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Morning Joe
Morning Joe 6/9/25
00:50:33
'Arrest me': Gov. Gavin Newsom pushes back against threats of arrest by Trump administration
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- [00:02]
Mika Brzezinski
You've also mentioned Mayor Karen Bass and Governor Gavin Newsom. And there have been threats, you know, previously that if you stand in the way of your enforcement operations, you know, you could be subject potentially to arrest. Are you saying that about Mayor Bass and Governor Newsom? Are they at risk of being arrested? I'll say it about anybody.
- [00:19]
Joe Scarborough
You cross that line, he's a tough guy.
- [00:21]
Gavin Newsom
Why doesn't he do that? He knows where to find me. But you know what? Lay your hands off four year old girls that are trying to get educated. Your hands off these poor people just trying to get live their lives, man. Trying to live their lives, paying their taxes. Been here 10 years. The fear, the horror, the hell is this guy come after me, arrest me, let's just get it over with, tough guy, you know, I don't give a damn.
- [00:48]
Jacob Soboroff
Trump border czar Tom homan and Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom of Florida speaking to NBC's Jacob Soborough during a weekend of significant unrest in Southern California as protesters took to the streets in response to ICE raids across the Los Angeles area. This morning, the National Guard is on the ground after President Trump deployed thousands of troops there. Jacob Soborough is standing by in L. A with the latest along with NBC News senior Homeland Security correspondent Julia Ainslie. Meanwhile, President Trump is warning Elon Musk there will be very serious consequences if he funds Democrat candidates after their very public falling out. We'll discuss whether Democrats should now be looking to bring Musk back into their fold. Plus, it was a huge sports weekend, unbelievable with the NBA Finals, the Belmont Stakes and possibly the best men's final match of all time at the French Open. Pablo Torre will join us with a huge recap. Good morning and welcome to Morning Joe. It is Monday, June 9th, and we have a lot to get to our panel this morning. Co host of our fourth hour, contributing writer at the Atlantic, Jonathan Lemire, US Special correspondent for BBC News and the host of the Rest Is Politics podcast. Katty Kay is with us. Senior writer at the Dispatch, David Drucker is here. He's also a Bloomberg columnist and co founder and CEO of Axios. Jim Vande Hei joins us. So we're entering day four of protests in Los Angeles as demonstrators continue to clash with law enforcement. The protests began on Friday in response to immigration raids. ICE says it arrested 118 people after executing search warrants at multiple locations last week, 44 of whom were taken into custody during Friday's operation. On Saturday, California Governor Gavin Newsom said the situation was under control. This despite Clashes being reported shortly after President Trump deployed the National Guard, sending 2,000 members there to intervene. It's the first time in decades this has been done without a request from the governor. And now Northern Command says 500 Marines are ready to deploy if the situation gets worse. Police have been using tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the crowds. Earlier, demonstrators spilled onto the 101 freeway, causing it to partially shut down. Authorities say at least 56 people have been arrested so far. Let's bring in NBC News political and national correspondent Jacob Soborough live from Los Angeles, and NBC News senior Homeland Security correspondent Julia Ainslie. Now, Jacob, you've been on this developing story all weekend. We heard some of your interviews with Governor Gavin Newsom and the border czar Tom Holman. What is the latest so far at this hour?
- [03:59]
Mika Brzezinski
Well, Mika, I want to back up to Friday and talk about how unusual the situation is here in Los Angeles. On Friday morning here in the L A Bureau of NBC News, the first reports started coming in of ICE raids across Los Angeles. And the local news had aerial footage of bearcats, sort of tactical style style vehicles going through the streets of Los Angeles. And that's when those first melees broke out on Friday night. There was a peaceful protest that then did turn into a bit of a skirmish between federal agents and people who are out there protesting. And that scene repeated itself over the course of the next several days with of course, the president against the wishes of Governor Newsom, bringing in the National Guard, exercising Title 10 of the US Code to bring in the National Guard to Los Angeles to protect it. It's very specific federal property and federal agents that are carrying out these raids. The reason I say it's unusual is that this is not and Julia can talk about this as well or better than I can, this is not the ordinary way that ICE has operated historically in Los Angeles or across the country. But under this stated mass deportation program of the Trump administration, you are seeing raids at places like Home Depots where day laborers are. Those were not targeted enforcement areas on a wide scale under Democratic nor Republican administrations previously. And has so many people on edge here in Los Angeles because we're a majority minority city. There are 50% plus people of color in Los Angeles, including many Latinos, including maybe as many as a million undocumented people here in the Los Angeles area. So it has devolved into this feud which Governor Newsom says didn't need to happen. Mayor Bass said didn't need to happen. They do not want the National Guard here. And before the National Guard here was here. Quite frankly, these types of melees were not happening on the streets of Los Angeles. First, Tom Holman told me that he wasn't ruling out, as you saw at the beginning of the show, arresting Governor Newsom, nor Mayor Karen Bass if they got in between the ICE enforcement operations and the federal agents. And then last night in the emergency operations center, I spent some time with Governor Newsom as he monitored the situation here. And I asked him about what Tom Holman had said about arresting him. I want to play a little bit more of that sound for you right now, Mika. Watch this.
- [06:15]
Gavin Newsom
He's a tough guy. Why doesn't he do that? He knows where to find me. But you know what? Lay your hands off four year old girls that are trying to get educated. Lay your hands off these poor people just trying to get Live their lives, man. Trying to live their lives, paying their taxes, been here 10 years. The fear, the horror, the hell is this guy? Come after me, arrest me. Let's just get it over with, tough guy. You know, I don't give a damn, but I care about my community, I care about this community. The hell are they doing? These guys need to grow up, they need to stop and we need to push back. And I'm sorry to be so clear, but that kind of bloviating is exhausting. So, Tom, arrest me. Let's go.
