Return to Transcripts main page
The Situation Room
Trump Tells Netanyahu to Stop Threatening Iran; Air India Flight Crashed in Ahmedabad; Los Angeles Curfew Lifted; Protests Ramp Up Across the U.S.; Hegseth Back on Capitol Hill; RFK Jr. Replaces Entire CDC Vaccine Advisory Panel. Aired 10:30-11a ET
Aired June 12, 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]
BRETT MCGURK, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COORDINATOR FOR MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA: We actually asked for it with our allies last year. It was finally completed last week. It's very important for people watching these events to really read and understand that report. The IAEA said there's an egregious failure on Iran's part and we have no confidence this is a peaceful program.
And Iran has not answered for the fact we know they had a weapons program, very sophisticated one 20 years ago, and all of that material is still around. So, Iran has to give answers, credible answers. That's all it has to do. And step back from the brink. But look, I hope Steve can get -- make some progress here on Oman over the weekend. But this is a very serious issue and it is because of Iran's escalating nuclear program.
And the steps are unannounced today, which Kylie just mentioned, very provocative, putting very advanced centrifuges, the IR-6's. They can spin to weapons grade very fast in the underground Florida facility. That's a really provocative step. So, this is on a course that is very dangerous and I think over the next few months it'll be the critical window.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, it's a very, very delicate, sensitive moment, potentially extremely explosive in the Middle East right now. We'll stay on top of this, Brett McGurk --
MCGURK: Thank you, Wolf.
BLITZER: -- thank you very much. Appreciate your service over the years.
MCGURK: Thank you.
BLITZER: And we're continuing to follow the breaking news in Western India right now, where an Air India passenger jet crash, shortly after takeoff in the city of Ahmedabad. We'll have the latest on all the investigation details emerging. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:35:00] BLITZER: We're following the breaking news this morning. An Air India flight carrying 242 passengers and crew crashing down just a minute after takeoff in Western India. Air India says injured people found at the crash site were taken to local hospitals. We want to warn our viewers the footage you're about to see includes video that is very disturbing, certainly disturbing to viewers. Let's go to CNN Senior International Correspondent Will Ripley for the very latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Horrifying scenes in India. Huge plumes of smoke rising over the western city of Ahmedabad. Air India Flight 171, bound for London Gatwick disappeared from radar within seconds of departure. Eyewitnesses say the jet plunged and erupted into flames with 242 people on board. Flight tracking data shows the Boeing 787 lost signal at 625 feet, less than a minute after takeoff.
JEFFREY THOMAS, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: And this is a Boeing 787. This will be the first accident involving a 787, and it just celebrated a billion passengers carried safely over 11 years. It was basically had a flawless record up till today, no passenger has been lost on its Boeing 787.
RIPLEY: It's safety record, until today, virtually spotless. The crash site near a heavily populated area now swarming with emergency teams. India's civil aviation minister says all agencies are on high alert. Coordinating rescue and recovery. Gatwick Airport, where Flight 171 was supposed to land, confirm the incident. Instead of welcoming loved ones, families there are now contacting Air India's Emergency Support Center.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Will Ripley reporting for us. And we'll of course -- we will of course continue to follow this breaking story all day long. We'll bring you all the latest information as soon as we get it. Stay with us for that.
But there's other important news that's happening now in Los Angeles. The emergency curfew for parts of the city has lifted following a sixth night of protests. And as 700 U.S. marines prepare to deploy to the city, protests are also flaring up in cities across the United States.
In Washington State, unrested Seattle last night exploding fireworks and burning dumpsters as crowds poured into the streets, resulting in eight arrests. In Spokane, the mayor forced to declare a state of emergency as more than 30 arrests were made. This was the scene, look at this, in Las Vegas where protesters clashed with police as they were ordered to disperse. And in San Antonio, hundreds of demonstrators gathered for a peaceful demonstration at City Hall.
Back in California, a key hearing is set for today as the state pushes back against the Trump administration in court. Let's go live right now to CNN's Marybel Gonzalez in Los Angeles for the very latest. Marybel, what are we expecting to hear from the courts later today?
MARYBEL GONZALEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Wolf. Well, today a federal court hearing is scheduled on California's request to limit how the Trump administration uses National Guard members and the Marines here in the state. Already, we know there's been over 4,000 National Guard members sent here as well as 700 Marines that were told from the U.S. Northern Command have completed their training and will be deployed to the area in the next 48 hours.
Some of those National Guard members, as you can see, posted behind me outside of this now defaced Metropolitan Detention Center. They've been here for the last few days. Their vehicles, as you can see, parked outside. A lone protester making an appearance this morning. We know local and state leaders however strongly oppose the presence of these guards.
Governor Gavin Newsom called the deployment unconstitutional and a brazen abuse of power. The LAPD chief says these guards are not needed because L.A. has experience in handling protests and any of the arrests that may ensue.
[10:40:00]
But the Trump administration is urging that federal judge today to reject the emergency order. They say California is basing their request on a shaky assertion that service members. Would be used to assist with ICE raids. Instead, they said they're being deployed to protect federal personnel and federal buildings like the one you see behind me, which I should mention, Wolf, is located in a small part of the downtown area that remains under overnight curfew orders now for the second night in a row, Wolf.
