Return to Transcripts main page

Early Start with Rahel Solomon

Fourth Night Of L.A. Protests, Law Enforcement In Riot Gear; Trump To Deploy Another 2,000 National Guard Members To L.A.; California Sues Trump Administration Over National Guard Deployment. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired June 10, 2025 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:00]

ANNOUNCER: CNN breaking news.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN HOST: Good morning, and welcome to all of our viewers joining us here in the U.S. and all around the world to CNN's breaking news coverage. I'm Polo Sandoval. It is Tuesday, June the 10th.

And we are closely following the situation out of Los Angeles, where demonstrators have faced off against authorities for a fourth straight night. And more raids, rallies and confrontations are expected in the day ahead. The situation, it has grown much calmer in these early morning hours, but earlier, it did get heated near the federal building in downtown L.A.

That's where police in riot gear fired flash bangs and rubber bullets to try to disperse the crowds at night, and some protesters threw objects at police, including what appeared to be fireworks. See some pictures from above showing that confrontation.

National Guard troops, they're deployed by President Trump. They were also on hand with riot shields. Demonstrators are still angry over the military deployments they've seen in their city, and by the Trump administration's aggressive immigration raids.

Local and state authorities, they have slammed the federal government's actions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF JIM MCDONNELL, LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT: The introduction of federal military personnel without direct coordination creates logistical challenges and risks confusion during critical incidents. Los Angeles police department, alongside our mutual aid partners, have decades of experience managing large scale public demonstrations, and we remain confident in our ability to be able to do so professionally and effectively.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: L.A.'s top cop essentially sending a message to the White House, more resources at the moment are not needed, and the L.A. mayor said that her city is being used, as she described it, as an experiment and test case for taking power away from local authorities.

(INAUDIBLE)

SANDOVAL: We'll work to get you some more of the mayor's comments a little later.

But because of the situation on the ground right now, which is still continuing to develop, and despite the widespread criticism of President Trump's actions, many Republicans are still defending his response to the immigration protests and his decision to federalize the National Guard.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. KEVIN CRAMER (R-ND): Obviously, there's a -- there's a right to assemble and there's a right to peacefully protest, and then there's what they're doing. And so, clearly, the state needs help. And the president is sending help. Hopefully, hopefully it'll bring some peace.

(END VIDOE CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Now, in terms of the latest, it's still unclear exactly how many protests were -- protesters were detained on Monday, but police were seen loading some of them onto busses with their hands zip-tied.

CNN's Michael Yoshida showing us what it's like on the streets of L.A. during the unrest. He filed this new report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL YOSHIDA, CNN REPORTER: We've been with protesters throughout the afternoon, the evening, and it was a short time ago. We saw those numbers start to diminish, but still a very heavy police presence. We're right by that federal building you were talking about. You can see all the law enforcement in the streets.

We have helicopters flying overhead. And as we just pan around, you can see throughout this part of downtown L.A., just flashing lights, pretty much a 360 view around me right now. And as this law enforcement presence remains, it's important to point out this is the spot where on Sunday over the weekend, we saw those flare ups between protesters, between law enforcement, where we saw some of those vehicles set on fire.

And it's really been various moods here throughout the day, in the mornings, the early afternoons as another police helicopter flies overhead, we saw protesters just behind me doing more of prayer for the families they say that were detained in those ICE raids, those arrests that were made last week. And then as the afternoon built on, we saw those protesters move near where the National Guard were staged outside. And then as the evening went on, we saw those officers start to push them through the streets trying to disperse them. That's when we saw those flash bangs, saw those rubber bullets, saw fireworks. Even being just pointed towards and set off near the officers.

We ended up probably about a half mile down the road, and that's where I'd say about an hour ago we saw busses brought in and the protesters that remained in that area where we had been most of the night, they were either told to leave or if they stayed, they were detained or arrested and loaded onto those busses.

But again, at this point, you can see a lot calmer here, but still no question that the events of the weekend, the events of today on the minds of law enforcement, as again, wherever I look, I basically can see flashing lights at this point.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: CNN's Michael Yoshida reporting things are calmer this morning in L.A.

Meanwhile, protests they have flared in other U.S. cities, including here in Dallas. Crowds gathering to express solidarity with Los Angeles amid the demonstrations against immigration raids.

[05:05:02]

They carried signs and waved U.S. and Mexican flags in support of people arrested and detained recently. Police vehicles, they lined the streets as officers pulled some demonstrators to the ground.

There was also a tense standoff between demonstrators and police in riot gear, forming a wall of shields that you see here, very similar to what we've witnessed in other parts of the country, including in Manhattan, where police made arrests when protesters blocked some of the streets. In New York, demonstrators carried signs calling for the rejection of fascism. They were arrested for violating traffic laws, and marchers in the Texas Capitol back in Austin, they carried anti- racism signs and also shouted slogans in solidarity as police responded with tear gas.