- [07:00]
Mika Brzezinski
So tough stuff from the Governor of California. And caught in between this war of words, which is a feud that's familiar to so many people who have covered the relationship between Gavin Newsom and Donald Trump families, many mixed status families that live here in Los Angeles, meaning an undocumented maybe parent or relative and a young child or even a teenager or somebody older than that who was born here in this country. The thing is, President Trump and Gavin Newsom have been talking behind the scenes, at least since the beginning of this began. I asked them about a phone conversation that they had on Friday night and he said that they had a relatively cordial conversation and this didn't come up. I want to give you a little bit more of what Governor Newsom said about his conversation on Friday night, Nico. With the President. Watch this.
- [07:48]
Gavin Newsom
Well, under his executive order, specifically notes and under what the DoD did is they had to coordinate with the governor of the state. They never coordinate with the governor of the state. We talked for almost 20 minutes and he barely. This issue never came up. I kept trying to talk about la, wanted to talk about all these other issues. We had a very decent conversation.
- [08:06]
Mika Brzezinski
When was this?
- [08:07]
Gavin Newsom
This was late Friday night, about 1:30.
- [08:10]
Mika Brzezinski
Plus his time after the protests had.
- [08:11]
Gavin Newsom
Started, after the protests. And he never once brought up the National Guard. He's a stone cold liar. He said he did. Stone cold liar. Never did. Was a very civil conversation. I've always wanted to approach engagement with the President of the United States in a respectful and responsible way, but there's no working with the President. There's only working for him. And I will never work for Donald Trump. Just, I mean, where's your decency, Mr. President? Stop. Rescind this order. It's illegal and unconstitutional. And I said it, I'll say it again, it's immoral. You're creating the conditions that you claim you're solving and you're not, and you're putting real people's lives at risk.
- [08:51]
Mika Brzezinski
So that's what this is really all about, putting real people's lives at risk. And, you know, you've heard reports that there are riots on the streets of Los Angeles. There are certainly some. There has been civil unrest, reports of looting overnight, but on a wide scale. Well, that is not what's happening across the city of Los Angeles. And I think it's important to emphasize that this is also not what was happening before the National Guard came to Los Angeles. That's the point that Governor Newsom is making. And that's why he has asked and said this morning he's filing a lawsuit, Mika, to get that authority back from the President of the United States and remove the deployment of the National Guard on the streets of Los Angeles, because he's saying that's what's inflammatory here. And caught in the crosshairs are these migrant residents of Los Angeles, many of whom have been here most of of their entire lives.
- [09:40]
Jacob Soboroff
Wow. Jacob, if you'd like to stand by and jump into the conversation as we continue to cover this, I'd like to move over to Julia now, and I really want to focus on what the California governor said there. And these are his words. President Trump creating the conditions you claim you are solving. You know, it's sort of what caused what at this point. And some might argue that the situation is triggering a lot of people and the call for calm and for peace is extremely important at a time like this. What are you hearing about when the focus on Los Angeles was made, when that decision was made to deploy ice and focus on L. A in a big way?
- [10:31]
Julia Ainslie
You know, Mika, I see really two escalation points when we look at this timeline. And the first one, if you can believe it, goes back to January, before Trump was Even in office. As the transition team started to map out where they wanted to focus across the United States, they were specifically pinpointing sanctuary cities. I know you have Tom Homan on later today. Sanctuary cities, I've often been told is a thorn and Tom Homan side, this is an area he wants clashes. He wants to see local law enforcement come up against ICE so that he can have showdowns like this and really push these policies. And at the time I was shocked because of course, as Jacob knows, in January of this year, L A was facing major wildfires on a historic level. And then we saw a focus on cities like Chicago. They were talking about using tactical gear in cases like that as well again to have these clashes. And then something happened in mid May when Stephen Miller called the leaders of ICE into Washington. He went over to ICE headquarters and said, look, if you don't start arresting 3,000 people per day, the bottom 10% of the field offices around the country, you will lose your leaders. I'll start firing them monthly if you don't get to 3,000 a day. Well the only to get to 3,000 a day and we already saw them reach a high of 2200 last week. Still not 3000 though is to doing start doing workplace raids, start doing the kind of mass scale that they saw in L A last week. Mind you, that didn't necessarily turn into hundreds or thousands, but even dozens. When you see it, when people are going into apparel stores for example, and doing arrests and really it's a lot easier to arrest non criminal migrants, people who are going about their day to day living in the addresses that they're telling us they live in, people who are wearing ankle monitors, reporting to their check ins, going after criminals who know how to hide from the law. That takes a lot more people. I've been on those raids, the manpower, the investigations, the execution, keeping everyone safe. That takes as many as eight people over, you know, many manpower hours to arrest one person. So the lower hanging fruit here is what we're seeing them go after and it's creating these clashes also overnight. Mika, we did see a response from the White House to Newsom. This is coming through our Gabe Gutierrez. They called Newsom, they said he has feckless leadership and said his refusal to stop the violent attacks on law enforcement shows that feckless leadership. And they say it's a bald faced lie for Newsom to claim there was no problem in Los Angeles before President Trump got involved. Everyone saw the chaos, violence and lawlessness. Unless of course Governor Newsom doesn't think any of that is a problem that's coming from a White House spokeswoman really escalating this clash between the White House and California leadership over what you're seeing happening in L. A.
