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Erin Burnett Outfront
Los Angeles Protests Entering 4th Night, 700 Marines Activated. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired June 09, 2025 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:28]
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST": And I'm Erin Burnett. Welcome to OUTFRONT. This is a special edition of OUTFRONT. We are live from Los Angeles.
The city very much on edge. We are standing amidst the demonstration outside the federal building here in L.A.
Right now, you see a combination. You see this giant crowd and the California National Guard also over my shoulder. Some of the Customs and Border Patrol police. We've just seen a bit of a face off between the crowd and the police and Customs and Border Police here just in the past few minutes.
And they've sent out. There were about 30 of them I could count. They've sent out another 10 or 15 in just the past few minutes, as there was a moment where tensions were really rising here, some pushing and shoving, now much more quiet.
But this is the situation here in downtown Los Angeles. And police across L.A. County here tonight are converging on the downtown area where we are. You can see it, all of these streets blocked off with massive police presence. California highway patrol, California police. You see all different groups out there.
Defense officials say they have activated 700 Marines to the L.A. area as well. That adds on top of the nearly 2,000 National Guard, the President Trump has said he has authorized to begin mobilizing to coming to this area.
Keep in mind, there's 300 of them here already. Some of them we can see behind us. There are California National Guard, as you can see, behind their riot gear. You can see California National Guard. Some of those already here that was done. Those National Guard mobilized against the wishes of the California governor, Gavin Newsom.
That is something that has not been done in this country since 1965, when Lyndon Johnson was president of the United States. And these demonstrations that we are in the middle of here on this Monday began four days ago when federal agents began arresting people suspected of being undocumented immigrants. And I have heard just here already today, you hear about fruit sellers
in neighborhoods that have been there for years, who have been arrested. You hear about ICE agents coming to the parking lots of catholic churches and waiting for people coming outside of mass.
This is the experience that people are having here. And by Saturday night, of course, it had built and built and built. Protesters started confronting police, and we all saw those images of violence and those burning driverless cars set on fire, flashbangs and tear gas used as well. And tempers are flaring between the president, between the California governor, Gavin Newsom, here tonight, Trump suggesting that Newsom be arrested over his handling of this issue here in California. Newsom says that that is all a sham, that it is all under control. And you can see what were seeing and experiencing here ourselves right now outside the federal building here in downtown Los Angeles.
Kyung Lah and Jason Carroll are with me here in this crowd as it is approaching the evening here, more people are gathering as people get out of work, and they're just a few blocks from where I am, and amidst this crowd.
I want to start with you, Kyung. Kyung, you have been here. Youve been watching this standoff, tensions rising, calming back down again between the crowds and those officers that you see right behind you. What are you seeing right now where you are?
KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: We're just getting a slightly closer look than where you are, Erin. The crowd that you've been walking through, this crowd has been traveling throughout downtown Los Angeles. But this is where they have been parked for some time. I can see the blockade of law enforcement stopping the street, the traffic into the street, car traffic either way.
And then this is what the target is. This is a closer look of where you are. You can see this first line of law enforcement. I can see U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, as well as Department of Homeland Security, the California National Guard.
I want you to look then behind them, the next wave of officers, because you see them with the shields and the and the sticks, the officers behind them have another wave of non-lethal force, that being teargas. We've seen this deployed over the last few days of the last couple of days. And then behind the doors of the federal building, there are even more officers when those doors open up, all I can see are feet and legs.
So, there are waves of law enforcement inside the federal building trying to protect this place. Because this is really what this is all about, that this crowd, If I could have my photojournalist Mike Love take a look at the size of this crowd, this is the crowd that is very angry about ICE and what is happening in this city.
What we have seen throughout the day at multiple locations and one location that I went to at the L.A. Coliseum, fruit vendors who were swept up, just about a dozen of them. And these are -- this is a place where I took my kids, the California Science Center. And those vendors stand outside and they sell toys to these kids. So
they're the people who got swept up, and we've got all these videos of people who are upset saying that, why is ICE targeting them when ICE said that they would be targeting violent criminals? Because the belief is, is that they are not violent criminals.
So, as we watch this unfold, I just want you to take a look at the space again between the protesters and law enforcement and the difficult position this puts both law enforcement as well as these protesters. One bad move thrown water bottle. Maybe too much, you know, advancement, somebody being pushed close to the officers, and then they respond. And then this can quickly spiral out of control.
And the last thing I want to talk about, Mike, if we can show the kind of the crowd up there all the way across the street as we've been watching this crowd throughout the day build. This is a different crowd than what I saw earlier in the day. The midday hours, there was a union protest asking for the release of SEIU President David Huerta. That did happen, but that was a very different slice of Los Angeles than what I am seeing here. A more an older crowd, a more established crowd, a union crowd.
