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Trump Deploys Marines, More National Guard Troops To L.A.; Newsom, Bass Condemn Violence, Blame Trump admin. For escalating; Today: New Jersey Voters Pick Nominees For Governor; GOP Sees Opportunity In N.J. After Trump Lost By Just 6 Points. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired June 10, 2025 - 12:00   ET

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

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DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: Today on Inside Politics, pictures and political opportunity. President Trump pats himself on the back after ordering Marines to a major American city, Democrats accuse the president of abusing his power and the military itself and acting like an authoritarian. The White House, though they believe that they are playing a politically winning hand.

Plus, sweating it out on the streets. New Jersey voters in both parties decide who makes it to the glory days of a November election and who gets the screen door slammed after the most expensive primary ever for the Garden State. And promises made, promises broken. RFK Jr. does what he told Republican senators he would not do. He jettisoned a group of scientists whose job is to keep America's vaccines safe.

I'm Dana Bash. Let's go behind the headlines at Inside Politics.

It is about a minute afternoon here in Washington, but America's attention is on Los Angeles, where this morning, the streets are quiet and calm. To be clear, there have been big protests to ICE agents aggressively targeting work sites looking for undocumented immigrants. The majority of protests have been peaceful.

There were some isolated pockets of violent clashes and looting last night and a couple of other nights, but that is drawing universal condemnation from both sides of the political aisle. Still, the pictures have teed up a president looking for a fight on immigration and looking for a chance to deploy the military on the streets of a mayor -- majority democratic city.

President Trump spent the morning portraying himself as a protector, saying, quote, if I didn't send in the troops to Los Angeles the last three nights that once beautiful and great city would be burning to the ground. Right now, which houses, like 25,000 -- he said, 25,000 houses would be burned to the ground. Democrats insist, they have things under control, and the president is crossing a clear constitutional line.

I want to go straight to L.A. CNN's Stephanie Elam is there. Stephanie, what is the reality of what is really happening on the ground in Los Angeles? STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Dana, like we've seen in so many other protests, you see a different element during the day than you do at night. During the day, you see people who are out here protesting immigration riots. They're protesting ICE or protesting DHS. And then the evening you see people who are out here, who are out to cause chaos and destruction.

And so, where I'm standing now, we have moved over to the federal building here in downtown Los Angeles, and you can see you've got some military vehicles out there. We've got the National Guard out here as well. You can see them allowing these vehicles in right now. See some batons. Looks like one automatic weapon that's out there, but they're just standing there. Their masks are up. There's a calm demeanor that they have right now.

But this is also next to the detention center where the people who have been detained are being held. And I've got to tell you, most of the city is completely fine. Doing rush hour, we've seen traffic here, rolling down the streets all throughout. The trains are running, the busses are running. Most of the city is operating normally, while you are seeing where this chaos has been.

I will tell you there is a lot more graffiti this time than we've seen in other protests. I mean, it is a massive amount of graffiti, but they're cleaning it up quickly. I mean, I've been out here all night, and I can tell you, they're already cleaning it up quickly, cleaning up the glass that has been broken out from some of the stores that were looted, a few stores that we were at earlier, and Adidas store, an Apple store, also marijuana dispensary as well was hit that we could see, look like a CVS as well.

We have seen these places, these places of commerce that have been hit, and then a lot of the graffiti that is out here and that they're starting to clean up really early this morning here. But still, this presence here in downtown Los Angeles is stark compared to what you normally see during these kinds of protests. And obviously, we cover so many of them, and it is always centered around this part of downtown. But it really is in pockets and slivers of downtown that we are seeing this kind of heightened activity.

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BASH: Thank you, Stephanie. We definitely see that graffiti behind you. I'm glad that you brought that up, and it is interesting that that is part of the sort of escalation in the protest. It's not great, but it doesn't -- that certainly is not the violent part of what we have seen. Stephanie, thank you so much for your amazing reporting there on the ground.

And Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is defending her city and her leadership. She did so moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR KAREN BASS (D-CALIFORNIA, CA): Painting this like this is, you know, 1992 all over again, when it was city wide. Civil unrest has nothing to do with the situation that you're looking at now. And frankly, it's just provocative. It was almost as though the administration wanted to see chaos in the city.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: I'm joined here by a terrific group of reporters today, CNN's Jeff Zeleny and CNN's Priscilla Alvarez, Burgess Everett of Semafor, and CNN's Natasha Bertrand. First things first. Happy birthday, Jeff Zeleny.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Thank you, Dana. My fellow Gemini.

BASH: It's Gemini season. Watch out world. I want to start with kind of a big picture of this situation, and we've been doing a lot of the policy, and we were going to get to that with you, Priscilla, don't worry. But because this is a political show, I do want to start with that.

