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Laura Coates Live

Curfew In Effect In Downtown L.A.; Photojournalist Shot With Rubber Bullet Speaks Out; Police Making Arrests In L.A. To Enforce Curfew; How Would Marines Be Used If Called Into City? Defense Challenges 'Jane' On Loving Texts In Diddy Trial. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired June 11, 2025 - 00:00   ET

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

[00:00:41]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

LAURA COATES, CNN HOST: Good evening. I'm Laura Coates. It's midnight on the East Coast, 9:00 p.m. on the West.

And L.A. is now in its second hour of a curfew that was meant to quell the protests over immigration raids. There is a significant police presence to enforce this curfew in a one square mile area of downtown L.A. Since this curfew started, we have seen police methodically arrest protesters one by one.

Now, this curfew comes after days of protests that led to some vandalism, fires and looting. And it led President Trump federalizing the California National Guard and sending 700 Marines to L.A.

CNN's Nick Watt is back with us. He's live from downtown L.A.

And Nick, we've seen arrests where you are. Walk us through what's going on right now.

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, over the past 10 or 15 minutes, we have seen the first arrests. Now, the police have been moving us back so we can't see what's going on around the corner. But they have been bringing people out. They are zip tied behind their backs. Officers are using flashlights to go through their bags. It has been pretty calm apart from one guy who was already zip tied behind his back was thrown down onto the sidewalk.

Other than that, it seems fairly procedural. We can see some paperwork being done right there. Everybody who has come this far being arrested, they all seem pretty calm. As I say, I don't know what's going on around that corner. Interestingly, I just bumped into a protester a little while ago, a Marine who I knew back in Iraq in 2004. He said he was born in Mexico, as he puts it, served the United States, was working for the Department of Homeland Security, was fired, lost his job recently, and is out here, he says, protesting for the hard-working families who right now feel fear.

Now, most people did get out of this curfew zone an hour ago. Over the past hour, the police did take their time moving through. They didn't just slam in and start arresting people. They moved pretty slowly. They gave people every opportunity to get out. Some people clearly decided not to. And those are the people that you're seeing right now being arrested by the LAPD. Note LAPD, local law enforcement.

We did have for most of the evening National Guard guarding this federal building right here. In the past five or 10 minutes they have moved inside. This is now in the curfew zone. The LAPD is controlling the curfew zone. The National Guard has moved back inside.

I would say, so far, we've seen maybe 10, 20 people arrested. Back to you.

COATES: Nick, tell me about the area you're in right now. The National Guard you said moving inside of that building. What does this downtown one-mile-square area, what does it contain? Are we talking about federal buildings? Is ICE there? Where is that?

WATT: Federal buildings. Court buildings. It's usually a pretty sleepy downtown here in Los Angeles. Courts, federal buildings. The detention center, which has been the focus of much of the protest, that is round the corner. Now the authorities moved all the protesters away from there mid-afternoon, after some bottles were thrown at National Guardsmen while a bus was coming in. So that area, which had been the focal point that was cleared.

This whole area, as you can see from the graffiti has been an issue over the past few nights. And that is why this one square mile tonight is under curfew until 6:00 a.m. by order of the mayor. The mayor, LAPD, clearly wanting to take charge of this situation, not to see a repeat of what's happened over the past couple of nights, and also to make it clear that it's Los Angeles Police Department, not federal troops, that are here keeping this one-mile-square area safe.

Listen, these protests have been very concentrated around this area. This is 500-square mile city. The curfew is one-square mile. The mayor making it very clear in opposition to President Trump that Los Angeles is not all burning.

[00:05:03]

This whole city is not up in flames and not being held together by the National Guard. They want to make that clear. This has been a very isolated protest. And this afternoon, maybe 200 people outside the detention center. It was peaceful. People singing songs until that one spark that kicked everything off. And then, frankly, the situation has gotten worse since all the protesters were dispersed. Since then that's when we've seen the issues.

Now amongst the crowd, most people passionate about this issue. Some people clearly, a small minority out to cause some trouble. Back to you.