This is a much younger crowd, certainly, verbally at least, Erin, hostile. But we have yet to see anything physical between these protesters, these demonstrators and law enforcement today, at least the ones that I've been traveling with throughout downtown Los Angeles -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right, Kyung, thank you very much.
As Kyung said, verbally hostile, the chance will go up. But there have been no physical altercations that we can see. Kyung talking about the crowd. And we can see people sort of coming in and gathering more and more of them now.
It is very interesting when you look just at the faces, faces of protesters and faces, of course, of California National Guard, or Customs and Border Patrol, some of the customs and border patrol, it strikes you how young they are. It strikes you how maybe nervous is too strong of a word, but they're tense and they're uncertain. And it's -- it's not a good moment. It is a moment that could change at any moment.
Jason Carroll is here, also near where we are.
And, Jason, tell me what you've been seeing.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I am on the opposite end of the Metropolitan Detention Center, where we have been with this group of demonstrators for the past hour or so. They've decided to station themselves right here. You can see many of them.
This is a crowd of about a couple hundred people, I would say, or so, Erin, some of them standing just feet away from members of the National Guard, standing just a few feet away from members of the LAPD. I can tell you from talking to some of those in law enforcement, they
say they are prepared for this. But clearly, Erin, they do not want a repeat of what they saw out here over the weekend. And in fact, as we were walking up to this particular location, we saw a line of members of the LAPD blocking the entrance to the 101 Freeway, blocking the entrance to the 110 Freeway.
Obviously, over the weekend, we saw the 101 Freeway partially shut down for a period of time. They do not want to see a repeat of that on a Monday. As people are leaving work. Those are not the type of images they want coming out of Los Angeles.
You know, earlier today I was at a rally for David Huerta. He's a union leader. He was being held here. He was detained, as you know, on Friday, he says, trying to help members of the migrant community who are being taken up in that ICE raid.
But those who are out here supporting him, and he was released earlier this afternoon, just within the past two hours or so. He was released. And so, the hope was that that would sort of help take some of the temperature down remains to be seen, if that in fact will happen.
But in speaking to those who are out there, they say they're not just protesting and demonstrating for Huerta. They're not just protesting against these ICE raids. They say they are standing for what America should stand for. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's time that we all get out here and do something about this and have our voices heard, and let the administration know that we oppose strongly the violations of the rights of all people, not just the immigrants, but all of us. Americans are being affected by this because they come for them, and we're all next. That's what we don't realize, that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: So, again, Erin, as we stand here and we see this standoff, if you will, between some of these demonstrators and law enforcement that is standing here in front of the Metropolitan Detention Center.
[19:10:01]
You know, I think about what some of these people were telling me earlier about the hope is that going forward, this this demonstration will be a nonviolent one.
And the hope is that that message doesn't get lost in what we have seen. And hopefully, they're saying going forward, as the sun starts to go down, they're hoping again, there's not a repeat of what we saw over the weekend -- Erin.
BURNETT: They certainly are. Jason Carroll, thank you so much.
Jason, Kyung and I are here, of course, in all in all parts of this protest right now for you this evening.
L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna joins me now.
Sheriff, I appreciate your time. So, you know, just in these past few moments as we are watching this standoff between protesters, California National Guard and Customs and Border Patrol police, we understand that there are 700 marines that have been mobilized as well.
What is your understanding of the sheer number, amount of force that is going to be brought into play in this situation right now?
ROBERT LUNA, LOS ANGELES COUNTY SHERIFF: Well, first of all, thank you for having me on. And we're still trying to gain an understanding as well. We have had meetings with the officials, the leadership from the new -- I say National Guard, but they're under federal control, and we're asking simple questions. What's their mission? How are they going to be equipped? Rules of engagement and how they're -- basically, how they're going to be utilized.
And we're still getting or waiting for specific information on that. Obviously, whether we like it or not, that is not the case here. We are going to work with any law enforcement or military folks that are here, so that we can communicate, coordinate, and honestly, keeping our community safe is my priority and making sure that none of the soldiers coming in get hurt. And I don't want any of my deputies or police officers getting hurt.
BURNETT: Yeah. No. And, Sheriff Luna, I mean, just to give everyone a sense, I mean, being here during the fires, right? You saw National Guard, you saw California highway patrol, you saw all of these overlapping law enforcement groups working together.
And I'm struck being here again immediately. You see all of these groups again. Now you're going to have Marines. Just a very simple question. Do you need the Marines? Do you need the National Guard right now? Or if you were looking at this situation and assessing it as sheriff of L.A. County, would you say you do not need them?
