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Parts of L.A. Under Curfew; Kathleen Bartzen Culver is Interviewed about Protests; Musk Regrets Posts; Reverend Dr. Gabriel Salguero is Interviewed about Latino Community's Fear. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired June 11, 2025 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:31:43]

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Good Wednesday morning. I'm Erica Hill, in for Audie Cornish. Nice to have you here on CNN THIS MORNING.

It is 6:31 here on the East Coast. Here's a quick look at what's happening right now.

Numerous arrests in Los Angeles overnight, according to the LAPD, after protesters refused to leave parts of downtown, which are now under a curfew. That curfew set to remain in place until 6:00 a.m. local time and should be there for several days, according to the mayor.

In a matter of hours, a federal appeals court is set to hear arguments on President Trump's request to erase his hush money conviction. Two lower courts have already denied that request. Last year, of course, Trump was found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

Well, we now know who was going to be facing off in the New Jersey governor's race. Democrat Mikie Sherrill and Trump-backed Republican Jack Tyrrell winning their respective primaries last night. That election, of course, is set for November.

Turning our attention back to California. The city of Los Angeles declaring a state of emergency after days of immigration protests have rocked pockets of the city. A one-mile radius of downtown is now under a curfew. In that area, city hall, the main county courthouse and federal buildings, which have been the target for these protests. On Tuesday, the mayor was quick to clear up, though, the scope of these demonstrations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR KAREN BASS (D), LOS ANGELES: It is extremely important to know that what is happening in this one square mile is not affecting the city. Some of the imagery of the protests and the violence gives the appearance as though this is a citywide crisis, and it is not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: CNN's Marybel Gonzalez is in downtown Los Angeles.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARYBEL GONZALEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Parts of the downtown Los Angeles area, including where we're standing right now, are currently under curfew. That curfew began at 8:00 p.m. local time last night. And Los Angeles Police Department making mass arrests following that emergency order.

CROWD (chanting): I.C.E. out of New York. I.C.E. out of New York.

GONZALEZ (voice over): Thousands are taking to the streets across the country to protest Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The epicenter is in Los Angeles. City officials say the vast majority of demonstrators here are following the law.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When these peaceful rallies end and the protesters head home, another element moves in.

GONZALEZ (voice over): Officials say more than 20 L.A. businesses have been looted, and a small part of the city had a curfew Tuesday night.

MAYOR KAREN BASS (D), LOS ANGELES: I would appeal to the president to stop the I.C.E. raids so that we can have stability in our city.

GONZALEZ (voice over): National Guard members are in L.A. against the governor's wishes. A U.S. official says hundreds of Marines the president mobilized have been briefed on rules for use of force on American soil.

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): We do not want our streets militarized by our own armed forces. Not in L.A. Not in California. Not anywhere.

GONZALEZ (voice over): Other demonstrations have been in Washington, Boston, Atlanta, Denver, Milwaukee, San Francisco, New York, Chicago and more. The White House says undocumented immigrants broke the law by entering the U.S. illegally. Demonstrators say I.C.E. shouldn't go after those who are otherwise law abiding.

[06:35:02]

GONZALEZ: Now that curfew will extend until 6:00 a.m. local time. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass says the curfew order will be in effect at least for a few days.

Now, as far as the Marines deployed to the area, we're told they are standing by outside of Los Angeles awaiting orders.

Reporting in downtown Los Angeles, I'm Maribel Gonzalez.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HILL: So, as we're monitoring not only what's happening in L.A., but different protests that are popping up around the country, there are also questions about new state laws and whether they could actually make it more difficult to people -- for people to protest peacefully.

Joining me now to dig in is Kathleen Bartzen Culver, journalism professor at the University of Wisconsin Madison.

Kathleen, it's great to have you here.

So, you -- you co-authored a piece looking at the impact of these laws that were both passed and proposed, really, how they were presented. And these all popped up in the wake of protests following the murder of George Floyd in the summer of -- in 2020, of course. The measures were ostensibly to prevent riots at demonstrations. What did you find in terms of how they impact American's abilities to protest peacefully?

KATHLEEN BARTZEN CULVER, PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON: Well, thank you so much for having me. I appreciate the opportunity.