In Louisville, Kentucky, the focus was on families and the effects on immigration policies and what they are having, and demonstrators in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, gathered outside the ICE building calling for the release of detainees. President Trump, mobilizing another 2,000 National Guard members, doubling his initial deployment of those troops. Seven hundred marines also being deployed on top of that.

The president's border czar, Tom Homan, says that they will not try to do the job of the local police.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM HOMAN, BORDER CZAR: I think, like they're not -- their number one goal. They're not going to be enforcing immigration law. We're doing that. We're immigration officers. But there's two different lanes of effort here. Number one, we got ice officers, along with other department of justice agencies, FBI, DEA, U.S. Marshals that are out there doing immigration operations, and we're doing them today. We're going to do them tomorrow. We're going to do them every day we're here.

At the same time, you get these protests that are getting out of hand where protesters become criminals and public safety threats. So, we got the national guard here in the military, their job is to protection of property and protection of our agents and their lives and their well-being, along with the public's well-being. But when these protests get out of hand, that's when the local authorities step in and their job is to maintain public safety and public peace.

And last night, LAPD did a pretty good job out there, you know, trying to quell some of this violence down. So there's two different things going on here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Meanwhile, the state of California is fighting back legally with a lawsuit against the Trump administration, asking a judge to declare the deployments of the National Guard in that state unconstitutional.

This spat over federal troops is really just the latest fault line in this longtime feud between the president and California Governor Gavin Newsom.

Here's CNN's Jeff Zeleny with more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: 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 un-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: 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 late Monday, Governor Newsom said. He believes that 2,000 more National Guardsmen and women will be sent to California. He said this is not about public safety, but, in his words, stroking a dangerous president's ego.

[05:10:00]

Jeff Zeleny, CNN, the White House.

SANDOVAL: And still ahead here on EARLY START, a CNN crew getting caught up in the LAPD crowd control actions. Coming up, find out what happened to my colleague Jason Carroll and his team.

And a judge handing down a major victory for Blake Lively in the ongoing legal battle with her former costar Justin Baldoni. And later, delegations from the U.S. and China resuming their trade

negotiations in London. We will bring you the latest on how investors are reacting to these talks.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:15:01]

SANDOVAL: Welcome back to EARLY START.

Police in Los Angeles warn protesters that they would start making arrests if people did not clear out of the streets last night.

Our Jason Carroll was reporting from the scene when an officer escorted him away from the area. You see him here, his hands behind his back. Two security personnel from his crew briefly detained by officers. They since have been released and there were no charges that were filed.

Here's what his team actually saw before they were removed from the area.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: If we can zoom in right now, you can see one by one. These demonstrators are walking up to the officers turning around. They are being handcuffed with the zip ties and they are being led away. We knew this was going to happen as soon as this white bus that you see here pulled up, this detention bus pulled up. Obviously, that's going to be used to take some of these protesters away. We've also noticed that some of the demonstrators are out here, started to write a jail support number on their arms. So, once they are in custody, they have a number to call.

But again, the police that were out here made the announcement. They said that anyone who was left here was going to be detained for failure -- failure to disperse. And then what happened after that? You know, they boxed in literally. You can see officers right here on all sides, on this side, here, over here, on this side here.

And some of the demonstrators at that point tried to leave. And the LAPD said, no, that time has come and that time has gone.

A very long day, a very long night of back and forth with some of these officers. I said, even just a few hours ago, there was going to be a tipping point where officers were not going to do this back and forth with demonstrators who were out here. You know, at one point, demonstrators would come up to these officers, shout obscenities, the officers would hold their line, use a great deal of restraint, and then all of a sudden, someone would throw in some sort of a firework. The officers would move in with the rubber bullets, with the flash bangs, and try to do what they can to disperse the crowd away from the federal center, which is now several blocks away from where we are now.

(END VIDEOTAPE) SANDOVAL: Jason Carroll reporting there from Los Angeles.

In the last hour, I spoke with retired U.S. Army Major General Mark MacCarley, asked him what he thinks about the hundreds of marines being deployed to Los Angeles.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. GEN. MARK MACCARLEY, U.S. ARMY (RET.): I think this is more for optics, meaning that the Marines, God bless them, have established over the course of time history in this great nation that they are very aggressive. First, to fight up there, do what is necessary. And in a lot of cases engender a certain amount of apprehension or indeed fear on those against whom they're facing.

So, to just even make the announcement that the United States marines are going to make a beachhead, so to speak, in the center of Los Angeles is itself intimidating.

So, this relates, once again, to a political objective. And that objective has been discussed repeatedly, and that is to move forward with the removal of undocumented, people within this county.

SANDOVAL: And off of that last point, General, just briefly speaking about morale or what you expect to be morale among some of these, you know, remarkable individuals as well, especially in the military here, what do you expect it's going to be like? Especially when you're talking about this mission and these individuals being deployed to an area where local officials, many, I should say -- many local officials have said that their presence is unnecessary? So, how do they go about in fulfilling their mission?

MACCARLEY: Yeah, there's a real simple answer to that. It's what we all subscribe to. And having been a member of our Army for 31 years, I can say it's all about that statement -- duty.