LUNA: Well, let me just go back a second. When we had the fires earlier this year as the sheriff of Los Angeles County, we have certain steps that we take if we need assistance. What I do is reach out obviously within our own department, and then I start implementing the mutual aid system. That means I initially will go to other law enforcement agencies within the county of Los Angeles. I contact the state and then I'll start utilizing other law enforcement agencies, our neighbors basically. That's the way the mutual aid system works.
When all that is exhausted, then the California National Guard comes into play. That did not happen here. So that's why we're trying to understand and more importantly, work, with this new system that is unprecedented. As I'm calling my colleagues around the region and the country, no one has ever seen this.
But again, my job is to try and work through it to do everything I can to keep our community safe. But every day, I'm looking forward to talking to the leadership to find out exactly what they're going to be doing.
BURNETT: Well. And I will say, sheriff, it is -- I don't want to use the word unsettling. Maybe it's too strong, but I don't think anybody likes to hear that the sheriff of L.A. county is saying, well, I'm trying to figure it out, too. And maybe that's the frustration that you're feeling as well.
I mean, President Trump has just spoken about the situation. Let me just play it here, as we're outside the federal building here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That was a lot of harm that was going on last night. I watched it very closely, and it was amazing that the job that the National Guard did, and by the way, the police were working very hard also. But, you know, the police are given instructions, to be politically correct. I said, no, no, you don't have to be politically correct. You have to do the job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Sheriff Luna, were your police officers given the order to be politically correct and not able to do their job as the president just said?
LUNA: My deputy sheriffs were asked to keep the public safe. And our deputies do a good job. I heard them say that the police are doing a good job. I do agree with that. But it was our police officers in Los Angeles, our deputy sheriffs, who supported them, and the many agencies. We called for mutual aid last night that came in and were able to get everything settled last night.
That's who the credit goes to. And we do very good here with unrest. So, yeah, we'll continue to do a very good job. We'll monitor the situation. But the key here is that we engage with our community as a partner, to make sure that we're working closely together. So, if we see First Amendment protests that are occurring, we follow the Constitution. And that means that if they're peacefully protesting, they'll be allowed to do that.
The minute we see individuals engaging in unlawful activity, violence against deputy sheriffs, police officers or federal agents or National Guard and destruction of property we will go in and take action.
BURNETT: All right. Sheriff Luna, I appreciate your time, and thank you very much, I appreciate it.
And here outside the federal building, L.A. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath joins me now.
So, supervisor, as you see behind us, right. We're looking here, and Kyung was describing it. When they open those doors, they open them to let out more officers. When there is tensions rise, that they tend to send out more.
So, as you are seeing that, and here we are, you know, local time getting around, you know, getting into 5:00 going to dusk will come. What -- what is your concern about tonight?
LINDSEY HORVATH (D), LOS ANGELES COUNTY SUPERVISOR: My concern is that they're continuing to escalate a presence, and that's what's escalating the situation. We have local law enforcement out here. Our sheriff has led a mutual aid call not only for the city of Los Angeles, but all cities that have been impacted. And that's how we coordinate on the ground.
And then our governor brings in California Highway Patrol to provide additional assistance. We don't need the National Guard here. We don't need Marines coming in. What we need is support for people in our communities.
Right now, all this is doing is dividing us, making us more frustrated. You see people getting angrier. That's what the federal government is doing with their actions right now.
BURNETT: And now, we can hear people are saying, Donald Trump has got to go. It's one of several sort of chants that will rise up.
Just right behind us here, you can see this gentleman holding a Mexican flag. There are a lot of Mexican flags in this crowd. I'm just curious what you think about that and whether that is helpful to the situation.
HORVATH: Well, I think people deserve to have pride in their identity. I absolutely support that. This is clearly an attack on immigrants, and immigrants belong here. We in Los Angeles County welcome people into our county.
We don't turn them away simply for going to work or accessing a right to an education. That's what families are trying to do right now. And my constituents are calling me that their parents are showing them where their documents are in their home before they leave in case they don't come home from work.
We heard from a car wash worker earlier today. Her husband was stolen. She doesn't even know how to find him. This is absolutely unacceptable. This is not how we treat people. It's not Christian. It's not only against our laws, it's just immoral.
We cannot treat our community members this way.
BURNETT: So I was talking to someone who was talking about their Catholic Church. There had been ICE members over the weekend who had gathered, and basically whether they were waiting for people in the parking lot not actually going into the church, but taking people into custody who had gone to worship. I am curious how common that is.
HORVATH: I don't know how common that is. What I do know is that the Catholic Church has been very clear about its protection of migrants from our recently passed Pope Francis, and now Pope Leo has been very clear. We must protect our most vulnerable. We must protect, protect migrants.
This is our call. This is our belief, and this is what we're supposed to be putting into action in our communities. Being of service to the least among us. That is our charge.
