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The Situation Room

Interview With Rep. Nanette Barragan (D-CA); Trump Deploys Marines to Los Angeles; Pete Hegseth on Capitol Hill. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired June 10, 2025 - 11:00   ET

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

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PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Happening now: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth facing tough questions on Capitol Hill, as his boss activates National Guard troops and mobilizes Marines to handle protests in Los Angeles.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: And the demonstrations against the president's immigration policy are spreading right now across the country.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown, and you're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

We begin this hour with the protests in downtown Los Angeles. The anger is focused on immigration raids in the community, but destruction and clashes with police have sometimes overshadowed that message.

BROWN: Police broke up crowds last night and made arrests. Some protesters were seen throwing objects at officers, including what appears to be fireworks. The Justice Department says it has begun prosecuting some of the protesters. And President Trump has deployed 4,000 National Guard troops and about 700 Marines to protect federal personnel and property.

Many protesters say they condemn the violence, but want their voices heard.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have seen videos of people, family being torn apart. And it should break anybody's heart to the point where you want to stand up for those people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's our job to stand up with them and say that we don't stand for this either. And I'm not really scared of them. I'm more scared of what our country is becoming.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BLITZER: The protests are spreading beyond California, including now to Dallas and Atlanta, Louisville and New York. Many protesters say it's time to take a stand against President Trump's immigration policies and what they feel is heavy-handed and heartless enforcement.

BROWN: CNN's Stephanie Elam is in downtown Los Angeles.

Stephanie, what are you seeing there this morning?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Pamela, I have got to tell you, the cleanup work that is happening here in downtown L.A. is amazing. Just since we have been here, there's been so much that's been cleaning up that has been going on here.

This is an Apple Store that was broken into and looted. You can see there's blood underneath here, but you can see they're on the process of about to replace this glass. They have been in there cleaning, mopping, cleaning up the stuff that was looted and broken.

And you have really got to keep in mind that there are two different temperatures here. During the day, you have got people who are protesting ICE and what has been happening as far as immigration. And then, at night, there's a very different element that comes out that's just looking for destruction.

And we heard the mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, speak about that specific element. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAREN BASS (D), MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: To see the level of obscene graffiti all over buildings, and I just say that anybody that does that, don't come and say that you are supporting immigrant rights, the rights of immigrants. You can't possibly be supporting immigrants and vandalize our city.

You will be held accountable and, frankly, need to be separated from the people who are really fighting on behalf of our immigrant community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELAM: And we also heard the police chief from Los Angeles Police Department also echoed that thought, that, during the nighttime hours, that's when things completely change.

I just want to turn over here with my photojournalist here, Gregg Canes, to show you that across the street here, those white walls all had "No ICE" on them. They all had expletives, curse words. They're gone. It's 8:00 in the morning. They're gone.

[11:05:07]

The broken glass that was out here outside of the Adidas store that's across the street, it's also gone. So it's also really important to put into perspective here, Pamela, that what we are seeing, A, the city is on it, they're cleaning things up, but also it's a very limited part of the city in downtown Los Angeles that is being impacted by this. The majority of the city, it's business as usual.

BROWN: Just to follow up on that, Stephanie, how many blocks? Because I think a lot of us are trying to conceptualize how big this is or small, if you will. How many blocks?

ELAM: It's -- the majority of it's really small. So if you were to see where you may have seen CNN anchor Sara Sidner, where she was by the federal buildings over there by the courthouse, that's about a mile away from where I am. So there's been widespread graffiti, but the actual destruction has been more contained and it's all downtown.

You're not seeing this in other parts of the city. It's just not spread outside of downtown. And this is generally how things go here in Los Angeles. When we have protests, especially about immigration, ICE, it happens downtown. This is standard. It's not widespread throughout the entire city.

BROWN: All right, Stephanie Elam in Los Angeles. Thanks so much, Stephanie -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. All right, the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, is facing serious questions over the use of the U.S. military in the Los Angeles protests. He's testifying now before the House subcommittee that convened just a little while ago.

