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Early Start with Rahel Solomon
L.A. Police Make Mass Arrests As Protesters Defy Overnight Curfew; Austrians Hold Vigil To Mourn 10 Victims Of School Shooting; Teen Charged With Attempted Murder Of Presidential Hopeful; Candidates Set In New Jersey Governor's Race; U.S., China Agree On Framework To Implement Trade Deal; EU Announces Massive Sanctions Against Russia In Latest Blow to Putin's War; Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg Is Assembling An AI "Superintelligence" Team. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired June 11, 2025 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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POLO SANDOVAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And welcome back to your Early Start. Right now in Los Angeles, a curfew is in effect until the morning in a small part of downtown. In the last few hours, we have seen police detaining people who continue to be on the streets in that particular part of the city.
Earlier, LAPD said that they've arrested almost 400 people since Saturday. A series of immigration raids triggered the protests. Those raids are continuing with National Guard troops seemingly in attendance. You see some of these photos that were shared by U.S. Customs Enforcement.
Important to point out those images that is extremely rare to see soldiers accompanying federal agents as they carry out court orders. President Trump's decision to deploy those troops is at the center of an escalating political battle.
On Tuesday, California Governor Gavin Newsom delivered a stinging rebuke of the president.
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GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): Democracy is under assault before our eyes. This moment we have feared has arrived. He's taking a wrecking, a wrecking ball our founding father's historic project. Three co-equal branches of independent government.
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There are no longer any checks and balances. Congress is nowhere to be found. Speaker Johnson has completely abdicated that responsibility. The rule of law has increasingly been given way to the rule of Don.
(END VIDEO CLIP) SANDOVAL: Let's get more now from Adam Lerman. He's an organizer with one of the many groups that have been there on the ground demonstrating the Group By All Means Necessary in Los Angeles. Adam, thank you so much for taking time to check in with CNN.
ADAM LERMAN, BY ALL MEANS NECESSARY ORGANIZER: Thank you for having me.
SANDOVAL: Adam, you've been in the front lines. Want you to give us, our viewers, a reality check of just how concentrated or how widespread the demonstrations are. Now, after five days that we've seen this play out, I heard from some colleagues on the ground that daily life has remained relatively normal in most of the city. What have you seen?
LERMAN: I think I've seen a city that is completely changing, that has -- that is completely determined to defend each other, to defend the immigrant communities of Los Angeles, to stop this war that Donald Trump is waging on the city of L.A. and on the immigrant community and the Latino communities of the United States.
I think that people are -- new people are joining in every day, are coming into the demonstrations. I think that this is nowhere near being done yet. I think we will see bigger demonstrations on the weekend as well. And like I said, I think for us, we want to keep these demonstrations going until the rates stop.
SANDOVAL: Yes. Every day we continue to see other parts of the country really joining on these protests, which could support what you just said here.
LERMAN: That's right.
SANDOVAL: Now, in terms of the heart of your message for the president and his administration. Los Angeles, it is a city of migrants. What is perhaps the cross section of that community that you are, you and the rest of your fellow demonstrators are hoping to defend is people who do not have a violent history but lack status and now are afraid to go to work or to go about their lives.
LERMAN: I think our conception is that if you live here, if you work here, if you contribute to this society economically, culturally, that you're a citizen and you should have the same rights as everyone else in this country. I think the majority of the people that come here, come with that conception to, you know, to contribute to this society, to make a better life for themselves and should have the right to do that, especially when so many of them are coming here because of the conditions in the different countries and some of them that have been caused by the long history with the United States and their international policies.
SANDOVAL: Adam, I want to give you a chance to maybe draw a distinction between what we've seen as peaceful demonstrators and some situations that have perhaps escalated out of hand. Before that, I want to share with you what Laura Friedman told CNN yesterday. As you know, she represents part of L.A. in Congress. The lawmaker held up a photo taken by her staff. We're showing our
viewers that right now, showing one of the many daytime assemblies in L.A. that keep the focus on the peaceful side of the movement. But then she also seemed to call out who she described as agents of chaos, putting people and potentially your message at risk. Listen in and then we can discuss right after.
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LAURA FRIEDMAN, U.S. HOUSE DEMOCRAT: Those people that I showed you, those thousands of protesters, they're put in danger by these chaos agents who come in who throw rocks and try to agitate the police and set things on fire. Those people should be arrested. I have said that other Democratic members of Congress from Los Angeles have said we have zero tolerance policy towards people that are endangering law enforcement and endangering other protesters.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANDOVAL: So, Adam, what is the general feeling among your fellow demonstrators when it comes to these, as she put it, these agitators? Is there an effort, an internal effort, to try to create some distance from those groups?
