Meet the Press NOW – June 10

Welcome to Meet the Press Now. I'm Gabe Gutierrez. As we continue to follow the breaking news surrounding the federal government's deployment of military forces into Los Angeles in response to localized protests and pockets of unrest and vandalism. We're keeping our eye on Fort Bragg in North Carolina as well, where the President is expected to address members of the armed forces in just a few moments, along with Defense Secretary Pete Hegset.

It all comes after the President doubled down on mobilizing 700 Marines and roughly 4,000 members of the National Guard in response to the demonstrations and unrest, despite fierce resistance from state and local officials. The President today claiming that Los Angeles would be on fire if you had not intervened. Look, if we didn't get involved, right now Los Angeles would be burning just like we was burning a number of months ago with all the houses that were lost. Los Angeles right now would be on fire and we have it in great shape and not playing around.

Look at what's happening. I mean, I could tell you there were certain areas of Los Angeles that you could have called it an insurrection. It was terrible. But these are paid insurrection.

These are paid troublemakers. They get money. The anti-is protests and the incidents of looting and car fires have so far, but largely been contained to small sections of downtown L.A. The President also putting other cities where there had been reports of anti-is demonstrations unnoticed warning of the potential for additional military deployments.

We didn't attack this one very strongly. You'd have them all over the country. But I can inform the rest of the country that when they do it, if they do it, they're going to be met with equal or greater force than we met right here. Now, this morning, it was Secretary Haggsef defending the administration to use of military forces when he testified before Congress for the first time on the job.

If you've got millions of illegals, you don't know where they're coming from, they're waving flags from foreign countries and assaulting police officers, law enforcement officers, that's the problem. The governor of California is unable to excuse the laws of the United States. The governor of the California has failed to protect his people along with the mayor of Los Angeles, and so President Trump has said he will protect our agents and our guard and Marines are proud to do it. He also says, Mr.

Secretary, that the orders for these purposes shall be issued through governors of the states. You and I both know that President Trump has all the authorities necessary, and thankfully he's willing to do it on behalf of the citizens of Los Angeles, on behalf of our ICE agents, and on behalf of our country. And as Marines begin their deployment in L.A., their focus appears to be more on immigration operations than on the protest. Those operations have sparked two sources familiar with the military's plans.

All NBC News and Marines could be used to provide security and transportation for ICE personnel as they continue to make arrests of migrants. Now, NBC News correspondent David Noriega joins me from Los Angeles. Also with me is NBC News White House correspondent Vaughn Hilliard. He's at Fort Bragg, along with NBC News senior national security correspondent, Courtney Kubie.

Thank you all for joining me. David, I want to start with you on the ground there in L.A. Describe the scene there compared to what we were seeing yesterday at this time. Yeah.

Okay, let me show you. So I'm directly behind the complex of federal buildings that has been the target of protests over the last several days. As you can see, there are still some national guard troops posted here who've been here for the last, you know, since Sunday. And around me, I can have Alan just show the scene right now.

There is a pretty small and up until now, 100% peaceful group of protesters gathered here in just the last hour or two. Now, what I'm seeing now on the basis also of what I observed yesterday is that this group, as long as it remains peaceful, will likely be left alone. There's only one issue. They're kind of spilling out onto the street here.

This is a very busy street. Alameda in downtown L.A. There's a lot of traffic here. The police want to keep the street open.

They've already given people orders to get off the street and onto the sidewalk a couple of times. If they keep having to do that and people keep spilling onto the street, there's a chance that the LAPD will declare a novel assembly and then things might get a little bit more confrontational. But I do want to point out, Gabe, that, you know, yesterday and what I expect today, we'll see was a massive, absolutely tremendous show of force by local, state and county law enforcement. In many cases far outnumbering protesters and we saw a pretty large percentage of protesters being willing to obey the orders of police when LAPD would order them to disperse from an intersection.

They would gladly do so. Immediately after these awful orders to disperse, the crowds tended to fade quite a bit. Now, of course, they're always relatively small percentage of these crowds that, as a sort of matter of ideological commitment and tactics, do not obey orders from the police. We're likely to encounter those again today.

But the numbers don't seem to be very high, Gabe, particularly not compared to the absolutely again, as far in my years of covering protests, I've never seen the sheer display of force that we saw from local, state and county law enforcement yesterday. What last thing we're pointing out, the National Guard troops that you see, they've been saying put in the immediate, you know, in the entrances and the immediate on the property of this complex of federal buildings, barely interacting with protesters at all. You know, David, we've been watching this unfold over the last several days and it's usually over the next several hours, the afternoon and the evening hours out there on the west coast of things start to heat up. Is there a sense of tension there today and you describe things as being a little bit calmer, perhaps.

You're describing this, you know, the overwhelming force that we've seen from the Trump administration. Do you attribute that overwhelming number of, you know, local police, also Marines, National Guard? Is that law enforcement presence that perhaps calming things down a bit or no? So the trend line between Sunday and Monday was definitely a calming down and a protest where, you know, Sunday is when we saw people flood onto the 101 freeway, block it for a substantial period of time set, multiple driverless, you know, way more taxis on fire, that kind of behavior was really Sunday.