COATES: Nick Watt, thank you so much for your reporting. Please stand by.

With me now, Shawn Turner, former communications director for U.S. National Intelligence. Shawn, good to have you here. I mean, this curfew, as you know, it's

been in effect for about an hour. And so far, we've seen a lot of patience exercise by police. They're moving methodically, as Nick said, to arrest people, gave them some time since the curfew warning came down. Why do you think they are taking this particular tactic?

SHAWN TURNER, FORMER DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS, U.S. NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: Yes, I think -- thanks, first of all, Laura, it's great to be with you. You know, look, I think this tactic is really appropriate for what they're seeing on the ground. When we take a step back and look at what's actually happening here, Laura, look, we're not under attack from a foreign enemy. There's no threat to our national security. There's no invasion or a rebellion to overthrow the government.

What we're seeing are people who are coming out and exercising their First Amendment Right to protest the actions of Immigration, Customs and Enforcement. And so, you know, from my perspective, the approach that they're taking is an approach that's proportionate to what they're seeing on the ground. And I think that, you know, as we get into this issue of the military, I think that what's really problematic and what's dangerous in my assessment is the fact that we've got military forces, you know, Marines and national army, National Guard involved in this situation at all.

COATES: I want to get more into that particular notion because you are a former Marine yourself. I mean, how does the Marines presence impact the ability of local law enforcement to, A, do their job, and the community to view that local law enforcement with trust?

TURNER: Yes, yes. You know, Laura, as you know, I spent more than two decades of my life in the Marine Corps. And I can tell you that when I saw that we had more than 700 Marines being mobilized, my initial thought was, was that it's not only unnecessary, but it's dangerous.

Look, Laura, the Marines are the nation's most capable and fierce fighting force. Most capable war fighters that we have. Their job, what they're trained to do, is to fight and to destroy our enemies on the battlefield. That's why Marines exist. And so, you know, our Marines have no place on the streets of our cities. And, you know, when protests become unruly, that is a law enforcement issue.

And by having Marines there, look, I believe those Marines, they are going to do the right thing when the moment comes, but you're putting them in a situation where they are not only going to be faced with the challenges of dealing with unruly people, with tactics that are not appropriate for what they're seeing on the streets. So, you know, my take on this is that the president has not had a proportionate response to what we're seeing on the ground.

As your reporter just said, this has been largely peaceful and there simply is no place for this kind of force on the city of our streets across the country. It's absolutely overkill.

COATES: If there are agitators who have embedded themselves among otherwise lawful and righteous protesters, does that change the need for military involvement where local law enforcement might be more accustomed to an unruly crowd?

TURNER: Yes. You know, to the degree that there are people in those crowds, there always will be people who are going to be agitators and who are going to resort to violence. What you've got to do is have a situation on the ground where local law enforcement is always in charge, and when they find themselves in a situation where there's something happening that they cannot control on their own, they need to be in a position to call for those backups and to, and if that's a National Guard, that's fine. But they need to make sure that those National Guard members, if they are there, are additional muscle, additional firepower to calm things down.

But when you've got the National Guard or Marines, if you get to a situation where they are actually patrolling the streets, and they're actually sort of integrated with law enforcement in a way that allows them to take actions independent of law enforcement, that's when you get into real issues.

[00:10:03]

So I think that, you know, there's a hybrid approach here where the National Guard can be useful. But it's also the case that, as we've said before that should have been at the behest of the governor and the leaders there in California, not imposed on them by the president of the United States.

COATES: Shawn Turner, good to see you. Thank you for joining me tonight.

I want to turn now to the L.A. City Councilwoman Nithya Raman, who joins us this evening.

Councilwoman, thank you for joining. I know your district is not in the area that's covered by the curfew, but what is your reaction to the imposition of this curfew? Was it necessary?