CNN's Natasha Bertrand is here with us in THE SITUATION ROOM.

Natasha, you're monitoring this hearing. What's he saying about these protests?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so many of these questions so far have been focused actually on the budget. But he has been questioned a couple times about the deployment of these Marines and the National Guard.

And in one notable exchange early on in the hearing, he was asked how much this deployment is actually going to cost, the deployment of over 700 Marines, as well as the activation of roughly 4,000 National Guard troops. He did not answer the question directly, instead saying that ICE agents need to be protected, and that is part of the reason why these troops are on the ground.

Take a listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: You asked about the situation in Los Angeles.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I asked about the budget. I asked about the budget, sir.

HEGSETH: And we believe ICE agents should be allowed to be safe in doing their operations. And we have deployed National Guard and the Marines to protect them in the execution of their duties, because we ought to be able to enforce immigration law in this country, unlike what Governor Walz did in 2020.

There are 17,000 LAPD. You mentioned that. There would be 18,000 if not for the defund movement that folks like Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass have implemented. The police chief said she was overwhelmed. So we helped.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERTRAND: So he never did answer that question directly of just how much this is going to cost. But he did say that there has been an increase of roughly 13 percent in the Defense Department's budget that allows for contingencies like this operation in Los Angeles.

And he was also asked, what kind of missions and training are these troops being diverted from? What are they not doing in order to be sent to the Los Angeles area? And he appeared to kind of confuse that question and say instead that these troops on the ground are trained to be doing what they are doing, so not really answering either question in a fulsome way.

BLITZER: I thought it was unusual for a defense secretary to be getting into politics, blasting the Democratic governor of California, the Democratic mayor of Los Angeles in the course of this kind of testimony.

BERTRAND: It's not unusual for Secretary Hegseth. If you look at his X account, he frequently will attack political rivals. And he considers himself a very fierce MAGA warrior. And so he will dutifully echo the many points that President Trump often makes about these figures on his own platforms.

BLITZER: Good point. All right, thank you very much, Natasha Bertrand, reporting for us.

BROWN: All right, thanks so much, Wolf.

Let's go to see a military analyst and retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton.

Actually, I want to pick up with what they were just talking about, how unusual it is for a DOD secretary to be so political in this way. It may not be for Hegseth, but in terms of the role, how unusual is that? And what else is your reaction to the comments he's made so far?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes.

So, Pamela, the fact that he is so politically engaged is very different from previous secretaries of defense. You have a tradition of people like George Marshall, former five-star general who became secretary of defense, as well as secretary of state. But he was notoriously apolitical as much as he possibly could be.

The other thing that you can note with this is that the role of the military itself is kind of reflective of how the secretary of defense answers questions like this in front of Congress. And the military tries very hard to be as apolitical as possible.

And in this particular situation with Hegseth as secretary of defense, there is a risk that a lot of his political movements, his political assertions, they have to be careful that they don't become policy because that can be a major change for the military, and that could have an adverse impact on its ability to remain apolitical.

[11:10:17]

BROWN: All right, I want to go to something else here. And that is this picture tweeted this morning by California Governor Gavin Newsom.

As you see, it shows the National Guard troops sleeping there on the floor. It reads -- quote from the governor -- "You sent your troops without fuel, food, water, or a place to sleep. If anyone is treating our troops disrespectfully, it is you, Donald Trump" -- end quote.

What is your takeaway from this?

LEIGHTON: So when you look at a picture like this, one of the first things that comes to mind is that the military is made up of a lot of hurry up and wait, as we call it in the military. In other words, you hurry up to get deployed somewhere, you get to that point, where you wait to get your transportation to that particular area, and you have to wait for it to happen.

So it's not unusual for there to be a scene like this where the military is waiting. You know, the soldiers will sleep wherever they possibly can. That's part of the technique of staying alert when they need to actually be on point. But you have situations where there's 20 hours of sheer boredom punctuated by about two minutes of absolute adrenaline-pumping excitement.

