAR: Yes.

BLACKWELL: And there are a lot of generation alpha kids who are like, what is that?

CHINCHAR: Yes. So, if you were born in a year that starts with a two, that would be a little bit bigger than a grapefruit, but I was trying to find one as a prop to use for today. And I had to go through four floors of our building and talk to over 30 people before I finally found one of these.

BLACKWELL: And so, this is a DVD, kids?

CHINCHAR: This is an antique.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

CHINCHAR: This is an antique.

BLACKWELL: Yes. You can't find that at your local store.

CHINCHAR: No.

BLACKWELL: Do you remember your first CD?

CHINCHAR: I think it was Mariah Carey's Christmas album. Honestly.

BLACKWELL: Yes. That's a good one.

WIRE: Shy.

BLACKWELL: OK.

WIRE: Kidding.

BLACKWELL: Mine was "Baduizm," Erykah Badu. All right. Thanks for watching. We will see you next week. Inside Politics Sunday with Manu Raju starts in a moment.

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