That is not what these people are doing here. We are not serving people who need our help. Thats what needs to happen in Los Angeles, and that's what needs to happen throughout our communities to bring people together.
If we want this division to end, which I hear everybody frustrated with how our politics are right now, if we want that to end, we need to find ways to bring people together. And this ain't it.
BURNETT: Lindsey Horvath, thank you very much. And as Lindsey was talking, we're looking to zoom in as we go to commercial, just to take a look here. You see some of them with the clubs. They've got bulletproof vests. They have, obviously, the riot gear protection.
Just the feeling when you are standing here looking at that is not a good feeling, right? It's not a good thing. And I don't know if it comes across when you when you're watching it on television, but they're not moments that anybody wants to celebrate.
Nonetheless, this is what we're seeing as the crowd is gathering more and more, we're going to go in this crowd after this. The attorney general of California is also going to be my guest here in L.A. in just a few moments.
We'll take a brief break and we'll be back with our breaking news coverage here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:24:06]
BURNETT: All right. Breaking news, we are live here in Los Angeles, right outside the federal building, where you can see the standoff between police, Customs and Border Patrol, California National Guard, who have been deployed by the president, not by the governor of this state, and, of course, protesters, where crowds are gathering, they are chanting various chants here.
And there have been certain moments of tension right now, though, and I want to emphasize this. As you can see, it is peaceful, but all eyes on whether it will remain so in the state of California is right now. Just moments ago, filing a major lawsuit against President Trump for his deploying and using the National Guard without the state's approval.
You just heard the sheriff of L.A. County saying he's confused as to why this would have happened. They did not think that they needed the National Guard and that they have this under control. The attorney general of California is going to be with me in just a moment.
I want to go to the White House right now and Kristen Holmes.
So, Kristen, this lawsuit, just as I am speaking, has been filed here by the state of California against President Trump over the use of the National Guard. [19:25:07]
And what is his response to the situation? And is he relishing what he's watching unveil here in Los Angeles?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, of course, whether or not he's relishing it in terms of what he can do using the federal government, that remains unclear. But one thing he is relishing is these personal attacks that he keeps lobbing at Governor Newsom.
I mean, we know that there are two real pathways here that are happening. We see this personal attack on Newsom, where he says that he should be arrested at one point. Then he's asked why Governor Newsom should be arrested. And he says his biggest crime was running for governor. I mean, these are just like personal attacks off to the side.
But as for what's actually happening, we are watching Trump systematically work around the government, the state government of California, to pull these federal levers. And what's not clear when he's going to stop? We obviously know he has sent in the National Guard. Then he sent in 700 marines.
The big question, of course, is whether or not he might, at the end of the day, invoke the insurrection act. And right now, I'm being told that it doesn't seem as though that's happening.
Now, of course, they're all sitting around waiting to see what exactly happens tonight, and I'm told that nothing is off the table. This could escalate and escalate quickly. And I will note, we've seen a number of his cabinet secretaries in and out of the White House today. We know a lot of them have been having conversations surrounding what they are going to do in Los Angeles. And right now, it appears as though they are in somewhat of a holding pattern as they see how tonight's protests unfold.
BURNETT: Kristen, thank you very much. Of course, we're going to be here tonight throughout those protests.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta joins me now.
And, Attorney General, I appreciate your time. I know you have just filed this lawsuit against President Trump regarding his -- let's see. Okay, let's just watch here. Just stepping back a little bit while the crowd moves.
All right. Attorney General Bonta, I don't know if you have returned, if you can see what we're looking at, but what we're looking at is that the California National Guard, they just came out here with weapons pointed at the crowd, and people started running away. Now people are starting to come back.
All right. I don't know, Attorney General, if you can see this, but may I just ask you, while were watching this and I -- excuse me if I end up interrupting you, but what is your biggest fear about what could happen here tonight? And now they just thrown something at the National Guard.
ROB BONTA, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF CALIFORNIA: Well, we always said that the National Guard was not necessary, that local law enforcement, through their own resources and with the potential of mutual aid to add to those resources, didn't need the assistance of the National Guard. If the National Guard was ever needed, the governor of California could make that decision.
But the National Guard wasn't needed. They're not needed. We are concerned that their presence can inflame an already sensitive situation, that they could be provocative, that they could increase tensions instead of calm and create peace. And maybe you're seeing some of those concerns play out in real time as you speak.
So that's what I'm worried about, that the unnecessarily deployed the National Guard, as well as the unnecessarily mobilized marines, could actually stoke the flames and increase tension instead of create common peace, which is what we all desire.
BURNETT: So, Attorney General, stay with me here. As we're watching this, I do just want to say, you know, some of these officers that came out are in ready position. They have weapons that would fire rubber bullets, pepper balls. The crowd is back now chanting "we want peace". Some of them putting their arms up.