NITHYA RAMAN, LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCIL: I think that the curfew is yet another sign that the city of Los Angeles is very well able to manage any of the violence or unruliness related to the protests on our own. These are LAPD officers who are on the streets. They are working to address any issues or stragglers who are in the curfew zone, as you saw from your own reporting. But to me, the important thing about this curfew is that these protests, which have been portrayed as the reason for why national law enforcement presence is required, is very much within the capacity of our local law enforcement to handle. And this curfew is part of the city's approach to handling it.

COATES: I wonder about the scale. Obviously, my vantage point, seeing it through the focus of our cameras and of course the coverage throughout the days over these past five days, we know that 378 people have been arrested, what, give or take some, since Saturday. Did the scale of the protests leave the police with an alternative choice here?

RAMAN: In terms of the curfew?

COATES: The curfew and now the arrests that are now being made?

RAMAN: I think that the scale of the protests, you know, I think I've been, so, you know, my district, as you said, is not in the area where these this particular curfew is happening. And I want to share that across Los Angeles, from Encino to the West Side and across L.A. County, Pasadena, within L.A. City and Highland Park. Across the past four days, there have been numerous protests that have been peaceful, that have been expressions of the anger, frustration, and fear that residents are feeling at the unprecedented actions of the national government here in the city of Los Angeles.

This particular curfew, limited as it is, I think has been targeted at an area where there has been some incidents that have been troubling, that the city of Los Angeles and all of the elected officials have been uniformed in condemning. But I think overall, what we've seen is largely peaceful protests, except for in this location. And as I said earlier, really well within the capacity of our local law enforcement to be able to manage.

We do not need federal law enforcement here. In fact, the presence of federal law enforcement has actually inflamed tensions locally and made it less safe for Angelenos. And I can say that as a resident of Los Angeles and as a local representative.

COATES: What did you think of Governor Gavin Newsom's address tonight? I mean, he was pretty pointed in his critique of the president of the United States.

RAMAN: You know, I think Newsom has been very open about what he has felt has been the overreach of these recent actions by President Trump. Again, as someone who is a representative of the city of L.A., the actions that we as taking -- we are taking locally has been really designed around creating safety in our own communities in the way that LAPD and our local communities know how to do.

I think Newsom has been very vocal. The governor has been very vocal about speaking out against overreach by the federal government. Their efforts to stoke fear locally. And those efforts are working. Fear is being felt across our communities here. These raids have been unprecedented in their scope. Local immigration nonprofits are describing scenes that we have never seen here.

Raids at workplaces, including car washes, elder care facilities, labor centers and across homes and street corners. People being detained in places not meant for human to stay. People not being offered due process. People are not being offered access to a lawyer. Over 300 people have been detained according to our best information. Maybe two have gotten access to a lawyer so far. These are basic constitutional rights of Angelenos, of Americans, values that we as residents of Los Angeles and of America hold dear.

These are being violated in our own city. And I think Los Angeles is hurting and fearful about what this means for the future.

[00:15:00]

COATES: Councilwoman Nithya Raman, thank you for joining.

RAMAN: Thank you so much for having me.

COATES: We have a lot more of our breaking news coverage. Ahead we're going to hear from a photographer who says he was hit in the head by a rubber bullet in the middle of the protest. His story is next. And later, Governor Gavin Newsom's blistering speech against President Trump. Did he deliver a message that will help rally Democrats behind him?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COATES: He was covering the protests, not a part of the protests, until photojournalist Toby Canham was caught in the crossfire, and I mean literally.

[00:20:04]

Now watch as Toby is shot in the forehead with a rubber bullet by a California Highway Patrol officer. This during the Los Angeles protests on Sunday evening.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Hey, watch out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What happened?

TOBY CANHAM, PHOTOGRAPHER HIT BY RUBBER BULLET IN L.A. PROTESTS: I just got shot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Toby Canham is with me now.

Toby, I see the injury on your forehead. How are you feeling? Have there been any health effects?

CANHAM: Laura, I'm actually feeling absolutely fine, although, you know, you would think otherwise. I did pay a visit to a hospital yesterday. Got a CT scan to basically, you know, my wife was very concerned, obviously. And it, you know, traumatic, sort of like blunt force on the head. It's best to get checked out for any bleeds and fractures, of course. But no bleeds, no fractures, no concussions. So I was quite lucky.

