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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

Seattle Police Make Arrest as Anti-ICE Protest Grow; Curfew in Downtown L.A. in Effect for Second night Amid Unrest; Cheers, Boos as Trump Attends Performance of "Les Miz"; Iran Threatens to Hit Bases if it Faces Military Strikes; U.S. State Department Dodges Question on Two-State Solution. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired June 12, 2025 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:32]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome to all of our viewers joining us from the United States and all around the world. I'm Polo Sandoval. It is Thursday, June 12th, 4:00 a.m. here in New York and 1:00 a.m. in Washington state, where more protests and clashes have erupted over Trump administration's immigration crackdown, as well as the use of the military on American soil.

Authorities in Seattle, they have been detaining protesters and warning the crowds to disperse. Earlier images emerging of a fire burning near the federal building. Protesters were seen throwing objects into it. Seattle's mayor had encouraged the public to peacefully protest, and reportedly said that his city will not cooperate with federal immigration raids.

And over in the city of Spokane, Washington, more chaotic scenes unfolding during anti-ICE demonstrations. Police say 30 people were arrested mainly for misdemeanors. The mayor has declared a state of emergency and announced a curfew in certain areas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR LISA BROWN, SPOKANE, WASHINGTON: I made the decision that the safest course of action was for Spokane Police, not ICE to try to safely disperse the crowd. Try to convince the protesters to leave, and if not to follow through with arrests of any violation of Spokane Municipal Code.

I know there is tremendous fear amongst our local immigrant and refugee community. My heart goes out to families who are separated or are fearful of what might happen to them in their workplace or as they proceed about their lives in Spokane.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Let's stay in Washington state this morning, where Jake Chapman from CNN affiliate KIRO witnessed the protests in Seattle firsthand, and he just filed this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAKE CHAPMAN, KIRO REPORTER: Things have slowly calmed down here in Seattle. As you can see behind me, there's still several protesters outside the federal building on Second and Madison. But this is a completely different story from earlier this evening. We saw hundreds of people gather at Cal Anderson Park in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood as they protested ICE and how the Trump administration is handling the situation down in Los Angeles. This was part of a nationwide protest, as we saw this in some of the biggest cities in the United States.

Well, those hundreds of people marched from Cal Anderson all the way down here to the federal building to protest ICE and how they've been operating here in the Pacific Northwest. They were here for a little bit. There were some speeches. And then about 30 minutes after protesters got here, that is when they engaged with Seattle Police, after some of them created a barricade, lit a dumpster on fire, and then in a several tense moments, one demonstrator threw a firecracker in a crowd of police officers.

That is when Seattle Police made their move, charged at some protesters and made several arrests. That's when they got the pepper balls out, the tear gas, you name it, and told the crowd they had to get out. We saw officers in body armor pushing the crowd out of the area. Within about an hour after they engaged with them. That is when a lot of the protesters left. But again, back here tonight, there's still several demonstrators outside the federal building.

There is graffiti on the building that we cannot show you. We did reach out to Seattle police to confirm exactly how many people were arrested during tonight's demonstration. And once we get that information, we'll let you know as soon as possible.

Reporting in Seattle, I'm Jake Chapman. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: And our thanks to our local partners there in Seattle. Meanwhile, another nighttime curfew is underway in Los Angeles following a sixth day of mostly peaceful protests. At last check, the situation in Los Angeles appeared relatively calm. But police had been dealing with flare-ups and also occasional skirmishes earlier. At one point, police declared an unlawful assembly just outside of city hall, and they also have been arresting demonstrators who refused to leave that one square mile of downtown that's temporarily off limits during that curfew.

According to the U.S. Military, some 700 Marines training near L.A., you see them here staged and preparing right now for potential deployment, they're expected to deploy sometime in the next two days, and they will be conducting the same mission as the National Guard, we're told.

[04:05:02]

Later today, a federal judge will hear California's bid for an emergency restraining order to block what the governor calls an unwarranted and illegal militarization of Los Angeles. The Trump administration is urging the court to reject that challenge from the state.

CNN reporters were on the ground as those protests played out in U.S. cities earlier. Shimon Prokupecz reporting on efforts to deescalate rallies here in New York. But first, we begin with Nick Watt, who's got more on that standoff between authorities and protesters in Los Angeles.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So it's night two of the curfew here in Los Angeles. The arrests began before the curfew kicked in. An unlawful assembly was declared outside city hall. Police on horseback. Police on foot pushed the protesters up. Down here we saw maybe 20 or 30 arrests.

Night is falling. The police are calm. And it's worth noting these are all local law enforcement, LAPD, Metro L.A. sheriff, not the federal troops that are here in Los Angeles. And also worth noting, the protest area is a tiny sliver of this city. Officials reckon 4,000 people have been protesting. Fraction of those have been violent, and they've got nearly 18,000 officers between the Sheriff's Department and the LAPD to keep a lid on things.

