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The Situation Room

California Sues Trump Administration; Fifth Night of Protests in L.A.; Trump Says Deal with China is Done. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired June 11, 2025 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: The Trump administration now has less than four hours to respond to a temporary injunction requested by California. The state is suing to block the White House from using U.S. Marines and the National Guard in the protests over immigration raids in downtown Los Angeles. President Trump mobilized the military over the objection of the state's governor.

Joining us now right here in the Situation Room, CNN Senior Political Analyst Ron Brownstein. He's also an opinion columnist for Bloomberg. Ron, thanks very much for being here. I want to share with you something -- and with our viewers something you wrote in Bloomberg. You wrote this quote, "Trump is governing as a wartime president, with blue America, rather than any foreign adversary, as the enemy. He is trying to use national power for factional ends, to impose the priorities of red America onto blue states and cities that have rejected them." What is the president's long-term game here?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST AND BLOOMBERG OPINION COLUMNIST: Yes. That is becoming, I think, more literal every day. Look, I mean, the president -- you've seen from the beginning of the administration, unprecedented efforts to compel blue states, to adopt social policies that they had rejected on things like LGBTQ rights or classroom teaching of race and gender or diversity by threatening to cut off their federal funding.

In fact, just before all of this happened the stories in CNN last Friday was the administration was planning a wide scale termination of federal grants to California. Then we've seen them arresting a mayor in Newark, a U.S. representative in New Jersey, a judge in Milwaukee, now a labor leader in California. And now, we have kind of the next step, which is kind of the militarization of immigration enforcement.

It's really important to understand that what the administration is now not only asserting but doing, posting themselves yesterday is they are not only using the National Guard and Marines potentially to protect federal buildings downtown, which is the image we've seen. They are using them to provide perimeter defense on ICE raids in neighborhoods in U.S. cities, in Los Angeles and presumably establishing a template that they will use elsewhere.

So, what we are seeing is an extraordinary attempt to use national power to basically compel compliance with blue State. And as I wrote in that same piece, he is clearly viewing blue states, the governor of California, the mayor of Los Angeles, not as partners in governing, but as hostile territory to be subdued.

BLITZER: It's hard to believe what's going on. I want to get your reaction to something that the California governor, Gavin Newsom, said last night. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): Democracy is under assault before our eyes. This moment we have feared has arrived. He's taking a wrecking ball. A wrecking ball to our founding father's historic project.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: He's taking clearly an extremely aggressive stance against the Trump administration. How much does this dovetail you think into his potential White House ambitions?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, look, I mean, it's interesting, you know, public opinion, I think, can seem complex on this, but I actually think there's a very clear through line. Americans don't like disorder, they don't like chaos. So, when they see images of cars burning in Downtown L.A., even though it is a very, you know, limited area and a very small part of this overall protest, not surprisingly in the polling that's come out this week by YouGov, most Americans say they oppose the protests. I think it was like 46-38.

But roughly, almost exactly the same number, say they oppose this -- the deployment of the National Guard to L.A., even larger plurality say they oppose the deployment of the Marines, and that's for protection of dealing with the riot. I mean, I think we're going to get polling in the next few days.

I can't imagine Americans are going to be comfortable with the images that ICE itself was posting yesterday of National Guard, heavily armed National Guard troops providing a perimeter to ICE enforcement, presumably in a civilian neighborhood with their guns pointed at, you know, basically civilians.

So, you know, Newsom clearly is trying to establish a leadership position among Democrats on this issue, but he is dealing with a genuine red line that the Trump administration is crossing and trying to kind of normalize the idea of integrating the military into immigration enforcement in a way that Stephen Miller in some ways previewed in 2024, but using the Marines of, in fact, they are going to go that far, would extend even beyond what he said last year.

BLITZER: And you understand what's going on in L.A. You live in Los Angeles.

BROWNSTEIN: I live in Los Angeles.

BLITZER: So, this is very personal for you as well.

BROWNSTEIN: Well, look, I mean, you know, restoring -- maintaining public order and public safety is the prime responsibility for any level of government, for the mayor, for the governor, for the president. But just think about how dysfunctional it is that they are trading arguments in a courtroom and not strategizing together in a conference room about how to ensure safety.

[10:35:00]

The last time, as you know, the president federalized the National Guard over an objection of a governor was during the civil rights era, when southern governors were actively impeding the enforcement of federal law. Nothing like that has happened in California. This is about, I think, much more sending a signal like the arrests that we've seen of elected officials, that they are going to use any means necessary to, as I said, subdue blue jurisdictions and try to compel them to fall in line behind an agenda that they reject.

BLITZER: Ron Bronstein, good to have you here with me, with us, I should say, in the Situation Room.

BROWNSTEIN: Good to be here.