COATES: Oh, wow. Thank God. I'm happy to hear that. Tell me what was going through your head at the time that that moment happened. What was that like when you realized that you'd been shot by this rubber bullet?

CANHAM: Funnily enough, it's not my first time actually. But no, I got shot in the head up in Portland during the -- all the rioting that was that, you know, the aftermath of the death of George Floyd. But there I was wearing a helmet. But what's going through your mind? Well, not a lot, really. I mean, I'm just standing there working, and then all of a sudden, I mean, I was sort of semi-conscious of the fact that the guy was aiming at me or aiming in my direction, and that thing traveled so quickly. Next thing I knew, I was just flattened, you know, it struck me on the head and I was down basically.

COATES: I mean, you were wearing your press pass. You were holding a camera and there was still a firing in your direction. Do you feel that it was coincidental?

CANHAM: Well, it was -- I mean, sorry to interrupt you there, but between me and the -- and where the police, where the actual California Highway Patrol were established on the freeway was, you know, the distance was somewhere between, I don't know, about 75 or 100 meters. Now, I was wearing a press pass. I was wearing two cameras, one on, you know, one with a short fat lens. And, which could well have been obstructing the press pass, but a press pass is only a piece of card, like three inches by two inches.

Another camera on my right shoulder holding an iPhone. You know, pretty identifiable as a photographer, I would assume.

COATES: My goodness, I can't imagine what that moment was like for you. But you -- you're actually based in L.A. I understand, Toby. You've covered this unrest day in, day out. Can you describe what you were seeing both from what the law enforcements' morale or mood is, and also what's happening with the protesters?

CANHAM: On this particular day, Sunday? It was a big crowd. I mean, and, you know, estimations I garnered, like by asking people, you know, is anywhere between like 2,000 up to and some people were saying, oh, there must be about 5,000 people. And in total, during the whole course of the day, the number probably did get to that level. But initially, after the gathering at town hall and then the march on the federal detention center, you know, literally a couple of blocks away down the road, the melee, the sheer weight of numbers and of it the response, the initial response from law enforcement, you know, there was no standoff.

It was almost like straight into it with the tools at their disposal to hold people back. And there are obviously people in that crowd angry, lashing out at police and objects being thrown and stuff like that. And that's pretty much how it continued for the rest of the day. And I'd actually just been at the scene of where the Waymo cars were on fire. I popped back around the corner and there's a small road that Arcadia, Arcadia and Main, and Arcadia sits at an elevated position overlooking the 101 Freeway.

So these guys were down there as you can see in the video. And I could see objects like raining in on mainly from the other side initially. And of course that sort of piqued my interest as, OK, let me see what I can get here.

COATES: Will you go back out?

CANHAM: Next thing you know I see going on the left side and 10 seconds after that, there it is. The dude shot me and down I went.

[00:25:09]

COATES: Will you go back out to cover?

CANHAM: Yes. Of course. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, no problem there. You know.

COATES: Spoken like a true journalist.

Toby Canham, wear your helmet, please, my friend.

CANHAM: I will, Laura, thank you so much.

COATES: Thank you.

Back out to Los Angeles after a quick break where mass arrests are now taking place as police enforce Mayor Bass's curfew. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COATES: Arresting protesters in Los Angeles right now after a curfew went into effect about an hour and a half ago.

[00:30:15]

CNN's Michael Yoshida is in L.A. for us. Michael, what are you seeing tonight?

MICHAEL YOSHIDA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Laura. You mentioned we're an hour and a half into this curfew. Some arrests happening about two blocks away from me. We're still on Alameda Street here.

And you can see this area is cleared. But I know we've got a camera a few blocks away. That's where LAPD, according to a social media post -- post, are making arrests right now.

I can tell you it was about five, ten minutes ago. We saw those Los Angeles Police Department busses that we saw last night and earlier today that were used to -- to carry some of those detained arrested, driving further down the street to the area where we believe all of that activity is happening.