Monday we saw a little bit of that kind of thing, but much less. I do attribute that to the massive display of force, which, by the way, it's important to clarify that display of force came from local law enforcement, not from federal, not from National Guard troops, not from DHS police, and, you know, what you have to consider there is that what's at stake for Mayor Bass, for Governor Newsom, for Police Chief McDonald, is they are out to prove to the Trump administration and to the people of L.A. that they can handle this, but they've seen this kind of unrest before, L.A. as, you know, mass demonstrations are not unfamiliar in this city and local law enforcement, they've also pulled in reinforcements from multiple law enforcement agencies, counties surrounding all the cities in L.A.

County are contributing personnel, a police captain here, they told me, they have somewhere between 12 and 1300 police units out on the streets of downtown L.A., substantially more than the number of protesters I could see, so yes, I do attribute the calming down to the presence of law enforcement, just based on what I observed. It is, though, 10-scape. I don't want to give you the impression that, you know, everything is fine and there's no chance that there might be future conflagrations as we move into the evening hours. And David, over the last several days I've been watching and reporting, I think your point that, you know, for those on the ground, those protesters, especially those that are extremely angry, what's going on over there with regards to the ICE arrest, that they don't pay attention to the, you know, the back and forth, the daily back and forth coming out of Washington.

But today, the president did say that if he had not sent in the National Guard in the Marines, that L.A. would be on fire. I want to know, have you spoken to anybody on the ground that perhaps may have listened to what the president said today, and I'm curious if there's any reaction there? Great question, Gabe.

You know, I think you have to consider the sorts of answers I'm going to get from people to that question here are by and large going to be pretty defiant, right? And that is the tone that I get from people when I ask them about the National Guard appointment, about the Marine deployment, they say, you know, Trump is trying to scare us and we are not scared. Right? That's kind of the sentiment that I've heard pretty repeatedly from people.

It's a difficult counterfactual to address. I don't know what would have happened if the National Guard troops hadn't been deployed. It is possible that things could have gotten more rowdy, could have gotten bigger. It is possible that the presence of the National Guard kind of diffused or deterred some larger or more rowdy protests.

From what I've observed on the ground, though, again, Gabe, really the deterrent effect that I've seen has been as a result of the massive and very coordinated, sometimes very aggressive crowd control efforts by local, county and state law enforcement. David Noriega, live for us in L.A. David, I want you to stick with us in case anything unfolds during this hour. But now I want to turn to Von Hill here.

He's at Fort Bragg where we understand Marine One has just landed near your location. We expect the president to speak in just a short time. Now, Von, the president and the administration seem eager to lean into these localized protests. They're warning about potential deployments in other cities as well.

So what do we expect to hear from the president and do we expect more troops on the ground in L.A.? Right. And actually, as we speak here, I'm going to have David and just for you to catch the scene because I think that this is part of the week that is not only here at Fort Bragg, but that is Marine One with the president coming in for this event here at one of the U.S. Army's largest military installations.

Of course, this is happening just days before the military parade in Washington, D.C. is elected to take place in the 250th anniversary of the army here. All of this is a moment in which, usually, Americans are used to seeing, America's military might being a presence overseas, engaged in military intervention. But here, the site that has been lifted up by this president here in the early part of this week and weekend is using the military, unlike past presidents, for domestic purposes.

On America's streets here, we expect to hear from the defense secretary, Pete Hexett, in just a matter of minutes here from now before the president takes the stage gate. Ultimately, this is for the president, on one hand, a celebration of the service men and women who have served the U.S. military, particularly the U.S. Army, at the same time, a very keen sense of wanting to show on the international stage, the type of weaponry and the type of manpower that the U.S.

has, just before he took Marine One over here, just a couple miles from where we are at one of the Fort Bragg fields. There were 600 paratroopers that descended from the skies. There were Army members that came out of tanks. There were artillery that were fired in front of the president who was, you know, a bunker watching all of this unfold here, effectively a simulation and demonstration for him here firsthand.

You know, Vaughn, we've seen the escalating feud between President Trump and Governor Gavin Newsom. What is the latest in terms of when the president last communicated with the governor? I know there was some back and forth today on that. Yeah, I want to let you hear directly from the president earlier where he suggested that he had a place of phone call to the California governor, take a listen.

But I'm not sure if we, I'm not sure if we have that bite, but earlier today in the Oval Office apologies game, the president suggested that he had a place of phone call to Gavin Newsom, whose office in very direct terms said that no such call took place and that there was no engagement, no voicemail that was left from the White House in response to communications director Stephen Chong said that in fact the only person lying was Gavin Newsom, that we should be clear that there is a long history of this president making inaccurate statements here. But when it comes to the engagement between these two men, they tried on a tarmac earlier this year, they sat down and had conversations about the wildfire response in the aftermath of the devastating fires that took out thousands of homes. But this is different here and the president making clear that he was not going to wait for any sort of approval from Gavin Newsom and will continue in just the last 24 hours with a decision to send when the 700 Marines will continue to do what he deems necessary in response to the protests that have taken place in response to the use of ICE agents to carry out federal immigration raids in Los Angeles. Von Hill, your life for us in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, as we continue to look at live pictures who are waiting, the president to come to the stage there and deliver some remarks.