Kyung Lah is with me on the other side.
And, Kyung, you actually saw what may have precipitated this sudden standoff, this escalation? Was it something that was thrown?
LAH: Yeah, it was a water bottle. And then I saw another water bottle get thrown. And the reason why I'm wearing my mask is, you know, tear gas. So, they are -- the officers are in ready position.
Mike, if you could take a quick peek. Here's a better closer up look at what is the second wave of law enforcement that has moved in. Definitely a different posture. And what was thrown here, Mike, can you see at the bottom of the stairs? Just that. I mean, you know, with the crowd this large and it is hot out here.
That's something that, you know, if you think about being uncomfortable in the hot sun and then you have we saw some people starting to come in who are younger, they're men and they look like they are here for the long haul. That's the best way that I can put it.
And so, it takes just a few of these water bottles.
[19:30:04]
Maybe somebody's getting pushed into this crowd, and then you have a reaction.
BURNETT: Yeah.
LAH: So that's what we've seen over the last 24 hours, last 48 hours, is that something very simple will then lead to this sort of conflict. And we'll just keep watching.
BURNETT: All right. Kyung. Yes. And Attorney General Bonta, I also will emphasize just here, I'm probably 15 feet away from the officers. Some of the front of the crowd are five feet away. They're very close.
And the crowds are a lot bigger than the number of officers who obviously are heavily armed. And they have the rubber bullet guns, they have pepper ball guns, they have the masks up. They are also very young and they look pretty unsettled and some of them pretty nervous.
How worried are you about this? We're literally -- what we did see and I could actually hear it, that was one water bottle. And all of a sudden, you had all of these officers coming out with their guns pointed, rubber bullet guns pointed at this crowd, causing the crowd to start to run.
BONTA: Well, it's all very sensitive and very delicate. And as you can see. And it was all preventable and avoidable. The National Guard does not need to be there. The marines do not need to be there. The governor never called them in local law enforcement had the situation under control, ready to meet the moment with their resources and the potential of mutual aid.
So, this is very unfortunate, completely avoidable, unnecessary. And by the way, unlawful. Let me just be clear about that.
We brought a lawsuit today that makes it clear that the authority upon which President Trump relies and Pete Hegseth relies for calling in the National Guard does not allow them to call in the National Guard. They are trying to exercise authority they do not have.
In order for them to call in the National Guard, there needs to be a rebellion. There's not. There needs to be an invasion. There is not. There needs to be an assessment that the regular forces can't execute the laws that has not been determined either.
And no matter what they rely on among those three elements as a basis for calling in the National Guard, they need to issue the order through the governor, meaning the governor needs to consent to calling in the National Guard, which not only did he not do, but he strenuously objects to the National Guard coming in.
So, we are very adamant, resolute, committed to the proposition that the president can only do lawful things and not unlawful things. That's why we brought our lawsuit.
BURNETT: So, Attorney General, let me just ask you about the timing here, because obviously you have large crowds. You have a tense moment and you have no obvious way for it to dissipate. And you have filed this lawsuit as there are, what, an additional 1,600, 1,700 National Guard that have been called up.
How fast does this lawsuit move through the system? I mean, is it -- is it fast enough?
BONTA: If we seek a certain relief, we can get it within hours. In our other 23 cases in which we sued the president in the last 20 weeks for breaking the law, which is something he's done consistently and blatantly. Weve sometimes got orders within hours after we filed.
So, the court system works more slowly than we'd like sometimes, but can move very rapidly under the right conditions, such as the conditions in this case.
BURNETT: All right. Well, we will see what happens.
Attorney General, I appreciate your time. Thank you very much, attorney general for the state of California.
And up next, I'm going to be joined by a photographer who has been here amidst some of the violent scenes that have erupted over the past 48 hours, that, of course, we have seen around the world, from the burning cars to the violence in the past two days. He's going to be with me right after this as our breaking coverage continues here live from Los Angeles, right here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:38:01]
BURNETT: Welcome back here in Los Angeles as we cover the breaking news of these protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement, against Donald Trump's immigration policies.
Here in the crowd, hundreds of people. And you can see this young man, I think, summarizes a lot of what we're seeing here. This image is very powerful. The American flag and the Mexican flag. We've seen a lot of Mexican flags, but also a lot of American flags. And flying them together -- well, that encapsulates the fundamental message of this crowd.
Right here, though, as you can see, the tense standoff between this crowd and National Guard. Now, just a couple of moments ago, while we were here empty plastic water bottle was thrown at the California National Guard. And immediately you saw the doors open there of the federal building, and out came a whole lot more officers, all of them with their weapons pointed at the crowd here where we were standing. Everyone started running away.