And again, that's happening within this small one-square-mile area where this curfew is in effect. You can see right here all the law enforcement we had here, even just an hour ago when I was talking with you, they've cleared out.

For most of the day, this entire section of Alameda was filled with protesters. It was about 30 minutes before that curfew we saw them form those lines, push the protesters out, make the announcement that it was time to disperse. They, for the most part, did.

We showed you, again, about an hour ago, it was just police, highway patrol out here. They've now cleared out. The street has opened.

But again, this area looks clear within this one-square-mile area. But there's little pockets within it where we're seeing some activity; again, about two blocks away.

So, this curfew continuing in effect here in Los Angeles. Obviously, a very small part of Los Angeles, of downtown Los Angeles impacted, but something we're going to be keeping an eye on. We'll see as the night goes on.

COATES: Michael, the mayor announced the curfew earlier this evening. Did she explain her decision and rationale?

YOSHIDA: So again, I know 24 hours ago, we were talking with you. We were about a half mile South of here. And that's where we were seeing some of those continued, more violent interactions between some protesters and the police taking place. We saw some looting in the overnight hours, some graffiti and other vandalism happening.

The mayor and the LAPD saying that, over the last few days, we know around 23 businesses were looted as a result. So again, in trying to, it sounds like, tamp down on some of those violent interactions, that looting, that's -- seems to be the basis for this curfew.

And again, it's impacting a very small part of the downtown area. Obviously, we've seen all the images on social media. But it's, again, about one square miles [SIC] here in downtown L.A. We know, impacting maybe 100,000 or so residents of the 4 million or so people living in L.A.

So, the curfew in effect from eight until six in the morning, the mayor and her office saying it could potentially last for several days.

COATES: Michael Yoshida, stand by. Thank you so much.

California Governor Gavin Newsom speaking out tonight in, frankly, a scathing speech, accusing President Trump of fanning the flames of the protests in L.A. and, quote, "pulling a military dragnet" across the country [SIC] -- across the city. Excuse me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D), CALIFORNIA: Donald Trump, without consulting California law enforcement leaders, commandeered 2,000 of our state's National Guard members to deploy on our streets illegally and for no reason. This brazen abuse of power by a sitting president inflamed a combustible situation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Governor Newsom is warning Americans democracy is at risk.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWSOM: He's taking a wrecking ball -- a wrecking ball -- to our Founding Fathers' historic project. Three co-equal branches of independent government.

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. The Founding Fathers, they didn't live and die to see this kind of moment. It's time for all of us to stand up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Now, for his part, the president has said that, if he hadn't intervened, quote, "Los Angeles would be burning down right now."

Here with me now, independent political consultant Mike Murphy. Mike, welcome. Do you think Governor Newsom's speech was effective here?

MIKE MURPHY, INDEPENDENT POLITICAL CONSULTANT: Well, I think he made a powerful argument. Because it's essentially true.

We're in a bizarre situation where normally, in normal times, you would expect the president of the United States to think like a fireman.

Instead, we have one who thinks like an arsonist and has been provoking this situation from minute one. And he has made it worse.

So, I think the governor's criticism -- I mean, grabbing the National Guard without the governor being involved, that's very rare. When they're not needed -- None of the law enforcement people think they're needed.

[00:05:10]

You're seeing tonight, by the way, the mayor, who I think has been a day late at this, has decided after dark to crack down, because that's when the real troublemakers come out.

And you're seeing the police power we have between our agencies that are able to contain and control this situation.

So, all the president did was throw gasoline on the fire with these pronouncements and even activating active-duty military, who, by the way, are stationed outside the city. It's all a P.R. stunt by the president.

But that message and that disregard for the norms of how a president should act is incredibly inflammatory, and it is pushing people out into the streets.

COATES: Well, the president, as you know, has not minced words when it comes to Governor Gavin Newsom. He threatened to arrest him. He has -- Speaker Johnson also said that he should be tarred and feathered.