You swear allegiance to the United States federal government. When you join the Marine Corps, the Army, the Navy, Marine, Air Force, you come forward and you obey orders. And for that wonderful work, to use this other description, simple soldier or marine, his or her objective is to do what they are instructed to do.

Now, whether they've got some personal antipathy or animosity toward the specific assignment, that has to remain with them because they have opted to become a member of that Marine Corps or National Guard. So, yeah, I'm certainly in concurrence with you, agreement with you that they're going to be a multiplicity of emotions on the part of those young marines and young soldiers, some of whom actually came and come from that particular area.

I know that the -- some of the soldiers, the National Guard, some of those soldiers from the 79th Infantry Brigade, they're living in the county, and in part, that is an asset that has been located in the county of Los Angeles and parts of Orange County for years and years and years.

[05:20:16]

So, these people are part of the community. So, yes, they'll have some concern.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Well, I take a moment now to take you to a story that's just in to CNN, a story out of Austria where police are responding to reports of a suspected shooting at a high school in the city of Graz. That's according to local officials there. That city, located in the southeastern part of the country. Officers responded to the reports of several suspected gunshots.

We're tracking the developing story there out of Austria. We will bring you those developments as soon as they're confirmed by authorities and get you more here in the hours ahead.

Meanwhile, the international response to the immigration protests in the U.S. is still growing. Up next, the Mexican president's message to protesters on the streets of Los Angeles and her response to the Trump administration's treatment of migrants. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANDOVAL: A reminder now that it was a series of immigration raids in Los Angeles that were the trigger for the protests that we've seen for days President Trump's immigration policies have proven controversial across the U.S. but as CNN's Gonzalo Alvarado explains, the demographics, specifically, of Los Angeles mean that the impact of those raids are going to hit harder.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GONZALO ALVARADO, CNN PRODUCER: Los Angeles County, the most populated county in California with nearly 10 million residents. Of those, 48.6 percent are Latinos or Hispanics. Over one third of Angelenos are immigrants. Los Angeles became an official sanctuary city since last November, before Donald Trump got into office for the second time.

What it means to this sanctuary city is that every city is limited to share the resources with any federal activities when it comes to immigration here in Los Angeles, the city has said that no city employee will participate in any immigration activities. That's why this residence here, this protesters are saying that the city should protect them because it's considered a sanctuary city. We've been hearing since Friday that they don't want ICE patrolling the city -- the city streets of Los Angeles, and they want them out.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: And as Gonzalo points out, because Los Angeles is largely a city of migrants, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is speaking out on the protests that we've seen in L.A. recently. She's criticizing what she calls violent actions from protesters, but she's also calling out what she says is the criminalization of migrants in the U.S. I want to get more now from Jorge Castaneda. He serves as Mexico's

foreign minister from 2000 to 2003. He's also currently the global distinguished professor of politics and Latin American and Caribbean studies at NYU here in New York.

Thank you so much for joining us.

JORGE CASTANEDA, FORMER MEXICAN FOREIGN MINISTER: Thank you, Polo. It's good to be with you.

SANDOVAL: Of course. Professor, we've seen Mexican flags in both peaceful demonstrations showing solidarity with the millions of Latinos who call L.A. county home. By some estimates, that resilient Mexican community in L.A., some 4 million strong.

But we've also seen that flag seen in images showing vandalism, destruction.

On the latter, Professor, do you think that those images damage the greater cause of migrant advocates? And also, do you think that the Trump administration is really capitalizing on some of the images coming out of L.A.?

CASTANEDA: Well, I think that the vandalism certainly serves no useful purpose. And, of course, President Trump skillfully uses it to advance his own agenda, particularly on immigration.

The use of Mexican flags is more complicated. This is something that goes back actually to the 1990s, when many people protested against Proposition 187 at the time, and then also the early 2000, where demonstrations all over the United States took place against several laws that were being implemented then on immigration.

So, the use of the Mexican flag is not really that new. The issue here is that most, I would say, practically all of the demonstrators, all of the protesters are American citizens.

You would have to be quite reckless or foolish to be a Mexican citizen without papers or even as a legal permanent resident to go out and demonstrate today in these protests, because you're most likely to be arrested and deported even if you're a legal permanent resident. Certainly, if you have no papers.

So, I think most of the people, if not all of the people who are demonstrating are American citizens, and its perfectly their right to use any flag they want, especially a flag that is important for them because it marks their heritage. That's where the enormous majority of the Latino population in Los Angeles comes from, from Mexico. And this goes back well over 100 years now.

So yes, they're using a symbol of their heritage, but they are American citizens enjoying American freedoms. And what's questionable is whether those freedoms are being taken away now by not allowing them to demonstrate with a flag or without a flag.

SANDOVAL: Yeah. I'm so glad you're addressing some of the backlash that we've seen on social media, responding to some of these images. And an important point that you that that you bring up here, some of these individuals are quite literally waving a flag here. So, it's quite obvious, or at least that suggests that they do have the status to be in the country, since they would feel comfortable enough to go out --