These were guns that are you can see some of them there with the yellow. These are rubber bullet guns. These are pepper ball guns. There was immediate worry about tear gas, but it just showed the tension of the moment that immediately they came out with those guns drawn, ready to fire because of a plastic water bottle.
It did calm down for a moment. The crowd is back. The standoff is back. It just shows you how tense it is. What we are seeing here and this tension, the real fear, is that it could boil over and erupt into what we saw last night.
And Kyle Grillot was here. You were, you know, freelance and you were taking pictures. You were all of it. You were following for Bloomberg.
Tell me what you saw. I mean, here in these moments where we see a tension, right? And everyone starts to run away.
Everyone's just reacting here to the sound of what is a roaring -- motorcycle through this crowd. I think there was some fear. Now people are cheering, but, Kyle, I think this sort of summarizes the tension.
KYLE GRILLOT, PHOTOJOURNALIST COVERING L.A. PROTESTS: Yeah, obviously things change very quickly.
[19:40:02]
You know, the frustration and tension, you can feel it. And whether it's law enforcement or someone throwing something or yesterday I saw somebody run a motorcycle through a police line to women that changed the thing, you know, and it changes really fast. And it -- yeah, it can be scary.
BURNETT: You know, you have the images of, you know, the that that now is seen around the world, right, of a man standing on top of a burning car. What was that moment like as you were taking pictures?
GRILLOT: You know, that moment was actually kind of calm. They were taking out frustration on inanimate objects. It wasn't a, you know, battle between law enforcement. They were kind of just celebrating their, like, community at that point. And. Yeah, while violent, it was kind of a rejoicing moment.
BURNETT: I understand what you're saying. When you see moments like this and you think about what it's been here in these past couple of days, what do you feel? I mean, you're talking about how quickly it can turn and how on edge people are. I mean, you feel that people are ready to run at an instant.
You also see those police are ready to put those rubber bullet guns and point them out in the crowd in an instant. We just saw that.
GRILLOT: Mm-hmm. Yeah. And I mean, somebody might throw something. The police might see something and they'll start moving and pushing forward. As soon as they start pushing forward as you just saw like everyone then becomes more frustrated with the police officers and combative. And so, then they start throwing things. It just -- it changes in one second. So yeah, I don't even like having my back turned to the people with weapons.
BURNETT: And it is -- I think it's interesting you say that and important. It is an odd feeling when we're talking to you on television to have our backs to what is happening, because you can't see it in an instant.
Kyle, thank you so much. I really appreciate your time and your incredible images. Thank you for sharing them with us.
GRILLOT: Thank you.
BURNETT: All right. Senator Alex Padilla is with me now.
And, Senator, you see what is going on. And you hear Kyle and I talking about just the fact that it truly can change in an instant. When we heard that roaring of a motorcycle after one had tried to ram through police lines yesterday, there was an immediate tension and fear among people. Then they realized, all right, in that case, nothing to fear.
What is your biggest concern here, though, as we are watching this on a Monday? I know California has filed a lawsuit. Attorney general told me they're hoping, oh, maybe there'll be action in a few hours and the National Guard will be pulled back. But that might not happen, right? Thats not the status quo right now, Senator.
SEN. ALEX PADILLA (D-CA): Right. Erin, I thank you for being there on the ground to experience that tension for yourself, not only because it captures the moment and how volatile it can be, but because it doesn't have to be this way. It's important to remind everybody how this all began.
This is a manufactured crisis created by Donald Trump. This is classic, you know, Trump playbook. Manufacturers of crisis. And of course, there's going to be response from passionate people in Los Angeles standing up for our fundamental rights and due process. That's a great thing. 99 percent of the protesters and demonstrators and marchers have been peaceful.
And I encourage the continuation of peaceful protest for the folks involved with vandalism and violence, et cetera. Theres no place for that. Not only is it not helpful, its unacceptable and its harmful because it's taking away from this important message about what the administration is doing with immigration enforcement, the increasingly cruel tactics, the theatrics that they have chosen to take on it all serves to distract from the failures of the Trump administration, right? The tariff was a big failure. Theres no peace between Russia and Ukraine, on and on and on. And they're moving this bill through congress right now to decimate health care to gut the social safety net for working families. But he's changed the narrative because of the crisis he's created in Los Angeles.
BURNETT: Senator, you know, we see and talking to people here that I know that I see we hear stories about fruit vendors who have been in communities for years, who have been taken summarily. I talked about the Catholic Church parking lot where people were taken summarily. We've seen it at schools.
You know, we hear story after story after story that shows how pervasive it is and how powerful it is in this community. And yet these are all from citizens, right? Citizens cameras of something happening.
The only time that anybody's been invited to actually see one of these raids themselves at this point, an ICE raid was Dr. Phil, Trump's ally, who came in and was able to film a raid and put out pictures of him there, took a television crew in with him. What do you think the purpose of that is?