BLITZER: All right. Marybel Gonzalez in Los Angeles for us, thank you very much. And just ahead, the U.S. defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, is back on Capitol Hill after testifying yesterday that U.S. troops could be deployed to protest in other states as well. What we're expecting from this morning's hearing, we're monitoring that, that's coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:45:00]
BLITZER: We're following the breaking news this morning. An Air India jet carrying 242 passengers and crew members crashed shortly after takeoff in Western India. It's feared that there are no survivors. The aviation tracker, Flightradar24 says the plane was a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. A 787 Dreamliner, it was bound for London when it issued a mayday call just after takeoff -- within a minute after takeoff and crashed into a residential area.
And there's more breaking news we're following right now. The defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, is back up on Capitol Hill after testifying yesterday that U.S. troops could be deployed to protests in other states beyond California. Meanwhile, sources are telling CNN that President Trump's decision to use the National Guard for immigration enforcement was months, yes, months in the making.
CNN National Security Correspondent, Natasha Bertrand is joining us here in the Situation Room. Natasha, you've got some new reporting on the Trump administration's plans for the National Guard. What can you tell us?
NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf. So, the response that we saw beginning on Saturday night where President Trump decided to federalize the National Guard to go into Los Angeles and help with these protests, it was billed as a very kind of spur of the moment emergency response. But in reality, we're told that behind the scenes, the administration had for months been discussing ways that they could use the National Guard, active-duty U.S. troops to help bolster their immigration agenda. And that moment that we saw in L.A. where these protests were erupting and where people were threatening ICE agents was the moment that the administration decided to take action on this plan.
Now, the first public sign that we saw of this desire to use active- duty troops to help ICE agents across the country came last month when the Department of Homeland Security actually requested 20,000 National Guard troops from the Pentagon to help support its immigration enforcement operations.
And we actually heard from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said yesterday who said that this playbook that is going on right now in Los Angeles could be replicated in states elsewhere because President Trump's order on Saturday night it was pretty broad. It said that troops can be deployed in locations where protests against federal functions are occurring or are likely to occur. And so, that could easily be replicated in other states. But here's a little bit of what he told lawmakers yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HEGSETH, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: Part of it is getting ahead of a problem so that if in other places, if there are other riots and places where law enforcement officers are threatened, we would have the capability to surge National Guard there if necessary.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERTRAND: So, this is obviously a dramatic expansion of the administration's desire to use the military for its immigration enforcement operations. We saw them using military flights to deport people of course. Now, we're also told they're expanding their search for military bases to use to detain migrants as well.
BLITZER: Lots of good reporting here. Natasha, thank you very, very much for that. We'll stay in close touch with you as well.
Coming up RFK Jr. replaces the entire CDC Vaccine Advisory Board. We're going to tell you who the eight new members are and explain why some of them are very controversial. That's coming up right ahead here in the Situation Room.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:50:00]
BLITZER: New this morning, the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services has appointed new members to the CDC Vaccine Advisory Board to replace the ones he removed earlier this week. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claims the move will restore public trust and vaccines. CNN Medical Correspondent Meg Tirrell has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, guys, when Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Announced earlier this week that he was dismissing all 17 members of this outside Vaccine Advisory Panel to the CDC, he said he was going to appoint a new slate where he said none will be ideological anti-vaxxers. He said, there'll be highly credentialed physicians and scientists. And indeed, in this new slate of eight people he announced on X last night, they are all MDs or PhDs, but many in the public health world are claiming that they have ideological opposition to vaccines, and particularly to COVID vaccines.
A number of the folks who have been named to this panel have called for COVID vaccines to be removed from the market or have spread misinformation or disinformation according to public health experts about the safety of those vaccines. Some have taken aim at vaccine safety more broadly.
Now, Kennedy is saying that, all of these folks have, quote, "committed to demanding definitive safety and efficacy data before making any new vaccine recommendations." He also says, the committee will review safety and efficacy data for the current schedule as well. So, public health experts are bracing themselves to see potentially this group reexamine the vaccine schedule, some of which, you know, these vaccines have been on there for decades and have proven safety records.
And so, all eyes are on this committee. And their next meeting is scheduled for less than two weeks, June 25th. And they had been slated to talk about COVID vaccines, flu vaccines, immunization against RSV. So, we will see how that meeting goes.
Now, separately, guys, we heard yesterday that HHS has reinstated more than 450 employees to the CDC who had been fired in that major reorganization in April. This is about 20 percent of 2,400 employees at CDC, HHS said that they were letting go.
[10:55:00]
These folks work in areas like HIV and childhood lead poisoning prevention. And of course, RFK Jr. had faced a lot of scrutiny for some of these functions that had been lost, particularly as the City of Milwaukee had requested CDC's help in managing a lead poisoning crisis in their public schools.
So, now we've learned that that team has been reinstated. And we also know that in May more than 300 folks at NIOSH, which focuses on workplace safety, had been reinstated. So, altogether, about a third of those people coming back, guys, to the CDC. We'll see if they actually do come back, but at least their job's being reinstated.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Meg Tirrell, our medical correspondent, thank you very much for that report. And we're following the breaking developments on the Air India flight that crashed shortly after takeoff. Our latest reporting coming up right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:00:00]