I am -- I am convinced that we are -- our biggest concern here is that people will be afraid to protest. So, the study that my colleague, Doug McLeod, and I did was looking at the long-standing protest paradigm, which is -- which examines news media coverage of protests. And these bills were framed as anti-riot bills. But what they actually were, were anti-protest bills. In the case of Florida, for instance, people who participated peacefully in a protest could be arrested if anyone else was acting outside of the law. And that was a big problem. Thankfully, that's been suspended by the Florida Supreme Court.

HILL: Theres also, you know, as you were -- as you're noting, you -- you and your -- and your co-author, your colleague in this study, were looking at the media coverage of these laws as well. One of the big challenges, I think, as we all know in this moment is how people choose to inform themselves, how and where they choose to get their information, and how that then informs their view of what's happening on the ground. How is that complicating what Americans may or may not know about their rights to protest in this moment?

CULVER: Well, I think there are a couple of things at play here. So, one is about choice. So, right now we have unprecedented ability to be in information bubbles, to choose sources that align with our viewpoints. And when we choose those sources, we can be misinformed.

But the other piece is how you and your colleagues in the news media present protest. If you ask the average person for their -- their take on the 2020 protests, many of them, if maybe most of them, will say that those were violent protests, that there were riots. Really, that was only about 6 percent of all of the protest activity in summer of 2020 involved violence of any kind, right down to, you know, spray painting graffiti. So, as news media protect -- excuse me, present violence as the norm, people come to believe that that is the norm. And those are practices that have to change.

HILL: Have you started to see a shift at all over the last five years?

CULVER: Somewhat of a shift. So, I did notice actually in the package leading into me that there was less -- less content related specifically to the issues the protesters are -- are out in the streets to -- to -- to seek redress for, that is their constitutional right to do that. And I think overall we're seeing more issues coverage. But when it comes to breaking news, we're seeing a lot of what we have seen 2020 and before.

HILL: So, what is your conversation then with your students, right? I'm thinking of the future journalists who are, you know, right now learning from you, learning from your colleagues. What is your message to them in terms of getting it right, in your view?

CULVER: So my -- my message to them is that they look at their coverage as the whole. So, for instance, if they're working for an outlet that is big into breaking news and presents news 24/7, what are they doing to present the issues on an hourly basis as opposed to just the coverage of the protests, especially if the protests turn violent, how balanced is that? So, if in 2020 94 percent of protests were peaceful, then 94 percent of news content should have shown those peaceful protests.

And I will say, protesters are in a -- they're in a double bind here. So, they only get -- not only -- but they often are most likely to get coverage when things do turn to lawbreaking. So, graffiti, car fires, et cetera, which many do not want to engage in. So, they'll get the coverage that they seek, but then their issues are ignored because of the focus on the law breaking.

HILL: And there's interesting -- I wish we had time to dive into it, but I'd love to dive into too, maybe the next time, the social media aspect of all of this, right? How and what gets picked up and how that gets amplified, either overshadowing or, you know, getting underplayed.

[06:40:07]

Kathleen, really appreciate you taking the time. Thank you.

CULVER: Thanks so much for having me.

HILL: Well, it turns out regrets, he's got a few. Elon Musk. Second thoughts, it appears, about all those unkind tweets he rattled off last week calling for the president to be impeached, suggesting without evidence that the name Donald Trump appears in the unreleased Epstein files. In fact, the bromance breakup appears to be keeping Musk up at night.

How do we know that? Well, we're just looking at the timestamp here. But at 3:04 a.m. so just about three and a half hours ago this morning, the Tesla CEO posting, as you see here, "I regret some of my posts about President Donald Trump last week. They went too far."

The group chat is back.

That is probably like the most perfect response you could have from one of your kids when they realize they messed up. Like, oh, hey, I went too far.

Charlie, what do you make of that? CHARLIE DENT (R), FORMER PENNSYLVANIA CONGRESSMAN: Oh, well, of course

he has to have regrets. Not just about the tweets, but about the whole DOGE process.

