LA protests, National Guard and tax bill
By Reuters June 9, 2025
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Kim Vinnell
Today, the National Guard is deployed in LA, as police and protesters clash in immigration demonstrations. California Governor Gavin Newsom calls on Trump to withdraw the troops. The U.S. and China are set for trade talks in London. And how the Trump-Musk feud could impact the tax bill. It's Monday, June 9th. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, every weekday. I'm Kim Vinnell in Whanganui. We start on the streets of Los Angeles, where President Donald Trump has ordered at least 2,000 National Guard troops to be deployed. The move coming after two days of protest over immigration raids, pitting the state against Republicans in Washington and against the President. On Sunday, demonstrations continued. Outside a federal detention center, National Guard troops clash with protesters and fired tear gas. Tear gas too on the 101 freeway as protesters block the main downtown thoroughfare. Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom says the president calling up thousands of California National Guard troops, a call which would usually be his, is unlawful and an attempt to manufacture a crisis. LA Mayor Karen Bass echoing that sentiment.
Karen Bass
What we're seeing in Los Angeles is chaos that is provoked by the administration.
Kim Vinnell
Newsom said he's asked Trump to rescind the order, but Trump is standing firm. And isn't ruling out going further.
Donald Trump
Well, we're going to have troops everywhere. We're not going to let this happen to our country. We're going not going let our country be torn apart like it was under Biden.
Kim Vinnell
So what does the law say about what the president can do? Idrees Ali is in Washington.
Idrees Ali
So what the President has done is essentially deploy 2,000 National Guard troops and brought them under federal authority through a process known as Title 10. And that basically gives the President the right to basically control troops, even though National Guard troops are sort of the ownership of states. So it's sort of a workaround. Presidents current and past have used National Guard troops for a host of reasons, whether responding to natural disasters, helping with election security, for example, during COVID, sort of manning hospitals and helping with that effort. So the deployment of National Guard troops in itself, even under Title 10, is not rare. What is different this time is the fact that he did so to help with civil disturbances and he federalized the troops against the wishes of California, which is essentially, you know, the state under which these troops would normally belong. And it's not unprecedented. But it was last done in 1965 and that's when President Lyndon Johnson sent troops to protect civil rights in Montgomery, Alabama.
Kim Vinnell
Idrees, what are other options on the table?
Idrees Ali
The real concern, I think, amongst experts is the fact that the Secretary of Defense has also said that 500 Marines are ready to deploy if things get worse, and that opens up a whole host of issues. Do they then invoke the Insurrection Act, which hasn't been done since 1992? Active duty troops on the streets of America deployed against Americans? It would raise a whole host of questions.
Kim Vinnell
Reuters photographer Daniel Cole was in the middle of it all.
Daniel Cole
Yeah. So we got, we got to the federal building, which to my knowledge at the time was the only place that the National Guard had been deployed. And this march that everybody had been shouting their slogans and quite peaceful, all of a sudden, you know, meets the, the National Guard, which there was such a spectacle around it and there they were. They were sitting there with their, their rifles and their batons. And it took very little time for things to sort of go downhill from there where then the crowd gets, gets rowdy and they're telling them to back off. And then, you know, you have these little clashes and tear gas.
Kim Vinnell
Israeli forces have boarded and seized a charity boat heading for Gaza. The Freedom Flotilla Coalition says it was carrying aid, plus a dozen activists, including Greta Thunberg. The boat is now being tugged to an Israeli port. The U.S. believes that Russian President Vladimir Putin's threatened retaliation against Ukraine for its drone attack last weekend has not happened yet. U.S. officials told Reuters it's likely to be a significant, multi-pronged attack. The timing for the attack is unclear, but one source says it was expected within days. Colombian Senator and potential presidential contender Miguel Uribe has survived an initial operation after being shot in Bogota. That's according to his wife and the hospital. And Carlos Alcaraz battled back from the brink to retain the French Open crown. The Spanish tennis player outlasting Italian Jannick Sinner to win the longest final ever at Roland Garros, clocking in at five hours and 29 minutes. Three of President Trump's top aides will meet their Chinese counterparts in London today in talks aimed at resolving their trade dispute. Carmel Crimmins has more. Hey Carmel.
Carmel Crimmins
Hey Kim. Welcome back. So great to have your voice on the show again.
Kim Vinnell
Oh, it's good to be back.
Carmel Crimmins
So you're right. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer are all representing the United States. Now both sides have an incentive to ratchet down the rhetoric and find agreement. These discussions come just days after Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke by phone and the involvement of Lutnik this time is interesting. It underlines the importance of trying to restore the flow of critical minerals. Lutnick's agency oversees export controls for the US, and China's decision to suspend exports of a wide range of critical minerals has become a particular pain point for the U.S. You can hear all about that in a special episode of Reuters World News that went out over the weekend. We'll put a link to the show in the description of today's pod.
Kim Vinnell
After publicly denigrating President Trump's budget bill, Elon Musk has given a boost to a handful of Republican deficit hawks. They've been pushing back against the bill for fear of soaring debt. And last week, others began raising concerns about an unregulated AI provision. David Morgan is in Washington and is here to tell us how Trump and Musk's breakup could impact the future of the bill.
David Morgan
Well, when Republicans speak publicly about it, they try to minimize it. One member of the Senate said last week that it's fine for Musk to criticize in this way, but we have responsibilities, we have to govern, and so we need to move forward with the bill. It's difficult to know exactly where this will fall out. They're just starting to turn the pressure on, is how I would say it. And they're determined to get the bill done by the 4th of July, because the bill also contains an increase in the federal debt ceiling, which has to be raised to avoid a default on the country's debt. So there is a dire consequence that could be in the offing if this devolves into political disarray. So there's a concerted effort to ensure that that doesn't happen. And leaders are trying to move as quickly to get it through Congress before things can fall apart. So it's a real race. There's an element of a ticking time bomb and there's a there's real race to get things done before they get into the danger zone.
Kim Vinnell
So what happens next? Where do we go from here?
David Morgan
Well, what's happening at the moment is that Senate leadership is pushing to get the bill done within the next couple of weeks. Congress is scheduled to go into recess the week before the 4th of July, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune has said that they want to get it on the floor, get it out of the Senate and over to the House, so that the House can pass it well before the fourth of July holiday.
Kim Vinnell
And for today's recommended read, last night's Tonys in New York. 'Maybe Happy Ending' wins Best Musical, a story about two obsolete helper robots as they navigate what it means to be human. A link to the story is in the pod description. For more on any of the stories from today, check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app. Or don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast player. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.☀