Von, I want you to stay with us, but now I want to turn to Courtney QB. Courtney, what role will the Marines have in assisting in Los Angeles? Are they even trained for domestic protests? Well, some of those Marines are actually undergoing some training right now, but this isn't the kind of training you might think that Marines would be going through when you're talking about infantry or something like that.

This is more like teaching them what the rules of force would be if they are going out on the streets of LA as part of this Task Force 51, sort of what their left and right limits are going to be for what they are allowed to do and what they are not allowed to do. But two sources familiar tell us that in fact, these Marines are most of them, it's not all of them, will actually be assigned to guarding and protecting ICE personnel as part of this deployment. And as part of that, they may even be transporting them around. This is causing some concern because it really moves right up to what we have been talking about for the last several days here is how active duty troops, including active duty Marines from 29 Palms, are not allowed to engage in classic law enforcement missions while here in the United States.

That's been one of the biggest controversies ever since the President decided to start sending first National Guard and then these Marines to California to call these protesters. The 4,100 now National Guard troops are also on federal activity, known as Title 10. They're also restricted from these kinds of activities, law enforcement activities. The concern here is this is really walking right up to that line here and it could put these Marines in a difficult position game.

And Courtney, I see you're on Capitol Hill, not your usual post at the Pentagon, but we're discussing Secretary Hexes and first congressional testimony since being confirmed on the job a little earlier today. What were your top takeaways from that? Yeah, there were a couple of fireworks, specifically about the cost and the overall mission for the Marines and for the National Guard who are now in LA. There were also, there was definite frustration by some of the members of the House Appropriations Committee Defense Subcommittee today, the panel about the fact that the Defense Department just hasn't put forward a budget.

So here they're at a hearing, a posture hearing or a budget hearing. And it can't really ask a lot of specifics because the Department of Defense hasn't provided them with those sorts of details. Congresswoman Rosa Delora really laying into Secretary Hexes about raising her voice and pointing out about how she needs specifics. They need some numbers here.

But one of the things that I was really struck by here is, as you mentioned, this was the first time we have heard from Pete Hexes since he became the Secretary of Defense, since his confirmation back in January. And there have been so many issues that have happened in these last several months. Secretary Hexes doesn't brief the press. He's never briefed us in the briefing room.

We have very little opportunity to ever ask him questions. So we were looking forward to hearing about things like single gate, you know, and some of the many other issues that he has dealt with, including the operations against Houthis, the ultimate cost of that, the consolidation of the combat and commands. I mean, some of these issues that we have been watching for months now not got answers to, but the rallies we didn't get any of those answers here today. Secretary Hexes will be on the Hill again tomorrow and Thursday.

So we may have another opportunity. And speaking of Secretary Hexes right now, we were watching his live pictures. He just came on stage there at Fort Bragg again as we rate the president's remarks. Courtney, really quickly before I let you go, there was also a Pentagon official that estimated how much these deployments to LA might cost.

What can you tell me about that? Yeah, the acting comptroller saying that as of now the estimate is $134 million for this deployment. Now this basically just includes the food, the travel, the basic per diem for these now 4800 or so National Guard and Marines were there assigned. Courtney, can you give you live for us at the Pentagon again?

We'll continue to monitor those live pictures from Fort Bragg, North Carolina and bring you the latest as it develops. But for right now, I want to turn to California Democratic Congresswoman Sidney Kamlogger Dove. She represents a portion of Los Angeles County, including some of the neighborhoods, some neighborhoods rather in the city of Los Angeles. Congresswoman, I want to thank you so much for joining us here.

I'm in the press now. Thanks for having me. Sure. And I want to play a little bit of what your colleague Annette Berrigan said on this program yesterday.

Let's listen. This is the president escalating a situation to try to make it as tense as possible. I think this is a step trying to get to martial law, trying to be the dictator that he wants to be. It's very dangerous.

Do you agree with her? I am certainly concerned that he is walking up to the line of martial law, but I also believe that he has manufactured this very dangerous spectacle to keep us from talking about all that happened last week and what's in front of us now. We have a rescission package of $10 billion in cuts that Congress voted actually to support. We had the big fallout between Donald Trump and Elon Musk just last week that got super nasty.

That was a divorce without a prenup. And we're still talking about the $880 billion in cuts to medicate that are actually going to kill seniors and folks with disabilities and young people. Those are real conversations that Americans want to have. And instead we're talking about this president invading Los Angeles.

And Congresswoman, walking right up to the line of martial law, talking about invading Los Angeles, that's pretty big talk here. So what are you and your colleagues in Congress going to do about it? Yeah. So I want to say yesterday, we were on the call California delegation with the governor's office.