PADILLA: Yeah, it's nothing but a political agenda by the White House and Donald Trump. Look, Erin, for me, this is personal. [19:45:00]
Los Angeles is home for me. My parents were immigrants from Mexico, so our family's journey is one of pursuit of the American dream. And that's the journey, the experience shared by so many other families across so many generations. And that's why the cruelty of these detentions and raids at elementary schools, at churches, at houses of worship and workplaces is so beyond the pale.
Throughout the course of the campaign last year, Donald Trump did talk about focusing on violent criminals, dangerous criminals, if that was what they were doing, there would be no controversy. There would be no debate. Theres agreement on that.
But what they're actually doing is so much more than that. And it's, you know, against the interests of our country. Think about California, not just the most populous state in the nation, the most diverse state in the nation, home to more immigrants than any state in the nation.
And we have the largest economy of any state in the nation, not despite our immigrant population, but because of the contribution of so many law-abiding immigrants working hard, paying taxes, contributing to the success of communities and our nation's economy. Now that's being hurt because of Donald Trump's overreach and abuse of power.
BURNETT: Senator Padilla, thank you very much. I appreciate your time as a senator --
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: We do have some more breaking -- yes.
PADILLA: The precedent that's being set has national implications because the overreach by the administration, their attempts to not just with the National Guard, but with the marines and elsewhere is not specific to Los Angeles. If they get away with this, this sets the stage for similar tension and more that you're seeing in Los Angeles in every corner of the country. So, stakes are absolutely very high.
BURNETT: Yes, they are. Thank you very much, Senator. Of course, the use of the National Guard in this way has not been done since 1965 under President Johnson. And it does come as Governor Newsom here in California has just in the past few moments said that he understands that President Trump has now deployed an additional 2,000 National Guard to Los Angeles.
Now, it's unclear whether we add that on top of the nearly 2,000 already that had been mobilized. We're trying to get to the bottom of these numbers. But Governor Newsom saying an additional 2,000 have been deployed as our breaking news coverage continues here in L.A.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BURNETT: Welcome back to this special edition of OUTFRONT live from Los Angeles.
[19:50:03]
The breaking news right now, the governor of California says that President Trump is deploying another 2,000 National Guard here to the city of Los Angeles. That would come on top of 2,000 already deployed, 300 of whom at least are already here. Some of those are actually right there behind where I'm standing here outside the federal building here with those California National Guard.
As you can see, the music, you can see the crowd has been building here, maybe another 100 or 200 people here, just as we've been speaking in these past few moments. End of the day, work is out. We are now getting near around 5:00.
Congressman Adam Kinzinger joins us now. Obviously, former congressman, also retired lieutenant colonel with the air National Guard. And John Miller, our chief law enforcement analyst, both with us.
Congressman, may I just start with you, because of this breaking news when -- you know and I'm trying to get to the bottom of understanding exactly what numbers governor Newsom is putting out there, whether he's now talking about possibly 4,000 National Guard coming here to L.A. or not, that number would vastly exceed any number of protesters that we've seen.
Some of the National Guard here already are standing behind where we are. As someone who served in the air National Guard, how troubled are you by the use of the National Guard right now?
ADAM KINZINGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, this is very troubling because look what you're looking at, they have California National Guard shields, but you are not looking at California National Guard troops. You are looking at U.S. army troops. They were activated by the president of the United States under title ten.
They are no longer National Guard. They're no different than the 82nd Airborne. They have no law enforcement capability legally, that's why they're stuck guarding federal buildings. Same with the Marines and same with the 2000 additional activated troops that's now U.S. army. There are 4,000 potentially U.S. Army troops there, not National Guard. That's an important distinction, unless the Insurrection Act is invoked or unless Gavin Newsom himself concedes to their activation.
If I was the governor of California right now, I'd be activating the rest of my National Guard and challenge Trump to federalize that because, listen, there is no militia as guaranteed by the Second Amendment, if in fact, the president can come in and overtake the governor's authority with a militia.
BURNETT: John Miller, what is the latest that you are hearing from your sources about what may unfold on the ground tonight? We know that what happens tonight is obviously crucial for where this goes. JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND SECURITY ANALYST: Well, I
mean, what they're focused on is gathering the resources. You know, the LAPD, which is a city of 3.5 million people, it's a third larger geographically than even New York City. But it's only 8,000 cops, which is smaller than Chicago, smaller than New York. And it's about 2,000 less than the LAPD is budgeted for. But it's the number they're working with.
So, resources are an issue. When they get into a thing where they're having to deploy mobile field forces in the numbers of 250 or 300 officers to maintain order in the city based on what's going downtown. That means other calls aren't being answered.