There are situations like that. And the military has to be able to, in essence, turn very quickly to deal with things. But this is not an unusual situation. Even if the deployment was, let's say, very well- planned and coordinated with the state, you would still see scenes like that.

BROWN: No matter who's president.

LEIGHTON: No matter who's president.

BROWN: All right, Colonel Cedric Leighton, thank you so much.

LEIGHTON: You bet, Pamela.

BROWN: Wolf.

BLITZER: Secretary Hegseth is expected to join President Trump over at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, later today as well. The president will see a demonstration just ahead of this weekend's big military parade here in Washington, D.C. They will also pay tribute to U.S. military and Gold Star families at the Army post.

CNN's White House reporter, Alayna Treene, is already over there at Fort Bragg just ahead of the president's arrival.

Alayna, is this visit mostly a prelude to this huge parade that is about to take place here in Washington on Saturday? It also happens to coincide with Trump's birthday.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, that's exactly right, Wolf.

That's at least that's what I'm hearing in my conversations with Trump administration officials, is that they really want to use this event today to try and, one, help recruit more people, of course, into the military, but also celebrate the military's 250 years and their accomplishments.

Now, as you mentioned, the president, when he arrives here later this afternoon, he's going to first participate in a demonstration of some of the Army's capabilities. And then he will also, of course, give remarks here. I'd like to remind you that this year at Fort Bragg is where the headquarters for the U.S. Special Armed Command is.

It's also home to really highly trained units like the Green Berets and other highly trained units. And you mentioned this, but Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who we are watching right now being grilled on Capitol Hill, is going to join him, as will Army Secretary Dan Driscoll.

But all of this comes as we're also seeing President Donald Trump really lean in, in sending thousands of National Guard and Marine court troops to L.A. to try and quell the protests there, really underscoring how he views the military, as a key tool to solve domestic issues. But it also comes ahead of that military parade this week.

And we're told that nearly 7,000 soldiers are going to be participating in that parade in Washington, D.C. There's going to be dozens of tanks and other fighter vehicles rolling through the streets. It's going to cost nearly $45 million is what they're estimating.

All to say, he really wants this week to be a highlight of what his team is doing to really kind of reshape the military ever since the president came into the White House -- Wolf, Pamela.

BLITZER: Alayna, thank you very much.

Alayna is over at Fort Bragg already.

We will stay in very close touch with you -- Pamela.

BROWN: All right, Wolf, still ahead, reports of storefronts damaged and buildings vandalized after a fourth night of protests in Los Angeles. Now the DOJ is threatening federal charges.

And a legal win for Blake Lively. What's next in her case against Justin Baldoni coming up?

You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

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[11:19:09]

BROWN: It is just past 8:00 a.m. in downtown Los Angeles, where protests over immigration raids have raged for four straight nights. There have been violent clashes with police, dozens of arrests and a growing amount of damage.

President Trump is doubling his deployment of National Guard troops to 4,000, and about 700 active-duty Marines have been mobilized to help protect federal personnel and property, according to the administration. California is suing the Trump administration for deploying the National Guard without state consent.

A lot going on.

Joining us here to better understand the dynamic is Congresswoman Nanette Barragan. She is a California Democrat who represents part of Los Angeles, as well as the Paramount area, where ICE agents and community members clashed on Saturday.

Congresswoman, thank you so much for coming on.

First of all, I want to go to your district. If you would just give us an assessment of what is going on there, what you know about the damage to the buildings and offices, the arrests. Just give us an understanding of that.

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REP. NANETTE BARRAGAN (D-CA): So this all started on Saturday morning in Paramount in my district. It was under control by the evening.

And they only arrested one person and they detained several people. But they got that under control. Then it moved across the street into Compton, which is just outside my district. And then, of course, you saw the Saturday night activity, people coming out to cause trouble.

I want to make sure that everybody knows we condemn any violence. And the people that are coming out to cause trouble should stay home. They should be arrested. We don't agree with them. I don't believe those are the people that are really coming out to protest these mass deportations.

So we have -- I also spoke to law enforcement that night that said, we have things under control. I said, do you need additional help? Do you need the National Guard? Do you need anybody else? Absolutely not.