And we learned that even though they've said they've deployed up to 2000, that there are less than 200 that are actually on the ground. We know that they're sleeping without any, you know, beds or food, any of that made available to them. And I'm deeply concerned that Homeland Security Secretary Noam has asked for military weapons, drone surveillance, and has asked HECSA to let the military detain and arrest, you know, folks on the street. I want to reiterate that it is not the military that enforces civilian law.

So we have been talking about this because we need the American people to know that Los Angeles was calm before Donald Trump came to town. And that is why California is suing Donald Trump because he's also violated Article 10. That says you cannot federalize and send in national troops without the consent of that state's governor. And Congresswoman Berrigan said, yes, sir, that she's been told to expect 30 days of ICE enforcement here.

If you are the same thing, and do you want to see protesters disrupt those plans? I want to see folks in Los Angeles stand up for their rights. We had ICE rates in my district. They came into a Korean store and arrested folks there.

I actually virtually attended a community meeting last night. And my constituents are afraid, but they also have resolved. They know their rights. They know what the military should and should not be doing.

They actually have faith in our local law enforcement. And they are going to continue to protest this invasion. You know, David Huerta, SCIU leader, was brutalized in taste because he was actually trying to help his members fill out asylum paperwork. This is not normal in this country, and we should be standing up and saying that.

Congresswoman, you're saying that you'd like people to stand up for their rights. In terms of actually how that looks like, there's some who feel like protesting and blocking ICE agents are really the only way to push back. So are you telling those protesters to stand down? I am telling protesters that it is okay to be in the streets if you are doing it peacefully and if you are doing it non-violently.

I am also saying that we need to be flooding the courts with lawsuits to stop this administration. Whether he likes it or not, when he is told to stand down by the courts, they do it, even if it's temporarily. So we have to use all of the conventional and unconventional tools in our toolbox to let this administration and the American people know that this is not normal. He is disrupting our country.

And the fact that he can go into other cities and other states and do this is also deeply alarming. Is he only going to do it into blue cities? Is he only going to go after mayors who are ethnic? I mean, how many folks in the immigrant community is he going to target?

How many Americans is he going to detain and deport? These are real questions. And Congresswoman, there's of course been a very public back and forth between the President and California's Governor Gavin Newsom. What is your message to the Governor?

How would you handle this ongoing feud? I'm going to tell my Governor to keep going lean in because it is evident that this President has respect for my Governor and has blinked a couple of times. And Congresswoman, we're looking at live pictures right now of Donald Trump, the President. He is taking the stage in Fort Bragg, North Carolina about to deliver remarks there at Fort Bragg, marking the two under 50th birthday of the U.S.

military. Congresswoman, I want to turn to you though. I want to give you a chance to respond to what the H.S. Secretary of Christine Homestead last night about L.A.

Mayor Karen Bass. That's the person who succeeded in the House. Let's listen to that. I served with her in Congress before she was ever mayor.

And she is a train wreck of a mayor now that is endorsing these kind of activities, has allowed her city to be completely devastated with crime. And now she's holding press conferences talking about the fact that people have the right to peacefully protest and that they're a city of immigrants. Well, they're not a city of immigrants. They're a city of criminals because she has protected them for so many years.

Congresswoman, what's your response to that? The Christine Homestead qualified an incompetent and she should not be the Secretary for Homeland Security. The fact of the matter is that Mayor Bass has the city under control. We were actually, this was a weekend of pride celebrations and graduations of young people before Donald Trump and Christine Hom decided to invade Los Angeles and manufacture this spectacle to keep us from talking about a rescission package, $880 billion cuts to Medicaid and Elon Musk going rogue on Donald Trump.

So I have no intention of taking anything that she says with any seriousness. Congresswoman, as we continue to look at those live pictures of President Trump taking the stage in Fort Bragg, I want to put up some of what he posted this morning. He says, if I didn't send in the troops to Los Angeles last three nights, that once beautiful and great city would be burning to the ground right now. I obviously disagree with that, but I want to get your response to that specific message.

Yeah, he's incredibly hyperbolic. What he actually should be focusing on is making sure that we're getting the resources that we need and the support from the state department to prepare us for the World Cup in 26th and the Olympics in 2028, because hopefully hundreds of thousands of folks will be descending on our city to celebrate those two international events, which are also about sports diplomacy. So I wish he would focus on the task at hand rather than creating this spectacle. And Congresswoman, we do have some reporting that the Marines on the ground in Los Angeles may be involved in transporting ice agents to make some of those arrests in the coming days.

What's your reaction to that? Are you concerned about that? I'm deeply concerned. I think it's wholly inappropriate.

The fact of the matter is that they are showing up at worker centers, they are showing up at fourth grade elementary schools, and they're showing up at hearings where folks who are trying to get information on their status are actually going and obeying the law. These are the folks who are not obeying the law. They do not have warrants that are judicial. They don't have judicial warrants with, you know, names on them.

They're hunting folks down, kidnapping them, and detaining them without cause. And I don't know about you, but I have never heard of a story of a third grade MS-13 cartel boss. You know, so why are they going into our middle schools and elementary schools, you know, intimidating and terrorizing young people and their families? Congresswoman Sidney and Tim Lauderdale, thank you so much.