What do you make of the Republican response? Is it effective, or could it backfire?

MURPHY: The Republican response? Because there really hasn't been one other than to, you know, hallelujah the president's hot rhetoric here. Politically -- and I think everything President Trump does is about

his own political -- (AUDIO GAP), I'm sad to say, as a longtime conservative Republican, just doesn't want to be part of all this.

The president is playing good MAGA base politics, because it's always good politics to run against the largest Democratic state.

So, I guess, in a cynical political way, he again, he's lighting a fire as an arsonist and then claiming to be the fireman. And that'll work for him among his base voters.

But I think most persuadable voters in the middle, where the president's poll numbers have been dropping pretty rapidly based on economic failures and his behavior over the last few months, this is going to leave a bad taste in people's mouth.

You know, people want to crack down on illegal immigrants. They want to go after criminals, in particular, with a criminal record. But that's a narrow subsection.

What these ICE guys did was they went to a garment factory, because apparently they thought the narco warlords disguised themselves as 50- year-old women behind sewing machines, and they just started grabbing people willy-nilly with no plan, no focus on criminals, just grabbing everybody they can.

So, it's no surprise in a county where a -- you know, a third of the people here are immigrants, both legal and some undocumented, there's tremendous rage. We're pulling people out who contribute to the community, and treating them like Dillinger. With these raids, with these paramilitary dressed ICE officers that looked like something out of Putin's Russia.

So, there's a lot of anger here across the county.

There's also a reaction that your reporter was right on target. It's about a one-mile-square area where I do think the mayor deserves some criticism for not letting the cops act last night, being passive.

But L.A. County has 4,000 square miles. So, you know, on television, it looks like the end of the world. It's really after-dark troublemakers, who tonight the cops are dealing with, running a little wild, unfortunately. I think that was a failure of the mayor last night.

But we're going to reach equilibrium here. The legit protesting, not the rock throwing and the violence, that will continue for a while during the day, because the anger is definitely here.

COATES: Let me ask you: will that anger --

MURPHY: And it's at the president and ICE.

COATES: Well, let me ask you --

MURPHY: Yes. COATES: -- the anger that's there, would that be able to be harnessed by someone who might be hoping to be a Democratic nominee for the presidency? I'm looking at Governor Gavin Newsom. Will this inure to his benefit?

MURPHY: Yes. My guess is, I think the governor is blowing the war cry here for totally appropriate reasons about how the president has acted.

But yes, he's one of many in the Democratic Party who are learning the geography of New Hampshire and South Carolina. So, I think the politics of it occurs to him, but I don't think it's the motive for what he's saying tonight.

I think he -- you know, the senior law enforcement people in L.A. County, they don't like this federal bigfooting. They know when -- when somebody is trying to incite trouble, to create TV pictures for their political gain in other states.

There's a lot of frustration with the president's childish, irresponsible and, frankly, anti-democratic actions here. And I think that's building across the country, as well.

COATES: We shall see how it all plays out. Mike Murphy, thank you for your insight tonight.

MURPHY: Thank you, Laura.

COATES: As you know, President Trump ordered 700 Marines to Los Angeles. Well, now they're standing by outside the city. How could they be used, if they enter? We'll discuss it, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:44:27]

COATES: You're looking at live pictures from Los Angeles as we continue to monitor the standoff between law enforcement and protesters.

Tonight, more than 700 Marines that were activated by President Trump are currently standing by and awaiting orders outside the city.

Sources tell CNN many of them are currently undergoing additional training exercises for domestic riot control and the rules for the use of force.

With me now, CNN military analyst and retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton.

Colonel Leighton, I mean, are these Marines ready to handle a domestic crowd control situation?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, I guess the answer to that, Laura, is that they're probably not 100 percent ready, because they're going through that training. Now, having said that, I -- it's pretty common for any type of deploying force to train for the environment that they're going into.

The disadvantage that the Marines have in this particular case is that they had very short notice to deploy to the city of Los Angeles. It is probably a somewhat unexpected mission for them.