And our friend Ron Brownstein, who happens to live in Los Angeles, wrote the following. All these steps along with his meaning, Trump's calling up the California Guard and deploying the Marines are surely meant to signal that Trump intends to use any means available against states and cities that resist him, just as he has taken a series of unprecedented moves to punish prominent universities and prestigious law firms. Trump is governing as a wartime president, with blue America rather than any foreign adversary as the enemy.

ZELENY: And don't take Ron Brownstein's word for it, although he has very smart words. Take the president's word for it. He said two nights ago, we are going to send troops everywhere. This is part of the plan, part of the chaos that is, is intentional and organized, from the emergency declarations on his tariff programs to emergency declarations in blue cities like this. He is flexing his presidential authority, and quite frankly, I'm told by people who are around him enjoying what he's seeing, enjoying this spectacle. So, we shall see where it goes from here.

But other Democratic governors are watching this with some trepidation. As the summer begins, we're just five years on from a George Floyd protest that rightly went across the country here. So, we shall see where this goes from here. But the emergency, I'm just always struck by our colleagues on the ground in Los Angeles, just describing how small of an area we are talking about here. And I think that cannot be said enough.

BASH: It reminds me of, you probably know this name. None of you probably will, but the Michael Deaver, who is kind of the comms guru for Ronald Reagan, who can have in the early days of trying to manipulate imagery on TV. Understood that very well and sort of famously told, I think it was Lesley Stahl who thought she was calling out things while playing the video of what Reagan was doing. He called to thank her because --

ZELENY: She was there. BASH: -- nobody was maybe paying attention as much to what she was saying as what they were seeing, which is the whole strategy here of what President Trump is doing.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, in many ways, this has shifted from immigration to law and order, so from one of his top issues to yet another top issue. In the early days of this, there were immigration advocates and activists who were in front of this federal building, who were protesting Immigration and Customs Enforcement, detaining people as they came in for their check ins and their hearings. And then it sort of snowballed from there, in addition to the other worksite enforcement that was happening around the city.

And now to what you were describing that small area, and what Stephanie was describing, the lawlessness that can happen in the overnight hours. But something, Dana, that I have been talking to my sources about as they have continued, and others, like Homeland Security officials and the Pentagon officials have continued to brief the White House over the course of each of these days.

As they continuously tell me that Stephen Miller, a top aide to the president, has made it very clear to everybody involved in this response, they are not backing down from Los Angeles. They have no intention of pulling back. They feel like they have to win this and win this with a show of force.

So that has been the message that everyone on the ground and that my sources are telling me is being sent to officials across the government and in this fight of both immigration and law and order coming together.

BASH: And Natasha, you cover the Pentagon for us. I want to put up on the screen something that Gavin Newsom posted on social media, which are images of the Marines -- excuse me, not the Marines of the National Guard troops who were sent there, and they're, you know, on the floor, trying to sleep.

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And he said, you sent your troops, obviously directed at Trump, here without fuel, food, water or a place to sleep. Here they are. Being forced to sleep on the floor, piled on top of one another. If anyone is treating our troops disrespectfully, it is you, Donald Trump.

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Look, I think that two things can be true at once. On the one hand, these are infantry guys that are going to take naps where they can, right? They kind of are taking a rucksack nap, that's what it's called. And they are going to rest and relax on a very hastily deployed mission.

And on the other hand, of course, it does demonstrate just how rapidly this all unfolded. It doesn't seem at this point like they have a really good understanding of the kind of logistics that are going along with this. Secretary Hegseth is testifying right now before the House. And he said, look, they have shelter, they have food, they have water. But ultimately, it is 4000 National Guard members as well as over 700 Marines that have been activated here. And where they're all going to stay, especially for 60 days, which is what Secretary Hegseth said, is the -- is the time frame for this kind of mission that is still unclear. They're still trying to figure out where all of these people are going to go.

And so, while you saw images very similar to that during the response, of course, of the January 6 insurrection as well, you know, National Guard members sleeping on the floor, sleeping on top of each other. I think that, you know, in both cases, it was a very, very rapid deployment, and they're having to kind of catch up and figure out what's going on now.

BASH: So, you're explaining it as you're supposed to do, but it's also -- again, it goes to the battle of the imagery that you're -- that you're seeing waged between Donald Trump and his -- and his supporters and Democrats in L.A., and in this case Gavin Newsom.

I do want to stay on the politics of the military for one second, because one of my questions is whether or not being so aggressive in 4000 National Guard, 700 Marines. Right now, whether or not there is any potential for backlash among those who are maybe in the middle ground politically in this country.