We really appreciate your time. And we're going to keep a close ear on the president and bring you anything he says as it develops. I will keep monitoring those live pictures. But coming up, we're sticking with this developing story out of Los Angeles on the fifth day of planned demonstration.

I'll talk to a former police commissioner about the Trump administration's handling of the protests and the response on the ground. But first, a major shakeup at the CDC, HHS Secretary, RFK, Jr. Ours, a key vaccine ban all the independent experts contradicting what he apparently promised during his confirmation process. We're watching the press now.

Stay with us. And welcome back. As we noted, President Trump is delivering remarks to U.S. troops at Fort Bragg right now.

It all comes as the president mobilizes hundreds of Marines and national guard members in response to the demonstrations in Los Angeles. Let's listen in. You read different stories that others are building and building and building. We have a force like no other.

They said it would take five years to defeat ISIS. We did it in four weeks, four weeks. We let him go. Unlike other of your leaders, I let him go.

And we had General Raisin Kane, who's now the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Because I like him, he was a warrior. He was a great warrior. And now he's been rewarded for his incredible work.

But they said it would take five years. We did it in four weeks. Some day I'm going to ask him to explain that to me. But it was the television generals that said that the real generals got out and fought.

And nobody fought like them ever. But for the American people, there's no greater pride because you are the righteous sort of American justice and the ultimate shield of American freedom. This week, we remember that we only have a country because we first had an army. The army was first.

In fact, the army was even before the country. You know that, right? One year before the country. After 250 years, we still proudly declare that we are free because you are strong.

You are so strong. We're safe because you are brave and America's flag will never fall because America's army will never ever fail. Never going to fail. Every branch of the armed forces has played a critical role in protecting our nation.

But no one has done more fighting bleeding and winning than the US Army. Nobody's done that. The army has earned more combat medals and more battle ribbons than any other service. And 70% of all of the medals of honor.

We give away medals of honor all the time at the White House to incredibly brave people. But you have 70% of them. Army soldiers and especially our Army paratroopers truly go all the way. You know that expression all the way.

It's one of your beautiful expressions. As President of the United States, let me express my undying gratitude to our nation for every soldier here today, for every veteran and their families, those incredible families that are with us and all across America and for every patriot who has worn the uniform over 250 years. Can you imagine that? We thank you from the absolute bottom of our hearts.

Few places loom larger in Army lore than where we are gathered today. The one and only Fort Bragg, the one and only Fort Bragg. But remember, it was only that little brief moment that it wasn't called Fort Bragg. It was by the Biden administration, not Trump.

I had nothing to do with it. We got it changed. We said, you know, I came here numerous times and everybody kept saying, Fort Bragg, Fort Bragg. I said, you know, it's not the name.

But then I was making the speech. I said, what do you think I should call this place? Call it Fort Bragg. I said, Fort Bragg, how are you doing?

We won a lot of battles from this place. And that's the way it was. It wasn't even close when Pete and some of the generals came to see me. I said, not even close, not even close.

This is the home of the green brace, the sky dragons and the all-American 82nd Airborne. We know what 82nd Airborne degrees are. This is where the GIs who won the Second World War learned to pack their parishes and push howitzers and go right into those C47s with lots of arms and push them right out those big beautiful doors and wheel their bayonets and pry the enemy from the hedge rows of the French countryside. France needed us badly.

We were there. A lot of people needed us badly. They still do, maybe worse than ever. It was here in the soil that the army forged, the metal that held strong at best own.

It was here that mighty paratroopers earned their wings before they rained down death from above to liberate Sicily, Normandy, and even the Netherlands. That's right. We saved the Netherlands. Every inch of this space is steeped in the legacy of those warriors who have said with pride, I trained at Fort Bragg, sir.

That was pretty cool. And that is why we restored the historic name of this very, very special place. I don't know if it could be the same place. Fort Bragg is in, that's the name, and Fort Bragg, it shall always remain.

That's never going to be happening again. And for a little news for the fake news back there, speaking there to troops in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, we'll continue to monitor that, of course, the president getting some cheers. We said the name of Fort Bragg, of course, this comes after during the Biden administration, to Fort Liberty. And during the campaign, President Trump repeatedly spoke about how he wanted to change it back.

Of course, during the Trump administration, he's made it one of the pillars of his administration so far, increased defense spending. And that is a big part of the so-called big, beautiful bill that is right now making its way through Congress and, of course, is a military parade here in Washington, D.C. on Saturday. And so against that backdrop, we see the president addressing troops in Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

We'll, of course, continue to monitor those remarks. This comes with the larger backdrop of that situation in Los Angeles with the deployment of National Guard members as well as members of the U.S. Marines to Los Angeles. And on that vein, joining me now for some expertise behind the law enforcement situation in L.A., is Edward Davis.

He's the former longtime Boston police commissioner. Commissioner, thanks so much for joining us here on Meet the Press. Now, from your experience, is the situation in L.A. under control?

And is this a situation where the National Guard and Marines were needed? Good day. So the situation is under control right now from the looks of it, as a matter of fact, for the last two days, you can see it starting to come down a little bit, which is what we normally see in situations like this. So I think it's well in hand at this point.