But Marines are adaptable. They will learn, you know, what they're being taught, and they'll do it as well as they possibly can.

But it is definitely a difference between a Marine who's just learned how to control a crowd, or how to exercise riot control procedures, compared to a police officer who's been doing this for, you know, maybe a decade or more.

So, that's the kind of difference that we're dealing with here. And of course, there are certain legal restrictions that the Marines have, as well.

COATES: I mean, in addition to these 700 Marines, you've got 4,000 National Guard troops that have been activated. And in some cases, they've been using them to try to help assist ICE during arrests, not actually make the arrest themselves, but to be present, perhaps, as a visible reinforcement.

What do you make of the military being used in that way? Is that standard or appropriate?

LEIGHTON: Well, it's -- I certainly have questions about it. And in some ways, I think it could serve as an intimidation factor.

Now, that might be the point of, you know, this particular exercise.

But the problem with that is that people will misconstrue what's happening here, because the National Guard, in their Title 10 role, in this particular case, do not have the powers of arrest, whereas the ICE officers, of course, do have that power.

But the fact that the National Guard troops are right there, present and providing what amounts to force protection to the ICE officers, that can be misconstrued as them being part of the arrest. And that could be a problem, both legally, as well as operationally.

COATES: Secretary Pete Hegseth said today that the deployment of these troops could actually last 60 days, six zero. Are you concerned about that lasting that long? What are the implications?

LEIGHTON: So, if the deployment lasts that long, the -- there is a training detriment to that. The training aspects for the Marine Corps or for any other military service really depend on repeating a lot of the things that they're going to be doing when they go and fulfill their primary mission.

And in the case of, you know, any Marine contingent, they've got combat duties. They are going to have operational missions in places such as the Pacific or in Europe or in the Middle East. And that's the kind of thing that they should be training for day in and day out.

During the global war on terror, we noticed there was an atrophying of training capabilities in the regular force, because we were concentrating on the war on terror and not concentrating on our standard normal missions, such as confronting China and confronting Russia.

And that had a tremendous impact on readiness and our ability to conduct those missions.

COATES: I mean, I can't help but notice that we're just days away, Colonel, from this massive military parade in Washington, D.C., to celebrate the Army's 250th birthday.

Trump today had a warning, by the way, for those who are planning any protests. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: And we're going to be celebrating big on Saturday. We're going to have a lot -- and if there's any protester wants to come out, they will be met with very big force, by the way. And for those people that want to protest, they're going to be met with very big force.

And I haven't even heard about a protest. But, you know, this is people that hate our country. But they will be met with very heavy force.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Could this parade perhaps escalate tensions?

LEIGHTON: I think it could. And that's going to be something that, you know, would be a problem. You know, certainly if the president fulfills what he just said there, that's going to create issues that could very well backfire for him in a political sense, but also in a legal sense.

And, you know, we have -- we still have our Constitution. We still have the First Amendment. We still have a right to peaceably assemble. So, people are going to, I'm sure, take this all into consideration.

I'm sure a lot of people will stay away from the parade. Those who don't share the president's views. Those who want to celebrate the Army will probably be there.

And it's going to be one of those things where people have to make a decision as to, you know, exactly how they're going to deal with it.

But you know, the president has to remember, we're still a United States of America that has certain inalienable rights.

COATES: Colonel Cedric Leighton, thank you so much.

LEIGHTON: You bet, Laura. COATES: Much more on the arrest in L.A. In just a moment. But up next,

an update on another dramatic and tense day in the trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs.

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[00:54:39]

COATES: The defense in the Sean "Diddy" Combs trial now getting their shot at a crucial witness. Diddy's ex-girlfriend Jane faced a full day of cross-examination after three days of gripping testimony for the prosecution.

The defense read a string of loving messages that she sent to Diddy and asked why she, Diddy, and an escort compared themselves to NBA legends. Well, Jane explained why she went along with her drug-fueled hotel nights, because it was the only way that she could see Diddy.

And the defense, they zeroed in on her finances and expensive gifts, including one tense moment about a luxury handbag.