- [13:12]
David Drucker
So I have reported many times, we've discussed on this show frequently that whenever the Trump administration wants to change the subject, they almost always reflexively go back to immigration, his signature issue. So whether it is because of the Elon Musk blow up or because the controversy surrounding the piece of legislation working its way through the Senate, this changes the headlines. And to Julia's point, we know Stephen Miller and others in the administration have really wanted to increase those numbers. So David Drucker, we know the administration, administration, like they're not unhappy to have the images of whether it's a man in a mask and a Mexican flag and a car on fire behind him, we know that'll be dispersed on Fox News nonstop. That said, as Jacob has said and other reporters on the ground have said, those incidents are few and far between. The vast, vast majority of these protests, peaceful, no excuse for violence. But the vast majority of people part of these protests are not violent. They're simply exercising their First Amendment rights. So let's start here with the Republicans. Is there a danger of overreach because many people believe it's this provocative move to put the National Guard on the streets that has escalated the tensions there. Could this backfire on Trump and the Republicans, or do you think this is exactly what they want?
- [14:24]
Joe Scarborough
Well, we know it's what they want. Could it backfire?
- [14:27]
Jim Vande Hei
Sure.
- [14:27]
Joe Scarborough
And I think we should monitor that from a political standpoint point over the next several weeks. But if you look at what happened in the 2024 election, if you look at where President Trump's approval ratings have been buoyed, even as dissatisfaction with his handling of the economy, especially because of the tariffs, has been, it's been because he has maintained support for tough immigration enforcement. Look, for decades, this has been building politically in the United States where people feel that illegal immigration was not being stopped and the federal government really wasn't doing much of anything to fix it. And that really came to a head during the Biden administration. We saw that even with working class Hispanic voters. It's one of the reasons the Rio Grande Valley went almost entirely red. And we've done a lot of reporting on this at the Dispatch. This is not just people in the Midwest, the working class, whites and all of that that voted for Trump in 2016 and has stuck with him ever since. There was a shift Right. Of Hispanic, Hispanics, broadly, especially working class Hispanics. Hispanics making $50,000 a year and less. You can see the exit polling. They wanted tougher immigration enforcement. They thought it wasn't fair to allow illegal immigration to proliferate. They thought that the government wasn't treating people fairly from an economic standpoint. And so, sure, now that people are watching what it means to engage in a mass deportation policy, now that the government is putting boots on the ground, if you will, and I use the that term carefully to try and actually impact illegal immigration, opinions could change. But just assuming that this is 2008, 2012, and that never mind everybody else in the United States, that the Hispanic community is going to be reflexively opposed to what they see is a wrong assumption to make at the outset.
- [16:21]
David Drucker
So new polling shows that the Trump administration's deportation program has a net positive approval rating. Overall, about 54% of Americans support the administration's approach, while 46% disapprove. Now, also in that poll, 63% believe that non citizens should get a court hearing first before any deportation attempts. 37% of those surveyed say they should be deported first. So, Jim Vande Hei, it's a bit of a complicated picture here. Americans, yes, to David's point, and that poll broadly support some of these Trump efforts. But they say, look, you have to follow the law, you have to have due process, you have to go through the courts. We don't know yet if they're going to approve of these really strong arm tactics we're seeing in LA today. So you speak to us from the other side here, making on a political lens what the Democrats are doing. Certainly Gavin Newsom standing up to Donald Trump. We just played that sound. Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass saying, we don't want the National Guard here, but we know immigration was a winner for Trump in 2024. What are the risks here for Democrats?
- [17:31]
Jim Vande Hei
Yeah, I mean, first off, this was inevitable. Trump has wanted this since day one. He wants to go into California, wants to go into a sanctuary city, wants to show that he is commander in chief and that he can use the military at his disposal to silence critics. He believes, and I think the polling you just showed backs him up, that the vast majority of the country is supportive of his immigration, immigration policies, broadly. Democrats know that. I mean, Democrats have been in a real bind trying to figure out how can they, how can they actually argue against Trump on immigration when the election results in the polling numbers show that people aren't with them on this specific topic? Now, what's different here is you're now moving from people who are in prison or people who are clearly criminals to people who've been in the United States, in some cases for a long time, in some cases paying taxes for a long time, working in jobs under the assumption that they could continue to operate that way as long as they didn't break the law and as long as they continued to pay taxes. So once you start to deport that group of people en masse, I think Democrats feel like one. It's just not right. And so they are. I think when Gavin Newsom talks about it, I take him at his word. I do believe he believes what he's saying. I think they're willing to have this fight. I think they want it to go to the courts and that they think ultimately that the American public will find it inhumane once you start to go after people who they feel like didn't do anything wrong. I think when it does go to the courts, for people thinking, oh, the courts are going to step in and say, you can't use the military, I don't know that that's how this court is going to decide. I think it's very clear the court feels like the president has a lot of authority, particularly when it's under the guise of national security. And I think he'll have a lot of freedom. Even if this hasn't been done since 1965, and even if he takes it a step further and goes for the Insurrection Act, I think that he has the backing and he feels like he has the backing of the courts to.
- [19:28]
Jacob Soboroff
Do this and possibly the backing of his supporters. Katty Kay, a lot of political watchers might look at these ICE raids and everything that has happened since as a distraction from his very public falling out with Elon Musk. Having said that, Donald Trump promised all along that this would be all about getting criminals off the streets, and it certainly changed from that. At the same time, I wonder, does this move the needle in terms of public support toward Trump or away from him?
- [20:05]
Katty Kay
Well, first of all, it's given Elon Musk it looks like an opportunity to try and get back into Donald Trump's good books, because he's been tweeting over the last 12 hours about how there should be tougher law enforcement in California and these riots should have to stop. I'm not. I think you have to look at the longer term. If Stephen Miller manages to have his way and is successful in deporting really millions of people who are in, in the country illegally, Those people are people who work in businesses, in restaurants, in garages, they work in hotels, they work all around the country. They pay taxes. So the long term impact of reducing America's labor force, reducing the revenue that those people bring in to the government's coffers, that could have some impact. I think, if this is a successful operation, but we don't quite know what that would be in the short term. I think the Democrats have to handle this very carefully. I mean, Gavin Newsom is trying to play tough up against Donald Trump. But I think Jim's right. The courts, if this went to the courts, then they've shown that they're prepared to give the President an awful lot of power on this. And we know that Donald Trump, because General Milley told us Donald Trump wanted to do this in the first term. This is exactly the playbook he wanted to enact around the Black Lives Matter protests. It doesn't really matter what the protests are. These are the images that the White House want their supporters to see around the country.