Remember how this started off. He said he was going to find $2 trillion in savings. Then they shaved it down to $1 trillion. And they said, oh, we're not going to look at Social Security and Medicare and all the big areas where the federal government spends money. And then they talk about bringing out wood chippers, and there's the chainsaw and, you know, and the images of the wealthiest man in the world, then denying food assistance and medical assistance to some of the most desperately poor people in the world. Then you wonder why people don't want to buy your cars.

So, I think he probably has a few regrets well beyond his latest fight with Donald Trump. So, he's got a lot to -- to think about.

HILL: Sabrina, we do know the president likes it when people kiss the ring, right, and come back. Is this enough for them to make up?

SABRINA RODRIGUEZ, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Potentially. I think a lot of folks, you know, in the last week since the feud started -- started to -- to come out into the public have sort of speculated that there would be some smoothing over, you know, eventually. You know, the Trump likes Elon Musk. That's the reality. They spent the last year, you know, spending so much time together. He entrusted Elon Musk with this project of the Department of Government Efficiency.

I think the president also recognizes the optics here, recognizes that Elon Musk is deeply unpopular, recognizes, you know, what Charlie was just saying, about the fact that, you know, there was a big overpromise here and -- and the optics of Elon Musk coming out with the chainsaw and all of that did not help him.

So, I think, you know, it might take more than this, but it's certainly a step forward, especially for it to be happening so publicly on X at three in the morning, and something that folks like us are going to be talking about this morning. I think the president will certainly register this effort.

HILL: Hyma, do Democrats do anything with this, or do they just let it lie?

HYMA MOORE, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF TO DNC CHAIR JAIME HARRISON: Look, I think Democrats were much more happy last week when we were talking about Donald Trump and Elon Musk. So, I think Democrats are going to use this as fodder for as long as possible. I -- I do think there are other individuals in the Trump administration that Democrats will start sort of teasing out a little bit as a little bit more adversarial and opposition.

And so, look, I don't -- I don't know how this is going to go, but I do think Democrats would much prefer to talk about this than talk about what's happening in L.A. and around the country.

HILL: Yes, that I -- I think most would agree with.

All right, group chat, stay with me. Much more to cover ahead right here on CNN THIS MORNING.

President Trump sending, of course, active military troops to Los Angeles, which raises a question about why he did not make that same decision on January 6th when violent protesters stormed the U.S. Capitol.

Plus, opening night at the Kennedy Center. President Trump and vice President Vance will both be in attendance. What else can you expect?

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[06:48:13]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our community is definitely being broken up. You see children crying for their parents because they're being separated from them. It's -- it's scary for the children because where are the children going to be? What if they don't have anybody else but them?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: There are a lot of questions. There is a lot of uncertainty in this moment. And specifically in a number of immigrant communities.

President Trump enjoyed broad support, of course, when it comes to immigration and his pledge that he would handle it. Those pledges coming during the 2024 election. Is there, though, some buyer's remorse?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They want our immigrant community to be scared to go to their court hearings and they want people to stay at home where they can more easily be detained in absentia. So, it's critically important that we empower our -- our immigrant neighbors and our immigrant family to keep coming out to their court dates and their court hearings.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: I'm joined now by Reverend Dr. Gabriel Salguero, who is president and founder of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition.

Reverend, it's nice to have you with us this morning.

As we take a step back and we look at what's happening, there's so much attention on what's happening in Los Angeles. A number of these protests began, of course, as a reaction to what people on the ground saw as overly aggressive I.C.E. actions. Do you share any of those concerns in the way that the administration is going about some of these immigration raids and roundups? REV. DR. GABRIEL SALGUERO, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, NATIONAL LATINO

EVANGELICAL COALITION: Well, there's really two questions here, Erica. And thank you for having me this morning.

Number one is, I do share the concerns. I think that in many of our churches, the administration and its surrogates said we would only focus on violent criminals. And now we see that many of our people, some of them going to churches and some of them parents and small business owners are being detained at their immigration hearings or when they go to court.

[06:50:01]

I got two calls this week, one yesterday, where a woman who's been in church for 20 years, a small group leader, was detained after going to a hearing. A guitar player, who's a worship leader in one of the churches in Tampa, was detained. And he and his wife are on list to be deported. No violent criminal history. And so, there's one.