But for most of day 20, the defense tried to turn Jane's own words against her by showing the jury affectionate text that she sent Diddy.

Now, one of those messages came after a trip to Turks and Caicos. Jane testified previously that Diddy sprung a hotel night on that vacation. She said that it led to an argument that threw things off for days.

But the defense played an audio message Jane sent to Diddy right after they got back. And in it, she said, quote, "Everything just feels good, and I'm so happy."

Defense attorney Teny Geragos also asked about a nickname they would joke about involving a male escort. They called themselves "the Trifecta" and compared each other to famous NBA players.

Jane testified that she was Kobe Bryant, the escort was Shaq, and Diddy was Michael Jordan.

Now, she was asked about all these positive messages, and she said she didn't want Diddy to feel rejected. And she gave a reason why she took part in those hotel nights, even though she said she didn't want to.

She testified, "That was the only option I was given, and I wanted to see my lover. Geragos also pressed Jane on whether she regretted any of her choices. She told the court, "I resent him for leading me to the lifestyle that he led me to."

She also said, "My choices were made under a lot of emotional pressure."

But Jane explained she still loves him, and she said she would take care of him after a hotel night, giving him foot massages, feeding him, and putting on his favorite show, "Dateline."

CNN's Kara Scannell was inside court and witnessed everything, and she joins me now. Kara. The defense, they didn't just ask Jane about her text messages. They also asked her about her finances, about gifts. She received. One exchange was especially testy, shall we say. What happened?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Laura. I mean, part of Jane's testimony has been that she participated in these hotel nights. But then Combs's other girlfriends reaped all the romantic benefits that she ever wanted: going out for dinners, going on vacations, and getting some luxury gifts.

So, Teny Geragos, Combs's lawyer, asked her about some jewelry -- jewelry she received and a Bottega handbag. And here's the exchange. This is where it got testy.

Geragos asked her, "What is a Bottega bag?"

And Jane says, "I'm sure you have one."

Geragos said, "I actually don't. What is a Bottega bag?"

Jane says, "It's a high-end luxury purse for women."

Geragos says, "How much do Bottega bags run?"

And Jane says, "How much does my body cost?"

Then there was a couple of other questions. Jane asked for a break. After the break, they came back. Jane apologized to Geragos, and they resumed the cross-examination.

But this all part of the defense effort to try to show that Jane did benefit, because she did testify that Combs not only paid her $10,000 a month rent, but he invested $20,000 into her dress line and never asked for any profits, any money back from that. And he also supported her in other ways. Financially.

COATES: You have to wonder how the jury is receiving all this information.

Are you getting any inkling about the jury's reaction? They're pretty stoic throughout, but are they reacting at all, Kara?

SCANNELL: I mean, they are keeping a pretty straight face in this. There was one moment today when the judge said that the day was ending at three and not five, and one of the jurors said "Yay!" and then realized the embarrassment of it, put her hands over her face.

But for the most part, when it's the testimony and serious business, they are generally pretty stoic, you know, taking notes at times but not revealing too much.

COATES: Well, speaking of jurors, there was some drama involving one. What do we know?

SCANNELL: So, this is still in a sealed part of the transcript. But the judge brought it up this morning, saying that there was an issue with a juror.

He said the defense said that they were OK moving forward, and he asked the prosecutor for their position. They said they wanted to read the sealed transcript and then be able to submit one.

But the judge said to them -- and this is very interesting. He said, I did my own homework. I don't really see case law on this. Maybe you'll find something.

So, whatever this issue is, it's a novel issue, certainly, in this high-profile case. So, the prosecution said they're going to submit their position tonight. And the judge said he will rule on that Wednesday.

COATES: My goodness. And of course, we do have the sitting jurors, and you have the alternates. We do not yet know whether they, in fact, are alternates. I wonder how this will all play out.

Kara Scannell, keep us posted. Thank you so much.

Thank you for watching our live breaking news. Coverage of the protests and curfew in Los Angeles continues with M.J. Lee in just a moment.

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