- [21:24]
Jacob Soboroff
Jacob, sober off your thoughts listening to this conversation and how much perhaps, perhaps some leaders in the MAGA movement would love for protesters to become violent and out of hand.
- [21:42]
Mika Brzezinski
Yeah, obviously, I think that these are our images that play into President Trump's message, Mika. But, and this issue might have been a winning one in 2024, but I can tell you when it, when it wasn't, and I and Julia together, as reporters saw it firsthand, was in 2018, at the height of the family separation policy. And I think that there's a fine line between doing this and mobilizing, particularly in Los Angeles, the type of response that we saw during 2018, where hundreds of thousands of people, maybe millions of people across not just the country, but the world stood up. Even the, the pope spoke out at the time against the deliberate separation of children from their parents at the hands of the Trump administration. And it's one thing, as Jim said, to go, as Tom Homan had originally said at the beginning of this administration, sort of the worst of the worst, the violent offenders, the criminals, people have committed very serious crimes. But now they're targeting day laborers at Home Depot. There are reports of seeing ICE outside of schools. There are literally millions of people here whose families are directly affected by immigration enforcement operations like this, many of whom have American citizens within that family. In 2018, they marched up and down the streets all around the world. Back in 2005, 2006, to protest for comprehensive immigration reform. There were half a million people on the streets of Los Angeles. And if and when that happens, I don't know that the public opinion, obviously we'll have to wait and see, will stay on the side of the Trump administration. Because what's really behind all this stories of families and people who are affected, undocumented people are neighbors and co workers and fellow parishioners and you name it. In a place like Los Angeles and in other cities across the country, will this sort of tough talk, political feud between Newsom and Trump and Karen Bass, will that stay forefront or will it become about the humanity as it Was back in 2018?
- [23:42]
Jacob Soboroff
Well, and those people you just mentioned are just simply terrified right now. NBC News political and national correspondent Jacob Soboroff, thank you for your coverage. We'll be seeing you again soon. Thank you very much. Also, we've got to get to the military aspect of this story, which is potentially historic. We have Courtney Kubie standing by and we'll get to her in just a moment. Also, still ahead of Morning Joe, President Trump warns Elon Musk will face serious consequences if he starts donating to Democratic candidates. We'll dig into that threat as the Tesla CEO tries to rally lawmakers against the president's domestic policy bill. Plus, the chair of the Democratic National Committee is raising concerns about his ability to lead the party amid infamous fighting. We'll play for you those comments and a reminder that the Morning Joe Podcast is available each weekday, featuring our full conversations and analysis. You can listen wherever you get your podcasts. We're back in 90 seconds.
- [24:50]
Jim Vande Hei
MSNBC's Jen Psaki, host of the Briefing.
- [24:53]
Julia Ainslie
We've never experienced a moment like this in our country, and it leaves us.
- [24:57]
Katty Kay
All with a choice.
- [24:58]
Julia Ainslie
Are we gonna speak out or are we gonna be pressured into silence? I've worked for presidents. I've faced the tough questions from the press and even threats from the Kremlin. And if there's one thing I've learned, it's that you can't cower to bullies. You don't need to be hopeless. We have our voices, and I will continue using mine.
- [25:13]
Jim Vande Hei
The Briefing with Jen Psaki, Tuesday through Friday at 9:00pm Eastern on MSNBC.
- [25:20]
Mika Brzezinski
Hey, everyone, it's Chris Hayes. This week on my podcast, why is this Happening?
- [25:23]
Jim Vande Hei
Karen Howe, author of Empire of Dreams and Nightmares, in Sam Altman's OpenAI.
- [25:29]
Julia Ainslie
If you make too early of a call and you try to replace all.
- [25:32]
David Drucker
Your workers with AI, and then it.
- [25:33]
Julia Ainslie
Doesn'T work out, you hire back the workers.
- [25:35]
Mika Brzezinski
But there are lots of other things.
- [25:37]
I
That this hype around AI is driving.
- [25:40]
Julia Ainslie
Forward that is not reversible.
- [25:42]
Mika Brzezinski
That's this week on why is this Happening? Search for why is this Happening? Wherever you're listening right now.
- [25:47]
Jacob Soboroff
And follow our continues now at 26 past the hour. President Trump is defending his response to the Los Angeles protests, calling the demonstrators, quote, insurrectionists. He made those comments on Truth Social last night, saying Governor Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass should apologize for the, quote, horrible job they have done. But earlier, when speaking to reporters, Trump stopped short of saying the protests constituted an insurrection.
- [26:22]
I
Are you prepared to invoke the Insurrection Act?
- [26:25]
Jacob Soboroff
It depends on whether or not there's an insurrection.
- [26:29]
David Drucker
No, no.
- [26:30]
Mika Brzezinski
But you have violent people and we're.
- [26:32]
Gavin Newsom
Not going to let them get away with it.
- [26:35]
Jim Vande Hei
And when they spit at people, you know, they spit.
- [26:39]
Jacob Soboroff
That's their new thing.
- [26:40]
Jim Vande Hei
They spit and worse, you know what they throw at them.
- [26:43]
Gavin Newsom
Right.
- [26:44]
Jim Vande Hei
And when that happens, I have a little statement. They say they spit.
- [26:49]
Jacob Soboroff
We hit.
- [26:50]
Jim Vande Hei
And I told them, nobody's going to spit on our police officers. Nobody's going to spit on our military.