The second thing is the protest. We feel that people should exercise their constitutional right to civil protest, while at the same time abstaining from violence or from vandalism, which I heard in an earlier report is only 6 percent. And so most people are doing that. But to those other 6 percent who are not, we're asking them to restrain from violence or vandalism while protesting how these immigration actions are being enforced.

HILL: You know -- and just to clarify for our viewers who may not have been with us earlier in the hour, as you know, we were speaking with a professor from the University of Wisconsin who noted that her research showing that 6 percent of the -- the protests in the wake of the murder of George Floyd were -- were violent or involved some sort of violence. So that was the number she was referring to.

But -- but you make an important point, right, that I've heard from my colleagues there on the ground, that we've heard from local officials in Los Angeles, and that these are small pockets and that overwhelmingly these have been peaceful protests.

When we look at immigration, there is no denying this is a broad -- it's a complex problem. If it was not, it would have been solved decades ago. It has not. Do you feel the Trump administration, though, is addressing it in a way that is actually going to result in meaningful change? Meaning, are they directly addressing the issues? I know you note some of the concern you've had, you know, from -- from your congregants and from others you've spoken with about perhaps not doing exactly what they said they would do and going solely after violent criminals.

SALGUERO: Look, we support that violent criminal immigrants be processed and deported. What we don't support is this action against even legal immigrants with the canceling of temporary protected status, with even defending against birthright citizenship. Ad so many evangelicals were told that this was a focus on violent criminals. But the truth is, if you look at what's happening, that is not what's happening. Although some violent criminals are being processed and detained, we're talking about family members. We're talking about fathers and mothers and small business owners and people who are on our worship teams. And so I, for one, am really disconcerted for those who are saying that they're only doing that when the truth on the ground is not that.

HILL: You are in Washington to push for support of some existing social safety net programs, right? And -- and what may or may not happen to them in terms of the -- the quote, "big, beautiful bill."

I know you have a number of meetings lined up for today. That is your focus. But how much do you anticipate that immigration, and some of the concerns that you've just raised, will also come up in conversation? How important is it to you to make sure that it's part of the conversation with lawmakers?

SALGUERO: Look, the reality is that as a pastor and as a follower of Jesus, I am called to speak up for poor, hungry, vulnerable people, whoever they are, and wherever they live. And so, I imagine that my pastoral vocation and the several hundred pastors and faith leaders that are in Washington, D.C., will raise, not just the protection of the social safety net of WIC and SNAP and CTC for poor people, but also the rights and dignities of our immigrant neighbors. They were created in the image and likeness of God.

And, you know, for a long time many candidates say they're pro-family and pro-children. And one of the ways you can show that you're pro- family and pro-children is by defending immigrant children and immigrant families, and at the same time standing up for those social safety nets that help poor children and poor families.

I'm -- I, for one, am concerned that we've lost nuance on what it means to be holistically pro-family and pro-children.

HILL: And you talk about your faith and obviously how that -- how that drives you and the Christian faith and what it means.

You are also, as I noted, you're the founder of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition. What does it mean to use your voice in this moment as well as a Latino? How does that change the conversation, you think?

SALGUERO: Look, I think that when I say I'm an evangelical, there are a lot of assumptions that I belong to a certain political party. When I say that I'm Latino, there are assumptions that I belong to another political party. I am both Latino and evangelical, and I'm hoping that as a Latino evangelical leader, we are able to reinsert into the public sphere the word nuance and the word compromise and the word solutionist. That instead of using topics like poverty and immigration as a political ping pong, Congress and the administration and the Senate get their act together to provide solutions rather than attacking one another.

HILL: Solutions would be lovely and fewer attacks as well.

[06:55:01]

Best of luck in your conversations today. Reverend, thanks for your time this morning.

SALGUERO: Thank you. Have a good day.

HILL: You too.

Fifty-four minutes past the hour now. Here's your morning roundup.

A mass shooting at an Austrian high school leaving ten people dead, including the shooter. The suspect, a 21-year-old former student of the school. The motive at this hour is unclear. Police do believe, though, that he acted alone. This attack is considered the worst rampage in Austria's history.