BLITZER: Thanks very, very much. Pamela.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Wolf. And we are continuing to follow the latest out of Los Angeles this morning, following a fifth night of protest, despite a curfew in parts of the nation's second largest city. For more on this, CNN Senior Law Enforcement Analyst and former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe joins us.

So, Andrew, Mayor Bass says that this curfew will last several days. Governor Newsom is warning that no criminal behavior will be tolerated. President Trump, for his part says the military will remain in the city until there is, quote, "peace." How do you see this all playing out?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST AND FORMER FBI DEPUTY DIRECTOR: Well, I think -- you know, and Pam, first you have to look at the response by local officials in Los Angeles, and I think it -- last night's success really of the curfew tells you everything you need to know. This is a large metropolitan city with a lot of history, responding to significant crowd events, protest events, things of that nature, and they're handling this the way you would expect, a competent, capable, professional law enforcement community to respond. I think that the curfew is absolutely the right idea.

What they're trying to do is kind of force people who are compelled to exercise their First Amendment rights to do that peacefully in the daylight hours. It is at night when we know that these protests and the people who would take advantage of a protest to conduct criminal activity, that's typically when that happens. It happens at night under cover of darkness. So, if you limit people's ability to gather in these spots to the daytime, you're already doing a lot there.

As for the federal response, I think there's a very credible argument to be made here that the federal response, the presence of federal troops is an -- is a bit of an accelerant on this this conflict. It's something that raises the ire of the crowd even more so, and we know from what we've seen, we have to believe what we see with our own eyes, the federal troops are actually not doing anything other than maintaining kind of the second or third line of defense around federal property. And fortunately, the protests haven't boiled over to the point where those troops have gotten involved, as they shouldn't. They have no law enforcement authority, legal authority in the way they've been deployed so far.

So, at the moment, I think law enforcement locally is handling the situation. And fortunately, the federal presence is fairly minimized, at least operationally.

BROWN: I want to just follow up on that, because there was reporting that Kristi Noem, the DHS secretary, actually wrote a memo that would give the troops the ability to make arrests that was never implemented or anything like that. It was a memo to Hegseth. But what is your reaction to that?

MCCABE: You know, I can't say I'm that surprised coming from the secretary who, under oath in front of Congress, was unable to, you know, talk about the due process that is owed to people who are currently detained under her agency's authority, on the immigration side.

The fact is the law that these troops have been deployed under, the law that was cited by the president and his declaration, ordering this deployment, limits those troops to performing only protection of federal facilities and federal employees, essentially, the ICE agents who are out there trying to affect these arrests. They are not -- they don't have the legal authority to engage in what we call law enforcement activity. That's engaging with the public, taking members of the public civilians and placing them under arrest and detaining them, that sort of thing. It cannot do that until the Insurrection Act just is cited.

BLITZER: Yes. I want to just kind of sum this up. Why is that, Andy, such a big deal, right, for the military to be there on the ground, but also even the fact that the DHS secretary will write this memo suggesting that they should be able to do that? Like when you look through it, at the -- at it through the lens of the law and the constitution.

[10:40:00]

MCCABE: Well, Pam, I mean, it suggests a totally incompetent view of the law and the legal authority that government has to act under by the highest levels of DHS, the secretary herself. I mean, if you don't understand the legal authority under which your troops, your agents, your staff are operating, you've really lost the legitimacy to have that job, right? This is a democratic republic. We all are supposed to follow the law here, even the people who are in charge of agencies, even the man who's in charge of the country.

So, like we should never ever overlook the limits of that legal authority. That's what keeps us all on solid ground, right? That's what our -- the founders of this country were absolutely focused on, limiting the authority of military operations here in the country was one of their kind of north stars, right? We had the Posse Comitatus Act that comes, you know, not long after our founding that specifically outlaws military -- the military to operate in a law enforcement capacity here in the United States.

So, this is a long, well known legal kind of philosophy that underpins our democratic government and the fact that the secretary herself is not -- either not aware of that or simply not worried about abiding by it, that is very, very concerning and it should be to all Americans no matter what your political background is.

BROWN: All right. Andrew McCabe, thank you so much. Wolf.

MCCABE: Thank you.

BLITZER: And just ahead, there's other important news we're following right now. President Trump saying the trade deal with China is done. We're taking a closer look at what it could mean for you and your family. Stay with us. You're in the Situation Room.

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[10:45:00]

BLITZER: New this morning, President Trump says a trade deal with China is done. He posted that the U.S. will get 55 percent tariffs to China's 10 percent, and both countries reportedly will ease export restrictions. Also, Chinese students will be able to attend universities here in the United States. That's an about-face from last month when Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the plan to revoke their visas.