- [26:57]
Joe Scarborough
Which they do, is a common thing.
- [26:59]
Jim Vande Hei
They get up to them this far away and then they start spitting in their face.
- [27:02]
Joe Scarborough
That happens.
- [27:03]
Jim Vande Hei
They get hit very hard.
- [27:07]
Jacob Soboroff
Joining us now, NBC News senior national security correspondent Courtney Kuby. Courtney, let's talk about the military angle here with Marines on standby. What's the potential here for that to happen and what would that mean?
- [27:25]
I
So at this point, Mika, as far as we know, there's only about 300 of the national Guard, California National Guard troops who are actually on scene there at least three different locations. But remember, this authorization is to federalize up to 2,000. So it would make more sense if they would work through or they would use all 2,000 of those before they would turn to those Marines. But what people need to remember is here is, yes, these are California National Guard troops who are being used here. But we heard Jacob earlier talk about them being under Title 10 authority. What that means is they are essentially federalized. They are under the authority of the federal government. They're paid by them. They get benefits under the federal government while they're serving. And they, they are also under the same restrictions that federal troops face when they are operating in the United States. Why that's so critical in this case here is because if you have a National Guard soldier who is under California law or who's under California state activation, that means that they are, they are answering to and under the authority of the governor, Governor Newsom, who we've heard from earlier in the show already. Now in that capacity, they have some ability to have conduct law enforcement missions to support the local law enforcement, but they have a little bit more authority with actually taking on or conducting law enforcement missions. Once those troops are federalized, that goes away. They can still support the LAPD and they can support the ICE agents who are there, but they cannot make arrests or conduct what we think of as very basic law enforcement activities. That's a violation of pose comitatus, which is an act that essentially says you can't have have federal troops conducting law enforcement in the continental United States. Now, what we usually see, title 10 Troops, National Guard troops on federal duty doing, is deploying overseas. And that would even be the case for this unit, the 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team out of California. They have done these deployments overseas. So the Title 10 status is not uncommon common. But putting them on title 10 and then putting them in the United States, that's what's so uncommon here. And what's the most unique part about this is the president doing it despite the governor saying, not the governor not asking for these troops, but specifically saying that he doesn't want the troops to be there. Now, the Marines here, 500, are now under or on a hot standby. They have to be ready to go very quickly. What's really critical about them is they will also be federalized. That makes sense. They are active duty. The question everyone should be asking here, though, Mika, is are they actually trained for any of the kinds of law enforcement or the sorts of functions that they could be called upon to do here? That's one of the questions we've been asking.
- [30:11]
David Drucker
So, Courtney, there's been a lot of escalatory rhetoric from Trump's top adviser, Stephen Miller, posting simply one word, insurrection. J.D. vance, similar. TRUMP himself suggesting that all of the federal law enforcement agencies should be involved. And of course, Secretary of Defense Hegseth. So if they were, if the federal government decides to up the ante here with their response beyond what we've seen so far, what are some of the things they could do here? Because you're right, and all of it's being done against the wishes of local and state leaders.
- [30:44]
I
So they can do very basic things in support of LAPD and ice. So traffic enforcement, you know, they can put them outside of federal buildings. That's one thing that we've already seen seen where they're basically a show of presence. Now, we have seen from the video and the photos there that they are armed. We have asked about the basic rules of force here. When you're talking about an overseas mission or a combat. You hear rules of engagement when you're talking in the homeland. They refer to it as rules of force. We don't have an answer beyond there. They are still under the authorities or the basic rules of force here. So presumably that means that they will follow the law and they will, will, you know, they'll protect federal buildings, they will protect ICE agents, they will protect any kind of federal personnel who are there. But they will not engage in things like arrests. You know, like I said, they could be at barricades, hanging out there. One thing that I have been very struck by in this, Jonathan, we got A statement from U.S. northern Command late last night that said that they had established a task force. They're calling IT Task Force 51. It's under a two star general. Generally when you have something, a brigade combat team is about 3,500 up to 5,000 different troops. This is smaller than that. It's about half that size, 2,000 troops. That would generally be under the authority of a colonel. Okay. Instead they are putting this task force under a two star general. That shows, to me, that shows the significance that they are placing on this, when on, on this mission in general that they are putting someone so high ranking involved in it. Military officials, defense officials, who I spoke with, are very concerned about the possibility of the military being used here in ways that they should not be. And actually, you know, the perception that they are actually fighting against or taking on civilians in the streets of la and that may be one reason they have someone so senior overseeing this entire task force.
- [32:32]
Jacob Soboroff
Yeah. And that certainly would change the nature of this situation and at this point of the presidency. NBC News senior national security correspondent Courtney Kuby. Thank you very much. Thank you very much for your coverage. We'll talk to you again soon. So Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man who was forcibly removed from the country by mistake, sent at first to El Salvador. That super prison there is now back in the U.S. abrego Garcia appeared in a Tennessee federal court on Friday. He's now facing human smuggling charges after being named in an instant incident and an indictment. It alleges Abrego Garcia participated in a conspiracy over nine years to move people from Texas deeper into the country, including members of the MS.13 gang. In a phone interview with NBC News on Saturday, President Trump said it wasn't his decision to bring Abrego Garcia back, but added, quote, it should be a very easy case for the Department of Justice to win. Abrego Garcia is set to remain in the custody of U.S. marshals until his next hearing on Friday. Let's go back to Julia on this. I assume the plan was to deport him correctly. What do you make of these charges against him? I understand they are fairly old and when they first came up, it was a pretty weak case.