Today, an alleged victim who has only been identified by the name Jane is back on the stand for continued cross-examination in Sean "Diddy" Combs' trial. The judge recently ruled against Combs' second request for a mistrial after his legal team refiled, accusing a witness of false testimony.

President Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance set to attend the sold out opening show of "Les Mis" at the Kennedy Center tonight. This follows, of course, Trump taking over as board chair in February. The Center announced the institution will be closed to the public due to enhanced security protocols.

Insurrection, protests, assault. If you'll recall, if we look back to January 6th, those words were used to describe what happened on that day. They're also being used to discuss what's happening in Los Angeles.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And I can tell you, there were certain areas of that -- of Los Angeles that night, you could have called it an insurrection. It was terrible. But these are paid insurrectionists. These are paid troublemakers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Important to note, we have no evidence that anyone has been paid to be there with the National Guard and troop mobilization. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is noting the disconnect between how the president is behaving now and how he behaved in January -- on January 6th.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): On January 6th, with violence against the Constitution, against the Congress and against the United States Capitol, we begged the president of the United States to send in the National Guard. He would not do it.

Contra constitutional way, he has sent the National Guard into California. Something is very wrong with this picture.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: The group chat is back.

Is this an effective messaging strategy, Hyma, for Dems to create this -- this equivalency?

MOORE: Look, I mean, I think the former speaker is absolutely correct. And President Trump is noticeably speaking differently this week than he did during January 6, 2021. So, I think Democrats have tried -- are trying to figure out a way to attack this issue and other issues at all corners.

And so, Speaker Pelosi, who has been a prolific messenger, and someone who has carried the Democrats for so long, I think she's trying to right this ship again. She understands how to talk to people, particularly those in California and around the country. And so, I think this could be an effective message. I do think people want our president to be fair. I do think people want our president to treat people equal, regardless of their status, particularly if they are Americans. And so, I think she's right.

HILL: Charlie, what's your take?

DENT: Yes, I think her argument is actually pretty effective, pointing out the hypocrisy. I think it's better than what Gavin Newsom is doing, that the -- and she can just make the case that Trump is playing politics and is needlessly inciting and inflaming this situation.

So, I think that's a better argument than what Gavin Newsom has been doing, when he probably should have tried to get out in front of Trump and maybe just mobilize the guard just to prevent this argument from happening in the first place.

HILL: Sabrina, could it have some -- some staying power in Washington, in that conversation?

RODRIGUEZ: Potentially. I mean, four years later, we still see the -- the potent imagery of January 6th. So, this is a way of sort of reinserting it in the conversation. And it's sort of a reminder of how President Trump treats people that support him versus his opponents. And that's what's playing out in California right now.

HILL: All right, before I let you all go, a quick round of what you're keeping an eye on.

Sabrina, I'm going to go to you first on this one.

RODRIGUEZ: Right now, given everything that's happening in California, I'm keeping an eye tomorrow, there's going to be a big hearing on Capitol Hill with three Democratic governors, including Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, both who are considered, you know, potential 2028 contenders. They're going to be talking about immigration. So, I think it will be really interesting how they grapple with it at this moment that Newsom is facing the attacks in California.

HILL: Hyma.

MOORE: Erica, we know this A.I. conversation is just getting started. It's getting bigger by the day. So, Ohio State University just announced this week that they're going to start a literacy program for all their students, beginning with the new freshman class. And so, they will require all students to take an A.I. fluency course. And so, this is par for the course. I think we'll see this across universities and colleges in the coming months.

HILL: Wow, that's a good one, learning how to use it, right?

Charlie, what about you?

DENT: I -- I -- I'm watching the Senate reconciliation process and waiting for them to release their version of the big, beautiful bill. And I'm suspecting that they're not going to meet the July 4th deadline right now.

[07:00:04]

HILL: There is a chance.

It's good to be with all of you. Always a pleasure to keep Audie's seat warm. I'm glad I could be here with you this morning.

Thanks, everyone, for waking up with us. I'm keeping my eye on a little basketball game that's going to be happening.

I'm Erica Hill, in for Audie Cornish on this Wednesday. Stay with us. CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.