I will say that Jim McDonald, the chief up there, is one of the best in the country. And he has mentioned that they needed some help. And so the first day or so, it was sort of a jump all as to whether the local officials could handle it or not. And especially where there was a federal facility involved.

It's certainly appropriate to have the National Guard come in at the outset to make sure that that facility was not reached. Those crowds were very close to the facility. However, since then, this ratcheting it up and bringing in active duty military is unprecedented. And something that I think is over the top.

So it's really important that the federal authorities listen to the state and federal and local officials, the other people on the ground, they understand what they need. I activated the National Guard with Muir Menino here during the marathon. But that was with the consent of local officials. And this is not.

And Commissioner, you mentioned the LAPD Police Chief Jim McDonald, I want to put up something that he said, he said, or this is a statement for him, he says the LAPD has not received any formal notification that the Marines will be arriving in Los Angeles. However, the possible arrival of federal military forces in LA, absent clear coordination presents a significant logistical and operational challenge for those of us charged with safeguarding the city. So you're right, he did say that the police needed some help in the early hours of this, but now he is sharing those concerns. Would you share those concerns?

Absolutely. A military force is trained to kill. A police force is trained to de-escalate. And the potential for problems here and lethal problems is very high.

I have the greatest respect for the military. I've been at Fort Bragg, I've worked with Special Forces groups. They're incredibly professional at what they do. But this country and our government has been based upon civilian police and not military forces.

And so this is a very, very dangerous situation. I agree with Chief McDonald. And I think that Kula heads need to prevail here. I don't think they understand just how dangerous blue on blue encounters can be when there's a lack of coordination.

And Commissioner, you've obviously handled big city protests before. I want you to put this in context for our viewers. How big are these protests relatively speaking in LA? Listen, it was significant violence the very first day.

The throwing of the bricks and the concrete blocks and the fires that were set, that was out of control and needed to be rained in. But it was rained in, very effectively by the LAPD. It did not require troops. And it doesn't at this point in time because every day it gets less and less of a threat.

So let's team back, let's make peace and try to put the city back together again. And Commissioner, officials that we've talked to say that the mostly peaceful protests have contained a number of violent agitators. How difficult is it to handle those agitators in a crowd, given the situation, especially as tensions flare up as you get further into the night? I will say this situation has really pointed out the problem with these anarchists and Black Black people.

And I can tell you this, we've dealt with them in Boston extensively over the last 20 years. They need to be identified. They need to have significant sanctions placed upon them. These are people that plan and plot against the government.

They're trying to overthrow the government of the United States. They should be treated appropriately by the criminal justice system. We need though to separate the week from the cases. Most people are out there to peacefully protest.

And when you see these guys come in, all black though, with masks on and goggles and flying the black flags, those are the ones we need to concentrate on to get off the street from long periods of time. Former Boston police commissioner Edward Davis, we do appreciate your time as we continue to monitor those live pictures from Fort Bragg, North Carolina and President Trump addressing those troops. But first, after the break, power of politics and protests, the escalating clash between California's leaders and the Trump administration, as Democrats and Republicans search for winning messages on law and order in the first amendment. The panel's next.

They're watching me the press now. With a subscription, it's the best of NBC News with fewer ad interruptions, including ad free articles, podcasts, and full NBC News shows, plus deeper access and exclusive content. Let's just take a step back. It's more context and clarity from the reporters you trust.

Download the NBC News app now and subscribe for more. Check to change is at NBC news.com slash Xtinity for full offer terms and details. And I do want to start with you. We're still looking at those live pictures of the president addressing soldiers in Fort Bragg, obviously doubling down on his decision to send soldiers, troops, national guard troops, as well as Marines to Los Angeles.

From the officials I've been speaking with, the administration is quite happy to be having this fight. What do you make of this? What do you make of his ongoing remarks there that he's chosen to address the military right now? Well, I just came from Capitol Hill.

And when you talk to Republicans on Capitol Hill, they're praising the fact that he's made this decision. I mean, he has the backing of the party in this decision. He has no conflict when it comes to the fact that he decided to send the military to Los Angeles to make a real clear scene that they're fighting against protests on deportations. It's very clear that he plans to double down on these decisions.

And it's very interesting that there's absolutely no conflict in this decision from his own party. Danielle, I want to listen into what the president is saying right now. He's apparently still discussing California. They came from all over the world.

They came from the Congo in Africa. They came from Asia. They came from the prisons of these places. They were put into the United States and allowed to stay here because we had a grossly, grossly unfit president who listened to whoever was operating the auto pen.

And they allowed these people to say, and by the way, I've known this guy for a long time. He was never the sharpest ball. But you know what he was? He wasn't a radical left lunatic.

He never dreamt about open borders. He never said that when he was of sound mind, which actually was a very long time ago. So sad what they've done to our country. I will say that without question, however, you're seeing the financial numbers.

We've now got the hottest country anywhere in the world. And six months ago, it was the coldest country. We're being laughed at all over the world. I was in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE.