- [34:00]
Julia Ainslie
Yeah, that's right. In fact, the government had the chance to bring these charges earlier, didn't do that. And in 2019, a judge said that, in fact, Abrego Garcia had what's called a withholding of removal order. That's even a higher standard than getting asylum and that he specifically couldn't be sent back to El Salvador. So now Abrego Garcia's lawyers are saying they want that same judge to decide if that withholding of removal order should be taken away in light of these new charges. Now, of course, he'll have to go through the federal process. And if he is convicted, and as you mentioned, there was they had a chance to do this previously. But if he, if he does, if he is found guilty of these charges and he's convicted, he would serve his time here in the United States before being deported. I think that's a lot of times something that goes missing in this conversation is that when we talk about criminal immigrants in the United States that aren't in ICE detention, oftentimes they're actually serving time in the Bureau of Prisons. And then after that they can be deported. It if the penal system, if whatever group, whether it's federal or state, actually talks to ICE and is able to get them deported. So in this case, he will have that chance. That's all his lawyers have really asked for. And in each case that the White House or DHS comes up with more information about this man's background, whether it be in restrictive protective orders that his wife requested, whether it has to do with this stop in Tennessee where they found six other people with him. He was interviewed for a long time, but in the end never really convicted of smuggling in any of these cases. They've just said give him a chance to defend himself in court because the exact process that Trump used to deport him and so many others under the Alien Enemies act meant they never had that chance. And so as the White House started to bring up more things to defend the characters, they never had that chance. So he's brought back. And his lawyers say they look forward to being able to defend these charges in a U.S. report.
- [35:52]
Jacob Soboroff
We'll see what happens. NBC News in your Homeland Security correspondent Julia Ainslie. Thank you very much for your reporting this morning. So President Trump says he assumes his relationship with Elon Musk is now over after their feud exploded online last week. When asked by NBC's Kristen Welker if he has any desire to repair ties with Musk, Trump said no, adding that he has no intention of speaking to the Tesla CEO. Trump also issued a warning to Musk, saying he will face very serious consequences if he funds Democratic candidates to run against Republicans who vote in favor of the budget bill. He did not share what those consequences would be. The president also cast doubt on the notion that Musk's opposition will sink the bill, claiming he is more confident than ever it will pass because Republicans are more unified in the wake of the public feud. David Drucker, he was not popular in the administration. The president might be right about that. At the same time, what does this falling out show about the President's relationships with people and is it possible they could repair it?
- [37:09]
Joe Scarborough
Well, you know, we've seen over the years that Trump will bring someone into the fold, then he'll kick him out of the the fold and I'll bring them into the fold. And this, I mean, it's almost like as the World Turns, right? And this has been very entertaining to watch. I've got a 10 year old and a 9 year old, 13 year old and a 9 year old. And I don't know if they get into it as much as these two have over the past couple of days. But I do think what is interesting here, aside from the entertainment value, is that Elon Musk, excuse me, Elon Musk, unlike most people that Trump brings in and out of his circle, Circle, actually has a media platform and lots and lots of money. And so if Elon Musk wants to go to war with Trump, I don't know that he wins in the sense that he has a lot of federal contracts, starlink and the like, that make his companies a lot of money. People have talked about the EV tax credit. That's peanuts compared to the EPA waiver, which Trump's EPA is likely to cancel, which will cost eliminate. He loans Tesla billions annually. And that probably would happen anyway. But if he really was serious about putting money behind other candidates to challenge Republicans in primaries to start some sort of a new party. I mean, third parties have a very thin history of working in the United States. But the point is he's got the money to do it and that would be worth paying attention to.
- [38:34]
Jacob Soboroff
Katie?
- [38:36]
Katty Kay
Yeah, Jim, following up on David's point just there, it was clear that the President has said this new To Elon Musk.
- [38:42]
Mika Brzezinski
Musk.
- [38:43]
Katty Kay
You can't fund Democratic candidates. They'll be all hell to pay if you do. And then it was interesting that over the weekend, Cory Booker was asked, would you take money from Elon Musk? And he said, absolutely nowhere. I wouldn't take money from Elon Musk. But I've had several Democrats and centrist Republicans say to me, democrats shouldn't miss an opportunity here. You know, if Elon Musk, with all his money and all his X machine, is really prepared to walk away from MAGA World or to walk away from Donald Trump, why wouldn't they embrace him with open arms and try and bring him into their fold? Are they missing something?
- [39:13]
Jim Vande Hei
I think they're missing the fact that I don't think that's really on the table. I've not seen anything from Elon that suggests he suddenly wants to become a Democrat or become a liberal. What he said is he's really frustrated with Trump. He's obviously pretty bummed that he could lose some of the incentives that he needs for Tesla. But I think at the end of the day, his politics are libertarian or whatever. However he would describe them are much closer to Trump's. I think that over time, there's a lot of people behind the scenes who are trying to repair this relationship. Relationship. Both of them kind of need each other. Remember, like Elon Musk, yes, he has gobs of money. He's a richest individual on the planet. But if you think about his businesses, whether it's neuralink, whether it's, you know, building AI space satellites, autonomous technology, all of that is highly regulated, and all of that is highly intertwined with the federal government. The federal government really can't run its space program right now without Elon Musk. Elon Musk can't really have a space company without the federal government. And so I think over time, they'll probably figure out a way to heal. I think one of the reasons this is sort of entertaining, it's the first time Trump has basically gone against someone who's just like him. Like, the similarities between the two are striking. They both think they can say or do whatever they want, that they live by a different set of rules, and that their past success has validated their behavior. And so that is really animating a little bit of this in the short term. But I think you already see Elon, in his own way, trying to. Trying to ease the tension. And I think over time, Trump will see that he does need the power of X, which is, I would argue, is still the most powerful platform in media today, certainly for MAGA media. And when they think about elections, when they think about power, combining governmental power with media power, power gives you almost absolute power. And so I think over time they'll figure out a way to heal.