We have been told day in and day out they do not need the National Guard. I want to remind people too that local law enforcement got this under control on Saturday night without the help of any National Guard or Marines. And it continued even the next day into -- when you had LAPD control the situation. Then you had the National Guard show up. OK, that's, of course, going

to inflame the situation, as we expected that it would. And you're seeing people come out and protest because they don't want the National Guard. They don't even want ICE, of course, doing their mass deportation there.

BROWN: I just want to follow up on that, because officers on the ground, the video we have from Saturday, it showed that it was still an ongoing, dynamic situation. And the LAPD said, the chief there said that he was overwhelmed after Saturday. What do you say to that?

BARRAGAN: So, I think, Saturday night in Paramount, they had the situation under control. As I mentioned, it went across the street into Compton. Then you had the overnight, a car being burned, property damage, things like that.

And so, in that situation, overnight LAPD got that under control. The next day is when the National Guard showed up. And that's the next day, when you saw the police say, hey this is overwhelming. And so that was after the National Guard showed up. That's what more people started to come out and to protest into Sunday.

BROWN: So I want to go to -- talk a little bit more about that, because Tom Homan, the president's border czar, was on CNN last night. He was asked about that, what you just said and other Democrats, Governor Newsom, Mayor Bass, that the National Guard has actually ratcheted up the violence in L.A.

Here's how he responded. Let's listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM HOMAN, WHITE HOUSE BORDER CZAR: I keep hearing media reports that they're rioting because President Trump sent National Guard there. It's just ridiculous.

They make the decision to burn a vehicle. They make the decision to throw a weapon at a law enforcement officer. They make the decision on -- in assaulting officers. This is their decision. President Trump doesn't make them burn a vehicle or assaulting an officer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: What is your response?

BARRAGAN: I think the president sending the National Guard is inflaming the situation. And, of course, having ICE on the ground is inflaming the situation.

I completely agree that the people that are being disruptive, that are burning cars, that are assaulting law enforcement should be arrested. Those are not the folks that we're mostly seeing, which is protesters. We saw that all day yesterday in downtown Los Angeles, thousands of people.

Now, the people, again, that are violent, we should definitely go after them. But local law enforcement can handle them. And they have said that day in and day out. And I do believe that, if you saw the withdrawal, you would see the situation back under control.

People right now are coming out to stand with their brothers and sisters and saying, we are not going to let you come in and just do mass deportations. And those have been primarily very peaceful.

Now, let me also just mention, you had the secretary of homeland security say that the city of Los Angeles is not -- it's a city of criminals. That just goes to show you with this administration what -- how they're treating things. They're just treating everybody as a criminal. They're not distinguishing between who are the real criminals versus -- which are the folks that they're saying they're going after, versus everybody else.

And, of course, people on the streets are outraged about the history of what's been happening over the last couple of months with the administration showing up at hospitals, showing up in delivery rooms where mothers are giving birth just to take the mother away right after they give birth, in schools, and now, of course, going into Home Depot.

BROWN: Do you know a specific story about that where they have actually gone to a delivery room to take a mother away?

BARRAGAN: Absolutely. Absolutely. In Tucson, Arizona, this was a situation. They were sitting and waiting at a hospital delivery room until she gave birth, a woman from Guatemala, to take her child away to then deport her.

Now, you had the governor there come out, and then they said, OK, we're going to let her go through the asylum process. But that is why you're seeing this outrage.

BROWN: But in your district, in particular, focusing on that, where some of these arrests have happened by ICE, ICE claims -- and it has not released a list, but it is claiming that it is arresting people here illegally who have criminal backgrounds.

[11:25:11]

BARRAGAN: Absolutely.

If you are going after serious criminal offenders, we support that. There is no disagreement about that. But they're not doing targeted enforcement. What they're doing is, they're doing mass deportation,round up of just everybody, let's see who we can get.

Now, Homeland did...

BROWN: So, what about the people who are here illegally? Do you support this? So they may not have a criminal background, but they're here illegally and they're rounded up. Do you support that?