We brought back $5.1 trillion into our country, and all three leaders are great leaders. All three said, you know, you are presiding over the hottest country anywhere in the world. And they said the exact same thing. They said six months ago, it was the coldest country.

I'll tell you change on a date. You know what November 5 was? It was the election of a president that loves you. And that's when it all changed.

That's when it all changed. Within the span of a few decades, Los Angeles has gone from being one of the cleanest, safest and most beautiful cities on Earth to being a trash heap with entire neighborhoods under the control of transnational gangs and criminal networks. It's horrible. What's happened so quickly, as the entire world can now see uncontrolled migration leads to chaos, dysfunction, and disorder.

And you know what? They have it in Europe too. It's happening in many of the countries of Europe. They don't like it when I say it, but I'll say it loudly and clearly.

They better do something before it's too late. Very simply, we will liberate Los Angeles and make it free, clean, and safe again. It's happening very quickly. The one big beautiful bill you've heard about it, we call it the one big, and I was on one of the television shows, I think to face the nation.

Ladies and gentlemen, deface the nation. It's actually called face the nation for those of you that are smart enough not to know because you better off not knowing. But I was on one of the shows and I said, we got to get a great bill. They said, would you like it to be one bill or would you like it to be seven or eight bills?

They said, I want one big, beautiful bill. And the Republican party like that statement, they call it one big, beautiful bill. So that's good. And that's what it is.

It's great. And it's currently before Congress, it provides all necessary funding for ICE, for Border Patrol and for the Department of Defense. And I told you at a level that we've never had before over a trillion dollars, we better get that bill approved. Otherwise, your helicopters and your planes and your equipment is going to start to look a little bit old general, you better push your favorite congressman, you better push your these two senators.

I think they're in good shape. However, we got to get it approved. And those congressmen by you are all 100%. I don't even have to talk to them.

They've been so great. So I want to sign this into law immediately and with the signing so many great things will happen to our country, no tax on tips. Think of that. No tax seniors on social security.

No tax on overtime. They're going to pay for themselves. And if you get a car and if you borrow money to buy the car, we're going to let you deduct the interest payment. If it's a new car made in America, only if it's made in America, if it's made in Japan or China.

We're listening to President Trump at Fort Bragg and North Carolina addressing troops there. We've heard quite a bit of his stump speech, making many points on immigration as he often does also urging Congress to pass that massive spending bill, which incidentally includes increased spending for the military. But also making remarks about his decision to deploy troops to California. Also there on the ground is our White House correspondent, Von Hill.

What else did we miss? Right. I think Gabe, objectively here, this is quite a moment where surrounded by thousands, upwards of 10,000s of army soldiers, other military personnel, including the civilian personnel here at Fort Bragg, the largest army installation in the country. And the president of the United States, though it was suggested to us ahead of this event that is remarks would be different, that they would be focused on honoring the army on their 250th anniversary coming up this Saturday.

The president has turned this effectively into rallying cry. And there were military troops in the crowd that jeered in the direction of the President called him the Fragg Press. He referenced transgender Americans, soldiers' food. There were direct references to Governor Newsom and California lawmakers, jeers in response to the president's words condemning California lawmakers' actions.

He also called for one year imprisonment of anybody that burns the American flag. He made the point here to these thousands of military personnel that he did not want their efforts overseas to go to waste here domestically at home and to watch their country go in a downward trajectory here, essentially making the cases to why he was sending thousands of national guard members as well as 700 Marines at this point of time into Los Angeles. There's still a lot of questions about what the intent of the president is going forward. But you heard from him earlier today, Gabe, suggest that he would leave troops in Los Angeles, federalized national guard members, until there was no longer danger.

Of course, as we have said, this is in a few blocks in Los Angeles for talking about a city more than 450 square miles. But the president here, choosing to come to this North Carolina major army installation and instead of focusing on the history, purely of the army, is using this as a rallying opportunity for the men and women that are here in the crowd ahead of what is a very unclear future for the domestic purposes that he forces using the military, the American military for him. All right, that's for Bon and Bon. You're there on the ground in Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

Bon, thank you so much. I want to turn now back to our panel and Michael Dubcke, former White House communications director of the Trump's first term. It's perfect that you're sitting here with us because I want to ask you about this message. Look, I have seen President Trump as a candidate and as a commander in chief in North Carolina.

He has a lot of military support there. What do you make of this message? Do you think it will be a winning message for him politically, deploying these troops to Los Angeles? He's obviously seizing this moment.

Will it work? Well, I think much the same as you've heard from Republicans in Capitol Hill, it's very much the same, I would say, and especially in middle America where they're looking at what was happening in Los Angeles. And they are applauding the actions that the president has taken. We've got to be very clear here.

There's two different military deployments that are happening. One is the natural guard and the other is the Marines. And if we just focus on the National Guard for a second, it's the first time in 60 years that the National Guard has been utilized by a president over the objections of a governor. Last time Lyndon Johnson on the march on Selma to protect the marchers, I think the president, and this is the argument that they're going to make, is they were protecting the citizens and the federal buildings in Los Angeles from the violent riots that were happening.