- [41:02]
David Drucker
Shy reported in a row for the Atlantic over the weekend broke the news that Elon Musk, as his time as a special government employee, that 130 day contract was expiring. He asked the White House to stay on. He wanted to extend his time in government. President Trump said no. At that point, Trump had sort of tired of Elon Musk. You know, certainly cabinet members, senior staff were tired of Musk. They had clashed, but they still wanted to give him a graceful send off. They didn't want him to become a political enemy. Well, we saw what happened. Musk picked this fight. He escalated this fight last week. But he does have more to lose. Mika. I think that's important here that Musk has so many government contracts. His fortune's already taken a major hit since he went into government service because of the declining sales of Tesla and the like. He's trying to still get a good return on his investment from his backing Trump with campaign funds. But he stands to lose a fortune if his contracts are canceled and Trump has threatened that. That said, the White House doesn't want Musk to be an enemy either. They know he is a very powerful and mercurial figure. We saw over the weekend sort of a new reality. Whereas Katie had mentioned earlier, Musk praised some of the things Trump was doing, particularly on these issues in Los Angeles, but also was still critical of the spending bill, still floating the idea of a new political party. So there's sort of an uneasy detente at the moment. But we know these two men. It could flare up at any time.
- [42:23]
Jacob Soboroff
Right. And also if he cared about losing money, wouldn't he have left a lot sooner? So it'll be interesting to see how this trend, how this moves forward. Senior writer for the Dispatch, David Drucker, thank you very much for coming on this morning. Coming up, the NBA Finals, Yankees, Red Sox, Belmont State Stakes, French Open. Pablo Torre will join us to recap an unbelievable weekend in sports. Morning Joe. We'll be right back.
- [43:06]
David Drucker
This Father's Day at Lowe's. Score free gifts for the greatest day. Right now, get a free select dewalt Craftsman or cobalt tool with purchase of a select battery kit. Plus get a free Werner 2 foot aluminum ladder when you buy an 8 foot fiberglass ladder. Shop these deals and more. This father's day at Lowe's. We help you Save valid through615. Wall supplies.
- [43:29]
Gavin Newsom
Last selection varies by location.
- [43:35]
Jim Vande Hei
Introducing the Weeknight on msnbc, join hosts Alicia Menendez, Michael Steele and Simone Sanders Townsend for a spirited conversation challenging each other and our leaders about the biggest issues of the day.
- [43:49]
Jacob Soboroff
It's about knowing what you are for.
- [43:51]
Gavin Newsom
Who you are for.
- [43:52]
Mika Brzezinski
That's what politics is about. It's engagement.
- [43:55]
I
We are going to dive deeper into.
- [43:57]
Julia Ainslie
The legal side of today's breaking news.
- [43:59]
Jim Vande Hei
The weeknight Monday through Friday at 7pm Eastern on MSNBC.
- [44:06]
Mika Brzezinski
Nine minutes in the fourth that aided that comeback. Hildis Alexander pulls up, knocks that one down.
- [44:13]
Jim Vande Hei
Williams almost lost it. Gilgis Alexander for three.
- [44:19]
Mika Brzezinski
Gildas Alexander jumper.
- [44:20]
Jacob Soboroff
Got it.
- [44:21]
Mika Brzezinski
Stay down and just contest.
- [44:24]
Jim Vande Hei
Gildas Alexander off the balance, gets inside.
- [44:26]
Mika Brzezinski
Double clutch.
- [44:27]
Jim Vande Hei
Counted at a foul. Casper three point play, the lead up to 17.
- [44:34]
David Drucker
Jake Gillis Alexander leading the Oklahoma City Thunder in a blowout win over the Indiana Pace last night in Game 2 of the NBA Finals, the league MVP filled up the stat sheet. 34 points, 8 assists, 5 rebounds and 4 steals. This was SGA's 11th game this postseason with at least 30 points and 5 assists, putting him in the record books alongside two guys you might have heard of, LeBron James and Michael Jordan. Series now tied at one game apiece. Game 3 Wednesday night in Indianapolis. Joining us now, the host of Pablo Torre finds out on Metal Arc media MSNBC contributor Pablo Torre. So Pablo, on one hand, if you're the Pacers, all you really wanted to get was a split in those first two games. They got that with that thrilling Game one win.
- [45:19]
Mika Brzezinski
Yes.
- [45:19]
David Drucker
But there was a sense last night the Thunder were in control throughout. And yeah, the crowd in Indiana is going to be great on Wednesday. Great. But there was a sense that maybe order has been restored to the series.
- [45:29]
J
Yeah. So the context here is that ahead of the series head of these finals, the Thunder were as much big of favorites. It's basically the Golden State warriors and the Dynasty years. Everyone expected the Thunder to just run away with this. And so you're right. Look, a series really begins when a team wins on the road. We saw that in game one with a phenomenal comeback that solidified the Pacers as a real thing to keep Oklahoma City up at night. But when it comes to the depth and the merits and the metrics frankly of what we've seen all season, the Thunder all are a cut above. I just caution you from thinking that the Pacers are to be trifled with. Oh no, you've just seen 20 point leads evaporate. You've seen them take a little bit of daylight and turn that into a giant gulf. And I think that the Thunder know that this is still going to be. This is going to be a longer series than anybody thought.
- [46:21]
David Drucker
Yeah, Pacers, we saw what they did in the early rounds, including against the Knicks in the conference finals. Pablo let's now turn, though, to the best sporting event of the week, which is the French Open. We'll get to Coco Gauff's win in just a second. But that men's final yesterday, Carlos Alcaraz down two sets to love, you know, fighting off tiebreakers left and right. He comes back to win, and what some have said is one of the greatest matches ever played. Federer, Nadal at Wimbledon, their rematch of the Australian Open a few years ago that Federer won. But yesterday was spectacular.