BARRAGAN: Well, some of those people have existing cases. Some of those people, they're just dismissing their cases. They're trampling on due process. They're not even getting access to a lawyer.

So I don't support the process and the system that it's working right now. Now, DHS did put out a list of people they have, they alleged to have gotten in Los Angeles over the last couple of days. If you go take a look at the list already, you will see one of those people that they have listed on there is somebody who was -- did something when they were 18 years old, was convicted, served like 23 years, and a parole board let them out.

And that's why they were -- so a parole board had said they were safe to go back into the community. They knew where the person was. They could have just called the person and said, hey, come on in for a check and did the deportation. So that list that they put out is something I don't even trust.

I think we need to go through and see. We do know that, of the 200 people that were detained, almost nobody has a criminal record. And I can tell you, when you get briefings by the Department of Homeland Security -- I used to be the chair of that subcommittee -- they will tell you it is the targeted enforcement of criminals that is what's going to make us more safe.

Why? Because you're using your resources to go actually after the bad people. When you spread it out and say, we're just going to go get anybody we can, that's actually making us less safe, because now you're using resources to get people who are their friends, their neighbors, people who have been here for 10, 20 years, DACA recipients. That's what we're talking about.

BROWN: Just quickly, have you gotten any specific briefings on those who are arrested that indicated that they weren't criminals or that they didn't...

BARRAGAN: I have talked with immigrant rights organizations and advocacy groups who have been in touch with the people that have been detained.

And so far, from the information collected, of 200 people detained, almost nobody had a criminal record.

BROWN: All right, thank you so much, Congresswoman. We really appreciate you coming on the show.

BARRAGAN: Thank you for having me.

BROWN: Wolf.

BLITZER: Very good discussion. Thank you from me as well.

BARRAGAN: Thank you.

BLITZER: We're joined now by Juan Proano. He's the CEO of the League of United Latin American Citizens, or LULAC, as it's called.

Juan, thanks so much for joining us. Let me first get your reaction to President Trump's decision, now

doubling the number of U.S. National Guardsman on the ground in Los Angeles, as well as sending 700 active-duty U.S. Marines to Los Angeles.

JUAN PROANO, CEO, LEAGUE OF UNITED LATIN AMERICAN CITIZENS: Wolf, I think he's just inflaming the situation even more.

The people that you're seeing out in the streets are protesting the administration itself, not just ICE that's actually been there conducting these operations. I was there on Sunday and Monday all day, both of those days.

And what I saw was very different from what we were seeing portrayed a lot of times in the national media. It was very calm. It was very quiet. There were only two streets, Second and Third Streets, that were actually closed down, and even in a very small perimeter. So you're talking about four to six square blocks in Los Angeles.

Everything around that area continues to operate as typically, as you normally would expect. Businesses are open. People are basically going to work. But there are obviously agitators there that are really inflaming the situation. But more enforcement, more National Guard and Marines would only make the situation worse.

BLITZER: I want to play something that the Los Angeles mayor, Karen Bass, said about what's happening in Los Angeles right now. Listen to this, Juan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BASS: I can't emphasize enough the level of fear and terror that is in Angelenos right now, not knowing if tomorrow or tonight it might be where they live, it might be their workplace. Should you send your kids to school? Should you go to work?

And you remember this from several years ago, the same type of fear that was going around.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Juan, what are you hearing about the impact these raids are having on the community?

PROANO: Well, I met with her yesterday. We were there at 9:00 a.m. She had community leaders out to get their input and to get their guidance. The chief of the L.A. police was there as well.

But she absolutely has a point. These are hardworking and honest people. That's it. They're not all criminals. They're out there really trying to provide a better standing for their family and for their children. They really are chasing the American dream. And this has unsettled everything.

Immigrants can't go into court with the confidence that they will actually be able to leave the premises. We got a call on Thursday that there were over 200 immigrants actually being detained in the Roybal federal building, some as young as 2 years old, a mother who was expecting, complete families that were kept as a unit.