So, what they're looking at is outreach from city hall and their community affairs people to people within the protest groups, trying to de-escalate things that may get out of control. What they're looking at is outreach from the LAPD to their contacts within the protest groups to say, how do we keep this de-escalated? And that's Fred Boker and his team, who have a lot of experience with LAPD, who did that very well for years.
But what they're looking for is, can we manage these protests without it going over the line? What ends up happening, and we saw this yesterday is if the rocks and bottles start coming, if, you know, the graffiti keeps going, if windows are broken, that's where you end up declaring it under 409 penal code, California state law an unlawful assembly.
And then it falls to the LAPD, not the National Guard and not ICE to disperse that crowd, which, as we saw yesterday, is a difficult task. It can get messy and it can take time.
BURNETT: Congressman, I will just say to give you a chance here. What? I'm looking around. I saw the man with the Mexican flag and the American flag, which was a powerful moment. But there are a lot of Mexican flags here. Just Mexican flags. We can even see just a few right next to me where I am.
What's the importance of that?
KINZINGER: Look, I honestly think people should be carrying the American flag around. It's one thing. If you're at a protest supporting Ukraine and defending Ukraine, even if you know Palestinian flags. What this protest about is people wanting to be American or wanting to stay in the United States.
I think the visuals of carrying that are terrible, honestly, and this is feeding right into Donald Trump's narrative. People can carry whatever flag they want. They have a right to do it.
[19:55:01]
I just think it would be much stronger if they were carrying American flags only.
BURNETT: Yeah, yeah, it's a fair point. All right. Thank you both so very much I appreciate it. Watching the
situation develop, were just hearing over the loudspeaker, they're talking about trying to make everyone clear out of here in the next few moments. We're going to see what that happens.
We'll take a brief break. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Breaking news here in Los Angeles. We are just watching their orders coming from the police, saying they're going to be trying to disperse this crowd. They've, about three minutes ago, gave them five minutes. So we'll see what's happening.
We're seeing some people putting more masks on, possibly worried about tear gas or something being used to deploy. We'll see what happens here in these next few moments.
All eyes also on the governor of California and the president of the United States and the long simmering feud, the feud that is now at the center of what we are seeing unfold here in Los Angeles tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TRUMP: I like Gavin Newsom. He's a nice guy, but he's grossly incompetent. Everybody knows that.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over: That old showdown between Donald Trump and Gavin Newsom is back and explosive as ever.
GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D), CALIFORNIA: It's my job to clean up Donald Trump's mess because he's making it by the hour.
ZELENY: The president and the California governor have long been tangling over immigration.
TRUMP: I said, look, you got to take care of this. Otherwise, I'm sending in the troops. That's what we did.
ZELENY: But their fight is escalating after Trump federalized the National Guard and mobilized marines after violent protests in Los Angeles.
NEWSOM: He's taken the illegal and unconstitutional act of federalizing the National Guard, and he's putting lives at risk.
ZELENY: It's the latest chapter in the turbulent relationship between Trump and Newsom, who have sparred over tariffs.
NEWSOM: No state is poised to lose more than the state of California. This is recklessness at another level.
ZELENY: And deadly wildfires.
TRUMP: We're going to take care of your water situation, and we'll force it down his throat, and we'll say, Gavin, if you don't do it, we're not giving you any of that fire money that we send you all the time.
ZELENY: For Trump, the grievance often goes back to California itself.
TRUMP: If Jesus came down and was the vote counter, I would win California.
ZELENY: And the fact he lost the Democratic enclave by more than 20 points and millions of votes, all three times, he ran.
NEWSOM: Objectively, California is the most Trump state in America, and I think that's demonstrable.
ZELENY: Yet beyond the resentment and anger, the two men have also shaken hands and found common cause.
TRUMP: We're obviously from different sides of the spectrum, but we have a very good relationship.
NEWSOM: We've played no politics during COVID with California.
TRUMP: Nothing but cowards.
ZELENY: Tonight, those pleasantries are a distant memory with California in Trump's crosshairs again.
TRUMP: We did the right thing. Everybody agrees to that. But you have a governor who let the city burn down. I think Gavin, in his own way, is probably happy I got involved.
ZELENY: No sign of that, as Newsom sued Trump and called his actions an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZELENY (on camera): And as the war of words continued, Governor Newsom is saying that he believes that the White House is also considering sending 2,000 more National Guard troops.
Erin, tonight, he's saying this isn't about public safety, but in his words, it's about stroking a dangerous president's ego -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Jeff Zeleny.
And we've just moved away from the building here as we get ready to hand it off, I'm going to be here all night. You can see behind us, they say some of those U.S. Marines arriving in busses right up behind us. The federal building is right over here.
You can see those. We'll give you that shot. And I'll probably be up here in a few moments here.
Let's hand it off now to "AC360".