The protests, very narrow. What is very broad across Los Angeles is the fear amongst the undocumented community and the broader immigrant community. I spoke to one undocumented person who heard there was a raid near her home. She was scared to go to her home. She's being told that ICE are going to be here for 60 days. There is fear throughout Los Angeles.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: I just want to show you what's happening. I mean, we've been out here now for about five hours. These are the NYPD officers. They've been out here just as long as we've been out here. And now basically what's been happening, I'm going to have Emilio (PH) turn around here and show you.

There are some protesters that still remain. This is a very, very much a smaller group than what we saw earlier tonight. They have now essentially just stopped here on the sidewalk and kind of sometimes a confrontation with police at times trying to bait the police. And then the police would come in onto the sidewalk and threaten an arrest. And then it's actually been remarkable to watch as the bosses, the white shirt, the chiefs and the lieutenants and the captains move in and try to deescalate, tell the officers, move back, let's go.

Let's move out and make sure that they don't make an arrest and they want to deescalate. And that's kind of in the back and forth here tonight. As we were out here last night, this area is so significant because this is where the ICE offices are. The New York City ICE offices. This is where they detain people that they take into custody. And what happened earlier was one of the vans came out. It was empty, but they didn't know that. It's a prisoner van. And the group started chasing after the van. And

then the NYPD moved in and the van wound up leaving. But that's been kind of what's been happening here over the course of the past several days. But for now, we're just at this standoff here. The police are allowing them to remain on the sidewalk, and we'll see at some point they're going to have to leave, as we saw last night. So let's see how this develops here as well.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: And we will also certainly see if these two cities face the real possibility of another night of tensions on Thursday.

Earlier, we did hear from Los Angeles City councilmember Adrian Nazarian about the situation in the city and the fear that he's seeing in his community.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADRIN NAZARIAN, LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCILMEMBER: It's been devastating to see what the city is going through for the past five nights. But I just want to reiterate the point that if L.A. police officers and the mutual aid that we have of other police agencies in the area can do their work, they can peacefully address the issue. And what you're seeing is right now, unfortunately, at night time, some of the folks that come out want to cause chaos and create disturbance.

Let's not forget, the federal government's responsibility here was to uphold and regulate immigration. And this administration and President Trump, all they've tried to do is create chaos, fear and place fear among people. And in reaction to these tactics, we've had protests erupt in -- starting in Los Angeles now it's spreading all over the place, all over the country as well. So, you know, this is what dictators do in order to try to take control of situations.

And I say it this way because my family fled Iran in 1981 when the country went through its revolution and war.

[04:10:02]

So I saw firsthand what happened to a freedom loving nation where a folk where people and residents had all the freedoms and minorities like my family, Christian Armenians, were treated very well. Same things I'm seeing unfold here. Unfortunately, families are being torn apart from one another. Families are being picked, individuals are being picked up from the streets and being put in custody and detained.

Well, there's constant concern and fear and you even see it in the events and gatherings. When I host the resource event, many people do not want to attend the event, even though there are beneficial programs for them to be able to take advantage of, but they don't want to attend out of fear of not knowing what can loom around the corner. So this kind of fear, this kind of a circumstance of raising a family is nothing any American has ever wanted or aspired to. This is an American. This isn't what we've -- this isn't who we are.

And whether it's individuals listening to this in Chicago or in Ohio or in Minnesota or anywhere else around the country, I believe I'm speaking to many friends who believe in the same values and share the same moral compass. We've all come to the United States because we've had the opportunity to get a second chance, whether it was our generation, our parents' generation, our grandparents' generation, and we've all worked very hard to make this country the great nation that it is today.

Why are we going to go back on this? Why are we going to be stoking fear among family members? The people that are getting picked up on the streets are not criminals, as many of these videos and tapes have shown already.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: And U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth suggested Wednesday that President Trump's order to federalize California's National Guard was intended to create a precedent, meaning that the tactic could be potentially replicated in other states, which speaks to what you just heard from that L.A. councilmember. The concern that we could see these images, the ones you're looking at, basically repeat themselves in other parts of the country.

And they have, in some cases, Hegseth made those comments during a Senate subcommittee hearing on Wednesday. The president's order over the weekend was very broad and was likely vague for a reason.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Part of it is getting ahead of a problem. So that if in other places, if there are other riots in places where law enforcement officers are threatened, we would have the capability to surge National Guard there if necessary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Hegseth also told lawmakers that there are currently 13,000 U.S. troops deployed to the nation's southern border with Mexico. The most recent deployment there was in May.

And Donald Trump was greeted with cheers and boos as he attended a performance of "Les Miz" at the Kennedy Center in Washington. The legendary musical actually telling the story of French citizens rising up against their government. A bit of irony there. It was just a few months ago that the president launched a conservative takeover of the performing arts facility, calling it, in his words, too liberal.