BURGESS EVERETT, CONGRESSIONAL BUREAU CHIEF, SEMAFOR: Yeah. I mean the first order of business when you're trying to figure this out is, what are the members of the president's own party saying, right? Are other people up for reelection breaking with him? Are people like Rand Paul, who's more libertarian leaning than most Republicans breaking with him.

Last night that was not the case. You can see that Republicans kind of want this fight. They think it's bad politics for Democrats. That's something that you always hear, right? But I do think that Democrats realize in this that we need to say something. We need to criticize this. But this may not be the whole ball game.

And they -- I think they've sent some vulnerability there, and let's talk about what we're not talking about, right? Like Democrats want to talk about Medicaid cuts on this reconciliation bill that's going through Congress. They'd also rather talk about Elon Musk and Trump breaking up. These were the big stories just a week ago. And you can see how the president's leaning in this -- leaning into this, to kind of cover over those divisions in two very important places for his agenda.

ZELENY: Without question, I mean, it wasn't just a week ago, is actually just like four or five days ago. And that was a really a jarring event for the White House.

EVERETT: It was like weeks.

ZELENY: It does, right? More than I can think of anything like so far this year. That really rattled the White House, the Elon Musk fight. It's over in terms of at least the public relations thing. So, it's hard to imagine that the timing of this was completely separate. But I think the substance of the matter is, as Priscilla has been reporting so well.

I mean, this is something that Stephen Miller wants to do. He wants to get a certain number of arrests every day, and this is, you know, what is likely to play out over the summer. If that goal is to be realized, everyone has a Home Depot near them. I mean, so that is from a policy point of view, will this be OK in every community? What about farm workers? What about other things? I mean, this is not a Republican, business owners also are worried about this.

BASH: I'm glad you brought that up because I do want to quickly touch on this. You mentioned it yesterday when you were on this program. You wrote about this last week. And I just -- I don't want to lose sight of what the genesis of this current situation is. And what you wrote about was the Trump administration taking hundreds of migrant children out of their homes into government custody. That is just one part of it, but it is a big part of it. And this is happening in the majority minority community of Los Angeles.

ALVAREZ: This is the administration pushing bounds of immigration enforcement. There has been in addition to what to my reporting, and this was included in the reporting, enforcement actions that are being taken against parents, as they are with their children. And what is happening is the parents are being taken to ICE custody. The children are being taken to separate government custody, the custody of Health and Human Services, which is charged with their care.

So, what do you have there? You have a situation there where family has been separated, and it's unclear what happens after that moment. But when you are trying to up your numbers, when you are playing towards a quota. This is the kind of thing that happens. This what happened in Los Angeles was not an accident.

[12:15:00]

This is the outcome of immigration enforcement that isn't just happening toward public safety and national security threats in an organized way, but also in places that immigrants have typically sought that thought -- they thought they were safe because they were doing what they were supposed to do.

BASH: OK. We're going to take in a quick break. It is election day in New Jersey, who was born to run. That's next.

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BASH: It's election day in New Jersey, and before the general election matchup is set, it's already the most expensive governor's race in New Jersey history. $85 million has been spent on ads in New Jersey. 75 million of that spent on the Democratic side, underscoring just how competitive this race is. The Democratic field includes two members of Congress, two mayors, a teachers union president and a former state senator. CNN's Arlette Saenz is on the ground in Parsippany, New Jersey. Arlette, how's the voting going? What are you seeing there?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Dana, this middle school gym has been converted into an election site for the day. As we are seeing voters file in to cast their votes to become the nominee for Democrats and Republicans, for governors. You can see behind me there are actually five districts who are voting here. These districts in the presidential went slightly for Vice President Kamala Harris over President Donald Trump. But we are hearing for both Democrats and Republicans as they are coming to cast their votes for these nominees.

Now, on the Democratic side, this is really a wide-open field. Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill is among those who are running and is viewed by some as the leader of this pack. Here is how she framed her candidacy to reporters a bit earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKIE SHERRILL (D-NJ): We need somebody who is not going to be a status quo candidate, but rather a change candidate, somebody who is going to take on trend and Washington and that's exactly what I'm going to do.

I'm constantly talking about driving down housing costs, utility costs, fixing our broken healthcare system. But at the same time, I'm also hearing from people about their concerns, about this chaotic administration that is attacking both rights and freedoms.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: She is one of six Democrats running for the nomination that's really spans both the moderate and progressive wings of the party, but they are all in agreements that the next governor of New Jersey needs to fight against Donald Trump.

BASH: So that's the Democratic side. What about the Republican side? Jack Ciattarelli is favored to win that primary. Are we hearing a lot about Donald Trump from him as well?

