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The Situation Room

L.A. County Official: Situation Has Calmed Down After "Probably One Of The Most Volatile Nights In The City"; Boulder, Colorado Holds New March One Week After Attack. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired June 09, 2025 - 11:30   ET

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

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[11:32:43]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, back to the breaking news. We're following a Los Angeles County official now telling CNN the situation there has calmed down after what she called probably one of L.A.'s most volatile nights. Days of protests over immigration raids have prompted President Trump to deploy the U.S. National Guard without the governor's consent. It's a rare move that has Governor Gavin Newsom threatening to sue the Trump administration.

The former Los Angeles Police Chief Bernard Parks is joining us right now. Chief Parks, thanks so much for joining us. I know you also served on the Los Angeles City Council. You know L.A. as well as anybody. Are things out of control right now?

BERNARD PARKS, FORMER LOS ANGELES POLICE CHIEF: No, they're not. I think the -- controls the infusion of people from the outside, which appears to be a lot of self-inflicted wounds. When we think about the raids, it's a common courtesy to make people aware in jurisdictions that you're taking police action, and then to begin to follow up with the use of flashbangs and tear gas as a first alternative is unheard of in dealing with crowd control.

And then to completely disappear when anarchists take over a First Amendment demonstration is -- are -- are things in which could have all been avoided. I don't think there's anyone in the city can remember how or when the -- the National Guard has been imposed upon the city without a request and the exhaustion of resources or mutual aid.

And so these are all very, very different times and different decisions that have created a dilemma that did not need to happen.

BLITZER: Do you believe, Chief, that law enforcement in L.A. right now is overwhelmed by the number of protesters, like the police chief actually said last night?

PARKS: You know, I think the issue is that anytime you have a circumstance that just starts, and if you did not pre-plan it, it's a spontaneous event, it's going to take a moment to bring your resources up to the level of putting this in control, plus also relying on the mobilization of mutual aid. So that is not unusual.

[11:35:15]

If it was a pre-planned event like a convention or a variety of issues that you knew were going to occur, you'd have officers and personnel staged at those locations. That's why it was so inconceivable when the people that came in on their raid did not make anyone aware of it and then called for help in expected spontaneous response.

Those things do not happen automatically if you're not aware of them and you cannot stage your personnel with proper equipment, and then for them to arrive and find out that tear gas is in the air and expect them to perform normally is also a misnomer.

BLITZER: How do you think the LAPD has performed so far in responding to these protests, and what recommendations would you make?

PARKS: You know, I think from what I could see on T.V., it looked as though -- forces, they began to move.

BLITZER: Hold on. Start again -- start again your thought. Start again your thought, Chief Parks. We missed the beginning.

PARKS: OK. Once they were -- personnel in mobile field forces, they began to make an impact on the crowds. What's always been a Achilles heel in dealing with demonstrations is multiple simultaneous events, particularly if they're unplanned. And when you have anarchists looking for ways to destroy property on the fly, you're going to have a difficult time keeping track of that until you have enough resources to begin to impact multiple locations.

So I think they're in good shape. And I think I agree with Chief McDonnell that it doesn't appear at this time that what's going on is beyond the resources of mutual aid and the Los Angeles Police Department.

BLITZER: I want to get your reaction, Chief Parks, to something that President Trump wrote on Truth Social, and I'm quoting him now. This is a quote. Jim McDonnell, the highly respected LAPD chief, just stated that the protesters are getting very much more aggressive and that he would, "have to reassess the situation," as it pertains to bringing in the troops. He should -- he should right now. Don't let these thugs get away with this. That's a quote from Trump on his social media website.

What do you make of that? And should more National Guardsmen or even active duty military personnel like U.S. Marines who are on standby be deployed to L.A.?

PARKS: Yes, I think his comment is a clear indication of someone that's 4,000 miles away making a judgment about what's going on in the field. I think that he make these decisions incrementally. And I think Chief McDonnell stated you have to assess them. If you haven't exhausted the mutual aid and the resources locally, and then as historically you go to the governor for the National Guard, and certainly it would be a long way away to talk about bringing the Marines in where you're bringing in U.S. troops to basically provide services or take action against U.S. citizens.

These are things that are just completely far-fetched, and I think it's part of what we saw during the campaign for President, the vengeance of places that are not on the President's list, favorable list, are getting, I think, different treatment. One of the things I think, Wolf, that's just mind-boggling is that we call the people that are doing a peaceful demonstration that was infiltrated by some anarchists. We call them that they are basically enemies of this -- of this country.

But yet, when we had the storm of the Capitol and people were convicted in federal court and sentenced to prison, they were basically released on pardons. That's totally inconsistent with what the eye test will tell you.

BLITZER: The former L.A. police chief, Bernard Parks, thanks -- thanks so much for joining us. Really appreciate it.

PARKS: Wolf, nice talking to you.

BLITZER: Yes, thank you. And Pamela?

[11:39:55]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, much more news to come. A fierce testament of strength. One week after violent shock, the Boulder Jewish Festival in Colorado, the community marches on.

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BLITZER: In Boulder, Colorado this weekend, a show of defiance and resilience in the face of hate. The city's Jewish community coming together just one week after a truly horrific attack returning for the same peaceful march they have been doing to support Israeli hostages held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza. A witness talked about how shocking the attack was.

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[11:45:02]

RACHELLE HALPERN, ATTACK WITNESS: Because it wasn't violence it was fire. It was a firebomb thrown into a group of people.