LERMAN: I think that from the beginning, it's been pretty clear to us, and it's been said by the mayor of L.A., by the governor of California as well. And we agree that really the violence has come from the provocations that Donald Trump's ICE agents have caused in the city, acting like an invading military force on the city, attacking members of the community, kidnapping immigrants.
And then when demonstrators come out to defend their neighbors and their friends and their family, attacking our communities for our right to protest. And so if there's been any violence, it's definitely been provocations and on the side of ICE agents of homeland Security. And that's been -- it's clear that's what Trump wants.
He wants to create a riot, to distract, I think, from what really is a weak presidency.
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A moment where his policy of attacks on immigrants has been central to maintaining his support of his supporters. And this is the case now. And so we know that people are going to continue coming out no matter what. I think people are determined to continue these demonstrations even if it means even know facing the risk of the provocations and on the attacks on the police.
SANDOVAL: Yes, it's important to keep hearing from people on the ground. Adam Lerman, thank you so much for adding your voice. We appreciate you.
LERMAN: Thank you. Thanks for having me.
SANDOVAL: Of course. Well, still ahead, Austria is reeling from one of the worst rampages in the country's history. Here's what we know. A national minute of silence was held just a short time ago in honor of the victims of the deadly school shooting in the city of Graz.
Officials say on Tuesday, the suspect, the 21-year-old former student at that school, killed at least 10 people, including teenagers. Authorities say he then fatally shot himself. Several vigils were held in the city on Tuesday evening. CNN's Fred Pleitgen attended one candlelight vigil in the center of Graz and he files this report.
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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is described by many people here in Graz as one of the most awful days in recent history of this city after this horrible school shooting took place where a gunman killed 10 people and then apparently killed himself as well, using two weapons, a handgun and a shotgun apparently as well.
And you can see here in the center of Graz, there's many people who are coming out who are lighting candles, who are just taking a moment of silence just to think about those who were affected by all of this. And as you can imagine, this community has been hit really hard by all of this. I was able to speak to the mayor earlier and she thought about and recalled the many people that she had to comfort on this day. Many of them had lost loved ones in this terrible rampage.
ELKE KHAR, GRAZ MAYOR (through translator): I keep thinking about the image of the families, friends and relatives who will never find answer or explanation. And that's just tragic. There are 350 children at the school and one cannot fathom they had to wait for so long. The parents who didn't know whether their child was still alive or not, that's just awful.
PLEITGEN: One of the things that the mayor also told me as well as she said, if there is anything good out of this, she says that the response by the authorities was very fast and very efficient. And she also said the fact that so many people are coming out now and showing their support, voicing their support for those who are having such a difficult time right now that shows that this community is strong and will continue to persevere.
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SANDOVAL: Elsewhere, a teenager in Colombia has been charged with the attempted murder of a prominent politician and presidential hopeful. Colombian officials say that the unnamed 15-year-old shot Senator Miguel Uribe Turbay at a rally in Bogota before trying to flee.
He also faces firearm charges after authorities say that they found a 9 millimeter Glock type firearm in his possession. Footage showed the senator giving a speech to a crowd before the shots rang out. It remains in critical condition at this hour.
President Trump's name isn't on the ballot, but his present looming large over New Jersey and its governor's race. How the candidates are making it all about Trump. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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SANDOVAL: Well, it's official voters in New Jersey, they have picked their candidates for the governor's race already. President Trump has been a central figure in both campaigns for both parties, and the race could serve as a barometer of his approval ahead of next year's midterm elections, which is why we're watching this closely. CNN's Arlette Saenz reports.
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ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The race for governor is set in New Jersey as voters selected their nominees to face off in November's election. On the Democratic side, Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill won the no, beating out five other Democratic candidates. She's a former Navy helicopter pilot and federal prosecutor. And she came onto the political scene back in 2018 when she flipped a Republican seat here in New Jersey to help Democrats win back the House in President Donald Trump's first turn in office.
Now she is put fighting President Trump at the center of her campaign messaging. And that is an argument that she made at her primary night victory party right here in Morristown, where she continued to tie presidents President Trump to the GOP nominee Jack Ciattarelli.
MIKE SHERRILL, DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE FOR NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR: This state deserves the best. A state like this is not going to be led by a Trump lackey like Jack Ciattarelli.
This country is too beautiful to beholden to the cruelty and self- interest that Jack and Trump are trying to hoist on her.