Here's CNN's Kristen Holmes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Donald Trump going to see a performance of "Les Miz" at the Kennedy Center on Wednesday. This is the first time he's seen a performance at the cultural center since he effectively took it over. He got rid of most of the board members, replaced them with Trump loyalists, who then in turn voted him to be the president of the board.

Now, he's been pretty fixated on the Kennedy Center for some time. We know he's visited there. He has tried to talk about rebuilding it. We know he's tried to put $250 million into that spending bill that's currently in front of the Senate.

Now, tonight was billed as partly a fundraiser. There were tickets for $2 million, $1 million, $100,000. We heard from the head of the Kennedy Center, Ric Grenell, who said that they believed that they had raised around $10 million. Now for $2 million we reported earlier you could essentially get a seat in the box next to the president. We also know that a lot of members of the administration and supporters were buying some of those tickets.

Now, there have been some concern because last month CNN reported that several members of the cast of "Les Miz" were planning on boycotting the president's performance. The director, Grenell, was asked about that as well. He said that was a long time ago, and there has been a lot of pushback to Donald Trump's takeover of the cultural center, which has been really an iconic piece of Washington, D.C., for decades.

Kristen Holmes, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Iran is putting the U.S. on notice about possible strikes on its nuclear facilities. Tehran says that it can fight back and has very specific targets in mind. We'll tell you more.

Also, the death toll from fighting in Gaza. It's now reaching a grim milestone. We'll have more on the Israel-Hamas conflict after a quick break.

[04:15:05]

And a little later on EARLY START protests against ICE raids. They are expanding to cities across the U.S. now, including Seattle. Some pictures from overnight you're looking at. We're watching developments as our coverage of the ongoing demonstrations continue on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANDOVAL: Welcome back to EARLY START.

Oman's foreign minister says that the sixth round of nuclear talks between Iran and the U.S. will be held in that country's capital on Sunday, but Tehran is warning that there will be a price to pay for the U.S. if Iran becomes a target of any military action.

[04:20:05]

A source familiar with the discussion says that President Donald Trump told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stop talking about possible strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities. It reportedly happened during their phone call earlier this week on Monday. But President Trump himself has in the past threatened military action if nuclear talks with Iran fail. The Iranian defense minister spoke about Tehran's response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AZIZ NASIRZADEH, IRANIAN DEFENSE MINISTER (through translator): God willing, it won't come to that and the talks will yield results. But if they don't and conflict is imposed upon us, the enemy's losses will undoubtedly be greater than ours. In that case, America will have to leave the region because all its bases are within our reach. We have access to them, and without hesitation, we will target all of them in the host countries.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: And then there's this. The State Department is preparing to order the departure of all nonessential personnel from U.S. embassies in Iraq, Bahrain, Kuwait and other parts of the Middle East. That's according to officials in the U.S.

Here's more from President Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Well, they are being moved out because it could be a dangerous place. And we'll see what happens. But they are, and we've given notice to move out and we'll see what happens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: An official did tell CNN that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth authorized the voluntary departure of military dependents from across the Middle East. No specific reason was given for that move, but it comes amid rising tensions in the region as the U.S. pursues a nuclear deal with Iran.

For more now, we're joined by Alon Pinkas. He's a former Israeli consul general in New York. He joins us live from Tel Aviv.

Mr. Ambassador, it's always good to see you.

ALON PINKAS, FORMER ISRAELI CONSUL GENERAL IN NEW YORK: You, too, Polo. Good morning.

SANDOVAL: Good morning to you. So a defense official said that U.S. CENTCOM is monitoring what he describes as this developing tension in the Middle East. And then there's also this, the U.S. embassy in Baghdad. You know, back to the earlier story that we mentioned a short while ago, issuing that warning, a travel advisory right now for people traveling to the region warning of potential terrorism, kidnaping, and certainly the armed conflict there.

What do you believe is causing this sudden change in posture from these travel warnings to what we've also heard from the White House? PINKAS: What's causing it, the immediate trigger seems to be, Polo, is

the fact that the talks with Iran supposedly, reportedly, allegedly reached some kind of an impasse, with the issue being the question of enrichment, how much and to what extent Iran can enrich uranium. There were talks scheduled for today. They have been since postponed, my understanding, to Sunday after the IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency, for them to issue a report.

And Mr. Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, concluded from that that the U.S., and he bases this on public statements that Donald Trump, the president, Donald Trump made, that the Iranians are tough, that he's less sure now than he was before about the likelihood of a deal. He construed this -- he construes this, interprets this as some kind of an opening for Israel to attack.