SAENZ: Yeah, we certainly are. And President Trump actually endorsed Jack Ciattarelli just last month. But we talked to some voters here, Republican voters really that have been split. We spoke to two, one saying that they were for Ciattarelli, another saying that they were for the conservative radio host Spadea, despite President Trump's endorsement of Ciattarelli.

Now, ICE caught up with Ciattarelli just yesterday outside of a diner here. And he argued that this isn't necessarily a deep blue state as it is often viewed. He pointed to the fact that President Donald Trump made significant gains here in the state though he lost to Vice President Kamala Harris. He did so by only six points compared to 16 points in the 2020 election. So, Ciattarelli and Republicans are hoping that this could potentially be one of those states that they can flip from the blue to red column in November. BASH: Arlette, thank you so much. Jealous. Appreciate it. And my panel is back here. It is so interesting, Jeff, how obviously expected given the world -- the political world in which we live. But how much President Trump is playing into the campaign rhetoric the debate there for a governor's race in the state of New Jersey, where, you know, yes, I guess we see what's happening in California. Governors do have to deal with presidents, but it's certainly not, usually front of mind for voters when they're deciding who should be in the governor's mansion.

ZELENY: It's not but it still energizes Democrats. I mean, he doesn't unify Democrats as much as he may have in previous versions of his life, as we hit this week, the 10-year point of Donald Trump descending the escalator and entering American political life, but he does still energize Democrats. So, I think this will be a central thing, but I think different perhaps from the 2024 election.

Now voters will be looking in November largely on the policies of the Trump administration. And is that a plus or not, we will he definitely close the gap in 2024. Was that more about Donald Trump? Was it more about Joe Biden and Kamala Harris? We shall see.

But I think the actual policies, you know, from the big policy bill that there is a debate on, on Medicaid cuts, et cetera. What will voters think of that? But it's going to be a fascinating laboratory, along with Virginia, as it always is. A bit of a hazard to read too much into it, but it definitely tells us something.

BASH: And Burgess, we heard in Arlette's report from Mikie Sherrill. She's one of the members of Congress who you cover all the time, who is running, another is Josh Gottheimer. Listen to what he is saying on the trail.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOSH GOTTHEIMER (D-NJ): Jack Ciattarelli is going to be a puppet to Donald Trump. He's going to do whatever he wants, right? So, he'll go in and take away people's Medicaid, seniors who've worked hard for their social security. So that's what's at stake in this election, and I'm the only one who's running for governor who could beat Jack Ciattarelli.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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EVERETT: Well, Mikie Sherrill sounded quite different than Josh Gottheimer, right there. You heard her talking about, basically making government run and not having to worry about what Trump's doing. And you hear him saying, if you guys don't like me, we're going to lose this seat to a Republican. All the polls I've seen, seen have strong Mikie Sherrill leading Josh Gottheimer.

So, I would guess that he's trying to kind of throw a Hail Mary here at the end, to get ahead of this. Because of how crowded this primary field is, you can't read too much into an individual poll, but I have not seen him doing especially well in this and he sounds like somebody who's trying to really make a move right here at the end.

BASH: Well, it is understandable that that's what he's pushing. Because the last time there was a governor's race and Phil Murphy, the current Democratic governor won, he was running against Jack Ciattarelli. And even though the Democrat won, it was, you know, closer than one would think in a blue state.

You see there, 51 to 48. And Jeff, you mentioned this. It is remarkable for people who weren't paying attention to the overall voting totals in blue states, including and especially New Jersey. You see there -- I mean, you see the difference between what we saw in 2024 and most of the other years in the past 25 years, Kamala Harris won, but only about six percentage points, which in New Jersey is a big warning sign for Democrats, I'm talking to.

ALVAREZ: Well, I remember covering it last year.

BASH: Yeah.

ALVAREZ: Well, the part of this, though it's interesting, is we often look towards Congress and how Democrats are responding to the various Trump policies, to your point. But now they're having to test that in these elections. And I think what's been interesting, particularly with this, because we were watching Wisconsin earlier this year, is how DOGE plays into it, because the Republicans have largely embraced, like a state level DOGE, cutting, making things more efficient.

But we're now in a part of the year where we have seen what that means big scale. What does that mean for the federal government? They're already having to hire back some people. And then we also saw the breakup with Elon Musk, which had also played into Wisconsin. So, I think seeing how that affects moving forward, the way that voters are thinking about government efficiency, but also whether there is any there, there when it comes to pinning Republicans and Elon Musk together, I think it could be interesting in the state.

BASH: All right, guys, don't go anywhere. Because up next on Inside Politics, President Trump is saying Los Angeles would be burning to the ground if not for him. We're going to get a reality check, or perspective certainly, from a congresswoman who represents the Los Angeles area.

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