- [46:53]
J
I am some, I am some of those people. This was the sort of match that no clip package unfortunately can accurately describe, because this was five and a half hours, John. And Alcaraz was in fact, on the brink of just being swept away by Jannik Sinner, who's the number one ranked player in the world. These guys are 22 and 23 years old. Of course, they are coming after the Big three era, as you alluded to, of Nadal and Federer and Djokovic. And here are these two guys doing the thing that made me, and I say this without hyperbole, I just stood up in my living room off the couch and applauded. And I am not the person who is prone to such spasms of sincerity at home, but you watch the shot making here, the exhaustion here. Tennis, man, tennis is a lot like heavyweight boxing at times when it's like they shouldn't be able to be standing at this point. And so this is, I mean, this is peak tennis. I dare say I don't think it's the best it's ever gonna be, but when you talk about the, the best in the sport, the generational change, the athleticism, the endurance, the fortitude of Carlos Alcaraz, man, it's just best in class. It's historic without any exaggeration.
- [48:06]
David Drucker
So, caddy, I know you were watching yesterday, Alcaraz fought off three championship points. Just brilliant shot making into Pablo's point. Look, Djokovic is still kicking around. He made the semis. No one would be stunned if Djokovic gets one more Grand Slam, let's say, before he hangs it up. But it does feel like, at long last, the three era of tennis. Veteran Adol Djokovic finally coming to a close.
- [48:30]
Katty Kay
Yeah, I mean, the only thing I would disagree with Pablo on is the idea that they were exhausted because by the end they were playing such brilliant tennis. They didn't look exhausted at all. I mean, if anything, every single game got better and better. I know Alcaraz in the end won that tiebreak earlier, but the earlier, easily. But that didn't reflect how well Sinner was playing right up until the very end. And I think you're right. I mean, I think now it's these two. And the question for every other player is going to be how do we break into this duo? Because if they keep playing each other in these Grand Slam finals and in all the matches that go before that, they're going to get better and better because it's clear they just push each other. They push each other to be their very, very best. And somebody else is going to have to break into that in order to get that kind of training against them.
- [49:11]
David Drucker
And Pablo, let's talk about the women's final. Also fantastic. The day before, on Saturday, Coco Gauff drops the first set to Stabilenko, who's wonderful. But then she comes back, wins two, the second and third. This is her first French Open, her second Grand Slam title, another just star on the rise in a fantastic match.
- [49:29]
J
Yeah, so Coco Gauff, an American, somebody I've seen at the US Open in person when she was, I mean, basically a kid, she started off, for those not familiar with her legend, she started off basically being, and this is not an exaggeration, actually, she once played a young Serena Williams body double in a commercial. She was sort of cosplaying as Serena Williams for years. And now she has come into her own. And so Coco Gauff doing this against Sabalenka in, I mean, for people who don't know, the French Open, the clay court, the sort of panoramic pressure of this setting, this is Coco Gauff announcing herself. This would have been on any normal weekend, John. This would have been a one. This is our lead story. This is the headline, Coco Gauff's emergence. It is only because it was an all time weekend that we have her basically being the second best final, which is just an embarrassment of riches. And to Ketty's point, look, you're right, I think transposed, I projected my own exhaustion watching hours of tennis this weekend onto these young athletes. It is a generational thing who showed no signs of slowing down. And Coco Gauff embodies that next generation too.
- [50:45]
David Drucker
And Always great to see an American triumph in Paris. We should note Sovereignty won the Belmont Stakes, winning its second of the Triple Crown races. It won the Kentucky Derby, sat out the Preakness, won again here. Defeating journalism. Sovereignty defeating journalism. Just like at the Ken Kentucky Derby. You can write your own punch lines there. Journalism did win the. Win the Preakness when Sovereignty sat in the sideline. But Pablo, we have to end. Actually, I don't think I do. I have to. I have to. I don't know. I have to. To issue. I have to issue a correction. I said the most important sporting event of the weekend was the French Open Final. I was wrong. It was the Red Sox being the Yankees. Two out of three in the Bronx. Yankees roll Friday.
- [51:24]
J
Not familiar with what happened on Saturday and Sunday.
- [51:27]
David Drucker
We will note here that the Red Sox Young pitcher Mr. Dobbins was talking a little smack about Yankees this week, saying, I'd rather retire than play for the Yankees. Than Aaron Judge in the first 400ft.
- [51:37]
J
That's a good clip that we can just play on loop. Stared him down until the end of this.
- [51:42]
David Drucker
That was the only highlight for the Yankees last night. Sox hit five home runs. Rafael Devers continues to have ownership of the Bronx. And look, you guys are well ahead of us in the standings, but two out of three.
- [51:51]
J
Yeah, I mean it does, it does. Behoove me to remind everybody to just look at the ALE standings right now. Seven, seven and a half, eight games. Who can? Who's to say? There it is.
- [52:02]
Mika Brzezinski
Eight and a half.
- [52:03]
J
Oh, wow, what a delight. But look, Aaron Judge hitting almost 400 into June. Impressive. Didn't feel so great on Saturday and Sunday, John. So congrats, I guess.
- [52:18]
David Drucker
Congrats, Mika, we have clarified records there. Two out of three.
- [52:23]
J
You know, a banner, wanna wave a flag. Red Sox Benway reminding me.
- [52:28]
Jacob Soboroff
That's great. That's great. That's great. That's so not the story this weekend.
- [52:32]
David Drucker
All right, this Father's Day at Lowe's.
- [52:36]
Gavin Newsom
Score.
- [52:36]
David Drucker
Free gig for the greatest dad Right now get a free select dewalt Craftsman or cobalt tool with purchase of a select battery kit. Plus get a free Werner two foot aluminum ladder when you buy an eight foot fiberglass ladder. Shop these deals and more. This Father's Day at Lowe's, we help you Save. Valid through615. Wall supplies.
- [52:58]
Gavin Newsom
Last selection varies by location.