And we can say that there was a small group of people, but the police in L.A. made 56 arrests before the National Guard was called out of the hundreds, if not thousands of violent protesters that were out there, the waymos that were burned, even the Boston commissioner in your earlier interview said it was a little out of control at the beginning. So I think they looked at that situation and they felt it was appropriate to and I think the American people do too. And like you mentioned that this is the first time in 60 years that this has happened with the National Guard, the president doing this over the objection, but during his first term, President Trump did send in federal agents, not the National Guard, but he sent in federal agents to Portland over the objections of local officials there.

He likes these optics. He likes picking this fight with Democrats. Well, you know, life and safety is a good optic. I mean, let's let's be clear of where he's sending the troops.

There was actual violence on the ground in Portland and also in Los Angeles when these when either law enforcement officials or military in this case, the National Guard got sent in. So I mean, it's not just sending it into a empty space. There is there are actions on the ground that are happening. And Megan, we're just just being told of this quote from what the president is saying kind of reiterating what he has said over the last couple of days calling Governor Gavin Newsom and competent also Mayor Bass and competent.

They're engaged in this willful attempt to nullify federal law and aid the occupation of the city by criminal invaders. He said hyperbole aside, do you think Governor Newsom is handling this well, essentially fighting back, verbally with President Trump? The people of California have elected governor Newsom multiple times here. So I don't think it's appropriate for the president to call him and competent.

I do think that they sending in the National Guard was escalating the situation. I think that that is a conversation they probably should have had with the governor and a little bit more thoughtful there. But I also think that Democrats have to be really careful here. You there is an issue with immigration.

There is an issue with illegal immigration. And we need to be extremely careful that it is okay for ICE agents to be reporting people who are here illegally and Democrats need to understand that. And there is a difference with law and order in these protests and the immigration right and immigration. No, it's so interesting that what you're saying right now is very true.

I've heard that from Democrats. That is very different than what I heard years ago during the first Trump administration. They did not really concede the point that there was a problem with immigration. And now you think that they do that they have to concede that in order to win moving forward.

I also think there's been a problem with immigration and the way we monitor our border and the way we handle immigration for 60 years. This isn't a Democrat issue. And you can't legislate and dictate policy by executive orders. It did not work in the Biden administration and it's not working the Trump administration.

Congress needs to take action here and they are not doing that. Yes, the president and the White House will come back and say Congress didn't need to take action because there was a president's policies that illegal border crossings are now down dramatically. Great. And in four years, if you have a Democratic president, it's going to swing the pendulums going to swing the other direction and we're going to keep finding ourselves in this situation.

Why don't we have a way for people who are here that are contributing to our society and contributing to the economy? Why don't we find a way for them to be able to stay here legally? Why don't we figure out a way to fix our border? Why doesn't Congress take action?

That is what I think that Democrats really need to get behind and start supporting. But these protests when they turn violent, that is one, it's terrible. And it's terrible for optically, it's also terrible in general. And Daniela, turning to Congress.

Yeah, there's actually a story about this. Sorry, I didn't even see. I talked to a bunch of Democrats yesterday specifically about how they're planning to respond to what's happening because it does seem like a moment they can really seize on and respond and fight back against the administration. What I got was a mixed bag.

I mean, they really don't have a clear message. They don't really have any tools in their toolbox of something that you say all the time to really fight back on this except for messaging. And the messaging is all over the place. When I found interesting too, the president there speaking, he brought up his so-called big, beautiful bill, which right now is in limbo in Congress?

What is the latest? Oh, how much time do we have? So obviously we saw that the House passed it. Now we're seeing a lot of these conservatives say, look, if the Senate's going to take this up, there's going to be major, major cuts to this.

Compared to what they actually passed, the version that they passed in the House, more, we'll see what happens. It seems like these discussions are still happening on Capitol Capitol Hill today, rallying senators to try to get them behind this. Trump is calling senators. Karen and I led it with House Republicans behind closed doors this morning, trying to remind them, like, let's message positively on this bill.

I mean, there's a real active effort to try to push Americans to support the legislation in this. But LA is actually affecting what's happening on Capitol Hill in the sense that the White House now can go to Republican, wavering Republican members in the Senate and say, look, this has funding for ICE. This has more military funding in it. You need to pass this bill in order for border security.

We can message around what is happening in LA. So in a very weird sense, California is affecting the one big, beautiful bill. But this is also a distraction. This is why I think a lot of Democrats are saying the LA and saying the truth there is a distraction because the Democrats were winning the messaging conversation on kicking 14 million people off Medicaid.

So I think it's an interesting thing out of here. There was also somebody, what's his name? Elon Musk. I was about to make that thing.

How many weeks ago was it? Oh, no, it's just been a couple of days, almost hours since he broke up with Elon Musk. I want to thank you all for joining me here. This has been a great panel.

Thank you for rolling with the breaking news. Daniela, Meghan, Michael, thank you so much. And thank you for watching. I'm Gabe Gutierrez and we're back tomorrow with more Meet the Press Now.

The news though continues with Yasmin