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BLITZER: With us now Rabbi Marc Soloway from Congregation Bonai Shalom in Boulder and Rachel Amaru who is the founder of the organization called Run for Their Lives in Boulder. Rachel talk a little bit about what it was like being back in the same area, the same space where that brutal attack happened a week earlier.

RACHEL AMARU, FOUNDER, RUN FOR THEIR LIVES BOULDER: So I actually wasn't there when the attack took place. I was in New York walking with the Westchester group. But it was extremely intense yesterday to walk into where we always do our regular walk and to see the extraordinary amount of police presence and protection around and the number of people.

We're used to walking 25 to 30 people unless it's been like 100 days or 200 days where we get a better turnout. But it was kind of extraordinary to see the number of people there.

BLITZER: Rabbi Soloway several people who were attacked are members of your congregation in Boulder. What can you tell us about how they are doing?

RABBI MARC SOLOWAY, CONGREGATION BONAI SHALOM: Well a trauma like this doesn't heal quickly. So some of them have really pretty bad burns to their bodies that will take a long time to heal. And -- and of course the emotional scars last even longer. I think people are shaken up. It was horrific and someone literally tried to set fire to Jewish bodies downtown in Boulder, Colorado in 2025.

It was extremely shocking and you know hopefully they will recover. But it's a long, long journey for some of them.

BLITZER: Yes it's hard to believe this has been happening in our country. Rachel you've said the attack rocked the community but has also united people in your mission. What kind of response have you seen since the attack?

AMARU: It's -- it's actually been extraordinary. So like within two days the founder of Run for Their Lives, the -- the global initiative, she called and asked if she could come out and we set up a support space for her to be able to just sit with everyone on Saturday. And she spent the whole afternoon with people from our group just coming and talking to her.

We've had an outpouring of support. I had a young group of Israeli women who came and put together gift packages for all the victims and they've dropped off an enormous amount of food. And it's -- it's been extraordinary. And we had a woman from the Knoxville group who flew in, actually drove in another one from Chicago. The community is really cohesive. And I think there were upwards of 10,000 people at the festival yesterday and about 3,000 who walked with us, so.

SOLOWAY: And -- and I will add if I may, Wolf, that it's the outpouring also to the wider Jewish community. And we've had faith leaders from all traditions reach out to us. We had like five pastors, ministers from different churches come to services over this last Shabbat.

And then walking with us yesterday we had the two Colorado Senators, we had our Congressman Joe Neguse, we had the Mayor of Boulder, we had our District Attorney and our Colorado Attorney General who were all walking with us along with someone who was actually there with bandages on his legs walking at the very front of the -- of the walk. It was extremely moving and the show of support, incredible.

AMARU: Yes. The other group that we should absolutely call attention to because this is really what we're about is that Hostages and Missing Families Forum sent over a relative of Omri Miran, his brother-in-law, Moshe, and he came and spoke to, gave a really incredibly inspiring speech. He's giving an interview today.

But it brought, I think maybe if there's anything amazing that will come out of this is the attention back on the hostages, which is what we've been walking for from the beginning in the first place.

BLITZER: Rabbi, just -- Rabbi, let me just ask you, are members of the Jewish community in Boulder, and it's not a large Jewish community, but a very nice Jewish community, are they having to increase security around all of their public events right now? Are you having to do that yourself at your synagogue?

SOLOWAY: Absolutely. It's -- it's the tragedy of our times. We -- people don't feel safe. People do not feel safe. So we -- we have -- we contract with a private security company, but in the short term, the Boulder Police Department is doing extra surveillance's around all the -- all the public events in -- in Jewish organizations across the city.

And we don't know moving forward. We've set up an emergency fund in Jewish Colorado, which is our federation here, set up a fund specifically so that Boulder Jewish organizations can get extra security. But it's just a sad reality. It's not how we'd like to be spending our dollars right now.

[11:50:07]

BLITZER: It's not only -- it's not only happening, Rachel, in Boulder, it's happening all over the country here in the Washington, D.C. area, synagogues, Jewish community centers have been increasing security big time as well, which is a sad statement indeed.

All right, Rachel Amaru and Rabbi Marc Soloway, good luck to you. Good luck to all the folks in Boulder, Colorado. We'll take a quick break. We'll be right back.

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BROWN: Live from New York, it's "Good Night, and Good Luck." For the first time in history, a live Broadway performance was shown simultaneous on -- simultaneously on television. It was Saturday night. CNN was the one to bring this Tony-nominated play to the masses. After seeing the show on opening night, I was honored to be a part of Saturday's big event.

[11:55:13]

It was certainly a blast from the past, seeing that 1950s set, costumes and clips from Murrow's actual program. See it now. Here I am reporting from the top of, get this, a double-decker bus right outside Winter Garden Theater. That was definitely a first for me.

I also chatted with the cast, writers and crew, including George Clooney himself. They all described the show as having opening night energy, despite it being the second-to-last performance of the play's limited run. For journalists, Edward R. Murrow's quest for truth is something we all aspire to, and the fact that this play still resonates with audiences today shows just how far-reaching Murrow's legacy really goes. Wolf?

BLITZER: And I'll paraphrase Edward R. Murrow when I say "Good Day, and Good Luck." Right now to all of our viewers --

BROWN: Good day.

BLITZER: -- thanks very much for watching. We can't say good night, at least not yet. You can keep up with us on social media, @WolfBlitzer, @PamelaBrownCNN. We'll see you back here tomorrow morning, 10:00 a.m. Eastern.

BROWN: Inside Politics with Dana Bash is next, after a short break.

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