Let's bring in economist and president of the Budget Lab over at Yale University, Natasha Sarin. Natasha was also a counselor to President Biden's Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. Natasha, thanks so much for joining us. What do you make of the trade deal the president just announced with China.

NATASHA SARIN, ECONOMIST, PRESIDENT AND CO-FOUNDER, THE BUDGET LAB AT YALE AND COUNSELOR TO FORMER TREASURY SECRETARY JANET YELLEN: So, progress is always progress and should be encouraged. I will say it's like important for your viewers to understand, Wolf, this agreement is basically the agreement to a deal that was already agreed to in May. And so, tariff rates are going to be where they were when that framework was reached. I think it's great that we're seeing the administration make progress with respect to rare earths because they power everything from our national defense to semiconductors. And that's incredibly important to our economy and to our strength.

And I was also sort of pleased to see the president be explicit that he welcomes Chinese students into this country. I think the opportunity to educate students from around the world is what makes our universities the envy of the world and as a real driver of our economic strength. And so, all that is good.

But ultimately, the devil is in the details. This is in agreement to a framework that was already agreed to. And so, we're kind of going to have to wait and see the extent to which this ultimately moves the needle with respect to pushing against the trade war that we launched in April.

BROWN: I want to ask you about these new CPI numbers, Natasha, that show inflation rose less than expected last month, despite the tariffs. In recent months, I mean, several inflation reports have beat expectations. Tell us why you think that is? How do these numbers keep coming in better than expected, frankly? And how do you view this latest report?

SARIN: So, I view this latest report as good news for the American economy, which is ultimately quite strong. And I think if you unpack the numbers a little bit though, you start to see where my nervousness is around the possibility that tariffs might disrupt our progress towards the inflation target.

That -- if you look at the report, you see the headline numbers are great, as you mentioned, Pamela, but you're starting to see upward movement in prices of things like consumer electronics, in toys, in grocery prices. And importantly, these tariffs are a bit of a lagging indicator because they're telling us about prices in May. Economists have started to do the hard work of trying to look at real-time price increases.

So, they're looking at what online retailers are posting as prices for imported goods, and those are actually rising, and that's consistent with what you're hearing from Walmart and Procter & Gamble, which is that they anticipate having to raise prices over the course of the next few months at tariff rates that are 10 times what they were when this administration took office.

So, again, I think this is great news for the economy. I hope it encourages us to rely on our strength and pull back from some of these exceptionally high tariff rates on allies and adversaries alike that have the potential to really move us in inflationary direction. And that's going to mean higher prices for consumers in ways that ultimately I don't think that they should have to bear.

BLITZER: Natasha Sarin, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate it. Pamela.

SARIN: Thanks so much for having me.

[10:50:00]

BROWN: All right. Wolf, coming up in our next hour right here in the Situation Room, we're going to ask House GOP Chairwoman Lisa McClain what she thinks about General Motors' plan to pump $4 billion into its U.S. manufacturing plants, what that could mean to her State of Michigan to the nation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Well, it has been 16 years since Pittsburgh has brought home the Lombardi Trophy. Is Aaron Rodgers the ticket to their next Super Bowl trip? He joined the team this week for his first practice as a Steeler.

BLITZER: Let's go to CNN Sports Anchor Andy Scholes right now. Andy, how is the upcoming season looking for the Steelers right now?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Well, Wolf and Pam, you know, we will see if Aaron Rodgers on the Steelers goes better than Aaron Rodgers on the Jets did, you know, this Pittsburgh team. It's built to win now. Well, Rodgers who's 41 years old now be that missing piece? Well, Rodgers was at the Steelers' mandatory minicamp yesterday.

Noticeable difference compared to last season. Rodgers was rocking a wedding ring and he did confirm that he's now married. Although, we don't know the identity of his wife. But here was Rodgers on his decision to come back and play for the Steelers.

[10:55:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AARON RODGERS, PITTSBURGH STEELERS QUARTERBACK: A lot of decisions that I've made over my career and life from strictly the ego, even if they turn out well, are always unfulfilling, but the decisions made from the soul are usually pretty fulfilling. So, this was a decision that was best for my soul.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: All right. And the U.S. Open is going to begin tomorrow in Pittsburgh, Oakmont Country Club considered one of the toughest courses in the world. If you hit the ball in the rough, good luck. Look at the groundskeepers there. They were trying to make it less thick in that rough area after some complaints from the players, but it's certainly still going to be an adventure out there, guys. I can't wait to watch it. If the ball lands in that thick stuff it's been just disappearing. So, we'll see what the course is like for round one, which starts tomorrow morning.

BROWN: All right. Andy, thanks so much. Great to see you as always.

BLITZER: I'll be watching too. Coming up a warning from climate scientists this morning, how threats to a crucial ocean current potentially could lead to catastrophic changes around the world, that's ahead.

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