Now, mind you, Polo, there could be two possibilities here. That Israel is intent on attacking no matter what, even in defiance of the U.S. or conversely, that all these leaks, all these, you know, putting personnel on travel alerts and a bunch of networks, CNN included, NBC, CBS, and "The New York Times" all reporting about heightened Israeli preparation level and alert level ahead of a possible attack, that all this was a deliberate American leak to push or impel the Iranians to be more meaningful and serious in negotiations.

I honestly don't know. These are just the two options.

SANDOVAL: And I'm wondering if you could just expand on that last point you just made about Prime Minister Netanyahu really dead set on his intentions here? I'm sure you heard the reporting a second ago here that President Trump is essentially trying to deescalate tensions not only by telling the prime minister to end the war in Gaza, but very specifically, according to what we've heard from a call on Monday, asked him to stop making those threats against Iran.

So to your earlier point, Ambassador, do you think that that's just falling on deaf ears, especially if he continues to push for military action against Iran?

PINKAS: Yes, I think, well, first of all, in terms of the timeline, Polo, the phone conversation was three days ago or two days ago, two and a half days ago. Mr. Trump's more cautious remarks about the feasibility of a deal came afterwards.

[04:25:01]

So it is very, it is very possible that Mr. Netanyahu inferred from the two days that elapsed since the conversation that an opportunity has arisen again.

Now, Israel basically has three options here. I mean, forget Israel. There are three options here. Operational options. One is that Israel goes at it alone, even in defiance of U.S. requests. And Mr. Netanyahu gambling that in the end the U.S. will come to Israel's assistance if need be. The second option is an Israeli operation with limited but nonetheless active American defensive assistance over the skies and the Persian Gulf area. And the third, which is very unlikely at this point, almost a zero chance of happening is a joint Israeli-American attack.

But I go back to what you just asked me. Look, if this was a deliberate act on the part of the U.S. to push the Iranians into being more conciliatory, more forthcoming in the negotiations, and despite evidence to that degree, to that effect, Mr. Netanyahu goes ahead and attacks Iran. I think he's risking not just his relationship with Donald Trump. He's risking much more than that in terms of the American-Israeli relationship.

Now, of course, it all -- we all wait to see what's going on. And of course, you know, there's another issue which we haven't covered yet. The Iranians are not going to stand idle. There's going to be an Iranian response. And that response may be dozens, maybe hundreds of ballistic missiles into Israel. Possibly. But it could also be against oil rigs and refineries and infrastructure in Saudi Arabia and the Emirates and Qatar blocking the Straits of Hormuz, pulling, dragging the U.S. into this conflict, something which the president, Trump, President Trump, that is, has said repeatedly that he wants to avoid.

SANDOVAL: Clearly, the relationship, there seems to be this growing rift between both leaders talking about Trump and Netanyahu.

PINKAS: Yes.

SANDOVAL: As Israel, you point out, Ambassador, considering those three options and serious consequences with each one of those.

Ambassador, it is always a pleasure to talk to you about this. Really appreciate your time.

PINKAS: Likewise, Polo. Thank you.

SANDOVAL: Israel says that it has recovered the remains of two more hostages from Gaza in a military operation by the Israel Defense Forces, and also the security agency in the region. Officials saying that this man here, Yair Yaakov, was killed in the October 7th, 2023 attacks and his body taken to Gaza. The name of the second hostage has not yet been released at the request of their family.

According to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, 53 hostages are still being held in Gaza. Of these, at least 20 are still believed to be alive. The death toll from 20 months of fighting in Gaza has been growing to more than 55,000 people, and that's according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. The United Nations said last year that the majority of the victims in Gaza are women and children.

The U.S. State Department is dodging the questions of whether the U.S. still supports a two-state solution for Israel and Palestinians. That's been Washington's policy for decades. Until U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee recently suggested otherwise.

Here's CNN's Oren Liebermann with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Remarkable comments here from U.S. ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee effectively saying the U.S. is no longer pursuing a two-state solution. That is the plan for a state of Israel to live and exist next to a state of Palestine. This has been U.S. policy for decades under both Republican and Democratic administrations.

Huckabee effectively saying the U.S. is walking away from that in a series of interviews, he gave. One of those was with Bloomberg. And in that interview, according to Bloomberg, he says, unless there are some significant things that change the culture, there is no room for it. It being a Palestinian state. He says instead that a Palestinian state should be carved out of some of the neighboring Muslim countries.

Perhaps not a surprise that these comments come from Huckabee. He is an evangelical Christian who has supported Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. And years ago even said that he believed there was no such thing as a Palestinian.

Still, the key question, is he setting U.S. policy here, or is this only his belief? This is what State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told CNN.

TAMMY BRUCE, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: The person that makes the policy regarding foreign policy is President Trump. This is a fluid, dynamic situation. President Trump is the one of course, it's the one guiding hand for the country on all of our issues.

LIEBERMANN: Huckabee's comments come just a week before a conference at the U.N. meant to advance support for a two-state solution.

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