SAENZ: Republican and Democratic voters that we spoke to here in New Jersey said that they're concerned about high costs housing and immigration.
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But there is an interesting dynamic playing out in this state, which has currently been held and run by a Democratic governor for eight years. New Jersey is a state where President Donald Trump made significant inroads in the 2024 election. Though he lost the state to Vice President Kamala Harris, he lost by only 6 points compared to 16 points back in 2020. And that is something that the Democratic candidate will have to contend with as Republican nominee Jack Ciattarelli is hoping that he can build off those gains that Trump has made here in the garden state. Arlette Saenz, CNN, Morristown, New Jersey.
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SANDOVAL: The U.S. and China, they have agreed in a principle on a trade framework after two days of talks in London. Now, neither side have disclosed any specifics. However, the presidents of both countries, they still have to approve the plan before it can actually be implemented.
This follows a phone call between Presidents Trump and Xi, as well as talks in Geneva last month. You recall in May both sides agreed to drastically reduce tariffs on each other's goods for 90 days in order to allow for these negotiations.
And the European Union, it is planning harsh new sanctions against Russia, the proposal still needing to be approved by E.U. member states. It targets Moscow's ability to make money from its oil and gas production.
The new package is the 18th since the start of the war and it comes as the Kremlin has really ramped up its aerial attacks across Ukraine. The president of the European Commission says that these sanctions are necessary because, as he put it, because strength is the only language that Russia will understand. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh has more on the pace and intensity of Russia's recent attacks.
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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: While it's Monday night attacks that appear to have been a record Russian attempt, according to Ukrainian numbers of 479 drones launched against Ukraine. It is indeed the last night that's seen so much of the focus, it seems, on trying to break Kyiv's air defenses.
315 drones launched, according to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a lot of which focused on the capital. Some effects too, where certainly a building next to the E.U. delegation's office is damaged and the 11th century San Sophia Cathedral experiencing damage too. That's a UNESCO protected site, a sign that potentially some of the capital's air defenses were not indeed able to stop everything getting through. And perhaps Moscow's focus will be night by night as they seem able to escalate the volume of drones that they fire at Ukraine.
Will be focusing on trying to breach the capital's defenses that have held up, it's fair to say reasonably well over the past months or so, although many were concerned at some point there would be a moment where they would break.
The port city of Odesa to though coming under attack two killed there and a number injured as well as a maternity ward being hit too, again by drone strikes. It appears though, that the response to Russia's being attacked in its key air bases over last weekend is, it seems so far up by a few hundred more, potentially the number of drones it launches at Ukraine every night.
Is this a start of a new higher tempo? Potentially, because Russia is able to produce more drones. We'll have to see in the weeks and months ahead, but it certainly marks again sleepless nights for Ukrainians, injury, death and civilian infrastructure clearly being hit as well as these drones are either shot out of the sky or dive down into their targets.
The horror, though frankly, of so many in Kyiv, the capital, just lying awake and listening to the endless buzz of drones passing overhead hard to overestimate. Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, London.
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SANDOVAL: The United Nations says that the world is facing what it describes as a fertility crisis and now calling for urgent action to address that. A survey across 14 countries uncovered the main reasons why millions worldwide are having fewer children than they would like. They include financial limitations, job insecurity, and also just general fears about the future, lack of a suitable partner and limited child care options. Also among some of the biggest reasons, as you see here.
A UN expert suggesting paid family leave, affordable fertility care and supportive partners could all be the answers to the crisis.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly making a push toward superintelligence, which is a form of AI that could one day actually outperform human brains.
According to Bloomberg, Zuckerberg has grown frustrate with Meta AI's progress and is now assembling a team of experts, even meeting them at his homes. The report says that he plans to hire about 50 people and is restructuring Meta's headquarters to prioritize this as one of their projects.
Zuckerberg's push is part of a broader scramble among tech giants set to dominate the AI landscape in a race that could potentially redefine the industry.
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And a sale of a collective -- collectible behind a global toy craze now setting a new record at a Chinese auction house. On Tuesday, Yongle International Auction in Beijing sold a get this human sized Labubu figurine for more than $150,000. The little toy monsters, they've been at the center of the global frenzy for the past year or so.
The Chinese toy company Pop Mart sells these figurines in blind boxes which usually a surprise until you get to open them. The auctioneer says the mint green figurine was the only one in the world, hence the $150,000 price tag. And for Rahel, the team and I want to thank you for joining us in the last hour. I'm Polo Sandoval in New York. Be back at the top of the hour. We're with more news.
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